Why do the companions need boyfriends?

[nepko]

Seriously this has been bothering me since last night. [This thread will contain SPOILERS].

Danny Pink was introduced as Clara's love interest. Immediately, you had the doctor saying "You must be in love". Wow, a whole five minutes of knowing somebody, she must be in love.

Why? I was pretty happy that Clara wasn't tied down to somebody. It's downright annoying when you have a serious storyline happening and then there's some OTT romance overshadowing an important plot. Amy and Rory are pretty much a prime example of that. I can't lie, I really hated their relationship. They were in the honeymoon stage all the time, and we're sickly romantic towards each other. When serious things we're going down, they'd STILL be giving each other googly eyes. It went very quickly from being cute to being very, very annoying.

Plus Moffat is obsessed with creating strong female characters. Cocky and independent. I can't really understand why an independent woman, who is having adventures in time and space and experiencing all of these crazy things would possibly need (or have time) for a man. I can understand the flirtation between companions and the doctor. It would happen. Otherwise it doesn't make that much sense for the companions to have boyfriends.

It just seems like a gimmick to make the companions more interesting. Doctor Who doesn't need romance and I wish this would be realised. It overshadows important plots and seems to be something thats added to hide the fact that they're running dry of exciting story lines for Doctor Who.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not 100% opposed to romance in the show entirely. I adored Rose and the doctor. That was because they rarely had their moments, they we're more focused on the important things, but when they did have their moments they were great. After the overwhelming relationship of Amy and Rory I was just left hoping they'd give it a rest for a while.

[stickynutjuice]

nerd

[Mutilated Moogle]

The only thing that REALLY bothers me with this is the fact that she hasn't properly grieved for 11, I know that he is technically 12 and all of that but given how much of a crush she had on him etc 2 minutes after the phone call she ends up basically wanting to ask out the new teacher at school which makes it seem like she is forcing herself to get over the 11th without a proper moment of grieving which also makes it really unfair on Pink, seems like shes getting with him as a sort of rebound which is horrible for him.

[Mix Master Maha]

Because Moffat has a weird obsession with cramming love stories where they don't belong.

Someone needs to fire him already, he's been writing for practically half of the new series now...

[thante]

Having a strong female character, and a female character in a relationship are not mutually exclusive.
Doctor who has a very long and varied history of couples as companions, and has always had an element of romance about it.

The role of the companion is to give the audience someone to relate to. They ask the questions we would want asked, and preform the role that the viewer would hope to fill themselves. Doctor who isn't just watched by single teenage fan girls (as much as they wish it was), its viewed by young children all the way thought to adults in there 70+ who are in long term committed relationships, and everything in bitween. Not every companion should be a single girl in her 20s, if it was it would become boring. Characters need the space to develop and change just like every human. That means aging, personality changes and seeking out love, just like a real human.
If your a after a show where the characters don't develop as a person and get on with there lives then you are watching the wrong show.

[misha coIIins]

I agree with you on this. I think it is part of the reason I lost interest in watching the show. I just did not enough it as much and it made me dislike Matt as the Doctor and the show in general. Which is kind of sad because I had been enjoying it up to that point. I do not understand why Moffat had to ruin Doctor Who, but he does perfectly find with Sherlock. It makes no sense to me.

[1Sunder]

I agree....his original Companions never were a couple with anyone except for the first two companions which I think were married during the First Doctor seasons 1-4....

[V0kinN0ed]

thante

Having a strong female character, and a female character in a relationship are not mutually exclusive.
Doctor who has a very long and varied history of couples as companions, and has always had an element of romance about it.

The role of the companion is to give the audience someone to relate to. They ask the questions we would want asked, and preform the role that the viewer would hope to fill themselves. Doctor who isn't just watched by single teenage fan girls (as much as they wish it was), its viewed by young children all the way thought to adults in there 70+ who are in long term committed relationships, and everything in bitween. Not every companion should be a single girl in her 20s, if it was it would become boring. Characters need the space to develop and change just like every human. That means aging, personality changes and seeking out love, just like a real human.
If your a after a show where the characters don't develop as a person and get on with there lives then you are watching the wrong show.

So funny. My husband said basically the same thing to me this morning about Doctor Who.

[asylum lane]

thante

Having a strong female character, and a female character in a relationship are not mutually exclusive.
Doctor who has a very long and varied history of couples as companions, and has always had an element of romance about it.

The role of the companion is to give the audience someone to relate to. They ask the questions we would want asked, and preform the role that the viewer would hope to fill themselves. Doctor who isn't just watched by single teenage fan girls (as much as they wish it was), its viewed by young children all the way thought to adults in there 70+ who are in long term committed relationships, and everything in bitween. Not every companion should be a single girl in her 20s, if it was it would become boring. Characters need the space to develop and change just like every human. That means aging, personality changes and seeking out love, just like a real human.
If your a after a show where the characters don't develop as a person and get on with there lives then you are watching the wrong show.

Thank you so much for saying this!

[Clare_N]

1Sunder

I agree....his original Companions never were a couple with anyone except for the first two companions which I think were married during the First Doctor seasons 1-4....

That would be Ian and Barbara. They weren't actually married while they were travelling with the Doctor, but the spin off series "The Sarah Jane Adventures" mentions that they married at some point after they left the TARDIS. Having said that, there's nothing inherently wrong with the odd romantic sub-plot; the thing people seem to have a problem with is the way Moffat shoves the romantic element in our faces.

Also, if you look back through the history of the series, you'll find that some of the companions left because they'd fallen in love with someone they'd met while travelling with the Doctor and they wanted to stay with that person. A person they'd known for a few days at most. What's more, all the companions who did this were female; none of the male companions left to be with a woman they'd only just met.

At least Moffat, for all his alleged misogyny, hasn't had any female companions do this - yet.

[Koneko Tsukino]

thante

Having a strong female character, and a female character in a relationship are not mutually exclusive.
Doctor who has a very long and varied history of couples as companions, and has always had an element of romance about it.

The role of the companion is to give the audience someone to relate to. They ask the questions we would want asked, and preform the role that the viewer would hope to fill themselves. Doctor who isn't just watched by single teenage fan girls (as much as they wish it was), its viewed by young children all the way thought to adults in there 70+ who are in long term committed relationships, and everything in bitween. Not every companion should be a single girl in her 20s, if it was it would become boring. Characters need the space to develop and change just like every human. That means aging, personality changes and seeking out love, just like a real human.
If your a after a show where the characters don't develop as a person and get on with there lives then you are watching the wrong show.

Indeed!! So beautifully put!!!
Falling in love is absolutely a natural thing, and we see the Doctor, the companions, and some of our darling new alien friends do it through the entire history of the show. What I always loved about 10/Rose was that their little moments of romance were just that, little moments of romance. It rarely ever tried to take over what was happening in the episode, and if anything it was their devotion to each other that made the episodes even more interesting when they did decide to focus on the romance.
HOWEVER, my all time favorite companion was Donna. I loved Donna because she was SO human. She was sassy, she had a crippling sense of self-doubt, and she was just so inherently good. She was looking for a husband in anyone except The Doctor, but her looking for romance barely ever made it past a little joke here and there. She and 10 were perfect for each other, they were wonderful foils to one another. At any shout of "Oi! Spaceman!" the Doctor knew to listen.
Since Clara is leaving, I am sincerely hoping for either a male and female non-romantic companion set, much like it always was in the beginning of the original series, or another "older" female like Donna to slap some sense into 12. (I doubt they'll ever do JUST a male companion in this day. As much as I would love to see another Jack Harkness like character, or even someone like Mickey, and especially a Rory, I don't think they would allow 12 just one of those without a female to balance them out)