Friendship Meme
From musesfool. It's a gen meme! How can I resist?
List 10 platonic male/female relationships in fiction that you enjoy. Rules:
1. They interact in canon, preferably in a significant (apply your own interpretation of such) way.
2. They are not related. They can, however, view each other as surrogate family.
3. Neither has confessed or implied romantic love for the other in canon.
4. They have not dated, been married, had sex, or made out in canon, on purpose, and of their own free will.
5. A popular fanon ship is ok (though preferably not your ship) but a canon pairing you wish were just friends is out.
6. Try to avoid using the same character or series twice.
1.) Donna Noble and the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who. Not that I mind if anyone else ships them romantically, but to me one of the many appealing things about this relationship is that they really aren't pining after each other. They share freckles, a motormouth and a zest for adventure; she doesn't let him get away with anything, and he delights in showing her the universe. Also, both the comic timing the actors have in comedy scenes and their rapport in quiet character or tragedy scenes is amazing.
2) Ace and the Seventh Doctor in Doctor Who. (You could do this entire meme with DW combinations, but I'll limit myself to these two. It's stretching the rules as it is, but cut forty years of canon some slack, will you? DW went through many different incarnations.) If Donna and Ten are the "mates/ bffs" type of Doctor/Companion relationship, Seven and Ace are the "magician and his apprentice/ father-daughter" type. (To me. All these replies are imo, of course; and for me, any attempt to ship these two romantically meets with an instant "but he's her father, damm it!") They're just fabulous together.
3) Sydney Bristow and Marcus Dixon in Alias. One of the many reasons why I went from apathy to active dislike for Vaughn in s3 of Alias was that the writers switched to putting him together on field missions with Sydney (he used to be her handler and thus mostly stuck behind a desk). This was Dixon's role! Thankfully, though, the Dixon-Sydney friendship survived this change and remained till the end of the show. They were partners without the slightest hint of UST (Dixon was first happily married and then otherwise engaged), their conflicts of loyalty (as when Dixon deduced Sydney had to be a double, or Sydney's constant early seasons dilemma between wanting to trust him and needing to maintain her cover) were always about ethics and their friendship, not about romance. When Sydney, at the start of s4, pulls Dixon aside to talk about the, to put it mildly, very dubious situation they're in, and they end up concluding that at least they're together again, and that's a good thing, this viewer felt exactly the same way
4) Zoe and Mal in Firefly. Nobody says "Sir" like Zoe does, either as a sarcastic put-down or as an affirmation. She and Mal are siblings in arms, and he'd be lost without her; to Zoe, I think he's the younger brother she never had. Their last scene in Serenity, when Mal asks Zoe about the ship and really asks about Zoe herself, and Zoe replies for both of them, really sums up the relationship to me.
5) Hank McCoy and Emma Frost in X-Men. I have my problems with the Morrison run, but one of the things I enjoy about is the way it makes it plausible that when Hank, in reply to "no one liked Emma anyway" mid-supposed-death issue, matter of factly states that he did and gets on with the business of putting Emma back together, literally. Emma has a sharp tongue, but to my knowledge (and of course I might be missing something) has never said something vicious to Hank; Hank, no slouch in the verbal sparring department, either, has a record of being simply genuinly nice to Emma on a continuous basis. (Whether it's complimenting her for her coffee in AXM or being the first to accept Scott's theory that Emma was acting out of a combination of guilt and Cassandra Nova manipulation.) I love my bickering X-Men as much as the next fan, but this matter of fact friendship is great as well.
6) Luna Lovegood and Harry Potter in Harry Potter. Luna was a delightful late addition to the 'verse in volume V, Order of the Phoenix, and while I adore her as a character in general, the way she and Harry become friends was one of my favourite things about this book, and their final scene together in said book remains one of my favourite scenes of the entire series. Luna had a less prominent role in the two last volumes, but she and her friendship with Harry remained around and important, and the way she allows him to make a getaway after the grand showdown in DH is just lovely.
7) Benjamin Sisko and Jadzia Dax (and Ezri Dax) in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. (Yes, there was the mirrorverse episode where Sisko had sex with Mirror!Jadzia, and also the love bug episode where everone makes out with everyone else, which included a Dax/Sisko hook-up, but in one case it was necessary to remain undercover, and in the other it falls under alien possession of sorts. In the regular show, neither was displaying signs of being in love or attracted to each other, so I think it fits the rules.) Dax remained Sisko's best friend through three bodies. He got over the switch from Curzon (male; also much older and his mentor) to Jadzia (female, younger body) pretty quickly; she really never treated him any different, either. While Dax more often was in the advice-giving position, this wasn't always the case (for example, in the episode Rejoined, Sisko is the one acting as counsel). I think the best testament to their friendship is that early in s7, it's their reunion that finally brings Sisko back to himself, and allows (Ezri) Dax to come to terms with her new life.
8) Alex Drake and Ray Carling in Ashes to Ashes. One of the best twists of season 2, though in retrospect some seeds were already sown in s1. Ray starts out resenting Alex (for being female, bossy and taking way too much of Gene's attention), and she starts out considering him a none-too-bright macho oaf. By the time s2 ends, by contrast, they've come to rely on each other, he's defending her to Gene, takes her advice, and she's somewhere between counselling and apprenticing him. I just adore their scenes together.
9) Sarah Jane Smith and Clyde in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Speaking of second seasons and apprenticing. The first season of SJA usually had Sarah Jane and Maria in one plot, and Luke and Clyde in the other. By contrast, the second season offered far more mix and mingle of the regulars, and also avoided the mistake of just letting the new character, Rani, slide into Maria's position with Sarah Jane. Instead, she got her own type of relationships with the regulars, and it was Clyde who grew closer to Sarah Jane. Not in a mother/son type of way - that's Luke and Sarah Jane, plus Clyde has his own remarkable mother - but, to use a comparison from the same verse, more in a Doctor/Companion type of way. I loved their scenes, especially in my favourite s2 two-parter, Mark of the Beserker.
10) Hisako and Wolverine in Astonishing X-Men. "Logan and a teenage girl" was a winning formula in X-Men comics long before the first movie was made (which made Rogue into the teenage girl). I'm not even a big Wolverine fan (I like him well enough, but as a member of the ensemble, not in the star position), and I can still see why this works every time. My favourite variation of the formula is the latest one, courtesy of Joss Whedon in AXM, where the teenage girl in question is Hisako, aka Armor. (Able to snark at Logan in two languages, which is the best use of the Japanese part of Wolverine's backstory I've seen for a while.) Of course, the charm of this whole "quippy teenage girl/ gruff indestructable killing machine with soft spot" combination to me really relies on the utter lack of UST, otherwise I'd be skeeved out. (IMO, IMO!) Between the verbal and physical sparring, she bosses him around, and it's adorable.
****
Combinations I I love but couldn't use, due to one of the parties having romantic feelings, or the two of them having had voluntary sex with each other: John Crichton and Chiana on Farscape (had sex in Kansas), Buffy and Xander (he crushed on her early on, though he got over it later), in fact most Jossverse friendships because at some point, one of the participants had non platonic feelings, and Quark & Jadzia Dax on DS9, a friendship which I love to bits. But he did admit to loving her in s6, so that's out.
List 10 platonic male/female relationships in fiction that you enjoy. Rules:
1. They interact in canon, preferably in a significant (apply your own interpretation of such) way.
2. They are not related. They can, however, view each other as surrogate family.
3. Neither has confessed or implied romantic love for the other in canon.
4. They have not dated, been married, had sex, or made out in canon, on purpose, and of their own free will.
5. A popular fanon ship is ok (though preferably not your ship) but a canon pairing you wish were just friends is out.
6. Try to avoid using the same character or series twice.
1.) Donna Noble and the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who. Not that I mind if anyone else ships them romantically, but to me one of the many appealing things about this relationship is that they really aren't pining after each other. They share freckles, a motormouth and a zest for adventure; she doesn't let him get away with anything, and he delights in showing her the universe. Also, both the comic timing the actors have in comedy scenes and their rapport in quiet character or tragedy scenes is amazing.
2) Ace and the Seventh Doctor in Doctor Who. (You could do this entire meme with DW combinations, but I'll limit myself to these two. It's stretching the rules as it is, but cut forty years of canon some slack, will you? DW went through many different incarnations.) If Donna and Ten are the "mates/ bffs" type of Doctor/Companion relationship, Seven and Ace are the "magician and his apprentice/ father-daughter" type. (To me. All these replies are imo, of course; and for me, any attempt to ship these two romantically meets with an instant "but he's her father, damm it!") They're just fabulous together.
3) Sydney Bristow and Marcus Dixon in Alias. One of the many reasons why I went from apathy to active dislike for Vaughn in s3 of Alias was that the writers switched to putting him together on field missions with Sydney (he used to be her handler and thus mostly stuck behind a desk). This was Dixon's role! Thankfully, though, the Dixon-Sydney friendship survived this change and remained till the end of the show. They were partners without the slightest hint of UST (Dixon was first happily married and then otherwise engaged), their conflicts of loyalty (as when Dixon deduced Sydney had to be a double, or Sydney's constant early seasons dilemma between wanting to trust him and needing to maintain her cover) were always about ethics and their friendship, not about romance. When Sydney, at the start of s4, pulls Dixon aside to talk about the, to put it mildly, very dubious situation they're in, and they end up concluding that at least they're together again, and that's a good thing, this viewer felt exactly the same way
4) Zoe and Mal in Firefly. Nobody says "Sir" like Zoe does, either as a sarcastic put-down or as an affirmation. She and Mal are siblings in arms, and he'd be lost without her; to Zoe, I think he's the younger brother she never had. Their last scene in Serenity, when Mal asks Zoe about the ship and really asks about Zoe herself, and Zoe replies for both of them, really sums up the relationship to me.
5) Hank McCoy and Emma Frost in X-Men. I have my problems with the Morrison run, but one of the things I enjoy about is the way it makes it plausible that when Hank, in reply to "no one liked Emma anyway" mid-supposed-death issue, matter of factly states that he did and gets on with the business of putting Emma back together, literally. Emma has a sharp tongue, but to my knowledge (and of course I might be missing something) has never said something vicious to Hank; Hank, no slouch in the verbal sparring department, either, has a record of being simply genuinly nice to Emma on a continuous basis. (Whether it's complimenting her for her coffee in AXM or being the first to accept Scott's theory that Emma was acting out of a combination of guilt and Cassandra Nova manipulation.) I love my bickering X-Men as much as the next fan, but this matter of fact friendship is great as well.
6) Luna Lovegood and Harry Potter in Harry Potter. Luna was a delightful late addition to the 'verse in volume V, Order of the Phoenix, and while I adore her as a character in general, the way she and Harry become friends was one of my favourite things about this book, and their final scene together in said book remains one of my favourite scenes of the entire series. Luna had a less prominent role in the two last volumes, but she and her friendship with Harry remained around and important, and the way she allows him to make a getaway after the grand showdown in DH is just lovely.
7) Benjamin Sisko and Jadzia Dax (and Ezri Dax) in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. (Yes, there was the mirrorverse episode where Sisko had sex with Mirror!Jadzia, and also the love bug episode where everone makes out with everyone else, which included a Dax/Sisko hook-up, but in one case it was necessary to remain undercover, and in the other it falls under alien possession of sorts. In the regular show, neither was displaying signs of being in love or attracted to each other, so I think it fits the rules.) Dax remained Sisko's best friend through three bodies. He got over the switch from Curzon (male; also much older and his mentor) to Jadzia (female, younger body) pretty quickly; she really never treated him any different, either. While Dax more often was in the advice-giving position, this wasn't always the case (for example, in the episode Rejoined, Sisko is the one acting as counsel). I think the best testament to their friendship is that early in s7, it's their reunion that finally brings Sisko back to himself, and allows (Ezri) Dax to come to terms with her new life.
8) Alex Drake and Ray Carling in Ashes to Ashes. One of the best twists of season 2, though in retrospect some seeds were already sown in s1. Ray starts out resenting Alex (for being female, bossy and taking way too much of Gene's attention), and she starts out considering him a none-too-bright macho oaf. By the time s2 ends, by contrast, they've come to rely on each other, he's defending her to Gene, takes her advice, and she's somewhere between counselling and apprenticing him. I just adore their scenes together.
9) Sarah Jane Smith and Clyde in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Speaking of second seasons and apprenticing. The first season of SJA usually had Sarah Jane and Maria in one plot, and Luke and Clyde in the other. By contrast, the second season offered far more mix and mingle of the regulars, and also avoided the mistake of just letting the new character, Rani, slide into Maria's position with Sarah Jane. Instead, she got her own type of relationships with the regulars, and it was Clyde who grew closer to Sarah Jane. Not in a mother/son type of way - that's Luke and Sarah Jane, plus Clyde has his own remarkable mother - but, to use a comparison from the same verse, more in a Doctor/Companion type of way. I loved their scenes, especially in my favourite s2 two-parter, Mark of the Beserker.
10) Hisako and Wolverine in Astonishing X-Men. "Logan and a teenage girl" was a winning formula in X-Men comics long before the first movie was made (which made Rogue into the teenage girl). I'm not even a big Wolverine fan (I like him well enough, but as a member of the ensemble, not in the star position), and I can still see why this works every time. My favourite variation of the formula is the latest one, courtesy of Joss Whedon in AXM, where the teenage girl in question is Hisako, aka Armor. (Able to snark at Logan in two languages, which is the best use of the Japanese part of Wolverine's backstory I've seen for a while.) Of course, the charm of this whole "quippy teenage girl/ gruff indestructable killing machine with soft spot" combination to me really relies on the utter lack of UST, otherwise I'd be skeeved out. (IMO, IMO!) Between the verbal and physical sparring, she bosses him around, and it's adorable.
****
Combinations I I love but couldn't use, due to one of the parties having romantic feelings, or the two of them having had voluntary sex with each other: John Crichton and Chiana on Farscape (had sex in Kansas), Buffy and Xander (he crushed on her early on, though he got over it later), in fact most Jossverse friendships because at some point, one of the participants had non platonic feelings, and Quark & Jadzia Dax on DS9, a friendship which I love to bits. But he did admit to loving her in s6, so that's out.