To be honest, I think in general the writing hasn't allowed for the greatest amount of character building on JLC's part, it's all quick fire, back and forth quipping and jibbing between her and the doctor, it reminds of the dialogue in the Iron Man films between Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow.
There have been glimpses of what Jenna can do given the material to do it with - for example the scene in the 'outside' section of the TARDIS in last weeks ep felt very poignant and you felt her fear, uncertainty etc. However, instantly the script then required her to return to standard Clara and we're back to square 1.
Yeah, that bit was good. It was actually a moment when she wasn't all happy and bubbly and full on quirky. She actually got to express a different emotion for once.
Yeah, that bit was good. It was actually a moment when she wasn't all happy and bubbly and full on quirky. She actually got to express a different emotion for once.
Like in Cold War?
You know, it strikes me that in a group with Vasta, Strax, Jenny and The Doctor, Clara stands out like a sort thumb for not being quirky enough.
I actually like her character but I just think there's something of a "disconnect" between the Doctor and her.
As I said in another thread (I think) it seems like all the other companions have actually been able to "support" the Doctor in some way; to counterbalance some issue he's had in his personality whereas Clara is just around because DW is "curious" about her.
She'd be better off being the companion's zany cousin who sometimes tags along or summat, IMO.
I loved Oswin in AotD and also liked Clara in The Snowmen, but the modern day 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.
I loved Oswin in AotD and also liked Clara in The Snowmen, but the modern day 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.
Agreed, she came over as quirky and very intelligent and capable in those episodes.
I think Moffat has made a silly mistake, one that perhaps affects the average family watcher more than it does die hard fans. When trying to increase or sustain viwer numbers, It is important that viewers connect with characters, invest in them and engage with their journey. It is true that some of, in not most of New Who's companions had something incredible occur to their storyline, but in each case it came after the viewer had invested in the character. Clara is different, we have been shown there is something odd about Clara before we got to meet her, and worse still, have been allowed to imagine no end of devious storylines excusing her mutliple existence.
Clara is gorgeous, no doubt about it, but we cannot trust her. We cannot allow ourselves to engage and buy into the character development because we don't know what she is. Rose was easy, Martha too, and Donna... and who couldn't love the little Amelia Pond, but to love Clara? That is to trust that Moffat hasn't planted a nasty twist up his sleeve.
I believe Clara is a normal girl whose future travels with the doctor will create the other Clara's, but I cannot be certain. People hate to be taken for fools, and very few people will truly engage a character if they believe there still remains a chance they will end up being the bad guy.
It's an opinion, its my opinion, but I believe Moffat made a basic error in storytelling. Quite a clanger for someone who is so skilled in the art.
To be honest, I think in general the writing hasn't allowed for the greatest amount of character building on JLC's part, it's all quick fire, back and forth quipping and jibbing between her and the doctor, it reminds of the dialogue in the Iron Man films between Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow.
There have been glimpses of what Jenna can do given the material to do it with - for example the scene in the 'outside' section of the TARDIS in last weeks ep felt very poignant and you felt her fear, uncertainty etc. However, instantly the script then required her to return to standard Clara and we're back to square 1.
I agree with this. I'm no Moff basher (or butt licker for that matter) but 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. They don't seem to know what to do with her.
I don't blame anyone in particular, certainly not JLC or her acting skills, but as head honcho the buck ends with Mr Moff. I don't think he's done himself any favours. Maybe i'm wrong and there is method in his madness. I'm looking forward to finding out anyhoo.
I like the actress and the idea behind the character. The character in 'AOTD' and 'The Snowmen' was good and showed that Jenna-Louise Coleman is more than just a very pretty face.
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. All we've had so far is the Doctor musing that she's a mystery.
JLC is fine. For me the issue is the writing. Her dialogue is mostly one-liners, witty comebacks or part of a Doctor/Clara witty double act. She isn't coming across as a real person but a caricature. It's been a problem since Asylum and not just Clara, Amy had similar problems in her final five stories. Matt Smith's Doctor has been getting ever more comical to the point where I'm finding it irritating (and I've been a big fan of Matt Smith in the show).
Honestly, I think the writers now see the show as comedy and are writing characters with that in mind.
I can't dislike the actress as I've never seen her in anything else and she was fine as Victorian Clara, but modern Clara does nothing for me. She's partly 'sassy' throwing out one liners then having second thoughts when things get serious. Understandable perhaps but with no depth behind it. There doesn't feel like any connection with the Doctor other than being there to solve the mystery; he wants her under his nose till he works out what or who she is but there's no real chemistry that I can see.
I don't have anything against Clara as a character or JLC as an actress. I just don't get how they are going to explain what happened to her.How she cheated death and came back in different time zones twice. Is she suppose to be the doctor hot new "girlfriend " or lover ?. Is it ok that he has forgoten he is still married ?. Like he has traded River in for a younger model. He asked her to do her "duty" pretend to kill him then serve a prison sentence brief date nights inbetween then got bored. She even gave him permission to "cheat" on her !. Be interesting to see how Clara reacts when she discover that a she is not the only woman in his life and b he has been keeping pretty devastating secrets from her. Isn't that what lead to Amys infertility and Melody/Rivers abduction and abuse ?. Keeping secrets untill it is too late to stop terrible things happening.Clara still has a lot to learn about life and love with the doctor.
I wish there was an option in between options 1 and 2, because essentially you've given three negative and only one positive option. I like her and am enjoying the storyline but wouldn't go so far as saying I love her and think the character is great.....
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.
What has she done so far? Nothing. She just reacts to things.
While I don't rate JLC herself the main reason for her being empty is she's written that way. A far better actor could maybe have done a better job, but such a person would have had to be brilliant to do much with the Clara character as written.
I wish there was an option in between options 1 and 2, because essentially you've given three negative and only one positive option. I like her and am enjoying the storyline but wouldn't go so far as saying I love her and think the character is great.....
I agree with this. Jenna's performances are getting better - didn't like her at all for the first couple of episodes of 7B - and the storyline is intriguing. But 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.
Well I see what you saying- sorry- perhaps I should of added more options- but by Love- it can cover any kind of liking toward the character
No, sorry, love in my mind displays strong liking of the character. I'd say that about Rory & Amy or Donna, but I don't like Clara as much as I like them, so I really can't vote on your poll.
I don't have anything against Clara as a character or JLC as an actress. I just don't get how they are going to explain what happened to her.How she cheated death and came back in different time zones twice. Is she suppose to be the doctor hot new "girlfriend " or lover ?. Is it ok that he has forgoten he is still married ?.
You don't get it because it hasn't happened yet, and none of us are psychic, so have some patience.
And as for the marriage thing, stop being hyperbolic - there's been absolutely nothing to suggest that the Doctor and Clara are or will be romantically involved - he acts the same way to her as he's done to Amy, Donna, Martha before her, in fact he's more aloof with her than he ever was with any of them.
Plus River and the Doctor don't really have a conventional marriage, anyone can see that.
I agree with this. Jenna's performances are getting better - didn't like her at all for the first couple of episodes of 7B - and the storyline is intriguing. But 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.
No, sorry, love in my mind displays strong liking of the character. I'd say that about Rory & Amy or Donna, but I don't like Clara as much as I like them, so I really can't vote on your poll.
You don't get it because it hasn't happened yet, and none of us are psychic, so have some patience.
And as for the marriage thing, stop being hyperbolic - there's been absolutely nothing to suggest that the Doctor and Clara are or will be romantically involved - he acts the same way to her as he's done to Amy, Donna, Martha before her, in fact he's more aloof with her than he ever was with any of them.
Plus River and the Doctor don't really have a conventional marriage, anyone can see that.
Honestly I infinitely preferred Oswin Oswald and Victorian Clara to the modern incarnation for whatever reason.
JLC is a great actress but she just hasn't been given enough material to do well, anything - she's as much in the background as amy and rory were in series 6 and yet this is her INTRODUCTION.
You can't be taciturn about revealing anything about the companion because it's all inextricably wrapped up in the "mystery" for 8 weeks and expect her to be well liked. There's nothing to clara, she's just sort of there - at least so far. She may as well have died at the end of every episode with a new clara every week because we've had zero character progression in six episodes.
The movie of the week format worked fine in series 7a when the companions were already well established - but it isn't conducive to introducing a new companion at all.
I think Moffat has made a silly mistake, one that perhaps affects the average family watcher more than it does die hard fans. When trying to increase or sustain viwer numbers, It is important that viewers connect with characters, invest in them and engage with their journey. It is true that some of, in not most of New Who's companions had something incredible occur to their storyline, but in each case it came after the viewer had invested in the character. Clara is different, we have been shown there is something odd about Clara before we got to meet her, and worse still, have been allowed to imagine no end of devious storylines excusing her mutliple existence.
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".
Comments
"oh shush now..." ???. I'll try ignore instead.
The pub belonged to Simeon's assistant. We also saw Simeon's Uncle at the start of the episode.
Yeah, that bit was good. It was actually a moment when she wasn't all happy and bubbly and full on quirky. She actually got to express a different emotion for once.
Like in Cold War?
You know, it strikes me that in a group with Vasta, Strax, Jenny and The Doctor, Clara stands out like a sort thumb for not being quirky enough.
Why would Simeons assistant be running a Pub?
Clara told Capt Latimer that she reason she had been away for a few weeks was to help family.
How does working in a Pub help her family unless the Pub belongs to her family?
She wasn't Clara Oswald while working for Captain Latimer, she was Miss Montague. Miss Montague didn't work as a barmaid.
Now I am thinking smug,emotionless and detatched.
If there is a reveal/ explanation, I will take it back.
As I said in another thread (I think) it seems like all the other companions have actually been able to "support" the Doctor in some way; to counterbalance some issue he's had in his personality whereas Clara is just around because DW is "curious" about her.
She'd be better off being the companion's zany cousin who sometimes tags along or summat, IMO.
Clara is gorgeous, no doubt about it, but we cannot trust her. We cannot allow ourselves to engage and buy into the character development because we don't know what she is. Rose was easy, Martha too, and Donna... and who couldn't love the little Amelia Pond, but to love Clara? That is to trust that Moffat hasn't planted a nasty twist up his sleeve.
I believe Clara is a normal girl whose future travels with the doctor will create the other Clara's, but I cannot be certain. People hate to be taken for fools, and very few people will truly engage a character if they believe there still remains a chance they will end up being the bad guy.
It's an opinion, its my opinion, but I believe Moffat made a basic error in storytelling. Quite a clanger for someone who is so skilled in the art.
That always works! Nothing new.
I agree with this. I'm no Moff basher (or butt licker for that matter) but 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. They don't seem to know what to do with her.
I don't blame anyone in particular, certainly not JLC or her acting skills, but as head honcho the buck ends with Mr Moff. I don't think he's done himself any favours. Maybe i'm wrong and there is method in his madness. I'm looking forward to finding out anyhoo.
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. All we've had so far is the Doctor musing that she's a mystery.
Honestly, I think the writers now see the show as comedy and are writing characters with that in mind.
Yeah, this.
I suppose that's deliberate.
There is nothing there whatsoever. No character motivation, not much of a personality.
What has she done so far? Nothing. She just reacts to things.
While I don't rate JLC herself the main reason for her being empty is she's written that way. A far better actor could maybe have done a better job, but such a person would have had to be brilliant to do much with the Clara character as written.
I agree with this. Jenna's performances are getting better - didn't like her at all for the first couple of episodes of 7B - and the storyline is intriguing. But 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.
No, sorry, love in my mind displays strong liking of the character. I'd say that about Rory & Amy or Donna, but I don't like Clara as much as I like them, so I really can't vote on your poll.
You don't get it because it hasn't happened yet, and none of us are psychic, so have some patience.
And as for the marriage thing, stop being hyperbolic - there's been absolutely nothing to suggest that the Doctor and Clara are or will be romantically involved - he acts the same way to her as he's done to Amy, Donna, Martha before her, in fact he's more aloof with her than he ever was with any of them.
Plus River and the Doctor don't really have a conventional marriage, anyone can see that.
apart from the kissing for instance
and possibly the lapsus with the sonic
JLC is a great actress but she just hasn't been given enough material to do well, anything - she's as much in the background as amy and rory were in series 6 and yet this is her INTRODUCTION.
You can't be taciturn about revealing anything about the companion because it's all inextricably wrapped up in the "mystery" for 8 weeks and expect her to be well liked. There's nothing to clara, she's just sort of there - at least so far. She may as well have died at the end of every episode with a new clara every week because we've had zero character progression in six episodes.
The movie of the week format worked fine in series 7a when the companions were already well established - but it isn't conducive to introducing a new companion at all.
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".