The Bookworm's Musings

So, I was thinking rather smugly about the fact that I don't have any OTP's (Only True Pairing), when I realized that, oops, they snuck up on me. Drat! When I first got into fan fiction, five or so years ago, my first fandom was Buffy The Vampire Slayer, followed by Harry Potter. I still don't have any real OTP's in those fandoms, but as I gained more fandoms, I guess I acquired some OTP's without meaning too.

Star Trek Original (Classic)
Kirk/Spock - although I can occasionally enjoy seeing either Kirk or Spock (or both) paired with Dr. McCoy if it's well written, I really prefer Kirk/Spock. It just seems right and proper, somehow. I definitely don't like to see them paired with anyone else. It just seems wrong when they're not together.

The Sentinel
Jim/Blair - perhaps one of my strongest OTPs. Separating Jim and Blair is so wrong that it makes me feel sick. I don't mind threesomes or foursomes, but Jim & Blair need to be together. Still, there's some good Gen and mild Het out there that I can tolerate, because Jim & Blair are still very close, and I can tell myself that they're still doing it off camera.

Due South
Fraser/Kowalski - while I can enjoy a well-written Fraser/Vecchio piece, I still have a strong preference for RayK. I would never consider writing anything but Fraser/RayK, and I don't really want to see Fraser paired up with anyone other than one of the Rays.

Starsky & Hutch
Starsky/Hutch - my newest fandom and my strongest OTP. Pairing them with anyone but each other is so wrong it's indescribable - even more wrong than separating Jim & Blair in The Sentinel would be. Plus, I'm surprisingly resistant to kink in this fandom, especially BDSM. Considering the level of trust required between particapants in a good BDSM scene/story, you'd think that Starsky & Hutch would be the perfect fandom for it, but it just feels wrong to me when I read it. I like Hutch & Starsky's relationship to be expressed very tenderly, with an almost transcendental bond between them and I like the balance of power in their relationship to be clear and equal. I'm sure I'll get over the kink aversion in time, but they will probably always be my strongest OTP.

Highlander
Methos/Duncan - They just seem right together, although adding someone else into the mix doesn't bother me that much. Since they're both Immortal, it totally changes the dynamics between them, IMHO. As long as they eventually get together, and their friendship with each other remains strong, it's all good.

Huh. Considering the number of Fandoms that I'm into, maybe 5 OTPs isn't such a big deal after all.

So, I've been re-watching due South, and I have come to a conclusion: I DESPISE that red uniform! Not because of what it represents or anything, but because of what it does to Fraser and how it effects the way others see him. During the first few seasons, we see him in his field uniform (the brown/gray one) quite often, and he appears human, flawed, passionate, and approachable. The field uniform helps to bridge the gap between Fraser and the American cops - it makes him look like just another cop. When he's wearing the field uniform and he makes suggestions or deductions, people (especially cops) listen to him and take him seriously - they respect the experience and work that the uniform implies, and expect him to have the faults of any other human being. But stick him in that red monstrosity, and suddenly everything changes. No longer do people respect him as a person or think of him as another hard-working cop. Instead, he becomes a cross between an Icon, a Mascot, and a Superhero. They expect him to be perfect, to do no wrong, to be saintly. At the same time, he is to feel no pain, to have no emotions. People stare at him, they mock him behind his back and to his face. He's not human to them anymore. And as the seasons go on, Fraser spends more and more time in that @#&^ red  uniform and less and less time being human. His interactions with the other characters become more and more stilted, he smiles and relaxes less and less, and he loses that cutting tongue (pilot episode, he really lets Vecchio have it, anyone else notice?). The passion that he shows in the first season disappears. In a way, it's as if that Red Uniform is slowly strangling the life out him. By the end of the fourth season, we almost never see him in the field uniform and he's lost nearly everything that makes him Benton Fraser to me. Mind you, I'm a big fan of Fraser/RayK (OTP), but the Fraser of seasons 1 & 2 is much truer to the essential Benton Fraser, as far as I'm concerned. Yes indeed, I despise that red thing! Kill, Kill, Kill!
And that's another thing: many authors' insistence on writing Fraser as an extremely civilized, rule-bound man, who has never had a dark thought in his life, and who wouldn't hurt a fly to save his own life. In my opinion, that is not Benton Fraser. Yes, he's very courteous, thoughtful, and forgiving of the people around him, but when you live in small community in the middle of nowhere in an implacable land filled with daily danger, that's nothing more than enlightened self-interest: you never know when your very life may depend upon the goodwill of your neighbors. And yes, he often seems overly concerned with the letter of the law, but consider this: he's in a strange land, among a strange people with strange customs, and he has little knowledge of how they apply their laws in real life. Of course he is concerned with the letter of the law, it's the only concrete guidance that he has. As for civilized - I think of Fraser as a man who would like to believe in the inherent goodness of man and in the justice of the system, but deep down he's a pragmatic man who will do what is necessary to survive. How can he not be, given where he grew up? No, Fraser is not a hidden rapist or serial killer, but he is just as capable of making hard choices and having dark thoughts as anyone else. He's just better at hiding it. In my opinion, Fraser is a dangerous but disciplined man, not a goody-goody two-shoes.

I've been reading a lot of The Sentinel fan-fiction lately, and, having exhausted the supply of slash, I started in on the GEN. Imagine my surprise, when I discovered that, unlike many other fandoms, there isn't a lot of difference between slash and gen fic in The Sentinel Fandom! In fact, 85% percent or better of the gen stories that I have read could also easily be defined as pre-slash. They're mostly about Jim and Blair's relationship with each other, and if there are any women involved, they are either minor background characters or part of the obligatory happy ending. You know, the "And Jim and Blair were best friends and brothers and lived together in peace and harmony for the rest of their lives; they eventually married wonderful women and had many healthy and happy children, etc....The End" part of the story.
In fact, reading TS gen is a lot like foreplay without the orgasm! Kinda frustrating after a while, and I keep having this urge to hit Jim and Blair with a Clue Bus!
On the other hand, the plotline in most Gen stories is really well developed, now if we could just stick the occasional bit of hot sex or emotional intimacy between J & B in there, everything would perfect.