Obviously it's an overgeneralisation - I was thinking of people who are in love, and thus focus mostly on each other. Rather than friends who run around having adventures together. Well, I did include people who are in love: Amy and Rory are. The Doctor and River are. Though I suppose you could say that they have a *family* dynamic, even before they discover that they are, so it’s different. But even so, I think 11 has an important advantage there because of the way he’s written –and do I think you can write the Doctor in love just fine, no matter what some people say. (Or he gets better episodes, I don’t know, I need to rewatch Series 2. But he does, doesn’t he?) I equally see the Doctor in an episode with Clara or a River-heavy one. When he is alone, it is equally heartbreaking with 10 but I don’t *want* him to stay that way, that doesn’t make him more interesting to watch. (And again, also, he didn’t need to lose people for us to *really* appreciate them and their connection through his level of grief, because we already did so; which I think is important.) What I’m trying to say is that I felt an increased “Doctorishness” when 10 wasn’t with Rose, perhaps due to how overtly human/traditional hero he tried to be. I mean, he even gets his catchphrase in “Doomsday” and his cool action theme in Series 3. And then there’s the whole “I won’t say I’m in love” aspect –for good, valid, character-based reasons, but still– that keeps their relationship from developing. People who you feel *want* to get married, feed each other chocolates, and shag their collective brains out, but are forced to stay in a stasis because the writing doesn’t know what else to do with them and/or wants tragedy for the sake of tragedy (because 10 *needs* !ANGST! ) are less engaging to watch.
Again, I may be biased because of cosplay and I’m probably too harsh on the poor babies now (Genuinely happy 10 is rare, I know I will go “aww”). Just see this as a subjective, personal view. But I mostly feel it’s a writing thing anyway, like I said: the “I won’t say I’m in love” stasis, the underlying unequal power dynamic… That’s why 10.2/Rose opens up so many possibilities. As a great fic puts it: “It’s not perfect. But in a way it’s better than perfect, because finally it’s real.” And also about writing issues, I think you can have people who are in love; but you have to either give them huge obstacles to overcome, make them unhappy for other reasons, or give them very, very interesting things to do. I mean everyone and their mother (literally!) was already shipping 11/River by the Series 5 finale, and the flirting was over 9000; but we have this mysterious box that’s been hyped up to high heaven, a bajillion hostile armies on our heads, and all of existence and a wedding to save. You have to take drugs to not get invested to “watching Hitchcock” levels. And like I said, Moffat allows our poor favourite bastards to occasionally Earn Their Happy Ending and applies copious amounts of the Reverse Don Bluth Principle. So that helps, I think.
Re: Thy humble phantom lurker
Well, I did include people who are in love: Amy and Rory are. The Doctor and River are. Though I suppose you could say that they have a *family* dynamic, even before they discover that they are, so it’s different.
But even so, I think 11 has an important advantage there because of the way he’s written –and do I think you can write the Doctor in love just fine, no matter what some people say. (Or he gets better episodes, I don’t know, I need to rewatch Series 2. But he does, doesn’t he?) I equally see the Doctor in an episode with Clara or a River-heavy one. When he is alone, it is equally heartbreaking with 10 but I don’t *want* him to stay that way, that doesn’t make him more interesting to watch. (And again, also, he didn’t need to lose people for us to *really* appreciate them and their connection through his level of grief, because we already did so; which I think is important.)
What I’m trying to say is that I felt an increased “Doctorishness” when 10 wasn’t with Rose, perhaps due to how overtly human/traditional hero he tried to be. I mean, he even gets his catchphrase in “Doomsday” and his cool action theme in Series 3.
And then there’s the whole “I won’t say I’m in love” aspect –for good, valid, character-based reasons, but still– that keeps their relationship from developing. People who you feel *want* to get married, feed each other chocolates, and shag their collective brains out, but are forced to stay in a stasis because the writing doesn’t know what else to do with them and/or wants tragedy for the sake of tragedy (because 10 *needs* !ANGST! ) are less engaging to watch.
Again, I may be biased because of cosplay and I’m probably too harsh on the poor babies now (Genuinely happy 10 is rare, I know I will go “aww”). Just see this as a subjective, personal view. But I mostly feel it’s a writing thing anyway, like I said: the “I won’t say I’m in love” stasis, the underlying unequal power dynamic… That’s why 10.2/Rose opens up so many possibilities. As a great fic puts it: “It’s not perfect. But in a way it’s better than perfect, because finally it’s real.”
And also about writing issues, I think you can have people who are in love; but you have to either give them huge obstacles to overcome, make them unhappy for other reasons, or give them very, very interesting things to do. I mean everyone and their mother (literally!) was already shipping 11/River by the Series 5 finale, and the flirting was over 9000; but we have this mysterious box that’s been hyped up to high heaven, a bajillion hostile armies on our heads, and all of existence and a wedding to save. You have to take drugs to not get invested to “watching Hitchcock” levels.
And like I said, Moffat allows our poor favourite bastards to occasionally Earn Their Happy Ending and applies copious amounts of the Reverse Don Bluth Principle. So that helps, I think.
(And sorry for the Walls of Text.)