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Not really meta, but this is where my head is at.
OK, so I am no nearer to actually writing anything about the Christmas Special. Partly because others have done a fantastic job, and partly because... I don't really know. However, that doesn't mean I don't have thoughts. So, as I can't formulate anything, I shall share vids instead that reflect where my head is at.
First a couple of Oswin vids that I just love to distraction. The first one has amazing lyrics (Broken) & editing to match, and the second one is just too pretty for words:
Then there's these two, because I don't think it's possible to think of any of the Claras in isolation. Much like River was also Mels and Melody, I believe that all the Claras are part of one, complete, Clara Oswin Oswald. Which might be why I'm so stuck. We're still missing 1/3 of the jigsaw... (ETA: The last vid by
niyalune (here.)
First a couple of Oswin vids that I just love to distraction. The first one has amazing lyrics (Broken) & editing to match, and the second one is just too pretty for words:
Then there's these two, because I don't think it's possible to think of any of the Claras in isolation. Much like River was also Mels and Melody, I believe that all the Claras are part of one, complete, Clara Oswin Oswald. Which might be why I'm so stuck. We're still missing 1/3 of the jigsaw... (ETA: The last vid by

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I have high hopes for her; she’s been an exciting and mysterious character already and we’ve seen little of her. I think the Doctor will have a challenge figuring out who she is and how she keeps popping up after dying. I think the adventure they will go on will feel very different than that of Amy and Rory; darker and more like a fairy-tale aimed at someone older than little Amelia who had an imaginary friend turn real. Clara, I feel, has already grown up and knows who she is, so I think her story arc will develop her character with different means that what we saw with Amy.
Sorry this got long :)
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Thanks for the videos; several new to me!
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I really like the 2nd one, and I'm impressed at how the 3rd one made that song work so well.
And thanks for mentioning mine :)
Still on the subject of vids about the Claras, here's a good one I saw the other day : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMjNR_vGMAU
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Totally my pleasure - I've been meaning to do this for ages, but life just keeps tripping me up...
I have high hopes for her; she’s been an exciting and mysterious character already and we’ve seen little of her. I think the Doctor will have a challenge figuring out who she is and how she keeps popping up after dying.
Mmmm, this. At some point I *will* write down my thoughts, I promise. Because I have ~ideas about her.
I think the adventure they will go on will feel very different than that of Amy and Rory; darker and more like a fairy-tale aimed at someone older than little Amelia who had an imaginary friend turn real. Clara, I feel, has already grown up and knows who she is, so I think her story arc will develop her character with different means that what we saw with Amy.
*nods a lot* Eleven and Amy grew up together - they ran away from their responsibilities together, and then learned to accept them, and matured & married. So Clara being a grown-up already, and one who has died a couple of times, will fit very nicely with where Eleven is at right now. :)
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Me too! I feel like it's been YEARS. Which I suppose it has been, since we've had more than a handful of episodes in one go...
Thanks for the videos; several new to me!
My pleasure. :)
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I really like the 2nd one, and I'm impressed at how the 3rd one made that song work so well.
Totally my pleasure, and the song choice for 3 is so... fragmented, yet it somehow fits perfectly. I love it when people can pull that off.
And thanks for mentioning mine :)
If the 3rd is a kaleidoscope, then yours is the one that pulls everything together, weaving it into myth. <3
Still on the subject of vids about the Claras, here's a good one I saw the other day
Ooooh, very nice! Thank you! :)
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It's mad, isn't it? By rights it shouldn't work, yet that patchwork quality is just perfect. It's probably the one I've watched the most.
Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure. :)
And seconding the last vid, it’s probably the best Clara vid I’ve seen yet.
Gorgeous through and through and tying everything right back to all the myths beneath the surface. (Made by
I'm so excited for the new episodes. SO EXCITED.
SOON SOON, WE'LL GET THEM SOON!
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Oooh- I like this theory. Clara basically being a humanoid version of a puzzle? Awesome! :D
It'd be even more interesting to see her other 'selves' memories eventually integrate to the 'main' version of her, after they've died. (Like how it would've been an interesting idea (from a character development perspective) if Amy had retained/absorbed any memories from 'The Girld Who Waited'.
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If in doubt, go to T.S.Eliot which means that 'All the Claras are one Clara'. (It struck me as so obvious that I hesitated over even writing it, but I'm glad I did!) There's more along those lines, but it'll have to wait until my head is in meta frame-of-mind...
It'd be even more interesting to see her other 'selves' memories eventually integrate to the 'main' version of her, after they've died.
I could totally see this being the culmination of her storyline. It'd be even better if we could have all the Claras together somehow (like you can have several Doctors meeting), but I'm not sure how they could do that.
(Like how it would've been an interesting idea (from a character development perspective) if Amy had retained/absorbed any memories from 'The Girld Who Waited'.
Exactly. It's a lot of the same ideas, but in a different way. I love it. <3
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I'd imagine the special effects dept. would do something like what they've done for Amy and the Eleventh Doctor. It would just be a matter of finding people of similar body types in terms of weight and height, and then digitally ... uh copying(?) JLC's face over. Like copy and pasting.
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I don't know about bringing them completely back to life. It would be interesting to see if they were, though. Personally, I could see her speaking from memories, like, "You really might want to look into updating that anti-freeze setting, considering how long the ice queen stayed down that one time." Who knows- maybe extracting the memories, and creating some sort of hologram?
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*pokepokepoke*
But then I never saw the Doctor as Teselecta, marrying River in a pocket universe either, so trying to GUESS is probably not a good idea. After all, knowing the answer isn't difficult - it's the question that's the problem. :)
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Though, watching them, I'm remembering what a shock finding out she was a Dalek was when you first watched it--I mean a real gut punch--and that's sort of faded since. But it's just the sort of thing that Moff will take out unexpectedly and punch you with again and every time it will be worse and better and have extra layers, and that's just gonna be awesome, isn't it?
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. . .
I've got something to say about this. I don't know what it is yet.
ETA: I forget the exact wording but Clara's little rant in The Snowmen as she's entering the TARDIS, about 'oh, sweet little Clara--well, let me tell you something . . .' Something disproportionately and uncharacteristically bitter going on there. I mean 'I'm not so sweet!' is a common enough complaint for a young woman, but Clara seems to handle so much with so much aplomb and yet she was kinda loosing it there for a moment before she realized where she was standing.
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Ooo, this! Though I feel like Moff has this thing of . . . making you want something in one pass of a story and leaving you hanging and frustrated, and then giving it to you later. I do feel like Amy's multiple memories/multiple lives theme hasn't been quite properly resolved yet. But maybe Clara and her whole story is a better set-up for doing just that.
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Oooo, I'd never seen those first two! *flail*
I'm sure I posted them SOMEWHERE you could see, but they might have gotten lost amongst everything else. 'Twas a long time ago.
Though, watching them, I'm remembering what a shock finding out she was a Dalek was when you first watched it--I mean a real gut punch--and that's sort of faded since.
Mmmmmm. I think one of the things I love the most in that first vid is the inclusion of the clip of Oswin's pure terror (2:04), screaming that she is human...
But it's just the sort of thing that Moff will take out unexpectedly and punch you with again and every time it will be worse and better and have extra layers, and that's just gonna be awesome, isn't it?
Mmmmm, yes it is.
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*ponders* I think it sort of maybe crosses over into 'Run you clever boy, and remember'... Like, what-ever-she-is stirred underneath the surface for a second. As you say, the words fit well enough, but there's definitely layers to them, layers she's probably not aware of.
Was that what you were getting at? Or am I just much too sleepy?
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Could be. Amy had a LOT of memories (a world with, and a world without her parents), ditto Rory (2000 years of waiting), but they were the backdrop rather than the focus. But with Clara maybe the main story will deal with being a composite... Oh who am I kidding, there's no 'maybe' about it! *g*
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I'm not sure if I was getting at something so much as throwing things out there to see what sticks. I wasn't necessarily thinking that "whatever-she-is-underneath" was necessarily asserting itself, though now that you say that, why not? But it's like Amy's "twelve years, four psychiatrists!" Something there got upset, some sort of trauma poked at.
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LOL! Yes, exactly. I'm not sure "cheer up, have an ice cream" is gonna cover this one . . .
ETA: In fact, hasn't she been attempting exactly that (those souffles, the plucky cheerfulness)? And it's not exactly making her less dead.