Drake's Venture

Drake's Venture is a 1980 made-for-TV film depicting Francis Drake's voyage of circumnavigation. It was produced to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the event and stars John Thaw (Inspector Morse) as Drake, and Paul Darrow (Kerr Avon from Blake's 7) as Thomas Doughty. The film focuses on the voyage's most controversial aspect, the execution of Darrow's character Doughty for mutiny. The film has only aired twice: once in the UK on December 28, 1980, and once in the US, on 'Masterpiece Theatre', March 27, 1983.
==Fandom==
Much (if not all of the fandom) was/is comprised (almost?) exclusively of Blake's 7 fans,Drake's Venture fandom overview by alinewrites in Crack Van drawn by Paul Darrow in a similar second-in-command/thinks-he-should-be-equally-in-command role. Shimere277 discussed the appeal of the film thus:
A particular draw for Blake's 7 fans also seems to be the potential to parallel the relationship of Doughty and Drake as portrayed in the film with that between Avon and Blake in Blake's 7. Crossovers with Blake's 7 centred on this parallel exist since the zine era fandom. Powerplay (Blake's 7 zine)'s first issue features the crossover poem The Great Lord Shiva's Dance by Susan Matthews (p. 87), as well as a corresponding artwork by Suzan Lovett, which enhances the parallel by avoiding to show Drake's face and thus stressing the curly hair which Blake and Drake have in common. 
The fanzines by Anthony Murray called Blake's Venture, as well as the apparent sister zine Drake's Seven, are also related fanworks. 
===Communities===
DV_Squee was founded on Livejournal in March 2007 by Shimere277, who intended to "get the Drake's Venture fandom a home outside of B7 (and to give the other long-suffering B7ers a rest!)".DV_Slash profile page DV_ficarchive (also on LJ) was founded in July 2007, "with the intent of converting the archive into .pdf files on an occasional basis to be made available as a Drake's Venture downloadable zine".DV_Ficarchive profile As of August 2020, four writers have uploaded their fic (total: 76) to Archive of Our Own, but this figure is not representative of the total number of fanworks created by this community. Shimere277 alone has over a hundred Drake's Venture fanworks on their LJ masterlist.Shimere277's DV Fic Masterlist (Accessed 25/08/2020)
Aside from fan creation, historical research became a large part of dv_squee's activity, including the discussion of existing academic publication about Francis Drake's circumnavigation and the consulting of primary sources.dv-squee FAQ 2: Historical References (Accessed 25/08/2020) Notable among these activities are the transcription of Thomas Doughty's will by entropy_houseThomas Doughtie's Will in Toto, 04/07/2017 (Accessed 25/08/2020) and the creation of a bibliography of Thomas Doughty.Bibliography announcement post on LJ, 02/07/2007 (Accessed 25/08/2020)
doughtiespirit and francis_rules ran in-character LJs.
Most of these communities and their fans seem to have dropped out of the fandom by the Migrations away from LJ. The latest (non-crossover) fic posted on AO3 dates to 2014. However, interest in Drake's Venture continues into the 21st century via the Blake's 7 fandom, with a crossover fanfic by NanaSally posted to AO3 in 2018 and Drake's Venture artwork of Paul Darrow's Doughty created by Jaelijn on Tumblr in 2019.
===Terminology===
===Fanfic===
BDSM and reincarnation fics are common.
Some fics are written in Elizabethan English.Drake's Venture fandom overview by alinewrites in Crack Van
====Example fics====
* Trial and Error by Willa Shakespeare: The author is a classical writer in B7 where she works wonders. Same in DV. This fic is both hot, cruel and our heroes are portrayed in their flawed glory and their humanity (or lack of when it comes to Drake).''AlineWrites reccing on Crack_Van
* He lays in the reins by Shimere277: At first sight it's an AU, a reincarnation fic where our heroes live in opposite camps during America's civil war, although it's not quite, IMO, South against North; the conflict between the men is more subtle.AlineWrites reccing on Crack_Van
* Until the end of the world by Blakefancier: although short, this fic is just perfect. It's a reincarnation fic, a high-school fic and our heroes are in bed; but it's not quite as simple as that.AlineWrites reccing on Crack_Van
* Well Hung by Shimere277: This is hotter than hot. And tough. And there is leather and whips. You know nothing about the gay bikers' subculture in the 50'? You'll know everything here, and especially that SM here is not a joke. No safe words.AlineWrites reccing on Crack_Van
* Playing Games (crossover with The Sweeney) by Alinewrites: Our hero is D.I. Frank Drake, substituting one John Thaw role for another – but the story is set in the Sweeneyverse, including other Sweeney favorites like George Carter. In the story, Drake goes undercover to solve a series of bdsm murders – a hot premise if I ever heard one – and he enlists the help of an old lover – who else – Thomas Doughty.Shimere277 reccing on Crack_Van
===Meta===
* Ship Manifesto by Shimere277
* Drake's Venture Fandom Overview by alinewrites
===Other Creative Endeavours===
Fans have produced fanvids, such as 'Let Go', vidded by Shimere277, icons and a fanmix.
==Resources==
Category:Drake's Venture