Anything I post here is probably going to discuss something random and personal about my life, or feature things I'm mulling over about my beloved fandoms. You've been warned.

I came across a BBC Sherlock/Phantom of the Opera vid today on youtube and got really excited. If you're interested, check it out here: [link] . Before you do, though, you should be informed of two things:

1) It's the Robert Englund version (though you see little of Robert Englund)
2) It seems to be a Sherlock/Christine vid (though it's not clear from the description unless you are Russian)

I enjoyed the choice of song and versions of the Phantom and Sherlock, but the pairing made me ponder. This isn't the first fan video, or any fan product, with this pairing. And I gotta ask: who ships this and why? You can tell me if you want, I'm all for hearing opinions on the matter. It just never made sense to me.

It's understandable why men like Erik and Raoul love Christine. For Erik, Christine's beauty and purity contrast his ugliness and evil behavior. They both have a talent and passion for music. He holds her up on a pedestal, but at the same time tries to bend her to his will. She represents the mother he's always wanted and the wife he can never have. For Raoul, she's his sweetheart from their childhood days, and she's beautiful and kind to boot. It makes sense for these particular men to want, worship or just plain love her.

For Sherlock Holmes, the match-up is unclear. Okay, we are working off the fact that they're from two different fandoms, but let's use both canonical evidence and our imaginations. The woman who comes anywhere close to capturing Sherlock's long-term interest is Irene Adler, and aside from them both being opera singers, these two women have next to nothing in common. That's not to say Christine hasn't got some fire in her own right - she does have to keep both a crazed deformed stalker and a cute aristocratic boyfriend/stalker under control. I can see Sherlock eventually giving her credit and respect for all the insanity she's had to put up with, but romantic interest? Or even a kindred spirit connection? Nnnnnnno. Sorry. I don't buy it.

The only explanation I can come up with as to why people have even conceived of this pairing is that Sherlock occupies the happy middle ground between Raoul and Erik. Like Raoul, Holmes is not creepily deformed (though not girlishly handsome, either, except when it's Benny ), derives from aristocratic stock, is heroic, fulfills a detective role in his story (and much better one, I daresay), and is not a murderous lunatic living under an opera house scaring ballet rats and extorting money from the managers. Like Erik, Sherlock is extremely intelligent, eccentric, socially queer, magnetic, mysterious, badass, masculine, musical, and talented at tricking people and messing with their heads when the situation calls for it. So, yes, I could understand Christine being drawn to Sherlock under the right circumstances. What does Christine have that would interest Sherlock, though? Excepting her voice, which isn't really of her own creation (Erik made it happen), Christine doesn't have much going on to make her stand out from any other female character Sherlock has met. He's met his share of interesting and/or admirable women - and Irene still takes home the cake.

That's my two cents on the matter. I guess what baffles me is that while this pairing seems less feasible than, say, Sherlock/Erik (just as a random comparison ;D), Sherlock/Christine has gotten more attention from fans in the way of fiction and vids. To be fair, though, there isn't much of it.