Just found this piece on Clara in light of a few 'common' complaints.

http://www.cultbox.co.uk/features/op...lem-like-clara

I think Clara is a character with a lot of potential, but we've been stuck at that point for a long time now. It's nearly been two years since we saw Jenna Coleman make her shock debut as Oswin and in the twelve episodes we've had with her since, not much has become of her - in that episode frame Rose was close to opening the time vortex and discovering the truth of Bad Wolf, Martha was about to travel the world to stop The Master and have her life turned upside down, Donna had already met Rose and discussed the threat that Davros was about to unleash, Amy had already seen Rory die a fair few times and had also died herself. But Clara? I don't feel we've made even a dent of progression with the character.

Series 7 was very uneven and I don't feel wrapping Clara up in such an intense mystery was a clever way of revealing a new companion...particularly when the eventual reveal of her entering The Doctor's time stream feels like an idea better suited to the character of River Song.

Clara has shown more promise since Series 7 ended. She was one of the only things I really liked about the 50th Anniversary Special and I loved her even more in The Time of the Doctor. If they keep up this trend I might end up enjoying her character a lot more, and I hope so as Jenna is absolutely superb and adds a sunny presence like no New Who companion before her...shes brilliant! Let's just move on from the sense of potential and actually tap into it now.

During Series 7, I found her a bit boring. I never once hated her, but she never won me over. She had some good moments (eg. "we're all ghosts to you"), but a lot of the time the "Impossible Girl" arc hindered any character development.
However, I've started to really like her in the past two episodes and I'm hopeful that Series 8 will become her defining work on Doctor Who.

I think one of her character's strong points is that she isn't always that feisty, flirty girl Moffat seems to write a lot. She was more like that in Asylum and The Snowmen, but with Series 7 she seemed more "down-to-Earth" and more like a normal girl. At first, this may seem boring, but I personally like that Moffat is writing a very different character and in retrospect, Clara did have some great moments in Series 7.
I liked in Cold War when you could tell that she was really trying to impress the Doctor despite her obvious fear. Then in Hide, I think she gave her best performance of Series 7; again the fear came to surface again showing she wasn't the usual strong female character we've seen a lot of recently and we had that scene where she shows her humanity by challenging the Doctor's nonchalance at watching the entire life cycle of Earth in just a few minutes.

I really like this post. Especially the paragraph in bold.

I think there's a weird thing, where Clara is the most distinct companion in terms of her relationship with the Doctor - she's a mystery, a babysitter, the Doctor came looking for her, she doesn't live on the TARDIS - but in terms of actual character, she's left as a bit of a blank slate. There were a lot of Moffat interviews where he said he advised writers to just write her as the Doctor's latest companion. I see what he's getting at - a new Doctor's personality is built more by the actor than the writers, and the companion could be said to cycle in the same way - but I don't think it's a coincidence that series seven brought complaints of scant development.

Funnily, the one thing the article in the OP suggests changing is one of the few things I don't think needs attention. I was torn on the occasional journeys, at first, but I think it gives her a different relationship with the Doctor, and on reflection, it was about time we had a companion with a life outside the TARDIS. How did that not happen sooner?! Bit of a funny article all round - "Clara's not a problem, but here's how we solve her." Good talking point, though!

I would love to see Clara develop more
There is something about Jenna whose acting feels very versatile and can pull off anything.

Based on series 7 I would have agreed with the sentiment of Clara being a bit lacking as a character, but since then I feel day of the doctor and time of the doctor both showed her worth as a character and made me begin to feel a connection with her, so I think things with her are heading in the right direction.

I have a strange feeling that Clara will have a more in depth relationship with 12 than she did with 11. I think it's because on all the set pictures they just seem to have a great chemistry as actors, which usually translates to a great chemistry as characters on screen

I do find it somewhat ironic that so many people have complained since S6 all over the internet about the complex arcs being too dominant and the focus being too much on the companion and calling for a return to simple one off adventures where a normal companion just travels with the doctor and yet...thats pretty much what we got with the second half of S7 and now people call it unfocussed and the companion underdeveloped and want two parters back etc. I agree! S7 part two didn't feel like a return to pure Doctor Who. It felt like a backwards step. So maybe people should be careful what they wish for eh? Maybe its time to realize the old template doesn't work these days. Imagine the uproar if Danny Pink just stumbles onto the Tardis only to travel for a few episodes with a thinly sketched back story then to be dumped again. People would be up in arms about poor writing and yet that would be very Clsssic Who. But if the focus is too much on him and he forms a meaningful relationship with Clara or whoever and its emotionally resonant with viewers then other people will cry 'too much romance! Soap opera! Can't we just have some adventures again and focus on the doctor!'. Yet again the writers can't win either way.

That's why they should never listen to the viewers ever. I fear Moffat did get affected by alot of the S6 criticism and as a result we got compromise. That's never good.

Salient points as usual saladfingers Completely agree with above, they should listen to us but they should also remember they're the ones being paid to entertain us, and we don't always actually know what we want even if we think we do !

Also, Clara is awesome.

If Moffat really is getting affected by comments then I can only say this to him:

FOLLOW THE TEMPLATE FOR A SERIES AND ARC THAT RTD SET OUT, AS YOU DID IN SERIES 5

I mean, people keep saying 'Moffat can't win, one way or the other he gets moaned at' yet in series 5 he followed what had already proven a successful template and as a result, it is generally seen as his best series. I can understand him wanting to stretch his wings and want to experiment a little in the later series, as any show runner should feel the right to, but since those experiments were no where near as successful overall as series 1-5 were I think he should and hope he will go back to what works.

He has had a tendency to make changes when a noise has been made. Though, he used to make such statements on Twitter - which he quit when Series 7 began airing


In terms of format, that isn't happening. At least there are no two-part episodes where there would have been in episodes 1-8 - from what we know (or potentially know) of them. Absolutely not in the first six anyway.

In terms of story arc - it could well have that S1-5 feel to it. Or that S7b feel. I guess we will see.

Well, yes! There's umpteen million Doctor Who fans out there, everyone's going to have a different opinion.

For what it's worth, I think S6 was messy, and I think S7B was a bit messy, too. S6 was a weird story, squished into four episodes. The Almost People and Closing Time featured cliffhangers - one essential, the other not particularly - but there's about as much arc in S6 as Clara's identity got in S7: Asylum, Snowmen, Bells, Name.

Where S5 excelled is that it spun out a simple but interesting story, gradually, but successfully. The arc pushes forwards throughout, and the stakes shift as the series continues, but you could happily watch The Pandorica Opens and it'd still basically make sense. The arc doesn't dominate, but you can't swap a single episode in the S5 running order - it has flow, which is true of neither of its successors. The characters develop, and progress, the TARDIS fills then empties - it's way more pronounced than anything RTD ever did, Flesh & Stone featured the crack in time as a major threat.

S7 occasionally had glimmers of flow. That the Doctor went to Caliburn House because he was investigating Clara's true identity is a great character beat, and I got very excited about the TARDIS stuff, eventually decided it was just flavour, but now I'm pleased to hear it's a proper arc and it's going to continue into the next series.

Clara for me is awesome and Jenna is superb. I loved her from the first episode, Asylum of the Daleks and my opinion hasn’t changed at all since. She hasn’t had a full series yet and since Name of the Doctor, which was a great episode in itself she has been such a joy to watch. Day of the Doctor and Time of the doctor alone have made her the best companion already in my eyes. (I am talking New Who as I haven’t seen the Classic). Clara was one of the saving graces of the Time of the Doctor, together with Matt’s performance. The rest was just a convoluted mess.

I disagree that she is blank character. She is very well defined. Yes we can see more of her family etc, but she is a normal, unassuming, sassy, caring. warm, intelligent, more scared than she lets on young woman.

I think some people were too stuck with Amy (who I find the most irritating companion ever by the way) so they never gave Clara a chance. I personally loved Series 7B and enjoyed Matt’s doctor a lot more with Clara and the new dynamic she brought.

I think she will be awesome in Series 8 with Capaldi. The pictures of them together look like they will have a great chemistry.

She is very pretty and looks even prettier when she dresses as a bar maid perhaps they could pen a few more alluring pub scenes.

That's a sentiment we can all agree on, although I would add that she pretty much looks good in anything. heck, she would look good if she stepped out of the TARDIS wearing a bin bag