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30 Days of Nu-Who - Day Nineteen
Until recently, DW isn’t a show that I’d ever have connected with shipping. I won’t deny that there was a definite frisson sometimes between Three and Jo and later between Three/Four and Sarah-Jane, but there was nothing overt and it wasn’t intended for there to be. The Doctor is/was supposed to be an asexual alien and not particularly interested in "that sort of thing" – he’s far more concerned about saving planets and civilizations and defeating the baddies.
And speaking as someone who grew up watching the show, that was as it should be – kids are generally far more interested in watching Daleks and Cybermen beat the crap out of each other than they are in watching people kissing (I know my kids are!) and a romantic angle wasn’t something I ever thought about at that age.
I remember the brou-ha-ha when Eight snogged his companion in the TV movie. Three times no less! So it clearly wasn’t an accident. (Unlike a lot of Ten’s snogs which were rarely “just” a kiss!)
TV today is rife with romance and UST and ‘ships and when Rusty brought DW back, he put that element into it, too. I’m mostly not bothered either way – I think it’s a bit sad if a bloke who’s been knocking around the universe for over nine-hundred years can’t ever fall in love, but then he’s had some pretty awesome friends along the way which I suppose makes up for a lot.
As far as the show itself goes then, I don’t particularly ship the Doctor with anyone. In fanfic terms however, I go for Ten and Donna – as friends or as more, if it's done well - because they tick all the right boxes as far as I'm concerned when it comes to "things that make a good 'ship."
They're a "non"-couple who express affection for each other through snark. They're two people who start out not liking each other very much but who end up becoming very fond of each other. (I'm paraphrasing David Tennant there, and I think he should know!)
They're exactly what the other needs and they understand each other better than anyone else - and despite the Doctor’s advanced age and knowledge, theirs was a relationship of equals in a way that Ten's relationships with his other two "principal" companions weren't, and that was also something rarely seen in all of DW, IMO. It was the healthiest relationship Ten ever had - with someone who didn't want anything from him other than to be allowed to tag along for the ride, who saw him for what he was and loved him anyway. And vice versa.
I also have a bit of a thing for friends who fall for each other - or who have the potential to do so.
They worked wonderfully as best mates in canon (and friendSHIP does contain the word ship after all!) and I'm delighted with that - but sometimes I like to think about where that might have gone had this been any other "regular" show.
One last thing. I’m reasonably convinced that DT was playing Ten as just the tiniest bit smitten (strong characters tend to like other strong characters who can give as good as they get from time to time!) – with Donna being completely oblivious. A little bit of payback for Martha, methinks.
The list
Day 1 - Favourite Incarnation of the Doctor
Day 2 - Favourite Companion
Day 3 - Favourite Villain/Monster/Alien/Baddie of the Week
Day 4 - Favourite Character
Day 5 - Favourite Guest Star
Day 6 - Least Favourite Character
Day 7 - Favourite Episode
Day 8 - Favourite Series
Day 9 - Least Favourite Episode
Day 10 - Favourite Scene/Moment
Day 11 - Scene/Moment that makes you cry
Day 12 - Scene/Moment that makes you giggle
Day 13 - Favourite Era visited by The Doctor & Co.
Day 14 - Fave Doctor Moment
Day 15 - Fave Rose Moment
Day 16 - Fave Martha Moment
Day 17 - Fave Donna Moment
Day 18 - Fave Amy Moment
Day 19 - Favorite Ship
Day 20 - Prettiest Scene
Day 21 - Favourite Location
Day 22 - Something Silly
Day 23 - Something Epic
Day 24 - Favourite Accessory of the Doctor's
Day 25 - Favourite Tardis Team
Day 26 - Scene/Moment that made you go 'awww'
Day 27 - Scene/Moment that made you go 'argh'
Day 28 - Favourite Series Arc
Day 29 - Favourite Music/Song
Day 30 - Why Do YOU Love Doctor Who
no subject
As for shipping, much like you, my fanon is that Ten definitely has/d a thing for Donna. I usually think of it as mostly unrequited on Ten's part, though I have admittedly written fanfic where Donna tries things with him just out of curiosity or because she ultimately trusts and cares about him so much. I think they are such a wonderful couple-that-never-was*.
I miss them together, muchly.
* I'm not going to lie, with all the 'we're not together' stuff throughout S4, I had a small hope back then that they might end up in a romantic scenario together at the end of the season, but it was not to be. Oh well. Still, having said that, in most cases I generally prefer my romance-in-Who to be off-screen fanon rather than too big a part of the story arcs.
no subject
Yeah, I think I'm with you there.
I didn't expect there to be a Ten/Donna romance although I did love the running gag.
The fact that it's definitely possible to get the idea that Ten was smitten from what was on the screen is what makes it reasonably simple to write him in love; my stumbling block is always Donna and how to get her to the point where she'd admit to thinking about him "like that". Which is why I vowed I'd never write a "first time" fic for them.
My last fic shows that I should never say things like that! :-)
no subject
Oh god, I know! That's really why I've very rarely written Ten/Donna because Donna gets a bit stubborn with my muse when I try to. ;) I was able to sort of frame it as a comedy once in Quid Pro Quo, where Donna was both curious and a bit under-sexed at the time and then Ten was able to get things to happen between them using that advantage, but usually...yeah.
I think that's why I've usually stuck to writing kinkmeme flashfic about them, because I don't have to worry about setting up things too much. It's sad too, because though Martha/Ten is probably my favorite pairing, I think that Donna/Ten probably had the most UST and I really wanted them to get together (off-screen or subtly, of course).
no subject
I'm crap at PWPs. I can write decent smut, but I can't write it without delving into motivations and stuff like that. Which makes Ten/Donna smut pretty difficult to get right when she made it so clear that she didn't want any "of that nonsense". Was she blind?! *g*