Clara and The Doctor... Discuss

[Inactive User]

Not sure if this fits in musings and rantings or if it should be somewhere in off-a topics, feel free to move it to the right place.

I've been re-watching series 8 of Doctor Who and it set me off wondering about the relationship between the Doctor and Clara. I was wondering if perhaps their relationship could be described as queer-platonic (qp), I don't know if this has already been discussed on the forums somewhere.

Certainly Clara and Danny are in a romantic relationship, the series makes it pretty obvious but I think in one episode Danny says to Clara "You love him [the Doctor] don't you?" and I can't remember her reply but her face said it all really, she loves the Doctor in some form but not romantically.

I never really noticed any romantic undertones to the Clara/Doctor relationship but they seem to be more than friends to me, their relationship appears closer and more intense than any of the Doctor's other friendships.

I know this is just guesswork and I don't know what Moffat and Co. have said about the Doctor and Clara but I'm curious as to your thoughts...

let me know what you think! :)

[Steph Ace]

Moving from Asexual Musings and Rantings to Off-A.

Steph
Asexual Musings and Rantings Moderator.

[verily-forsooth-egads]

Not all of the Doctor's companions have seen him regenerate. That's the first thing that comes to mind when I wonder what the difference is. There's also the part where she's been inside his timeline, and I'd complain if that didn't seem to change their dynamic at all, even subtly. In any case, I'd say you're totally right, they're a textbook example of a queerplatonic relationship.

[Star Bit]

I thought she did like him romantically-- i could've sworn there was evadence of that before the new Doctor. But currently, yes, even if she is still harboring romantic attraction, I would say their relationship is queerplatonic just like Marceline and Ice King or Simon.

[loomborn]

Clara may love him romantically, but the Doctor is only like 'Clara I need you to touch this goo'.

[fuzzipueo]

Before I respond to the quote ... loomborn! Are you a New Adventures fan? :D

Clara may love him romantically, but the Doctor is only like 'Clara I need you to touch this goo'.

Yeah, the current incarnation of the Doctor comes across as Aro-Ace to me. He's not interested in romantic relationships (and this is me going: Let's hear it for Capaldi putting his foot down on romance in the TARDIS!).

'Course, I could be missing things. I do agree that of all the Doctor's companions over the years, she's one of the few who've seen aspects of him most of the others have not, so she would have insight into his character that others would miss.

[loomborn]

Before I respond to the quote ... loomborn! Are you a New Adventures fan? :D

Clara may love him romantically, but the Doctor is only like 'Clara I need you to touch this goo'.

Yeah, the current incarnation of the Doctor comes across as Aro-Ace to me. He's not interested in romantic relationships (and this is me going: Let's hear it for Capaldi putting his foot down on romance in the TARDIS!).

'Course, I could be missing things. I do agree that of all the Doctor's companions over the years, she's one of the few who've seen aspects of him most of the others have not, so she would have insight into his character that others would miss.

Fan of the expanded universe in general... Specially sciencey Gallifrey stuff. so YES Lungbarrow is the shit to me, I love it. :twisted:

Despite this incarnation seems to be acer than normal, I think the Doctor (and most of Gallifreyans) has always been asexual. I always say Time Lords love control and they wouldn't want to have an unreported and illegal infant running throught the Capitol, so they all "agree" being collectively asexual from birth (they have the technology and it's their culture, don't blame them) - also they don't like touching and live too long, I suppose they'll have more important things to do than that :P

Of course they can be romantic, that's how I think all the River/Rose love is. Rose wouldn't have had any damn idea of it, and even though I suppose River did, she was naughty and liked to make the Doctor uncomfortable so......

[Inactive User]

I thought she did like him romantically-- i could've sworn there was evadence of that before the new Doctor. But currently, yes, even if she is still harboring romantic attraction, I would say their relationship is queerplatonic just like Marceline and Ice King or Simon.

Yes I think when Matt Smith was the Doctor it seemed a bit more romantic than QP, I suppose whenever the Doctor regenerates his relationship (of any type) with his companion will change slightly

Yeah, the current incarnation of the Doctor comes across as Aro-Ace to me. He's not interested in romantic relationships (and this is me going: Let's hear it for Capaldi putting his foot down on romance in the TARDIS!).

I like a bit of romance in the Tardis but it gets silly when nearly every female companion falls in love with the doctor...

Rose loved him, Martha loved him quite one-sidedly, Amy tried to kiss him before she married Rory etc.

although Donna was quite refreshing :) they were definately just friends

[Rising Sun]

I never saw the relationship between the Doctor and River Song as something non-sexual. River spent her time teasing the Doctor, who obviously liked it a lot and hinted at what they did (sleeping together). I didn't even see that much romance between them, but I understood there was something very sexual between them, and I'm not alone. It seems that only some asexual fans didn't get it

I don't see the Doctor as an asexual character in general, but rather as a celibate character. Imagine a sexual person, who is suddenly involved in a war, loses all his family, and the only companions he can have after don't even reach a 10th of his lifespan. Not only he's deeply hurt, but he knows that he can't get attached too much to people with a so short life in order not to be heartbroken. No wonder why he often refuses relationships, his past is just horrible :(

[loomborn]

I never saw the relationship between the Doctor and River Song as something non-sexual. River spent her time teasing the Doctor, who obviously liked it a lot and hinted at what they did (sleeping together). I didn't even see that much romance between them, but I understood there was something very sexual between them, and I'm not alone. It seems that only some asexual fans didn't get it

I don't see the Doctor as an asexual character in general, but rather as a celibate character. Imagine a sexual person, who is suddenly involved in a war, loses all his family, and the only companions he can have after don't even reach a 10th of his lifespan. Not only he's deeply hurt, but he knows that he can't get attached too much to people with a so short life in order not to be heartbroken. No wonder why he often refuses relationships, his past is just horrible :(

In the classic series he's much more asexual, it has been only in the New Series when sexual things have started to come up, which is not that very great news. Many people see it as an improvement because it makes relationships 'more real' but for me it's just a huge step back for this show. Firstly, because it's a general public show, and I'd l i k e to enjoy my general public show. And secondly because I discovered my liking for pairings was a fake.

I haven't always seen River and Doctor as the same way. At first I didn't feel uncomfortable with their early relationship and even enjoyed it, but when I kept watching I started to conceive the Doctor in another way, I don't know how. I started to accept his asexuality that is widely shown in Classic Who and the expanded universe (damn, he even describes himself as a they in one of those). I really feel crept out when I think what I expected from them years ago. Ew that was just wrong. At the end I grasped the image of old courple who do old courple things like destroying bad aliens together and that shit, even though Moffat tried to make me think dirtier. And I admit Moffat makes some good stuff, but in that field he just sucks. I don't know where he got those ideas, he portraits the Doctor as an awkward screwdriver-erecting cishet male when he's just a nerd interested in stroking sentient machines, chess and weird food.

So, yeah, when some parts gives you the creeps, wet ass to canon, we dont need it nor it's always better!

[fuzzipueo]

I never saw the relationship between the Doctor and River Song as something non-sexual. River spent her time teasing the Doctor, who obviously liked it a lot and hinted at what they did (sleeping together). I didn't even see that much romance between them, but I understood there was something very sexual between them, and I'm not alone. It seems that only some asexual fans didn't get it

I don't see the Doctor as an asexual character in general, but rather as a celibate character. Imagine a sexual person, who is suddenly involved in a war, loses all his family, and the only companions he can have after don't even reach a 10th of his lifespan. Not only he's deeply hurt, but he knows that he can't get attached too much to people with a so short life in order not to be heartbroken. No wonder why he often refuses relationships, his past is just horrible :(

Oh, I got it all right. I knew the moment she showed up on screen that I would not like their relationship and I was right. All I could think at the time was, oh, no, not again. Moffat just picked up from where Davies left off and things just went further downhill. (I'm being good here, since I had the same exact negative reaction to Bernice Summerfield [New Adventures 7th Doctor character] when she showed up - and in the very last book she appears in, she proceeded to prove my problem with her. Dang you Lance Parkin!).

This is not the Who I grew up watching. The Doctor Who I grew up with kept the romance to the companions and other one off characters. Since romance was off the table (since it was understood that there should be no nookie in the TARDIS), and the Doctor showed no interest anyway, at least none that I saw [though there have been discussions by older fans that there were things going on between Four and Susan and Four and Romana 2], it offered a haven for people who did not fall under the umbrella of what we now call "heteronomarlity". If you've ever wondered why so many fans of Who are gay, this is one of many reasons. The Doctor showed no interest. Yes, he got attached to people, as you do when you spend a lot of time with them, especially under high stress, dangerous situations, and he still hates goodbyes, but never in an obvious, in your face way as it is now. There's more a sense of being really great friends with his companions, and not just with the women either. If you've ever seen Two with Jamie McCrimmon, you'll see what I mean (and, evidently, Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines deliberately played up the relationship for the fun of it).

The current series, however, is a commercial concern, unlike the Classic series which had a very different focus and which was, more often than not, ignored when the chance for a new, bigger budget came up at the Beeb. Also, the Classic series was a cult show, watched only by devotees and shown only on PBS stations across the US, so only 'those in the know' knew about it. Now, it is an international success, it makes a ton of money, so it has to appeal to the widest* common denominator which includes romance. This isn't necessarily a good thing.

Tomb of the Cybermen Victoria: You probably can't remember your family. The Doctor: Oh yes, I can when I want to. And that's the point, really. I have to really want to, to bring them back in front of my eyes. The rest of the time they... they sleep in my mind and I forget. And so will you. Oh yes, you will. You'll find there's so much else to think about. To remember. Our lives are different to anybody else's. That's the exciting thing, that nobody in the universe can do what we're doing.

[Star Bit]

My head-canon is that Time Lords develop into asexuals. Perhaps with the occasional regeneration exception, but predominantly asexual past their first life. Don't you see the overpopulation that would cause? On top of having 13 life cycles, they also live extra long in those too.