So, binary clones?
What do you think about people "Shipping" Kirk and Spock?
- Thread starter ILoveVoyager
- Start date
It's almost a truism: Two friends in fiction written to have each other's back and someone, somewhere, will be writing new stories to make that be more.
Doesn't even have to be male (I remember stumbling across Buffy/Willow stuff back in the day) or friends even (see Drarry, a portmanteau of the two character names involved.)
'Drarry' is a fairly popular subgenre of Harry Potter fanfic. I finally broke down and joined a FB group for 'Dramione' - Draco/Hermione - fanfic. Some of the stories are actually not bad, and involve time travel.
Some people swear by 'Sevmione' - Snape and Hermione (it's often handwaved away that Snape died; either he's brought back somehow, or people just assumed he'd died from Nagini's bite but he was really just in a coma and recovered later).
There a HUGE subgenre of "Hermione goes back in time to the Marauders' era (either by accident or on purpose) to accomplish a task, but ends up falling in love with either Sirius or Remus, and wrestles with the question of whether or not she should warn any of them what's going to happen, knowing that she could be creating a future that's even worse than the one she came from, with priority reasoning focused on making sure Harry gets born).
It would not surprise me if there aren't as many Trek stories like this - either accidental or purposeful time travel, the traveler realizes they have a chance to fix something, thinks they have it figured out as to how to do that without messing up the timeline, but there's always the "oops" factor to mess it up.
There is an excellent story about the aftermath of Star Trek IV, about how the whales were saved, but Gillian's disappearance from the 20th century caused unexpected consequences not only for herself, but for some of the crew.
Some people swear by 'Sevmione' - Snape and Hermione (it's often handwaved away that Snape died; either he's brought back somehow, or people just assumed he'd died from Nagini's bite but he was really just in a coma and recovered later).
There a HUGE subgenre of "Hermione goes back in time to the Marauders' era (either by accident or on purpose) to accomplish a task, but ends up falling in love with either Sirius or Remus, and wrestles with the question of whether or not she should warn any of them what's going to happen, knowing that she could be creating a future that's even worse than the one she came from, with priority reasoning focused on making sure Harry gets born).
It would not surprise me if there aren't as many Trek stories like this - either accidental or purposeful time travel, the traveler realizes they have a chance to fix something, thinks they have it figured out as to how to do that without messing up the timeline, but there's always the "oops" factor to mess it up.
There is an excellent story about the aftermath of Star Trek IV, about how the whales were saved, but Gillian's disappearance from the 20th century caused unexpected consequences not only for herself, but for some of the crew.
I was once in a Star Trek TTRPG where I made up a character whose twin brother had been killed in a way that was arguably my character's fault, and while my character was for all purposes a decent enough Ensign or Lieutenant or whatever he was, I put it into his background that he was still traumatized enough by his brother's death that if he ever had an opportunity to time travel, he'd probably try to save his brother.
There's a current YouTuber who has a really sophisticated AI program that does Draco/Hermione videos. I don't ship the couple, but it was nice work.
The only slash ship I ever really speculated on was Harry/Ron, since the two of them had gorgeous dates at the Yule Ball... and ditched them to hang out with each other.
Only works if you de-age Snape a couple decades. Or send Hermione back in time so she catches up. Otherwise... ewww.
There is a rare pair that I'd never have guessed I'd like. I'm currently following a Hermione-centric fic called "Wind Up All the Clocks." It's close to 180 chapters long now, and other than an occasional holiday or illness, the author updates regularly every Tuesday.
It's a Marriage Law fic (yet another subgenre that got popular). After the end of the war, the Ministry of Magic realized that it was necessary to have more magical people be born, due to how many died in the war against Voldemort. So they created a law that required everyone between the ages of 17 and 55 who wasn't already married to get married and produce at least 2 children within a 10-year period. Same-sex marriages did not count, as the goal was to produce children.
Each unmarried person was given chances to find spouses on their own for awhile, but later the Ministry put everyone else's names into a matching pool. Each would be assigned 3 possibilities. If they chose one of those, fine. If they rejected all three, a match would be chosen for them. If they still refused, there would be legal consequences.
Hermione's options never did include Ron, since he married Astoria Greengrass. So she ended up in the pool. Her first match was Draco. Since they hate each other in this story, they both rejected the match. Hermione's second match was Gregory Goyle. Naturally she rejected him as well. She was a nervous wreck when the third match arrived by mail; she only had one more chance and then would have to marry whoever the Ministry assigned. There were rumors that Lucius Malfoy was getting out of Azkaban, and since he was a widower (Narcissa having committed suicide) and younger than 55, he would be part of this Marriage Law thing.
So Hermione realized that to avoid the real possibility of being assigned to Lucius Malfoy, she'd better take #3.
It was a shock to find that her third option was... Arthur Weasley.
In this version of the Battle of Hogwarts, Molly and Bill were killed, and Fred came through just fine. By this point, Arthur had been a widower for 6 years, and although he'd already fathered 7 children, he kept his name in the pool simply for a chance to marry again. As he told Hermione, he was lonely, he wanted a wife, and would love to have more children.
Hermione reckons Arthur is the safest choice, though it feels awkward to be stepmother to his adult children, and really awkward to talk to Ron about it. Ginny, on the other hand, takes it in stride and said she and Arthur should get along great.
Which they mostly have for the past 180-or-thereabouts chapters. At this point they have one of the required two children* and are trying for a second.
*One of the nice things about fanfiction sites is the opportunity to interact with the authors. Teao, who writes this story, occasionally asks for suggestions, such as possible baby names, and suggestions for tourist places and activities and even popular songs from 2005/2006 as that's the time this story is set in.
I am proud to say that Hermione and Arthur's child is partly named after my father (or at least the goose we had that was also partly named after my father, after I told her a story about the small flock of geese we had at one time, and their names).
As for Hermione interacting with Sirius, Remus, or Snape, the time travel tends to be her suddenly showing up in the school due to some accident or curse, Dumbledore can't figure out how to send her back, and she gets sorted into Gryffindor, makes friends with the Marauders and Lily, and is torn about whether or not she should try to change history - after all, she does possess the knowledge to try to prevent Peter from committing his crimes, saving Sirius from Azkaban - she might even had been able to prevent Snape from taking the turn in his life that he had (at the very least finding out the prophecy about Harry - who at this point doesn't exist yet). As for whom she falls in love with... it might be Sirius, it might be Remus, it could be someone else if the author chooses to make the story Wolfstar (Sirius/Remus)... there are several possibilities. As for which I prefer, Sirius is my favorite HP character, and I'm happy to see him happy in either kind of pairing as long as the story is well-written and the characters are true to themselves. Gotta say, I never once bought the Remus/Tonks pairing in the movies. The actors had exactly zero chemistry with each other.
Ship stories work best if there are numerous possibilities as to who could be involved and still stay in character and close to canon storylines. I think that's why a lot of the romance stories in Trek take place off-screen or with OCs or guest characters - it's hard to fit them into the episodes we've all seen and memorized.
At least in TOS. TNG was more of a soap opera, so they had a much easier time of it, and some of them even used the holodeck to create romantic versions of people. This latter was especially problematic on Voyager, when Seven started experimenting with dating a holodeck version of Chakotay. I've seen fanfic stories of when he finds out about that, and some authors have used it as an opportunity for Chakotay to realize Seven actually does have human feelings and he decides to see for himself if they could make a go of it in reality. Other authors have had Chakotay consider it a gross invasion of his privacy, to engage in intimate activities with a holographic version of him without his permission.
Fanfiction can get pretty long. In my own Potterhead days, I wrote one that reached around 90 chapters. And, I wrote about 100 chapters of a multi-author coop fic that was 735 in all. Including the first chapter and the last.
EDIT: Found "Wind Up All the Clocks". Looks like an interesting AU.
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Wind Up All the Clocks is one of my favorite fanfics ever, never mind the HP stories. Teao is a very friendly author, who is willing to engage with people who leave comments in a polite way, if they have questions or comments to make.
I can't recommend this fic enough.
I'm on a re-read of New Blood, by artemisgirl. That one's cross-posted on both fanfiction.net and Archive Of Our Own. The FFN version is now 607 chapters long. This is another really good HP story.
I don't remember offhand what the longest Trek fanfic is that I've read, since most of the stories I'm familiar with are in actual print form and not on either FFN nor AO3. Some of the stories on the Orion Press site are fairly long, but I think the actual length winner might go to one of the stories listed on the Valjiir Continuum site (linked below in my sig). "Shadow Captain" is a novel-length fic and is an AU/Original Character take on the "Mind-Sifter" short story that was originally published in the 1970s in the first of the professionally published New Voyages anthologies.
The story focuses the action on Kirk and his surroundings, and encompasses a time period of at least two years. "Shadow Captain" deals with the flip side of what happens on the Enterprise during that time when Kirk is not there (he was kidnapped by the Klingons, presumed dead, and Spock given the captaincy).
It’s a fun concept to explore, and I’ve definitely had my own moments imagining “what if” pairings. That kind of creativity is part of what makes fandom great. But when it comes to characters like Kirk and Spock, I think there’s a deeper issue worth considering.
Their friendship was groundbreaking in its own right. It showed two men with vastly different personalities and backgrounds sharing a profound bond built on trust, loyalty, and mutual respect. And importantly, it was non-romantic. In a media landscape that often struggles to show healthy male friendships without adding romantic or sexual tension, Kirk and Spock stood out — and still do.
When we reinterpret that relationship as romantic, even in fun or playful ways, we risk reinforcing the idea that emotional intimacy between men must be romantic or sexual to be meaningful. That kind of thinking unintentionally narrows the scope of masculinity. It implies that men can’t or don’t have deep, non-sexual connections — and that’s just not true, either in fiction or in real life.
This isn’t to say people shouldn’t explore ships or have fun with alternate interpretations. Fandom is full of creative freedom, and there’s room for all kinds of perspectives. But I do think it’s important to recognize and preserve portrayals of strong, platonic male friendship — especially when they’re as iconic and influential as Kirk and Spock.
Their line — “I have been, and always shall be, your friend” — wasn’t a euphemism. It was a declaration of love, yes, but the kind of love that doesn’t need to be romantic to be real or powerful.
And just to be clear — I'm not speaking from a straight perspective here, if you catch my drift. This isn't about discomfort with queer interpretations; it's about wanting to preserve the value of platonic love — especially between men — as something meaningful in its own right.
Their friendship was groundbreaking in its own right. It showed two men with vastly different personalities and backgrounds sharing a profound bond built on trust, loyalty, and mutual respect. And importantly, it was non-romantic. In a media landscape that often struggles to show healthy male friendships without adding romantic or sexual tension, Kirk and Spock stood out — and still do.
When we reinterpret that relationship as romantic, even in fun or playful ways, we risk reinforcing the idea that emotional intimacy between men must be romantic or sexual to be meaningful. That kind of thinking unintentionally narrows the scope of masculinity. It implies that men can’t or don’t have deep, non-sexual connections — and that’s just not true, either in fiction or in real life.
This isn’t to say people shouldn’t explore ships or have fun with alternate interpretations. Fandom is full of creative freedom, and there’s room for all kinds of perspectives. But I do think it’s important to recognize and preserve portrayals of strong, platonic male friendship — especially when they’re as iconic and influential as Kirk and Spock.
Their line — “I have been, and always shall be, your friend” — wasn’t a euphemism. It was a declaration of love, yes, but the kind of love that doesn’t need to be romantic to be real or powerful.
And just to be clear — I'm not speaking from a straight perspective here, if you catch my drift. This isn't about discomfort with queer interpretations; it's about wanting to preserve the value of platonic love — especially between men — as something meaningful in its own right.
I'll give it a look. Going to have a lot more online time on my hands, given both my work schedule and other changes in my life.
That's impressive. I should post my Potter comedies on AO³. They don't have 600 chapters, or even 180. But they have Professor Snape in fishnets.
That sort of reminds me of "When Harry Met Sally". Not sure if its overall message was that straight men and women can be friends without bumping naughty parts... or that they can't. Either way, I know they can. So certainly straight men can as well. I'm sure Kirk and Spock are entirely aware that no one would judge them if they loved each other that way. It's just not their thing.
Both classic and Berman era Trek seemed to make a practice of ensuring that every series had a friendship like that. Some even had more than one.
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