The best he can do on the subject of the Master is indignance, disparaging remarks, and the occasional remark about the Master being his best enemy.
Not said to the Master himself, but he does a little bit better when Jo calls him on the Master love in Sea Devils. In reply to her "you felt sorry for him, didn't you? You wanted to make sure he is alright", he says "well, he used to be a friend of mine - a very good friend - in fact, you might say we were", no pause for weirdest climax ever, "at school together". Which is as direct an admission of fondness you get pre-Ten, I think. To the Master himself, I think we do get some expressions of concern, usually along with sarcasm, as in "you want to be careful with that machine of yours, Professor Keller", or "are you feeling alright, old chap?", but that's it. All of which goes to say: you're right, the Doctor is bad with the verbal expression of love. Great with body language, but lousy with the words.
(Seven, when he thinks the Brig has died in Battlefield, is a case in point. He goes for the full body clutching and near-tears protest exactly as Ten will with the Master, but of course what he says is "why did you do that, you stubborn fool! You were supposed to die in bed! Why -" At which point the Brig revives and clears his throat and manly embarassment is to be had.*g*)
Oh, good point -- I love that conversation in Sea Devils, so I should have remembered that. Although in that one I think it's more the fact that he's agreeing with Jo's assessment than the actual words he uses. Three is very good at almost saying things, or letting other people say them instead and not disagreeing.
(Oh my god you're right. I saw Battlefield fairly recently, and that scene was hilarious. Oh Doctor, never change.)
Thinking more about the Doctor expressing affection verbally: One comes actually close to the l-word than most regenerations when saying "you are very dear to me" to Cameca. As I watched The Atztecs after I had seen Girl in the Fireplace, the similarities were really glaring, down to the Doctor taking the letter (Reinette)/talisman (Cameca) in his hand, looking at it wistfully and standing sadly in the console room once the companions have gone, while not showing them how he feels. Also, given One hits on Cameca way before finding out she knows useful information: how that asexual idea ever could come up is beyond me, because while he hadn't intended to get engaged, he definitely intentionally flirted with her, and responded to her anything but asexually. Their farewell scene when he can't bring himself to look at her is pretty much typical for the Doctor in later regenerations, too.
(If we count the audios, Eight does say "I love you" to Charley. Whereupon the universe nearly explodes, so no wonder he never says it again. But that's the only time the audios broke with the rule of not letting the Doctor say these words directly. I recently listened to Six' way of saying it without saying it: when Evelyn, years after they've travelled together and when she's happily married, tells him she loves him, he says "I still miss you, too".)
(Battlefield Not!Brig Death scene: isn't it just? It's not may favourite Seven serial, there are far better ones, but I love very single scene with the Brig in it, and that one very much indeed. Also the way Seven lights up when seeing him and drags out the entire name with McCoy's Scottish burr: Alistairrrr Gordon Lethdbridge Stewart. I don't want to think about what the Master would have done with the Brig during the year that wasn't, because I'm pretty sure it was spectacularly unpleasant. Other humans usually know the Doctor just in one regeneration. The Brig, despite being mortal, knows him in most, and the Doctor keeps coming back...)
One/Cameca makes me sort of unreasonably happy. The whole thing was so incredibly mature and charming, and I kept getting Girl in the Fireplace flashbacks also, especially during that last scene. (Honestly I kept expecting him to invite her along, and then circumstances conspiring at the last minute to cause her to stay behind.) I just love that he's not being flirty to be manipulative but because he's honestly attracted to her. I feel all warm and fuzzy now. :D
(I seriously need to listen to some Eight audios. He tells her he loves her and THE UNIVERSE NEARLY EXPLODES? That's amazing. Actually I probably haven't investigated much Eight stuff because even these little tidbits make me grin like a loon, and I don't want to turn into an embarrassing Eight fangirl. It may already be too late.)
(I wonder what happened to a lot of old companions during the year that wasn't. You can't tell me that Jo didn't immediately pack up and go to find the Doctor and give the Master a good talking to; I can't decide whether she died horribly or the Master just laughed and sent her off somewhere else. I'm fairly sure the Brig did die horribly, though.
On a more upbeat note, I wish they'd have the Brig back in Who proper one last time. I mean, I am THRILLED he's going to be in SJA, but I want me some Doctor'n'Brig interaction.)
I searched for good Doctor 'n Brig icons for eons, and then I came across several. *displays another, which also has the TARDIS for good measure*
I hear you on One/Cameca, and feel exactly the same way. There is a great story in which Nine after the Time War comes back to her just before the Spaniards arrive (which actually the Doctor by then is screwed up and masochistic enough to do, see him showing Rose the end of her world immediately after meeting her), which manages to be sweet and charming and (because the reader knows what Cameca doesn't about just what happened to the Doctor recently) messed up at the same time - have you read it it?
Eight, or, the Doctor rediscovers why saying "I love you" is really not his thing: This happens in the Neverland/Zagreus arc, which is somewhat traumatic to me not on account of Eight saying "I love you" but because of the TARDIS taking it really badly (along with him intending to sacrifice himself and her when he says it, because of course he didn't expect to survive. Silly boy, should know better). See: universe almost... Well, sort of. Anyway, Doctor/TARDIS is my not-angsty ship, no pun intended, and they have a fallout in Zagreus in the aftermath of the whole Charley affair and that upsets me, even though they reconcile, but that's why I never listened more than once. (Otoh, Zagreus features Six and Seven bickering in Eight's head about who had the most undignified death, which is made of pure win.)
You can't tell me that Jo didn't immediately pack up and go to find the Doctor and give the Master a good talking to; I can't decide whether she died horribly or the Master just laughed and sent her off somewhere else.
Jo so would, and I can't decide, either. On the one hand, Jo's the only one of the companions who met the Master often enough to get on a snarky aquaintance footing with him, and if he "liked" (in as much as he does that) any of the Doctor's companions, I think it was her. Also, Lucy comes across as very much a conscious Jo parody (same social background, both are condescendingly regarded as a bit dim by other people, and yes, blonde). On the other, that was several incarnations ago, by the time he's Simm he might just kill her because he feels bored on that day, and/or to mess with the Doctor. But no two possibilities about the Brig, no.
Re: Brig: you, me, and anyone who ever saw him in action on screen. My hope is that the SJA appearance is a try out to check whether Nicholas Courtney is still up to the stress of tv filming. Yes, he still does a lot of audios, but that's a different thing. Then if the SJA appearance proves he is still up for it, I hope for a longer Brig appearance, maybe in the last of the specials? That would be fabulous.
(But I actually think it was good he wasn't in the Sontaran two-parter. If the Brig comes back, I want him to have more than a cameo, and with Martha, Donna, the Sontarans, Ross and Luke Rattigan, there wouldn't have been room for a proper use of him. He deserves an episode which like School Reunion for Sarah Jane has a villain but which is still centered on him.)
Not said to the Master himself, but he does a little bit better when Jo calls him on the Master love in Sea Devils. In reply to her "you felt sorry for him, didn't you? You wanted to make sure he is alright", he says "well, he used to be a friend of mine - a very good friend - in fact, you might say we were", no pause for weirdest climax ever, "at school together". Which is as direct an admission of fondness you get pre-Ten, I think. To the Master himself, I think we do get some expressions of concern, usually along with sarcasm, as in "you want to be careful with that machine of yours, Professor Keller", or "are you feeling alright, old chap?", but that's it. All of which goes to say: you're right, the Doctor is bad with the verbal expression of love. Great with body language, but lousy with the words.
(Seven, when he thinks the Brig has died in Battlefield, is a case in point. He goes for the full body clutching and near-tears protest exactly as Ten will with the Master, but of course what he says is "why did you do that, you stubborn fool! You were supposed to die in bed! Why -" At which point the Brig revives and clears his throat and manly embarassment is to be had.*g*)
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(Oh my god you're right. I saw Battlefield fairly recently, and that scene was hilarious. Oh Doctor, never change.)
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(If we count the audios, Eight does say "I love you" to Charley. Whereupon the universe nearly explodes, so no wonder he never says it again. But that's the only time the audios broke with the rule of not letting the Doctor say these words directly. I recently listened to Six' way of saying it without saying it: when Evelyn, years after they've travelled together and when she's happily married, tells him she loves him, he says "I still miss you, too".)
(Battlefield Not!Brig Death scene: isn't it just? It's not may favourite Seven serial, there are far better ones, but I love very single scene with the Brig in it, and that one very much indeed. Also the way Seven lights up when seeing him and drags out the entire name with McCoy's Scottish burr: Alistairrrr Gordon Lethdbridge Stewart. I don't want to think about what the Master would have done with the Brig during the year that wasn't, because I'm pretty sure it was spectacularly unpleasant. Other humans usually know the Doctor just in one regeneration. The Brig, despite being mortal, knows him in most, and the Doctor keeps coming back...)
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One/Cameca makes me sort of unreasonably happy. The whole thing was so incredibly mature and charming, and I kept getting Girl in the Fireplace flashbacks also, especially during that last scene. (Honestly I kept expecting him to invite her along, and then circumstances conspiring at the last minute to cause her to stay behind.) I just love that he's not being flirty to be manipulative but because he's honestly attracted to her. I feel all warm and fuzzy now. :D
(I seriously need to listen to some Eight audios. He tells her he loves her and THE UNIVERSE NEARLY EXPLODES? That's amazing. Actually I probably haven't investigated much Eight stuff because even these little tidbits make me grin like a loon, and I don't want to turn into an embarrassing Eight fangirl. It may already be too late.)
(I wonder what happened to a lot of old companions during the year that wasn't. You can't tell me that Jo didn't immediately pack up and go to find the Doctor and give the Master a good talking to; I can't decide whether she died horribly or the Master just laughed and sent her off somewhere else. I'm fairly sure the Brig did die horribly, though.
On a more upbeat note, I wish they'd have the Brig back in Who proper one last time. I mean, I am THRILLED he's going to be in SJA, but I want me some Doctor'n'Brig interaction.)
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I hear you on One/Cameca, and feel exactly the same way. There is a great story in which Nine after the Time War comes back to her just before the Spaniards arrive (which actually the Doctor by then is screwed up and masochistic enough to do, see him showing Rose the end of her world immediately after meeting her), which manages to be sweet and charming and (because the reader knows what Cameca doesn't about just what happened to the Doctor recently) messed up at the same time - have you read it it?
Eight, or, the Doctor rediscovers why saying "I love you" is really not his thing: This happens in the Neverland/Zagreus arc, which is somewhat traumatic to me not on account of Eight saying "I love you" but because of the TARDIS taking it really badly (along with him intending to sacrifice himself and her when he says it, because of course he didn't expect to survive. Silly boy, should know better). See: universe almost... Well, sort of. Anyway, Doctor/TARDIS is my not-angsty ship, no pun intended, and they have a fallout in Zagreus in the aftermath of the whole Charley affair and that upsets me, even though they reconcile, but that's why I never listened more than once. (Otoh, Zagreus features Six and Seven bickering in Eight's head about who had the most undignified death, which is made of pure win.)
You can't tell me that Jo didn't immediately pack up and go to find the Doctor and give the Master a good talking to; I can't decide whether she died horribly or the Master just laughed and sent her off somewhere else.
Jo so would, and I can't decide, either. On the one hand, Jo's the only one of the companions who met the Master often enough to get on a snarky aquaintance footing with him, and if he "liked" (in as much as he does that) any of the Doctor's companions, I think it was her. Also, Lucy comes across as very much a conscious Jo parody (same social background, both are condescendingly regarded as a bit dim by other people, and yes, blonde). On the other, that was several incarnations ago, by the time he's Simm he might just kill her because he feels bored on that day, and/or to mess with the Doctor. But no two possibilities about the Brig, no.
Re: Brig: you, me, and anyone who ever saw him in action on screen. My hope is that the SJA appearance is a try out to check whether Nicholas Courtney is still up to the stress of tv filming. Yes, he still does a lot of audios, but that's a different thing. Then if the SJA appearance proves he is still up for it, I hope for a longer Brig appearance, maybe in the last of the specials? That would be fabulous.
(But I actually think it was good he wasn't in the Sontaran two-parter. If the Brig comes back, I want him to have more than a cameo, and with Martha, Donna, the Sontarans, Ross and Luke Rattigan, there wouldn't have been room for a proper use of him. He deserves an episode which like School Reunion for Sarah Jane has a villain but which is still centered on him.)
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