Doctor Who: relationships...

A lot of my friends are talking about the dissent in Doctor Who fandom between the Rose lovers and the Martha lovers. Now, I'm really good at ignoring polemics, being a both/and sort of person rather than an either/or sort of person, and I think having two Companions - or more - to choose between for stories and metatextual consideration just gives us all more scope. I think it's great. The relationship aspect is a big part of the appeal of the show for me, and I wouldn't want to lose it.

And yes, I have preferences. I'm more likely to write Doctor/Jack than to pair the Doctor with anyone else, but that doesn't mean I don't like other pairings. I've written Doctor/Rose and Doctor/Martha and Doctor/Rose/Jack, and I wouldn't rule out Doctor/Martha/Jack in future, either. Que sera sera.¹

And note I don't even differentiate between Nine and Ten here, though they are somewhat different characters, linked by continuity. I see it all as being a fluid continuum between one Doctor and the next, between him and each companion. I also like Doctor/Reinette, and might write about them, too, if I could find the right angle.

I know fans become attached to certain relationships and to pairings. I remember writing X-Files stories, gravitating happily between Mulder/Skinner, Mulder/Krycek and Skinner/Krycek - I wrote all three. But Mulder/Scully? That for me was a no-no. I will not describe my disgust that it became canonical. Its reality made it no more palatable.

So I understand about preferences, and the sense of horror or hostility to pairing that don't fit into a person's interpretation of the show. I also understand the sense of hostility to people who resent the hostility to their favourite pairing.²

Maybe fandom is a fluid thing too, depending on emotional cues generated by the shows on a whole spectrum - the fandom being the mirror of the show's internal reality, each a broad continuum spreading out in all directions.

I absolutely love the way the two parallel/differing relationships have been portrayed on the show, between the Doctor and Rose on the one hand, and the Doctor and Martha on the other. And how the transition has not been ignored (as it would be on most shows, or has been in the past) but has been dealt with as a psychological plot point. Oooh yes, I think these writers know what they're doing and I love every moment.

The segment of fandom I understand far less, is that which sees the Doctor as superior to his companions, as not having romantic or sexual interest in them, and not wanting him to. Or wanting him to only sometimes in cases of their choosing. Or wanting him to be... somewhat less human in his feelings than I perceive him as. My conclusion there, tongue in cheek, is that if earlier incarnations of the Doctor have been so unlike the ones I've come to know - Eight, Nine, and Ten - and I'm not sure I want to meet them.

Such fans have said to me that they wouldn't want the Doctor to fall in love with all his companions, and my thought was: "Why not?"

~ ~ ~

¹ I'm not even mentioning the potential pairings between the Doctor and other former companions loved by the Old School fans, people like Ace, Peri, Romana I and II, Jamie, Leela and so on - most of them just names to me, sometimes faces. In some cases I just know the companion's name, not his or her gender.

I suppose it goes without saying that I also like other pairings for Captain Jack - Jack/Ianto, Jack/Jack, Jack/Estelle, Jack/Gwen... eee, this list could go on for a long time!

² A case in point is Battlestar Galactica, where my favourite pairing is non-canonical and squicks every person I've ever dared to mention it to, though it's just basically putting my two favourite characters together. No, I've never written it, and probably never will. But I can't help liking it, and hating the "eee-uw" reaction it evokes, which is why I don't mention it out loud.

Torchwood, Doctor Who, and the infamous "Utopia" trailer...

I've been thinking about the "Utopia" trailer that John Barrowman showed on Jonathan Ross, and enjoying the puzzle it represents.

Ever since I saw "The Parting of the Ways", I've pondering the question of why the Doctor didn't go back to collect Jack from the Game Station. My first guess was that the Doctor didn't know Rose had brought him back from the dead - but he clearly did know, as evidenced in "Children in Need", where they made a point of telling us so. And it was clear throughout Torchwood that Jack was looking for the Doctor, but even with a few close calls had failed to find him. So... ( What, then? )

A challenge...

I got this meme from fandom_me, and I love it. So:

Give me two characters I write and I'll write a drabble or ficlet about their first kiss.

It doesn't have to be characters I've written about already, just characters I know and like.