On the significance of Clara's birthdate - meta and speculation

Jan 03, 2013 16:36

[Spoilers for up to and including The Snowmen (click to open)]
"Nothing is truly forgotten. And if it can be remembered, it can be brought back."
-The Doctor, The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang
"Remember me, for we shall meet again"
-Clara's tombstone, The Snowmen
"We are all stories, in the end."
-River Song, The Pandorica Opens/ The Big BangClara Oswin Oswald's tombstone says that she was born November 23rd 1866
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fandom, doctor who

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Comments 54

_thirty2flavors January 3 2013, 18:11:47 UTC
I really like the idea of Clara as a kind of meta representation of Doctor Who The Show, I saw someone else postulating this on Tumblr. I don't know if it's something I'd expect the current production staff to think of, let alone be clever enough to pull off well, but I do like the idea, certainly more than every other idea I've seen floated around about Clara.

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ibishtar January 3 2013, 20:04:06 UTC
I do think there's a good chance Steven Moffat did put in all that stuff on purpose as part of the story he wants to tell. You can sort of see in Series 5 that part of the thinking behind the creation of Amy was a sort of grand statement vindicating the importance of the things one dreams about, and the power of making those dreams real. From the mind of a man who dreamt about writing for Doctor Who since he was a kid. Also, in rebooting the universe and re-building it from memories, he gets to put into action his view on continuity and canon in Doctor Who: there is no such thing. The only facts that matter are the ones you remember and hold true yourself.
So I can believe that he would come up with this grand meta idea for Clara, but the execution remains to be seen. To say that his writing for the Ponds didn't complement the ambition of some of his ideas for them is an understatement.

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fannishliss January 3 2013, 20:19:27 UTC
Hi there! The Moffat aspect falls in line for me. One thing about his use of women characters, as questionable as it is, is that he thinks of his women characters in terms of storyline or plot. I mean to say, his women are contiguous with or codetermined by the idea of a plotline. Take Reinette -- the way her story begins, has a middle, and an end that is all part of a storyline or plot involved with the Doctor. Again, take Sally Sparrow -- the interesting thing about her, the ONLY interesting thing about her, is her convoluted involvement with her own plotline. River Song -- check. Even Amy Pond, the way she has to remember herself back into existence, is essentially a plotline rather than a character. And then, of course, she made the Doctor himself into a character, the Raggedy Doctor, in the stories she acted out with Rory -- essentially substituting a story for a life lived (since her family had disappeared into the Crack). Hm??? this is all kind of exciting actually. :)

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tommx January 3 2013, 18:44:42 UTC
Fascinating observations. Whether or not they actually do play into the overreaching plot of Clara or not, I'm sure that they were put in there for people like us to observe and obsess over. Well done!

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ibishtar January 3 2013, 20:06:52 UTC
Yeah, whether they are just easter eggs or an important part of her arc, these things are fun to think about. Cheers!

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gallyvantula January 3 2013, 19:42:20 UTC
THIS IS SO GOOD BUT I HATE IT BECAUSE I CAN'T WAIT TO FIND OUTTTT

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light_frost January 3 2013, 19:45:32 UTC
Ugh, me too. Every new bit of speculation or fan-theory is almost torture because I really want to watch Doctor Who and find out what's going on!

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ibishtar January 3 2013, 20:14:21 UTC
LOL Mission accomplished for Moffat an co., then!

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ibishtar January 3 2013, 20:13:33 UTC
THAT'S WHY THEY FEED US THESE CLUES, TO DRIVE US CRAZY OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS WHILE WE WAIT!

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callmeromana January 3 2013, 20:29:32 UTC
Well spotted! That's interesting, ta :-)

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ibishtar January 4 2013, 12:01:10 UTC
Thank you, glad you liked!

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ibishtar January 4 2013, 12:11:43 UTC
Oh, I was under the the impression she erased the Dalek's records only. It stretches my suspension of disbelief that she could also have deleted universal records of the Doctor from the Dalek Asylum, including those of River Song's prison.
Clara being River Song post-Library is a possibility! Since a data copy of herself was saved, she could have been copy-pasted throughout time and space. I never thought of that one, good one!

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