“Do you think I cared for you so little that you betraying me makes a difference” is one of my favorite quotes of anything all time. Clara and twelves relationship is so very special to me
I see that scene ALWAYS used against Clara... but like... To me that scene just makes sense. Yeah, she goes to EXTREME length trying to Force the Doctor to do as she wants, but I'd honestly argue it's not that weird she just didn't ask 12 for help. 12 being SERIOUSLY different from 11, far more manipulative and acting more cold and grumpy... Yeah, no **** she doesn't ask him to help her, but rather tries to force him into helping, I'D DO that too in her shoes... >_> ..Plus it gives us that sweet moment, can't hate the scene for that either. (One of the favorite 12/Clara moments FOR SURE!) And I honestly feel that once she hears 12 say that line, THAT is when she finally fully starts to trust 12. The moment she finally truly sees that the Doctor is still there, just with different face and acting a tad bit different.
3:10 I wish we could’ve kept Victorian Clara not just because of her charm and wit but because it would also the the first time in modern Doctor Who to have a companion from the past! We’d had companions from future eras but not yet from the past.
Even then, the future companions (like Captain Jack) are more guest characters than regular characters. I would love a regular companion who isn’t from the modern day!
@@looseleafellie absolutely! I had an idea for an original Doctor incarnation (let’s say for fun that it’s Sixteen), another female one like Thirteen but not white, maybe Asian (we didn’t yet have an Asian Doctor) and two regular companions, one from the 19th century and one from another planet a few thousand years or so in the future, long enough that for this companion our present is what Ancient Rome is to us.
@@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o now I’m dreaming of having Shelley Conn as the Doctor with Jessie Mei Li playing a futuristic space hacker and Nicholas Galitzine playing a footman from the 1830s who’s just very confused all the time
@@looseleafellie I don't know Nicholas Galitzine but Shelley Conn (Gen V) and Jessie Mei Li (Shadow and bones) I do know. And I adore Jessie! As for the past companion, I was thinking more of a 19th century feminist, like a suffraget or perhaps a social democrat. That could be an interesting companion as the past companion sees our society as one seemingly impossible to 19th centurystandards and so outdated to the future companion.
@@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o that would also be super cool! I mainly said Galitzine because he has really good comedic timing (he was really funny in the movie Bottoms), but I love the idea of having a 19th century feminist in the mix
Something I think you missed - Clara's purpose in exisiting in series 7 and her arc. Moffat was faced with a near impossible task - to write the 50th anniversary. He knew it was coming up at the end of series 7. From the BBC he also knew that their charts said 90% of the modern audience had never seen classic Who beyond youtube clips. And on the otherhand he had classic Who fans ready to slay him if the 50th did not pay suitable respect and include classic Who. How to square the circle? The solution was Clara. Clara is the bridge in series 7 between classic era Who and modern, she falls more into the classic Who compaion role than modern, her story directly introduces the viewer as part of her mystery to classic Who and to earlier versions of the Doctor. The success of the 50th anniversary was in no small part down to how prepared for it the audience were by the manner in which Moffat deployed Clara in series 7 to lay that ground work. All the bits of classic people would need to know for the story of the 50th to work the audience were prepped for by Clara's Impossible Girl story. In that respect she worked perfectly in series 7 for what was intended and needed. Once the 50th and its immediate followup, 11's regeneration was done and over with, Moffat could get down to giving Clara the proper depth she needed (and he knew Jenna Coleman deserved) to become more than a necessary plot device and a true character.
I always felt like the Impossible Girl resolution was too much of a finale, with all of its impact being implied in the past, and no ripples forward into the future. This left me feeling like Clara had served a huge purpose and now was suddenly at a loose end - which is fine, not everyone has to have such a weighty purpose, but it was jarring to me. But putting her in the context of Moffat's Classic Who Primer Character is really interesting because that definitely pins down why I felt there's such a split, and maybe explains why so many people were unable to really latch back on to the more "real" Clara arc. I definitely forget how much of Clara's storyline just doesn't happen until the Impossible Girl is resolved. Maybe I just needed the Impossible Girl to properly die so I could have a new first impression.
@@storageheater I think it was necessary, but the disassociation you describe I think was amplified by Moffat having to change plans at the last minute, when the bigwigs at the BBC got cold feet of a non-contemporary companion and insisted they ditch Victorian Clara for a modern version - this is the reason why her home life is so ill-defined, and why the two children are shoehorned into it, Gaiman's script was one of many already written for Victorian Clara and featured the two children she was nanny to, they couldn't rewrite everything so they kept the children in modern Clara era too, just with a rather vague excuse for her looking after them that is never gone into again, nor is her relationship with the members of the family she lives with ever really part of the story, other than when they needed the kids for Gaimans Nightmare in Silver episode. Had it still been Victorian Clara, with her already established home background and dual life as barmaid and nanny, it would have been less apparent I think Clara was a necessary narrative device ahead of a character. The interest of her Victorian life to viewers, and being already familar with it from the xmas episode, would have masked it more. As soon as Moffat could he ditched that entire background and gave her a much better suited modern situation as a teacher at Coal Hill (for which there is one excuse, we did see when 11 was looking into her past that she had graduated from some form of higher education, university, or teaching) and Moffat could finally flesh out the bullet point personality he had put together for this new Clara, her tendency to compartmentalise her life, her need to be in control of situations which are all present prior to series 8, but just sort of pencilled in, like placeholders behind the more prominant mystery around her, till that and the 50th can be resolved and she is done fulfilling her dual role of standard companion and bridge between eras of the show for new viewers. The other thing of note is how short the Impossible Girl narrative is, it begins with modern Clara in Bells of St John and its over 6 episodes later as we go into the 50th Trilogy of Name of, Day of and Night of the Doctor. Given she still has 2 series ahead on the show I am not sure she really does get any less character or development than say Martha got in half a series of episodes. But Clara has the benefit of 2 years with 12 still to deepen and delve into her character, and Moffat does that more so than any other companion probably, just as he delves more into who the Doctor is more than any other Doctor era before.
@@pettytyrant2720 These are such well thought-out and well researched comments. This is what good media criticism should be - digging deeper into the creators' process to understand why things are the way they are and what real-life circumstances influenced the production.
Times Clahra should have left- 1) When the 12th Doctor appears and she hates him. 2) When Danny dies. 3) When Missy had her inside a Dalek shell-wham back to Souflee Girl. Full circle. Instead we get TARDIS Girls Gone Wild: Adventures of Lady Me. And actually Clahra has Lady Me drop her off to a year before the Coronation of Elizabeth R and she smothers the princess in her sleep and takes her place to rule Britannia.
@@pettytyrant2720 That’s actually a great point that Clara served as a bridge between Classic Who and modern Who! I didn’t think of that. I still don’t think that totally excuses her lack of character development in series 7, but it does give me more understanding of why Moffat needed something like the Impossible Girl.
That's River Song. But with 24 years at the Singing Towers, the most mature Doctor, who has experienced River's entire life arc,may have crossed that bridge a time or two.
Yeah, I totally agree with Victorian Clara being way more interesting than modern Clara in series 7. I remember being so sad when they introduced the Clara that would actually be the main companion. It took me a while to warm back up to her, but ultimately, I ended up liking her when she became more than just a love interest for the doctor.
I loved Oswin too. I think she had the most potential as a stand-alone character. She felt like a female Captain Jack Harkness. There are times when I wish Oswin was the main Clara and she was a breakout character like him.
I agree with this, and the reason for that is probably because I think Moffat is better at writing mysteries than he is at resolving them in a season long plot. He writes brilliant single episode stories, like when he wrote oswin. I really felt conflicted about liking Clara after I had already been so invested in Oswin.
I saw something online (idk who or where but on Twitter) about Clara's death in "Face the Raven" was that she died with her hands spread out, similar to how the Doctor regenerates. No matter how bad she wanted to be like the Doctor, she wasn't. It's not that she wanted to regenerate, but her codepency with the Doctor is so ingrained in her it was part of her final(-ish) moment. Clara might honestly be my favorite companion because of how "flawed" she is in this regard. She wanted to be more than she actually was and that was her eventual downfall.
That consistency in her character I like. Both the Christmas special death and the Face the Raven death have that, Moffat just kept undoing it for some reason.
I kind of hate the idea that wanting to be like the doctor = wanting to be "more than she really is" for so many fans. The doctor isn't a god. Clara and every other companion are not lesser than the doctor just based on being a different species and not living for as long. All that crap just robs the companions completely and makes the doctor totally obnoxious and overly special (which is totally opposed to the doctors writing in the original series).
Except that subtext kind of goes out the window when at the end of Hell Bent Clara gets to fly off in her own TARDIS while being effectively immortal since she doesn't have to return to her time of death until she wants to, as "Me" points out. Not only is her death undone, but she's actively rewarded for trying to be like the Doctor by her literally getting to travel through time and space for basically eternity. It's so poorly thought out.
@@dommoore6180I sorta agree, but in “Face the Raven,” Clara says “Why? Why shouldn't I be so reckless? You're reckless all the bloody time. Why can't I be like you?” she explicitly wishes to be like him because that’s just how their relationship worked. thats what the hybrid was and what made it so dangerous. saying i like the toxic codependency arc doesn’t mean i want them to be codependent. it’s just good writing imo 🤷♂️
I remember when she was at a convention in Miami when I was younger, I had my more brave friend ask during the question portion “Do you think Clara could have been the first companion to turn on the Doctor?” She chewed on it and her response was along the lines of “I was actually given two options- and it is clear which one I chose.” I always wondered what could have been- and a companion that turned evil BECAUSE of the doctor would have made for an incredible arc of growth for both characters.
i had that same question months ago but not about clara, just the companions in general lol. theyre always these undeniably good hearted people (even when they do bad things) and at the end of the day i dont think any of them can ever be called a villain, but i just wonder so bad what it would be like for a companion to start normal and the adventures make them lose their mind a little bit until they have a huge freak out (the water mars episode is also what brought on this thought, since the doctor has a similar thing happen then) but i just know that the show would never do that. i wanted to make a fanfic of it but i never did ^^;
@princembat It's not on the same spectrum, but Adam from that 2-3 episode arc from 9s season is a bad egg and the Doctor doesn't tolerate it in the series and he's dropped back home. But in the comics he becomes a pretty evil dude after that
Haha .. that was also my reaction when i heared the first time about it. I also absolutely loved her and for me the series only went down after she was killed, which was the worst moment at all for me.
I hate her. She acted like she was invincible and constantly put herself in dangerous situations, not to be brave but because she knew the doctor would save her 🙄 and at the end, I guess she was right 😂
I fell in love with Clara pretty much the second we meet her as Oswin, especially the line "is there a word for 'total screaming genius' that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy ?" that, with its incredible delivery, instantly had me going "..... this is going to be Bad for me, isn't it ?" (Spoiler alert : yes it was, and I didn't even know HOW MUCH yet.) The fact that she appears for the first time while the Ponds (aka my least favorite companions, just like Eleven is my least favorite Doctor -- unpopular opinions, I know, but...) are still there and the only thing I'm waiting for at this point is FOR THEM TO FINALLY FUCKING LEAVE, also made her stand out to me that much more. And then, Victorian Clara happened. And I started to understand just HOW down bad I was going to be. (I'm pretty sure she immediately skyrocketed to her current position as my third favorite character of all time right then and there, watching The Snowmen.) While I agree that S7B Clara didn't have much going for her in terms of storylines, just her personality was enough to have me OBSESSED with her already. She's the exact embodiment of my type of character : headstrong, sassy, daring... But still, nothing could have prepared me for what she'd become with Twelve. They became my favorite TV dynamic of all time SO FAST, it genuinely took me by surprise the moment it hit me that this had happened. Especially in series 9. They're the literal definition of what my aroace ass likes to scream from the rooftops (INTENSE DOESN'T HAVE TO EQUAL ROMANCE), and it's still wild to me that it's been portrayed in such an incredible way where I expected it the least. (I don't think I'm ever getting over it, actually.) Tl;dr : Clara Oswald is basically the love of my life... and what about it ? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
While Clara isn't a companion I compare for, I totally felt the same with you at the Ponds. I was so annoyed they got two bloody seasons while my favourite companion, Donna only got one :( which she technically shares with Martha and Rose a bit.
In my opinion, how Victorian Clara saves the Doctor is that after an extended period of time being angry, bitter, sad, and lonely after losing Rory and Amy, she gave him the spark to be the Doctor again, which led him to solve the mystery of the Impossible Girl. What she did was give the Doctor his sense of self and purpose in the universe.
My biggest issue with Clara was how inconsistent she was. After being the impossible girl she should have known the Doctor better than anyone else. And yet she was confused when he changed, and then felt the need to blackmail him into helping her saving Danny. She should know him BEST and felt the need to force him into helping her when in reality she would have only needed to ask.
I would argue that her complete knowledge of the Doctor's history just made her fit the role of audience surrogate even better. Just because she knows about his past regenerations, doesn't mean she would or should just automatically accept the new Doctor as the Doctor; fans of the show can often struggle with the transition themselves, so I don't really see what about that is inconsistent.
Most of the problem stems from having yet ANOTHER ultra-important magical girl with huge implications in NuWho. We already had both Rose and Amy Pond do this and to the point it overtook any story they were were in, to the point the Doctor was a side character in his own show. And now we have Clara, a girl spread over timeline that is super-ultra-important for...reasons. To the point she gets her own TARDIS in the end. Oh, and apparently she slept with both Doctors. Many fans, including myself, were simply tired of a Companion taking over the show with vague "special-ness" rather than just....being a good character. Rory and Donna Noble manage to be great character without overwhelming the story, the Doctor or having a special destiny (that never factors in). Clara was the worst of Moffat's overindulgence.
Who said she slept with both Doctors? gross! So I assume that all of the people who hated Clara and Rose and Donna being so special loved Yaz and Ryan and Graham for being so incredibly normal and human?
@@pamm8713 The sense of her behaviour with 11 and 12 was off the scale with Rose and 10, and in that case, it was chemistry. With Clara and 11, then later with 12 always felt more intimate. Plenty of people noticed it, and it was this that turned her off them, particularly with her reaction to 11's regeneration, which only strengthened that thinking.
honestly, several of the nuwho companions have grown to be doctor-like or doctor-adjacent before. rose's hubris got to her too. martha's year of travelling the earth put her in a doctor-esque role. donna LITERALLY absorbed his brain. amy was literally central to the plot for seasons 5 and 6, plus she's river's mother. by the time clara came around "companion tries to be like the doctor" was practically a staple of the show. she was just the one for whom it was the central conceit of her arc, and not just a side effect of travelling with the doctor.
@@intergalactic92 okay?? that's not a bad thing. the entire point of the doctor (at least before chibnall got to them) was that they were always a normal person in their society who became extraordinary and heroic through their choices and actions. like twelve says in face the raven - there is nothing special about him, he is just less breakable. the only difference between him and clara is that he is a time lord who can regenerate and clara is a human who will just die, and that's why he doesn't want her to take risks. that's IT. trying to be like the doctor isn't some moral failing. if anything, it's noble. it's just dangerous. other companions have suffered or died trying to be the doctor, so clara is the one who gets to live. the doctor isn't a god. he's just a guy who has a time machine.
@@intergalactic92I’d say both Rose and Donna are rewarded for it much more. Rose got her own version of the Doctor and a completed family, living happily for the rest of her days. And Donna, at least before the 60th anniversary, got like a million dollars or something as lottery, again with a loving family. Clara is destined to die, and has to spend a lifetime making impossible choices with just one companion who’s not even a good friend, more of a distant acquaintance.
I don't think I truly was able to appreciate or like Clara until she was a companion to the 12th doctor. The way they clash, yet gained a new care about each other so much to the point of codependence, is an interesting dynamic and having them paralleled to one another was truly the best route to take Clara's character. Its flawed, it's messy, but it felt so real and genuine and when that deep caring shone through it was convincing and great.
I will readily admit that I am a fan of Clara as a Companion. I even like her character in Series 7B, and all the other iterations of her. She just worked for me personally. I can see why other fans dislike her, though the vitriol that some spew at her is a bit much, and I think unwarrented. They think she became too important and started to overshadow the Doctor. Those that liked other Companions more instead thought that she became the most important Comanion of all time and they couldn't stand that. I think certainly she was one of the most influential. But her importance goes far beyond that. The love and interconnected relationship that she shares with the Doctor ultimately leads to her hubris, and to her own downfall. She pays the price in Face the Raven, and without her loss we would never have had the materpiece that was Heaven Sent. Some fans also think Clara stayed on for too long and should have left the show earlier, and that her ulimate departure unravelled everything that entailed her death. I don't see it that way. She may get more adventures on her own off screen, but in the end she still has to return to Trap Street and die. I admire the platonic love that the Doctor and Clara have for one another. There will be never be another Doctor/Companion duo like them again in my opionion. She is certainly the Impossible Girl: impossible for some to like, impossible for others to hate. I'm firmly of the later category. Long live the Impossible Girl!
@@kenthomas505 thanks for sharing your thoughts! I’m on board with a lot of what you said. Even though she stayed on for a long time, I’m not sure we would have gotten all that interesting character work if she’d left early
totally agree with you! i liked her in 7b and onward. with me, (and i admit that this is my own perspective, and i totally respect Ellie Blackwood's opinion. i just disagree on some things) i liked her with 11, and liked her with 12. i've never been very singular about what relationships are and always felt like it made sense that her relationship with 11 was different than her relationship with 12. both made sense to me, because those were two different iterations of the same timelord. also, i liked that we had more focus on her with 11, and less focus on the family/friends dynamic, because sometimes, i like it when doctor who focuses a lot on the 'doctor/companion' duo, rather than the companion's social life. also, i was not annoyed with the doctor calling her bossy, because she calls herself that, and she makes fun of him too sometimes. with friendship, you can make fun of each other, in that manner, and still get along well. i'm not a big stickler for strict guidelines on friendship dynamics, because friendships are not all the same. i also liked that she and 11 got along well, which is why they didn't argue as much, because, like Martha, Clara was the transitional companion. however, by having 11 and Clara get along/not argue much, shows how the show learned from that previous situation. 11's older, and knows how to handle a companion who might like him, and their getting along, shows how11 will not make Clara feel like the rebound companion, showing growth on his part. unpopular opinion: i never liked how 10 treated Martha and how be brought in the whole 'you'll never be on the same level as my previous companion thing', and sometimes was mean to her, and was uncharacteristic of the doctor. i liked that the show didn't go back in that direction, because if Clara was immediately argumentative, it wouldn't have worked well with the theme during Moffat's era of 'moving on... you mourn, then you live' concept. also, lack of argument does not always signify lack of depth to me. it just means that two people can sometimes naturally click. and this led gracefully to 12's time. i've seen companions be plot devices before, so i was not that peeved about it, especially since it was one of the better thought-out times. and going back to the idea of Moffat returning back to the classic who concept of doctor/companion, it does make sense with 11, because his 11 was a very good blend of 'New Who Doctor' and 'Classic who Doctor'. with clara lacking a personality in season 7b, i can't really agree there, because it highlights the idea that we women have a personality 'if we follow criteria of what a personality is'... according to what scale? what are the guidelines that define a personality to you? and if the women don't meet those 'guidelines', then the woman does not have much of a personality? what guidelines are set for women and who makes these rules? all the female companions of New Who, and many in classic who have personalities. they are just all different. but each to his own, and i understand what Ellie Blackwood feels, and respect her views. i just calmly disagree. we're all right here, so please, no one start screaming at me. if we disagree, we can be friendly about it.
I’m one of those who loathed Clara. Your video helps me understand why. Giving Twelve and Clara identical character traits did not work for me. One arrogant control freak I could have tolerated, but two of them? No thank you. I found the whole dynamic off putting and unpleasant. Once Clara was out of the way I was finally able to appreciate Twelve. But I suppose he was mellower with Bill and Nardole.
13:57 small nitpick to the point being made here but I think it'll enhance what's being said. Clara becoming the doctor is a theme that's been going on for much longer than beginning in flatline. In the very first episode of the season the doctor basically abandons Clara to thrust her into the doctor role in a trial by (literal) fire where she has to negotiate with the cyborg dude and basically turn the tables in a negotiation like the doctor. Then there's the orient express where the doctor gets Clara to lie to someone to make his plan work and again in Kill the Moon where the doctor again abandons Clara to have her make a huge decision about wether to spare earth or the big space dragon. Flatline is of course the first time it's explicitly acknowledged Clara is taking on the role of the doctor but it's by no means the first time she's thrust into a role like that
I think Capaldi-era Clara is really interesting but it's so hard to get past the association of Clara with 7b, where 11 is so grossly slimy/horny about her and the whole impossible girl arc
My thoughts on Clara have really evolved over time. For me, it’s kinda hard for me to let go of the out of show context- that being that Clara was meant to be the Modern Sarah Jane, even down to her name being a reference to that, and that she stayed on the show for just… so long. I know it’s not a real issue nowadays, but kind of like Yaz too, I just didn’t enjoy when these companions stuck around for farrr longer than they’re welcome, especially when they’re given ample opportunity to leave. With that said, with the benefit of hindsight, I can see the arc in its completed state and I have to admit… I like it! Yes, I even like 7B Clara, I think she’s nice and sweet and caring, and an interesting enough character to be a companion. Series 9 Clara in my opinion is the peak. That’s when everything they wanted to do with her worked, Jenna Coleman gives her best performance and the whole arc is just great I feel. If 7B is them having fun with the character, Series 9 is where they lock in. But series 8… like everything in that series it’s a mixed bag. You have episodes like Deep Breath and Flatline which are, in my opinion, near perfect (just in general but also for the character of Clara) but then you have a near avalanche of moments that just make her insufferable! Calling Danny Rupert, the ‘you shoot kids and cry about it afterward’ thing, the lying over the phone, like it is really hard to root for her, and I don’t even really like Danny. I mean the actor is cool, but their relationship is bland as a mf, and the whole love triangle thing flops majorly. Danny brings out the worst in Clara and just everything to do with that completely falls flat in my opinion. So yeah, lots of rambling but my Tl;Dr thoughts on Clara are: Series 7, cool. Series 9, great. Series 8, sometimes cool, sometimes terrible. This is a very interesting subject and you made an absolutely incredible analysis- I particularly liked what you said about the romance aspect of the relationship and how it _is_ that but it’s also deeper than that, 100% agree, great video
Hey man love your videos Yeah I agree with you about series 8, unfortunately, I think what I don’t like about the Danny character is that he feels like he’s kind of there just to create obstacles for Clara and her relationship to the doctor, I thought for a while they would maybe end up traveling together on the tardis, glad that didn’t happen in retrospect because Danny kind of annoys me when it comes to him and his territorialness with the doctor and Clara, come the 50th onward, I went from liking Clara to loving her, maybe has something to do with switching her career up from nanny to teacher, but still loved her change up, and the romance between Clara and the doctor, I 100% of this day when people say that that relationship was platonic I laugh ha, I’m sorry it’s so much deeper than a platonic friendship, even in face the raven when she says “ everything about to say, I already know… don’t say it. We’ve already had enough bad timing between us” I mean, come on lol And her in last Christmas saying “ (Clara) there was one other man, but it never would’ve worked out…..(12thDr)why not?….(Clara) he was impossible” and at the end with that shot after the kiss on the cheek they are in a heart ha, love those two my favorite Doctor companion relationship by far
@@kalebdiaz1671 You probably don't remember, but I remember I did a poll about which Doctor was the least romantic (or words to the effect of) and the 12th Doctor won and people were calling his relationship with Clara 'grandfather/grandaughter' like are we watching the same show bru😭 Some people just be saying sh1t lol
@@dwfan91- Thanks for all the thoughts! I really vibe with a lot of what you said. I think Danny’s role in the season is interesting, because Clara treats him awfully, and somehow a lot of fans came out of this series hating DANNY (not saying that you’re blaming Danny for how Clara treated him - I’ve just seen a lot of people who seem to hate Danny when he didn’t do anything wrong). Maybe they misunderstood what was going on and thought Danny was telling Clara she can’t travel with the Doctor anymore, even though he LITERALLY said he was fine with it, idk. That said, I don’t necessarily think the way Clara treats Danny is out of character - at least, not out of character for the direction they went in series 8. Like I said in the video, I think she tries to compartmentalize her life in a way that hurts Danny. I also think she sometimes tries to joke with him in the same deprecating way she jokes with the Doctor, but because Danny is a bit more well-adjusted than the Doctor, he doesn’t let her get away with it as much. Long story short, I think it’s fine if people just don’t like Danny for whatever reason (he is a bit cringe at times), but I don’t get why some people blame him for things that were actually Clara’s fault.
I know Oswin was just a flirty bisexual to some. But Coleman brought so much pathos to the latter parts of Asylum and 7b. From beginning to end, Clara is Literally Me fr. When she gets misty eyed, so do I, and when she smiles I smile. Clara and Twelve is my favorite love story.
I can't get enough Clara, it was sad when she left but I think Hell Bent is my favourite companion sendoff. Even in this video when you played a few notes of her theme on the guitar, I thought of "you said memories become stories when we forget them, maybe some of them become songs" and my eyes got a little teary.
There were a few problems that ultimately took clara way down in my estimations. Season 7B was the beginning of it. She was cute, she was quirky, she was able to handle herself generally, but not so much that she didnt need the doctor. She was just generally likeable. She had fairly decent chemistry with Smith, but sadly the decision by Moffatt to make her a mystery box for the half season story arc meant that 11 never really kept her at anything but arms length, and honestly didnt really trust her until the 50th, a story that centred on the Doctor entirely, and then the christmas special that was treated mainly as 11's swan song. Season 8 rolls around and we get Clara 2.0. Its a pretty good excercise in how her and 12's relationship was going to differ, especially since its the first time in about 5 years that there wasnt a companion trying to bang the doctor. I can definately see what Moffatt was trying here, he wanted to showcase the toxicity that can emerge when becoming a companion. Usually they become heroic human parts of the doctor, there to pull him from the edge whenever he steps over the line. Clara was framed as someone who wanted to make him proud by becoming him, something he is vehemently against. Thats why she, over multiple episodes of the next two seasons, is often on her own while the Doctor is either incapacitated storywise or is handling other things. Whether its getting trapped in a miniature TARDIS where she has to keep everyone alive, or sent to the distant past while she handles ghosts and keeps everyone alive, or when the doctor is captured by daleks or whatever other plot convience keeps them seperated. When they arent seperated, its usually her doing something irresponsible like (attempting to) destroy TARDIS keys to blackmail him, or constantly chew him out for making tough decisions, or basically just bickering with him. It gets old and it gets old fast. Once capaldi takes the reigns of the character, its clear that Moffatt wanted to take the companion story in a different direction, by showing the toxic ways that knowing the doctor can affect you. The problem is nobody ever calls her out on her bullshit. He likes the character too much to ever put her in a position of fault within the narrative. It mirrors early Korra in the legend of Korra where she gets angry, runs off and does her own thing, makes things worse and then other characters apologise TO her. That's the issue here. She is the primary problem in their relationship, often trying to be him, but when she can't, she's blowing up at him instead, and there are absolutely no concequences until the very end of her journey in Face The Raven. A story that actually brings her trying to be the Doctor to its inevitable conclusion, is then followed up with a fan favourite episode of the doctor exploring his grief, and then... Is completely undone in true Moffatt fashion by bringing her back, making her effectively immortal and letting her fly off and be the doctor until she decides she's done. Her facing the concequences of being dangerously inept and reaching far beyond her ability could only have ended in one of two ways for a real narrative payoff. She either suffers a loss because of these actions and learns to temper herself and not try to be someone she isnt, or lose her own life because of her inability to learn. We got neither of these, instead she is yet again rewarded for her bad behaviour. That's the problem. Moffatt wanted to go somewhere the show hadn't been before, but was unwilling to go the the lengths it takes for such a move to work. He likes his characters too much, it's always been a flaw for him. It was an idea with genuine potential and it was squandered with half measures.
Well put, the one person who should have put her in her place or at least called her out... was The Doctor himself. He should have called her out on her crap and the perfect time for him to do so was when she tried and failed to blackmail him. He should have landed the TARDIS back in her time, then give a speech about how he sees that she's trying to be like him, and he doesn't like it. Because he knows what it's like to be around himself. He should then say, there's only one Clara... why can't you just be the best version of yourself? Why isn't that enough for you? And then opens the doors and says 'Go home, go to Hell, it doesn't matter, but you can't stay here anymore. You didn't just break my heart, you broke my trust. Then he turns away from her and doesn't look at her.
Very well put, I’ve just finished rewatching up to Face the Raven and Moffat clearly intended to show the downsides of travelling with the Doctor through Clara in series 8/9 but she feels like such a golden child, she can do no wrong which is shown through how she receives little to no criticism. The Doctor pulls her up on her excitement at the face of danger maybe once or twice but otherwise it’s just the Doctor and his companion like normal. And despite being told Clara is like the Doctor, she never suffers any consequences bar Face the Raven. The Doctor has to live with how his decisions affect him and the other around him, Clara really doesn’t. The Doctor has been defined by his suffering and lives out every day to make sure no one suffers as he does, Clara never had that. A way this could’ve been done is if Danny’s death was a consequence of something Clara did and she had to live with that. Like Danny’s death could’ve been Clara’s ‘Time War’ kind of ya know?
I'm in the 'I don't like Clara' club. For me, it was the inconsistency of her background and personality, she seems to just flutter in the wind of plot and make no sense. I wish Peter Capaldi had two series with Bill rather than Clara.
@@GrubStLodger I definitely agree her writing was inconsistent between series 7 and the subsequent series - and as much as I like how her character developed over her run, I would have loved another season with Twelve and Bill
It amazes me how Bill and Donna both became my fav companions despite being in the show such a short time, but I had to suffer through Clara for so long. It's a shame because I think she's a good actress having to play such a bad character
We come down to the basic fact that Moffat cannot write women. They are one dimensional plot enablers on the whole. He starts out writing all his women as being interesting, then dumbs them down and makes them hysterical as time goes on, see River Song. I hate his writing of women.
I had no idea that people didn’t like her. I really liked the way they handled the 11 to 12 regeneration, with Clara staying on but having to come to terms with quite a different relationship with the new doctor. Not only was she my favorite companion, but my 14 year old self was fully in love with her. Like depending on one’s theory of romantic development, it’s possible my preferences in women was forever altered by Clara. Trippy to think about looking back on it.
Honestly my issue with Clara is that a lot of Moffat's writing with her is having characters just say that she's special because of time travel destiny stuff, rather than Clara and the Doctor actually having much of a relationship at all during her time with Smith, which of course results in a weak foundation for the Capaldi seasons to build upon, making the whole thing feel shallow and superficial. In other words, my issue with Clara is that she's all plot and no story, if that makes sense.
Clara is one of the best companions this show ever had, and the arc of her relationship with 12 was incredibly well executed, unlike anyone who had ever come before her.
Now, now Sarah Jane, Jo Grant, Leela, both Romanas, Martha Jones and, of course, the Pools... all fantastic companions, Clara is good, especially with 12, however Series 8 was really bad and Clara's relationship with her boyfriend was a huge contributor to that. Sure let's blame Mr Moffatt and crew for that , but Clara was still a big reason for a bad season. And who thought about surrounding Capaldi, who portrayed the Doctor like a crazed madman, around children all the damn time?
Victorian Clara saved the Doctor by getting him out of his funk so he could truly by the Doctor again. I would have loved Victorian Clara to live and stay as companion. Hell, I would have liked Oswin, the first Dalek companion. How amazing would that have been?
I think you missed the most important line about 12 and Clara's relationship: as being 'like an addiction.' They are so dependent on but know they are so bad for each other. We're used to seeing companions grow and become better people through their travels with the Doctor; Clara arguably becomes worse. The toxic nature of their relationship isn't something Doctor Who had explored before and elevates Clara as one of the most interesting Doctor-Companion dynamics in the shows history.
@@ClarenceOdbodyAS2 yes! Clara is like an anti-Donna in that sense - instead of her transformation into Doctor-ness highlighting the best parts of herself, she actually leans into the worst parts of herself
I think there's a hard line between a companion that has a friendly rapport with the Doctor and the ones where romance is a thing. I really just don't want to see romance between a thousand year old space wizard and a 21st century girl from Earth, it doesn't do anything for me. Especially given the imbalance of knowledge, it just feels a little creepy. I really wish writers would try out a companion from a non-21st century setting. By getting away from the audience self-insert there's so many other perspectives to explore; take someone from the bronze age to 21st century London and suddenly it's a crazy sci-fi setting.
A Gallifreyan having a romantic attraction to a human is the equivalent of a human wanting to shag a monkey. Except the divide is probably even greater in the case of the former.
Jenna Coleman is a great actress and very easy on the eye too, and I think she played Clara brilliantly, but I also believe that the role of the companion has almost eclipsed that of The Doctor in recent years, and I think the writers need reminding who the main character is.
It's interesting that you say that, because New Who has always had this kind of companion-centric philosophy. From the very first episode of the reboot, the story is told through Rose's perspective, not the Doctor's. I think the story revolving around the companion as the main character was not at all something that began with Clara
19:53 to be honest, any relationship with the Doctor and young companions would be creepy due to the Doctor‘s actual age. It just doesn’t seem creepy when the Doctor’s incarnation appears young.
true. you wouldn't think of going out with someone your grandfather's age let alone an alien who is over 2,000 years old! But the show get by that becasue the Doctor can change his face and look youthful on the outside while being very much ancient on the inside.
i don't even think the companion needs to be an audience surrogate. to me, the best companions are the ones that just ✨️mesh✨️ with the Doctor, like the bestest of friends who have everything in common.
For me, the main issue was simply - I feel she overstayed. Yes, I quite liked what they ended up doing when Moffatt convinced Coleman to stay... but I was ready for her to go, and when she didn't, well - I'd had enough.
I think that because I didn't grow up with the original Classic Who and only came into the fandom last year with the 9th Doctor, I appreciated the variety of how companions were portrayed, and I'm particularly not opposed to the blurring of the lines of a companion becoming Doctor-like or Doctor-adjacent. With Clara's time with 11 being what it was, I also enjoyed it. It was partly the flirty, romantic aspect of it all. It was also her excitement at this new aspect of her life, the idea that even the most mundane people (gorgeous as Jenna Coleman is) that can be the most important people in the universe... and the most important person to one. Recently, I saw a TikTok with Keanu Reeves saying that if you step away from someone you love, you'll see how common he or she can be. And it's the love you give that makes them important. That's how i see One other area of growth that Prime Clara goes through is that as a result of the events of "The Bells of St. John", she shows that she already displays a cleverness that will carry forward through the rest of her character arc, which contributes to her ultimate downfall in "Face the Raven." And even though she's a "mystery box" as you say, I think that was the intrigue of her character while we didn't know her too well and she only had a few episodes with 11 compared to the two seasons she had with 12. But somehow, I think she was a better executed character than Ruby Sunday was in terms of back story. Ruby and Clara are both delightful, but Ruby's backstory wasn't done as well as Clara, and they both were meant to do tell a similar story of the most mundane people are the most important people in the universe.
@@LexTan Thanks so much for sharing your take! I’m always so interested to hear what newer fans think, because you haven’t been stewing in common fandom narratives that have been brewing for years. Some longtime fans are prone to parroting those narratives rather than really forming their own opinions (which I’ve been guilty of myself before!)
The Clara splinters are I think the first of one of Clara and the doctor’s relationship big flaws/traits, she has a real tendency to insert herself into the doctor’s personal life and history against his will or without his knowledge. Done again with her meeting the war doctor and convincing eleven not to destroy gallifrey in Day of the Doctor, again in the barn in his childhood in Listen, etc. I think it makes her feel kind of entitled to him? Like she puts a lot of value into the fact that’s she’s the most important person to him. Puts into context actions like her attempt to destroy all the tardis keys and blackmail the doctor into saving Danny in Dark Water. And it goes both ways too, the doctor feels entitled to her personal life, especially in series 8 where he totally dismisses Danny (although I really don’t like Danny either). He clearly feels his way of life is the important one, only challenged when she takes it up to such a degree that it becomes a danger to her. Their relationship is toxic as hell from both sides and it’s very interesting, even if I don’t always love watching it per se. Watching series 7 Clara on rewatch is interesting, cause all the seeds for her flaws are there, they just aren’t treated as anything but jokes yet. Clara splinters like I started this comment with. Nightmare in silver shows how quickly she adjusts to and how much she kind of relishes being put in a difficult position of power. By time of the doctor she’s already kinda treating the doctor like she’s the only thing he’s got going on that’s worth it when he’s off dealing with the silence plotline and she calls him to come pretend to be her boyfriend for a family dinner.
Clara is probably the greatest example of Steven Moffat’s focus on mystery boxes rather than character. It’s good to keep audiences invested, but when you clearly don’t think of a satisfying conclusion upfront and jangle the “maybe we’ll do something later” card in your face constantly, it makes anything you write in the future feel like something the audience shouldn’t be invested in. Sometimes the mystery in question is so drawn out that it’s forgotten (duck ponds anyone?) Clara was honestly the best part of Series 8. Mostly thanks to guest writer Jamie Mathieson’s episodes which gave Jenna Coleman way more to work with. Even Kill the Moon as bad as it was, had Clara’s outburst at the Doctor patronising her which was one of the best scenes in the series. Another dud from the series was the finale, that could’ve had some staying power if they kept it as her departure story, otherwise she feels really aimless in Series 9, which makes sense as that was originally going to be a companion-less series. Side-note: who else thought that Clara was gonna turn out to be evil with the trailer for Dark Water? Just me? Ok.
My experience with Clara was that I liked all of her previous incarnations that were taken away from us, and didn't really care for the one that actually stuck around, which was a bummer. Like, she was fine, but I preferred her previous versions considerably more.
She's not my least favorite NuWho companion... but she's pretty low. In my view, Clara overstayed her welcome. I mean, really overstayed. I enjoyed Bill so much more... so I would've preferred 2 seasons with Bill instead. The Clara seasons became The Clara Show where she constantly out-Doctored The Doctor. Why even have the Doctor? Clara does it all. She just never feels like a real grounded character like Bill or Donna... but some sort of fantasy woman. There are good eps there with her. But overall she just irks & dissatisfies me.
I feel like I’ve really been seeing a critical reevaluation of Clara over the past few years, which is great for me (she’s been battling Donna for my my Favorite Companion spot for years). So now, I think it’s time for Danny Pink to get a similar reevaluation. Even people that like Clara hate him, and I just find that extremely unfair. I think his role in series 8 is so incredibly useful, and his absence hangs like a shadow over almost every episode in Series 9. Like, when Clara FINALLY says his name in Face the Raven, it feels like a spell has been lifted! I don’t know, I just think Danny was really interesting with Clara, and I don’t think her story makes any sense if you discount their arc together. We need to re -assess the Cyberman with a heart.
I think people disliked Danny because he “interrupted” the Doctor-Clara romance by being her primary romantic interest in series 8 - but for as much as I love 12 and Clara, I really adore Danny, both as a character and for the function he serves in the story. He’s like a more challenging, more tragic version of Rory - while Rory would occasionally push back on the Doctor, they did eventually develop a friendship and mutual respect for one another. Danny, on the other hand, died before he could ever reach that point with the Doctor, and in some ways, Clara as well. Like the Doctor, he deeply regrets his past, but I think he has so much more humility about himself (as evidenced by his decision to send back the boy he accidentally k*lled). I think Danny was a really fascinating and tragic character, and I agree that he deserves his roses as much as Clara is getting hers now too!
Why some "companion" actress (or actor) has to be the FAVORITE OF ALL TIME baffles me. Or Favorite Doctor for that matter. The line given to 11 for his regeneration scene "we are all different people all throughout our lives" is one perhaps younger fans can't appreciate. You have to live a pretty long life - I'm in my 60s now - and I love the contrast of all the different Doctors going back to Tom Baker who was the first I saw - and then going back to Hartnell too before my "time" - I was born in March of 1963 so I'm 8 months older than the show itself! So the older you get you can look back and remember all the different eras of your life. Your teens or twenties form a LOT of who you will basically be - but the changes of each decade will make you vastly different over time. Keep a journal and just write about your day and 40 years later you will go back and read stories that you realize you have no recollection of and people you forgot about that were just in and out of your life in a blink! The idea that splinters of Clara might still turn up from time to time would be intriguing, but the irrational Clara haters would go berserk frankly. I switched off the Chibnall era and the RTD 2.0 is a disaster - preaching to the converted and if you don't agree 'you can go touch grass' makes me hate everything after 12's exit. Ruby Sunday is so vacuous it's astonishing. As is 15. Not coming back until they are all gone and so is RTD frankly. Nice break down, though the Clara hate makes me block people on FB when I hear it. It's just a tv show after all and it should be fun and mock scifi and storytelling tropes in general which was the core of why Doctor Who was fun in the first place. We've really forgotten that I think...
i liked season 7 clara! not as much as later seasons clara, but i still thought it was good! i felt like (unlike this new season's), this mystery box works-- because clara doesn't want to be a mystery box. the doctor insists on seeing her as a puzzle rather than a person, but clara wants to be seen as a person. but she makes this harder on herself, because clara also has a hard time acting like a person instead of this bossy, feisty manic pixie dream girl-- this is because she has control issues and hates being seen as vulnerable. for me, this worked. clara was a "real character" but one that was having a hard time showing her "real" side because she was trying too hard to impress the doctor. this is why the doctor hugging her in "journey to the centre of the tardis" as he realized that she didn't know the secret worked. it's why clara taking charge in "nightmare in silver" worked. it's the equivalent of the awkward first step of dating where you want to seem fun and cool but still authentic. and as someone who has a hard time opening up, i found it relatable. i don't think season 7 is perfect, the speech about "being born to save the doctor" is bad, and i did not like the naked dinner scene for examples. but then, when 11 sheds his false youth (like you said 11:27 ), it allows clara to also unmask (which she does in the scene where madam vastra LITERALLY unmasks) and reveal her absolutely insane real personality. and that's when they can "fall in love" (in a much more interesting way than 11 and clara) for real. so in summary, i think that the parallels between the doctor and clara start in season 7, when both of them are "playing the part" and flirting with a new companion before feeling safe enough to be vulnerable. now, this may not have all been intentional, but oh well. love this video essay, despite that slight disagreement. i'm hoping there can be something similiar for the newest season, where ruby's relationship with the doctor can develop into something deeper and more interesting.
The actual Clara was anti-climatic by comparison to Victorian Clara. The idea of an old fashioned companion was quite intriguing as opposed to just another modern day companion.
I view Clara as a character that was inconsistently written, but consistently well performed by Jenna Coleman. It’s her acting talent that salvages the character for me.
Two reasons, 1) her first disposable persona was the best one, so I was constantly wishing she was ozwin. And 2) I really didn't like the "weave her into his entire timeline" thing.
I thought it was a huge miss to have Clara the companion instead of Jenny Vastra and strax as they where more fleshed out and honestly my favourites (finally some nonhumans, people from different times and cultures and even canon queer icons). It also kinda felt like because the doctor forgets in the end thanks to Clara there was no point to everything we watched, their dynamic and character development.
They wouldn't have Vastra be a main character because of the make up. It would be insane and extremely expensive to get the actress doing make up and prosthetics hours every day for months
Honestly I'm surprised that they haven't picked up a bit on the Impossible Girl thread for later Doctors, she went supposedly into the Doctor's entire timeline. And each splinter presumably lives her own life, Jenna Coleman could easily come back as another splinter. It's very much like the Susan Triad thing where each one could have very different personalities.
They have said that they didn't want the romantic chemistry being the reason they killed Victorian Clara... However, while I like Clara we got, in general, I think that if we'd had the Victorian Clara be more of a Captain Jack type that The Doctor has to keep her in check while flirting with men and women throughout time, it'd have been a much more interesting series. Also, shoehorning Clara into the roll of the Impossible Girl made it a forced fit. They didn't organically grow the character, she was just always used as a plot device. Then, eventually, they did the same thing to Danny Pink in attempt to give Clara something beyond being "The Impossible Girl". Though, I would have said that she didn't think of 11 as a boyfriend, but as a surrogate so that she does not have to have one. You know, like that friend you have that sort of chemistry with that everyone says you should date... Don't get me wrong, I did like the idea of "She's my carer... She cares so I don't have to" aspect with Capaldi. Your analysis of Clara and the Doctor for this season is perfection, and easily would have made, if they'd not done "The Impossible Girl" arc, Clara's "I'm The Doctor" speech all that more convincing, especially if we'd seen a fob watch reveal. Given the out-of-character (even if she'd become unhinged) writing they did for her in her final series (though I do love the Clara & Missy adventures), it would have been a much better send off for her to be "killed" by the Cybermen. Then when Capaldi regenerates, we see him regenerate into Clara. We get a time rewind (and of course key moments that would have hinted from prior episodes) and as the Cybermen leave the room we see regeneration energy and we get Clara regenerating into Whittaker.
One day I was playing my acoustic and accidentally figured out how to play Clara’s theme thinking I came up with it, I can’t deny Murray golds influence on my own writing. I also figured out the motif from this is gallifrey
For me, it's the last couple of episodes that 'spoils' the character for me. I don't hate her, I don't even really dislike her, but the last couple episodes... I know you said her punishment was her separation from The Doctor, but it doesn't *feel* like it. Also, not seeing her splinters in future episodes *kinda* makes sense, because TGI was going *back* into *The Doctor's* specific past, so that's where Clara's splinters went, as well. Even when The Doctor is in *the past*, he's not in *his past*.
Not everyone hated her, and if they did, I don't know why. I loved her in Doctor Who. Wish she stayed longer, but alas, we can't have everything we want, right?
Ellie this was a flawless essay! I personally have never hated Clara, but the way you broke down everything here and actually articulated it in a way that people who might’ve not known the reasoning behind the character and her decision making was absolutely brilliant! This deserves to be on a release from the BBC! I want to start making essays myself soon. At the moment, I don’t have the right equipment, but I know it’s something that I would thoroughly enjoy doing and you just inspired me by setting the bar so high! As 9 would say, you were fantastic! Also, do you think that I cared for you so little that you betraying me would make a difference, will forever be one of the most powerful things I’ve ever heard said anywhere! Still gives me goosebumps! For anyone that doesn’t understand how much 12 and Clara really cared for one another, they clearly were never paying attention!
As someone who has reappraised Clara in hindsight, I recognise my dislike for her was over exaggerated, I now really appreciate her relationship with the 12th Doctor. I do still resent the fact that she represents the point modern Doctor Who decided it wasn't going to break away from the present day earth companion architype, which remains one of my biggest frustrations with the show and causes most companions to feel too similar.
I genuinely liked Clara up until the show became 'Clara Oswald and Her Idiotic Time Travelling Chauffeur'. Watch as she berates and belittles him weekly! Not the actress' fault of course, Jenna Coleman strikes me as absolutely lovely. But some of the seeds of what we are seeing in the show today germinated in that particular era.
12 and Clara's relationship is intreging. It certainly caught people's imagination. Just look how many fan made videos have been made about them. Their story never gets old. I love em 😊
Hot take - The "diehard" Doctor Who fans don't enjoy Doctor Who half as much as the average person. Clara was great, loved her. I don't care enough about Doctor Who to not have fun watching it.
@@connorisonfire123 this has happened because of consumer media culture where we don’t make our own art or tell stories anymore but instead our consumers of narrative and feel like TV shows are obligated to match our exact aesthetics and expectations
She lived in the past, lives in the present, and will continue to live in the future. Clara is the second Dr on screen and the first woman Dr but without the title.
I loved Clara from the start. I love Amy, Donna and Rose too. I found the Impossible Girl storyline fascinating and I found her becoming doctor-like even more so. The fact she's bisexual is an added bonus too. I really loved Jenna's portayal of her and I felt Clara ending up immortal, with a TARDIS and Ashildr/Me was the perfect ending for her. I've never had 1 favourite companion over the others, they're all my favourites.
What bothered me was that Clara existed for no other reason than the Doctor. Oh, I just got to the part where "most special companion" was mentioned. Which I found somewhat astonishing, because to me she was the one that they made characterless. Seriously, she existed to save the Doctor. They could not be bothered to give her a life and character outside of him. When she lost Danny, she lost a lot of her will to live.
Donna is my favorite companion. She's not romantically interested and often acts as a moral compass and butt's heads with the doctor. The difference IMO as to why I don't care for Clara is that Donna's clashing with the Doctor almost always comes from compassion but Clara's is one of smugness. Just my $0.02
If Clara had died saving the Doctors timeline I think she would have left a beloved character but she just got left as a companion with no decent storyline for her...
Excellent video! I like to come up with my own headcanon reasons for some things. Like the whole Impossible Girl bit... it's never explained how the Doctor can just leap into his own time stream and rescue Clara... so I came up with this idea in my head that since Bad Wolf wanted to save the Doctor... well, how much power did Rose/Bad Wolf have (not to mention how she held that power for so long and survived while 9 only had it for a few seconds after he took it out of her yet it caused him to regenerate?) so my idea is that Bad Wolf looked into the Time Vortex for any time the Doctor needed to be saved but found Clara already in the Doctor's time stream doing that, so Bad Wolf created a little pocket dimension in the Doctor's time stream to catch and hold Clara and be a place from which the Doctor could rescue her. I think Clara was one of the best companions and that Bad Wolf would have seen that and tried to help. We also don't know for sure that the Doctor and Clara together are the hybrid... that was just speculation by Mayor Me and the Doctor, but a hybrid typically implies 1 being, not 2. Maybe Bad Wolf was the hybrid, or the DoctorDonna, or the Metacrisis Doctor, or maybe even that Dalek (I can't remember his name) from the Cult of Skaro in Manhatten who became a Dalek/Human hybrid? To me, thinking up possible answers to the unanswered questions of Doctor Who is part of the fun of the show.
I think the issue with Clara was a combination of the inconsistency between the earlier and later characterisations, the fact that the former was very flat creating a bad first impression, particularly in contrast to the Ponds, and Moffat as a writer being just not quite as good at this sort of complex character work as Russel was. I've kind of always been able to see parts of what they were going for, but felt like the writing didn't really deliver on it consistently and subsequently missed the full potential of this character. It's nice to see somebody explore it in depth.
For me, personally, I felt she would have worked better as 'shards' or 'echos'. How would the Doctor feel knowing that every time he meets her, he is meeting the echo of the 'real' one. Or to have her death be final, either in the Doctor's life stream or in Day of the Raven. I felt Season 7 'real' Clara was not well written, she seemed to be thrown together at the last minute. The writing did improve but I don't think it ever met the expectations Moffat had for her. As for her romance with Danny? Meh. Deep Breath was fantastic, I wish we could have had more stories like that instead Kill the Moon standard.
I thought the Hybrid was the Master who joined with the Cybermen and destroyed Gallifrey at the end of season 12....I rewatched Hell Bent recently, and I think this is the best actual explanation. It's just timey-wimey.
I liked her first two versions and was disappointed the Victorian version wasn’t the companion because the modern one was… cold and smug and her characterisation flopped around all over the place depending on what the story called for. I didn’t enjoy her “I don’t really need this” affect. Constantly being reminded she didn’t really care about travelling with the Doctor made it very hard to care about her travelling with the Doctor. I enjoyed Twelve much more with Bill. In general I prefer companions who don’t think they’re too cool for it all.
Clara Oswald is my favorite companion by a LANDSLIDE! Before Clara, I never quite felt I had a favorite companion. I just sort of said it was Rose because everyone liked Rose. Once Oswin was introduced, I was crushed when she died. So when victorian Clara showed up, I was so excited because I knew there was something deeper there and I was excited to see her again! However, I personally think that the reason why people disliked Clara and Eleven together was because THEY were too similar. I agree that Clara could’ve been fleshed out more, but I also think a lot of her character was a young woman trying to find herself and really discover who she is as a person which sometimes leaves things to be desired in side characters. Clara being introduced while it seemed the Doctor was also attempting to process who he really was made them come off as too similar for some, but I enjoyed that similarity. When Twelve came along, Clara started as an opposite to him. She was fun and excitable where he was grouchy and rude which was such a stark contrast for some watchers that they had a hard time adjusting and that’s completely understandable. At the end of the day, I get shit on a lot for enjoying Clara as much as I do, but I understand why people have their complaints. I just wish people weren’t so quick to write her off as ‘just another pretty girl for the doctor to flirt with’ before really trying to understand who she is as a character and what all she brings to the show. I’ve spoken with some folks who believe Clara’s time on the show should’ve ended after she jumped into the Doctor’s time stream, causing that moment to be her death and then having a new companion come on board. I think that Clara was the perfect companion for the 50th because she already knew all versions of the Doctor, giving her a unique perspective that mattered to him. Regardless of if I agreed with your take or not though, it was a great video and you really did your research!🥰
I’m so glad you enjoyed the video!! I honestly don’t get the thinking that Clara should have died when she jumped into the time stream, because so many of her best moments came after that and we would’ve missed out!
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Being feisty and combative is never a good thing. The early episodes Clara is intelligent and resourceful, it's interesting to follow. Later on, she becomes annoying, troublesome and constantly trying to be the Doctor but at the same time arguing with him. In Capaldi's era, she just throws a tantrum because her boyfriend is dead. Like, miss millions die every year why there should be an exception to your boyfriend? And it doesn't get any better. She's no longer that intelligent woman but just a random very argumentative person in the TARDIS. I was truly *relieved* when I finally saw her go. Personally, I'd cut short Clara's run and make Bill's longer.
I have the same problem with Clara that I have with Amy. Both were arrogant, and both didn’t grow, as people, from their time with the Doctor. Every other long term companion, in the 60-odd year history of the show, became better individuals, due to their experiences travelling with the Doctor. Amy didn’t change at all. Clara remained a narcissist, and completely overestimated her abilities, to the point that it, effectively, got her killed. She tried to be the Doctor, but lacked their knowledge and experience to be able to pull it off. I would think that, being able to visit all of time and space - to be able to see all the wonders, horrors, and everything in between - would be such a humbling experience. Such a privilege. But, it has little to no effect on Clara and Amy. I would even go so far as to compare them to the Master. He saw so much. Yet, in his hubris, he wanted to own/ control it all, rather than be humbled by it. All in my not so humble opinion, of course… 😈 Cheers,
The difference between Romana vs Clara and Donna besides Romana being a timelady is she isn’t trying to be the Doctor. Like sure, she takes cues from him, learning how to adapt better to various surroundings and such. However even in the Horns of Nimon, she’s still herself. I think if the writers ever try to do the “companion tries to be the Doctor but it backfires,” bit again, I hope the moral isn’t, “no one else can be him.” And more, “don’t try to be something you’re not. You can still help people like he does without becoming him.” Also more so than any other companion it feels like her and the Doctor have to work together to solve the plot of a given story. Like she’s spouting as much gobbledygook as him to figure out the plot.
Great observations! As much as I love the whole “companion suffers the consequences of trying to be too much like the Doctor” thing, it could be really interesting to see a companion shake themselves out of that pattern and try to move past it
@@looseleafellie thank you! The neat thing is you could still have a companion suffer some consequences for trying to emulate him too much while having them move past it. I just don’t think the consequences need to be on the level of because you tried you’re out of the show now.
@ oh right not saying don’t write companions out of the show. Just I’d prefer this reason to boot them from the series to not happen as much. To use Romana as another example, her exit isn’t the greatest but she didn’t get booted/punished for acting like the Doctor. If anything she left emulating him. Left with the choice of between the stuffy bureaucracy stuck on galfirey or wandering the universe and timestream on the run helping people in need, she chose the latter.
I think the actress had awful chemistry with Capaldi. The character was quite annoying. She acts doctor like, so there is no dynamic between doctor and companion. It's a competition and the gets boring, fast
1) We got the least interesting version of the three. 2) She was too much like Amy, (pushy, bossy, headstrong, 'feisty', fancying the Doctor, etc.), - especialy coming straight after Amy. 3) Beyond that, she doesn't have much personality. 4) She had a perfect exit story, i.e. jumping into the Doctor's Timeline to save him. 5) We didn't get nearly enough of Bill.
I mean, in the revived Dr. Who, all of the recurring companions who were women had their own unique relationship to the Doctor. Rose Tyler was the Doctor's Lover, Martha Jones (Although being kinda tricky to place because I don't think they quite knew what role they wanted to give her) was the Doctor's herald. Donna Noble was the Doctor's conscience. Amelia Pond was the Doctor's friend(and Mother in Law) River Song/Melody Pond was the Doctor's wife Clara Oswald was the Doctor. I kinda fell off near the beginning of 12's run and haven't watched Doctor Who since then, but to me, the 9th through the 11th seemed to be on a journey of healing and acceptance, he needed different people in his life to guide him on that journey because the Doctor was never okay with the Doctor until after Trenzalore. There's something Donna says when she's calling the Doctor out for his casual genocide to protect humanity, she tells him that he needs companions to stop him, but I don't think that's quite it. The Doctor's primary characteristic that unites all of his incarnations is that he lacks something, he doesn't even always know what he lacks, but the companion either fills in that something or helps him find it. I think that if it hadn't been for Clara, the Doctor wouldn't have loved himself enough to be able to love River Song properly at the end and her rant about a sunset not loving you back would've been true.
Even though I only started watching Doctor Who when Peter Capaldi took over the title role, (so my introduction to the Clara's character was the Series 8 version of her) I still think Jenna Coleman stayed too long with the show. However, I love the episode "Heaven Sent" and that would not have been possible if Clara left at the end of Series 8. Nonetheless, I do sometimes wonder "what if" we had gotten two seasons with Bill Potts and 12.
I’m right there with you! I think a lot of the interesting character work wouldn’t have been possible if she’d left earlier, but I adore Bill and wish we got more time with her
I think Clara really hits her stride with 12, but then has such a big fall from grace. She didn't NEED to become some "equal" to the Doctor and it really just felt cheap.
A bit harsh on Series 7 IMO, but happy to see you recognise the quality of writing Clara received in Series 8 and 9. She's my favourite companion and her & 12 are my favourite TARDIS team, so I always go into videos like this about Clara with some trepidation and expecting to find some mindless hater who I'll have to correct in the comments. So this video was a rather pleasant surprise 😊 I'm happy to see your appreciation for her has grown over the years (which is something I've seen a lot of people say since the end of 12's era) and I appreciate your ability to recognise that Moffat wasn't trying to make her "better" than all other companions - they were just writing stories they thought were cool and compelling, and it just happened to be Clara who was companion at the time. I've never understood the mentality of people who think that - is it fans feeling insecure that their favourite is getting shown up by another character, perhaps? Quick note about a couple things: - Victorian Clara saved 11 because her death made the Latimer family cry on Xmas Day, which changed the snow to tears and this defeated the Great Intelligence (who was created from the snow) while he was in the middle of trying to freeze the Doctor to death. - 11 was certainly affected by his encounter with 10 and War in TDOTD, it certainly brought up his regret etc, but he was still prepared to do it all again (as evidenced by his joining the other two to activate the Moment). It wasn't until Clara spoke up that he was compelled to change his mind. Even if he HAD been thinking about it, she gave him the push he needed to actually go through with it. That's more important than I think you're giving credit for. - The novelisation of TUAT clarifies that the glass avatar of Bill briefly transformed into Clara while she assumed control of it to say hi to the Doctor and restore his memories of her. This isn't portrayed very well onscreen, admittedly, as Jenna had to film her bit separately and all that, but that seems to have been the intention. So that actually IS the real Clara there (or a manifestation of her, at least). I'll forgive the shameless clickbait of putting "why does everyone hate her?" in the thumbnail before admitting in the video that it's NOT everyone (claiming in the title that she "was robbed" seems like an exaggeration, too), seeing as you made some fair criticisms of some things (having all of those unacknowledged Clara Echoes IS messy, though it personally doesn't bother me) and you actually have some pretty interesting takes on some things that I'd never considered before. I never thought of KTM as a deliberate attempt by the Doctor to make Clara more like him just to sabotage her & Danny's relationship before. Sorry for all the rambling. TLDR - I enjoyed this video overall. Nice job 👍
@@gerryandersonisbest glad you liked it! I suspect a large part of the reason why a lot of people like myself appreciate Clara and Twelve better on a second watch is because the character development is easier to catch when you’re watching all their episodes over a short period of time, rather than over 3 years of sporadically-airing TV.
Like everyone says I loved the Victorian Era Clara. I still don’t know how to feel about Clara but I still in the camp that Clara should’ve died when she split herself throughout the doctor’s timeline. Then introduce a different Clara which he somehow saved from dieing(Matt smith letting himself die for her?) and this is the doctor dedicating himself trying to find a different Clara and one he could actually somehow achieved to save.
I started watching Doctor Who partway through Clara and Twelve's first season (I think it was summer 2016, the tv channel that showed Doctor Who here before this whole Disney thing was doing reruns of Twelve's first two seasons and I didn't have anything in particular going on at that point and it caught my eye one day so i decided to give it a go), and like... I remember I took a little while to warm up to both Clara and Twelve, but once I did, I really liked them. I don't have a favorite companion, but to this day, Twelve is probably my favorite Doctor. Eventually I got around to watching Eleventh Doctor's seasons, and frankly, Eleven overall ...kind of just never worked for me? Like I remember just kind of watching those seasons, and like I _knew_ that Eleven had been really popular, but I was just sitting there watching those episodes and wondering what I had missed, why it didn't click for me, like I just didn't really feel any draw to the character and a lot of the stories kinda annoyed me. And then it got to the episodes with Clara, and I remember watching them and just... being so disappointed, like this is how you introduce the character that i'd come to like so much???
I know folks didn't like her in series 7, but 12 and Clara are arguably the best written pair of the show. You get to see why becoming the doctor is a bad idea and it highlights some of the less savory parts of the doctor. You get to see flawed people interact in such a fun way.
“Do you think I cared for you so little that you betraying me makes a difference” is one of my favorite quotes of anything all time. Clara and twelves relationship is so very special to me
I LOVE that quote so much! For someone who claims to be so callous, Twelve is really just a big softie
def the best Doctor Companion duo imo
Doc was too wholesome here, no hurt ego, just "I still love you", I couldn't do that 😶
I see that scene ALWAYS used against Clara... but like... To me that scene just makes sense. Yeah, she goes to EXTREME length trying to Force the Doctor to do as she wants, but I'd honestly argue it's not that weird she just didn't ask 12 for help.
12 being SERIOUSLY different from 11, far more manipulative and acting more cold and grumpy... Yeah, no **** she doesn't ask him to help her, but rather tries to force him into helping, I'D DO that too in her shoes... >_>
..Plus it gives us that sweet moment, can't hate the scene for that either. (One of the favorite 12/Clara moments FOR SURE!)
And I honestly feel that once she hears 12 say that line, THAT is when she finally fully starts to trust 12. The moment she finally truly sees that the Doctor is still there, just with different face and acting a tad bit different.
I think that line sums up the Doctor perfectly. 🥰
3:10 I wish we could’ve kept Victorian Clara not just because of her charm and wit but because it would also the the first time in modern Doctor Who to have a companion from the past! We’d had companions from future eras but not yet from the past.
Even then, the future companions (like Captain Jack) are more guest characters than regular characters. I would love a regular companion who isn’t from the modern day!
@@looseleafellie absolutely!
I had an idea for an original Doctor incarnation (let’s say for fun that it’s Sixteen), another female one like Thirteen but not white, maybe Asian (we didn’t yet have an Asian Doctor) and two regular companions, one from the 19th century and one from another planet a few thousand years or so in the future, long enough that for this companion our present is what Ancient Rome is to us.
@@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o now I’m dreaming of having Shelley Conn as the Doctor with Jessie Mei Li playing a futuristic space hacker and Nicholas Galitzine playing a footman from the 1830s who’s just very confused all the time
@@looseleafellie I don't know Nicholas Galitzine but Shelley Conn (Gen V) and Jessie Mei Li (Shadow and bones) I do know. And I adore Jessie!
As for the past companion, I was thinking more of a 19th century feminist, like a suffraget or perhaps a social democrat. That could be an interesting companion as the past companion sees our society as one seemingly impossible to 19th centurystandards and so outdated to the future companion.
@@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o that would also be super cool! I mainly said Galitzine because he has really good comedic timing (he was really funny in the movie Bottoms), but I love the idea of having a 19th century feminist in the mix
Something I think you missed - Clara's purpose in exisiting in series 7 and her arc. Moffat was faced with a near impossible task - to write the 50th anniversary. He knew it was coming up at the end of series 7. From the BBC he also knew that their charts said 90% of the modern audience had never seen classic Who beyond youtube clips. And on the otherhand he had classic Who fans ready to slay him if the 50th did not pay suitable respect and include classic Who. How to square the circle?
The solution was Clara.
Clara is the bridge in series 7 between classic era Who and modern, she falls more into the classic Who compaion role than modern, her story directly introduces the viewer as part of her mystery to classic Who and to earlier versions of the Doctor. The success of the 50th anniversary was in no small part down to how prepared for it the audience were by the manner in which Moffat deployed Clara in series 7 to lay that ground work. All the bits of classic people would need to know for the story of the 50th to work the audience were prepped for by Clara's Impossible Girl story. In that respect she worked perfectly in series 7 for what was intended and needed.
Once the 50th and its immediate followup, 11's regeneration was done and over with, Moffat could get down to giving Clara the proper depth she needed (and he knew Jenna Coleman deserved) to become more than a necessary plot device and a true character.
I always felt like the Impossible Girl resolution was too much of a finale, with all of its impact being implied in the past, and no ripples forward into the future. This left me feeling like Clara had served a huge purpose and now was suddenly at a loose end - which is fine, not everyone has to have such a weighty purpose, but it was jarring to me. But putting her in the context of Moffat's Classic Who Primer Character is really interesting because that definitely pins down why I felt there's such a split, and maybe explains why so many people were unable to really latch back on to the more "real" Clara arc. I definitely forget how much of Clara's storyline just doesn't happen until the Impossible Girl is resolved. Maybe I just needed the Impossible Girl to properly die so I could have a new first impression.
@@storageheater I think it was necessary, but the disassociation you describe I think was amplified by Moffat having to change plans at the last minute, when the bigwigs at the BBC got cold feet of a non-contemporary companion and insisted they ditch Victorian Clara for a modern version - this is the reason why her home life is so ill-defined, and why the two children are shoehorned into it, Gaiman's script was one of many already written for Victorian Clara and featured the two children she was nanny to, they couldn't rewrite everything so they kept the children in modern Clara era too, just with a rather vague excuse for her looking after them that is never gone into again, nor is her relationship with the members of the family she lives with ever really part of the story, other than when they needed the kids for Gaimans Nightmare in Silver episode. Had it still been Victorian Clara, with her already established home background and dual life as barmaid and nanny, it would have been less apparent I think Clara was a necessary narrative device ahead of a character. The interest of her Victorian life to viewers, and being already familar with it from the xmas episode, would have masked it more.
As soon as Moffat could he ditched that entire background and gave her a much better suited modern situation as a teacher at Coal Hill (for which there is one excuse, we did see when 11 was looking into her past that she had graduated from some form of higher education, university, or teaching) and Moffat could finally flesh out the bullet point personality he had put together for this new Clara, her tendency to compartmentalise her life, her need to be in control of situations which are all present prior to series 8, but just sort of pencilled in, like placeholders behind the more prominant mystery around her, till that and the 50th can be resolved and she is done fulfilling her dual role of standard companion and bridge between eras of the show for new viewers.
The other thing of note is how short the Impossible Girl narrative is, it begins with modern Clara in Bells of St John and its over 6 episodes later as we go into the 50th Trilogy of Name of, Day of and Night of the Doctor. Given she still has 2 series ahead on the show I am not sure she really does get any less character or development than say Martha got in half a series of episodes. But Clara has the benefit of 2 years with 12 still to deepen and delve into her character, and Moffat does that more so than any other companion probably, just as he delves more into who the Doctor is more than any other Doctor era before.
@@pettytyrant2720 These are such well thought-out and well researched comments. This is what good media criticism should be - digging deeper into the creators' process to understand why things are the way they are and what real-life circumstances influenced the production.
Times Clahra should have left- 1) When the 12th Doctor appears and she hates him. 2) When Danny dies. 3) When Missy had her inside a Dalek shell-wham back to Souflee Girl. Full circle. Instead we get TARDIS Girls Gone Wild: Adventures of Lady Me. And actually Clahra has Lady Me drop her off to a year before the Coronation of Elizabeth R and she smothers the princess in her sleep and takes her place to rule Britannia.
@@pettytyrant2720 That’s actually a great point that Clara served as a bridge between Classic Who and modern Who! I didn’t think of that. I still don’t think that totally excuses her lack of character development in series 7, but it does give me more understanding of why Moffat needed something like the Impossible Girl.
The best description for Clara and 12’s relationship is “platonic soulmates.” It’s not quite romantic, but it’s not quite not.
That's River Song. But with 24 years at the Singing Towers, the most mature Doctor, who has experienced River's entire life arc,may have crossed that bridge a time or two.
Yeah, I totally agree with Victorian Clara being way more interesting than modern Clara in series 7. I remember being so sad when they introduced the Clara that would actually be the main companion. It took me a while to warm back up to her, but ultimately, I ended up liking her when she became more than just a love interest for the doctor.
Yes!! Victorian Clara was so much more than a love interest right from the start, so it would be much better if modern Clara got the same treatment
I loved Oswin too. I think she had the most potential as a stand-alone character. She felt like a female Captain Jack Harkness. There are times when I wish Oswin was the main Clara and she was a breakout character like him.
Also dalek clara.
I agree with this, and the reason for that is probably because I think Moffat is better at writing mysteries than he is at resolving them in a season long plot. He writes brilliant single episode stories, like when he wrote oswin. I really felt conflicted about liking Clara after I had already been so invested in Oswin.
I saw something online (idk who or where but on Twitter) about Clara's death in "Face the Raven" was that she died with her hands spread out, similar to how the Doctor regenerates. No matter how bad she wanted to be like the Doctor, she wasn't. It's not that she wanted to regenerate, but her codepency with the Doctor is so ingrained in her it was part of her final(-ish) moment. Clara might honestly be my favorite companion because of how "flawed" she is in this regard. She wanted to be more than she actually was and that was her eventual downfall.
That consistency in her character I like. Both the Christmas special death and the Face the Raven death have that, Moffat just kept undoing it for some reason.
I kind of hate the idea that wanting to be like the doctor = wanting to be "more than she really is" for so many fans.
The doctor isn't a god. Clara and every other companion are not lesser than the doctor just based on being a different species and not living for as long.
All that crap just robs the companions completely and makes the doctor totally obnoxious and overly special (which is totally opposed to the doctors writing in the original series).
Except that subtext kind of goes out the window when at the end of Hell Bent Clara gets to fly off in her own TARDIS while being effectively immortal since she doesn't have to return to her time of death until she wants to, as "Me" points out. Not only is her death undone, but she's actively rewarded for trying to be like the Doctor by her literally getting to travel through time and space for basically eternity. It's so poorly thought out.
@@dommoore6180I sorta agree, but in “Face the Raven,” Clara says “Why? Why shouldn't I be so reckless? You're reckless all the bloody time. Why can't I be like you?”
she explicitly wishes to be like him because that’s just how their relationship worked. thats what the hybrid was and what made it so dangerous. saying i like the toxic codependency arc doesn’t mean i want them to be codependent. it’s just good writing imo 🤷♂️
HOTD108_Also, she can avoid dying by putting a mindless clone in her place right then.
I remember when she was at a convention in Miami when I was younger, I had my more brave friend ask during the question portion “Do you think Clara could have been the first companion to turn on the Doctor?” She chewed on it and her response was along the lines of “I was actually given two options- and it is clear which one I chose.” I always wondered what could have been- and a companion that turned evil BECAUSE of the doctor would have made for an incredible arc of growth for both characters.
Sorry, I had to reread your question a few times to get the right meaning
@ I can see that now 🤣
i had that same question months ago but not about clara, just the companions in general lol. theyre always these undeniably good hearted people (even when they do bad things) and at the end of the day i dont think any of them can ever be called a villain, but i just wonder so bad what it would be like for a companion to start normal and the adventures make them lose their mind a little bit until they have a huge freak out (the water mars episode is also what brought on this thought, since the doctor has a similar thing happen then) but i just know that the show would never do that. i wanted to make a fanfic of it but i never did ^^;
@princembat It's not on the same spectrum, but Adam from that 2-3 episode arc from 9s season is a bad egg and the Doctor doesn't tolerate it in the series and he's dropped back home. But in the comics he becomes a pretty evil dude after that
People hate Clara? I had no idea. I loved her. Think she's one of the best companions of all time.
People absolutely despised her.
Still in the fandom today you'll hear people call DW series 7 - 9 "Clara Who" to call it trash at least once a day.
@@sinom This is why I generally avoid getting involved in fandoms. Other people just spoil it for me. Better to enjoy it by yourself.
Haha .. that was also my reaction when i heared the first time about it. I also absolutely loved her and for me the series only went down after she was killed, which was the worst moment at all for me.
I'm sorry, but do you live under a rock?
I hate her. She acted like she was invincible and constantly put herself in dangerous situations, not to be brave but because she knew the doctor would save her 🙄 and at the end, I guess she was right 😂
I fell in love with Clara pretty much the second we meet her as Oswin, especially the line "is there a word for 'total screaming genius' that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy ?" that, with its incredible delivery, instantly had me going "..... this is going to be Bad for me, isn't it ?" (Spoiler alert : yes it was, and I didn't even know HOW MUCH yet.) The fact that she appears for the first time while the Ponds (aka my least favorite companions, just like Eleven is my least favorite Doctor -- unpopular opinions, I know, but...) are still there and the only thing I'm waiting for at this point is FOR THEM TO FINALLY FUCKING LEAVE, also made her stand out to me that much more.
And then, Victorian Clara happened. And I started to understand just HOW down bad I was going to be. (I'm pretty sure she immediately skyrocketed to her current position as my third favorite character of all time right then and there, watching The Snowmen.)
While I agree that S7B Clara didn't have much going for her in terms of storylines, just her personality was enough to have me OBSESSED with her already. She's the exact embodiment of my type of character : headstrong, sassy, daring... But still, nothing could have prepared me for what she'd become with Twelve. They became my favorite TV dynamic of all time SO FAST, it genuinely took me by surprise the moment it hit me that this had happened. Especially in series 9. They're the literal definition of what my aroace ass likes to scream from the rooftops (INTENSE DOESN'T HAVE TO EQUAL ROMANCE), and it's still wild to me that it's been portrayed in such an incredible way where I expected it the least. (I don't think I'm ever getting over it, actually.)
Tl;dr : Clara Oswald is basically the love of my life... and what about it ? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@EliaAliceRaven I’m so glad to hear Clara resonated with you! I also love her dynamic with Twelve.
While Clara isn't a companion I compare for, I totally felt the same with you at the Ponds. I was so annoyed they got two bloody seasons while my favourite companion, Donna only got one :( which she technically shares with Martha and Rose a bit.
In my opinion, how Victorian Clara saves the Doctor is that after an extended period of time being angry, bitter, sad, and lonely after losing Rory and Amy, she gave him the spark to be the Doctor again, which led him to solve the mystery of the Impossible Girl. What she did was give the Doctor his sense of self and purpose in the universe.
@@LexTan I didn’t consider that, but now that you mention it, that might well be what the show was going for!
My biggest issue with Clara was how inconsistent she was. After being the impossible girl she should have known the Doctor better than anyone else. And yet she was confused when he changed, and then felt the need to blackmail him into helping her saving Danny. She should know him BEST and felt the need to force him into helping her when in reality she would have only needed to ask.
@@jamesbourgeois1357 they really just pretended like the Impossible Girl arc never happened after series 8 got going 😂
@@looseleafellie sad truth...
I would argue that her complete knowledge of the Doctor's history just made her fit the role of audience surrogate even better. Just because she knows about his past regenerations, doesn't mean she would or should just automatically accept the new Doctor as the Doctor; fans of the show can often struggle with the transition themselves, so I don't really see what about that is inconsistent.
Most of the problem stems from having yet ANOTHER ultra-important magical girl with huge implications in NuWho. We already had both Rose and Amy Pond do this and to the point it overtook any story they were were in, to the point the Doctor was a side character in his own show. And now we have Clara, a girl spread over timeline that is super-ultra-important for...reasons. To the point she gets her own TARDIS in the end. Oh, and apparently she slept with both Doctors.
Many fans, including myself, were simply tired of a Companion taking over the show with vague "special-ness" rather than just....being a good character. Rory and Donna Noble manage to be great character without overwhelming the story, the Doctor or having a special destiny (that never factors in). Clara was the worst of Moffat's overindulgence.
Who said she slept with both Doctors? gross!
So I assume that all of the people who hated Clara and Rose and Donna being so special loved Yaz and Ryan and Graham for being so incredibly normal and human?
@@pamm8713 The sense of her behaviour with 11 and 12 was off the scale with Rose and 10, and in that case, it was chemistry. With Clara and 11, then later with 12 always felt more intimate.
Plenty of people noticed it, and it was this that turned her off them, particularly with her reaction to 11's regeneration, which only strengthened that thinking.
honestly, several of the nuwho companions have grown to be doctor-like or doctor-adjacent before. rose's hubris got to her too. martha's year of travelling the earth put her in a doctor-esque role. donna LITERALLY absorbed his brain. amy was literally central to the plot for seasons 5 and 6, plus she's river's mother. by the time clara came around "companion tries to be like the doctor" was practically a staple of the show. she was just the one for whom it was the central conceit of her arc, and not just a side effect of travelling with the doctor.
And she’s the only one who gets explicitly rewarded for it.
@@intergalactic92 okay?? that's not a bad thing. the entire point of the doctor (at least before chibnall got to them) was that they were always a normal person in their society who became extraordinary and heroic through their choices and actions. like twelve says in face the raven - there is nothing special about him, he is just less breakable. the only difference between him and clara is that he is a time lord who can regenerate and clara is a human who will just die, and that's why he doesn't want her to take risks. that's IT. trying to be like the doctor isn't some moral failing. if anything, it's noble. it's just dangerous. other companions have suffered or died trying to be the doctor, so clara is the one who gets to live. the doctor isn't a god. he's just a guy who has a time machine.
@@intergalactic92I’d say both Rose and Donna are rewarded for it much more. Rose got her own version of the Doctor and a completed family, living happily for the rest of her days. And Donna, at least before the 60th anniversary, got like a million dollars or something as lottery, again with a loving family. Clara is destined to die, and has to spend a lifetime making impossible choices with just one companion who’s not even a good friend, more of a distant acquaintance.
I don't think I truly was able to appreciate or like Clara until she was a companion to the 12th doctor. The way they clash, yet gained a new care about each other so much to the point of codependence, is an interesting dynamic and having them paralleled to one another was truly the best route to take Clara's character. Its flawed, it's messy, but it felt so real and genuine and when that deep caring shone through it was convincing and great.
I will readily admit that I am a fan of Clara as a Companion. I even like her character in Series 7B, and all the other iterations of her. She just worked for me personally.
I can see why other fans dislike her, though the vitriol that some spew at her is a bit much, and I think unwarrented. They think she became too important and started to overshadow the Doctor. Those that liked other Companions more instead thought that she became the most important Comanion of all time and they couldn't stand that. I think certainly she was one of the most influential. But her importance goes far beyond that. The love and interconnected relationship that she shares with the Doctor ultimately leads to her hubris, and to her own downfall. She pays the price in Face the Raven, and without her loss we would never have had the materpiece that was Heaven Sent.
Some fans also think Clara stayed on for too long and should have left the show earlier, and that her ulimate departure unravelled everything that entailed her death. I don't see it that way. She may get more adventures on her own off screen, but in the end she still has to return to Trap Street and die.
I admire the platonic love that the Doctor and Clara have for one another. There will be never be another Doctor/Companion duo like them again in my opionion. She is certainly the Impossible Girl: impossible for some to like, impossible for others to hate. I'm firmly of the later category. Long live the Impossible Girl!
@@kenthomas505 thanks for sharing your thoughts! I’m on board with a lot of what you said. Even though she stayed on for a long time, I’m not sure we would have gotten all that interesting character work if she’d left early
totally agree with you! i liked her in 7b and onward.
with me, (and i admit that this is my own perspective, and i totally respect Ellie Blackwood's opinion. i just disagree on some things) i liked her with 11, and liked her with 12. i've never been very singular about what relationships are and always felt like it made sense that her relationship with 11 was different than her relationship with 12. both made sense to me, because those were two different iterations of the same timelord. also, i liked that we had more focus on her with 11, and less focus on the family/friends dynamic, because sometimes, i like it when doctor who focuses a lot on the 'doctor/companion' duo, rather than the companion's social life. also, i was not annoyed with the doctor calling her bossy, because she calls herself that, and she makes fun of him too sometimes. with friendship, you can make fun of each other, in that manner, and still get along well. i'm not a big stickler for strict guidelines on friendship dynamics, because friendships are not all the same. i also liked that she and 11 got along well, which is why they didn't argue as much, because, like Martha, Clara was the transitional companion. however, by having 11 and Clara get along/not argue much, shows how the show learned from that previous situation. 11's older, and knows how to handle a companion who might like him, and their getting along, shows how11 will not make Clara feel like the rebound companion, showing growth on his part. unpopular opinion: i never liked how 10 treated Martha and how be brought in the whole 'you'll never be on the same level as my previous companion thing', and sometimes was mean to her, and was uncharacteristic of the doctor. i liked that the show didn't go back in that direction, because if Clara was immediately argumentative, it wouldn't have worked well with the theme during Moffat's era of 'moving on... you mourn, then you live' concept. also, lack of argument does not always signify lack of depth to me. it just means that two people can sometimes naturally click. and this led gracefully to 12's time.
i've seen companions be plot devices before, so i was not that peeved about it, especially since it was one of the better thought-out times. and going back to the idea of Moffat returning back to the classic who concept of doctor/companion, it does make sense with 11, because his 11 was a very good blend of 'New Who Doctor' and 'Classic who Doctor'.
with clara lacking a personality in season 7b, i can't really agree there, because it highlights the idea that we women have a personality 'if we follow criteria of what a personality is'... according to what scale? what are the guidelines that define a personality to you? and if the women don't meet those 'guidelines', then the woman does not have much of a personality? what guidelines are set for women and who makes these rules? all the female companions of New Who, and many in classic who have personalities. they are just all different.
but each to his own, and i understand what Ellie Blackwood feels, and respect her views. i just calmly disagree. we're all right here, so please, no one start screaming at me. if we disagree, we can be friendly about it.
I’m one of those who loathed Clara. Your video helps me understand why. Giving Twelve and Clara identical character traits did not work for me. One arrogant control freak I could have tolerated, but two of them? No thank you. I found the whole dynamic off putting and unpleasant. Once Clara was out of the way I was finally able to appreciate Twelve. But I suppose he was mellower with Bill and Nardole.
13:57 small nitpick to the point being made here but I think it'll enhance what's being said. Clara becoming the doctor is a theme that's been going on for much longer than beginning in flatline. In the very first episode of the season the doctor basically abandons Clara to thrust her into the doctor role in a trial by (literal) fire where she has to negotiate with the cyborg dude and basically turn the tables in a negotiation like the doctor. Then there's the orient express where the doctor gets Clara to lie to someone to make his plan work and again in Kill the Moon where the doctor again abandons Clara to have her make a huge decision about wether to spare earth or the big space dragon. Flatline is of course the first time it's explicitly acknowledged Clara is taking on the role of the doctor but it's by no means the first time she's thrust into a role like that
I think Capaldi-era Clara is really interesting but it's so hard to get past the association of Clara with 7b, where 11 is so grossly slimy/horny about her and the whole impossible girl arc
My thoughts on Clara have really evolved over time. For me, it’s kinda hard for me to let go of the out of show context- that being that Clara was meant to be the Modern Sarah Jane, even down to her name being a reference to that, and that she stayed on the show for just… so long. I know it’s not a real issue nowadays, but kind of like Yaz too, I just didn’t enjoy when these companions stuck around for farrr longer than they’re welcome, especially when they’re given ample opportunity to leave. With that said, with the benefit of hindsight, I can see the arc in its completed state and I have to admit… I like it! Yes, I even like 7B Clara, I think she’s nice and sweet and caring, and an interesting enough character to be a companion. Series 9 Clara in my opinion is the peak. That’s when everything they wanted to do with her worked, Jenna Coleman gives her best performance and the whole arc is just great I feel. If 7B is them having fun with the character, Series 9 is where they lock in. But series 8… like everything in that series it’s a mixed bag. You have episodes like Deep Breath and Flatline which are, in my opinion, near perfect (just in general but also for the character of Clara) but then you have a near avalanche of moments that just make her insufferable! Calling Danny Rupert, the ‘you shoot kids and cry about it afterward’ thing, the lying over the phone, like it is really hard to root for her, and I don’t even really like Danny. I mean the actor is cool, but their relationship is bland as a mf, and the whole love triangle thing flops majorly. Danny brings out the worst in Clara and just everything to do with that completely falls flat in my opinion. So yeah, lots of rambling but my Tl;Dr thoughts on Clara are: Series 7, cool. Series 9, great. Series 8, sometimes cool, sometimes terrible. This is a very interesting subject and you made an absolutely incredible analysis- I particularly liked what you said about the romance aspect of the relationship and how it _is_ that but it’s also deeper than that, 100% agree, great video
Hey man love your videos
Yeah I agree with you about series 8, unfortunately, I think what I don’t like about the Danny character is that he feels like he’s kind of there just to create obstacles for Clara and her relationship to the doctor, I thought for a while they would maybe end up traveling together on the tardis, glad that didn’t happen in retrospect because Danny kind of annoys me when it comes to him and his territorialness with the doctor and Clara, come the 50th onward, I went from liking Clara to loving her, maybe has something to do with switching her career up from nanny to teacher, but still loved her change up, and the romance between Clara and the doctor, I 100% of this day when people say that that relationship was platonic I laugh ha, I’m sorry it’s so much deeper than a platonic friendship, even in face the raven when she says “ everything about to say, I already know… don’t say it. We’ve already had enough bad timing between us” I mean, come on lol And her in last Christmas saying “ (Clara) there was one other man, but it never would’ve worked out…..(12thDr)why not?….(Clara) he was impossible” and at the end with that shot after the kiss on the cheek they are in a heart ha, love those two my favorite Doctor companion relationship by far
@@kalebdiaz1671 You probably don't remember, but I remember I did a poll about which Doctor was the least romantic (or words to the effect of) and the 12th Doctor won and people were calling his relationship with Clara 'grandfather/grandaughter' like are we watching the same show bru😭
Some people just be saying sh1t lol
@@dwfan91- either that or they had some weird relationships with their granddad 😆
@@kalebdiaz1671 💀
@@dwfan91- Thanks for all the thoughts! I really vibe with a lot of what you said. I think Danny’s role in the season is interesting, because Clara treats him awfully, and somehow a lot of fans came out of this series hating DANNY (not saying that you’re blaming Danny for how Clara treated him - I’ve just seen a lot of people who seem to hate Danny when he didn’t do anything wrong). Maybe they misunderstood what was going on and thought Danny was telling Clara she can’t travel with the Doctor anymore, even though he LITERALLY said he was fine with it, idk.
That said, I don’t necessarily think the way Clara treats Danny is out of character - at least, not out of character for the direction they went in series 8. Like I said in the video, I think she tries to compartmentalize her life in a way that hurts Danny. I also think she sometimes tries to joke with him in the same deprecating way she jokes with the Doctor, but because Danny is a bit more well-adjusted than the Doctor, he doesn’t let her get away with it as much.
Long story short, I think it’s fine if people just don’t like Danny for whatever reason (he is a bit cringe at times), but I don’t get why some people blame him for things that were actually Clara’s fault.
I know Oswin was just a flirty bisexual to some. But Coleman brought so much pathos to the latter parts of Asylum and 7b. From beginning to end, Clara is Literally Me fr. When she gets misty eyed, so do I, and when she smiles I smile. Clara and Twelve is my favorite love story.
I can't get enough Clara, it was sad when she left but I think Hell Bent is my favourite companion sendoff. Even in this video when you played a few notes of her theme on the guitar, I thought of "you said memories become stories when we forget them, maybe some of them become songs" and my eyes got a little teary.
There were a few problems that ultimately took clara way down in my estimations. Season 7B was the beginning of it. She was cute, she was quirky, she was able to handle herself generally, but not so much that she didnt need the doctor. She was just generally likeable. She had fairly decent chemistry with Smith, but sadly the decision by Moffatt to make her a mystery box for the half season story arc meant that 11 never really kept her at anything but arms length, and honestly didnt really trust her until the 50th, a story that centred on the Doctor entirely, and then the christmas special that was treated mainly as 11's swan song.
Season 8 rolls around and we get Clara 2.0. Its a pretty good excercise in how her and 12's relationship was going to differ, especially since its the first time in about 5 years that there wasnt a companion trying to bang the doctor. I can definately see what Moffatt was trying here, he wanted to showcase the toxicity that can emerge when becoming a companion. Usually they become heroic human parts of the doctor, there to pull him from the edge whenever he steps over the line. Clara was framed as someone who wanted to make him proud by becoming him, something he is vehemently against. Thats why she, over multiple episodes of the next two seasons, is often on her own while the Doctor is either incapacitated storywise or is handling other things. Whether its getting trapped in a miniature TARDIS where she has to keep everyone alive, or sent to the distant past while she handles ghosts and keeps everyone alive, or when the doctor is captured by daleks or whatever other plot convience keeps them seperated. When they arent seperated, its usually her doing something irresponsible like (attempting to) destroy TARDIS keys to blackmail him, or constantly chew him out for making tough decisions, or basically just bickering with him.
It gets old and it gets old fast. Once capaldi takes the reigns of the character, its clear that Moffatt wanted to take the companion story in a different direction, by showing the toxic ways that knowing the doctor can affect you. The problem is nobody ever calls her out on her bullshit. He likes the character too much to ever put her in a position of fault within the narrative. It mirrors early Korra in the legend of Korra where she gets angry, runs off and does her own thing, makes things worse and then other characters apologise TO her. That's the issue here. She is the primary problem in their relationship, often trying to be him, but when she can't, she's blowing up at him instead, and there are absolutely no concequences until the very end of her journey in Face The Raven. A story that actually brings her trying to be the Doctor to its inevitable conclusion, is then followed up with a fan favourite episode of the doctor exploring his grief, and then...
Is completely undone in true Moffatt fashion by bringing her back, making her effectively immortal and letting her fly off and be the doctor until she decides she's done. Her facing the concequences of being dangerously inept and reaching far beyond her ability could only have ended in one of two ways for a real narrative payoff. She either suffers a loss because of these actions and learns to temper herself and not try to be someone she isnt, or lose her own life because of her inability to learn. We got neither of these, instead she is yet again rewarded for her bad behaviour.
That's the problem. Moffatt wanted to go somewhere the show hadn't been before, but was unwilling to go the the lengths it takes for such a move to work. He likes his characters too much, it's always been a flaw for him. It was an idea with genuine potential and it was squandered with half measures.
Perfectly put
Well put, the one person who should have put her in her place or at least called her out... was The Doctor himself. He should have called her out on her crap and the perfect time for him to do so was when she tried and failed to blackmail him. He should have landed the TARDIS back in her time, then give a speech about how he sees that she's trying to be like him, and he doesn't like it. Because he knows what it's like to be around himself. He should then say, there's only one Clara... why can't you just be the best version of yourself? Why isn't that enough for you? And then opens the doors and says 'Go home, go to Hell, it doesn't matter, but you can't stay here anymore. You didn't just break my heart, you broke my trust. Then he turns away from her and doesn't look at her.
Very well put, I’ve just finished rewatching up to Face the Raven and Moffat clearly intended to show the downsides of travelling with the Doctor through Clara in series 8/9 but she feels like such a golden child, she can do no wrong which is shown through how she receives little to no criticism. The Doctor pulls her up on her excitement at the face of danger maybe once or twice but otherwise it’s just the Doctor and his companion like normal.
And despite being told Clara is like the Doctor, she never suffers any consequences bar Face the Raven. The Doctor has to live with how his decisions affect him and the other around him, Clara really doesn’t. The Doctor has been defined by his suffering and lives out every day to make sure no one suffers as he does, Clara never had that. A way this could’ve been done is if Danny’s death was a consequence of something Clara did and she had to live with that. Like Danny’s death could’ve been Clara’s ‘Time War’ kind of ya know?
I'm in the 'I don't like Clara' club. For me, it was the inconsistency of her background and personality, she seems to just flutter in the wind of plot and make no sense. I wish Peter Capaldi had two series with Bill rather than Clara.
@@GrubStLodger I definitely agree her writing was inconsistent between series 7 and the subsequent series - and as much as I like how her character developed over her run, I would have loved another season with Twelve and Bill
Especially if it meant we kept Lucas as Nardol
@@looseleafellie I'll gladly give up Bill and Nardole for one with ME and Clara and how the Dr saves her
Oh jeez, No
It amazes me how Bill and Donna both became my fav companions despite being in the show such a short time, but I had to suffer through Clara for so long. It's a shame because I think she's a good actress having to play such a bad character
The thing I didn't like was how they kept writing her out of each of her seasons but she coming back. And then they couldn't even kill her off.
We come down to the basic fact that Moffat cannot write women. They are one dimensional plot enablers on the whole. He starts out writing all his women as being interesting, then dumbs them down and makes them hysterical as time goes on, see River Song. I hate his writing of women.
applies to his writing of women in Sherlock too. He has a thing for dominatrix and "psycopaths"
My favorite Doctor is 12th and my favorite companion is Clara. I love their chemistry, Capaldi and Jenna really nailed their roles! 💜
I had no idea that people didn’t like her. I really liked the way they handled the 11 to 12 regeneration, with Clara staying on but having to come to terms with quite a different relationship with the new doctor.
Not only was she my favorite companion, but my 14 year old self was fully in love with her. Like depending on one’s theory of romantic development, it’s possible my preferences in women was forever altered by Clara. Trippy to think about looking back on it.
Honestly my issue with Clara is that a lot of Moffat's writing with her is having characters just say that she's special because of time travel destiny stuff, rather than Clara and the Doctor actually having much of a relationship at all during her time with Smith, which of course results in a weak foundation for the Capaldi seasons to build upon, making the whole thing feel shallow and superficial. In other words, my issue with Clara is that she's all plot and no story, if that makes sense.
Clara is one of the best companions this show ever had, and the arc of her relationship with 12 was incredibly well executed, unlike anyone who had ever come before her.
Now, now Sarah Jane, Jo Grant, Leela, both Romanas, Martha Jones and, of course, the Pools... all fantastic companions, Clara is good, especially with 12, however Series 8 was really bad and Clara's relationship with her boyfriend was a huge contributor to that. Sure let's blame Mr Moffatt and crew for that , but Clara was still a big reason for a bad season. And who thought about surrounding Capaldi, who portrayed the Doctor like a crazed madman, around children all the damn time?
This video is the legit first time I’ve ever heard people don’t like Clara
Victorian Clara saved the Doctor by getting him out of his funk so he could truly by the Doctor again. I would have loved Victorian Clara to live and stay as companion. Hell, I would have liked Oswin, the first Dalek companion. How amazing would that have been?
I think you missed the most important line about 12 and Clara's relationship: as being 'like an addiction.' They are so dependent on but know they are so bad for each other. We're used to seeing companions grow and become better people through their travels with the Doctor; Clara arguably becomes worse. The toxic nature of their relationship isn't something Doctor Who had explored before and elevates Clara as one of the most interesting Doctor-Companion dynamics in the shows history.
@@ClarenceOdbodyAS2 yes! Clara is like an anti-Donna in that sense - instead of her transformation into Doctor-ness highlighting the best parts of herself, she actually leans into the worst parts of herself
I think there's a hard line between a companion that has a friendly rapport with the Doctor and the ones where romance is a thing. I really just don't want to see romance between a thousand year old space wizard and a 21st century girl from Earth, it doesn't do anything for me. Especially given the imbalance of knowledge, it just feels a little creepy.
I really wish writers would try out a companion from a non-21st century setting. By getting away from the audience self-insert there's so many other perspectives to explore; take someone from the bronze age to 21st century London and suddenly it's a crazy sci-fi setting.
A Gallifreyan having a romantic attraction to a human is the equivalent of a human wanting to shag a monkey. Except the divide is probably even greater in the case of the former.
Jenna Coleman is a great actress and very easy on the eye too, and I think she played Clara brilliantly, but I also believe that the role of the companion has almost eclipsed that of The Doctor in recent years, and I think the writers need reminding who the main character is.
It's interesting that you say that, because New Who has always had this kind of companion-centric philosophy. From the very first episode of the reboot, the story is told through Rose's perspective, not the Doctor's. I think the story revolving around the companion as the main character was not at all something that began with Clara
19:53 to be honest, any relationship with the Doctor and young companions would be creepy due to the Doctor‘s actual age. It just doesn’t seem creepy when the Doctor’s incarnation appears young.
true. you wouldn't think of going out with someone your grandfather's age let alone an alien who is over 2,000 years old! But the show get by that becasue the Doctor can change his face and look youthful on the outside while being very much ancient on the inside.
I don’t agree. So he’s just never to have romantic relationships with other species?
i don't even think the companion needs to be an audience surrogate. to me, the best companions are the ones that just ✨️mesh✨️ with the Doctor, like the bestest of friends who have everything in common.
For me, the main issue was simply - I feel she overstayed. Yes, I quite liked what they ended up doing when Moffatt convinced Coleman to stay... but I was ready for her to go, and when she didn't, well - I'd had enough.
I think that because I didn't grow up with the original Classic Who and only came into the fandom last year with the 9th Doctor, I appreciated the variety of how companions were portrayed, and I'm particularly not opposed to the blurring of the lines of a companion becoming Doctor-like or Doctor-adjacent.
With Clara's time with 11 being what it was, I also enjoyed it. It was partly the flirty, romantic aspect of it all. It was also her excitement at this new aspect of her life, the idea that even the most mundane people (gorgeous as Jenna Coleman is) that can be the most important people in the universe... and the most important person to one. Recently, I saw a TikTok with Keanu Reeves saying that if you step away from someone you love, you'll see how common he or she can be. And it's the love you give that makes them important. That's how i see
One other area of growth that Prime Clara goes through is that as a result of the events of "The Bells of St. John", she shows that she already displays a cleverness that will carry forward through the rest of her character arc, which contributes to her ultimate downfall in "Face the Raven." And even though she's a "mystery box" as you say, I think that was the intrigue of her character while we didn't know her too well and she only had a few episodes with 11 compared to the two seasons she had with 12. But somehow, I think she was a better executed character than Ruby Sunday was in terms of back story.
Ruby and Clara are both delightful, but Ruby's backstory wasn't done as well as Clara, and they both were meant to do tell a similar story of the most mundane people are the most important people in the universe.
@@LexTan Thanks so much for sharing your take! I’m always so interested to hear what newer fans think, because you haven’t been stewing in common fandom narratives that have been brewing for years. Some longtime fans are prone to parroting those narratives rather than really forming their own opinions (which I’ve been guilty of myself before!)
The Clara splinters are I think the first of one of Clara and the doctor’s relationship big flaws/traits, she has a real tendency to insert herself into the doctor’s personal life and history against his will or without his knowledge. Done again with her meeting the war doctor and convincing eleven not to destroy gallifrey in Day of the Doctor, again in the barn in his childhood in Listen, etc. I think it makes her feel kind of entitled to him? Like she puts a lot of value into the fact that’s she’s the most important person to him. Puts into context actions like her attempt to destroy all the tardis keys and blackmail the doctor into saving Danny in Dark Water.
And it goes both ways too, the doctor feels entitled to her personal life, especially in series 8 where he totally dismisses Danny (although I really don’t like Danny either). He clearly feels his way of life is the important one, only challenged when she takes it up to such a degree that it becomes a danger to her. Their relationship is toxic as hell from both sides and it’s very interesting, even if I don’t always love watching it per se.
Watching series 7 Clara on rewatch is interesting, cause all the seeds for her flaws are there, they just aren’t treated as anything but jokes yet. Clara splinters like I started this comment with. Nightmare in silver shows how quickly she adjusts to and how much she kind of relishes being put in a difficult position of power. By time of the doctor she’s already kinda treating the doctor like she’s the only thing he’s got going on that’s worth it when he’s off dealing with the silence plotline and she calls him to come pretend to be her boyfriend for a family dinner.
I’ve heard folks explain Clara’s arc before. But you broke it down in such a way that I may actually come around to liking her. Great video.
@@leeci33 thank you so much!
Personally, my problem with Clara is not her story arc but her personality.
To me, she becomes very abusive in season 8.
Clara is probably the greatest example of Steven Moffat’s focus on mystery boxes rather than character. It’s good to keep audiences invested, but when you clearly don’t think of a satisfying conclusion upfront and jangle the “maybe we’ll do something later” card in your face constantly, it makes anything you write in the future feel like something the audience shouldn’t be invested in. Sometimes the mystery in question is so drawn out that it’s forgotten (duck ponds anyone?)
Clara was honestly the best part of Series 8. Mostly thanks to guest writer Jamie Mathieson’s episodes which gave Jenna Coleman way more to work with. Even Kill the Moon as bad as it was, had Clara’s outburst at the Doctor patronising her which was one of the best scenes in the series.
Another dud from the series was the finale, that could’ve had some staying power if they kept it as her departure story, otherwise she feels really aimless in Series 9, which makes sense as that was originally going to be a companion-less series.
Side-note: who else thought that Clara was gonna turn out to be evil with the trailer for Dark Water? Just me? Ok.
My experience with Clara was that I liked all of her previous incarnations that were taken away from us, and didn't really care for the one that actually stuck around, which was a bummer. Like, she was fine, but I preferred her previous versions considerably more.
I was surprised when you said Clara had been around for two and a half seasons, it felt more like four to me.
She's not my least favorite NuWho companion... but she's pretty low. In my view, Clara overstayed her welcome. I mean, really overstayed. I enjoyed Bill so much more... so I would've preferred 2 seasons with Bill instead. The Clara seasons became The Clara Show where she constantly out-Doctored The Doctor. Why even have the Doctor? Clara does it all. She just never feels like a real grounded character like Bill or Donna... but some sort of fantasy woman. There are good eps there with her. But overall she just irks & dissatisfies me.
Amazing video! I love Clara in s8 and 9 and you've described why perfectly. Also I loved you playing her theme on the guitar, you play guitar so well!
Thank you!! I’m still kind of learning the song, so I can’t even tell you how many takes it took me to get a clip I was happy with 😅
I feel like I’ve really been seeing a critical reevaluation of Clara over the past few years, which is great for me (she’s been battling Donna for my my Favorite Companion spot for years). So now, I think it’s time for Danny Pink to get a similar reevaluation. Even people that like Clara hate him, and I just find that extremely unfair. I think his role in series 8 is so incredibly useful, and his absence hangs like a shadow over almost every episode in Series 9. Like, when Clara FINALLY says his name in Face the Raven, it feels like a spell has been lifted!
I don’t know, I just think Danny was really interesting with Clara, and I don’t think her story makes any sense if you discount their arc together. We need to re -assess the Cyberman with a heart.
I think people disliked Danny because he “interrupted” the Doctor-Clara romance by being her primary romantic interest in series 8 - but for as much as I love 12 and Clara, I really adore Danny, both as a character and for the function he serves in the story. He’s like a more challenging, more tragic version of Rory - while Rory would occasionally push back on the Doctor, they did eventually develop a friendship and mutual respect for one another. Danny, on the other hand, died before he could ever reach that point with the Doctor, and in some ways, Clara as well. Like the Doctor, he deeply regrets his past, but I think he has so much more humility about himself (as evidenced by his decision to send back the boy he accidentally k*lled). I think Danny was a really fascinating and tragic character, and I agree that he deserves his roses as much as Clara is getting hers now too!
I didn't dislike her. I wish she was still in it.
I'd love for one of Clara's echoes to appear as a cameo. As a treat.
Why some "companion" actress (or actor) has to be the FAVORITE OF ALL TIME baffles me. Or Favorite Doctor for that matter. The line given to 11 for his regeneration scene "we are all different people all throughout our lives" is one perhaps younger fans can't appreciate. You have to live a pretty long life - I'm in my 60s now - and I love the contrast of all the different Doctors going back to Tom Baker who was the first I saw - and then going back to Hartnell too before my "time" - I was born in March of 1963 so I'm 8 months older than the show itself!
So the older you get you can look back and remember all the different eras of your life. Your teens or twenties form a LOT of who you will basically be - but the changes of each decade will make you vastly different over time. Keep a journal and just write about your day and 40 years later you will go back and read stories that you realize you have no recollection of and people you forgot about that were just in and out of your life in a blink!
The idea that splinters of Clara might still turn up from time to time would be intriguing, but the irrational Clara haters would go berserk frankly.
I switched off the Chibnall era and the RTD 2.0 is a disaster - preaching to the converted and if you don't agree 'you can go touch grass' makes me hate everything after 12's exit. Ruby Sunday is so vacuous it's astonishing. As is 15. Not coming back until they are all gone and so is RTD frankly.
Nice break down, though the Clara hate makes me block people on FB when I hear it. It's just a tv show after all and it should be fun and mock scifi and storytelling tropes in general which was the core of why Doctor Who was fun in the first place. We've really forgotten that I think...
Well said! I agree with you on all major points!
i liked season 7 clara! not as much as later seasons clara, but i still thought it was good! i felt like (unlike this new season's), this mystery box works-- because clara doesn't want to be a mystery box. the doctor insists on seeing her as a puzzle rather than a person, but clara wants to be seen as a person. but she makes this harder on herself, because clara also has a hard time acting like a person instead of this bossy, feisty manic pixie dream girl-- this is because she has control issues and hates being seen as vulnerable. for me, this worked. clara was a "real character" but one that was having a hard time showing her "real" side because she was trying too hard to impress the doctor. this is why the doctor hugging her in "journey to the centre of the tardis" as he realized that she didn't know the secret worked. it's why clara taking charge in "nightmare in silver" worked. it's the equivalent of the awkward first step of dating where you want to seem fun and cool but still authentic. and as someone who has a hard time opening up, i found it relatable. i don't think season 7 is perfect, the speech about "being born to save the doctor" is bad, and i did not like the naked dinner scene for examples. but then, when 11 sheds his false youth (like you said 11:27 ), it allows clara to also unmask (which she does in the scene where madam vastra LITERALLY unmasks) and reveal her absolutely insane real personality. and that's when they can "fall in love" (in a much more interesting way than 11 and clara) for real. so in summary, i think that the parallels between the doctor and clara start in season 7, when both of them are "playing the part" and flirting with a new companion before feeling safe enough to be vulnerable. now, this may not have all been intentional, but oh well. love this video essay, despite that slight disagreement. i'm hoping there can be something similiar for the newest season, where ruby's relationship with the doctor can develop into something deeper and more interesting.
The actual Clara was anti-climatic by comparison to Victorian Clara.
The idea of an old fashioned companion was quite intriguing as opposed to just another modern day companion.
I view Clara as a character that was inconsistently written, but consistently well performed by Jenna Coleman. It’s her acting talent that salvages the character for me.
Two reasons, 1) her first disposable persona was the best one, so I was constantly wishing she was ozwin. And 2) I really didn't like the "weave her into his entire timeline" thing.
I wonder if I would have taken #2 better if they had stuck to the gag, and had a new Clara every episode.
Victorian Clara was interesting to me. Regular Clara lost my interest very quickly, and it never recovered. But your points are very good
"companion shenanigans" tickles my brain
I thought it was a huge miss to have Clara the companion instead of Jenny Vastra and strax as they where more fleshed out and honestly my favourites (finally some nonhumans, people from different times and cultures and even canon queer icons). It also kinda felt like because the doctor forgets in the end thanks to Clara there was no point to everything we watched, their dynamic and character development.
They wouldn't have Vastra be a main character because of the make up. It would be insane and extremely expensive to get the actress doing make up and prosthetics hours every day for months
my dream team ✨✨
Honestly I'm surprised that they haven't picked up a bit on the Impossible Girl thread for later Doctors, she went supposedly into the Doctor's entire timeline. And each splinter presumably lives her own life, Jenna Coleman could easily come back as another splinter. It's very much like the Susan Triad thing where each one could have very different personalities.
They have said that they didn't want the romantic chemistry being the reason they killed Victorian Clara... However, while I like Clara we got, in general, I think that if we'd had the Victorian Clara be more of a Captain Jack type that The Doctor has to keep her in check while flirting with men and women throughout time, it'd have been a much more interesting series. Also, shoehorning Clara into the roll of the Impossible Girl made it a forced fit. They didn't organically grow the character, she was just always used as a plot device. Then, eventually, they did the same thing to Danny Pink in attempt to give Clara something beyond being "The Impossible Girl". Though, I would have said that she didn't think of 11 as a boyfriend, but as a surrogate so that she does not have to have one. You know, like that friend you have that sort of chemistry with that everyone says you should date...
Don't get me wrong, I did like the idea of "She's my carer... She cares so I don't have to" aspect with Capaldi. Your analysis of Clara and the Doctor for this season is perfection, and easily would have made, if they'd not done "The Impossible Girl" arc, Clara's "I'm The Doctor" speech all that more convincing, especially if we'd seen a fob watch reveal. Given the out-of-character (even if she'd become unhinged) writing they did for her in her final series (though I do love the Clara & Missy adventures), it would have been a much better send off for her to be "killed" by the Cybermen. Then when Capaldi regenerates, we see him regenerate into Clara. We get a time rewind (and of course key moments that would have hinted from prior episodes) and as the Cybermen leave the room we see regeneration energy and we get Clara regenerating into Whittaker.
I remember having like a full conversation with you on tiktok a year ago, and your theories are still amazing!
@@That0neDud-17z Hello again!! Thank you so much 😄
One day I was playing my acoustic and accidentally figured out how to play Clara’s theme thinking I came up with it, I can’t deny Murray golds influence on my own writing. I also figured out the motif from this is gallifrey
For me, it's the last couple of episodes that 'spoils' the character for me. I don't hate her, I don't even really dislike her, but the last couple episodes... I know you said her punishment was her separation from The Doctor, but it doesn't *feel* like it.
Also, not seeing her splinters in future episodes *kinda* makes sense, because TGI was going *back* into *The Doctor's* specific past, so that's where Clara's splinters went, as well. Even when The Doctor is in *the past*, he's not in *his past*.
Clara is my baby and I will defend her to my last breath
my favorite quote from dr is when clara says she is hi carer an he replies "yes, she is my carer, she cares so I don't have to"
Not everyone hated her, and if they did, I don't know why. I loved her in Doctor Who. Wish she stayed longer, but alas, we can't have everything we want, right?
Victorian Clara saved the Doctor from malaise.
Ellie this was a flawless essay! I personally have never hated Clara, but the way you broke down everything here and actually articulated it in a way that people who might’ve not known the reasoning behind the character and her decision making was absolutely brilliant! This deserves to be on a release from the BBC! I want to start making essays myself soon. At the moment, I don’t have the right equipment, but I know it’s something that I would thoroughly enjoy doing and you just inspired me by setting the bar so high! As 9 would say, you were fantastic! Also, do you think that I cared for you so little that you betraying me would make a difference, will forever be one of the most powerful things I’ve ever heard said anywhere! Still gives me goosebumps! For anyone that doesn’t understand how much 12 and Clara really cared for one another, they clearly were never paying attention!
As someone who has reappraised Clara in hindsight, I recognise my dislike for her was over exaggerated, I now really appreciate her relationship with the 12th Doctor. I do still resent the fact that she represents the point modern Doctor Who decided it wasn't going to break away from the present day earth companion architype, which remains one of my biggest frustrations with the show and causes most companions to feel too similar.
I genuinely liked Clara up until the show became 'Clara Oswald and Her Idiotic Time Travelling Chauffeur'. Watch as she berates and belittles him weekly!
Not the actress' fault of course, Jenna Coleman strikes me as absolutely lovely. But some of the seeds of what we are seeing in the show today germinated in that particular era.
12 and Clara's relationship is intreging. It certainly caught people's imagination. Just look how many fan made videos have been made about them. Their story never gets old. I love em 😊
Hot take - The "diehard" Doctor Who fans don't enjoy Doctor Who half as much as the average person. Clara was great, loved her. I don't care enough about Doctor Who to not have fun watching it.
@@connorisonfire123 this has happened because of consumer media culture where we don’t make our own art or tell stories anymore but instead our consumers of narrative and feel like TV shows are obligated to match our exact aesthetics and expectations
She lived in the past, lives in the present, and will continue to live in the future. Clara is the second Dr on screen and the first woman Dr but without the title.
I loved Clara from the start. I love Amy, Donna and Rose too. I found the Impossible Girl storyline fascinating and I found her becoming doctor-like even more so. The fact she's bisexual is an added bonus too. I really loved Jenna's portayal of her and I felt Clara ending up immortal, with a TARDIS and Ashildr/Me was the perfect ending for her. I've never had 1 favourite companion over the others, they're all my favourites.
What bothered me was that Clara existed for no other reason than the Doctor. Oh, I just got to the part where "most special companion" was mentioned. Which I found somewhat astonishing, because to me she was the one that they made characterless. Seriously, she existed to save the Doctor. They could not be bothered to give her a life and character outside of him. When she lost Danny, she lost a lot of her will to live.
Donna is my favorite companion. She's not romantically interested and often acts as a moral compass and butt's heads with the doctor. The difference IMO as to why I don't care for Clara is that Donna's clashing with the Doctor almost always comes from compassion but Clara's is one of smugness.
Just my $0.02
If Clara had died saving the Doctors timeline I think she would have left a beloved character but she just got left as a companion with no decent storyline for her...
Excellent video! I like to come up with my own headcanon reasons for some things. Like the whole Impossible Girl bit... it's never explained how the Doctor can just leap into his own time stream and rescue Clara... so I came up with this idea in my head that since Bad Wolf wanted to save the Doctor... well, how much power did Rose/Bad Wolf have (not to mention how she held that power for so long and survived while 9 only had it for a few seconds after he took it out of her yet it caused him to regenerate?) so my idea is that Bad Wolf looked into the Time Vortex for any time the Doctor needed to be saved but found Clara already in the Doctor's time stream doing that, so Bad Wolf created a little pocket dimension in the Doctor's time stream to catch and hold Clara and be a place from which the Doctor could rescue her. I think Clara was one of the best companions and that Bad Wolf would have seen that and tried to help. We also don't know for sure that the Doctor and Clara together are the hybrid... that was just speculation by Mayor Me and the Doctor, but a hybrid typically implies 1 being, not 2. Maybe Bad Wolf was the hybrid, or the DoctorDonna, or the Metacrisis Doctor, or maybe even that Dalek (I can't remember his name) from the Cult of Skaro in Manhatten who became a Dalek/Human hybrid? To me, thinking up possible answers to the unanswered questions of Doctor Who is part of the fun of the show.
I think the issue with Clara was a combination of the inconsistency between the earlier and later characterisations, the fact that the former was very flat creating a bad first impression, particularly in contrast to the Ponds, and Moffat as a writer being just not quite as good at this sort of complex character work as Russel was. I've kind of always been able to see parts of what they were going for, but felt like the writing didn't really deliver on it consistently and subsequently missed the full potential of this character. It's nice to see somebody explore it in depth.
I have always loved Clara. Always. I listen to her little monologue about fear when I’m down in the dumps.
For me, personally, I felt she would have worked better as 'shards' or 'echos'. How would the Doctor feel knowing that every time he meets her, he is meeting the echo of the 'real' one.
Or to have her death be final, either in the Doctor's life stream or in Day of the Raven.
I felt Season 7 'real' Clara was not well written, she seemed to be thrown together at the last minute. The writing did improve but I don't think it ever met the expectations Moffat had for her. As for her romance with Danny? Meh.
Deep Breath was fantastic, I wish we could have had more stories like that instead Kill the Moon standard.
Really good analysis you verbalised the tension and feelings I had for her as well as opened my eyes to appreciating her character even more!!!
I thought the Hybrid was the Master who joined with the Cybermen and destroyed Gallifrey at the end of season 12....I rewatched Hell Bent recently, and I think this is the best actual explanation. It's just timey-wimey.
I liked her first two versions and was disappointed the Victorian version wasn’t the companion because the modern one was… cold and smug and her characterisation flopped around all over the place depending on what the story called for. I didn’t enjoy her “I don’t really need this” affect. Constantly being reminded she didn’t really care about travelling with the Doctor made it very hard to care about her travelling with the Doctor. I enjoyed Twelve much more with Bill. In general I prefer companions who don’t think they’re too cool for it all.
I'm sorry, we're on 15 now? It feels like last week I was watching the first series of 13
Clara Oswald is my favorite companion by a LANDSLIDE! Before Clara, I never quite felt I had a favorite companion. I just sort of said it was Rose because everyone liked Rose. Once Oswin was introduced, I was crushed when she died. So when victorian Clara showed up, I was so excited because I knew there was something deeper there and I was excited to see her again!
However, I personally think that the reason why people disliked Clara and Eleven together was because THEY were too similar. I agree that Clara could’ve been fleshed out more, but I also think a lot of her character was a young woman trying to find herself and really discover who she is as a person which sometimes leaves things to be desired in side characters. Clara being introduced while it seemed the Doctor was also attempting to process who he really was made them come off as too similar for some, but I enjoyed that similarity. When Twelve came along, Clara started as an opposite to him. She was fun and excitable where he was grouchy and rude which was such a stark contrast for some watchers that they had a hard time adjusting and that’s completely understandable. At the end of the day, I get shit on a lot for enjoying Clara as much as I do, but I understand why people have their complaints. I just wish people weren’t so quick to write her off as ‘just another pretty girl for the doctor to flirt with’ before really trying to understand who she is as a character and what all she brings to the show. I’ve spoken with some folks who believe Clara’s time on the show should’ve ended after she jumped into the Doctor’s time stream, causing that moment to be her death and then having a new companion come on board. I think that Clara was the perfect companion for the 50th because she already knew all versions of the Doctor, giving her a unique perspective that mattered to him. Regardless of if I agreed with your take or not though, it was a great video and you really did your research!🥰
I’m so glad you enjoyed the video!! I honestly don’t get the thinking that Clara should have died when she jumped into the time stream, because so many of her best moments came after that and we would’ve missed out!
Being feisty and combative is never a good thing. The early episodes Clara is intelligent and resourceful, it's interesting to follow. Later on, she becomes annoying, troublesome and constantly trying to be the Doctor but at the same time arguing with him. In Capaldi's era, she just throws a tantrum because her boyfriend is dead. Like, miss millions die every year why there should be an exception to your boyfriend? And it doesn't get any better. She's no longer that intelligent woman but just a random very argumentative person in the TARDIS. I was truly *relieved* when I finally saw her go.
Personally, I'd cut short Clara's run and make Bill's longer.
I have the same problem with Clara that I have with Amy. Both were arrogant, and both didn’t grow, as people, from their time with the Doctor.
Every other long term companion, in the 60-odd year history of the show, became better individuals, due to their experiences travelling with the Doctor.
Amy didn’t change at all.
Clara remained a narcissist, and completely overestimated her abilities, to the point that it, effectively, got her killed. She tried to be the Doctor, but lacked their knowledge and experience to be able to pull it off.
I would think that, being able to visit all of time and space - to be able to see all the wonders, horrors, and everything in between - would be such a humbling experience. Such a privilege. But, it has little to no effect on Clara and Amy. I would even go so far as to compare them to the Master. He saw so much. Yet, in his hubris, he wanted to own/ control it all, rather than be humbled by it.
All in my not so humble opinion, of course… 😈
Cheers,
The difference between Romana vs Clara and Donna besides Romana being a timelady is she isn’t trying to be the Doctor. Like sure, she takes cues from him, learning how to adapt better to various surroundings and such. However even in the Horns of Nimon, she’s still herself. I think if the writers ever try to do the “companion tries to be the Doctor but it backfires,” bit again, I hope the moral isn’t, “no one else can be him.” And more, “don’t try to be something you’re not. You can still help people like he does without becoming him.”
Also more so than any other companion it feels like her and the Doctor have to work together to solve the plot of a given story. Like she’s spouting as much gobbledygook as him to figure out the plot.
Great observations! As much as I love the whole “companion suffers the consequences of trying to be too much like the Doctor” thing, it could be really interesting to see a companion shake themselves out of that pattern and try to move past it
@@looseleafellie thank you! The neat thing is you could still have a companion suffer some consequences for trying to emulate him too much while having them move past it.
I just don’t think the consequences need to be on the level of because you tried you’re out of the show now.
@ I mean, they do need to write the companion out of the show eventually, but I’m sure they could come up with a less punitive reason
@ oh right not saying don’t write companions out of the show. Just I’d prefer this reason to boot them from the series to not happen as much.
To use Romana as another example, her exit isn’t the greatest but she didn’t get booted/punished for acting like the Doctor. If anything she left emulating him. Left with the choice of between the stuffy bureaucracy stuck on galfirey or wandering the universe and timestream on the run helping people in need, she chose the latter.
I think the actress had awful chemistry with Capaldi. The character was quite annoying. She acts doctor like, so there is no dynamic between doctor and companion. It's a competition and the gets boring, fast
1) We got the least interesting version of the three.
2) She was too much like Amy, (pushy, bossy, headstrong, 'feisty', fancying the Doctor, etc.),
- especialy coming straight after Amy.
3) Beyond that, she doesn't have much personality.
4) She had a perfect exit story, i.e. jumping into the Doctor's Timeline to save him.
5) We didn't get nearly enough of Bill.
I mean, in the revived Dr. Who, all of the recurring companions who were women had their own unique relationship to the Doctor.
Rose Tyler was the Doctor's Lover,
Martha Jones (Although being kinda tricky to place because I don't think they quite knew what role they wanted to give her) was the Doctor's herald.
Donna Noble was the Doctor's conscience.
Amelia Pond was the Doctor's friend(and Mother in Law)
River Song/Melody Pond was the Doctor's wife
Clara Oswald was the Doctor.
I kinda fell off near the beginning of 12's run and haven't watched Doctor Who since then, but to me, the 9th through the 11th seemed to be on a journey of healing and acceptance, he needed different people in his life to guide him on that journey because the Doctor was never okay with the Doctor until after Trenzalore.
There's something Donna says when she's calling the Doctor out for his casual genocide to protect humanity, she tells him that he needs companions to stop him, but I don't think that's quite it. The Doctor's primary characteristic that unites all of his incarnations is that he lacks something, he doesn't even always know what he lacks, but the companion either fills in that something or helps him find it. I think that if it hadn't been for Clara, the Doctor wouldn't have loved himself enough to be able to love River Song properly at the end and her rant about a sunset not loving you back would've been true.
I had no idea anyone wouldn't love Clara, I cannot imagine not loving her. Clara is Doctor Who best story, by far.
Even though I only started watching Doctor Who when Peter Capaldi took over the title role, (so my introduction to the Clara's character was the Series 8 version of her) I still think Jenna Coleman stayed too long with the show. However, I love the episode "Heaven Sent" and that would not have been possible if Clara left at the end of Series 8. Nonetheless, I do sometimes wonder "what if" we had gotten two seasons with Bill Potts and 12.
I’m right there with you! I think a lot of the interesting character work wouldn’t have been possible if she’d left earlier, but I adore Bill and wish we got more time with her
I think Clara really hits her stride with 12, but then has such a big fall from grace. She didn't NEED to become some "equal" to the Doctor and it really just felt cheap.
A bit harsh on Series 7 IMO, but happy to see you recognise the quality of writing Clara received in Series 8 and 9. She's my favourite companion and her & 12 are my favourite TARDIS team, so I always go into videos like this about Clara with some trepidation and expecting to find some mindless hater who I'll have to correct in the comments. So this video was a rather pleasant surprise 😊
I'm happy to see your appreciation for her has grown over the years (which is something I've seen a lot of people say since the end of 12's era) and I appreciate your ability to recognise that Moffat wasn't trying to make her "better" than all other companions - they were just writing stories they thought were cool and compelling, and it just happened to be Clara who was companion at the time. I've never understood the mentality of people who think that - is it fans feeling insecure that their favourite is getting shown up by another character, perhaps?
Quick note about a couple things:
- Victorian Clara saved 11 because her death made the Latimer family cry on Xmas Day, which changed the snow to tears and this defeated the Great Intelligence (who was created from the snow) while he was in the middle of trying to freeze the Doctor to death.
- 11 was certainly affected by his encounter with 10 and War in TDOTD, it certainly brought up his regret etc, but he was still prepared to do it all again (as evidenced by his joining the other two to activate the Moment). It wasn't until Clara spoke up that he was compelled to change his mind. Even if he HAD been thinking about it, she gave him the push he needed to actually go through with it. That's more important than I think you're giving credit for.
- The novelisation of TUAT clarifies that the glass avatar of Bill briefly transformed into Clara while she assumed control of it to say hi to the Doctor and restore his memories of her. This isn't portrayed very well onscreen, admittedly, as Jenna had to film her bit separately and all that, but that seems to have been the intention. So that actually IS the real Clara there (or a manifestation of her, at least).
I'll forgive the shameless clickbait of putting "why does everyone hate her?" in the thumbnail before admitting in the video that it's NOT everyone (claiming in the title that she "was robbed" seems like an exaggeration, too), seeing as you made some fair criticisms of some things (having all of those unacknowledged Clara Echoes IS messy, though it personally doesn't bother me) and you actually have some pretty interesting takes on some things that I'd never considered before. I never thought of KTM as a deliberate attempt by the Doctor to make Clara more like him just to sabotage her & Danny's relationship before.
Sorry for all the rambling. TLDR - I enjoyed this video overall. Nice job 👍
@@gerryandersonisbest glad you liked it! I suspect a large part of the reason why a lot of people like myself appreciate Clara and Twelve better on a second watch is because the character development is easier to catch when you’re watching all their episodes over a short period of time, rather than over 3 years of sporadically-airing TV.
My Mum had issues with Clara.
Apparently she has 'Flicky Hair'.
Yeah, I still really don't know what that means either.
Might sound kinda random, but I love your accent ❤
Like everyone says I loved the Victorian Era Clara.
I still don’t know how to feel about Clara but I still in the camp that Clara should’ve died when she split herself throughout the doctor’s timeline. Then introduce a different Clara which he somehow saved from dieing(Matt smith letting himself die for her?) and this is the doctor dedicating himself trying to find a different Clara and one he could actually somehow achieved to save.
I started watching Doctor Who partway through Clara and Twelve's first season (I think it was summer 2016, the tv channel that showed Doctor Who here before this whole Disney thing was doing reruns of Twelve's first two seasons and I didn't have anything in particular going on at that point and it caught my eye one day so i decided to give it a go), and like... I remember I took a little while to warm up to both Clara and Twelve, but once I did, I really liked them. I don't have a favorite companion, but to this day, Twelve is probably my favorite Doctor. Eventually I got around to watching Eleventh Doctor's seasons, and frankly, Eleven overall ...kind of just never worked for me? Like I remember just kind of watching those seasons, and like I _knew_ that Eleven had been really popular, but I was just sitting there watching those episodes and wondering what I had missed, why it didn't click for me, like I just didn't really feel any draw to the character and a lot of the stories kinda annoyed me. And then it got to the episodes with Clara, and I remember watching them and just... being so disappointed, like this is how you introduce the character that i'd come to like so much???
I know folks didn't like her in series 7, but 12 and Clara are arguably the best written pair of the show. You get to see why becoming the doctor is a bad idea and it highlights some of the less savory parts of the doctor. You get to see flawed people interact in such a fun way.