Thursday DPP: The Incomparables

[pennyante.livejournal.com]

We like to think of the pilots as unique. And of course they are; our gutsy but screwy Kara and noble but flawed Lee, simmering away in their tortuous stew of baggage and war and Hero Problems and temperamental differences—they’re in a class of their own.

But do we see other duos in pop culture who have something in common with their dynamic? Mulder and Scully’s way of perfectly complementing each other, professionally? Dharma and Greg’s exaggeratedly mismatched approaches to law and social conventions? From Casablanca, Rick and Ilsa’s situation of being separated by side effects of a culture of war?

Do we know other individual characters who are like either one of them? (Is it just me, or does Dawson Leary tell us something about a young Lee Adama? Tell me if you hate that idea, I can handle it.) Some of the characters who remind me most of Kara are strong female characters on nighttime soaps, like Sandra Oh’s Christina on Grey’s Anatomy and Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl. ‘Cause ladies who are both powerful and  flawed ain’t the easiest to come by.

Though I haven’t read it yet, I know there’s an impressively scaled Hunger Games/BSG crossover fic out there. I wonder if Katniss, Peeta, and Gale tell us anything about Kara and Lee (and Sam).

So—to whom should we compare the pilots?

Who do we see in shades of Starbuck and Apollo? In what ways? Too many of my examples above are from American TV (sorry), but let's allow our brains to roam through whatever we want. TV, movies, books, graphic novels—nothing’s off the table. This would also be a great time to rec crossovers that tap into an AU dynamic.

Comments

[winegums.livejournal.com]

idk if this is as well-known as it should be, but Rob and Cassie of Tana French's In The Woods (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Woods-Tana-French/dp/0340924748) remind me VERY strongly of pilots, especially when it comes to the way they interact - it's almost as easy and instinctive as pilots (and they're not lovers, but there is still UST between them).

It's funny, because it is Rob who reminds me of Kara and Cassie doesn't remind me of Lee so much, but somehow together, they remind me very much of pilots - which is rare in any other work.

I also like the JAG comparison. And in Firefly, Mal and Inara's back-and-forth sniping and strong awareness of their mutual attraction (while refusing to change their respective ways and holding each other at a distance) is a bit like pilots too, though they're less casually intimate with each other/don't have the best friends-and-everything-else connection that pilots do.

[rachelmack.livejournal.com]

I just got that series on my Kobo! I'm looking forward to pilots-by-proxy. \o/

Spoilers...

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

What do you mean they're not lovers? They are....although not at first.

But Yes! I was going to say that both Rob and Cassie remind me of Kara and yet somehow they remind me of Pilots as a whole!

Re: Spoilers...

[winegums.livejournal.com]

(I didn't want to give that away, to be honest - I was referring to the state of their relationship for most of the book)

Re: Spoilers...

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

OH...whoops. Hee. It's a pretty big plot point though, so I don't know if it's spoilery. People here have probably seen me and cosetteferaud adn ninetysixtears going on about enough that they're already spoiled anyway. LOL. You've read the Likeness right?

Re: Spoilers...

[winegums.livejournal.com]

I have! I really hope she does revisit them sometime, though - I can't bear the idea of their relationship being left where it was (and Sam, pffffft)

Re: Spoilers...

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

OMG I know. Always a damn Safety!Sam lurking around my OTPs... lol. I need to re-read these books soon. Although Broken Harbour is coming soon too! I'm not so into Scorcher, but I wasn't into Frank either and that one was good too. Kinda hope her next will be a female protag though--Cassie was pretty kick ass and I'd love to see what she makes of another female character.

Also hope there's some movement on the movie deal for In the Woods and The Likeness! Although I'll always want them to cast Katee and Jamie. Heh.

Re: Spoilers...

[winegums.livejournal.com]

lol yes. Even though Katee couldn't be more physically disparate from the description of Cassie, she'd kill that role and so would Jamie.

I'm just nervous that it's in the hands of Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz, though, given their previous output I have a nasty feeling Rob's going to be butchered by them in a < 2 hour movie - he's really not your typical hero or antihero, and that doesn't usually go down well with the crowd that watches their work.

Re: Spoilers...

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

She doesn't really look like Vic Moretti (her longmire character) either, but personality wise--I think she could nail it for sure. And it would be fun to see Jamie as someone a bit more uh...externally frakked up? LOL. Although that would be TWO HORRIBLE ENDINGS for them, so I don't know, maybe it would be a terrible idea. LOL.

Schwartz is the OC and Savage is Gossip Girl? Is that right? This would be such a different tone, so much more adult and darker and harder edged--it'll be pretty interesting to see what they come up with. (although I do think they licensed The Likeness specifically and then also bought ITW, so any movement will be on Likeness first probably--and that plotline is so much more in line with what they do. Although I have no desire to see Blake Lively as Cassie, you know? Or god forbid, Rachel Bilson. IDK.) Anyway, I haven't heard much or seen any scripts or anything, so there's probably no movement on it right now anyway.

Re: Spoilers...

[winegums.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they both worked on The OC and Gossip Girl. And the casting possibilities you mentioned make my soul want to shrivel up, but it's really the idea of this story being with them that makes me twitchy. I suppose I could live with it if they never touched ITW at all, though.

[anamarya.livejournal.com]

And in Firefly, Mal and Inara's back-and-forth sniping and strong awareness of their mutual attraction (while refusing to change their respective ways and holding each other at a distance) is a bit like pilots too, though they're less casually intimate with each other/don't have the best friends-and-everything-else connection that pilots

If I may... I might be wrong but that might be because of cultural differences and because of Inara's job. The world of Firefly (lovely, interesting and everything) is less equal (lacking a better word) than the one of BSG. But yes, the attraction doubled by holding back is there.

and btw, it's good to know that i;m not the only one on the JAG thing.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

No, you're right - her job and being from the Core planets (especially the former) is the major reason for their tension, but it's really the end result I looked at, not so much the underlying stuff. And something about the way she was so cut up about Mal hooking up with Nandi does remind me a bit of KLG1, though she is FAR more mature about it than Lee was.

[anamarya.livejournal.com]

though she is FAR more mature about it than Lee was.

with the risk of getting a little bit (more) OT i think that this is due to her job also. She is trained to understand/deal with/use/whatever human emotions and I guess she understood hers in that particular situation way better than Lee did in KLG. Because we have to admit that even if it was clear for us (and I think also for the Chief) he was really in the dark about the reasons behind his attitude there.

[winegums.livejournal.com]

That actually makes so much sense. Though with Lee, I think he had a serious case of not wanting to examine his feelings too closely or figure out why he felt/acted the way he did, too.