Fannish Five for ladychi and dark_aegis
Not five minutes after I'd posted and I had two questions already! So, to spare your flist - as I know my tendency to get wordy - answers below cuts.
Per ladychi: Top Five Reasons Jack, Rose and the Doctor Totally Were Doing It (Or Should Have Been!)
1: Because they're so pretty together! Do we really need a reason beyond that?
2: Just watch them in Boom Town. Hands all over each other. Eyes all over each other. Yes, Rose walks off with the Doctor, but she's so into Jack in the café. And the Doctor might be jealous of Rose with Mickey, but he's totally aware of what Jack's up to all the time as well, and Jack's so aware of the Doctor that he immediately knows why the Doctor's upset when Rose and Mickey go off together.
3: The Doctor and Jack's behaviour when they think Rose is dead - Jack's as upset as the Doctor is, but he takes the guards' anger on himself to give the Doctor space and time to react, and he's so very protective of the Doctor in the jail cell. And then there's the huge, spontaneous hug between the Doctor and Jack when they realise Rose is alive.
4: This speaks for itself, doesn't it?
(Okay, I've discovered I don't know how to embed videos. Sorry; you'll have to follow the link to watch)
5: This scene, from Utopia:
It's not just the incredible sexual tension between Jack and the Doctor here, which is absolutely scorching. Watch as they talk about Rose, about what she did for Jack, about the fact that she's trapped in a parallel universe (and Jack's reaction to that), about Jack going back to watch her growing up. And remember the moment Jack let his guard and his anger against the Doctor drop, earlier, when he says he has to ask what happened to Rose at Canary Wharf, and then tell me that these three weren't, or shouldn't have been, doing it!
Per
dark_aegis: What are the top five ways you wish any canon episode (in either TW or DW) could have been different - be it ended differently, had a different twist in the middle, etc
1: POTW. No Nine regeneration, and no leaving Jack behind. Simple as that! That's not to say that I don't like Ten - I do! - but I wanted more of Nine, and more of the three of them travelling together, having fun adventures and being fantastic.
2: SitL/FotD: I was fully expecting River Song to be a fake. Now, this isn't River-hate coming out here, even though it's no secret that I don't care for the character. The way the story was set up - to me - fully felt as if she was making it all up: protesting too much, being apparently disingenuous about letting things slip, the very obvious way she was hiding the diary yet at the same time letting the Doctor see it. I was expecting the second episode to reveal that she was playing an elaborate con in order to get the Doctor there to save her mission (and her large payment). I think it would have been a more interesting story had that been the outcome.
3: Exit Wounds (TW): I know it wouldn't make very good television, but I did not want Owen and Tosh to die. (I also hated the buried-underground-for-2000-years scenario, but that's beside the point). I would have loved some kind of deus ex machina to revive Owen and give him and Tosh their happy ending - even if it meant they still left the series.
4: Doomsday: Jack should have been at Canary Wharf. Major events going down, and he's the acknowledged alien expert, even if Yvonne Hartmann didn't like him she should have had him nearby. Also, assuming she knew he knew the Doctor, she might have wanted him where she could keep an eye on him. And then he could have taken the other lever instead of Rose, and we could have had more OT3 travels in the TARDIS for S3 :) (Yes, I've read at least one fic with that scenario, and if I could remember the author/title I'd rec it here; it was very good).
5: Again, it probably wouldn't make very good television, but at the end of Children of Time the ship Jack teleported into should have been the TARDIS, and we should have had even just two minutes of the Doctor beginning to talk with Jack, something along the lines of dameruth's Even the Damned, in particular these lines:
"I had a friend like that," the Doctor said, voice gone hushed and significant, his ancient eyes boring into Jack's. "He fought for me against all hope, and died of it. And then I betrayed him; I wasn't strong enough in the end, and would have wasted his sacrifice if someone else hadn't stepped in."
Jack dropped his gaze again, pouring more moonshine with a shaking hand. He'd suspected as much, but never known for certain until now.
"He loved me right up to the end, too," the Doctor added, voice small and rough. "Even after, which I've never understood."
And that's it for now; more tomorrow, probably, since I see I have more questions!
Per ladychi: Top Five Reasons Jack, Rose and the Doctor Totally Were Doing It (Or Should Have Been!)
1: Because they're so pretty together! Do we really need a reason beyond that?
2: Just watch them in Boom Town. Hands all over each other. Eyes all over each other. Yes, Rose walks off with the Doctor, but she's so into Jack in the café. And the Doctor might be jealous of Rose with Mickey, but he's totally aware of what Jack's up to all the time as well, and Jack's so aware of the Doctor that he immediately knows why the Doctor's upset when Rose and Mickey go off together.
3: The Doctor and Jack's behaviour when they think Rose is dead - Jack's as upset as the Doctor is, but he takes the guards' anger on himself to give the Doctor space and time to react, and he's so very protective of the Doctor in the jail cell. And then there's the huge, spontaneous hug between the Doctor and Jack when they realise Rose is alive.
4: This speaks for itself, doesn't it?
(Okay, I've discovered I don't know how to embed videos. Sorry; you'll have to follow the link to watch)
5: This scene, from Utopia:
It's not just the incredible sexual tension between Jack and the Doctor here, which is absolutely scorching. Watch as they talk about Rose, about what she did for Jack, about the fact that she's trapped in a parallel universe (and Jack's reaction to that), about Jack going back to watch her growing up. And remember the moment Jack let his guard and his anger against the Doctor drop, earlier, when he says he has to ask what happened to Rose at Canary Wharf, and then tell me that these three weren't, or shouldn't have been, doing it!
Per
dark_aegis: What are the top five ways you wish any canon episode (in either TW or DW) could have been different - be it ended differently, had a different twist in the middle, etc
1: POTW. No Nine regeneration, and no leaving Jack behind. Simple as that! That's not to say that I don't like Ten - I do! - but I wanted more of Nine, and more of the three of them travelling together, having fun adventures and being fantastic.
2: SitL/FotD: I was fully expecting River Song to be a fake. Now, this isn't River-hate coming out here, even though it's no secret that I don't care for the character. The way the story was set up - to me - fully felt as if she was making it all up: protesting too much, being apparently disingenuous about letting things slip, the very obvious way she was hiding the diary yet at the same time letting the Doctor see it. I was expecting the second episode to reveal that she was playing an elaborate con in order to get the Doctor there to save her mission (and her large payment). I think it would have been a more interesting story had that been the outcome.
3: Exit Wounds (TW): I know it wouldn't make very good television, but I did not want Owen and Tosh to die. (I also hated the buried-underground-for-2000-years scenario, but that's beside the point). I would have loved some kind of deus ex machina to revive Owen and give him and Tosh their happy ending - even if it meant they still left the series.
4: Doomsday: Jack should have been at Canary Wharf. Major events going down, and he's the acknowledged alien expert, even if Yvonne Hartmann didn't like him she should have had him nearby. Also, assuming she knew he knew the Doctor, she might have wanted him where she could keep an eye on him. And then he could have taken the other lever instead of Rose, and we could have had more OT3 travels in the TARDIS for S3 :) (Yes, I've read at least one fic with that scenario, and if I could remember the author/title I'd rec it here; it was very good).
5: Again, it probably wouldn't make very good television, but at the end of Children of Time the ship Jack teleported into should have been the TARDIS, and we should have had even just two minutes of the Doctor beginning to talk with Jack, something along the lines of dameruth's Even the Damned, in particular these lines:
"I had a friend like that," the Doctor said, voice gone hushed and significant, his ancient eyes boring into Jack's. "He fought for me against all hope, and died of it. And then I betrayed him; I wasn't strong enough in the end, and would have wasted his sacrifice if someone else hadn't stepped in."
Jack dropped his gaze again, pouring more moonshine with a shaking hand. He'd suspected as much, but never known for certain until now.
"He loved me right up to the end, too," the Doctor added, voice small and rough. "Even after, which I've never understood."
And that's it for now; more tomorrow, probably, since I see I have more questions!