Capaldi can't be The Doctor???

[Captrek]

If the Doctor doesn't have at least partial amnesia, why would he need to ask Clara whether she knows how to fly the TARDIS? He would already know the answer.

 

[Christopher]

Given that this is the start of a whole new regeneration cycle, it's not out of the question that the Doctor's mind has been "rebooted" to some degree and he's forgotten (at least temporarily) a lot of what he used to know.

Although the Doctor's had confusion or partial amnesia after several of his regenerations -- most notably the seventh (McCoy to McGann), after which he needed hours to recover his memory of who he was.

 

[MacLeod]

And we've had other post-regnerative trauma from, to name a couple of more

Four to Five
Five to Six (tried to strangle Peri if my memory is right)

 

[Captaindemotion]

Five to Six (tried to strangle Peri if my memory is right)

Crap, don't say you've been regenerated too?

 

[DWF]

I was able to catch a couple of Capaldi's scenes on The Musketeers Sunday and I think more than ever, he's going to make a fine Doctor.

 

[Australis]

The problem with Clara is that she doesn't an actual personality. She's smug, opinionated and rather full of herself, but other than that, I wouldn't say she has much of a defining personality, other than the girl-enchanted-by-Doctor-and-secretly-has-crush-on-him-but-won't-admit-it-to-herself-even thing.

This, totally.

I look forward to expanding her, personality-wise, in the eighth series.

I don't anticipate this at all. At all.

 

[Captrek]

I agree that Clara, so far, is not as interestingly written as Amy and Rory, my favorite companions. (Disclaimer: I am unfamiliar with the classic series.) Still, Coleman is compulsively watchable.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

If the Doctor doesn't have at least partial amnesia, why would he need to ask Clara whether she knows how to fly the TARDIS? He would already know the answer.

I think we're forgetting that the Doctor has spent numerous centuries in the Christmas village? Surely you'd forget how to drive, even a bicycle, if you haven't have done so for a good number of years, at least temporarily.

I agree that Clara, so far, is not as interestingly written as Amy and Rory, my favorite companions. (Disclaimer: I am unfamiliar with the classic series.) Still, Coleman is compulsively watchable.

Yeah, she's the main reason why the character works at ANY level. She manages to find ways to connect the disparate characterizations that various have had for her (like Starkers mentioned earlier) and somehow sell the concept of the character well enough, without making her too annoying. I hope they find a way to actually develop her character in the eighth series, and maybe manage to make her the Sarah Jane of NuWho (as impossible as that might seem, at least for now).

 

[DWF]

I'm sorry buut Amy was not only annoying but boring as well, she was obssessive about the Doctor and very abusive towards Rory. And Amy was certainly nowhere close to the tough independent Sarah Jane. Amy couldn't tell Rory she loved him on the day before their wedding, he certainly loved her but still couldn't tell him. Clara on the other hand has proven to be responsible for children going to so far as to becoming a teacher, she's clever and she's saved the Doctor's life on a number of occasions thoughout all of his lived at that.

 

[Starkers]

Well I'm sorry but you're wrong Amy was a fully realised character with flaws and failings, Clara does have a touch of the little miss perfect about her.

 

[DWF]

Well I'm sorry but you're wrong Amy was a fully realised character with flaws and failings, Clara does have a touch of the little miss perfect about her.

It sounds to me like you're trying to say Amy was perfect and Clara is thet flawed one though.

 

[Starkers]

Eh?

 

[Mr Awe]

Amy is kind of like Rose for me. I really liked her at the beginning but by the end, she started rubbing me the wrong way. At least a bit. Still like the character but I notice the obnoxiousness a bit more.

I do really like Clara! I don't get the complaints about her at all.

Mr Awe

 

[Captaindemotion]

I prefer Amy. I like Clara but it's hard to shake the thought that to date she's been a plot device first and a character second.

In fairness, we've only really had two episodes since the point of that plot device (the impossible girl) was revealed and they were specials (50th anniversary and Xmas/Smith's departure) rather than episodes which would centre around her. Hopefully she'll get a chance to shine now.

She's also going to be the first character to co-star regularly alongside two different Doctors since Rose so it will be interesting to see how she develops alongside Capaldi's Doctor.

 

[Photoman15]

I think they're saying that Clara is a Miss Sunshine, too perfect. That's not real. Amy had faults, had trust issues (hey as a child The Raggedy Man left her waiting). That's a more realized character than Clara-Sue.

 

[DWF]

I prefer Amy. I like Clara but it's hard to shake the thought that to date she's been a plot device first and a character second.

In fairness, we've only really had two episodes since the point of that plot device (the impossible girl) was revealed and they were specials (50th anniversary and Xmas/Smith's departure) rather than episodes which would centre around her. Hopefully she'll get a chance to shine now.

She's also going to be the first character to co-star regularly alongside two different Doctors since Rose so it will be interesting to see how she develops alongside Capaldi's Doctor.

Clara willingly sacificed her life in The Name Of The Doctor, there was no clear cut evidence from the start that it was part of destiny to do so.

 

[Captaindemotion]

But what I mean is that she was set up as the Impossible Girl, who kept cropping up in the Doctor's life at different points in time and kept dying. So for a while, to me anyway, the show seemed to focus on what she was and why she was, rather than on fleshing her out as a 3D fully-formed person. She was and is, of course, played with considerable charm and amiability by Jenna.

 

[DWF]

But what I mean is that she was set up as the Impossible Girl, who kept cropping up in the Doctor's life at different points in time and kept dying. So for a while, to me anyway, the show seemed to focus on what she was and why she was, rather than on fleshing her out as a 3D fully-formed person. She was and is, of course, played with considerable charm and amiability by Jenna.

I didn't get that feeling and really that wasn't known til the end of the season, we were told along that she was a normal human girl and it was confirmed for the Doctor in Hide. And all three of the Claras we met felt fully fleshed out to me, they all had careers or jobs, took responsible, even Vastra was impressed by her in The Snowmen.

 

[Mr Awe]

^ I too felt that Jenna's character(s) were fleshed out. I guess each to their own.

I'd say that Amy had a more brash/loud character, but that doesn't mean that she had more character, just different.

Mr Awe

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

The difference is that Amy had quite a meaty and substantial arc, while the anniversary series focused on the Doctor himself, with a companion, Clara, who had more of a supporting role. I'm almost certain that now that the 50th anniversary is behind us, the balance will be restored and that we will spend more time focusing on Clara.