Is There Anything That Compares to Pilots?

[scifishipper.livejournal.com]

Hello shippers! Did everyone stay up too late last night reading fic? I know I did!! <3<3 Thank you all so much for the recommendations. I will be in fic for a very long time.

Today, I am extending a conversation (sort of) that started on Twitter about other ships. GASP! Yes, other ships. I know they exist, but frankly, they are seriously weak in comparison to my obsession with pilots. Or they last for a little while and fizzle. So, that leads me to wonder:

Who else do you ship or have you shipped since you fell in love with pilots? What show? Why? How do they compare to pilots? Has your pilot love faded in favor of another kinder and more happy-ending ship?

What say you shipper nation?

Comments

[ninjamonkey73.livejournal.com]

Is this like a 'Shippers Anonymous meeting? Ahem. My name is Amy and OMG I HAVE A CASTLE PROBLEM! Castle and Beckett are like the anti-K/L in so many ways, but they occupy about 50% of my 'shipper brain these days. Maybe that's a lie. This month, what with the "leaked" photos of the next episode (another week and half?!) and the preview trailer at the end of this week's episode... I can't even formulate specualtive fanfic about it, I'm so excited. And if the show rips the rug out from under me, I'll probably try to fix it with fanfic, like I did with last season's finale.

They're it right now, though, and the only 'ship post-BSG-watching. Others came before (my old obsession with Janeway/Chakotay on Star Trek: Voyager makes K/L seem like a passing fancy), but only Castle/Beckett since discovering pilots.

Similarities: coworkers, one basically reports to the other; there is banter (OMG the BANTER!); both Kara and Beckett have work personas that they hide their true feeling behind and both know how to control a room

Differences: Castle is like a giant 12 year old boy, Lee is NOT; Lee is a classical Greek sculpture and Castle "really is ruggedly handsome"; Beckett is a little less emotionally damaged, although her mother's murder does color almost everything she does

As TV husbands go, they couldn't be much more different, but I CANNOT CHOOSE A FAVORITE. :)

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Is There Anything that Compares to Pilots?

No. ♥

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Lol. But that being said...

I haven't shipped anything like I ship pilots, before or since. These two just consume my brain. The only ship I've really even been interested enought to read and entertain the idea of writing fic about since BSG were Gale and Katniss from the Hunger Games series and then after Mockingjay Gale and Johanna. Gale has always reminded me very strongly of Lee: A somewhat taciturn hunter who is forced into that role to provide for family, yet who loves democracy and strives for justice. Katniss was, I once thought, a lot like Kara, but her survivor streak just fizzled in MJ. Johanna, however, with her sarcasm and her individualism and her lustiness of life, snuck up on me as a Kara-like figure. These two so remind me of my beloved pilots, but sadly they are a totally non-canonical ship, just a figment of some of us fevered fans' imaginations, so there is not much fic out there for them.

Also, Rob and Cassie from Tana French's In the Woods reminded me of pilots as buddy cops, with their banter and UST and bonding, and Rob's a bit fucked up from his childhood a la Kara.

I'm currently rewatching Veronica Mars and even though I can't fully commit to shipping them (b/c Logan is kind of a psycho) Veronica and Logan have massive physical chemistry btw their body language/eye-frakking a la pilots.

I'm actively looking for fictional couples that will give me the same satisfaction as pilots shipping but I don't expect to find it. Though friends recommend the English Patient movie and I'm gonna check out Suzanne Brockmann's Troubleshooters series, mainly for Alyssa and Sam who I'm told have a K/L vibe.

[eternal-nomad1.livejournal.com]

The English Patient (the movie, not so much the book) broke my heart back in the day. I wept buckets over it. Bittersweet is a stretch for it. I don't know what the older and more cynical me would think of it now, but when it came out I loved it.

You might like Lymond and Philippa from the Lymond Chronicles. If possible, the main character is even more messed up than Kara was. But they are not an easy read, you just have to go with it until you get into it, and the main ship does not really get going until Book 4. But I highly recommend it.

Having said that, no more shipping for me. Ever. I have gotten too burned.

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

Hmmm! I think I'm just a 'shipper by nature. I've ALWAYS had fictional relationships that I adored even before I knew what the technical term was. Faramir/Eowyn was probably my first one and that was when I was, like, 10? So I definitely am predisposed to love the 'shipping!!

My first really passionate TV ship was Buffy/Spike and Wesley/Lilah from the Jossverse (which were both super-different from pilots and also, I really had issues with the whole Spike thing after season 6 of "Buffy" and yadda yadda.) Also, I totally 'shipped John/Aeryn on "Farscape" from almost the beginning of the show. Like "PILOTS!" they were the Big Destiny Couple, but that show handled them in a very different way. While they definitely had their fair share of angst, the angst came from the characters' own internal issues more than from alternaships.

For books, it's more of the same. I have many 'ships from different books I've read including Philippa/Lymond from the Dorothy Dunnet books that eternal_nomad1 mentioned, but of late, the ones I feel the most passionately about were probably Eugenides/Irene (names hidden to protect the spoiler-free) from Megan Whelan Turner's YA books; Katniss/Peeta from "The Hunger Games" series; and my ship of ships, OTP of OTPs, Jaime/Brienne from George R. R. Martin's "Song of Ice & Fire" books (renamed "A Game of Thrones" for tv). I don't know how that one's going to end (tragically, probably!) but I just love the ride! (He's sworn a vow of celibacy; she starts off hating him ...)

[anamarya.livejournal.com]

as obsessions go, definitely no, there is nothing like BSG and the pilots.
shiping yes, i did. don't kill me but actually the first fanfictions that i read (and the very first one that i tried to put on paper and actually managed to get it to half way) were about a Colombian soap-opera. then again, if i think about it they did have some similarities with other couples that i liked through the years: UST, troubled past (common and individual), rivalry in their work, significant others. then it was the whole JAG thing, but that is hand-in-hand with my pilots love. i mean (like somebody commented to a vid on youtube - name two fighter pilots turned lawyers).
other ships that i read about - there are a decent number but nothing compared to this. then again, is not only a ship kind of thing, even if that is a very-very strong component of my obsession but the whole universe.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

I've been a fan of tons of fictional relationships over the years, some of them romantic, some family, some friendship. All of them have given me great delight and I tend to go in phases where I'm really focused on one of them for a while and then I emerge and move on to another, and then swing back around months or years later and enjoy the old favorites all over again :)

Basically none of my fictional romances have worked out happily (curse you TV conventions!), so sometimes the friendships and family bonds are my best solace. I tend to have one favorite character in a TV show or book, and then whatever relationship is most important to them becomes the relationship that's most important to me. Almost every fandom has had some really wonderful authors writing fanfic for it, so there is an embarrassment of riches out there.

I made a list of fandoms, relationships, and characters I liked on my ff.net profile - here they are:

Harry Potter (Snape-centric, Snape/Lily [I write them canonically, a.k.a. unrequited and one-sided], and Lupin)

Sherlock Holmes (Watson-centric, emphasizing friendship more than the mysteries, this includes the modern BBC update)

Discworld (Vetinari)

Star Wars (Anakin, Vader)

The Man From UNCLE (Illya-centric, but you really need them both!)

Firefly (Simon-centric, especially stories about his relationship with his sister, River)

Batman (I love Dick Grayson, who was Robin #1 and is now Nightwing, and focus on his family/mentoring relationships)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Spike, Spike/Buffy)

Highlander (Methos)

Babylon 5 (Lennier, unrequited Lennier/Delenn)

Battlestar Galactica (Kara/Lee)

House (Wilson is fun)

Doctor Who (I'm a fan of both old and new Who, and have a secret fondness for 4th Doctor & Sarah stories)

There you have it. Yes, my heart has many rooms :)

shippers anonymous meeting

[swamp-ariadne.livejournal.com]

oh my just what the doctor ordered!

i don't understand why i ship some of the ships i do. i think i'm a serial shipper, but a loyal shipper, if that makes any sense. i have about 5-6 occupying my time:

Kara & Lee
Veronica and Logan (Veronica Mars)
John and Cameron (Terminator:Sarah Connor Chronicles)
Harry and Hermione (do i even need to cite where?)
Dom and Ariadne (inception)

and the skeletons in my closet:
Zuko and Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
and...
Dan and Blair (Gossip Girl)

i seem to have a penchant for doomed or anchored ships. i don't know why. i see them getting ship teased and i lock on like Kat and i can't get shaken off. I stop caring about the Word of God at some point and just stick with them. i think it's because they were doomed that i ship them more, like some great injustice has been done and they didn't get the resolution they deserve. or it is just taking me years to accept that they are "super best friends forever". every one of them is compelling to me for different reasons. my pilot love is independent of my architects love and my robot love and my wizard love and so on and so forth.

i think it's gotten to the point that i can't enjoy new TV shows/movies because my poor shipper heart can't be open to more couples.

Re: shippers anonymous meeting

[ninety6tears.livejournal.com]

I was pretty disappointed in the relative lack of Dom/Ariadne in the Inception fandom when I was active in it. And Katara/Zuko FTW.

I think I have a thing for doomed or at least non-canon ships too. Whenever I list my favorite pairings ever, I realize that almost none of them were ever canon/successful, and I don't think of myself as necessarily looking for the odd ships or rooting for the underdog...I just have bad luck, I guess.

Re: shippers anonymous meeting

[swamp-ariadne.livejournal.com]

i think what happened in the fandom is that the slash just took over. but i'm the mod in the cobb/ariadne comm so we'd love to have you visit there. and we're still trying to make it more active. no takebacks is such an inspiration to me as a community, but then the K/L shippers are such great shippers too.

[coffeesuperhero.livejournal.com]

I'm ridiculous about Logan/Veronica. Ridiculous about them. Even though they both have so many ISSUES, I ship the hell out of them. From the second they SPOILER ALERT FOR EVERYBODY ELSE kissed I was like OH MY GOD THE CHEMISTRY.

[ninety6tears.livejournal.com]

I've had other fandoms compare to my love for pilots, but probably not any other pairings. Kara/Lee are the ship I'm the most into that actually has a lot of canon built up for it and one of the few ships I have a real OTP mentality over. I like a lot of different pairings in Star Trek but I don't want any of them to be canon, and my other big fandom is Supernatural, which I just don't think of as being a very shippy show. A ship that I probably love as much as I love K/L is Doctor/Rose in Doctor Who, but I've never been inclined to really get fandomy about them and look for fanfic or anything.

[wand3rlust.livejournal.com]

My first sorta ship as a teen was Sami/Lucas from Days of our lives. I think I should've known then I was doomed to like dysfunctional couples. hehe

Next it was Eowyn/Faramir (Lord of the Rings). This was my first real fandom ship in that I started reading fic, got into vidding, made manips and wallpapers, etc. etc. Unfortunately my love for them has kind of fizzled over the years. I still like them but I don't participate in the fandom anymore.

I haven't really shipped anyone hardcore again until Pilots which really is the best ship ever. :) I think you guys are right that there is just no one like pilots.

That said, here's a few ships I like either the idea of or think were cute as a couple.

Peter/Claire & Claire/Syler - Heroes
Lizzy/Darcy - Pride & Prejudice
Anne/Cpt. Wentworth - Persuasion
Pullo/Vorenus - Rome
Doctor/Donna - Doctor Who
Doctor/Rose - Doctor Who
Owen/Tosh - Torchwood
Cpt. Harkness/Anyone - Torchwood
Kaylee/Simon & Simon/River - Firefly
Jack/Ennis - Brokeback Mountain

And I haven't made up my mind if I like the idea of Quinn/Deb in a relationship on Dexter. Part of me thinks I'll love it and part of me thinks it seems cliche. That said, they're Buddy Cop Partners that argue like Pilots, so some of you guys might actually like them too - even if only for the friendship aspect. :)

EDIT: Duh I completely forgot my most recent ship just before pilots.
Richard/Kahlan - Legend of the Seeker. Imagine a couple where making out is even dangerous - she might lose control and confess him (i.e. take over his mind, for lack of better way to describe it). Loads of UST there. :) Not so much with the bantering though.

[wand3rlust.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to catch Castle and haven't got to it yet, but you make it sound very much worth checking out. :)

[damao2010.livejournal.com]

Who else do you ship or have you shipped since you fell in love with pilots?

Nobody.
I only discovered BSG last year really and though there are quite a few show I enjoy watching regularly, there are no relationships I feel strongly about in any of them, really.
There were a few in the past. But the only that compares to pilots, for me, was Mulder and Scully, in The X-files. I was in love with them for years really. And they did get their happy ending, sort of, but it wasn't very satisfying because I think the show had become too convoluted near the end. They lost track of where they were going plot-wise and relationship-wise. But it was really good while it last. The deep friendship between two individuals who apparently had nothing in common, their banter, the UST, the "did they/didn't they?" was truly something.

[wand3rlust.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah Logan/Veronica. I forgot how much I used to love them! Or I guess more the idea of them in Season 1. There was a ton of chemistry between the actors! Unfortunately to me I thought there was too much dysfunction in S2 & S3 so I kinda got over it.

[ninjamonkey73.livejournal.com]

You should. There hasn't been one bad episode in almost 2 seasons, but I may be biased. Nathan Fillion IS my TV husband after all. ;)

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

They do have absolutely incredible/fantastic chemistry. I'd forgotten how much till I started rewatching (even though I remember being quite squeeful about the big kiss, despite the fact that I really was not sure on that Logan fellow). They're pretty young, so I find it fairly different from Kara/Lee's chemistry plus they don't have quite as many connections/trust/bonding moments (though their backstory is certainly complicated too). Surprisingly though, I find that I have very little interest in fic for them.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

I understand it is indeed terribly tragic and depressing. So.. .yeah.

Oh nice, I have never heard of the Lymond Chronicles, I'll look into it, although nothing really happening till book four is a tough one. I am not very patient! Heh. I'm also not a huge fan of historicals or fantasy, which sounds like this might be? But I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the rec!

Heh, the heart wants what it wants. You can say you won't ship ever again, but how are you gonna stop it if something just takes over your heart/brain? You can't!

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

I agree, I think I would ship them more if I felt I could trust Logan. You never really knew what you'd get from him. His sincerity levels were tough because he could turn it on and turn it off like no one's business. (Also sometimes Jason Dohring went way into the hammy side of his character.)

[koolaidmom11.livejournal.com]

I also felt that way about the movie, The English Patient and i was totally dying for Ralph Fiennes.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

I could ship potted plants given the right opportunity. *blush*

Nothing quite compars to Lee and Kara, but here we go...
Spike and Buffy (Buffy)
Veronica and Logan (Veronica Mars)
Olivia and Peter (Fringe)

I'm still frustrated Mulder and Scully so I refuse to really ship partners in procedurals like Castle and Beckett or Bones and Booth although I see the appeal.

I'll come back if I think of any others.

[wand3rlust.livejournal.com]

hehe I actually ador Nathan Fillion as well which is the only reason I even wanted to watch it. Not having cable I don't even know the premise of the show. LOL

[coffeesuperhero.livejournal.com]

A/R. I ship A/R juuuuuuuuuuuuuuust as much as K/L.

And honestly, I have mad Kara/Kendra love. That pairing is so deliciously dysfunctional. Ahaha, that doesn't remind me of any other ship that I have AT ALL. *_*

[coffeesuperhero.livejournal.com]

I hated, despised and loathed Logan before the kiss. It was like INSTANT LOVE, I swear, I have never decided to like a character that quickly before. I don't know. Logan's such a screwed-up kid, heck, they're both such screwed-up kids, and for so many reasons they should never ever be together, but damn, I still ship them.

Eh. I get on a LoVe fic kick every couple of years and read old stories, but that's about it. I'm so behind on reading stories that I might as well have no interest in reading fic, though.