Clara Oswin Oswald- true opinion so far

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  • haphashhaphash Posts: 21,448
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    I definitely don't love the character, in fact she frequently annoys me and I think the writing for her has frequently been pretty poor.

    Plus Jenna hasn't yet given a great, memorable performance like Karen Gillan did in The Girl Who Waited, Freema Agyeman did in Human Nature/Family of Blood or Catherine Tate did in Planet of the Ood.

    I agree with this. I'm not keen on modern day Clara so far. I quite liked victorian Clara and think its a shame we had to have a new version. Her fast quips and lack of reaction to unbelievable things are a bit annoying IMO.
  • henry_hopehenry_hope Posts: 761
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    I think she is a monster.
    The episodes have been building on this theme, the two monsters who were not a horror story but a love story, the Doctor being a pet monster......which he is really, since he is an alien. This is the most interesting idea so far this season, that he is a monster....

    So im expecting Clara to be a monster too in the end....because the doctor keeps saying he and she have been searching for each other over the centuries....like the other two monsters.

    They are companions...as monsters.
    That would be different and something to delve into...
    since in a way men and women are monsters to each other....you know, in the sense of being alien!
  • Sara_PeplowSara_Peplow Posts: 1,579
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    Women are from venus men are from mars. Humanity has its own dark side. We are capable of so much good but also so much evil. Dr likes us because we are the closest thing to his own species the timelords.
  • Tom TitTom Tit Posts: 2,554
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    henry_hope wrote: »
    I think she is a monster.
    The episodes have been building on this theme, the two monsters who were not a horror story but a love story, the Doctor being a pet monster......which he is really, since he is an alien. This is the most interesting idea so far this season, that he is a monster....

    So im expecting Clara to be a monster too in the end....because the doctor keeps saying he and she have been searching for each other over the centuries....like the other two monsters.

    They are companions...as monsters.
    That would be different and something to delve into...
    since in a way men and women are monsters to each other....you know, in the sense of being alien!


    I don't where to begin with your definition of a 'monster', other than to say Doctor Who's general equating of aliens with monstrousness has clearly over-influenced you.
  • davebtdavebt Posts: 110
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    Si_Crewe wrote: »
    A good point, well made.

    It's always good f a TV show can provide a character that the audience either empathises with or aspires to emulate and, in DW, that character is the companion but, with Clara, we already know that she's something "special" and so she stops being a character we invest in and, instead, (to use the words of Mickey Smith) she becomes "the tin dog".

    Right, and it doesn't take long, even on this thread to find examples of how this has snowballed. Moffat couldn't have it both ways, he couldn't tell us more about her and leave the mystery, so he was caught in a web of his own making, having to carry Clara through this series so as to be able to hold the suspense surrounding the companion. Unfortunately I think this was badly thought through and it has had a negative effect on the general popularity.

    Some quotes from this thread. I have taken extracts from people's posts and apologise in advance if anyone feels I have removed the context of what they were trying to say. This was not my intent..
    So yeah, the one that appeared in a single episode is my favourite and the series regular is my least!
    I don't think the writing is helping her, but to me she could be playing m-d Clara a lot better than she is
    the actress is fine it's just that they haven't given her much to work with besides smile alot
    At the moment she is all "mystery" and not enough "character".

    The companion is supposed to be the main "heart and soul" of the show for me and at the moment she just seems like a plot device
    However, my opinion of Clara isn't too good ... my problem is, I don't believe her character. Her personality, rather. She lacks any sort of depth
    she is doing a good job but she isnt really being asked to do much
    i feel a bit sorry for her. having established there's a great mystery about her, we've seen no development of her story. She's just some kind of cipher behaving oddly
    JLC isn't a very good actor, but it's also true she is being given impossibly awful dialogue and stage actions to perform.

    It possibly is all a plot device, a crazy thing to do if so.
    I want more from this character and I'll remain hopeful that a change in series format and the relinquishing of her mystery will provide this
    like her, but I can't really seem to warm to her. She's just there and doesn't seem to have much depth to her yet
    Oswin seemed like a more interesting character to me than modern day Clara, so modern day Clara has me a bit dissapointed
    To be honest, I think in general the writing hasn't allowed for the greatest amount of character building on JLC's part
    Clara is just...meh. Given JLC impressed me in her first two stories, I can only assume she's being told to play modern day Clara the way she does because of the finale.
    it seems to me that he's kept Clara's mystery so secret and locked away that he hasn't given the writers much room to develop her character

    What I have been a little disappointed by is the writing of her character in series 7 part 2. Apart from 'The Bells of Saint John' and a little background in 'The Rings of Akhaten', there hasn't been much going on with her character
    There doesn't feel like any connection with the Doctor other than being there to solve the mystery;
    I've just realised that I have as much idea of who Clara is as the Doctor does.

    I suppose that's deliberate.

    There is nothing there whatsoever. No character motivation, not much of a personality.
    JLC is a great actress but she just hasn't been given enough material to do well, anything

    What I gather from this collection is that this lack of depth is deliberate, something that needed to be done to carry the story to the point the mystery will be explained. I still maintain this was a damn stupid thing to do and something that has cost Doctor Who the ability to sustain the viewing figures or/and general popularity. It may be okay amongst the hard core, as we will watch anyway, but I cannot believe that someone who is supposed to be a first class story teller made such an elementary mistake.

    If you write a story, you need to get people to buy into the main characters. Failure to do so deliberately (as part of your main plot) is downright stupid.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,138
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    by saying nothing about Clara, all possibilities exist. They'll collapse to a single answer when we observe the final episode

    she's the first Quantum Companion
  • CD93CD93 Posts: 13,939
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    CD, we've all been waiting for that essay for a long time, and it was every bit as amazing as I imagined it would be :D

    Who knows how much of it will be redundant after the finale.
  • AbominationAbomination Posts: 6,483
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    I have a tendency to ramble about topics like this, so I'll try hard to keep my opinion both short and sweet.

    I think that Jenna does an amazing job, and that I was won over by her in Asylum of the Daleks. Like with Catherine Tate when she made her second appearance, Jenna had a more refined character. Unlike Donna though, she hasn't been given the room to grow as a character, I feel...and yet both characters were similarly the centre of an ongoing mystery so I don't feel I can forgive Moffat for trying to do something groundbreakingly new - Davies did it too, and so far, he's done it better (not a dig at Moffat, just a specific observation).

    To me, it feels like she's a bit of a plot device before she's actually a person. She's there to serve a story, rather than to be a genuinely interesting person worthy of our time. Her mystery may (or may not for some) be interesting, but her personality is not... I don't blame Jenna for that as 'Asylum showed the energetic spark she has that could make for the finest companion yet. But she isn't doing enough or getting fleshed out quite enough to win me over as Clara.

    It's a recurring pattern I've noticed with the last few series, with characters both loved or loathed. River Song, for example, has only appeared in episodes serving her mystery in Series 6 and Series 7. It removes the heart of the character and makes them a plot-with-a-name. Opinions towards her were generally higher back in 2010 than they are now (for the record, I still love River).
    A character like Brian Williams could have been the emotional heart-stone that tied up the end of the Pond era. But he was brought in to serve the plot a bit better in Series 7 and never got the chance to shine. We never saw him at his own sons wedding, and so it just comes across as if the writers don't care about the character very much at all... at least when Wilf was reintroduced as Donna's grandad they chucked in the quick line about his absence from Donna's wedding being down to Spanish flu - it might sound daft, but those quirky and endearing one liners flesh out the characters and make them heart warming individuals we can invest in, rather than just vessels to carry us all from A-B in Moffat's latest wild mystery. Clara is treading a fine line as a character verging on being such a plain vessel, and I think this is cruel when we have such brilliant talent at the acting helm.

    ...huh, the short and sweet didn't really work :p
    But I grow ever more disheartened - of my two sisters, one stopped watching during Series 5, the other now has a waning interest as well. I used to talk about the show with my two next door neighbours, but they've fallen into the empty promises of "I'll watch it on iPlayer later" category over the past few weeks. My partner and I still watch avidly, but pretty much all of our friends have stopped watching it...just one of mine has watched 7B and she's been disappointed by every episode except the last. I would love to believe this wasn't very telling in some way, but I feel the characterisation of Clara as a lead has been a nail in a coffin that is coming along for a lot of non-hardcore viewers. And as much as I will defend the show and keep watching for now, even I have to admit that the characterisation and pacing has impacted my enjoyment this series. :o
  • davebtdavebt Posts: 110
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    I think that Jenna does an amazing job, and that I was won over by her in Asylum of the Daleks. Like with Catherine Tate when she made her second appearance, Jenna had a more refined character. Unlike Donna though, she hasn't been given the room to grow as a character, I feel...and yet both characters were similarly the centre of an ongoing mystery so I don't feel I can forgive Moffat for trying to do something groundbreakingly new - Davies did it too, and so far, he's done it better (not a dig at Moffat, just a specific observation).

    TBH I don't get the comparison. We were well aware that Donna was Donna, a temp from Chiswick. She was an easy and straightforward character to connect with. In each of the new companion opening stories we were well introduced to the person (rose, Martha & donna) before things became complicated. Do you really believe they are comparable?
  • ThrombinThrombin Posts: 9,416
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    If I was just reading this thread I'd be a bit disappointed by all the negativity but the poll seems to bely that with majority loving Clara.

    I don't find her lacking personality or believability and I'm not finding the mystery detracting from my ability to invest in her (as far as I'm concerned she's a normal, if extremely clever, girl who is probably going to have something strange happen to her in the future).

    I think she's full of character, full of fun and a joy to watch.

    If I hadn't been reading these forums for a while I would have been gob smacked that so many had issues with the character. At least it seems there's still a large number who like her.
  • Whovian1109Whovian1109 Posts: 1,812
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    CD93 wrote: »
    Who knows how much of it will be redundant after the finale.

    It can hardly be redundant if it's commenting on her portrayal and treatment in the episodes leading up to the finale, even if the finale itself does tweak your conception of Clara considerably.
  • AbominationAbomination Posts: 6,483
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    davebt wrote: »
    TBH I don't get the comparison. We were well aware that Donna was Donna, a temp from Chiswick. She was an easy and straightforward character to connect with. In each of the new companion opening stories we were well introduced to the person (rose, Martha & donna) before things became complicated. Do you really believe they are comparable?

    I believe there are a few parallels that can be drawn, though of course each character still brings variety to the table, as variety is what Doctor Who has always been good at :)

    I recall a lot of people Pre-Series 4 being quite apprehensive that a full series of Donna Noble would be too much. Even I had my doubts that the rather loud-mouthed character in The Runaway Bride could carry a whole series. However from Partners in Crime the character was more refined.
    Similarly (though not identically) Oswin shows up in Asylum of the Daleks. There was quite some fanfare and she was largely well received, though there were concerns among a selection of fans that she was too snappy, maybe even too witty and that this would grow tiring. I feel this was refined in The Snowmen, and then further in The Bells of Saint John and beyond.

    Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch of me to compare their fate as 'universally important individuals'... after all, Donna grew into her importance (before being robbed of it) whilst Clara had it thrust upon her from the very start. Maybe on that level, the comparison between the two isn't quite as fundamentally strong, but I still concur that the writing of Clara is quite flawed - setting her up as a mystery before setting her up as a character is something that doesn't work for me. Again, credit where it's due for trying something new, but in my opinion Clara is close to falling into the category of characters who were written to serve a plot, rather than to be characters that become involved in a plot. If it does end that way, and I'll reserve judgement until the end of the series, then I do feel it is a great waste of potential from Jenna :)
  • jks69jks69 Posts: 76
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    I really try to like Clara, but I find her one-dimensional and detatched.
    I don't like her paliness with the Doctor - it seems forced and false.
    We've seen other companions have to gain the Doctor's trust and friendships grow, but in Clara's case it's like "here I am, I intrigue him, I'm the boss, I can make him do what I want etc.."
    I fail to see the attraction - it's like being friends with someone for a few weeks and suddenly they think you are their best friend and know everything about you.
    I'm also really hating the fact that River has been airbrushed out of the Doctor's story and perhaps that is why I resent Clara.
    I don't want River to be in the show all the time and I know her arc will finish soon - but there has been no mention of her with Clara and also no mention about Amy and Rory.
    I don't want the doctor to be all maudlin and talking about them all the time (as 10 did with Martha and Donna about Rose) - but this lack of acknowledgment seems very strange. Perhaps it is part of this season's story but it leaves me cold.
  • henry_hopehenry_hope Posts: 761
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    It leaves us cold because there is something in Clara that is cold, detached,unreachable,inhuman.
    As there is in the doctor.
    Its the opposite of Rose.
    They are monsters and if they bring out that side of things it might be interesting.
  • *Eileen**Eileen* Posts: 9,881
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    Clara/Jenna does little for me, I'm not enjoying her as a companion at all, when she first turned up as Oswin in the Dalek episode she annoyed me intensely and I wasn't too happy when it was revealed that she would be the next companion. She isn't annoying me particularly now and it's hard to put into words why she just isn't working for me, I find her just dull and there is just something just very meh about her. I do however find her story intriguing and so have voted for the second option.
  • alias aliasalias alias Posts: 8,824
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    The doctor has so far just been investigating her, theirs no trust and she hasn't even got the key to the Tardis yet so it feels a bit cold between them but i still love Mod Clara.
  • lordo350lordo350 Posts: 3,633
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    Awwwww

    You know, I was really looking forward to Clara. When I heard Amy and Rory were leaving, I thought they did it at the right time, especially as Matt was sticking around. And when Jenna's casting was announced, I was excited. She's absolutely lovely to look at. I hadn't seen much of her acting before, but then again the only actress I actually had seen before was Catherine Tate. So yeah, excited.

    Then she was in Asylum and I really liked her. I liked the mystery they wove around the character and I thought her performance was really good. She really sold the heartbreak and despair of being a Dalek. I was excited to see what was coming next for her!

    Then she had her proper début in the Snowmen, and again I loved her! Really good chemistry with Matt Smith, really showcased well the blunt amazement at seeing the TARDIS. And when she died, and the previews came in for series 7b, looking like it was centred around her mystery, I was full game!!!

    Then we get to series 7b... and she hasn't really lived up to any of that. At all.
    The girl has proven she can act. We've seen her do it! She peaked in the Snowmen and I instantly accepted her as the Doctor's new companion. This year, I just haven't. I thought it was the writing more than anything, but Matt Smith is still more than making do with what he's being given effortlessly. Which means I have to conclude, especially after last week, it's the acting.

    I mean, just look at the Crimson Horror beefing up Jenny for the first time. When she reunited with the Doctor, I felt instant chemistry! They were awesome together, and in fact she's become my favourite of the Silurian, Sontaron, Human trio. Catrin Stewart shared 5 minutes of screen time with Matt Smith and felt more right as his companion than Clara has all bloody series. When Clara came back into the episode, I really wasn't that bothered.

    It's like the girl is reading every line from a script. She never seems to change her vocal range, nor for that matter her facial expressions! And after her previous performances, I don't see what's going on!! I agree with an above poster; she simply made some silly quirk when facing a ball of fire.

    To be fair, Matt's had nearly 4 years to get to know his character now whereas Jenna is brand new to the role. The scripts haven't been great and I think it must be daunting for her. It's just I think of Karen Gillan and Catherine Tate and hell Billie Piper and the performances they all gave. Hell, Jenna has done much better before. So, I think she deserves another chance, but so far... yeah. Not overly impressed.
  • CD93CD93 Posts: 13,939
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    "Perfect in every way for me. Always brave. Always funny. Always exactly what I need. Perfect. Too perfect."

    The prequel surely brought some reassurance that there's a reason Clara has taken everything in her stride so far.
  • Pull2OpenPull2Open Posts: 15,138
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    I have to be honest, I am finding it increasingly difficult to find my 'Oswald Love'!

    The character seems like a 'work in progress' and while I am finding the whole 'impossible girl' story interesting (with a little i!) I am not in a 'state of Grippedness' with it like I have been in the past!
  • nebogipfelnebogipfel Posts: 8,375
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    Yes - it does start to fall into "written like that on purpose to serve the plot", rather than "tried to make her rounded and normal like Rose but failed". In which case, I agree with davebt above. It might end up making sense in terms of the arc and a scifi plot. But the price paid is the audience lacks a Rose type character to connect with. Amy suffered similar problems. It is a bit odd for the writer to deliberately wink and nod to the audience "Don't trust this person." Lots of people don't mind and love the mystery. Lots of other people find it off putting.

    On the other hand - I still think that regardless of the reasoning behind Clara's character, Moffat does have a taste for sitcom one-liner sassy banter, especially with female characters. This, combined with what seems to be the idea for Clara's backstory, adds up to the problems I've been having.

    I don't really mind that Clara has been something of an uninteresting "standard companion". They can't all be Donna. I don't really like the snappy one-liner conversations though. We had quite a lot of that with Amy.
  • haphashhaphash Posts: 21,448
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    Clara doesn't have the chemistry with the Doctor that Amy had. I believed in Amy's friendship with the Doctor but Clara seems to have no motive for anything. She doesn't appear fond of him or even that intrigued given that he is a time travellling alien. She is just 'too cool' for my liking and too unfazed by dangerous situations. How many nannies would be able to take control of some soldiers so easily for example?

    The quick fire quips are really irritating too and unfortunately IMO she is what is wrong with the programme at the moment because she is unbelievable (more so than an ancient time travelling alien).
  • bbll22bbll22 Posts: 527
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    nebogipfel wrote: »
    I don't really mind that Clara has been something of an uninteresting "standard companion". They can't all be Donna. I don't really like the snappy one-liner conversations though. We had quite a lot of that with Amy.

    Am I the only who can never see this one-liner thing that Amy had with the Doctor? :confused: I never got that at all when watching her - everything felt normal with her dialogue.

    I certainly get the one-liner feeling when watching Clara though, but with Amy I just never found it...
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,273
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    I agree that 21st century Clara isn't as good as Oswin or Victorian Clara and essentially the finale is the episode that hangs in the balance of my opinion on her. She has on the whole been one of the better companions but I do want to see a decent companion that is 100% normal no universe saving special person (apart from Martha every companion of nu-who has fallen into that catagory including Donna unfortunately and Martha was just bland)
  • CD93CD93 Posts: 13,939
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    haphash wrote: »
    Clara doesn't have the chemistry with the Doctor that Amy had. I believed in Amy's friendship with the Doctor but Clara seems to have no motive for anything. She doesn't appear fond of him or even that intrigued given that he is a time travellling alien. She is just 'too cool' for my liking and too unfazed by dangerous situations. How many nannies would be able to take control of some soldiers so easily for example? .

    Have you watched the prequel which... addresses this?
  • Mystical123Mystical123 Posts: 15,811
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    CD93 wrote: »
    Have you watched the prequel which... addresses this?

    It shouldn't take a prequel that's only available online to show that. Plenty of people don't watch prequels, plenty aren't even aware they exist. It's what happens in the episodes that is most important.


    Jenna was good in the prequel, but it didn't give away anything we didn't already know or suspect.
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