Meta: 10 Favourite Sci-Fi Show Relationships
For a challenge at scifiland , a meta (please note that SPN doesn't count as SciFi otherwise it would have been all over this :P):
My Top Ten Science Fiction Relationships
~ ROMANTIC ~
1. Fox Mulder & Dana Scully [X-Files]
These two began, not as enemies, but definitely on different sides of a line. He was a natural believer, she was a trained skeptic and her job, essentially, was to debunk him. Over the years, just by virtue of experiencing the supernatural, Scully slowly started to believe (somewhat, at least) and by virtue of her influence, Mulder started to at least think before he leaped (a little, at least.) But for 10+ years, they were yin and yang, they balanced each other out while striving towards the same answers. She supported him in his seemingly endless and circular quest for truth, he supported her through conspiracy-induced medical and psychological trauma and at the end of it all, they still always had each other. And the biggest thing I always loved and love to this day is that there wasn't this constant "will they/won't they?" floating around. It cropped up in little bouts of jealousy and pouting every once in a while but they were always partners for each other, no matter what. We didn't have to be told that they cared for each other to know it, we didn't need to have them "resolve" their relationship into canon to know they'd jump off a bridge if it could help the other. It was implicit, it was deep, it was endless.
2. William Adama & Laura Roslin [Battlestar Galactica]
Adama and Roslin, like many of my favourite ships, started off on opposite ends of a spectrum. In this case, it was the political/military spectrum with Roslin on one end as the newly elected President of the 12 Colonies, desperately trying to set order to the remainders of a world in chaos, and Adama on the other end as the highest ranking military officer (ie, the guy with all the guns). For a long time, until they both had their brushes with death, they were outwardly civil (maybe Roslin more than Adama) but internally always watching and evaluating the other as an opponent and something that might need "taking care of" in the future. Eventually though, as one launched a coup against the other, as the other put the one behind bars, as her health issues (terminal cancer) came out and worsened, as they were faced with an unexpected foe they could ally against, as their friendship grew just to be disrupted...the walls just gradually wore down. It was gradual, painfully gradual looking back at it. So gradual that I didn't realize I was shipping them until halfway through the series and by the time I realized it, I was already to far gone to stop. Eventually, they had an unbreakable bond, they found solace in each other as the war grew and the world died around them. And by the end, when they finally got their wish, a new world for their people, we got to witness one of the most bittersweet and emotional endings to a relationship I've ever seen. To this day, I haven't been able to rewatch that scene without crying, and just remembering it makes my chest heavy with grief.
3. Daniel Jackson & Vala Mal Doran [Stargate SG-1]
Daniel and Vala were opposites on the spectrum of morality. Where, for Daniel (an intellectual/scholar), there was a clear right and wrong, things came more fluidly for Vala (a former host to a very bad alien and space pirate when they met). Daniel was bookish, stiff, perpetually irritated with something it seemed, and Vala was flirtatious, carefree, a con-woman and, well, a thief. In fact, they met when he became her accidental hostage in the process of her trying to steal one of Earth's only spaceships. There was banter, blows were exchanged (out of the gutter, people!), making out was had but in the end, the good guys (relatively speaking) won, the bad gal was captured and promptly got out of that too. When they reunited, like any good con-woman, Vala wanted assurances that she wouldn't be double-crossed and so bound herself to Daniel by means of bracelets that, when out of range, would cause the wearers to collapse. Vala eventually became a part of SG-1 by more reputable means but the path was pretty rough and spanned almost two seasons. Her personality ruffled poor Daniel's feathers but it also forced him to (sometimes) realize he can be a dick, and he in turn made Vala realize what it was like to have a family, to have a place to call home, to stop running. In fact, one of their best episodes involves Vala losing her memories and the team trying to track her down and when they finally find her, Daniel implores her to stop running. He knows it's her nature, but he asks her to come back "home". It's soon after that that she's officially made a member of the team. The series saw them finally get together in the finale (which was reset so it never happened....) but not without both of their personalities almost ruining it first. Basically, I love them because although they're very shallowly pleasing in terms of banter, flirtations, fights and general prettiness, they force a lot of depth and change in the other and come out better people for it.
4. Victor/Tony & Sierra/Priya [Dollhouse]
These two are my only favourite relationship that didn't start out as opposites. I mean, in a sense I suppose you could say that, since Tony was a soldier and Priya was an artist, they were complete opposites. But Tony and Priya isn't how they met. Victor and Sierra - code names given to the "dolls" in the dollhouse - are who first met. In their doll states, "Actives" are essentially children without temper tantrums. They have no personalities, they have no opinions, no desires, they are completely taken care of so that they may be loaded with an "imprint" and then shipped off to whoever ordered them for their "services". Anyway, Victor and Sierra are the doll states of Tony and Priya. And remember that bit about dolls having no desires? Well that doesn't apply to these two, and not in a raunchy way either. Victor and Sierra (and another doll) start displaying grouping tendencies, having their meals together, reading together, etc, which is unheard of. And because they were secondary characters, all of these things happen more in the background, it develops naturally and steadily to the point where, in the last season, Topher (the tech guy) has to try to cover up their feelings (they were even attracted to each other with different, synthesized "imprints") because it's abnormal and they could be terminated for it. When they are given their original personalities back (Tony and Priya), they don't remember each other, but they know each other and they still love each other. The reasons I love them? Their love is not something to be questioned, it's the purest form possible, born out of a state of mind that has no selfish motives, no concept of anything but what comes naturally. And they get their happy ending, who gets those nowadays?
~ FRIENDLY ~
5. Eli Wallace & Chloe Armstrong [Stargate Universe]
Despite disliking Chloe as a character (she's essentially useless and a nuisance), and despite Eli possibly being in love with her (it's canon that he has feelings for her), when I think of a friendship, I think of these two. Chloe is involved with someone else and although the issue of Eli's feelings have come up, it's never an unduly angsty affair, it's more of an acknowledgment and a return to the status quo. In the beginning, I actually hated them a bit because Chloe exploited his feelings for her to feel better in a very bad situation, but as the show progress, and especially in the last episodes of the first season...wow. I mean, they had little moments beforehand where I swear they reminded me of two neighbourhood children going to play make belief or something. But then, when things got serious... They were stuck in a very dire situation for two episodes (still are, actually) where she's losing blood and they have no idea where they are. So what do they do? Well Chloe can't walk so Eli literally carries her the whole way. And this is in no way romantic, he's not a buff guy, he's pretty chubby, and it's not the comfortable walk of someone who has a harness on that we can't see. It's slow, it's awkward-looking, and there are frequent, frequent breaks. And in these breaks, that's when they have an open, honest, no holds barred, no begrudging conversation. It's like a formal dedication to friendship. For Eli, he admits he'll carry her to the ends of the Earth if need be. For Chloe, she reveals that in her superficial and empty life, she's never known a true friend, that he is her definition of friendship. And then he gets back up, picks her up, and they keep going. Chloe will probably keep pissing me off and Eli will probably still pine for her, but the bond between them is still beautiful and powerful.
6. Warehouse 13 Team
This is not something I would have chosen a few months ago. The first season of W13 was great, don't get me wrong, but there was a pretty clear delineation. Artie was the Dad, Pete/Myka were the kids (metaphorically) and the main ship, Claudia was the baby of the family, and Leena...well she was a weird distant cousin or something. But with the start of the second season, it's all five of them (or sometimes just four but that's okay because most of us don't like Leena) doing things together. They watch movies together, they go to town together, they tease each other and run amok. It's not longer a group separated into 1s, 2s and 3s, it's an honest to god close group of friends and I can't get enough of it.
7. Stargate SG-1 Team
SG-1 has always been special, there's a reason the show is named after them. There's a set pattern that lasted for 8 years that consists of a military commander (Jack/Cam), military intellectual (Samantha), silent alien (Teal'c), and bookish archeologist (Daniel). Seasons 9&10 were essentially the same pattern + one space pirate (Vala). :P For the first 8 years, I kind of ignored the silent alien and bookish archeologist because I was a shipper and as such, I focused more on the readily available ship between the two soldiers...that never happened. But with the series renewal for 9 and 10, we saw so much more fleshing out of the characters and a kind of relaxing of characters that were previously more formal. In all, the dynamics between the five in the last two seasons were lighthearted and friendly in a way that seemed to extend to their personal lives. Samantha and Vala were shopping on their hours off, Daniel and Cam were sharing a beer after a long mission, and Vala and Teal'c had a special kind of "hey, we're aliens!" bond that was fun to watch. In all, because they've always been the typical good guys, always been mostly lighthearted and grin-inducing, they make for a great bunch of friends.
~ PSEUDO-FAMILIAL ~
8. Artie Neilson & Claudia Donovan [Warehouse 13 - Father/Daughter]
There are a lot of people in this fandom who see these two in a romantic relationship but I see it very differently. Artie (already greying) met Claudia when she was about 10 years old and was there to witness the latest trauma (in a long line of traumatic events for the young girl), the disappearance of her last remaining family - her brother. Years later, after a stint in a mental hospital, and a lot of time on her own doing research, she finds Artie again and kidnaps him so he'll help her enact her theory to save her brother who, until now, Artie had presumed dead. There is a lot of angst and drama between them, they're both brilliant but in a sense, Artie betrayed her those 8 years ago by leaving her and not trying to save her brother in all that time. When they do get her brother back, however, it's not quite paradise - he leaves the country after all of one episode back to "life" to accept a job at CERN and she's left without a purpose or a family, she's left with nothing. And that's when she's brought into the Warehouse as Artie's protege. Their relationship is so typically Father/Teenager that I want to reach through the screen and hug them both. She wants to explore things, blow things up, he glares and gives her time-outs and she pouts, stomps her feet and slams the doors. And it's only been better this season where it's verbally acknowledged that he's her family, and her father-figure (as he's awkwardly trying to support her newfound dating of a local boy :P). Parent/Child relationships that make your heart melt aren't easy to come by lately and this one I'm hanging onto.
9. Pete Lattimer & Claudia Donovan [Warehouse 13 - Brother/Sister]
Pete is a qualified, well-trained former Secret Service agent, current Warehouse 13 employee. He's also a very large and pretty child. Throw cookies or toys at him and he reverts back to his teenage years in a blink, which makes him the perfect playmate for Claudia who loves to invent new toys and gloat when she beats him in their games. They high-five, they dance, they share modern lingo, maturity levels and a love of fun. Especially if that fun can include annoying Artie or Myka. They're too adorable not to include.
~ VILLAINOUS ~
10. Ba'al & Qetesh [Stargate SG-1]
Qetesh is the alien that takes over Vala's body in the second SG-1 movie, "Continuum". Ba'al is a sexy, sexy alien overlord with a sexy, sexy accent. Now, Vala herself is sexy and has a sexy, sexy accent. The two of them together, just aesthetically...it could melt your screen. And that's not even talking about their evil ways! Ba'al essentially manipulates the time-continuum so that things work out in his favour, and he recruits Qetesh some 50 years before the present time to be his queen. I'm pretty sure she spent the whole time plotting against him, but it culminates in the movie itself when she skewers him but good, demands to know his plans, finally kills him and takes over the empire. Just like that. Really if there's one word to describe them it's "sexy". Who needs more than that? ;)