# Doctor Who Series 9 discussion (spoilers as it airs) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2015, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754 "2015-09-19T11:40:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 26
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/501 "2015-11-23T00:50:30Z")
I thought somebody posted that she would be gone in the Christmas special. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/502 "2015-11-23T01:32:57Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > I thought somebody posted that she would be gone in the Christmas special. Moffat lies ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/503 "2015-11-23T02:02:11Z")
Bring me my most annoying things! ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/504 "2015-11-23T02:12:50Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > I knew she was out this season, I just assumed Clara would give up travelling with the Doctor. I like it better this way, assuming it sticks and they don’t keep trotting her back on for return appearances. I was never a Clara fan anyway: Jenna Coleman was fine as an actress, but the roll-the-dice writing meant that she never developed a consistent character beyond “the girl”. Other than Season 7, which may as well have not been the same Clara, she was pretty consistently a woman developing into a “Doctor-lite”. It was most apparent, I think, in Flatlined and the Zygon episodes where she was arguing with Bonnie. That’s basically how she died, even. She did a very Doctory-gambit and her biggest flaw is that she can’t regenerate when her gambit doesn’t go in her favor. Like Capaldi said, “I’m not special, I’m just more durable.” ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/505 "2015-11-23T02:15:23Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > I thought somebody posted that she would be gone in the Christmas special. Spoiler from Wikipedia’s list of Doctor Who episodes: According to Wikipedia, her last episode is the season finale on December 5th. > [@](#): > > “Hell Bent” is the upcoming twelfth episode of the ninth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, the final episode of the series and of its three-part finale. It will be first broadcast on BBC One on 5 December 2015. It will be the last episode to feature Jenna Coleman as the Doctor’s companion Clara Oswald.[1] More spoilers available at Wikipedia, but they are unrelated to this question, so I didn’t want to put them here. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/506 "2015-11-23T03:03:59Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > Spoiler from Wikipedia’s list of Doctor Who episodes: > > According to Wikipedia, her last episode is the season finale on December 5th. > > More spoilers available at Wikipedia, but they are unrelated to this question, so I didn’t want to put them here. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/507 "2015-11-23T14:34:34Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > That’s basically how she died, even. She did a very Doctory-gambit and her biggest flaw is that she can’t regenerate when her gambit doesn’t go in her favor. Like Capaldi said, “I’m not special, I’m just more durable.” The Doctor’s not _that_ much more durable or else he’d be regenerating every other week. I speculate that ever since it became clear that Danny Pink wasn’t coming back from the dead, Clara’s been staging an elaborate suicide. She didn’t want to just off herself, so she was doing progressively more and more dangerous things, hoping to get the heroic death she really wants. Also, didn’t she tell the Doctor to stay inside while she did her “face the raven” thing? I think that provides an out for the Doctor who was standing behind Clara to be the Doctor from a later point in his time stream heroically saving Clara on his sonic smart phone so he can plop her in the computer with River or something. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/508 "2015-11-23T14:48:22Z")
Aren’t there still other Claras scattered through the Doctor’s time stream? And I’m guessing the Doctor’s next companion is going to be “assigned” to him, the way Romana was, because he’s so upset about this. He’s not going to want to invite someone along. And isn’t Romana presumably still alive in E-Space? He might be willing to take her along again. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/509 "2015-11-23T14:51:45Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > The hidden street as alien sanctuary was a great concept, very bit Neil Gaiman, but it never felt like a rip-off. Really? I thought it was very Diagon Alley. That said (and to digress), London does indeed have these hidden alleyways that you could easily walk past without noticing but which open into some very interesting sidestreets. St Christopher’s Place off Oxford Street used to be one of these - the alley entrance was about the width of a doorway but once you entered there was a whole interesting little shopping street down it. Now, of course, they’ve put a giant honking sign above it so that you can’t miss it, which takes away the charm (although if I ran a shop there I’d want the big honking sign). ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/510 "2015-11-23T19:04:13Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Aren’t there still other Claras scattered through the Doctor’s time stream? > > And I’m guessing the Doctor’s next companion is going to be “assigned” to him, the way Romana was, because he’s so upset about this. He’s not going to want to invite someone along. > > And isn’t Romana presumably still alive in E-Space? He might be willing to take her along again. As far as I know Kamelion is still hanging about the Tardis… ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/511 "2015-11-23T19:26:24Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > As far as I know Kamelion is still hanging about the Tardis… Alarmingly, in one of the books, Kamelion and the Tardis have a child together…:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/512 "2015-11-23T19:59:24Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Alarmingly, in one of the books, Kamelion and the Tardis have a child together…:eek: Nice to know he got his animatronics working at last. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/513 "2015-11-23T22:12:40Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Is it the return of Gallifrey? > [@GuanoLad](#): > > That was my first guess, but it probably isn’t. Something like that deserves an epic build-up and reveal. > [@Jragon](#): > > Gallifrey is probably coming back in the last episode, at least. Makes sense when one thinks for a bit. Where else would Me get a Tardis lock? ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/514 "2015-11-23T22:41:00Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Other than Season 7, which may as well have not been the same Clara, she was pretty consistently a woman developing into a “Doctor-lite”. It was most apparent, I think, in Flatlined and the Zygon episodes where she was arguing with Bonnie. The trouble was though that for every episode where she was smart and clever and resourceful, like _The Girl Who Died_, there was one where she was a useless cipher, like _The Witch’s Familiar_, or helpless and needy, like [IUnder the Lake\*. Clara was so inconsistent she got to be like Mr Plinkett’s criticism of _The Phantom Menace_, where you can’t actually describe what any of the characters are like as characters. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/515 "2015-11-24T03:10:46Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > Have they killed a companion outright like that since Adric? Peri _appeared_ to die, but it was later revealed that she had actually married Brian Blessed. Whether this is a better or worse fate is left as an exercise for the reader. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/516 "2015-11-24T03:53:14Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Peri _appeared_ to die, but it was later revealed that she had actually married Brian Blessed. Whether this is a better or worse fate is left as an exercise for the reader. I couldn’t tell the difference between his portrayals of King Yrcanos in Doctor Who and King Richard IV in Blackadder. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/517 "2015-11-24T04:50:38Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > I couldn’t tell the difference between his portrayals of King Yrcanos in Doctor Who and King Richard IV in Blackadder. Today let caution be our watchword; tomorrow we shall SOAK THE LAND IN BLOOD! ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/518 "2015-11-25T02:25:31Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Aren’t there still other Claras scattered through the Doctor’s time stream? I think there was a throw-away sounding line about the raven that it would track it’s victim down through all of time and space. That might have just been to explain that they couldn’t just jump in the Tardis and escape. But it might mean more… ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/519 "2015-11-25T22:41:42Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > I think there was a throw-away sounding line about the raven that it would track it’s victim down through all of time and space. That might have just been to explain that they couldn’t just jump in the Tardis and escape. But it might mean more… I don’t think it was ever intended that there be extra Clarae in the Doctor’s time stream after Trenzalore. When she went in, the Doctor had died there, but by giving him new regenerations, the time lords retconned that away and the new regeneration is spare-Clara-free. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/520 "2015-11-26T01:41:58Z")
So, this picture is [del]probably[/del] a huge spoiler for one of the next two episodes, but it also makes me super excited: [http://i.imgur.com/VMxT74S.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/VMxT74S.jpg) THE ROUND THINGS. I LOVE THE ROUND THINGS. Oh, and Clara’s there I guess. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754.md?page=25) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754.md?page=27)