Manchester vs Blackpool; with screencaps

[donnaimmaculata]

So, I've been fandom-hopping lately, never staying long enough to get involved with a new fandom and only checking them out superficially. And so I don't have much to say with profound fannish contents and instead I've made some screencaps. They are brought to you by a realisation that had dawned after I've been watching Life on Mars. A trend has been developing that is as unexpected as it is alarming: I realised that I found Gene Hunt quite irresistible. - An, to use Sam's famous quote, "overweight, over-the-hill, nicotine-stained, borderline alcoholic homophobe with a superiority complex and an unhealthy obsession with male bonding" - and that despite the fact that I've always thought I like the skinny, fragile artsy types. And then I realised that it had happened before, when I was watching Blackpool, where the sleazy, sexist homophobe Ripley Holden quite managed to charm me. It wasn't much of a stretch to draw the parallels, and to illustrate my point, I've made screencaps of the relevant scenes. The post is quite picture-heavy (30+), but it's got some nakedness and chest-touching as redeeming features.



~ Both series begin with some sort of backstory to introduce the characters ~





...but my interest peaks when the dark-haired skinny guy, dressed in casual, strangely anachronistic, disturbingly hot clothes, bursts into another man's territory...




...and immediately acts as though he owns the place.




Gene's pissed off.




So's Ripley.




Nevertheless, Gene makes the first move.




Ripley's quite pushy, too.



But apart from that little anger management problem, Gene's really very cool.




However, it's Ripley who wears the best shirts of the lot. And sunglasses. Ripley: cooler > everyone.




Even his tan coat is slightly cooler than...




Gene's tan coat. (It was really quite difficult to get a good shot of Gene without Ray hanging around in the background. Gene/Ray OTP?)




Ah, but then: Gene's trunks are the best thing ever. And the camera did linger lovingly on them. *insert your own "tickled open a few doors" joke*




Ripley's trunks are more subdued, and there is no full frontal of them, either.




The trunks are rather cooler than the grandfatherly vest Sam's wearing,though.




Peter also likes white underwear. Hidden symbolism? Subtle characterisation via underwear colour? Discuss.




Ripley's got a son who's very, very cute.




Gene's got a son substitute who's very, very cute.




The boys both get into a spot of trouble with the police...




...who's very understanding and supportive and hot.




There's also a cute-ish brunette who serves to propell a bit of a het romance.




But as she's too nice and harmless, this subplot holds no interest for me.




Well, not absolutely no interest...




Sam and Peter both make their women gain confidence and self-assurance. Which they probably manage by being a good shag.




Not that there's ever been any doubt about that.




Just make sure your bed's got a stable headboard.




"I'm good with wives" says Peter and immediately proceeds to prove his point by seducing his main suspect's wife. The dirty little perv.




Sam doesn't make as many words about this particular talent of his, but he proves it nevertheless by getting his own mother completely smitten and flustered. The dirtier little perv.




Bored with all this wife action, Peter goes to talk to whores.




Sam beats him in this category by inviting a whore home for the purpose of having kinky sex on drugs with her. He's adjusting to the 1973 way of policing rather well.




But mostly, the guys just hang out with the gang.




Peter isn't allowed in the gang, as he shags the alpha's wife :-(




"Here comes Mary, Queen of Scots". - Despite being pissed off with Peter, Ripley still shows his affection by giving him cute nicknames (including "Braveheart" and "Jack of the Ages" (actually, I've no idea whether this really is the phrase he used, as I've got trouble understanding Ripley at times))




"Do I still get my wotsits mixed up, Gladys?" Gene proves himself hardly less inventive when it comes to nicknames ("wonder boy", "my little deputy dawg").




Sam and Gene go to a club where Gene shows that he likes to party wild.




But Ripley likes to party wilder.


~ And so, after many adventures for the boys, both series end with a wedding for the girls ~




Where Peter talks to the woman he loves...




...and Sam talks to the woman he loves...




...and the woman he loves more.




But then Peter goes to have a beer and a man-to-man conversation with Ripley.




And Sam goes to the pub with Gene and the gang. And really, who could blame him?

The End.

Comments

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Heh! Thanks a lot! I love "Blackpool" and "Life on Mars", too, and I was quite happy to rewatch them extensively for the purpose of finding matching caps.