The Evolution of my Ships Part 1
So, a few days ago I decided to talk about the evolution of my ships, which is something I've been wanting to do for awhile but always put it off. When
15lbpurebunny told me that she's never shipped until Crews/Reese, I pretty much balked at her, because I've been shipping my whole life without even knowing it. It just makes my TV shows/movies/books more enjoyable. I get obsessively invested with the characters and where the show is taking them. Sadly, it usually ends in disappointment for me, and I kick myself for being so damn invested, but... I always enjoy the ride, even if I hate the dump that I end up at. So I bring you
firthgal's ships through the ages. Some were just me being weird, some were me just thinking that the show HAD to end that way, and some were me living vicariously through the characters.
Now, my earliest recollection is probably Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck.
I didn't really ship them, per se, but they probably influenced my future choices in slash ships. They were grudgingly best friends, rivals, jerkwads to each other, Daffy never got the recognition he deserved because Bugsy always showed him up, they were obsessed with each other, they found purpose in each other. I just really enjoyed watching them together. And I felt bad for poor Daffy. Yes, Daffy was an obnoxious ass, but he didn't know that, and Bugsy just made it worse.
Elmer Fudd/Female Bugs Bunny
This cartoon broke my little 3 year old heart so badly every time I was forced to watch it (which... was a lot, because my oldest brother couldn't get enough of "Kill Da Wabbit"). Just... oh, poor Elmer. He's deceived into loving this beautiful woman, and then he figures out that he's been betrayed and this uncontrollable anger surges through him and his destruction causes the death of Bugsy, and once Elmer realizes that he's killed his love, this kills him, and it's just so damn sad. But funny. But sad. I was conflicted, which is probably why I always had a hard time watching this. Of course, Elmer is always filled to the brim with remorse whenever he thinks he's killed Bugs, so... obviously Elmer was a bad hunter.
Jack/Janet from Three's Company
Okay, now, this is where I really started shipping full force. I was probably in the age range of 3-8 when I watched the reruns of this show, and I was majorly, MAJORLY in love with John Ritter and made sure that I never missed an ep, and even at that young of an age, I picked up on the Jack/Janet subtext and I thought that it was the logical ending for the show for Jack to end up with Janet. I literally did not believe that it would end in any other way (and these were the days before the internet and 500 cable channels, so I had no way of knowing how the show had ended without watching all the reruns, and this was back when reruns were shown in the evenings, so they were part of our nightly TV schedule). Anyway, the show so logically set up Jack/Janet that my baby self could see they belonged together, and I got so terribly invested and I got all excited any time Jack was jealous of Janet's dates (like, this thrill would shoot through me, the same kind of feeling that goes through you when you go over a hill really fast in the car). So this was definitely my first huge ship, and it left me heart-broken, all for the sake of some crap spin-off that didn't last. Hmph. This is where money prevailed over the sake of the story, only I didn't know that until many years later when I saw the E! True Hollywood Story for Three's Company. So... yeah, I was crushed. I really dug them. By the way, the day John Ritter died? I mourned for three days. *is such a dork* I mourned for a week over Phil Hartman. Anyway...
Mork and Mindy
Same age as I was during the Three's Company reruns, and I had an even bigger crush on Robin Williams. He was my #1 man for many many years. The weird thing? I didn't fall in love with him from this, but from Hook. Then I revisited Mork and Mindy when my obsession hit. Anyway, even as a tiny tot, I shipped these two. The subtext was quite obvious, and the show set them up in a way that even little kids could see that they belonged together, and they did get together and it made me SO HAPPY! They were just plain adorable, I loved them.
Tony/Angela - Who's the Boss
Now, this was a show that I watched as it aired, so I basically grew up with it. And yeah, Tony and Angela got me excited. Now, this show was a little different in regards to sexual tension, because it was always an undercurrent through all their interactions, and I knew something was there, but I was too young to really know what it was. I just knew that Tony loooooooved Angela and couldn't tell her then he gave up on her, and then Angela loooooooved Tony and couldn't tell him, but then it was kind of understood that they loooooooved each other because neither one would date anyone else, but they still couldn't tell each other. Then a lot of things made me sad, then they finally admitted their love and it was adorable and lovely, and then they broke up. :'( But the ending implied that they got back together, so... I actually loved this entire show, so I wasn't in it just for Tony/Angela, but they played a big part in my love for the show. Now, as an adult, I adore their romance, and I see so much more than I did as a kid, and I can't get over how freaking amazing Tony and Judith were together, and I'm pretty sure these two set up my passion for unrequited love from the man and complete obliviousness from the woman, and a whole lot of bantering. They are basically the Mom and Dad of all my het ships.
Murphy/Frank - Murphy Brown
(Frank's the balding one). This was another show that I grew up with, and I adored Murphy/Frank. They were best friends, Murphy treated him like crap but Frank worshiped her and did absolutely anything for her, he always needed her opinion on everything, and basically he couldn't live without her. He was ridiculously loyal to her no matter how nasty she was to him, but he also managed to bring out the best in her. They had a beautiful friendship, but the show was on for so long that I lost track of it towards the end (they kept changing the days and I think it may have even changed channels). Anyway, I caught the last season on Nick at Nite not too long ago, and I saw that they explored the idea of turning Murphy/Frank romantic, but in the end, they just stayed friends. That kind of killed me a little, because they honestly would never find anything that compares to their relationship, but I can see why the sexual feelings didn't really appear for them. They had been completely platonic friends for more than 20 years. They found each other attractive, just... not in a sexy time way. So, I was able to accept that, and their friendship got very, very deep as the years went on and it was just so beautiful.
Mr. Scheffield/Ms. Fine - The Nanny
Now this is where shipping really came at me in full force. I was in my early teenage years, so I could fully grasp the sexual innuendos, the lusty looks, the denial from Maxwell, the obliviousness from Fran, THE JEALOUSY oooooooh how I loved jealous Maxwell, and I loved all they did for each other, and how they were opposites yet they fit together so perfectly... oh man, I loved these two. I was in it purely for them (and I had a crush on Niles). But yeah, they rocked my world. This was when I entered my squeeing phase. The ep where they got stuck in an elevator together? I nearly hyperventilated. The ep on the plane where he said, "I love you"? I shot out of my bed and ran around my room saying, "Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod," and then I cursed the writers for making me have to wait an entire summer to see the repercussions, and then they completely crushed me by having him take it back and we got a monumentally sucky season, and then once they started dating everything had already been done so wrong that I was just like, "Meh," and then the season got suckier, and then they got married and I moved onto Niles/CC, but of course the majority of the Niles/CC episodes never got shown (I forget why), and then I bawled when the show ended because it had been such a huge part of my life for so long. It was sad.
Bill/Catherine - NewsRadio
(the two on the far right). This... was a weird ship, but I shipped it from the first episode. I was already madly in love with Phil Hartman, and then his character and Catherine had this fiery arguing between them that was too hard to resist, and Catherine was the ONLY person who Bill would sort of listen to, and they had had a previous affair, so I wasn't too far off base. I'm still convinced that Bill loved her. I'm pretty sure she loved him too.
Ally/John - Ally McBeal
(John's the one on the far right). These two seriously, seriously played with my heart. John liked her and she sort of liked him but then she didn't, John fell in love with her but she just wanted to be friends, she fell in love with him but he just wanted to be friends, he fell in love with her again, but again, she rejected him, then he tried again, and she rejected him again because she had a daughter from some ridiculously contrived storyline and she wanted to focus on her relationship with her instead of getting caught up in love (and I think she was still in love with Larry, but I could be wrong about that). Anyway, they were soul mates with a case of monumentally bad timing. The only man who rivaled my affection for John Cage was Larry Paul, and I'm pretty sure I would have been okay with Ally/Larry had RDJ's drug problems not gotten in the way. I think Larry deserves a pic of his own:
*dreamy sigh*
Ron/Hermione - Harry Potter
They were pretty much my entire reason for falling so deeply in love with the Harry Potter books. Before they came into the story, I was taking a really long time to get through the first book. But then Ron and Hermione showed up and they instantly hated each other but were drawn to each other and they had the most adorable banter and I couldn't believe they were only 11 and having that kind of mad chemistry and I lived for their every fight, and I loved how Harry was the glue that held them all together, but Ron and Hermione would always be off in their own world fighting about things that Harry could never understand, and I loved how Hermione always kind of had a thing for Ron but Ron was completely oblivious, and how Ron's feelings for her completely snuck up on him, and how he would get so intensely jealous over any guy she liked (even Lockehart from the second book), and basically, they were destined for each other, and I soaked up their every moment. Yeah I liked the magic and the adventure, but my real reason for being so obsessed with the books? These two. I love them in the movies too, but not quite as hard as I do in the books.
Luke/Lorelai - Gilmore Girls
I was hugely into this ship. I lived for their angst, for Luke's quietly unrequited love, for Lorelai's obliviousness, for their banter, for Luke's jealousy, for their beautiful friendship, and it killed me in the best way possible that every time she came close to realizing Luke's feelings, she'd get sidetracked with Christopher or Max or Digger and it would make Luke simmer with frustration and she never knew why. And the weird thing here is that I always loved every single one of Lorelai's love interests. They were all awesome and I could see her with all of them, but she always went "home" to Luke, every time. Until, of course, the writers messed everything up and killed my ship. :'(
Anna/King - Anna and the King
Chow Yun-Fat. *wibbles* Honestly, Chow's smile killed me in the best way possible, and I fell madly in love, and he played the king with such passion, and the chemistry between him and Jodie was absolutely amazing, and the king and Anna completed each other in every way. He filled the void left by her husband's death and taught her that she can love again, and she made him realize what it felt like to need only one person in the entire world. And they fought with each other, and they became best friends, and then they fell in love, but they weren't allowed to love each other, and the king could have anything he wanted, all except for Anna, and it makes him hurt inside, because he had to lose his soul mate and this wonderful, feisty woman who rocked his world and treated him like an equal instead of a god. That last scene where they share their last dance reduces me to a ball of tears every time. It's just such a beautiful movie, and Chow Yun-Fat is so beautiful, and you can feel everything they feel and it's just such a wonderful story. Keep in mind that I went into this movie rolling my eyes and going, "Ugh, not another crummy romance movie," and I came out all starry-eyed and in love.
Monk/Sharona - Monk
Okay, now, this was THE ship. The ship that owned my soul and brought me into this crazy world called fandom. The ship where I was fully aware that I was shipping right from the beginning (I just didn't know the term "shipping" yet). I loved this show so much that I decided to see if it had a website, and it did. And it had a messageboard, and I was curious, so I clicked on it, and I saw people discussing the show in depth and obsessing over it the same way I did (actually, moreso than me) and I was like, "Wow. I had no idea." And so I lurked for a long time, then the shippers started cropping up, and the arguments started, and that brought me out of lurkdom and my shy exterior and I basically wrote an essay on why Monk and Sharona belonged together, and from then on I discussed the show in detail with everyone. And this was when Adrian Monk was the greatest character on television. So complex and funny and socially inept and so damn beautiful. I was in love. And I was most especially in love with the Monk/Sharona banter, the way that he would look at her, or the way he'd say a line in just the right way to maybe hint that it's something more, and the way that he loved her so much and she never realized the depth of his devotion to her, and how she protected him so fiercely but at the same time challenged him more than anyone. They were opposites who completed each other. Couldn't live without each other. The comedy came so naturally for them, and their chemistry was freaking amazing. There were so many moments to analyze and so much was left up to interpretation. But then producers killed the hopes of all the shippers when they said it would never happen, and they started pushing Sharona/Disher, and I already wasn't too fond of Disher to begin with, so at that point I despised him. And then Bitty Schram made the producers angry and they fired her and my heart was irrevocably broken into a thousand pieces, and I've never quite forgiven the show for that. And I've never felt the chemistry between Monk and Natalie (not romantic) and yet the producers are all for a Monk/Natalie hookup, while they were forcibly against Monk/Sharona. BOO! Boo on you producers. I hate you. You're just getting desperate for ratings. But guess what? Monk/Natalie is made of so much lose. So much. They put me to sleep. On the plus side, I'm madly in love with Disher now. I feel more chemistry between Natalie and Disher than I do Natalie/Monk. Anyway, the character of Sharona has been tarnished beyond repair since she abandoned Adrian, and I hate the show for that. But I still can't let go of the show, because it used to be the greatest show on television, and I keep hoping to see little remembrances of that.
George/Rube - Dead Like Me
Oh, hush, you know I like age gaps. I loved the George/Rube relationship. Mentor/student, I can't resist those ships. And he got George like no one else did, and she had such a genuine affection for him. And their teasing of each other was just plain adorable. Loved them. This was probably my first foray into going against canon yet still seeing subtext. Because I'm weird.
Rory/Marty - Gilmore Girls
Unrequited love in its truest form. Oh, Marty, how my heart weeped for you. WEEPED! I lost all respect for Rory when she chose that dickweed Logan over you. You were so adorkable and sweet and completely devoted to Rory, and you got her, and she got you (for the most part) and oh how I wish you could have at least gotten a kiss. You quietly yearned for her, you listened to her relationship woes, you made her laugh, you were her best friend. And then you couldn't stand being invisible anymore. And she broke your heart. And you ran away. Then you came back because you had gone the wrong way, then you left again. And I lost my love for Gilmore Girls. And then you made a brief reappearance and I cringed for you when your old love for her got in the way of the new life you had made. Oh, Marty. And since this caused problems for both you and Rory, the show made me think there was still a chance, maybe in the future. And I choose to believe that you guys meet up with each other again in your late 20s, and Rory realizes what an idiot she was, and you're still madly in love with her, and you make adorable babies together. Yes. This is how it really ended.
Lizzie/Fred - Drop Dead Fred
What's that you say? Why yes, I am insane! But... but... they're just so adorable! I know he's imaginary, but I wished with all my heart that he could somehow crossover into the realm of reality and admit his undying love for her and they could get married and have lots of babies and create all kinds of chaos together. I was convinced that he was in love with her, especially since he would get jealous every time she paid attention to a guy that wasn't him. The end, when Fred's acting all grown up, and Lizzie doesn't want him to leave but he has to because she doesn't need him anymore... OH! My heart. And this was the movie that started my Rik Mayall obsession. I had actually seen this movie when I was younger, but once I saw it as an adult, I was like, "Holy crap! Way more sexual tension there than is supposed to be." They were soul mates, and the ending makes me cry every time, because I'm a sap. But a part of me believes that he became Mickey's daughter's imaginary friend purely so that he could still be around Lizzie, and Lizzie just knew that it was him. Gah! I love it.
Rick/Vyvyan - The Young Ones
(the red hair guy and the guy with the buttons on his jacket)
Really, I loved all of The Young Ones, because they just wouldn't be them without the signature preppy or hippie or punk or wannabe anarchist. But the punk and the wannabe anarchist are the ones that grabbed my attention. Mostly because of Rik Mayall, but also because Rick/Vyvyan had the greatest comedic chemistry, which makes sense since Rik and Ade were a comedy team for years. Anyway, Vyvyan was absolutely obsessed with beating the crap out of Rick (or Prick, as he fondly called him), and Rick was obsessed with trying to prove himself to Vyvyan but just came off as a pretentious idiot, hence why Vyv always beat the crap out of him. They were begrudgingly inseparable (because no one else could stand being around them). And they both loved teaming up on poor Neil, because everyone hates hippies. They were just hilarious, and gorgeous, and I love them. One of my favorite scenes:
And here's another one, lots of man-on-man action in that one (well, you know, if you count beating the crap out of each other man-on-man action).
Richie/Eddie - Bottom
Okay, so these are basically the same characters, but older and even more pathetic. I LOVE THEM!!! I truly believe that Rick and Vyv grew up to be Richie and Eddie. Richie is a virgin, Eddie is an alcoholic, and they are stuck with each other because they have nowhere else to go. They are basically a foul-mouthed version of Laurel and Hardy. Richie is hopelessly devoted to Eddie, but Eddie never shows him any love, so he gets frustrated. Eddie takes advantage of Richie's loneliness and moronicness. They constantly try to kill each other. They are always trying to get away from each other, but always end up back by each other's side. They are a classic married couple, with Richie always nagging Eddie and kicking him out and cooking for him. And Richie is SO horny that he will sex up anything, and yes, I'm pretty positive he'd sex up Eddie if he had the chance just because it would be some form of human contact. (In Bottom Live 3 (or maybe it was 5?) Richie and Eddie are stuck on an island, and Richie is screwing a bird. Yes, a bird. And then he accidentally does... something... with Eddie. Seriously, this show is just crack, but I love it). Yes, it's lewd, it's base humor, but... I can't help it, I love Richie and Eddie with a passion. And behind all the double entendres and violence, they really do have a lovely (yet dysfunctional) relationship. A montage:
John Major (Coco the Clown)/Glynis Kinnock - The Comic Strip Presents: Red Nose of Courage
WHAT??? Oh yes. This is by far my favorite Comic Strip, and it was responsible for me becoming a bigger Ade Edmondson fan than I was of Rik Mayall. Well, this and Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase (probably my second favorite Comic Strip). Anyway, it was just so ridiculous, but Ade and Dawn played it like a serious romance film, and it just... gah, it was beautiful. But crazy. John Major was leading a double life, successful British politician by day, Coco the Clown by night, and his #1 adversary was Glynis, but then he sees her at the circus one night and he falls in love with the joy on her face, and he woos her as Coco because he's afraid she'll hate him if she knew he was John, and they even make love with him as Coco, but then she figures out that he's John and it's all very dramatic, and then their love ends up uniting the tories and the labor party. It's hilarious. But it gets me all excited in the same way that a good rom-com would. I may have to upload this one day for your viewing pleasure. It really is one of my favorite love stories of all time.
Alan/Denny - Boston Legal
Greatest friendship in the history of anything. They make me laugh, they make me cry, they make me want to strangle them, they make me want to hug them, they make me go "awwwww" and they make me squee. This is probably the most satisfying ship the world. I don't necessarily ship them in a sexual way, but emotionally, they are each other's everything and they fully admit this to themselves and to each other. They want to spend the rest of their lives together, and Denny's even turned down women he supposedly loved because they wanted to take him away from Alan, and he simply can't imagine his life without Alan by his side. He's even admitted to loving Alan more than the women. They have both proclaimed their love to each other and to the public, their love shines through in every single interaction that they have with each other, even their fights, and they are basically an old married couple. They are soul mates and they consider their relationship the greatest thing that's ever happened to either one of them, and no other relationship has ever been able to compare to their love for each other. They see each other through the hard times, and they know they'll always be there for each other. Denny wants to spend his last day on earth fishing alone with Alan. And despite the fact that they are opposites, they accept each other for all that they are. And although Denny's possessive of Alan whenever he gets friendly with other men, and Alan gets possessive of Denny whenever Denny starts falling in love with a woman, they are both aware of how much they love each other. It doesn't have to be said, they just know, although they do say it when the moment strikes them. They bond over scotch and cigars on the balcony every night, and that's where they feel at home. That's their special place. And basically, this is the greatest romance ever told, only it's between two completely heterosexual guys. Yes, they have a few gay moments together, but only because they're so comfortable with each other that they aren't restricted by the typical confines of heterosexual maleness. I mean... they have sleepovers together. In the same bed. And they see nothing homosexual in this at all. They rule.
Michael/Dwight - The Office
Why? I... I don't know. They're just so... dysfunctional. Michael is a total asswipe to Dwight, while Dwight remains loyal and completely in love with Michael. Dwight admires absolutely everything about Michael Scott, even the things that he doesn't really like about him, and Dwight is positively desperate to be Michael's best friend. He loves him unconditionally, wants to follow in his footsteps, looks to him for guidance, yearns to make him proud, waters his plants and does all these little things for Michael that Michael never even notices, wants to protect him from the world, but at the same time he views Michael as this fearless hero, he builds Michael up to be SO much more than he actually is and Dwight does this because he truly believes that Michael really is that great/cool/funny/slick/handsome. Michael, on the other hand, both resents Dwight and loves Dwight. He doesn't view Dwight as the type of guy that he should be friends with. He wants to be friends with the cool guys, or the pretty guys, or the popular guys, and Dwight is none of those in Michael's eyes. Michael's #1 desire in life is to be loved, but the problem is, he wants to be loved by the people who will never love him. Dwight is giving him everything he needs, but he refuses to see this. Dwight loves him, and he knows it, but he doesn't appreciate it. So he takes Dwight's love for granted, manipulates Dwight into doing things for him, and Dwight happily goes along with it, because all he really wants is Michael's happiness. Michael is definitely Dwight's greatest love. I know he broke down over Angela, but if he ever lost Michael? He'd be beyond repair. He'd have no purpose in life. And Michael? Michael would be a complete mess without Dwight. Dwight is the only person in the world who loves Michael so completely and would do absolutely anything for him. When Michael is devastated, he finds solace in Dwight's love, and when Dwight is devastated, he finds solace in Michael's need of him. If Michael wasn't so damn blinded by commercial beauty, he'd be able to see how beautiful Dwight really is and he'd be able to appreciate everything that Dwight does for him. Sadly, Michael will never change, and he'll never fully encompass the importance of Dwight in his life, but luckily Dwight will love him forever. And they do have their adorable moments where Michael truly appreciates Dwight, but those moments are rare.
Darcy/Elizabeth - Pride and Prejudice
The quintessential rom-com couple. The only rom-coms that I have ever liked clearly used this story as a basic model. They're intrigued by each other but the woman is set against falling for the man, then she gets offended by said man and they argue every time they meet but the man is turned on by the fiery woman and the fiery woman is getting all lusty over the arrogant guy who is trying so hard to make her like him only she has no clue because she thinks he hates her, and their fights are always entertaining, and then the man makes his move and the woman breaks his heart because she's too stubborn to see past his arrogant nature, then heartbroken man realizes all he did wrong and becomes a better man because of it, and fiery woman starts to notice his charms, and then she's heartbroken because she thinks he would never have her after she humiliated him like that, and then we get a lovely confession at the end, only... this is Jane Austen, so it's not all smoochy and hot but instead very restrained and there's lots of smiling and Colin Firth being dreamy.
While I'm talking about P&P, let me just throw in Bridget/Mark from Bridget Jones' Diary, Lucy/Geroge from Two Weeks Notice, Harry/Sally from When Harry Met Sally, Jane/Eddie from Someone Like You and Kate/Luc from French Kiss. I love all these couples for pretty much the same reasons as Darcy/Elizabeth. Opposites, they are initially repulsed by the idea of dating each other (or.. at least, the women are. I'm pretty sure Luc was in love with Kate the second he met her), witty banter, they become best friends, then the love sneaks up on them. I am a sucker for these ships.
Daniel/Betty - Ugly Betty
(banners by gibbynka)
Daniel and Betty have too much adorableness to contain in one pic. I love these two. LOVE THEM! I became enamored with them after Sharona left Monk and my #1 OTP was ripped apart and my heart was stomped on. But luckily I found Daniel and Betty, and depending on when you talk to me, they are probably my favorite ship of all time. They encompass absolutely everything that I love. They are complete opposites, and yet when you look past their exteriors and really get down to their souls, they are one in the same. There's an age gap. They banter. It's slightly mentor/student. They're best friends. Possible future unrequitedness. I COULDN'T RESIST! Both Daniel and Betty are genuinely good people who want to do good things, but are often mislead by their environment and their naivete. They are naive in different ways, and they are worldly in different ways. Where one person lacks, the other picks up the slack. They complete each other. Daniel's flashy and rich and everything gets handed to him on a silver platter, everything except love from his family. Betty's frumpy and frugal and her family depends on her for everything and love her to death. Daniel's the big disappointment, forever the baby of his family who doesn't know any better. All that was ever expected of him was disappointment... until Betty came along. Betty sees Daniel in a way that no one else does. She challenges him, she expects great things from him no matter how much he screws up, and Betty's pure excitement over the smallest of Daniel's accomplishments makes him strive harder to please her than he does absolutely anyone. He lives to see her smile. Her confidence in him and the love that she shows him every day gives him a reason to be a better man. She's pretty much his everything. He worships her. She shows him how to clean up his messes (or... well, more like forces him to figure it out), she accepts him for all that he is, but at the same time, she sees the greatness that he can accomplish. Daniel gives up too easily (for everything), while Betty always finds the strength to keep going no matter how many times she gets knocked down. Anytime Daniel's world is rocked, he looks to Betty for guidance (despite being 10 years her senior). For Betty, Daniel is her best friend. She looks to him for approval, for guidance, for understanding, and for plain old friendship. She calls him out on his crap, and he does the same for her (only... she gets mad when he does it, or else she'll give him a look that says, "You have no room to talk.") Daniel helps her to step out of her comfort zone. He does little things for her that he would never think to do for anyone else, and he does it because of his genuine affection for her, not for any ulterior motives. Daniel needs her, and Betty thrives off of being needed. She feels important when she's in his presence, which wasn't always the case in the very beginning, so their relationship has come a long way. The Daniel/Betty relationship is the heart and soul of the show, and all signs point to them being soul mates and best friends for life. Their bond is completely emotional, and their relationship has been slowly growing from the first episode. The big hurdle for these two is sexual tension. While I do believe that Daniel loves her and doesn't know it, I don't think he's quite attracted to her on a sexual level yet, and same with Betty. Daniel's a good-looking guy, but he's genderless to her in regards to their friendship. Do I believe that they'll turn romantic in the future? Most definitely. But it'll be a slow process, and Daniel has to realize that no woman will ever measure up to Betty in his eyes, and at that point he'll start looking at her as a woman rather than Just Betty, and he'll come to love her whole package. For Betty, she'd have to be forced to look at Daniel as a man and not Just Daniel, which could happen in a number of ways, but I'm thinking it may not happen until she learns that Daniel's in love with her. Wherever the show chooses to go, I just can't see these two not ending up together. And I definitely can't see Daniel not falling for Betty. And no matter how much this show disappoints me, one thing that they've always gotten right is the Daniel/Betty interaction, so I truly believe they could pull it off, as long as they continue to practice patience and keep inserting the subtext. Also, Eric Mabius plays Daniel as being gobsmacked in love with Betty, I don't care what he says. He gives her these looks and most of the D/B subtext comes from those very looks. He may deny wanting them to get together, but I don't believe him for a second. No sir.
Chiyo/Chairman - Memoirs of a Geisha
GAH! This movie killed me. It was SO good! I'm not usually into serious romances, but make it a period piece and throw Ken Watanabe into the mix and I'm all over it. Plus... age gap. For some reason I can't resist that. But I felt dirty for wanting them to end up together since he met her when she was a little girl, but... it's what she wanted, and it made me remember all the crushes I had on adults when I was a kid, so I was kind of living vicariously through her. Their story was full of so much hope and angst and jealousy and tragedy and love, and the Chairman was such a nice guy, and he was the only thing in Chiyo's life that kept her going, that made life worth living, and he was so drawn to her and he so desperately wanted to make her happy, and then in the end, through all their tragedy, they were able to get their happy ending (yeah, she was only his geisha, but at least she could finally call herself his, and he was hers, and that was enough for her).
15lbpurebunny told me that she's never shipped until Crews/Reese, I pretty much balked at her, because I've been shipping my whole life without even knowing it. It just makes my TV shows/movies/books more enjoyable. I get obsessively invested with the characters and where the show is taking them. Sadly, it usually ends in disappointment for me, and I kick myself for being so damn invested, but... I always enjoy the ride, even if I hate the dump that I end up at. So I bring you
firthgal's ships through the ages. Some were just me being weird, some were me just thinking that the show HAD to end that way, and some were me living vicariously through the characters.
Now, my earliest recollection is probably Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck.
I didn't really ship them, per se, but they probably influenced my future choices in slash ships. They were grudgingly best friends, rivals, jerkwads to each other, Daffy never got the recognition he deserved because Bugsy always showed him up, they were obsessed with each other, they found purpose in each other. I just really enjoyed watching them together. And I felt bad for poor Daffy. Yes, Daffy was an obnoxious ass, but he didn't know that, and Bugsy just made it worse.
Elmer Fudd/Female Bugs Bunny
This cartoon broke my little 3 year old heart so badly every time I was forced to watch it (which... was a lot, because my oldest brother couldn't get enough of "Kill Da Wabbit"). Just... oh, poor Elmer. He's deceived into loving this beautiful woman, and then he figures out that he's been betrayed and this uncontrollable anger surges through him and his destruction causes the death of Bugsy, and once Elmer realizes that he's killed his love, this kills him, and it's just so damn sad. But funny. But sad. I was conflicted, which is probably why I always had a hard time watching this. Of course, Elmer is always filled to the brim with remorse whenever he thinks he's killed Bugs, so... obviously Elmer was a bad hunter.
Jack/Janet from Three's Company
Okay, now, this is where I really started shipping full force. I was probably in the age range of 3-8 when I watched the reruns of this show, and I was majorly, MAJORLY in love with John Ritter and made sure that I never missed an ep, and even at that young of an age, I picked up on the Jack/Janet subtext and I thought that it was the logical ending for the show for Jack to end up with Janet. I literally did not believe that it would end in any other way (and these were the days before the internet and 500 cable channels, so I had no way of knowing how the show had ended without watching all the reruns, and this was back when reruns were shown in the evenings, so they were part of our nightly TV schedule). Anyway, the show so logically set up Jack/Janet that my baby self could see they belonged together, and I got so terribly invested and I got all excited any time Jack was jealous of Janet's dates (like, this thrill would shoot through me, the same kind of feeling that goes through you when you go over a hill really fast in the car). So this was definitely my first huge ship, and it left me heart-broken, all for the sake of some crap spin-off that didn't last. Hmph. This is where money prevailed over the sake of the story, only I didn't know that until many years later when I saw the E! True Hollywood Story for Three's Company. So... yeah, I was crushed. I really dug them. By the way, the day John Ritter died? I mourned for three days. *is such a dork* I mourned for a week over Phil Hartman. Anyway...
Mork and Mindy
Same age as I was during the Three's Company reruns, and I had an even bigger crush on Robin Williams. He was my #1 man for many many years. The weird thing? I didn't fall in love with him from this, but from Hook. Then I revisited Mork and Mindy when my obsession hit. Anyway, even as a tiny tot, I shipped these two. The subtext was quite obvious, and the show set them up in a way that even little kids could see that they belonged together, and they did get together and it made me SO HAPPY! They were just plain adorable, I loved them.
Tony/Angela - Who's the Boss
Now, this was a show that I watched as it aired, so I basically grew up with it. And yeah, Tony and Angela got me excited. Now, this show was a little different in regards to sexual tension, because it was always an undercurrent through all their interactions, and I knew something was there, but I was too young to really know what it was. I just knew that Tony loooooooved Angela and couldn't tell her then he gave up on her, and then Angela loooooooved Tony and couldn't tell him, but then it was kind of understood that they loooooooved each other because neither one would date anyone else, but they still couldn't tell each other. Then a lot of things made me sad, then they finally admitted their love and it was adorable and lovely, and then they broke up. :'( But the ending implied that they got back together, so... I actually loved this entire show, so I wasn't in it just for Tony/Angela, but they played a big part in my love for the show. Now, as an adult, I adore their romance, and I see so much more than I did as a kid, and I can't get over how freaking amazing Tony and Judith were together, and I'm pretty sure these two set up my passion for unrequited love from the man and complete obliviousness from the woman, and a whole lot of bantering. They are basically the Mom and Dad of all my het ships.
Murphy/Frank - Murphy Brown
(Frank's the balding one). This was another show that I grew up with, and I adored Murphy/Frank. They were best friends, Murphy treated him like crap but Frank worshiped her and did absolutely anything for her, he always needed her opinion on everything, and basically he couldn't live without her. He was ridiculously loyal to her no matter how nasty she was to him, but he also managed to bring out the best in her. They had a beautiful friendship, but the show was on for so long that I lost track of it towards the end (they kept changing the days and I think it may have even changed channels). Anyway, I caught the last season on Nick at Nite not too long ago, and I saw that they explored the idea of turning Murphy/Frank romantic, but in the end, they just stayed friends. That kind of killed me a little, because they honestly would never find anything that compares to their relationship, but I can see why the sexual feelings didn't really appear for them. They had been completely platonic friends for more than 20 years. They found each other attractive, just... not in a sexy time way. So, I was able to accept that, and their friendship got very, very deep as the years went on and it was just so beautiful.
Mr. Scheffield/Ms. Fine - The Nanny
Now this is where shipping really came at me in full force. I was in my early teenage years, so I could fully grasp the sexual innuendos, the lusty looks, the denial from Maxwell, the obliviousness from Fran, THE JEALOUSY oooooooh how I loved jealous Maxwell, and I loved all they did for each other, and how they were opposites yet they fit together so perfectly... oh man, I loved these two. I was in it purely for them (and I had a crush on Niles). But yeah, they rocked my world. This was when I entered my squeeing phase. The ep where they got stuck in an elevator together? I nearly hyperventilated. The ep on the plane where he said, "I love you"? I shot out of my bed and ran around my room saying, "Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod," and then I cursed the writers for making me have to wait an entire summer to see the repercussions, and then they completely crushed me by having him take it back and we got a monumentally sucky season, and then once they started dating everything had already been done so wrong that I was just like, "Meh," and then the season got suckier, and then they got married and I moved onto Niles/CC, but of course the majority of the Niles/CC episodes never got shown (I forget why), and then I bawled when the show ended because it had been such a huge part of my life for so long. It was sad.
Bill/Catherine - NewsRadio
(the two on the far right). This... was a weird ship, but I shipped it from the first episode. I was already madly in love with Phil Hartman, and then his character and Catherine had this fiery arguing between them that was too hard to resist, and Catherine was the ONLY person who Bill would sort of listen to, and they had had a previous affair, so I wasn't too far off base. I'm still convinced that Bill loved her. I'm pretty sure she loved him too.
Ally/John - Ally McBeal
(John's the one on the far right). These two seriously, seriously played with my heart. John liked her and she sort of liked him but then she didn't, John fell in love with her but she just wanted to be friends, she fell in love with him but he just wanted to be friends, he fell in love with her again, but again, she rejected him, then he tried again, and she rejected him again because she had a daughter from some ridiculously contrived storyline and she wanted to focus on her relationship with her instead of getting caught up in love (and I think she was still in love with Larry, but I could be wrong about that). Anyway, they were soul mates with a case of monumentally bad timing. The only man who rivaled my affection for John Cage was Larry Paul, and I'm pretty sure I would have been okay with Ally/Larry had RDJ's drug problems not gotten in the way. I think Larry deserves a pic of his own:
*dreamy sigh*
Ron/Hermione - Harry Potter
They were pretty much my entire reason for falling so deeply in love with the Harry Potter books. Before they came into the story, I was taking a really long time to get through the first book. But then Ron and Hermione showed up and they instantly hated each other but were drawn to each other and they had the most adorable banter and I couldn't believe they were only 11 and having that kind of mad chemistry and I lived for their every fight, and I loved how Harry was the glue that held them all together, but Ron and Hermione would always be off in their own world fighting about things that Harry could never understand, and I loved how Hermione always kind of had a thing for Ron but Ron was completely oblivious, and how Ron's feelings for her completely snuck up on him, and how he would get so intensely jealous over any guy she liked (even Lockehart from the second book), and basically, they were destined for each other, and I soaked up their every moment. Yeah I liked the magic and the adventure, but my real reason for being so obsessed with the books? These two. I love them in the movies too, but not quite as hard as I do in the books.
Luke/Lorelai - Gilmore Girls
I was hugely into this ship. I lived for their angst, for Luke's quietly unrequited love, for Lorelai's obliviousness, for their banter, for Luke's jealousy, for their beautiful friendship, and it killed me in the best way possible that every time she came close to realizing Luke's feelings, she'd get sidetracked with Christopher or Max or Digger and it would make Luke simmer with frustration and she never knew why. And the weird thing here is that I always loved every single one of Lorelai's love interests. They were all awesome and I could see her with all of them, but she always went "home" to Luke, every time. Until, of course, the writers messed everything up and killed my ship. :'(
Anna/King - Anna and the King
Chow Yun-Fat. *wibbles* Honestly, Chow's smile killed me in the best way possible, and I fell madly in love, and he played the king with such passion, and the chemistry between him and Jodie was absolutely amazing, and the king and Anna completed each other in every way. He filled the void left by her husband's death and taught her that she can love again, and she made him realize what it felt like to need only one person in the entire world. And they fought with each other, and they became best friends, and then they fell in love, but they weren't allowed to love each other, and the king could have anything he wanted, all except for Anna, and it makes him hurt inside, because he had to lose his soul mate and this wonderful, feisty woman who rocked his world and treated him like an equal instead of a god. That last scene where they share their last dance reduces me to a ball of tears every time. It's just such a beautiful movie, and Chow Yun-Fat is so beautiful, and you can feel everything they feel and it's just such a wonderful story. Keep in mind that I went into this movie rolling my eyes and going, "Ugh, not another crummy romance movie," and I came out all starry-eyed and in love.
Monk/Sharona - Monk
Okay, now, this was THE ship. The ship that owned my soul and brought me into this crazy world called fandom. The ship where I was fully aware that I was shipping right from the beginning (I just didn't know the term "shipping" yet). I loved this show so much that I decided to see if it had a website, and it did. And it had a messageboard, and I was curious, so I clicked on it, and I saw people discussing the show in depth and obsessing over it the same way I did (actually, moreso than me) and I was like, "Wow. I had no idea." And so I lurked for a long time, then the shippers started cropping up, and the arguments started, and that brought me out of lurkdom and my shy exterior and I basically wrote an essay on why Monk and Sharona belonged together, and from then on I discussed the show in detail with everyone. And this was when Adrian Monk was the greatest character on television. So complex and funny and socially inept and so damn beautiful. I was in love. And I was most especially in love with the Monk/Sharona banter, the way that he would look at her, or the way he'd say a line in just the right way to maybe hint that it's something more, and the way that he loved her so much and she never realized the depth of his devotion to her, and how she protected him so fiercely but at the same time challenged him more than anyone. They were opposites who completed each other. Couldn't live without each other. The comedy came so naturally for them, and their chemistry was freaking amazing. There were so many moments to analyze and so much was left up to interpretation. But then producers killed the hopes of all the shippers when they said it would never happen, and they started pushing Sharona/Disher, and I already wasn't too fond of Disher to begin with, so at that point I despised him. And then Bitty Schram made the producers angry and they fired her and my heart was irrevocably broken into a thousand pieces, and I've never quite forgiven the show for that. And I've never felt the chemistry between Monk and Natalie (not romantic) and yet the producers are all for a Monk/Natalie hookup, while they were forcibly against Monk/Sharona. BOO! Boo on you producers. I hate you. You're just getting desperate for ratings. But guess what? Monk/Natalie is made of so much lose. So much. They put me to sleep. On the plus side, I'm madly in love with Disher now. I feel more chemistry between Natalie and Disher than I do Natalie/Monk. Anyway, the character of Sharona has been tarnished beyond repair since she abandoned Adrian, and I hate the show for that. But I still can't let go of the show, because it used to be the greatest show on television, and I keep hoping to see little remembrances of that.
George/Rube - Dead Like Me
Oh, hush, you know I like age gaps. I loved the George/Rube relationship. Mentor/student, I can't resist those ships. And he got George like no one else did, and she had such a genuine affection for him. And their teasing of each other was just plain adorable. Loved them. This was probably my first foray into going against canon yet still seeing subtext. Because I'm weird.
Rory/Marty - Gilmore Girls
Unrequited love in its truest form. Oh, Marty, how my heart weeped for you. WEEPED! I lost all respect for Rory when she chose that dickweed Logan over you. You were so adorkable and sweet and completely devoted to Rory, and you got her, and she got you (for the most part) and oh how I wish you could have at least gotten a kiss. You quietly yearned for her, you listened to her relationship woes, you made her laugh, you were her best friend. And then you couldn't stand being invisible anymore. And she broke your heart. And you ran away. Then you came back because you had gone the wrong way, then you left again. And I lost my love for Gilmore Girls. And then you made a brief reappearance and I cringed for you when your old love for her got in the way of the new life you had made. Oh, Marty. And since this caused problems for both you and Rory, the show made me think there was still a chance, maybe in the future. And I choose to believe that you guys meet up with each other again in your late 20s, and Rory realizes what an idiot she was, and you're still madly in love with her, and you make adorable babies together. Yes. This is how it really ended.
Lizzie/Fred - Drop Dead Fred
What's that you say? Why yes, I am insane! But... but... they're just so adorable! I know he's imaginary, but I wished with all my heart that he could somehow crossover into the realm of reality and admit his undying love for her and they could get married and have lots of babies and create all kinds of chaos together. I was convinced that he was in love with her, especially since he would get jealous every time she paid attention to a guy that wasn't him. The end, when Fred's acting all grown up, and Lizzie doesn't want him to leave but he has to because she doesn't need him anymore... OH! My heart. And this was the movie that started my Rik Mayall obsession. I had actually seen this movie when I was younger, but once I saw it as an adult, I was like, "Holy crap! Way more sexual tension there than is supposed to be." They were soul mates, and the ending makes me cry every time, because I'm a sap. But a part of me believes that he became Mickey's daughter's imaginary friend purely so that he could still be around Lizzie, and Lizzie just knew that it was him. Gah! I love it.
Rick/Vyvyan - The Young Ones
(the red hair guy and the guy with the buttons on his jacket)
Really, I loved all of The Young Ones, because they just wouldn't be them without the signature preppy or hippie or punk or wannabe anarchist. But the punk and the wannabe anarchist are the ones that grabbed my attention. Mostly because of Rik Mayall, but also because Rick/Vyvyan had the greatest comedic chemistry, which makes sense since Rik and Ade were a comedy team for years. Anyway, Vyvyan was absolutely obsessed with beating the crap out of Rick (or Prick, as he fondly called him), and Rick was obsessed with trying to prove himself to Vyvyan but just came off as a pretentious idiot, hence why Vyv always beat the crap out of him. They were begrudgingly inseparable (because no one else could stand being around them). And they both loved teaming up on poor Neil, because everyone hates hippies. They were just hilarious, and gorgeous, and I love them. One of my favorite scenes:
Click to viewAnd here's another one, lots of man-on-man action in that one (well, you know, if you count beating the crap out of each other man-on-man action).
Richie/Eddie - Bottom
Okay, so these are basically the same characters, but older and even more pathetic. I LOVE THEM!!! I truly believe that Rick and Vyv grew up to be Richie and Eddie. Richie is a virgin, Eddie is an alcoholic, and they are stuck with each other because they have nowhere else to go. They are basically a foul-mouthed version of Laurel and Hardy. Richie is hopelessly devoted to Eddie, but Eddie never shows him any love, so he gets frustrated. Eddie takes advantage of Richie's loneliness and moronicness. They constantly try to kill each other. They are always trying to get away from each other, but always end up back by each other's side. They are a classic married couple, with Richie always nagging Eddie and kicking him out and cooking for him. And Richie is SO horny that he will sex up anything, and yes, I'm pretty positive he'd sex up Eddie if he had the chance just because it would be some form of human contact. (In Bottom Live 3 (or maybe it was 5?) Richie and Eddie are stuck on an island, and Richie is screwing a bird. Yes, a bird. And then he accidentally does... something... with Eddie. Seriously, this show is just crack, but I love it). Yes, it's lewd, it's base humor, but... I can't help it, I love Richie and Eddie with a passion. And behind all the double entendres and violence, they really do have a lovely (yet dysfunctional) relationship. A montage:
John Major (Coco the Clown)/Glynis Kinnock - The Comic Strip Presents: Red Nose of Courage
WHAT??? Oh yes. This is by far my favorite Comic Strip, and it was responsible for me becoming a bigger Ade Edmondson fan than I was of Rik Mayall. Well, this and Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase (probably my second favorite Comic Strip). Anyway, it was just so ridiculous, but Ade and Dawn played it like a serious romance film, and it just... gah, it was beautiful. But crazy. John Major was leading a double life, successful British politician by day, Coco the Clown by night, and his #1 adversary was Glynis, but then he sees her at the circus one night and he falls in love with the joy on her face, and he woos her as Coco because he's afraid she'll hate him if she knew he was John, and they even make love with him as Coco, but then she figures out that he's John and it's all very dramatic, and then their love ends up uniting the tories and the labor party. It's hilarious. But it gets me all excited in the same way that a good rom-com would. I may have to upload this one day for your viewing pleasure. It really is one of my favorite love stories of all time.
Alan/Denny - Boston Legal
Greatest friendship in the history of anything. They make me laugh, they make me cry, they make me want to strangle them, they make me want to hug them, they make me go "awwwww" and they make me squee. This is probably the most satisfying ship the world. I don't necessarily ship them in a sexual way, but emotionally, they are each other's everything and they fully admit this to themselves and to each other. They want to spend the rest of their lives together, and Denny's even turned down women he supposedly loved because they wanted to take him away from Alan, and he simply can't imagine his life without Alan by his side. He's even admitted to loving Alan more than the women. They have both proclaimed their love to each other and to the public, their love shines through in every single interaction that they have with each other, even their fights, and they are basically an old married couple. They are soul mates and they consider their relationship the greatest thing that's ever happened to either one of them, and no other relationship has ever been able to compare to their love for each other. They see each other through the hard times, and they know they'll always be there for each other. Denny wants to spend his last day on earth fishing alone with Alan. And despite the fact that they are opposites, they accept each other for all that they are. And although Denny's possessive of Alan whenever he gets friendly with other men, and Alan gets possessive of Denny whenever Denny starts falling in love with a woman, they are both aware of how much they love each other. It doesn't have to be said, they just know, although they do say it when the moment strikes them. They bond over scotch and cigars on the balcony every night, and that's where they feel at home. That's their special place. And basically, this is the greatest romance ever told, only it's between two completely heterosexual guys. Yes, they have a few gay moments together, but only because they're so comfortable with each other that they aren't restricted by the typical confines of heterosexual maleness. I mean... they have sleepovers together. In the same bed. And they see nothing homosexual in this at all. They rule.
Michael/Dwight - The Office
Why? I... I don't know. They're just so... dysfunctional. Michael is a total asswipe to Dwight, while Dwight remains loyal and completely in love with Michael. Dwight admires absolutely everything about Michael Scott, even the things that he doesn't really like about him, and Dwight is positively desperate to be Michael's best friend. He loves him unconditionally, wants to follow in his footsteps, looks to him for guidance, yearns to make him proud, waters his plants and does all these little things for Michael that Michael never even notices, wants to protect him from the world, but at the same time he views Michael as this fearless hero, he builds Michael up to be SO much more than he actually is and Dwight does this because he truly believes that Michael really is that great/cool/funny/slick/handsome. Michael, on the other hand, both resents Dwight and loves Dwight. He doesn't view Dwight as the type of guy that he should be friends with. He wants to be friends with the cool guys, or the pretty guys, or the popular guys, and Dwight is none of those in Michael's eyes. Michael's #1 desire in life is to be loved, but the problem is, he wants to be loved by the people who will never love him. Dwight is giving him everything he needs, but he refuses to see this. Dwight loves him, and he knows it, but he doesn't appreciate it. So he takes Dwight's love for granted, manipulates Dwight into doing things for him, and Dwight happily goes along with it, because all he really wants is Michael's happiness. Michael is definitely Dwight's greatest love. I know he broke down over Angela, but if he ever lost Michael? He'd be beyond repair. He'd have no purpose in life. And Michael? Michael would be a complete mess without Dwight. Dwight is the only person in the world who loves Michael so completely and would do absolutely anything for him. When Michael is devastated, he finds solace in Dwight's love, and when Dwight is devastated, he finds solace in Michael's need of him. If Michael wasn't so damn blinded by commercial beauty, he'd be able to see how beautiful Dwight really is and he'd be able to appreciate everything that Dwight does for him. Sadly, Michael will never change, and he'll never fully encompass the importance of Dwight in his life, but luckily Dwight will love him forever. And they do have their adorable moments where Michael truly appreciates Dwight, but those moments are rare.
Darcy/Elizabeth - Pride and Prejudice
The quintessential rom-com couple. The only rom-coms that I have ever liked clearly used this story as a basic model. They're intrigued by each other but the woman is set against falling for the man, then she gets offended by said man and they argue every time they meet but the man is turned on by the fiery woman and the fiery woman is getting all lusty over the arrogant guy who is trying so hard to make her like him only she has no clue because she thinks he hates her, and their fights are always entertaining, and then the man makes his move and the woman breaks his heart because she's too stubborn to see past his arrogant nature, then heartbroken man realizes all he did wrong and becomes a better man because of it, and fiery woman starts to notice his charms, and then she's heartbroken because she thinks he would never have her after she humiliated him like that, and then we get a lovely confession at the end, only... this is Jane Austen, so it's not all smoochy and hot but instead very restrained and there's lots of smiling and Colin Firth being dreamy.
While I'm talking about P&P, let me just throw in Bridget/Mark from Bridget Jones' Diary, Lucy/Geroge from Two Weeks Notice, Harry/Sally from When Harry Met Sally, Jane/Eddie from Someone Like You and Kate/Luc from French Kiss. I love all these couples for pretty much the same reasons as Darcy/Elizabeth. Opposites, they are initially repulsed by the idea of dating each other (or.. at least, the women are. I'm pretty sure Luc was in love with Kate the second he met her), witty banter, they become best friends, then the love sneaks up on them. I am a sucker for these ships.
Daniel/Betty - Ugly Betty
(banners by gibbynka)
Daniel and Betty have too much adorableness to contain in one pic. I love these two. LOVE THEM! I became enamored with them after Sharona left Monk and my #1 OTP was ripped apart and my heart was stomped on. But luckily I found Daniel and Betty, and depending on when you talk to me, they are probably my favorite ship of all time. They encompass absolutely everything that I love. They are complete opposites, and yet when you look past their exteriors and really get down to their souls, they are one in the same. There's an age gap. They banter. It's slightly mentor/student. They're best friends. Possible future unrequitedness. I COULDN'T RESIST! Both Daniel and Betty are genuinely good people who want to do good things, but are often mislead by their environment and their naivete. They are naive in different ways, and they are worldly in different ways. Where one person lacks, the other picks up the slack. They complete each other. Daniel's flashy and rich and everything gets handed to him on a silver platter, everything except love from his family. Betty's frumpy and frugal and her family depends on her for everything and love her to death. Daniel's the big disappointment, forever the baby of his family who doesn't know any better. All that was ever expected of him was disappointment... until Betty came along. Betty sees Daniel in a way that no one else does. She challenges him, she expects great things from him no matter how much he screws up, and Betty's pure excitement over the smallest of Daniel's accomplishments makes him strive harder to please her than he does absolutely anyone. He lives to see her smile. Her confidence in him and the love that she shows him every day gives him a reason to be a better man. She's pretty much his everything. He worships her. She shows him how to clean up his messes (or... well, more like forces him to figure it out), she accepts him for all that he is, but at the same time, she sees the greatness that he can accomplish. Daniel gives up too easily (for everything), while Betty always finds the strength to keep going no matter how many times she gets knocked down. Anytime Daniel's world is rocked, he looks to Betty for guidance (despite being 10 years her senior). For Betty, Daniel is her best friend. She looks to him for approval, for guidance, for understanding, and for plain old friendship. She calls him out on his crap, and he does the same for her (only... she gets mad when he does it, or else she'll give him a look that says, "You have no room to talk.") Daniel helps her to step out of her comfort zone. He does little things for her that he would never think to do for anyone else, and he does it because of his genuine affection for her, not for any ulterior motives. Daniel needs her, and Betty thrives off of being needed. She feels important when she's in his presence, which wasn't always the case in the very beginning, so their relationship has come a long way. The Daniel/Betty relationship is the heart and soul of the show, and all signs point to them being soul mates and best friends for life. Their bond is completely emotional, and their relationship has been slowly growing from the first episode. The big hurdle for these two is sexual tension. While I do believe that Daniel loves her and doesn't know it, I don't think he's quite attracted to her on a sexual level yet, and same with Betty. Daniel's a good-looking guy, but he's genderless to her in regards to their friendship. Do I believe that they'll turn romantic in the future? Most definitely. But it'll be a slow process, and Daniel has to realize that no woman will ever measure up to Betty in his eyes, and at that point he'll start looking at her as a woman rather than Just Betty, and he'll come to love her whole package. For Betty, she'd have to be forced to look at Daniel as a man and not Just Daniel, which could happen in a number of ways, but I'm thinking it may not happen until she learns that Daniel's in love with her. Wherever the show chooses to go, I just can't see these two not ending up together. And I definitely can't see Daniel not falling for Betty. And no matter how much this show disappoints me, one thing that they've always gotten right is the Daniel/Betty interaction, so I truly believe they could pull it off, as long as they continue to practice patience and keep inserting the subtext. Also, Eric Mabius plays Daniel as being gobsmacked in love with Betty, I don't care what he says. He gives her these looks and most of the D/B subtext comes from those very looks. He may deny wanting them to get together, but I don't believe him for a second. No sir.
Chiyo/Chairman - Memoirs of a Geisha
GAH! This movie killed me. It was SO good! I'm not usually into serious romances, but make it a period piece and throw Ken Watanabe into the mix and I'm all over it. Plus... age gap. For some reason I can't resist that. But I felt dirty for wanting them to end up together since he met her when she was a little girl, but... it's what she wanted, and it made me remember all the crushes I had on adults when I was a kid, so I was kind of living vicariously through her. Their story was full of so much hope and angst and jealousy and tragedy and love, and the Chairman was such a nice guy, and he was the only thing in Chiyo's life that kept her going, that made life worth living, and he was so drawn to her and he so desperately wanted to make her happy, and then in the end, through all their tragedy, they were able to get their happy ending (yeah, she was only his geisha, but at least she could finally call herself his, and he was hers, and that was enough for her).