Drake's Venture overview.
Hi! I'm Alinewrites and I'll be your reccer for a small fandom called Drake's Venture, from a movie that aired in the eighties, featuring John Thaw (inspector Morse) and Paul Darrow (Blake's 7 Avon).
But first... An overview!
If there's a fandom that can qualify for the title of “smallest fandom in fandomworld”, this is the one. It's also, IMHO, one of the very best.
We start with a handicap: there is no viewing material available for the fandom (although any fan will happily provide you with a version of the movie for the enlightment of new fans). Drake's venture is based on the eponymous TV movie aired in 1980 on a now defunct channel. It's been aired twice. The technical quality is... Average, shall we say.
So why are you boring us with it, you moron? I hear you yell. Shut up and see:
Thomas Doughtie (who loves books) and Francis Drake (who loves... errr... Glory? Gold? Himself?) in their angsty glory.
That would be because “Drake's venture” which is basically (although not at all) the story of Drake's circumnavigation around the world has all we love. Slash so obvious it's almost painful. Angst so thick you'll need a knife to cut through it. A handsome, elegant, ambiguous - albeit doomed - hero who is, on top of all, played with dashing talent by Paul Darrow, who, when directed firmly can be very good.
Paul Darrow (Avon in Blake's 7) with a beard and puppy eyes, hair ruffled by the ocean wind, facing adversity and death with style. A gentleman. He suffers beautifully. We all love him.
Oh, there's a ship in the fandom, of course, although we don't care much about sailing, or the traditional pirate stuff. It's called the Pelican, then later the Golden Hind. There are villains and beautiful costumes. Clever dialogues and depressing musing. And penguins. We'll talk of penguins later, if you don't mind.
I. WHO ARE THEY?
Francis Drake (John Thaw, awesome): Privateer, sailor, English hero who later defeated the Spanish Armada. In this movie, he's circumnavigating the world, like Magellan did before him (but Magellan did not come back alive) and incidentally plundering enemy (read Spanish) ship on the way. More on thousands of internet sites. He hates Spaniards. A will of iron, a strong man, a charismatic one, a bully, a tyrant. You don't want to spend a single day with him, no ma'am. On the other hand, he is rather fascinating - his iron will, fierce determination can win you over in the end.
Thomas Doughtie (Paul Darrow, excellent) : Gentleman, lawyer, soldier, a man of great intelligence, cultured and education. A courtier, who dabbles with occultism and wears clothes with a lot of style. Fashion victim, can't hold his tongue (no, not like this). Close friend of Francis Drake. They have spent time together in Ireland fighting for the Queen, and it's in Ireland we suppose that they “fell in friendship” despite the huge social gap between them.
Queen “bitch please” Elizabeth 1st: she's the one who commissions Drake and sends him sailing across the Straits of Magellan and pillaging Spanish ships. On the question whether the Queen ever delivered a written commission... Drake says she has - everyone else says she has not.
The Pelican: renamed “Golden Hinde” after Dougthie's death, she's Drake's ship. The idea of sailing around the world on *that* would not enter a sane man's mind but hey... It's Drake. There are other ships (5 on the whole) that leave Plymouth. One only will come back. I call her a character because she is the place where it all happens - almost.
Francis Fletcher: The Chaplain on the ship. A religious coward who will be excommunicated by Francis Drake (Did you say hubris?). He'd like to help Doughty but he's too scared to do so. Drake will excommunicate him in the end (yeah, Drake did not know the meaning of the word "hubris")
Nuno Da Silva: the captain of a Portuguese ship who will guide Drake through the Straits of Magellan. Drake will abandon him later - and actually show some remorse - before he starts the trip back to England, knowing that Da Silva will be tortured by the Spaniards. Can be paired with Doughtie nicely.
The villains: John Drake (Francis' nephew), Francis Fletcher, Ned Bright. Want Doughtie out of the picture. Harass him, humiliate him, discredit him.
Leonard Vicary: Doughtie's friend. A lawyer just like him, but crippled with debts. Would like to help but hey... It's dangerous.
The crew (just because these two are cute)
Queen's Elizabeth's advisors: John Dee, astrologer, great supporter of the venture, believes that Drake is the ideal man for the job, probably knows Doughtie who might be one of his disciple.
Crhistopher Hatton (QE called him “mutton” in private), Francis Walshingham, Drake's supporters.
Lord Burghley: is supposed to know nothing about the venture until it's too late to stop it but...
Doughtie lets the cat out of the bag, probably inadvertently.
THE MOVIE THAT KILLED ME...
This is history, people, and every detail is scrupulously exact (except for the penguins but we'll come to them later). But it's not just about Drake's venture, actually, which only offers a heroic background to the tragedy unfolding between Drake and his “best friend” before the viewer's horrified and incredulous eyes. It's not a movie about sailing or heroic boarding of enemy ships or the demise of evil spies. It has very little to do with the age of sail, actually. It has a lot to do with betrayed friendship, class war, the unending struggle between ethics and greed, superstition and reason. It's also about how to wear one's cloak in the latest fashion and how finally great men are not so great.
With Elizabeth 1st's (unofficial) benediction, Francis Drake (he's not a pirate, he's a privateer. It makes all the difference, right?) leaves Plymouth with five ships for a trip around the world and the capture of the so called "Treasure ship", a spaniard ship (the Cacafuego) conveying large quantities of gold and jewels from Spanish Colonies back to Spain. Aboard are some “gentlemen adventurers” who also invested in the venture and among them Thomas Doughtie (Doughty on google, but Thomas signed his will DoughtIE, so...) who opened the right doors for Drake, found the necessary political and financial support.. He also hired and armed the soldiers. Beside he is also his closest friend. “Like my other right hand” Drake says. "Closer than my own brother". Yeah. We'll see.
A trip around the world in those day is long, dangerous, boring and uncertain. Dissensions raise easily. The gentlemen despise the sailors who despise them in return.
Doughtie's opinion is that Drake and himself are partners, equals: both command the men aboard, soldiers are under Dougthie's command while Drake has full authority over the sailors. Drake's opinion is that he is the only leader aboard and that everyone must yield to his authority - Gentlemen and soldiers included. Considering the fact that Doughtie is not enthusiastic about the goal of the venture and would rather avoid the straits of Magellan and all the deadly places around, and that Drake is of the contrary opinion, the situation is ripe for trouble.
Doughtie starts to more or less undermine Drake's authority when he understands that the men aboard know nothing yet of their true destination - it was cautiousness from Drake's part. Hard enough to find a crew without telling them that probably a good number of them will not see Plymouth again. Doughtie does not share my opinion. And maybe he's bored. Maybe he wants to go back to London where his life is?
Let's say, for the sake of suspense that the relations between the two men escalate to the point where there's no turning back, until one of them has to go. Since you probably learned about Francis Drake in your history class, you can guess it's Doughtie.
Doughtie is sentenced to death after a mock trial - false depositions from Drake's partisans, false accusations: sorcery because Doughtie dabbles with occultism, lewdness for reasons unclear, treason, mutiny. The charge is a hodge-podge of various crimes of which Doughtie is mainly innocent (although he had indeed tried to turns some sailors against Drake). Drake insults him, belittles him, humiliates him. As a gentleman, I think that Doughtie never quite believes he will die until it's too late. When he does, there's not much he can do. Drake has bullied the whole crew into voting his death and swept away viciously any offer to keep him alive - especially the one coming from Winter, another captain, who offers to take Doughtie back to England and was outvoted by his own sailors after Drake appealed to their most basic instincts: greed.
So, Doughtie will die, on the very beach where Magellan killed his own mutineers 50 years ago.
Doughtie's death is the absolute climax of the movie. As arrogant and rather annoying - and duplicitous - as he's been before, his death (beheading) is something like a work of art. He's facing death with the heroic courage of those gentlemen who were somehow persuaded that something better is waiting for them behind the curtain (although some can discuss that it also might be an excessive consumption of alchohol and whatever drug you can find on a deserted patagonian beach). Whether it's sincere or a challenge, Doughtie treats Drake like he is, indeed, despite the humiliations, the insults, his very best friend (and more if affinities) and the looks they exchange are those of unconsummated passion. Or pure hatred. Is there a difference? Doughtie gives an exalted, friendly encouraging last speech, litterally blessing the journey. There's a point where you could think that Drake looks slightly guilty but maybe he's just in a hurry to see Doughtie dead and make his motivation speech that will convince the sailors to go on.
Yay! Let's die!
Later, Drake will tell other captives how wonderful and lovable and brave and virtuous Doughtie was ("I loved him well") which leaves us wondering if he is eaten alive with remorse or was just putting up a show for his own benefit. On the other hand, once he had killed the man he loved, you can imagine how those he did not particularly fancy felt!!
Once Dougthie's dead, the movie, which after all is an historical one, goes on for some time, showing Drake's success (and the loss of four ships but who's counting), his return to England and the ceremony during which QE1 knights him under the withering looks of Doughtie's surviving friends. Some fans don't even want to watch it.
III. The fandom.
:We have the best writers in the world awesome writers, all of them coming from Blake's 7.
Some essential points...
SQUIE: The rallying cry is Squie! with a medieval S, and -ie- because errrr... DoughtIE?
PUPPIE: Considering the sadness and pleading in Doughtie's eyes (when he's not angry, that is) most of us call him the Puppie (which is fine since Drake was Queen Elizabeth's seadog). There are a number of gratuitous “Fquie, Puppie” posts to remind us of our hero's glory.
Penguins: There are no penguins in the movie and it's the only historical mistake. There would have been penguins on the beach near San Julian (argentina, website Here, the cursed place where Doughtie died. So there are lots of penguins in the fics. They have various functions: aliens, saviours, protectors of all that is Doughtie...
Eyelashes: Darrow - errr, Doughtie - has the most stunning eyelashes I have ever seen. How Drake can remain unmoved by this soft fringe of silk is beyond my comprehension.
Thy, thou, thee: Some fics are written in Elizabethan English - it's wonderful.
The FICS:
This fandom is full of geeks, who search historical books to find the truth about Drake and Dougthie. Some even translated Doughtie's will and shimere277 wrote an article for Wikipedia Here For so small a fandom, there are an amazing amount of fics (all the authors I'll rec are excellent AND prolific writers).
Most of the fandom is slash - there is some gen but really... The whole thing begs for slashing. Very little het although we know Doughtie was married (his wife died) and Drake is still married. You can pair one of them, or both, with QE1 if you like... the possibilities are infinite. For reasons that would resort to psychanalisis, Drake is the real man in the fandom and Doughtie is quite the slut. Although it can be the contrary. There's an amazing lot of rough sex, bondage and so on.
Most of the fics are loaded with so much angst it hurts- you know, Thomas does die in the end. More or less desperately angsty, depending on the fact that Thomas dies or not (most of the times, Drake has second thoughts). Even when he finally lives, it's still angsty and not necessarily happy. Many are called PJS for 'post July second', the day Doughtie was executed. You have PJS in DV like you have PGP in Blake's 7. (Mmmm. That was nicely obscure).
There's a lot of Doughtie- abuse fic. He suffers very beautifully. Really. And you can pair him with anyone. Like Avon. Not really a surprise.
Canon fics abound - our heroes meeting in Ireland, or at the Inner Temple where Dougthie, who was a lawyer as well as a courtier, lived; their life aboard the ship, in San Julian... As much as you like. And of course, knowing that Drake and Doughtie had a last private conversation before Dougthie's execution you can imagine that many fics dabble with the possibilities of such a moment, as well as some take place “the night before”, when Doughtie tries to come to terms with is fate.
But AU prevails, I think, with a particularity I haven't met yet in any other fandom: an incredible number of reincarnation fics where the boys, in various periods and various ways and with various success try to make things right between them. Drake makes penance (or not) and Doughtie forgives (more or less) and they end in bed. You will also find 'Pre-incarnation' fics trying to explain what the hell Doughtie has done to Drake in previous lives to deserve such a horrible fate.
Let's not forget the crack fics - the possibilities are infinite. Like Penguins.
Crossovers: of course, Blake's 7 and Drake's venture mix wonderfully. Some in the fandom think that Drake/Avon, as well as Blake/Doughtie, are the perfect couples. Other crossovers have been written too (Highlander/Drake's Venture...)
The sites:
Drake's venture has its own community called DV squee
The archive - DV ficarchive
Whatever you want to know go to the FAQ where Shimere277 (our fandom goddess) gives you much better than me every detail about the fandom, the movie, the characters. http://community.livejournal.com/dv_squee/38288.html
Go read it: it's smart, it's funny, it's all that you need.
Challenges are regularly issued, the fandom is very much alive for such a small one.
So? FQUIE!!!