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Of Ships and Doctors
I've just read a wonderful post s3 character study of Ten, and I think I'm realizing that my ship is actually Doctor/TARDIS.
WAAHH!!
Which makes The Parting Of The Ways an actual on-screen Nine/Rose/TARDIS threesome, right? *boggles*
But I am still of the conviction that Doctor Who doesn't really need ships. Actually, I think with some shows, I'd miss out if I picked an OTP and ran with it.
A while ago, I read an article about someone ranting that shippers are stupid, because they shrink their perspective to a very narrow range through which they view the show.
I think that opinion is bullshit. Shippers who do that are not stupid. The only people who are stupid are those who are not aware that they are doing it.
Let's take House as an example. A die-hard House/Wilson shipper will probably not be able to appreciate the House/Cuddy moments the way they could be appreciated if they didn't care who House gets shipped with. That's pretty obvious. If you're a shipper with an OTP, you pick two characters to concentrate on and stop paying much attention to the others. If one of your characters starts extending their range of action to interaction with others than the other half of your OTP, there'll be disapproving jealousy on part of the shipper. And if one of the characters disappears from the show, the shipper will have lost their reason of interest.
That's a narrow perspective. No argument there. However, I think everybody in fandom has the right to decide for themselves how much they want to narrow their perspective respectively widen it. I guess everybody who has been in fandom for a while has seen it happening to themselves - you start out as a hardcore OTP shipper, and after a while, you either lose interest in the fandom because there's only so much you can get out of your ship, or you start exploring other ships. That second part, I think, very much depends on the fandom. If it's a brilliant fandom that you simply don't want to leave, you'll try to find ways to keep yourself interested. And looking at a show from an unbiased/differently biased viewpoint is almost like watching it anew.
It also depends on the show. If the show is brilliant, I think at least I personally would consider it too much of a loss to concentrate on one pairing and block out everything else. In House, I'm perfectly fine with concentrating on House/Wilson and ignoring the rest, because, let's be honest, the rest isn't really all that interesting. It's a medical show with crappy medicine. There are some interesting story arcs with Cuddy, but the three ducklings are - at least imo - three very boring characters. The least boring is Chase, but he's not thrilling enough for me to watch the whole show just from a Chase-fangirl-perspective.
Doctor Who, on the other hand, for me is a show that I would want to watch from a perspective as wide as possible. They're putting so much effort in the details - just as an example, the prosthetic masks. They use CGI very seldomly, and their aliens - like for example the cat-nuns in 2x01 - look all the more amazing because they seem so real. And their main character, the Doctor, has so many layers and variations that it'd take one hell of a long time to get bored with him alone. As as soon as you do get bored with him, you can have him interacting with one of the many, many side characters and experience his personality from a whole new perspective. Or you can have him regenerating.
So, I for myself have decided to keep away from ships in Doctor Who. Or, rather, enjoy them all equally. I guess I made that decision when I read a reaction to the Time Crash line 'all my love to long ago' that Ten says to Five. Some person was all like, OMG HE MEANT THE COMPANION HE HAD BACK THEN! and all I could think was, no, no, don't do that! You're missing out on the MOST BRILLIANT META MOMENT EVER!
Of course, as I said, that's her choice and her business. It simply was my first reaction to reading it. And so I decided to a) not pick one OTP in Doctor Who, because no matter who's with the Doctor, it's all good, and b) not settle on one Doctor as the perfect Doctor. Which is gonna be hard, because OMG TEN SO MUCH LOVE! But I'd miss out on so much if I refused to watch and enjoy Doctors 1-9 and the Doctors to come after 10. It'll still break my heart to see DT go, though. I hope he'll stick around for at least two more seasons! Or more. As many as I can get ;).
WAAHH!!
Which makes The Parting Of The Ways an actual on-screen Nine/Rose/TARDIS threesome, right? *boggles*
But I am still of the conviction that Doctor Who doesn't really need ships. Actually, I think with some shows, I'd miss out if I picked an OTP and ran with it.
A while ago, I read an article about someone ranting that shippers are stupid, because they shrink their perspective to a very narrow range through which they view the show.
I think that opinion is bullshit. Shippers who do that are not stupid. The only people who are stupid are those who are not aware that they are doing it.
Let's take House as an example. A die-hard House/Wilson shipper will probably not be able to appreciate the House/Cuddy moments the way they could be appreciated if they didn't care who House gets shipped with. That's pretty obvious. If you're a shipper with an OTP, you pick two characters to concentrate on and stop paying much attention to the others. If one of your characters starts extending their range of action to interaction with others than the other half of your OTP, there'll be disapproving jealousy on part of the shipper. And if one of the characters disappears from the show, the shipper will have lost their reason of interest.
That's a narrow perspective. No argument there. However, I think everybody in fandom has the right to decide for themselves how much they want to narrow their perspective respectively widen it. I guess everybody who has been in fandom for a while has seen it happening to themselves - you start out as a hardcore OTP shipper, and after a while, you either lose interest in the fandom because there's only so much you can get out of your ship, or you start exploring other ships. That second part, I think, very much depends on the fandom. If it's a brilliant fandom that you simply don't want to leave, you'll try to find ways to keep yourself interested. And looking at a show from an unbiased/differently biased viewpoint is almost like watching it anew.
It also depends on the show. If the show is brilliant, I think at least I personally would consider it too much of a loss to concentrate on one pairing and block out everything else. In House, I'm perfectly fine with concentrating on House/Wilson and ignoring the rest, because, let's be honest, the rest isn't really all that interesting. It's a medical show with crappy medicine. There are some interesting story arcs with Cuddy, but the three ducklings are - at least imo - three very boring characters. The least boring is Chase, but he's not thrilling enough for me to watch the whole show just from a Chase-fangirl-perspective.
Doctor Who, on the other hand, for me is a show that I would want to watch from a perspective as wide as possible. They're putting so much effort in the details - just as an example, the prosthetic masks. They use CGI very seldomly, and their aliens - like for example the cat-nuns in 2x01 - look all the more amazing because they seem so real. And their main character, the Doctor, has so many layers and variations that it'd take one hell of a long time to get bored with him alone. As as soon as you do get bored with him, you can have him interacting with one of the many, many side characters and experience his personality from a whole new perspective. Or you can have him regenerating.
So, I for myself have decided to keep away from ships in Doctor Who. Or, rather, enjoy them all equally. I guess I made that decision when I read a reaction to the Time Crash line 'all my love to long ago' that Ten says to Five. Some person was all like, OMG HE MEANT THE COMPANION HE HAD BACK THEN! and all I could think was, no, no, don't do that! You're missing out on the MOST BRILLIANT META MOMENT EVER!
Of course, as I said, that's her choice and her business. It simply was my first reaction to reading it. And so I decided to a) not pick one OTP in Doctor Who, because no matter who's with the Doctor, it's all good, and b) not settle on one Doctor as the perfect Doctor. Which is gonna be hard, because OMG TEN SO MUCH LOVE! But I'd miss out on so much if I refused to watch and enjoy Doctors 1-9 and the Doctors to come after 10. It'll still break my heart to see DT go, though. I hope he'll stick around for at least two more seasons! Or more. As many as I can get ;).
no subject
I have seen all of Torchwood, thanks to a certain really awesome someone who sent me the entire season! XD I don't care what anyone says, I think Torchwood is awesome, and I'm really really looking forward to the second season.
Beer and pizza plus a good shag every time the Doctor drops by for a pit stop - and maybe some sort of line of communication for emergencies.
Mmm, that sounds like a great plan. ^^
I just have to make a little side comment about Torchwood, now: I really love the character dynamic in the show. I just think they work so great together. Gwen isn't my favorite character ever, but I do find her interesting. (The drugging her boyfriend scene! OMG!) Kind of the same way I feel about Owen. I don't especially like him as a person, but I enjoy watching him, and I think he's had some great scenes. And I'm a big Ianto fan. Can't help it, He's just so PRETTY OMG *fangirl flail*. I also get all happy when I see the Torchwood Slow-mo Walk of Cool. =D
*runs away from Teh Rose Army Loonies*
no subject
House is the most bisexual person who ever walked the fictional Earth of the House MD world. Even if he were actually straight, he'd be bisexual just out of SPITE. ;)
Hee, I was just asking about Torchwood in case you hadn't gotten around to watching it yet ;). I'm glad you enjoyed the DVDs! I liked the show too - it's not as awesome as Doctor Who, but it's definitely fun.
I really love the character dynamic in the show.
I know what you mean by that! I don't really have a character in Torchwood whom I like most of all - I do like Gwen, and especially her BF. I actually think that if I had to pick a favorite character, Gwen's BF would be it. But he isn't awesome enough so I'd watch the show only for him - as you said, it's the dynamics. It's not so much that the characters are awesome, but that they are interesting.
Hee, Ianto sort of slipped underneath my RADAR. Every time he shows up, I'm confused for a second before I remember who he is. I don't know why, but my brain simply refuses to file him away as a proper member of the Torchwood team.
I really like what they did with Jack, though. Angst for Jack, yay! ;) In DW s1, he was fun, but he wasn't exactly a character you could work with. Too simple. Giving him this whole angsty I-lived-through-the-20th-century-and-all-I-got-was-this-stupid-coat background really did wonders for his character. And brought him closer to the Doctor, which I can only approve of ;).
The Torchwood Slow-Mo Walk of Cool is all kinds of shades of awesome. So is their theme music. Have you noticed how they used that music in a couple of the late DW eps? So cool :D.
Mmm, that sounds like a great plan.
Someone should write it. Not me, though. I'm crap at relationshippy stuff like that. *shoos away plot bunny*