Crossover fic insanity

[wiseheart]

A real entry now for a change, since summer holidays have started and - despite the insane heat - that means I can do a bit more than just survive.

Anyway, I was looking for some decent Sherlock fanfic (yeah, I know, not an easy thing) and went to the crossover section of the Pit of Voles, otherwise known as FF.Net. I found the following interesting offers:

Sherlock Crossovers
Sort by Popularity

Doctor Who (949)
Harry Potter (312)
Supernatural (182)
Avengers (95)
Radio Dramas (77)
Torchwood (59)
James Bond (57)
Hunger Games (29)
Merlin (28)
Hobbit (28)
Criminal Minds (26)
Sherlock Holmes (25)
Star Trek: 2009 (19)
Sherlock Holmes (16)
Hetalia - Axis Powers (14)
Thor (14)
Glee (13)
Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (12)
Labyrinth (12)
Lord of the Rings (11)
NCIS (11)
Detective Conan/Case Closed (10)
Good Omens (10)
Pirates of the Caribbean (10)
House, M.D. (10)
Inception (10)
Artemis Fowl (9)
Death Note (9)
Psych (9)
Portal (9)
Being Human (9)
Castle (9)
Hannibal (9)
Inuyasha (8)
Firefly (8)
Big Bang Theory (8)
Mentalist (8)
Vampire Diaries (8)
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov (8)
Pokémon (7)
M*A*S*H (7)
His Dark Materials (7)
Dexter (7)
Skulduggery Pleasant series (7)
Elementary (7)
Highlander (6)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (6)
Titanic (6)
My Little Pony (6)
Alex Rider (6)
Batman Begins/Dark Knight (6)
Pushing Daisies (6)
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (6)
Sandman (5)
Phantom of the Opera (5)
Naruto (5)
Misc. Tv Shows (5)
Avatar: Last Airbender (5)
Twilight (5)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (5)
Nancy Drew series (5)
Millennium Trilogy (5)
Downton Abbey (5)
x-men (5)
Third Star (5)
X-Files (4)
X-overs (4)
Batman (4)
Misc. Books (4)
Discworld (4)
Misc. Movies (4)
Avengers (4)
Bones (4)
Kuroshitsuji (4)
Homestuck (4)
Fifty Shades Trilogy (4)
Enola Holmes Mysteries (4)
Star Wars (3)
StarTrek: The Original Series (3)
Stargate: SG-1 (3)
Misc. Plays/Musicals (3)
Neverwhere (3)
X-Men: The Movie (3)
Miles Vorkosigan (3)
Nightmare Before Christmas (3)
Bleach (3)
Danny Phantom (3)
Black Books (3)
Tron (3)
Gossip Girl (3)
Maximum Ride (3)
Sarah Jane Adventures (3)
Leverage (3)
IT Crowd (3)
White Collar (3)
Durarara!!(3)
Justified (3)
Tangled (3)
Once Upon a Time (3)
StarTrek: The Next Generation (2)
StarTrek: Other (2)
Transformers/Beast Wars (2)
Matrix (2)
Men In Black (2)
Sonic the Hedgehog (2)
Calvin & Hobbes (2)
Rocky Horror (2)
Silent Hill (2)
Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal (2)
Laurie R. King (2)
Chronicles of Narnia (2)
Hunter X Hunter (2)
Monk (2)
Professionals (2)
Great Mouse Detective (2)
MI-5/Spooks (2)
Darren Shan Saga/Cirque Du Freak (2)
Fullmetal Alchemist (2)
Alice in Wonderland (2)
Boondock Saints (2)
Bartimaeus Trilogy (2)
Saw (2)
Frankenstein (2)
Dragonriders of Pern series (2)
Mighty Boosh (2)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (2)
Dresden Files (2)
Elder Scroll series (2)
Jane Eyre (2)
Life on Mars (2)
Okami (2)
Primeval (2)
Assassin's Creed (2)
Fringe (2)
Sanctuary (2)
Holby City (2)
Adventures of Tintin (2)
Ashes to Ashes (2)
St. Trinian's (2)
The Prisoner (2)
Jekyll (2)
Lie to Me (2)
Hot Fuzz (2)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2)
Outnumbered (2)
Miss Marple Stories (2)
Luther (2)
Person of Interest (2)
Legend of Korra (2)
Revolution (2)
Arrow (2)
Rise of the Guardians (2)
Misc. Anime/Manga (1)
Scooby Doo (1)
Parodies and Spoofs (1)
Farscape (1)
Misc. Games (1)
Back to the Future (1)
Mission: Impossible (1)
Les Miserables (1)
Digimon (1)
Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers (1)
Disney (1)
Man From UNCLE (1)
Card Captor Sakura (1)
Princess Bride (1)
Dark Angel (1)
Good Night Mr Tom (1)
Animaniacs (1)
G. I. Joe (1)
Warhammer (1)
Shakespeare (1)
Road to Eldorado (1)
Yu-Gi-Oh (1)
Fairly OddParents (1)
Courage: The Cowardly Dog (1)
Black Jewels Trilogy (1)
Lord of the Flies (1)
Moulin Rouge (1)
Series Of Unfortunate Events (1)
Alias (1)
Smallville (1)
Samurai Jack (1)
SpongeBob SquarePants (1)
Greek Mythology (1)
Edward Scissorhands (1)
Law and Order: CI (1)
A.I. (1)
Prince of Tennis (1)
Diana Wynne Jones (1)
Wizard of Oz (1)
Equilibrium (1)
The Thing (1)
28 Days Later (1)
Battlestar Galactica: 2003 (1)
Inheritance Cycle (1)
Little Britain (1)
Mary Poppins (1)
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century (1)
Veronica Mars (1)
Hustle (1)
Howl's Moving Castle (1)
Princess Tutu (1)
xxxHOLiC (1)
Magnificent Seven (1)
Corpse Bride (1)
Wicked (1)
Office (1)
High School Musical (1)
V for Vendetta (1)
Edgar Allan Poe (1)
Vampires (1)
Fright Night (1)
Heroes (1)
Pulp Fiction (1)
Code Geass (1)
Jasper Fforde (1)
Burn Notice (1)
How I Met Your Mother (1)
Chuck (1)
Mass Effect (1)
Little Mermaid (1)
BioShock (1)
Soul Eater (1)
Peter Pan (1)
Mortal Instruments (1)
Addams Family (1)
Time Traveler's Wife (1)
Temeraire (1)
Eragon (1)
Professor Layton (1)
And Then There Were None (1)
Transformers (1)
Gallagher Girls (1)
Carrie (1)
Boy In the Striped Pajamas (1)
Left 4 Dead (1)
Imagine Me & You (1)
Doc Martin (1)
Bee Movie (1)
Little Shop of Horrors (1)
Repo! The Genetic Opera (1)
Midsomer Murders (1)
World War Z (1)
Huntik: Secrets & Seekers (1)
Kushiel's Legacy series (1)
Prototype (1)
Muppet Show (1)
Borrowers (1)
Borrowers series (1)
NCIS: Los Angeles (1)
Jurassic Park (1)
Hercule Poirot series (1)
Warehouse 13 (1)
Once (1)
FlashForward (1)
Dragon Age (1)
Community (1)
Cthulhu Mythos (1)
Misfits, 2009 (1)
Avatar (1)
Leviathan series (1)
Miranda (1)
Rosemary & Thyme (1)
How to Train Your Dragon (1)
Adventure Time with Finn and Jake (1)
Nikita (1)
A-Team (1)
Strike Back (1)
Jonathan Creek (1)
Prestige (1)
Secret Diary of a Call Girl (1)
Amnesia: The Dark Descent (1)
Minecraft (1)
Little Red Riding Hood (1)
Walking Dead (1)
Ancient Anguish (1)
Young Justice (1)
TiMER (1)
A Christmas Carol (1)
Matthew Swift novels (1)
Whitechapel (1)
Dr. Seuss series (1)
Chronicles of Chrestomanci (1)
Source Code (1)
Divergent Trilogy (1)
Suits (1)
Amazing World of Gumball (1)
Starship (1)
Alphas (1)
Scott & Bailey (1)
Mrs. Pollifax Mysteries (1)
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro (1)
American Horror Story (1)
Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1)
Grimm (1)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1)
Fades (1)
George Smiley series (1)
Dead Bodies (1)
Holy Musical B@man! (1)
Common Law (1)
Gravity Falls (1)
Winnie the Pooh (1)
Frisky & Mannish (1)

Now, I must admit that I don't know many of these shows, but even of those that I do know fairly well (see italics), crossing them over with Sherlock doesn't make any sense. I can understand making crossovers with cop shows like Criminal Minds or Bones or detective novels like Miss Marple, but what have fantasy shows in common with Sherlock's world, save for the fact that Martin Freeman played Bilbo in The Hobbit?

And even with sci-fi, it would only make real sense if the other show takes place on contemporary Earth - unless time travel is involved somehow, but that has become such a cheap plot device (aside from Dr Who where it's obligatory, of course) that it would require a very good writer to pull it off. Unfortunately, the usual rule is that the more ridiculous the crossover idea is in the first place, the worse the writing turns out.

Yes, I know I do have the odd hair-raising crossover idea myself, so I might be a bit of a hypocrite. But at least I do lots of research before I start and try to find a plausible reason why the two 'verses are supposed to cross paths.

And no, I wasn't going to share words of wisdom with anyone. I was just annoyed and needed to vent. Sorry.

Comments

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

This really doesn't surprise me much (I wrangle tags for the Hobbit on AO3 and there are so many crossover tags with Sherlock and basically anything else Benedict Cumberbatch has been in). Most of the crossovers don't seem to even try to make a lot of sense in any way -- I guess it is just something that I don't really understand (because well, I'm obsessed with worldbuilding)

You made me curious to look at the numbers on AO3 - of course, with these it is hard to know how many are actually crossovers and which are things like drabble collections tagged with loads of fandoms.
On AO3 it is only easy to get the top few, which (when the other Sherlock Holmes fandoms are removed) gives:
Doctor Who (510)
Supernatural (332)
Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling (284)
Cabin Pressure (249)
Skyfall (2012) (200)
The Avengers (2012) (184)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Are you still working for AO3 then? I'll have to consult you about the importing of multichapter-fics. *g*

[elmey.livejournal.com]

8...8 Lolita crossovers????

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Apparently, yeah.

[sammydragoncat]

That list is crazy, I can't even imagine how most of those would tie in together.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Complately insane. But many other crossover lists don't look more convincing, either.