DPP: Pilots And Friends

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone, and welcome to the DPP! Today we'll be talking about something that pilots were probably desperately in need of through most of the series, though they fulfilled that need for each other for the most part*.

In canon, we've seen that Lee and Kara are each other's best friends, but they really don't have too many others - Helo's one of the few people who gets close to Kara, and I'm assuming any friends Lee had before boarding Galactica were nuked with the rest of the Twelve Colonies. And yet, with yesterday's discussion about what we'd tell them if we could stage relationship interventions, it got me thinking - pilots could really do with more friends. Not that I don't love them as friends, esp. when they have *gigglesnort*-inducing moments like this one:



But, they could really use a few more people to unburden to who aren't ghost piano players, head!Cylons or hookers, and where BSG canon will not provide it, we're probably better off looking in other canon. That's right, give Lee and Kara friends from other fandoms! And here is my top nominee:

 RIVER TAM (Firefly) (warning: spoilers for Firefly ahead)


I know the wisdom of giving pilots a friend who's more cuckoo than a shop full of Swiss clocks (not to mention disturbingly good at handling firearms and fighting multiple people at once) seems questionable or outright demented at first. But post-Serenity, River's saner, less-in-constant-need-of-minding self is a girl who might actually get along with either of our pilots, especially since she's become one herself.

Also, on a purely speculative level, I'm fascinated by the idea of how she might "read" pilots' thoughts about each other right out of their heads and perceive that. That, and how Kara might react to someone who's arguably even crazier than she is, and who might be in a position to talk her out of her tree, so to speak, during Maelstrom. I'm trying to picture her as one of Kara's nuggets as we speak, because the combination of mad flying skillz and occasional babble would probably drive Kara nuts, and the situation amuses me. 

Enough about me, shipper nation. What about you? Is there anyone fictional you'd like to see as a friend of pilots? Tell us all about it, and don't hold back on the details! Bring on the pics, fics and general musings in the comments, then!


* get your minds out of the gutter, it wasn't eyefrakking/other kinds of frakking! Though one could argue they needed that too.

Comments

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Ever since I saw the Fringe finale I joked about writing a fic where Peter and Kara meet post-poof and discuss things. ;) I'd still like to see that happen (though I don't have enough of a feel for Peter to write him.)

For Leland... hmmm... there's a lot of people he could talk daddy issues with, isn't there? ;) Lost's Jack comes to mind.

[word-vomity.livejournal.com]

Jack & Lee hashing out the toils of an emotionally distant, ball busting father would be glorious! So perfect. :)

[onlyariana.livejournal.com]

Disappeared Peter and Kara makes sense but I want Peter actually on Galactica so he and Helo can commiserate about the difficulties of being in a relationship with a woman who has an evil twin. I could see Kara rolling her eyes at the two of them.

[word-vomity.livejournal.com]

Okay, top of my head and probably mostly driven by recent viewing habits...

Kara should totally hang out with Deb Morgan from Dexter and/or Nancy Botwin from Weeds. Deb could actually make friends with Kara through her own brash manners but then teach her a couple things with her huge open bleeding heart. Nancy would just be hi-jinx and hilarity. Or Spike from Buffy. They could drink their asses off together. (OK maybe none of these would be HEALTHY friendships, but they'd be entertaining for me)

Lee could buddy up with one Veronica Mars, who is good with the whole male best friend thing and also follows a pretty strict moral compass without being entirely dick-ish or wretchedly boring. But then he also needs someone who can loosen him up a little... hmmmmm what about Tahmoh when he was all Paul Ballard in Dollhouse? Man on the edge but still a good guy? Idk. This is making my brain hurt. :)

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

YES A MILLION TIMES TO KARA AND DEB.

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

I want to organize Kara a support group of badass women with problematic relationships with the men in their lives. Fiona Glenanne from Burn Notice, Zoe Washbourne from Firefly, Myka Bering from Warehouse 13, Diana Barrigan from White Collar. Girls' Night Outs on the gun range, man.
I also think she and Lee need better squadmates. I'd like to put them in one of the X-Wing squadrons from the Star Wars EU. Kara'd do better in Wraith Squad, Lee would probably prefer Rogue, but either way they'd have supportive squadmates to whap them when they're being stupid and self-destructive.
Lee should be friends with the gang from West Wing, I think, especially Sam Seaborn and Will Bailey (before his plot arc got stupid in the 5th season).

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Not sure of the others, but Zoe's relationship with Wash was pretty rock-solid except for the bits where he got very openly stupid and jealous of Mal.

Haven't got much experience with the other fandoms, but I do think giving pilots lots of friends is a good idea. Totally on board about the squadmates thing too, btw :)

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

I was thinking more of her problematic relationships with Mal and Jayne. Diana's a lesbian and Myka doesn't have a male romantic attachment, but there are still difficult men in their lives.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Oh I see where you're coming from with Mal and Zoe (esp. by the beginning of Serenity, though I have a tendency to think their relationship prior to that was, again, solid), but I never thought she actually had much of a relationship with Jayne beyond being shipmates.

IIRC they weren't really friends either, I don't think Jayne was actually friends with anyone on the ship apart from Shepherd Book, and he respected M and Z.

[onlyariana.livejournal.com]

I was so thinking Sam or Will as a speech writer/buddy or even Leo as a mentor for political!Lee. I also think Mrs. Landingham or maybe Margaret as an assistant would be awesome and either one of them would totally whip his life into shape.

I love the gang of awesome women you've put together. That'd be so cool! And slightly scary.

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

Lee needs people to tell him that it's okay not to just be a pilot, and the West Wing crew are so clearly supportive.

Also, yes! Scary but supportive awesome woman squad! There would probably be some feeling out and making sure they could all get along, but then they would swap guns around and tell stories and drink and be happy.

[lizziec]

Not so much a friend, but I would love to see Sidney Freedman from M*A*S*H get to grips with pilots. I could see him getting to know Kara over a game of card and giving her some fairly sound advice, and drinking with Lee to the same effect. They may not even know they're having their heads shrunk with such tactics. If they were to ever see a psychiatrist I think Sidney would be the best possible, least threatening psych for them to see.



I could see Daniel Jackson from Stargate SG1 getting on quite well with Lee. I think they would both share similar world views in terms of morals and not always feeling at home serving in the military.



I find it difficult to visualise friends for Kara. I love her as a character but would find her quite difficult to be a friend to because of her habit of pushing away. Consequently I struggle to imagine anyone else being in that position towards her. I think it would have to be someone fairly good natured with pretty good self esteem (which is why I have no problem seeing Helo as her friend) because they would have to deal with her pushing without walking away or aggressively pushing back or taking it personally. I'll have to think a little more about her.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of luring Kara to a shrink without having the situation blare 'SHRINK' in two-foot-tall neon letters. Def. good :) And I do hear you on the idea that whoever's friends with our girl will probably need to be pretty sure of themselves and able to deal with the occasional pushing away.

[lizziec]

Ok, so for some reason I keep coming back to thinking of Spock from the Original Trek series films (not the reboot) as someone who would actually be quite a good friend for Kara - I think he would be someone who would balance her out and help her to curb some of her self destructive tendencies. Also, he's been dead, so he may understand her dead-chick hangups in S4.

Think I might be going crazy...

ETA a pic:

[lanalucy]

"I could see Daniel Jackson from Stargate SG1 getting on quite well with Lee. I think they would both share similar world views in terms of morals and not always feeling at home serving in the military."

And they could run around shirtless a lot and compare biceps.

On another note, I could totally see Daniel as a friend for Kara. He's very low-key, argues passionately about things that matter to him, shines things on that don't matter to him, and I could see him understanding that his friendship would need to be laid-back for her to keep him as a friend. He can be VERY subtle. And hey, bonus, Lee might be massively jealous and get his head out of his ass.

MOAR friends for my pilots!

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Here's someone I really would like to see as a possible friend to Lee, partly because of their similarities (slight geekiness and fish-out-of-water tendencies at first) - River's big brother, Simon Tam:



And if I wanted to give Kara a sane friend who has more than his share of experience with never quite being able to get it together with the woman he loves (also, as I mentioned earlier, he's sane), Captain Tightpants himself, Malcolm Reynolds of Firefly:



(helped along hugely by the fact that Nathan and Katee were actually in a movie together - White Noise 2!)

Re: MOAR friends for my pilots!

[word-vomity.livejournal.com]

Hee! I almost put exactly this! Good picks. Never go wrong with Firefly. :)

I think Kara and Mal would get along swimmingly!

Re: MOAR friends for my pilots!

[mserrada.livejournal.com]

Yup, my first thought was Mal for Kara also. But since you swooped in and scooped me, I put other choices down instead.

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

For Kara:
As previously mentioned, Debra Morgan, Zoe Washburne, and Malcolm Reynolds.

For Lee:
Martha Jones from Doctor Who. I just really think they would get along...and here they are in L&O:UK.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

OH MY GODS MATT AND ALESHA!!!! (no lie, I really, really like L&O:UK, which is a total surprise because I only began watching it out of love for Lee and Martha - procedurals are not my usual cup of tea).

And yay for Martha, I think she and Lee would get along fantastically as friends :)

[lizziec]

O/T: The way that Matt looked out for Alesha after her rape... that made a shipper out of me ♥

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I hate that she had to go through that, but he was lovely in the aftermath. And I really do like the idea of them together, though I'm quite ok with no major shippy things happening onscreen (BSG destroyed shipping for me, forever) - the pretty is enough for me :).

Also, I love seeing Jamie with a radically different accent, even if he is all covered up. V. sad he's leaving the show, though - or left already, IIRC.

[shah-of-blah.livejournal.com]

I've never watched the show...just googled it to find a pic of them together. So I have no idea what's going on in this scene. :P

[apollosspear.livejournal.com]

For Lee i think Matt Sarison from Friday Night Lights would be a good friend. "Seven" is a smart kid (Around 20 at the end of the show) who's dad was never around do to his service in the Army, and who had to take care of his senile grandmother.
Also Michael Weston would match wit and knowledge well with Lee

I think Kara would be good friends with T'elc from SG1. He wouldn't be all that susceptible to her pushing away. And i agree that Fiona from Burn Notice would be good friends with Kara

[mserrada.livejournal.com]

I think either Christina Yang from Grey's or Aeryn Sun from Farscape. Both women have enough self-confidence not to be intimidated and both are pretty self-controlled. I'm thinking Kara would appreciate that they speak their mind and are obviously superior in their specific fields. And both seem to be able to relate/listen without getting all 'tell me how you feel'.

Can't help it, going to Grey's again. Either Derek or Owen would make a good bromance ;) Both are a little older, more self-possessed without being uptight. Hmmm, John Crichton of Farscape also a good match.

I'm starting to see a pattern here... Visualizing a double date with Kara/Lee & John/Aeryn. Look out Joe's, here they come!

[eridani8.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that Aeryn and Kara would get along so well. I'm pretty sure Officer Sun would have court marshalled Kara within a few hours of meeting her. But I think it would be awesome if we could sit K&L down and force them to watch J&A's relationship from beginning to end and be all, 'This is what happens when get over your fears of having your heart broken all the time- shit works out eventually!'

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Here's someone I think would make a fantastic friend to both pilots - someone who, like Lee, knows all about being dropped in the middle of a neverending war completely unprepared for it at first (and who sees things get ambiguous, and takes more of a leadership position as a consequence).

Also, like Kara, she knows something about having a special destiny and would probably be able to help out with poor Kara's dead-chick-walking issues. That, and she's another smart-mouthed blonde who doesn't always play by the rules and knows what it's like to have people rebel against her leadership.


Yes that's right, the Slayer herself.