Popular / Unpopular Opinion: Clara Oswald

Unpopular Opinion

By guest contributor John Smith.

In this part of the article I will express why I, and other Whovians, dislike Jenna Coleman’s Clara.

Too much involvement with storyline

I have not really liked any of Moffat’s storylines so far. I liked RTD’s companion-per-series format (Series 1: Rose, Series 2: Rose, Series 3: Martha, Series 4: Donna) so Amy and Rory were a nightmare for me. I already do not like the fact that Clara is in Series 8. In the RTD era the companions were companions, not the storyline. Moffat makes the companions have too much involvement with the plot. In the whole of Series 7, Clara was the plot. Now that was just stupid. The Doctor’s companion should be someone that travels with him and helps out every now and then, not someone that his life depends on. I just hope that she does not have much involvement during Series 8.

Romance with the Doctor

In the classic series, the companions were simply just the Doctor’s friends and assistants; there was never any romance. In the revival series, Doctor Who has become more soap-like. The companions are getting more and more lovey-dovey with the Doctor. Since we first saw Clara’s character and personality in Asylum of the Daleks right up to The Time of the Doctor, you got the sense that Clara fancied the Doctor and sometimes it felt like you were watching a time travelling couple. I do not like this. Thank goodness Peter Capaldi is now the Doctor! Now that we have an older incarnation, this should kill the romance between the two.

The useless companion

Apart from her saving the Doctor in Asylum of the Daleks, The Snowmen and The Name of the Doctor, Clara does not do very much. Excluding her character in those three episodes, she has gone back to being the useless companion. She just prances around looking like she does not know what she is doing. Especially in The Time of the Doctor, the Doctor even wanted to get rid of her! All she did all episode was basically wander around like a raving lunatic. She did nothing productive in that episode whatsoever.

The Time of the Doctor

In my opinion, The Time of the Doctor has got to be Clara’s poorest story. I have mentioned Clara’s performance in this episode many times in this article, and I shall probably mention it more later on. As I mentioned earlier, the romance with the Doctor in this episode is ridiculous! It is like watching a couple! Clara even introduces the Doctor to her family as her boyfriend! The Doctor is about 1200 years old at the beginning of the episode, and Clara fancies him. 1170 year difference, this relationship won’t work out. All she does is prance around for the majority of the episode, she was not needed at all. Moffat could have written this episode without Clara, and it would not have made any difference at all. The only difference she made was whispering through the crack to the Time Lords who granted him twelve more regenerations – that was it. Another bad thing about Clara in this episode is the fact that she is more bothered about her turkey than anything important for most of the episode!

Underused family

I’ve put this into the mix because I think that getting to know the companion’s family and backstory helps us to understand and warm to the companion/s themselves. Rose’s family was by far the best family to come out Doctor Who. The combination of actors/actresses, characters and storylines was brilliant. It all just slotted together to create a brilliant fictional family. They started to make viewers warm to Rose, Jackie, Mickey, and Pete, especially in episodes like Father’s Day and The Christmas Invasion. This was the same with Martha and Donna’s family. These families were used in nearly every episode (the Tylers: S1 and S2, the Jones’: S3, and the Nobles: S4). I feel Clara’s family have not been used as much as they could be. I know in The Rings of Akhaten, we get the whole leaf story and the love story (again, romance!) between Clara’s mum and dad and in Clara’s worst episode we see some more family members, but this is not enough!

Clara’s theme

I hate everything about that horrible music that plays every time she is shown on screen. The music is a very important part of Doctor Who, as it is for any other programme or film. It adds a feel of sadness, happiness, suspense or action etc. to what you are watching – which really brings the feeling that you are actually in what you are watching. Murray Gold is a great musician, creating music for Doctor Who and also another one of my favourite programmes: The Musketeers. During the RTD era, the music was great but now that standard seems to have slipped. It must have slipped dramatically far if music like Clara’s theme is what they have to use now!

Conclusion

I do not like Clara, and most likely that will not change in the near future, it is unlikely that I shall ever warm to her. Hopefully series 8 will be the last we see of her, and a new companion will replace her and make a better impression on me.

Thank you for reading! Please comment with your opinions on Clara below!