Pop culture and Shenny

[ricardo shillyshally]

^That's actually my new catch phrase. TBBT and trains WTflip!

[Tuesday Pajamas]

MeanwhileThe alien blonde!

How is it I don't remember this one? I'm sure I've seen all the original Star Trek episodes. The thing that used to surprise me even as a child was how Captain Kirk always got the girl. The Leonard character. I remember thinking "Eww, Am I meant to like the boring one?" as kids do.

Spock was always smarter, more interesting and more exotic. I think this is where my Shenny shipping predetermimation started. The true outsider NEVER gets the girl. It's always the other guy, there's always someone who is too different, not allowed to be the main guy.

Interesting that the modern reboots of cerebral outsider characters (Spock, Holmes, the Doctor) have all involved some form of interest in relationships. Het ones, generally, too, which has an extra level of amusing considering that K/S is kind of the echt fan slash. I think media is a lot more aware of, and inclined to accommodate, fan presence. 'Sherlock' particularly knows it's audience and has sly jokes with them.

I've moved this conversation because it's better suited to the shipping forum. And it's nice to be able to find things like this.

That is such a great point. All these characters we grew up with were single, and rarely if ever involved. If there were Penny like characters, she always ended up with the 'normal' bloke. Canons accuse Shennys of being typical or predictable but the weird alien guy never becomes the romantic lead. Writers have conspired against this for generations. Yet now some more enlightened shows seem to be wise to the appeal. Even though, for the most part their antiheros are predominately single.

But can you imagine Sherlock, Spook or Doctor fans, tolerating him being put with some awful awkward woman, who spends all her time trying to manipulate him to have sex with her? Its just a reluctant move on BB. A slap in the face to the antihero, with TPTB screaming "NO that's not how it is, all Pennys go to Leonards" they are from the dark ages!

It's like when fans and Leonard Nimoy wanted Spock to pair up with Uhura in the original series, and it was going to happen until William Shatnar stepped in and insisted that his character must get all the girls. Leonard getting the girl as described on Gripes 'Philosophical Shenny' page is very much the norm. I think I've been waiting for the weird guy to get the girl all my life.

[SpaceAnJL]

There's 'StarWars', too - I'm fairly sure that the original script concept didn't have Luke and Leia as twins, hence the slightly dodgy vibe coming off the rescue. (Not that twincest has ever stopped the truly determined fan, any more than actual orientation or relationship, whether canon or reality.) But there, notice was actually taken that the lead couldn't have his Heroic Journey sullied by this relationship nonsense (and, bless him, he was rather dull) hence snarky banter with space pirates. Far more satisfying.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

I thought the twins thing was tacked on. This is probably not a popular thing to admit, but I liked Luke and was disappointed they were siblings. Hans was a little old for me to appreciate at the time. It seems I'm destined to never get any of my ships

[ricardo shillyshally]

All I can remember of Star Trek, is a sort of generic episode; cool thoughtful Spock, Kirk seduces alien women all over the cosmos. I thought they weren't supposed to interfere. The BB apartment is a reference to flight deck, obviously, they just didn't have the guts to make Penny, black! I was just imagining that show could have been based on one episode of ST. I've heard of a film based on a song. Star Trek just had enough reality, and extrapolation(of science ideas, potential worlds) due to writers and advisers, to make it fascinating. And St is so embedded in the show. It must be one of the greatest acts of propaganda ever. When you think how much was spent in an ego battle with Russians. Even going to the moon was propaganda. It's about colonisation, and carries heavy moral message, but has become a classic of 20th cent Tv. Perplexing! Yes, Star Wars has that mythical element.

[wellplayedpenny]

Why is Shenny so hard to destroy? The answer lies in ff. Sheldon is a ghost and Alice in Wonderland and a pirate and a space captain. Penny is a Cheshire cat and an astronaut and a dimension-hopping rescuer and a smartphone OS.

Shenny is firmly in the imagination because that's the place it was born. And the imagination is limitless. Shenny is the exact opposite of Shamy in that the show has never forcibly pushed the Shenny agenda forward into the mainstream and in ff the Shenny stories have come from all walks of AU. Both Lennys and Shamys argue that ALL Shennys are AU since Shenny never existed on the show. Maybe not THEIR show, but for the millions that tuned into the syndicated shows and fell in love with the Sheldon and Penny dynamic, the Shenny bond is just as real as any other relationship on the show. Perhaps even more so as there was never an agenda for Shenny. They were high notes of creativity and zaniness. They were unapologetically FUN. Shamy and Lenny were built with an agenda in mind. Shenny just came into being and danced to its own beat.

While I don't expect a resurgence in Shenny ff, I still see life in what is being written. The craftsmanship in details. The passion. All of this stems from an imagination rich in Shenny Lore.

So if I were a Lenny or Shamy I wouldn't blink just yet.