Pink bits

[Ghost of Christmas Future]

I've read a few comments from some posters this year who seem to have strong feelings about the character Danny Pink, whom I have found quite pleasantly entertaining.

I'm interested in just how many here are detractors of the character so please vote in the poll above and feel free to post any strong feelings you may have whether they be positive or negative.

Thank you.

 

[Sindatur]

I didn't hate him like so many here seem to. I thought he had some decent scenes, so, I voted no strong feelings either way.

I've actually heard mostly positive impressions from folks I know in the General Audience

 

[Kelso]

I liked him a lot.

 

[Unionized Elf]

The poll options don't convey my exact opinion of the character. While I didn't like him, it wasn't because he's "unpleasant." As a person he is pleasant enough company, and Samuel Anderson certainly comes across as a nice guy in interviews.

The problem with the character Danny Pink is just that he's bland. The problem with the relationship between Danny and Clara is that other than a mutual attraction, it's never made clear why they're together. Clara regularly lies to him, which upsets him, while he's dealing with PTSD from his military service, misinterprets casual off-handed comments about killing angrily points out the non-combat stuff he did, which upsets her. Now once was I convinced they were madly in love with each other. Madly in lust, maybe, and it would have been interesting, and dare I suggest grown-up if they had played that angle, but instead it's a typical true-love conquering all crap.

 

[Taelon]

He was by far the sexiest person to appear on Doctor Who since it came back. Yes, even surpassing 10.

 

[Unionized Elf]

That position will always be held by John Barrowman and I don't imagine anyone taking the title away from him.

 

[Timewalker]

The poll needs a "meh" option.

Sometimes Danny Pink was okay. Sometimes he was annoying. He was an "Everyman" with a sometimes-traumatic past caught up in stuff outside his experience, and neither the Doctor nor his own supposed girlfriend had the courtesy to just be honest with him.

At least in the end, he made his choice to save the kid and didn't take the route of pleasing Clara, who would just turn around and lie to him again 5 minutes later.

 

[Starkers]

I went with the middle option which probably sums up the character, at times he was very good (dream Danny at Christmas was great in that scene) while at others he was boring and/or annoying. I think it was an interesting idea for a character that didn’t quite work, but I don’t get the outright hate for him, and I do see an attraction between him and Clara.

 

[Mytran]

Dream Danny was undoubtedly his finest appearance, which is ironic really! However, if that's how Clara actually saw him then it might help to explain why she felt they had a future together. For the rest of the time, it is mostly "meh" I'm afraid.

 

[RoJoHen]

It's not that he was unpleasant. He was just so damn boring.

He had this whole tortured soldier backstory that I just could not bring myself to care about, and his relationship with Clara felt very forced. I just couldn't buy their chemistry.

 

[Skellington]

I liked Danny despite his rather annoying portrayal in Death In Heaven.

 

[Relayer1]

I despised him. I don't think it was so much the character (although he wasn't great) - it was the actor.

I do hope he stays dead !

 

[auntiehill]

I liked Danny quite a lot but think he was poorly developed. We never really got to see much of who he really was.

 

[MacLeod]

At times he was annoying at times he was ok.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

His introduction was endearing. I liked that. His farewell in "Last Christmas" was endearing too. I liked that as well.

Pretty much everything in between was....meh. He wasn't very well-developed. His dislike of the Doctor was weird and irrational. They missed a huge opportunity in "Flatline" to address that as well as have him observe Clara in action, being awesome and doing what she loves. But instead we got a phone call and "Whaddup bitch?" (which I will forever maintain that he actually said ). There were several missed opportunities to fill in gaps and develop him as a character, and because of that, he didn't make much of an impression.

And aside from Last Christmas, he had no chemistry with his on-screen girlfriend. Pretty hard thing to do, since Jenna Coleman can have chemistry with a brick wall without trying.

But that said, if the writers had just bothered to have the Doctor say "I was a soldier once. I know exactly how you feel." And give a few more scenes between him and Clara where they actually talked about her life in the TARDIS, he could've made more of an impact as a character.

As it is, he was just kinda...there.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I liked Samuel Anderson as an actor, and I bought Danny as a character -- but not as a Doctor Who character. Danny Pink, to me, felt like a dramedy character who wandered onto the Doctor Who set and kept playing his role in some other series, never realizing that he wasn't in that series anymore.

I didn't buy into the Clara/Danny relationship. I believed it from Danny's side from pretty much the beginning, but I didn't buy it from Clara's side. (Which is why I think it was engineered by the Doctor as one of his long games, so Danny would be in position to destroy Missy's Cyberman army in "Death in Heaven.") It wasn't until Danny died -- especially the dream Danny of "Last Christmas" -- that I believed Clara had genuine feelings for Danny.

My feeling on Danny -- likeable character in the wrong television show.

 

[Mytran]

I liked Samuel Anderson as an actor, and I bought Danny as a character -- but not as a Doctor Who character. Danny Pink, to me, felt like a dramedy character who wandered onto the Doctor Who set and kept playing his role in some other series, never realizing that he wasn't in that series anymore.

You have absolutely nailed it with that statement, thank you!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I liked Samuel Anderson as an actor, and I bought Danny as a character -- but not as a Doctor Who character. Danny Pink, to me, felt like a dramedy character who wandered onto the Doctor Who set and kept playing his role in some other series, never realizing that he wasn't in that series anymore.

You have absolutely nailed it with that statement, thank you!

You're welcome!

It was the script for "Listen" that really put that idea in mind. Reading Danny's scenes with Clara, I felt like I was reading a Coupling script. Then as I watched the series unfold, he never gelled for me as a Doctor Who character -- until he died.

"In the Forest of the Night" was probably Danny's nadir. I kept asking myself, "Why is Danny in this? He's actively anti-Doctor Who here, and he's pulling Clara further out of the Doctor Who world the longer this nonsense goes on."

 

[Unionized Elf]

I didn't buy into the Clara/Danny relationship. I believed it from Danny's side from pretty much the beginning, but I didn't buy it from Clara's side.

An idea I think the show should have played with was that Clara was basically through with Danny by Listen, but only stayed with him out of mistaken belief that she had to so that Orson Pink could exist.

 

[auntiehill]

^I also never really bought that Clara cared for him, which made me like Clara less. He clearly cared for her but I don't think the way it was portrayed on the show did a convincing job. It made it feel very flat and only existing because the script said it should. It seemed that Clara declared her feeling for him but we never really SAW it in her actions.

*Shrug* Dunno. Maybe it was just me.