Doctor/Jack
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | The Doctor/Jack Harkness |
| Alternative name(s): | Doctor/Jack, NineJack, TenJack, |
| Gender category: | slash |
| Fandom: | Doctor Who |
| Canonical?: | semi-canonical |
| Prevalence: | common |
| Archives: | |
| Other: |  Doctor Who - The Doctor x Jack kiss by maXKennedy (2012), here with the Tenth Doctor |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Doctor/Jack is one of the common slash pairings in Doctor Who fandom that appeared with the series reboot.
Jack Harkness is from the 51st century, canonically omnisexual, very flirtatious and open about his sexuality and it is repeatedly hinted that he has feelings for the Doctor.
He is most commonly paired with the Doctor’s ninth and tenth regenerations, because these are the Doctors he canonically met. Since the Eleventh Doctor era fanworks featuring that regeneration and Jack have frequently been written and occasionally Jack is also paired with other regenerations of the character he hasn't met on screen.
Relationship in Canon
Nine
Episodes: The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, Boom Town, Bad Wolf, The Parting of the Ways
Rose and the Doctor meet Jack during the Blitz in London, impersonating an American captain, although he is a time agent from the 51st century trying to con other agents. The relationship starts off antagonistic, but with lots of banter and flirting, and changes when Jack is ready to die to right his mistakes. The Doctor saves him and he travels along in the Tardis with the Doctor and Rose. In Boom Town they seem to get along well. In The Parting of the Ways Jack kisses the Doctor good-bye before going off to fight the Daleks and very surely his death.
Ten
Episodes: Utopia, The Sound of Drums, Last of the Time Lords, The Stolen Earth, Journey's End, The End of Time Part 2
Jack, now a fact and thus immortal, has waited years - after being abandoned on the Game Station - to meet the Doctor again and get his help. It’s revealed that the Doctor had known about him on the Game Station and has literally been running from what he’s become. Jack and Martha exchange some lines that hint at both their unrequited feelings for the Doctor.
Thirteen
Episodes: Fugitive of the Judoon, Revolution of the Daleks
Jack runs into the Thirteenth Doctor's companion Graham O'Brien and, mistaking him for the Doctor due to residual energy, kisses him on the lips.
Fandom
Fanworks focused on the Ninth Doctor era often tell of further adventures between episodes and some fix the season ending. Jack's introduction during the era of the Ninth Doctor also made the threesome pairing Doctor/Jack/Rose popular, shipping both characters with each other and the Doctor's female companion of the time. There is some elaborate established relationship fic for this era.
The Ten era fanworks often explore the Doctor’s reaction to Jack’s factness and immortality further and how this would impact their relationship or make one possible at all. There were many reunion fics, and a number of hurt/comfort works are set during the year that never was, when both the Doctor and Jack were prisoners of the Master. There is also a trend to reconcile the Doctor Who canon with the happenings of Torchwood: having the Doctor meet the Torchwood team; having Jack meet the Doctor between or after the final Tenth Doctor specials; or having the Doctor fix what happened in Children of Earth.
There is also a reasonable fandom for the pairing Eleven/Jack, despite the two not meeting in canon.
Challenges
Example Fanworks
Fanfiction
- Stuck on the Slow Path (link) by sarkywoman, a multi-part WIP that has the Tenth Doctor stuck with the Torchwood team in Cardiff after series 4.
- To Wander, Between the Stars by vail_kagami, AU, Jack never made that con in 1941. Instead his broken vortex manipulator strands him in the twenty-first century, where he finally meets the Doctor - who's been a prisoner of Torchwood for a long time.
- Neighbours by Lilithangel, Jack/Doctors, "The residents of Riverside lane have new neighbours." The Doctor and Jack do domestic in their own ways.
- Brandy and Ashes by Nym - Jack/Nine.The Doctor, his Doctor who'd lived this dark and desperate time already, was never careless. This man looks past caring. An angsty, timey-wimey character study.
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Meta
- Meta Month of March: Ep Discussions at Winter Companions
- Nine/Jack ship manifesto by by_starkiller
- The Doctor/Jack as relationship by navaan
Resources and Communities
- Winter Companions - Jack Harkness / any Doctor
- tenxjack - Jack Harkness / Tenth Doctor
- doctorslashjack - Jack Harkness / any Doctor