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Why don’t they call Doctor/Clara “Cloctor”? That would be an amazing name and it actually has the characters names in it and not the actors ones. I mean Whouffaldi is okay I suppose but do I really want to read about Peter Capaldi fucking a souffle?
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
IT’S ALL UP.
A new short story: The Farewell Tour
I’ve just posted my fourth Doctor Who fanfic story to Archive of Our Own. “The Farewell Tour” is not set in the continuity of the other stories. It’s another post-Hell Bent reunion scenario, but I hope with a twist. It’s also nowhere near as dark as my previous story.
The Farewell Tour: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6907858
Previous stories:
Time Bomb: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6450148/chapters/14761879
The Big Red Button (a coda to Time Bomb): http://archiveofourown.org/works/6862918
Clara and the TARDIS: Seven Nights Later: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6836389
PS: Time Bomb just received its 500th hit as I was uploading The Farewell Tour. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to read it!
Deep in Whouffaldi Part 9
You know you’re deep in Whouffaldi when you suddenly remember that there once actually was a time, not that long ago, when you had no problem at all with the idea of Clara romancing Danny Pink instead of the Doctor. For me that was the case early in Series 8, and I found the jealousy the Doctor showed in Time Heist and The Caretaker to be interesting and unexpected but I was still OK with Danny/Clara ... until we got to Mummy on the Orient Express. Then I saw how fantastic a couple Twelve and Clara truly were, and Danny, while still a neat character, really became someone I wanted to see more or less go away because I just wanted Twelve and Clara by themselves. This was a full year before I saw the convention videos in which Jenna confirmed that the “I love you” Clara utters at the end of MOTOE was actually addressed at the Doctor (and watching the episode after seeing this, it’s clear this isn’t just Jenna making stuff up - the director had to be in on it as well). For me, after that point it was Whouffaldi all the way and a direct continuation of Whouffle (which Deep Breath, of course, rendered fully canon with the Doctor’s comment about Eleven believing himself to be Clara’s boyfriend. There may still be wiggle room to deny Whouffaldi if someone really works at it, but no wiggle room exists for Whouffle because it’s said in dialogue, with subtitles on the DVD, and dubbed into whatever languages the show airs in).
Of course, Danny played an important role: he provided us with the trigger for the amazing Series 8 finale, and for Whouffaldi the opportunity for the Doctor to utter one of his fantastic (and confirmed by Moffat) euphemisms for “I love you”. So I’m glad we had him. But at the same time ... I honestly can’t remember when I was totally OK with Danny/Clara and I know I was!
Whouffaldi rewires your synapses. Earworm, indeed.
Whouffaldi similarities in Force Awakens
This post contains spoilers for The Force Awakens. If you’re one of the 5 people who have yet to see it, you might want to skip this one.
I was just rewatching Force Awakens and within that film we see two acknowledged romances take place: the new one between Rey and Finn and the coda of one of the greatest romances in modern Sci-Fi, Han and Leia.
What’s interesting is the similarities between what we see on screen and what we see in Doctor Who between the Doctor and Clara.
Finn/Rey: the two bond through shared, life-endangering experiences, becoming fast friends, hugging a lot and by the end it’s made clear that Finn has fallen in love with her, to the extent where he risks the safety of the galaxy in a foolhardy gambit to save her life. Sound familiar? And at the end, as Finn lies injured and unconscious, we see that Rey shares those feelings (an argument can be made that Clara might not have realized the true depth of her feelings for the Doctor until fairly late in the game, maybe even as late as the Cloisters), but the two are forced to part because she has to answer a higher calling. (With the movie leaving us with the promise of a reunion in Episode VIII.)
Han/Leia: another relationship forged through shared adventure, despite initial friction and the two insulting each other at every turn (sound familiar?) but this time we see it decades down the line, after a long period in which Han has forced himself out of Leia’s life. Almost like he had to undergo a memory wipe. Years later, they reunite, but only briefly. A lot of people, me included, are assuming that we will see Clara at least one more time, in Capaldi’s regeneration episode. Sadly, Han had no regeneration option, but the hope is Twelve and Clara will reunite one more time before Twelve “dies”.
Other similarities: the hand-holding between Finn and Rey was one thing I found interesting. True, she complained about it, but still, it’s there during a sequence that was only missing the words “When I say run, run!” and “I will hold Finn’s hand, but that’s it.”. And there are no big romantic snogs between either couple. Instead, they hug. They just hug. Again, sound familiar?
Oh, and regarding the speculation that there might also be something between Finn and Poe Dameron? I don’t see it personally - they’re good friends is the way it appears on screen. But even if there is something, that’s fine because it provides another similarity - how is it any different from Clara boasting about snogging Jane Austen?
Ripples on a Pond, Pt. 2
I just watched Nightmare in Silver for the first time in nearly 3 years. I wish I could say I have a better impression of it as a whole than I did back in 2013 when I called it the first episode in years that I actually hated, but while I don’t hate the episode anymore (for reasons I’ll get into), it still has too many fatal flaws for me to consider it a good episode. But, looking back on it from a strictly Clara and Doctor perspective, this was a landmark episode in many ways. In terms of Clara’s character development it was the episode where she first acted in lieu of the Doctor and acted like the Doctor. Including a rather startling moment where she shrugs off the apparent death of someone named “Missy” (I assume the name is a coincidence) to focus on the next step.
Then there was a moment where she was prepared to shoot two soldiers who had been semi-converted. I had forgotten this as I thought it was only when she commanded the UNIT snipers in Magician’s Apprentice that she was prepared to make the hard call. That was actually quite startling.
In terms of the “Cloctor” relationship, there are a couple of smoking guns here that I don’t see mentioned very often maybe because this episode isn’t very highly regarded. For example, we have Mr. Clever’s attempt at seducing Clara which nearly works, until Clara says (paraphrasing) “even if those things were true, the Doctor would rather die than say them.” Which totally gives on-screen validation to all that stuff we heard Peter and Jenna say about the two not being willing to say certain things out loud. It was established as part of the character dynamic on screen three years ago. But we know the Doctor has the feelings because when they are alone, Mr Clever basically says so. And of course we have that infamous crack about Clara’s tight skirt at the end. Plus the Doctor does not look happy when Porridge proposes marriage to Clara.
And then there’s this line when Mr. Clever remarks about the Doctor’s attempt (ongoing during Series 7) to erase himself from history: “You know you could be reconstructed by the hole you've left.” Gee ... where have we heard that before?
I tell ya, someone should write a book about the complexities and callbacks of the Clara era. They’re quite remarkable. I only wish Nightmare in Silver was a better episode all-around. Warwick Davis was cool, it was incredible seeing Clara in command, and I’ve already mentioned the Whouffle stuff - and it was written by Neil Gaiman. Why didn’t it work for me? A riddle for the ages, I guess...
Double standards
(This post contains a major spoiler for the Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD episode, “The Singularity” that aired in North America on 26 April 2016. Spoilerphobes may wish to shield (sorry...) their eyes accordingly.)
This may not appear to be Doctor Who related at first, but it will become clear...
So it finally happened. Fitz and Simmons officially became a couple in last night’s episode, “The Singularity”. With their longing looks, Fitz’s declaration of love two seasons back, Simmons pining for him on the desert planet, Fitz risking his life trying to get her back, and last episode’s makeout session, apparently they weren’t a real couple. Nope, according to the script - and I guess the fans who have been waiting for this - FitzSimmons officially became a couple because they finally had sex.
I’ve nothing against this turn of events in SHIELD - I’ve been rooting for FitzSimmons (a pair of characters who were given a shipping name in dialogue in their very first episode) since Day 1. The only thing I dislike is the fact so many people denied that they were an item prior to this - and the script for last night’s episode pretty much says they didn’t consider themselves a couple either - until they went to bed together. And I’m reminded of how so many people continue to refuse to acknowledge that anything non-platonic existed between the Doctor and Clara, or Rose, or even River, because the show never put in a love scene. Now, with River I know she’s made some risque comments here and there, but truth be told we don’t know how much of that is real and how much is River just being River. But you can always say “well they were married, so do the math”. Fair enough. But there is so much on-screen evidence that Ten and Rose were a couple and that Clara and the Doctor - both 11 and 12 - were a couple that you shouldn’t need to indicate that they’d gone to bed together to cement this.
Actually, truth be told, Clara and the Doctor had sex in every episode they were in (and Rose with Nine and Ten applies here too). Instead of rolling around in a bed, they were being chased by Daleks, thwarting Mire and Love Sprites, coming back breathless from an adventure involving sentient plants (I’ve said it before - look at the Doctor’s facial expression at the start of Face the Raven when Clara talks about jumping over the side. He’s prowling. And look at how Clara gazes at the Doctor in the final scenes of Before the Flood - not to mention her body language with him in a number of scenes in both episodes, and the two’s flirting in Sleep No More). Adventure was the Doctor and Clara’s lovemaking, and the Doctor and Rose’s - and I think the Doctor and River’s too. In real life there are couples who get more jollies out of bungee jumping and going on rafting adventures than going to bed with each other. And there are countless couples, deeply in love, who for religious and cultural reasons look at sex as a way to procreate and that’s it - they enjoy each other in different ways. As do people for whom age or physical abilities become an issue.
Interestingly, SHIELD actually lampshades the attitude of “sex or it isn’t real” by having Mack tell Jemma that as far as he’s concerned, FitzSimmons are a couple, and this is well before “the deed.” It’s clear and obvious to him without the need for the two to go another step. It should be just as clear and obvious with the Doctor and Clara (and Rose, and River).
Whouffle AU idea - Doctor and Clara and internet friends who fall in love with each others when they meet.
Rating: T
Word Count: 1,172
Notes: First AU oneshot! This will be the first chapter of a series of oneshots, all set within a college AU. Feel free to send me prompts, hope you guys like it!
