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Doctor Who: Why You're Wrong About 'The Impossible Girl'
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2019
- Doctor Who Series 7B is a controversial series among fans. It is a series that many people hold to be the worst in all of New Who. But does this series really deserve the bad reputation it has accumulated over the years?
A big thank you to Reddit user 'CyborgBee' who introduced me to the Series 7B interpretation that formed the basis of this video essay.
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Watching this made me feel bad for not liking Clara in 7B. I always thought that she didn't really do anything to show that she was special like the Doctor always claimed she was....now I realize that was the POINT. Sorry Clara, you deserved more than I gave you when you first showed up, you have my respect now.
That's actually a good point. I had fallen into the trap of seeing Clara for something that she wasn't and then was mortified at how drastically different she appeared to be when Capaldi came along. But, this makes sense. The Doctor is a character I easily gravitate towards. So it's easy for me to fall into the trap.
The Bells of St. John will always be one of my favorite episodes of the whole show. Series 7B definitely felt different overall. I think it's something of a compromise between actor and showrunner.
When Matt was first cast, Moffat had fully intended on dressing him up in sort of the style of dress he had for 7B. But, on a shooting day, Matt didn't like any of the outfits preselected and thought "How would the Doctor dress himself?" And picked the outfit we got for most of his run with the tweed jacket. He was also really good friends with Karen Gillan and their chemistry is evident on screen. I feel like everything prior to 7B is more so Matt having the final say on how his Doctor operates. Then, in 7B we see the vision for 11 that Moffat had.
Funny story, Matt also auditioned for the part of Dr. Watson in the Moffat run Sherlock. But, they rejected him for that role but said he would have made a killer Sherlock.
Clara is definitely my favourite companion of New Who no competition. I think a lot of the hate around her is also to do with the fact that she was introduced in the same series as Amy and Rory, and as such overshadowed their farewell a little bit. The Ponds/Matt Smith dynamic is where a huge majority of the fanbase started watching Doctor Who and their goodbye was...lacking to say the least. No excuse to overlook series 7B though. Series 7B was when I properly jumped onboard as a fan rather than a casual viewer and I still think the run of episodes from the Snowmen to The Time of the Doctor is one of the most consistent and intriguing runs of Doctor Who. Rewatching them all, they feel very much like Capaldi-style episodes with Matt Smith's Doctor and it's a combination that works surprisingly well. I think most people just find the change of tone between Series 7A and Series 7B too jarring to see past it. Really I believe the Ponds had run their course by the end of Series 6. The Doctor the Widow and the Wardrobe Christmas Special slot could have very easily been replaced by a proper Pond Swan Song, with the Snowmen still airing in its original Christmas slot the following year, giving the Impossible Girl storyline (and the Great Intelligence as a villain) the time to breathe with a full 13 episode run in Series 7.
On another note I have to agree, Capaldi and Coleman have a much more intriguing dynamic than Smith and Coleman. In that way Clara felt a bit like a discount Rose in series 7B, with the forced romantic (?!) storyline, the 'godlike' ending and the narrative framing them as the 'perfect' companion (although I personally think Rose is grossly overrated as a companion, she annoyed me when I first watched New Who and she annoys me to this day). I honestly wonder whether The Impossible Girl storyline would have worked better with Capaldi, but on the other hand I think Clara as the companion is such a perfect bridge between the Matt Smith and Capaldi era, starting with the fairytale-like aspects of the Impossible Girl and ending up with this overconfident, control-freak version of Clara, forced into a bit of a leadership position by being forced to act as the Doctor's moral compass and ultimately dying as a result of her wish to be more like the Doctor. I think Clara will end up being one of those companions who's appreciated much more in hindsight. Already I'm seeing a lot more love for Series 8&9 than I remember there being at the time when they aired, so I sincerely hope this will extend to Series 7B in due course.
Series 7A is completely overrated though. The Ponds definitely deserved a better exit than that.
I mean she’s ok but she definitely isn’t as good as Donna. Donna is the undefeated best companion
I often find myself forgetting how the Ponds leave the show. I always have to really think about it. Goes to show how sudden and underplayed it was.
I'm a huge Clara fan, so, I'm not in the majority. I loved her character...just a lot to people missed Amy and Rory (much as Martha suffers from following Rose). I loved her as nanny, as generous. As sacrificial. From Bell's to Name she does grow a lot, as much as Martha or Rose or even Rory. And Rings is as good as any first episodes for new companion. She's tied for my favorite tied with Donna. I agree completely with the review here. I love 7b more than 3,4.5, or 6,7a...and everything since.
I LOVE 7B that much too! there was just so much beauty and awesomeness in it. from Bells to Name, Clara does grow in a way that really works. even if she didn't grow tho, i still would have liked her, bc she was a good person. all she ever tried to do was help the people around her in 7B. i never understood why that was 'bad'.
Same!
@@philadelphiawhovian5641 So much beauty
@@ladyfoxwf1075 totally agree!
@@philadelphiawhovian5641 Besides I have many reasons that weren't on this video, that really explain the depth of Clara. I would type it now, but I already tried sending it to someone else, and lets just say my brains not in the mindset tonight XD
Finally! Someone on my wave length!
Same uwu
Harbo: "Season 7 has the second worst series finale"
Chibby Wibby: *ALLONS-Y!*
Chibby Wibby... I love this. I will now call him as such
Chibby Windy is far too chummy for what he’s done. I prefer “Show Killer”
I believe the phrase is: "Hold my beer."
Kraig Chullot I know you don't like it, however "Show killer" is inaccurate. The show is not dead unless the BBC officially declare it cancelled, if we utilise your logic to its fullest, then Love and Monsters killed the show.
@lex mota Its pretty deniable considering youre the first person Ive ever heard that comming from, besides, most people wouldnt even consider it a series finale, its the christmas special, its hard to specify whether it belongs to the end of season before it, the start of the season after it or if it belongs in its own category. But even if it was inarguably the series finale its certainly not as bad as season 3 which had 2 episodes of brilliant buildup only for the most insulting deus ex machina in a series known for its deus ex machinas, and then also david tennant becomming a super sayan. I also wouldnt consider it as bad as the highly convoluted and rushed mess that is the season 6 finale.
Great video. I really like that series and to me Hide is an absolute stand out. Never got the dislike for Clara. She was an excellent companion.
I understood it, but not in season 7B
I have never gone away hating an episode of doctor who (until season 12 but we wont talk about that) was season 7b weaker than the others? yes. But i still enjoyed them for waht they were. Not everything can be a smash hit.
One reason many disliked Clara is because she seemed flawless and always right
@@JollyOliW nah she was just a cringe and weird companion
I loved the character at first, but was really disappointed when they made her physically abusive with the 12th doctor later on. If people think I'm just being fussy, now that we have a female doctor imagine the reaction of her traveling with and putting up with a male companion that continually slaps her and berates her to "put her in her place". And I wouldn't mind so much if the writing seemed to portray it as a character flaw and part of her arch was to become more compassionate, but I felt with the writing it was more like being a women she was therefore perfect and being a perfect women made it OK to slap a man in order to train him. It seemed the writers were coming from the trendy "anything a women does to a man is justified" position.
This interpretation makes so much sense. I have always felt that this story arc would have been explored much better if Rory had died in 'The Angles of Manhattan' and Amy had stayed on. A grief stricken Amy would have enjoyed taking on the mystery of Clara alongside the Doctor, but would have been able to see her normality. This would have been a good culmination, with Amy having it out with the doctor and explaining how he has been wrong. Amy acting as the audience surrogate pushes us to take on the neural viewpoint instead of just following the doctor's. It would have been more satisfying for Amy to teach Clara how to trust the doctor, than for her to learn that on her own, and for Amy to ask the Time Lords for the extra regeneration cycle. Possibly at the expense of her own life in some way.
Ahh, thank you for this video. It can get really tiring, and quite frankly rather upsetting, when I see so much hate regarding my favourite companion, just because people don't want to look deeper into her character to understand her. I guess some characters appeal more easily to others. I loved Clara from the very start, and didn't want her to leave. I don't know exactly why but her era in the show holds a certain aesthetic to me, in the way that I find everything about her so intriguing, I appreciated it a lot when we saw so much character development in her and she got a lot more in-depth, and I love her complex yet beautifully sad relationship with the Doctor.
Clara will always be one of my favourite companions. I still tear up a little bit at her death in Face The Raven. I feel like she added so much to the show and her dynamic with the both the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor was so interesting. It is really a shame that people only look at the surface level of her. Hopefully people will come around and start liking her a bit more as time goes on!
@@HarboWholmes yeah same :)
Clara's arc was my favorite of any companion. Rose and Martha's revolve around their romantic love for the Doctor, Donna's growth is erased, and Amy and Rory's end felt lackluster to me (especially because i wish the weeping angels were never brought back after Blink). But Clara's arc was about her growing to be more and more LIKE the Doctor, their equal in every way but species. And she isn't punished for it! She gets a TARDIS, she gets a companion, and she's near-immortal. It was fulfilling and satisfying, at least it was to a kid who always wanted to be like the Doctor. It didn't come out of nowhere, either. It was gradual, evolving, and in the end it just made sense.
What really annoys me about Clara is that we have this whole big story arc.....and it's basically never mentioned again. In fact, Clara is kind of 'reset'. You mentioned in your video, she's a nanny in "The Bells Of Saint Johns". But then suddenly she's a teacher? No explanation how she is suddenly at Coal Hill School, teaching kids and having her relationship with Danny Pink.
I have a personal theory that she was supposed to die at the end of the Impossible Girl arc (probably with her saying "Run you clever boy" like her various 'echoes' did) but it was changed at some point when they decided not too. Probably during the planning of the 50th anniversary I would guess. I have no evidence this was the case, but it makes more sense that "She jumps in the Doctor's timestream, saves him thousands of times, never mentions it ever again and btw she's a teacher now or something idk" being the planned story going forward
Myne1001 I think you are right. Look, I love Clara, but she shouldn't have continued when Matt decided not to. And the whole idea that Clara is only special is because when the Doctor dies, she gets to be there to act. And I would say Rory or Jack would have done it too. Clara gets slammed for Moffat's attempt to do too much (again!).
@LittleRedRhuari RRR there's a nice little edit someone did where they completely removed the footage of Clara & Ashildr. Instead, Clara goes through the door, the Doctor is playing his guitar and then the diner fades out of existance, making the "wooshing" noise. I like it a lot better as it adds a sort of mystery - did the Doctor actually save Clara? Maybe this is that Time Lord Clara incarnation we saw in 'Name Of The Doctor'? Far better than "Hey look Clara is now a budget version of the Doctor the end see ya at christmas folks"
To be honest, nanny > teacher isn't a particularly unreasonable career progression. She could have been looking for work, or studying - we don't know how much time has passed.
Invisible Tower Also, it’s not like the Doctor in 7B paid enough attention to her to ask what what she went to uni for. A reasonable interpretation is she was just nannying while finding a teaching job. (That being said, I think the writing could have been better if the plan was to make her a teacher all along. I suspect plans changed only after 7B was complete.)
Actually Clara The Impossible Girl makes sense. Victorian, Asylum, Nanny and Teacher Clara being regenerations of the same person is workable.
Clara is my second favourite companion (Amy will always be the best I'm sorry) and so many people hate her. They say she was just a plot device because they too get wrapped up in the mystery and just want to figure out what she is just like they doctor (this is seen in many reaction videos). Because of this, they don't understand Clara's character so when series eight comes along they aren't prepared. Matt Smith is also my favourite doctor so obviously some favouritism is coming into play with my opinion but nevertheless Clara is an amazing, bubbly, fun companion that challenges the doctor and makes him question his morals to extraordinary lengths.
I agree, my favorite companion is Donna or Rose, I can't and actually don't want to decide between them. But Clara.. ♥
I have long ago learned to not look up reviews, they are almost always telling me that something I enjoyed was not good or that a season is the worst one or some other nonsense
Personally, I actually found the arc really interesting and wanted to know what would be the reason for her appearances. And Name of the Doctor did not fail to disappoint. It’s one of my favorite episodes!
Honestly, "The Rings of Akhaten" is my personal favorite Eleventh Doctor episode
I love Clara some parts of her story don't make sense (like how she became a teacher without any explanation) but I loved her as a character especially with 12
She "borrowed" the doctors psychic paper, giving to all she showed it proper and unquestionable certification of anything she needed to be a teacher.....there, happy ?
It is SO nice not to be alone anymore. i felt so solitary in my love for 7b. till now, i've only met like about a couple dozen people who seemed to like it, but i found it a good run of episodes. it's fun, action-packed without going so fast that u can't keep track of what's happening, Matt and Jenna were both amazing (i was alone with thinking they had great chemistry, but i stand by it. i liked their chemistry. i liked Jenna with Peter as well, but i still liked her with Matt.) Bells, Rings, Hide, Journey, Cold War, Nightmare, even parts of Crimson, are all a good stretch of beautiful storytelling. don't hate me, but i do love parts of Name of the Doctor. i get why people hate it, but when Eleven is crying when Clara tells him about Trenzalore is breathtaking for me. and when he gets her out of his timeline, so beautiful! if people hate 7B, cool beans, but yeah, i love it :D So thanks for this cathartic moment.
Season 7B was my favourite season, though there were some parts that I would have cut out like those two kids Clara looked after were annoying af and used up precious time in the episodes. But I feel that way about every season, theres always bits you've got to cut out. But overall, I loved the chemistry between 11th and Clara and it was fun and beautiful!
I actually dislike series 7a a hell of a lot more than series 7b. 7b had episodes like cold war and journey to the centre of the tardis both of which I really like.
To be perfectly honest Clara's “lack of character” in 7B has much to do with the fact that she's acting opposite Matt Smith.
No offence to either actor (I mean, by the time Jenna was introduced as prime!Clara she'd already won over the audience not once but TWICE as Oswin and Victorian!Clara ffs!), but Jenna and Matt just...had no chemistry whatsoever. Add to that all the teasing comments made about a possible attraction/romance that just came out of the blue, with absolutely no build up and it's no wonder Clara didn't appeal much to the audience. At one point, she even mentioned “love” if I remember correct, and I was just stuck staring at my screen wondering when any of that happened! Compared to other romantic relationships, like Rose and Nine, Ten and Rose and even Martha's unrequited love for Ten, we could see these feelings grow more organically, something that didn't translate very well on screen as far as Eleven and Clara are concerned.
Especially when you compare that to Jenna and Capaldi’s dynamic, that (at least for me) brought to life one of the most captivating Doctor/companion relationships on New Who, 7B Clara and her relationship with the Doctor seem...too shallow and unconvincing. The Clara we see in the Capaldi era is more well rounded and fleshed out and her relationship with the Doctor has a depth and intensity that was never there with Smith. I remember how surprised I was when watching season 8 (and especially 9 where the relationship between Twelve and Clara is at its strongest, and for all the criticism it receives is a favourite of mine) by how much I grew to love Clara, who seemed a far cry from what I remembered from 7B.
It really feels rushed. Granted, the 50th anniversary was coming up very soon at the time, so it could explain how a few things got through.
I think also while it’s true there is the fact the Doctor is trying to solve a puzzle.
After two series where he essentially does the same thing, the fact he can’t accept he hasn’t caught up in his time line like with the exploded Tardis and the Impossible astronaut. It’s like he has never seen this time dynamic before.
@LittleRedRhuari RRR i thought they had great chemistry too! either way, each to his own, i guess. and for clarification, i mean eleven and clara. people often say they had no chemistry, but i just don't see the proof of that, nor is any proof ever given. still, whatever anyone feels is cool ;)
i disagree. you may be thinking that because you were too much with doctor-amy dynamic in your mind, idk, but i was able to enjoy their dynamic very much and i think they had loads of chemistry. and i don't know if anyone noticed but they make every single female character have the hots for the doctor at some point in this show, it happened to every single female companion before clara and her version of it was limited to a kiss her victorian self gave the doctor while her modern version didn't even have that many moments like that. i loved amy to death and i was really sad to see her go, but this show pushes change all the time, you just have to roll with it and i think a lot of people didn't and such companions like martha and clara suffer unfairly because of it
Deep breath Clara was her handling the eleven's regeneration because she didn't want him to go coz she loved 11 jenna Coleman did a great job with the emotions that Clara was feeling
I love S8 and S9 Clara, probably my favourite companion alongside Donna, but S7 was such a let down for everyone involved. The Impossible Girl arc was great but it wasn't utilized properly.
4:23 “she isn’t any more special than any other Doctor companion before” I get your point, but she is special, she is to me. She is my favourite companion ever, over the great Donna Noble, over Sara Jane Smith, over Jack Harkness, over Bill Potts and even over (sorry!) Doctor River Song.
I could never understand it when people said they hated Clara
Clara is by far the best companion.
She's definitely my favourite companion of New Who, I really don't understand why people hate her so much
@@HarboWholmes Btw I agree with everything you said. I will also never understand the hate for Journey to the Center of the TARDIS and Nightmare in Silver. I think the only weak episode of 7B was The Crimson Horror, and that is still better than Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. I think 7B (including The Snowmen and the Day and Time of the Doctor) is the most consistently good part of Matt Smith's run.
I think part of the problem was splitting the series into two, with two different sets of companion(s). There is a tonal shift between the two parts, and leaves comparatively few episodes in each part to explore the overarching stories.
Yeah, Crimson Horror is the weakest episode or the half-series (although I personally find Name of the Doctor weaker) The Snowmen to Time of the Doctor is a truly remarkable run of episodes and I don't think it'll be matched again in Doctor Who.
I don't think the split did too much damage, but there definitely was a big (intentional) shift in tone and companion dynamics. They definitely could have fleshed out the Great Intelligence story arc more if it wasn't a split series, though.
It's her and Eleven that got me into Doctor Who! One of the very first Clips from the Show I saw was the Scene in "Hide" where Clara and the Doctor travel through time to find out more About the mysterious phenomenon that haunts Caliburn House. :D I would love to travel with Eleven and Clara. :D
Euler Lagrange42 yes
I started to like Clara through the prism of her relationship with 12, but she wasn't that bad in 7b either. I never understood the hate. You want bad companion characterisation ? Go to Series 11 and onwards.
Series 7B has a bad reputation but I don't think there is any bad episode in that run and some while not classics are some of the most underrated episodes of doctor who.
The Snowmen, Bells of Saint John and Night of the Doctor are some of my absolute favourites.
The Rings of Akhaten and Nightmare in Silver has their own fans who love it to bits.
Cold War and Hide are thematically very strong and most find them at least good.
JTTCOTT and The Crimson Horror are not as bad as people say and when you look at what they set out to achieve they do a really good job.
When Nitpix rated every episode of new who, Series 7B was the strongest run of episodes.
I loved Clara. She was a phenomenal character in my opinion. Beautiful,smart,funny and sarcastic.
I never understood people saying Clara lacked character. I thought she was fantastically charming and wonderfully girl-next-door. I also never understood the hate for Martha. She was my first and favorite companion. I think when people are uncomfortable with change, they project a dislike for the new thing that's not warranted
for the longest time my plan while re-watching was to watch up until amy and rory die (._. )
but after seeing this I think I'm willing to give clara a 2nd chance
An excellent video essay. When Series 7 aired, while I thought the mystery related to Clara was interesting, I was a lot more interested in what she'll be like, as a character, as a fictional person. After an episode or two, I caught up to the fact that the Doctor obsessing over the mystery really was meant to feel weird to me, feel off, just like I thought at the time. Once the confrontation in Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS happened, I was fully convinced the teased mystery is entirely unimportant, and I actually felt relieved and vindicated for preferring to be interested in Clara purely as a new character. It wasn't that hard for me, since I have many similarities in my personal philosophy, i.e. trying to be altruistic, staying unpretentious, being honest, maintaining a certain sense of optimism.
I would somewhat dispute the fact that "the audience couldn't even imagine the Doctor being wrong about something or messing up things". Well, even if we only take the eleventh Doctor into account, he had done several manipulative, morally ambiguous and wrong-headed things in Series 5 and especially in Series 6. In Series 6, among other things, Moffat put the Doctor in a situation meant to demonstrate the futility of vengeance at all costs, and that there's nothing "cool" about the Doctor attempting to conduct such actions (and failing). So, an actual dilligent enough viewer would not be shocked by the fact that the eleventh does some questionable actions and questionable assumptions in Series 7 too (in both of its halves).
Concerning Clara's entry into the series and the seeming mystery surrounding her, I think that approach also didn't come out of thin air, but built on the eleventh's mistakes and more questionable assumptions in Series 5 and especially Series 6. It's also related to the fact that the new companion sees right through him, the weird mad(cap) scientist with a boyish visage but ancient mind, owner of a time-travelling "snogging booth", as she mocks him and his ship. Even though she was tricked by the "woman in the shop", Clara wasn't planning to run away from her life, either way. She has more than enough healthy self-respect and social and emotional intelligence to not be easily wowed even by unusual things. Her amused but not mean-spirited reactions to the Doctor's "hey, gal, jump in my booth and we're off for adventures" suggestions are actually what I'd expect from the vast majority of ordinary people, myself included. Trust, but verify. Besides her lines you've featured, there's also the "To you, I haven't even been born yet, and to you, I've been dead for a hundred billion years, for all you care... (...) We're all ghosts to you..." remarks from "Hide". She said those with genuine concern and confusion. It's rather clear her personality doesn't default to "leave everything behind and run away from my life". She has an entirely different mindset. She's not one to worship the ground the Doctor walks on. Ironically, given that Missy influenced them getting together, Clara is one of the least Doctor-impressed companions I can remember, in the entire history of the series, no less. You'd think the Master would prefer if the Doctor's companion was a fanatical stalwart of the Doctor, or something. Clara's the exact opposite, but that's arguably more likely to make the Doctor care and why that sense of egalitarianism could eventually put the two of them at odds, even as friends.
Clara's fear of the eleventh when he confronts her with his frustration that he can't solve the mystery surrounding her, also speaks volumes. Not to mention there's plenty of subtext there. Arguably a criticque of a man overthinking his friendship or deeper relationship with a woman, rather than just going with the flow and respecting her as the person she is. Interestingly enough, a recurring thing with Clara in Series 7B is that she likes being altruistic and being appreciated by others, but isn't craving attention. The whole "control freak" accussation made later in Series 8 comes across as a playful joke at her expense. There is a grain of truth to it, though: She isn't insecure as such, but she does have some anxieties in life that she doesn't like, and the "control freak" moments are a reflection
When the twelfth Doctor begs her to "please, just see him" in his first episode, it's actually an interesting inversion of what happened when he was the eleventh. Back then, he got carried away by thinking there was a big mystery around her (rather than a relatively prosaic explanation with a time paradox). Clara had begged him then to, please, just see her as who she really is. Just an ordinary lady, and he can feel free to trust her. Clara's later unsure about the twelfth's personality and mindset and he's similarly distraught.
In a looser sense, Clara was to the eleventh and twelfth Doctor what Sarah Jane was to the third and fourth Doctor. Someone very independently-minded, mature and self-confident, someone who kept the Doctor grounded and wasn't afraid to take jabs at him as her friend, but also someone who didn't always make the right call (none of us are perfect), and had her own doubts about whether she could make the right call. The late Elisabeth Sladen's middle name was Clara. If the naming of the newer companion was not a cheeky but appreciative nod to that by Moffat, I don't know what is.
Speaking of the showrunner, I read in an interview with him, made around the time of Series 7 and Series 8, that just like the Doctor's time with the Ponds was a decidedly "dark fairytale" about "being careful what you wish for" (travelling the universe with the Doctor), Clara's time with the Doctor was "also not meant to be the romantic version of going for adventures with the Doctor". It was instead supposed to be a rather serious look at what risks and challenges the companion would face and how they'd change. By Series 9, the twelfth Doctor outright laments in an episode, to a rather nonchalant Clara, that she didn't used to be like this, she was a far more careful, far more chill individual, and he fears her travels with him have overshadowed her own unique personality and made her more like him. It's telling that he doesn't see this as a plus. He sees it as a risk to her well-being, to her own self-esteem, and even to the sincerity of their friendship. It was already fragile in the early days (largelly because of him and his secretiveness), then improved vastly, but never shed a more fragile side.
excellent!
I’m not going to lie. The majority of the episodes in this series I actually really enjoy 🤷🏻♂️😂
I loved Clara, named my puppy after her 9 years ago and here she is-the same brazen and adventurous girl as the character she's named after! I think my problem at the time with her was I saw no flaws in her, she always said and did the right thing, and while I do love her and Smith together, the chemistry her and Capaldi share is just brilliant! I would even put it on the same tier as Donna and Tennant because they were just made for one another (in a non-ship way)! I'm glad she got her time to shine with 12 and that the two got to grow even more, it was then that she got more chances to show her humanity (and with that her flaws) which really cemented her as one of my favourites
Brilliant video. I had no idea that some people don't understand the impossible girl and don't like Clara, when she is so beautiful character. I love her and the way her relationship with the doctor changes, how they change and evolve together. Modern Doctor Who was in desperate need of Clara. I honestly had some weird feelings from Amy Pond and I liked the shift towards someone so great like Clara but it was probably because of differences between our cultures and I didn't understand what kind of person is she supposed to be. Poor Rory. But Clara was so awesome, so perfect. It was like a beautiful dance.
Clara may have been no more special than any other companion, but she was definitely one if the most influential seeing as she has interacted with the most incarnations of the Doctor than any other. That doesn't necessarily make her the most important, which would really piss a lot Clara haters off, but it dies make her fairly relevant in the grand scheme of things and that's what I think many fans/ haters dislike about her.
I have always liked Clara, especially her relationship with 12, they became almost like equals, which, again, probably pissed a lot of people off, and their relationship grew to something special. I wouldn't say romantic, I would agree that the Doctor and a companion should never really fall in love with each other, but I think theirs was a platonic love. They truly cared for and mirrored each other. Who else would the Doctor have spent 4.5 billion years punching through an unbreakable wall for?👊 River, Amy maybe? She was that important for him. Maybe that's what some fans dislike about her, she was TOO important to him, as if that diminished other companions that came before or after her. Regardless, she will always be my favorite companion. Her charm, beauty and drive fascinate me (and I'm sure they did for the Doctor, both 11 and 12, too). She has her flaws, but that's what makes her relatable and believable, she shouldn't be, and wasn't, perfect.
My perfect ending for her would be to see her one last time touching both of 11 and 12's cheeks with the palms of her hands as they wish her a final goodbye before her final heartbeat in Face the Raven. It will never happen, unless Big Finish, or the comics, are gutsy enough to do it one day, but that would be the perfect ending for them. It would drive the haters crazy to see her die again but that's how I would imagine it. I also wouldn't mind seeing Clara on some if her own adventures without the Doctor, maybe that's something they could also explore in the future. Here's to the Impossible Girl, I love her so! 💕
I recently rewatched series 7B to see if it was as bad as I remembered it. I found Clara to be way better and more likeable than my initial impression 8 years ago, and yeah Matt Smith is probably at his best here. However, most of the episodes still just range from ok (Rings of Akhaten, mostly meh but elevated by 11's epic speech) to terrible (Name of the Doctor) in my opinion. I don't have a problem with the Impossible Girl arc as such, I just think most of the stories are underwhelming and waste good concepts and villains (Cold War and Nightmare in Silver I'm looking at you). Overall I still think it's the weakest of the pre-Chibnall series. Clara is nowhere near my favourite companion, she doesn't deserve the hate she gets though.
What's the worst finale in your opinion if name of the doctor is the second worst?
One of the first episodes I watched was Rings of Akhaten and I never thought that she didn’t have a character as I hadn’t seen snowmen or asylumn
Finally someone who likes Clara too!
I would contest that there are no stand out episodes in 7b and am happy to argue the case for The Crimson Horror and The name of the Doctor. The former is a very well rendered penny dreadful, being a very nice match between humour and horror. The latter is an epic and concise finish to possibly the most intricate story arc of New Who.
Just finished Series 7. I cannot believe how much of a mess this season is, and yet you can watch the second half and everything that’s good about it revolves around Clara and Eleven.
I don’t understand the hate tbh. People just have too much nostalgia over Amy and Rory.
It sucks as this always comes as a result of a companion just sticking around for too long. People grow to love them and hate to see them go
Clara will always be my favorite companion being that she was my entryway into seeing the Who during live broadcast. I think it's fascinating that her 7b arc of her being a mystery ultimately reveals her as a regular woman making a sacrifice play to save her friend but ultimately discover more about the Doctor than any companion (at the time) before.
Also, a part of me still has this odd fan theory that she ultimately never left the Doctor's timestream (like the Great Intelligence) and that in a roundabout way it's at the Doctor's grave that ultimately led to the timelord being created. Somehow just thinking of the movie Predestination and the figure 8 timelord sigil of how at the end of the Doctor's life leads to the beginning of their life. How in the grave 2 beings enter, 1 is utterly destroyed despite showing they could reform anytime while the other is just a human but clever, imaginative and caring (also subliminally connected to a timelord adjacent being, but spoilers!) jumping in living full lives as different but similar looking beings scattered throughout time all with the sheer purpose of protecting the Doctor. In his (their) head as a constant travel partner but never leaving, a fear, a trap or something more.
I loved the idea as a concept but have no idea how it could be implemented even in a Seventh Seal homage of death (The Great Intelligence, wanting to destroy this clever mostly unknown entity) playing this eternal timeless game of chess against the knight (Clara, who knows this entity the most) for the life of this singular being (the Doctor unknown to them). Plus given how unpopular, Clara and the concept of the Timeless Child were to the general populous it'll likely never ever come to light. Still, it's a neat idea of these two beings stuck in a timestream battling over the soul from inception (to end to rebirth to end to rebirth) to eternity of this singular being.
Never got why people hated Clara to be honest. I liked her from beginning to end. She was a fun character that i cared for as we followed her story. The actress did a great job. Tough honestly acting next to Matt Smith at his height is a very impossible task. So calling her the impossible girl kinda rings true. She did something impossible and made an impact next to one of the greatest Doctors ever. The Doctor that really showed his age yet remained childish, fun and wacky. I'm going to do a rewatch of Doctor Who from Series 1 trough 10. The Good New Who. As much hate as Moffat gets i still could tell he cared for the story and he gave us some really epic adventures and alot of fun stories that never sold it's soul to the devil... Series 11-12 i will not be rewatching ever. And chances are i will not watch series 13. I'll stay away until someone can tell me that the series has been saved.
Yep, I thought there was a chance in the first episode of season 12 that it was going to be good... and then I watched the second... I almost threw up it was so bad... then I watched it all the way through... ugh... then the final ruined eveything. Season 13 is going to be a mess. Season 14 hopefully will revive it, but honestly I think they either need to take a time-out, or a completley new approach and cast pronto!
1:43... I don't know if it is... the rings of akhaten is my all time favourite episode of matt smiths run... the speech alone makes it a classic... and I actually found 7B to be overall more enjoyable than the amy and rory first half (the only 2 episodes I like in 7A are asylum of the daleks ironically starring clara, and the power of 3, the rest seem to be boring or ruined my favourite alien the angels so in my eyes 7B is far superior)
I Joy Clara it’s funny how some people can’t seem to get a grass on the impossible girl. Just like in river song we saw affect before the cause.
I like Clara. I have always liked Clara. Even more than Amy sometimes. What you have explained in this video was the way I’ve always viewed it. Not that I’m patting myself on the back; it just seems right somehow.
She starts as a gimmick, and the resolution wasn’t as satisfying as the speculation. After we got the answer, it was a sense of “oh, she’s still here. Why?”
Hide is a great episode. Spooky and taking place in a mansion with wood paneling, people dressed in 70's outfits with 70's equipment, it felt like you could be watching a Pertwee or T. Baker episode.
I liked Clara's arc as The Impossible Girl. Frankly, I found it jarring when she was suddenly a school teacher and they grounded her with Danny. I felt she overstayed her welcome deciding to leave a couple of times and not.
The Impossible Girl is the best! I love that this character can tie up any loose end in a show that has a lot of loose ends. Maybe I’m biased though I love Clara and I hated when she died, so I was so happy to see her have such an impact to the story. Whether or not others saw it like that.
Hmm. Very interesting. I actually found Name to be the strongest of 7b, however I think that’s because of a few personal reasons, such as having no prior investment in the Great Intelligence beyond the moments in the Christmas special, 7b premiere and finale as I never watched the Classic era and a predisposed desire to really FEEL true connectivity between the Moffat era and the previous eras, which (again, a personal experience) I hadn’t experienced up until then. Though it’s also worth noting I binged Eccleston through Smith’s first season on Netflix, with most of season 6 on iTunes, so season 7 was pretty much the first season I caught while it was airing. Like you said, Doctor Who is a subjective experience.
I don’t remember nearly any on 7B, including the finale, which says a lot
I’ve watch every Moffat series once, and it’s the one I remember the least.
7B is forgettable drivel
Woah, I already didn’t hate this arc the way most people do, but your work just like clarified some key concepts
I always liked Clara although I did feel like she was a bit of a Mary Sue particularly in her last series 😅
Was definitely still reeling from the ending that Amy and Rory got tho so that definitely over shadowed her
My problem with Clara was never that she had no character, or that she was a puzzle box, I saw her clear character traits,and quite enjoyed seeing her grow, my problem with Clara is that she essentially becomes the reason for why the Doctor does anything SHE saves him, SHE was always there. If it had been any other companion, I still wouldn't like it, even worse is that after "The Name of The Doctor", the entire Impossible Girl plotline is dropped. I also never liked her catchphrase "Run You Clever Boy, and Remember..." whenever I hear it, I cringe, it's just really awkward to me. I don't think Season 7B is anywhere near as bad as alot of people like to say, I quite enjoy alot of the episodes, mainly The Rings of Akhaten, which I loved, but I definitely didn't love it as much as Series 5, which is my favourite Matt Smith season. I'd personally say Season 6 was worse, simply because I don't remember alot of it, except for the plothole that "The Impossible Astronaut" introduces with the Doctor's regeneration cycle. But, the problem you talk about was never the reason I disliked Clara, and I feel like she has kind of grown on me since then original airing of these episodes.
I understand that. My personal experience was I loved season 7 Clara SO much, that I was compleltey blindsighted of any of her faults in season 8 and 9 the first time they aired. But after hearing people disliekd Clara, but giving me no explanation why, I decided I needed to find out myself. So I rewatched season 7B, and thought, nope, I don't understand the hate. But then I got to Season 8 episode 1 and was like... wow she's being a narcassistic bitch. (obviously not literally like that but I can't be fucked to write it all out). Anyway, I realised that they were pushing her to be a bossy control freak who's almost narcassistic, which I hated how sudden that felt. And while I see where it came from, I feel differently to this video. I think Clara's new traits came from her feeling of loss. She had lost everything she envisioned when the 11th Doctor had "died". She loved him ALOT, and to see him COMPLETLEY change, in appearance, voice, mannerisms and personality, made her feel she'd lost the man she loved, not to mention Capaldi was making much sense and had alot of memory loss in the first episode. So her control freak thing, came from the feeling of having no control, an exaggerationof her already bossy and opinionated nature. The Doctor had made her feel EXTREMLEY special already, which caused her to become very full full of herself, although I feel that this later became a thing, because she deeply didn't want to disappoint the Doctor, she saw what happened to all his other companions, and she didn't want to be another one, that merged into his memories, she wanted to stand out, she wanted to stay forever, she COULDN'T LOSE THE DOCTOR AGAIN. So she tried to become better and better, because she didn't want to be left ebhind like he left her behind in the time of the Doctor. She wanted to show that she could take care of her self, that she issn't invaluable and there are many things that aren't making any sense that I'm wrtiing right now because I'm tried and my brains on overload I'm very sorry you're int he middle of this, but i can't stop typing, wtf ,wtf this is so weird, not had it THIS bad before, um um, okay, wtf sugar> no coffee I'm insane, must be, I literally can't stop typing out my thoughts, fffs this lockdown is making me feel stuck I guess that's hy Ic anfcphio\gb;W|OB@gvs,g.W
I adore Clara, she's my second favorite companion. The top spot will always be reserved for Rose Tyler bc I swore than the day I saw Doomsday.
7B is a great series and I love the Impossible Girl mystery. 7B set up series 8 very well and when 12 hits his stride, it's brilliant. Clara and 12 in my heart forever!
I understand why no one loves series 7, that’s fine, but I love the series because of the characters, especially Clara. The Impossible Girl arc is really good, and it’s easy to understand. Clara is a guardian angel who observed the Doctors lives. That doesn’t alter the Doctors history (The Timeless Child much) she helped him pick the right Tardis, that doesn’t change the Doctors history. Yes he never said someone helped him pick the right Tardis, but he was too busy running away, out of curiosity.
7B has always been one of my favourite series and Clara is my favourite new Who companion. I never really understood the "hate" for it all, especially if you consider it with the "not a puzzlebox" lens you've suggested.
I feel like Clara's "impossible girl" arc greatly mirrors "bad wolf", but because Moffat's show direction was more plot-based (compared to RTD's more overtly character-based direction), the "impossible girl" fell flat with more of the audience, who didn't feel like they "knew" Clara. Again, that makes sense given that most of the audience's impressions come from the Doctor's perception of Clara, which is greatly limited by his fascination with "why" and "how" she exists, rather than who she is as a person. I think also there's a degree of resentment for Clara as a person because she's slightly more upper class and outspoken than most of the other companions. What comes across to the audience as "arrogance" is really just the character's liking of order and control in situations. Clara is a very 3 dimensional character, yet I feel as if there are some innate biases and slightly poor creative decisions that act as barriers to her being fully embraced by fans.
I’m not a fan of Clara but my dislike with her actually started in series 8 and really kept on from there, I think for me it was her reaction to the Doctor’s regeneration mixed with the clinginess that Twelve had with her to the point where he could even let her die. I was more of a fan of Clara in the episodes you mentioned than in the rest of her episodes.
I know this is controversial but season 7 is one of my favorite season of Doctor Who
I mourned the loss of Clara at least as much as I did for Amy and Rory.
Donna is saddest for me.
Wgile Clara might have been perfectly "ordinary", she ceased to be once she jumped into the timeline of the Doctor. If indeed the Doctor and the TARDIS share a symbiotic relationship...they exist togeather as one entity as far as causal quantum stream goes. When she threw herself into this manifestation of that stream she linked her own causal stream onto the timeline of the Doctor/ TARDIS ....she split her existence along the timeline. She became an integral underling component of that timeline...in a way she gave up a normal existence by the act. This is why she directs the Doctor to the TARDIS he takes...she and it are the same now in all accountings...
Series 7 B is one of my favourite seaons of Doctor Who, I like Clara way more than other more widely well loved companions.
What's funny is that I actually really enjoyed Clara in 7B but wasn't able to like her w/ Capaldi. I loved Bill and 12, but something about Clara just bugged me so much with 12. I've been trying to like her because I know so many people do, but she just drives me bonkers. Oh well. Great video explaining why it was confusing to so many people
I totally agree. I love Clara in Series 7B.
The only thing, that annoyed me with "The name of the doctor" was the unresolved cliffhanger of "How do they come out of the time stream?"
I mean, the ending was great. "And introducing John Hurt as the Doctor"? Hey, awesome thing.
But then the next episode shows Clara at Coalhill High and I was like "Okay, how did she end up there?"
7B was when I really started getting into Doctor Who, 11 and Clara are my Doctor and companion. I always thought that maybe I had gotten into the series at a bad time, but this video helped me to understand why I didn’t feel the same way about 7B that other people did. Thanks for that!
JUST FOUND YOU!! YES! Also, when are we going to she the Giant Bee Episode? Hahaha, soooo bad
I don’t like Clara because they made her tooooo perfect. I want to see a doctor- companion relationship that is much more flawed than what 7B gave. I don’t like Nightmare In Silver because I believe Clara should have been even a little scared at the prospect of having a whole army in her hands. She just did it with no question and I hate that.
also the children those kids were bloody awful
There were plenty of instances through clara's era where she was scared or anxious, even in series 7; that just wasn't one of them because she was a confident and assertive person who wasn't afraid to take charge.
watch the video and you'll realize that Clara and the doctor's relationship is exactly what you want
I give you full credit for making your case and an entertaining video. However, just cause you can explain the impossible girl sub-plot doesn't mean it's a particularly good or entertaining writing. To me, most of Steve Moffat's writing concerning sub-plot is a confused mess that usually leads nowhere or is disappointing at best. Despite the explanation, the 'impossible girl' is not an exception to problems of Moffat's writing, it's hard evidence that the writers should have stuck to more consistent, contained stories within the series instead of attempting sub-plots that are likely beyond their capability. Simply put, if they dumped the whole sub-plot of 'impossible girl' fans probably wouldn't have missed it one bit. Good video, though. :)
Well I'm a fan and it's my favourite plot. I think everyones missing the point, but like he said; its subjective.
L̶a̶d̶y̶ Fox Ŵøłfæ nope not missing the point. High concept but low execution. Flat plot and flat character imo but to each their own. We all like different things.
I like series 7 more than series 10. Series 10 gets a lot of love but apart from the 2 part finale don’t think I really enjoyed any other episodes 🤷♂️
This is a REALLY interesting video. I mean, it hasn't changed the fact Clara is my least fav new who companion (Because my issues mainly stem from Series 8 and 9, no 7), but it has made me appreciate the Doctor's storyline in relation to the Impossible Girl arc much greater. Personally, though, not speaking for all fans, but I feel that the problem with the Impossible Girl arc does still stand, as though you have pointed out the built-up to it is GREAT, she still ended up going into every moment of the Doctor's timeline and being the one to show the First Doctor to his TARDIS, thus making her "important", which I feel is where people's disdain towards this arc stems from, not necessarily the puzzle-box build up. However, that's just my interpretation of it. Nevertheless, 100% agree Series 7 does get some hate it does not deserve.
Why shouldn't she be important though? Rose, Martha and Donna were important, Amy and Rory were important too... I don't get whats so wrong with Clara being important.
@@ladyfoxwf1075 I get ya. As I said, my issues with Clara arise from Series 8 and 9. But in terms of why being special was a negative: I feel it was because Clara was important to EVERY Doctor and basicallly the origins of him, whereas Donna and the others were only important in that Series arc to that Doctor's problems. But if u like it, that cool.
I think people were more acceptable with moralry grey doctor in season 8 because he was a new doctor so people were expecting it.
finally someone who doesn’t make a video of hating clara.
my fav characters are clara and amy so thank u. clara is really hated for literally no reason. she is amazing and amy too
Honestly I think people hated 7B because it used its VFX very poorly.
But now I remember that I shouldn't set on the effects but the EMOTION.
Great video! I’d love to hear your views on asylum of the daleks
Thanks! But you might not like what you hear! I haven't seen it properly in a while, but I've never really liked it, I think it's a really weak episode with a lot of plot holes and logical errors in the story
Harbo Wholmes Actually same here, there’s been a debate between me and my friends about this episode and they seem to like it as they think it’s a nice return to form for the daleks whereas I don’t, thanks for your reply!
I think there are definitely some good parts about the episode, and the Oswin reveal is still fantastic, especially if it's not been spoiled beforehand. But overall it's a messy and disappointing episode with far too many flaws. It very basic premise is a flaw. Why would the Dalek race have an asylum? It's completely against their character
That is the worst dalek story ever it's objectively bad so many reviews will put it in better words then me
I've always liked series 7b, but I attributed it to being my introduction to the show. Until watching this, I couldn't properly justify my enjoyment of it when presented with all the negative interpretations of the stories. Thank you.
your profile pic gave me a PTSD flashback of 7th grade art class when we had to sketch that exact picture... ugh
Lol I loved the last season with Matt Smith I’m surprised to hear most people didn’t.. like baffled... Matt Smith became my favorite doctor. But at first I didn’t like him. Took me my second watch through again from season 1 to 7. ( cause I cannot just rewatched the show from the middle)
I don’t “hate” her, but i feel blah about her in 7b in particular. We’re *told* she’s just a normal girl and not *shown* ,that’s the reason I believe that she wasn’t liked by many. Her character never felt grounded (this is a flaw imo of all of moffats characters). With Rose, Martha and Donna we knew their families and friends, had a clear picture of their real lives before the doctor and they were indeed normal people with real lives and real flaws. Thats why i love them. All of moffats companians didn’t feel that real to me most of all (by a large margin) clara, it was just too aloof and you need realism to ground a show like doc who. No wonder why the doctor didn’t believe them when they told him over and over she’s just a normal girl, because i *know* she is and i still dont believe it lol. Shame really, because Coleman is amazing in everything else i’ve seen her in. Fin. Sorry to be grey cloud in this comment section lol
I do actually like Clara quite a bit, but I don't agree with your analysis. Regardless of how the actual function of the plot treats her, the writing treats her as this crazy important person in the doctors life. It's something Moffat does consistently when he writes women: River has to be The Woman Who Kills The Doctor or The Doctor's Wife and Amy has to be The Girl Who Waited and Clara has to be The Impossible Girl; he treats them as plot devices instead of as characters. It's the reason Bill is my favorite companion from this era, she's the first companion he actually made feel like A Companion and not The Story. Even Missy falls into this trap a bit, but that's understandable since the master is always more of a plot function. She even pokes fun at it, and I think you even pointed this out when talking about the series 10 finale: women are the exposition.
I've always enjoyed Clara and Capaldi. You make excellent points about the shift in the Doctor and how general audiences reacted. I cut my teeth on the 4th Doctor, and feel the progression of Smith to Capaldi was more in spirit the 4th and away from 'the boyfriend Doctors'.
Doctor Who has always been a show about the companions in my opinion - as we see them evolve and change with a Doctor. Seeing the Doctor evolve and change is probably jarring for most.
If series 7 is the second worst finale in New Who, what's the worst?
It's now the third worst. Series 12 second, Series 11 absolute worst :)
@@HarboWholmes lol, I completely forgot about these. Yeah, you're right.
I think we mostly hated how much attention Clara got, when as you said, there wasn't even anything inherently special about her neither was her character an intriguing one, she was average at all fronts yet for some reason for a while up till season 9 finale (Which was completely about her even though we are introduced to Gallifrey for the first time in newWho), the entire show seemed for like ClaraWho rather than DoctorWho
That was the most annoying thing about Clara for me, and I think a lot of people felt the same.
In this regard, all the other female companions felt more enjoyable because while they all had their quirks, they were companions at the end of the day. Clara however, felt like the focus of the show which is stupid. Rings of Akhaten is a perfect early example of this (While every other episode could be one but this stands out in its stupidity the most), we see the Doctor face a parasite god with no plans at all, facing it alone. We see the Doctor give an incredible speech about his painful life and we see how the godly stellar parasite is finding it too hard to bear the burden of the last of the Timelords' memories. It's a perfect way to show how only the Doctor was capable of defeating the parasite in all of space and time because he's the only one with a life that long and tragic. The power of a Timelord's memories, it would've been a homerun to the whole "Last of the Timelords" plotline. No, what do they choose? A freaking leaf.
Yea sure, because that leaf was so important right? Like any other object from anyone's life couldn't be used to represent the infinite possibilities of the future, no somehow Clara's parents' leaf was the only such special object in all of the cosmos. It's entirely ridiculous no matter how many ways I try to look at it.
I noticed something and have to point it out. You said Hell Bent was the first time we were introduced to Gallifrey, Yet in The End Of Time the 10th doctor fights the time lords.
And in the 50th anniversary doctors 10&11&war go to Gallifrey to save it.
Tristan Steinbomer I think it was fairly simple to understand the implication here.
“Introduced to Gallifrey”, I meant a proper introduction where we get to see the Timelords and their Citadel and etc. Hell Bent was all about Gallifrey mainly other than the last section and the clips from the Diner with Clara.
10th Doctor’s End of Time: Yes, they showed the Timelords and locations from the planet however it was still just a few clips. Mostly they just showed a big orange planet heading towards Earth
50th Anniversary: It’s the same, a big orange planet with some small clips shot to provide some context.
Hell Bent was the only episode which was centered around the Doctor actually being in Gallifrey and interacting with Timelords for the most of the narrative.
Don't get me wrong I actually like series 7b. I do understand where people are coming from about nightmare in silver though. The cybermen are scary but they don't feel like cybermen. They don't seem hell bent on converting and seem to prefer killing. If the same story was made but with the cybermen converting humans rather than killing, in my opinion it would be far superior
Absolutely agree with what you said, I love 7B deserves more love
Thank ypu for helping me see why the story wasnt actually as bad or boring as i had thought while i still over all dislike the 7b version of clara and the story arc itself but its a lot bettet than i thought it was
Where's the theme tune that's used here from? I mean who mixed it?
I'm still not a fan of Series 7 but your take on it is really interesting- great video
Thank you! What don't you like about Series 7, if I may ask?
@@HarboWholmes It's really everything you initially said, none of the 7B episodes stand out to me at all and I didn't like Clara and 11 together- I actually found Eleventh Doctor to be kind of annoyingly wacky at times as well
It's a shame you feel that way. I really enjoyed Clara and The Doctor in this series, I think they play well off each other. I also find The Doctor to be perfectly goofy and quirky, Smith balances it a lot better than his other two series.
But the thing I love most about Doctor Who is that everyone has their own different opinions! Every episode is SOMEONE'S favourite, and I think that's something quite magical for a show with almost 300 episodes.
I sort of agree that Smith was wacky in his role as the Doctor but there were times he was just too goofball for me. The dynamic that he and Clara were often flirting with each other didn't always jibe well with me either. I could where she might be attracted to him, he looked like an ordinary, young, handsome yet intriguing space alien 👾 👽 😉, yet why would a centuries old Time Lord be attracted to her? She would be like an unborn child to his perspective. 12's view of her in series 8 was more realistic and funny, often making fun of her looks or not even noticing when she tried to look beautiful. He kept her at a distance that way and it worked. Later they formed a bond which made them inseparable but it had nothing to do with romance or anything like that. They loved each other but in a totally different way.
I love journey to the centre of the tardis. It’s mainly because of my love for mazes and exploring the tardis
Wait, people didn't interperate Clara's arc like this?
I was only ever upset by her supposedly egotistical behavior that we never actually see and are only ever told about.
Actually, there are a few instances in which the more arrogant side of clara is shown.
In the episode "hide", there's a scene where she's trying to get inside the tardis who isn't letting her in, and projects a hologram of clara and speaks through the hologram; "i'm programmed to select the image of a person you esteem. According to my databanks, this one best meets the criteria." This implies that clara thinks a lot of herself, or at least has a high amount of self-confidence.
Then later there's episodes like mummy on the orient express. Near the end when she's on the phone to danny, she says "i love you", he responds "love you too", and she says "no accounting for taste". She's trying to sound humble, when in reality she most likely considers herself, to put it informally, a catch.
Then at the end of series 8 and in the beginning of series 9, she is placing her value as the doctor's friend above missy's. While it is understandable that clara would feel anger and resentment against missy, her arrogant behaviour is still a very obvious character flaw.
Then finally, in face the raven, her cockiness, recklessness and overconfidence in herself (and the doctor for that matter) is actually what gets her killed. She was trying to make a clever plan behind the doctor's back, believing that it would work and she'd be able to "fix it", like how the doctor would, but it backfires and she ends up putting herself in mortal danger.
But what's admirable about her character, is that she didn't cower or run away when she had made that final mistake. She bravely faced what she had got herself into.
How many of us would've been able to do that, do you think?
Thank you! Someone said it. People also say like, I hated 11 and Clara’s relationship, because that was the whole point!
Except that she’s special BECAUSE she happened to be there. By being there by circumstance and entering the Doctors timeline she created a temporal loop involving her multiple shattered selves. That autochronic cycle means that he, among his other destined moments, was also destined to discover and find different instances of her and having her accompany him on his adventures. And in doing so she happens to be there for the loop to begin itself again. She’s not special but she also is special.
It’s a interesting take on the impossible girl arc, which makes sense given Moffats tendency to be super clever. It’s certainly enough for me to rethink about my Doctor Who rankings. Thanks for that!
I will disagree about her having proper character in series 7 though. I don’t follow your logic, but maybe I’m just thinking about how I saw no chemistry between the pair.
I never agreed with the idea clara didn't have a character, she just got more annoying the longer she stuck around.
I don’t actually mind love and monsters considering it was made by a kid ( I think ) and as a. Filler ep it’s funny sad and emotionally holds up very well
It's interesting people didn't understand that. Well thank you for explaining why someone wouldn't like Clara; watching with eyes closed.
You make a compelling argument, and I will have to think about it next time I watch series seven. I still think it is the weakest of Moffat seasons, but I'll reevaluate it when I next watch it.
The main criticism I've seen people make is that she was given too much importance to the history and lore of DW as a whole, making her the one responsible for pretty much everything The Doctors done saving his life throughout his timelines. Which doesn''t make much sense to me, since he only sees her twice, but not all the previous times? Also, you talking about how she's just a normal girl is nice and all, but I feel like the execution of said idea falling flat when she is, again, made the most important person in the Doctor's life, effectively saving him throughout his past, and maybe future? An issue I have personally is how vague that part of the story was left as, it's just oh shes being split across his timestream or whatever, but the rules to it are left unclear and it hardly makes any sense to me, maybe I'm missing something, but oh well. I do like the idea of highlighting and showing the doctors more gray, morality.
Clara is one of my favourite companions other than Martha, Romana 1 and Nyssa.
i loved Clara as the impossible girl. I hate that they just pretended that it never happened once Capaldi became the doctor
Loved your summary - I liked Clara.