So do you think that fandom naturally gravitates to "crippled" canonical texts?
Yes. And I've encountered lots of fanfic writers who want to make it clear that the texts the enjoy are often much better quality than the ones they are inspired to write for.
I'm assuming there won't be much fic out there for texts that are oversupplied with quality in the plot and setting departments and undersupplied on the characterisation side (e.g. most hard sf)
I think the issue is less the quality of the characterisation and more whether or not there's something about it that pings for people. I've come across the odd bit of Asimov fanfic, and while his characters are usually fairly thin they have some engaging interactions and relationships. Also there's the fact that fanfic writers (at least the ones I hang out with) tend to be female, and the fans of hard sf tend to be male. I have sometimes heard tell of mostly-male-written hard sf fanfic out there somewhere but have never encountered it.
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Yes. And I've encountered lots of fanfic writers who want to make it clear that the texts the enjoy are often much better quality than the ones they are inspired to write for.
I'm assuming there won't be much fic out there for texts that are oversupplied with quality in the plot and setting departments and undersupplied on the characterisation side (e.g. most hard sf)
I think the issue is less the quality of the characterisation and more whether or not there's something about it that pings for people. I've come across the odd bit of Asimov fanfic, and while his characters are usually fairly thin they have some engaging interactions and relationships. Also there's the fact that fanfic writers (at least the ones I hang out with) tend to be female, and the fans of hard sf tend to be male. I have sometimes heard tell of mostly-male-written hard sf fanfic out there somewhere but have never encountered it.