Why Davros Should Return

I believe that Davros should make an appearance in the next Dalek story. In the previous one, Asylum of the Daleks, Oswin Oswald wiped all the Daleks' memories of the Doctor. It isn't going to take them long to figure out that they don't know why all their plots to take over the universe have failed. They're going to have a lot of questions, and no answers. So what do the Daleks do when they're baffled? They ask their creator for help.

Davros would very quickly remind the Daleks that it was the Doctor who defeated them, only to come to the conclusion that they don't know who he is. Not only that, but the Doctor has deleted himself from every other database in the universe. No one knows who he is. Davros would be mystified, and would proceed to hunt down the Doctor. After that, there would probably be some sort of conversation about the Doctor getting too big and stepping back into the shadows.

However it happens, Davros must be in the next Dalek episode. He's the only source the Daleks would trust when they notice their own flawed history. Also, as a major classic villain (comparable to the Master), he deserves to grace our screens once more.

Ultimate Jenna Theory - Revision 4

I'm Clara Oswald, I was born to save the Doctor.

So it looks like I was right in my last post, Clara does have something to do with Trenzalore. Only it sounds like she is going to save his life. Perhaps the Fall of the Eleventh does refer to the Doctor's death and is meant to happen at Trenzalore. Maybe she was created by someone to ensure that this doesn't go down.

Whether it was the Silence, the Great Intelligence, or the Whisper Men, is hard to tell. The Silence seem pretty intent on making sure the prophecy doesn't happen, though they don't seem to care when the Doctor dies, they just want the Question averted. The Great Intelligence is an enemy of the Doctor, so I can't see why it would want him alive, unless it still needs him for something. I still don't know what the Whisper Men want, so that makes it hard to guess for them, but it seems likely.

In the trailers, the Whisper Men seem to appear in a lot of the same scenes as Dr. Simeon and are wearing similar outfits. They may not be separate entities, but part of the Great Intelligence. They may be the new beasty boys to replace the snowmen, Spoonheads, and Yeti. I'm guessing they're a half-failed attempt to replicate Dr. Simeon, so they're him/the GI only with a sort of half-life.

Clara may also have been created by someone else entirely. The Doctor may not find out until the very end of the episode who she is or how she managed to save him. Then there's some big reveal and the Doctor rushes off to meet whoever it is and we pick up in the 50th Anniversary.

I like the idea that someone created an infinite series of Claras across time. They wanted her to meet the Doctor so one of them could save her, but they couldn't be sure the Doctor would actually be able to find her, so they created a near-infinite number of Claras and placed them across the entirety of human history. Inevitably, the Doctor did meet some of them, but he met most of them long in his past before he was meant to and forgot about them. He just happened to meet three of them within a short string of time and therefore remembered and it sparked his curiosity.

That would explain Jenna's recent comment about how the Doctor "hasn't just met Clara three times before." If the other times were long long ago, he might not remember them, so he only knows about the most recent ones.

Given the recent pic of the Citadel of the Time Lords labelled "Gallifrey, a long time ago" and someone saying that the finale is going to mess with classic fans, Clara being created by the Time Lords seems very likely. The Time Lords may have foreseen something far in the Doctor's future and created her to intervene in his timeline. Why they created so many of her, I don't know. Maybe she was created to police the Doctor and act as a check on his power or to prevent him from intervening at certain key points. Or maybe she was created to save the Doctor at certain key points, though I don't know why the Time Lords would ever intervene in history like that.

Ultimate Jenna Theory - Revision 2

Unfortunately, not much new information has come to light regarding Clara's identity since my last post in December. I just wanted to make another revision of my theory before they made it really obvious/revealed it.

There have been a number of theories floating about with explanations as to who Clara is, such as CAL (from Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead), Captain Jack's daughter, Susan, Romana, Rose and 10.5's daughter, etc. Most of these have the flaw that they don't explain how she died twice without undergoing any sort of regeneration. The Captain Jack's daughter theory would explain the part about coming back without changing appearance, but it doesn't explain how she doesn't remember him. About the only way that could work is if she first meets him in Bells and the other two are only pretending not to have met him.

A more likely explanation is that each of them is a completely separate version who are all clones/duplicates of some original. Since we now know that Clara 3 has actual parents who gave birth to her that seems to rule out her being a flesh avatar/Nestene duplicate. The other two versions could be copies, with the current one being the original. They were planted in different time periods by someone (such as the Silence, the Master, or River Song) in order to serve as a trap/attract the Doctor's attention. She could be a trap by the Silence or she could just be the Master or River's attempt to contact the Doctor since he never answers his phone. Seriously, River could have been so desperate to get the Doctor's attention, that she cloned his companion and planted the clones where she knew he would find them so he would meet the companion and somehow end up with River.

One possible hint is that series producer Marcus Wilson challenged fans to find out Clara's real identity, saying there was a red herring that everyone's going to get caught on. This seems to suggest that whatever these next five episodes suggest, that's not the explanation.

I also still like my theory about the White Guardian. Basically, the White Guardian wants the Doctor to live to reach some point in his future, some sort of important event. He first creates Oswin in the Asylum so the Doctor can get out of there alive (which he didn't originally). Then after the Doctor goes to Victorian London to mope for all eternity, the White Guardian creates a Clara there to cheer the Doctor up. He allows her to die, but not without planting hints that the Doctor will see that she and Oswin are the same girl. He knows the Doctor will then go to seek her out and continue traveling the universe and eventually reach his destiny.

I still don't know what to make of all the roses, the missing years, and the color red. All I can think of is Rose Tyler and the fact that both Amy and Donna have red hair. Or maybe the fact that the Doctor has always wanted red hair. Perhaps we're going to keep seeing red themes until Matt Smith regenerates into a ginger. As for the missing years, that might turn out to be a red herring. There are also the other two references to Rose Tyler, the car that almost killed Clara's father (which was almost identical to the one that killed Rose's dad) and the death date of Clara's mother (May 5th, 2005, the same date Rose met the Doctor). These could be pointing to a connection between Clara and Rose or they could simply be foreshadowing Rose's return in the 50th.

Rose could actually be returning even sooner. The episode synopsis for the finale, released by BBC Entertainment, said that all of the Doctor's friends are being kidnapped. That could just be Clara, Jenny, Vastra, and Strax or it could be also include Amy, Rory, River, Donna, Martha, Rose, and Jack. Some of these actors have denied involvement in the 50th anniversary, but none of them have denied involvement in Series 7.

Back on topic, there could definitely be some sort of Bad Wolf connection. The TARDIS apparently doesn't like Clara, and it didn't like Jack, either, because of his immortality. Clara could end up being a creation of the Bad Wolf as well. Just look out for the words "bad wolf" in the coming episodes.

So there you have it, my three theories for Clara's existence: trap, White Guardian, and Bad Wolf. Feel free to comment below with your opinions.

The Bells of Saint John Review

May contain spoilers. Read ahead at your own risk if you haven't watched the episode yet.

Amazing. Just amazing. Not quite the urban thriller we were told about, but otherwise lived up to my expectations.

Not quite sure how we didn't all get the part about the bells of St. John before. It should have been rather obvious. I mean, the St. John's Ambulance logo has been there for two and a half seasons now. Come to think of it, I think someone did mention it, but only briefly. It really should have been picked up on more, I mean, it's staring us in the face.

I was actually surprised to learn that Oswin was not Clara's middle name. I thought all three of them were named Clara Oswin Oswald. Raises the question of whether Clara is any part of Oswin's name. So maybe they're not all that similar in that respect.

Also, in Asylum of the Daleks, the Doctor asks Oswin why she's such a good hacker, and she says that it's a bit of a long story. It's like she remembered the whole thing about the Wi-Fi, but forgot that the Doctor was there. Maybe they're all derivative works of the same girl, only with their memories of the Doctor edited out. That still doesn't answer the bit about dying twice, though.

We very quickly learn that "run you clever boy and remember" is more than just something she says when she dies. In this episode, it's something that could very easily have been made up by this family (the Mayfields) and may not originate with Clara at all. This just heightens the question of "where did this phrase come from?" and makes it all the more mysterious.

As for the bit about the woman in the shop, I'm rather hesitant to speculate. It could be River, it could be Rose (seeing as we now know she's going to be back, she could already be in the Doctor's universe), I doubt it's Martha (she's not very likely to be working in a shop), could even be Rani from the Sarah Jane Adventures, or someone from the classic series. There's too many women with the Doctor's phone number, I'm not really going to guess. Hell, it could even be someone we haven't met yet (Doctor #12 anyone?).

There were of course, the numerous similarities between what the Great Intelligence was doing in this episode, and what it was up to in the past (which you can read about here). I do like how the Great Intelligence referenced the Doctor and UNIT being old friends. This is especially awesome seeing as UNIT and the Brig are introduced in the Great Intelligence's second appearance, the 1968 episode, The Web of Fear.

Steven Moffat promised us an urban thriller, and while it was very urban, it wasn't really what I would call a thriller. A thriller should be fast paced throughout. This didn't really get going all that fast until the part where the Doctor discovers Clara in the cafe with her mind drained. The bit about the motorbike was very good, but not quite enough to qualify it as a thriller.

One littler thing that kinda bothered me was that in the scene where the Doctor and Clara got on the motorbike, two things happened A) the perception filter didn't work and B) the TARDIS doors closed on their own. Maybe the Doctor just deactivated the perception filter so he could get money for breakfast, but it could also be a malfunction in the TARDIS that is foreshadowing larger failures later on. As for the doors, either the Doctor snapped he fingers when I wasn't looking, or Sexy is smarter than she looks and closed the doors on her own.

Also are they preparing us for WhoLock? I mean, those special effects are very Sherlock and there was the Sherlock theme music in The Snowmen. I mean if the director for this episode was someone who had worked on Sherlock, I could understand, but as far as I can tell, Colm McCarthy has never directed an episode of Sherlock. Maybe Moffat is just merging the shows, maybe we'll get orange glowy stuff in Season 3.

Meet the Doctor... Again!

New video from BBC America.

2012: Looking Back

2012 has been a big enough year for Doctor Who. We've had the departure of the Ponds, the dawn of a new companion, the return of River Song, prequels, and much more.

The Ponds
We first heard the news that Amy and Rory would be leaving late last year. There was massive speculation as to how they would leave until it was announced that their final story would feature the Weeping Angels. At that point, most of the rumors turned to them being displaced back in time. The rumors turned out to be true, but with the twist of them jumping off a building first. I think no amount of rumors or time could have prepared us for the ending. If you didn't cry, you're not human.

The New Companion
The rumors of the new companion started out around January with rumors that Sofia Myles would play the new companion. Moffat was apparently trying to mislead us, as it turned out the new companion was to be played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. After that, there were no official announcements about her, only filming reports that seemed to indicate her name was Clara. The next we heard of her was her appearance in Asylum of the Daleks, which turned out to be the best-kept secret in all of Doctor Who since David Tennant's appearance in Series 7.2. After that, rumors were flying left and right about her character Oswin Oswald and whether she was the same character that would appear at Christmas. There were also rumors of Clara being a ghost, based on filming reports of the Doctor saying he's going to find Clara at the funeral scene and reports that Clara would die in the Christmas Special. When at long last the Christmas Special came, it raised more questions than it answered. Instead of us asking why there were two women who looked so much alike at different points in time, we're now asking why there are three and why they all have the same name. Not only that, but we're also asking why two of them died and whether she's going to die in every episode (as some fans have speculated).

River Song
River Song's appearance in The Angels Take Manhattan was a nice addition to the episode. The Ponds' last episode really wouldn't have worked without their daughter present. The episode wouldn't have been as heartbreaking if she wasn't there losing her parents. Also, I liked the touch of the same monster being present when Amy met River for the first and last times. Then there was the part where River had been pardoned. You could see the look on the Doctor's face when he heard this and realized that she was now free to roam the universe and would eventually find her way to the Library.

Prequels
2012 marked the return of the prequels. We started out with the excellent five-part Pond Life in August, written by Chris Chibnall. It's arguably the best television short story Doctor Who has ever attempted. Prequel to Asylum of the Daleks provided essential backstory to the episode, unlike Prequel to A Town Called Mercy and most of the prequels from Series 6, which either were unnecessary scenes or contained information already in the episode. The Great Detective and Vastra Investigates serve to set the tone of the characters in The Snowmen, with the Doctor being retired and Vastra, Jenny, & Strax assisting Scotland Yard.

Ultimate Jenna Theory - Revision 1

This is basically a theory that's been floating around on the internet for a while, but is now confirmed by The Snowmen.

What we know:

• Oswin and Clara have the same physical appearance and voice
• They are around the same age
• They both had the same last words, said to the Doctor, "run you clever boy, and remember"
• They both (seemingly) had the same name, Clara Oswin Oswald
• They both died shortly after meeting the Doctor
• Christmas Special Clara and spring series Clara are both governesses (filming spoiler confirmed by multiple blogs)

In the theory, Clara is somehow splintered through time, like Scaroth in the Tom Baker episode, City of Death (available on Netflix if you want to reference it). Scaroth was splintered in time due to an accident on a spaceship. What's unclear is if Clara was splintered sometime during her lifetime, or if all of her incarnations were born separately. Neither of her incarnations that we've seen so far appear to be aware of the others, unlike Scaroth, who would slip into unconsciousness and wake up in another splinter of himself. Also if she was splintered during her lifetime, where/when is the original and have we met her already/will we ever?

<speculation>
I like the theory that Clara is Captain Jack's daughter. Perhaps some of the time energy that caused him to be a fixed point in time and space went into her, and she's slightly less fixed. Any time she dies, another version of her crops up somewhere else in history. Time then proceeds to rewrite so that new version has its own life and memories. Both her and Jack can be killed, but they won't stay dead for long. Jack comes back as his own self in his own body, but due to the time energy being more diluted in Clara, she comes back at a random point in human history with a new past.
This might also be the work of the White Guardian. He appeared to have influence in The End of Time, transporting the Doctor's mom in and out of the time lock so she could save his life. The White Guardian needs the Doctor to survive until a certain point in his future, so he intervened to save the Doctor there. The White Guardian created Oswin to save the Doctor at the Asylum. When the Doctor became a recluse after the events of The Angels Take Manhattan, the White Guardian needed the Doctor to keep going as he was before, so he created a different version of Oswin to motivate the Doctor to continue to travel the universe. He knew the Doctor would notice the similarities and go off to find another version of her. The White Guardian basically used Clara to keep the Doctor on track to a certain point in his future.
The previous theory also integrates nicely with the whole thing with The Question. Perhaps the thing that the Doctor's name unleashes is only bad in the eyes of the Silence and the Doctor and is actually needed by the universe. Alternately, maybe it is something terrible and evil and Clara was created by the Black Guardian instead of the White. The Black Guardian would want the Doctor to unleash whatever terrible thing his name unleashes.
</speculation>

Whatever the explanation, we're probably not going to get much further information until episode 7 airs in April. We might get a tiny glimmer of information in any new trailers they release, but those probably won't come out until February at the earliest, more likely March.

TV & Satellite Week Article on The Snowmen

TV & Satellite Week magazine has a special feature on this year's Christmas Special. The article offers some insight into Jenna's character, as well as hinting that Matt Smith might not hang around long after the 50th.

Click image for larger version

Series 7, Part 1 Review

I do reviews now, reviews are cool.

Overall, not my favorite season, that will always be Series 4 or 5 (I can't decide). Steven Moffat promised big blockbuster events, and that is precisely what we got. Each episode stands out on its own and does not depend on any of the other episodes. The season really lived up to all the anticipation, and was probably worth the 8 month, 1 week wait.

Jenna–Louise Coleman's appearance in Asylum of the Daleks was probably the best-kept secret in all of Doctor Who history. Despite at least three screenings of the episode to the public, not one word was leaked on the internet. It took me completely off-guard, so much so to the point where I wasn't even sure if it was her or not. I was probably half-way through watching the episode when I decided, "yes, that actually is the new companion." It was quite possibly the most brilliant thing Moffat has ever done, especially seeing as it was apparently an afterthought. He apparently did not decide to have the actress for the new companion play Oswin until they were halfway through casting for the Christmas Special.

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and A Town Called Mercy definitely trace the development of a darker Doctor. The Doctor was more prone to simply kill someone to save other people/dinosaurs. Amy's comment about "this is what happens when you travel alone for too long" seems to harken back to the tenth Doctor. The 10th Doctor traveled alone for a period of a few years and eventually went on to do the whole "Time Lord victorious" thing in The Waters of Mars. The Doctor needs someone by his side at all times, and I think this really shows that. All through Series 6 and 7, the Doctor has only had a companion intermittently, he only came back to Amy and Rory from time to time. He did not have a full-time companion like he has had in all the previous seasons. I think Clara is definitely going to humanize him again, and bring him back to the happier, lighter stance that he had before.

The Power of Three was the most anticipated episode for me, personally. I was really looking forward to seeing an 11th Doctor-UNIT episode. I was actually hoping they would track him down through a Code 9 (see The Aliens of London), and was a little disappointed that they traced him through the artron energy in the TARDIS. The mention of the Zygons was good, though I'm still confused as to why they were sitting in the snow with the Doctor holding a cabbage, especially seeing as it was June. Also, is it just me, or was the Doctor wearing the coat from Let's Kill Hitler in that scene? The mentions of K-9 and the Brig also made me happy as a fan of the classic series. The ending of the episode was rather rushed, with too much happening and the Doctor solving the problem too easily. The sonic screwdriver turned out to be the solution to the episode, which I thought was supposed to be a no-no. Having the Doctor just sonic a screen and solve all the problems does not seem like a proper Doctor Who ending, it's just too easy. The UNIT inclusion worked rather well, the episode was a proper invasion Earth story. The only thing really missing was Trinity Wells.

The Angels Take Manhattan was the first time an episode of Doctor Who made me cry, though I will attribute that to the fact that I hadn't taken my medication and actually had more than two emotions. It only made me cry the first time through, which I think was due to the fact that I had heard it was a tearjerker and was actually expecting to cry, but after watching it once, it just didn't have the same emotional effect. I don't buy the whole thing about reading the future in a book forcing that future to happen. It's been stated before that "sometimes, knowing your own future is what enables you to change it". Never has it been said that knowing your own future forces it to come true. When River or the Doctor says "spoilers" to prevent revealing the future, it's just been explained away as you might try to change your future, which could have disastrous consequences. It's the whole 1st Law of Time thing, never try to interfere in your own timeline. It's always been stated that you can attempt to change your future, even if it might not work. This thing in The Angels Take Manhattan where knowing your future forces it to happen just seems like it's completely out of nowhere. Also when Amy was about to leave, the Doctor said she was creating fixed time and that he could never come see her. I don't understand why he couldn't just come visit her without changing anything. I do feel like it was the best departure of any New Series companion other than Martha. Martha simply chose to leave, Amy chose to be with the one she loved. Amy didn't actually lose anything, she still had her husband and her daughter.

The only other remark I have on this season is that the episodes seem shorter. They are the same length, it just seems less is happening. That may just be me though, it seems like my perception of time alters from school year to school year.

Ultimate Jenna Theory

So here is my ultimate theory for Jenna–Louise Coleman's character.

Clara and Oswin are the same person, Asylum of the Daleks is the story of how she dies. She meets the Doctor for the first time (from her point of view) in the 2012 Christmas Special. She and him travel together for years, and eventually part company. Somehow, some way, she ends up losing all her memories. She has no idea who she is, or that she ever traveled with the Doctor. She makes up the name Oswin Oswald (not knowing her real name, Clara) and joins the starship Alaska to see the universe. It ends up crashing on the Dalek Asylum, and 363 days later, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory arrive. At the end, Clara/Oswin dies when the Daleks annihilate the planet. Moments before she dies, her memories come back, and she tells the Doctor to remember her so he will treat her well during their travels together.

The Doctor, never having seen Clara's face at the Asylum, never knows it's the same girl he took traveling. He never finds out what happens to her after they part ways after traveling together. He never knows the girl he met who became a Dalek was his dear friend Clara.

What We Officially Know About the New Companion

So here is a list of the total information the BBC has officially released about the new companion:

• She is played by Jenna-Louise Coleman
• She will first appear in the Christmas special (now possibly a lie, but that's what they officially said)
• The Doctor will meet her in the last place he ever expected

Everything else is pure speculation and rumors, including:

• Her name is Clara
• She and Oswin are the same person/related in any way at all
• She is in a lesbian relationship with Madame Vastra
• Anything you might have heard about her home time period

Jenna Was Not Originally Intended to Play Oswin

So according to the following video, Moffat did not choose to make Jenna play Oswin until they were casting for the new companion.



Apparently, Moffat did not decide to make Oswin and Clara be played by the same actress until part way through casting. These would seem to suggest that the original scripts make them out to be separate characters. However, Moffat could have changed the scripts afterward or there could be something in Series 8 or 9 about it.

I'm all up for Clara leaving at the end of Series 9 (which I want to introduce Doctor #12). She could end up losing her memory while with the Doctor, then he leaves and she takes a new identity and eventually joins the starship Alaska. The similarity between the two characters might never be mentioned on screen if neither of them knows about it.

Stay tuned for my Ultimate Jenna Theory post this weekend.

Jenna-Louise's Character(s): What We Don't Know

AGAIN, DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS!

Here is a list of things we don't know about Jenna-Louise Coleman's character(s)

1. Is the one in Asylum of the Daleks the same one that will appear starting in the Christmas special?
2. If they are different characters, what is the Christmas special one's name? (Clara is only a rumor)
3. If they are different characters, what is the connection between them?
4. If they are the same character, did she escape or are we going to meet her earlier in her timestream?
5. Does Oswin really die in Asylum?
6. If Asylum is the end of her travels with the Doctor, and the Christmas special is the beginning, why didn't she recognize him?
7. Why did I never realize how sexy she is until now?
8. Why didn't the Doctor rescue her? He could have used the chameleon arch to change her back.
9. If the Daleks were in hibernation, how did they capture her?
10. After a year of making soufflés, why can't she get them right?
11. Why did she go underground instead of to the surface to set up a signal?
12. Is it just me or is she the sexiest character yet?
13. Why does she have a guy's name?

Possible Theories for Jenna's Character(s)

WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS DO NOT READ THIS POST UNTIL YOU HAVE!!

So, Jenna-Louise Coleman made a surprise appearance yesterday in the series opener, five episodes early. The biggest question is: is it the same character, and if so, how?

Possibility 1: Different characters, Oswin Oswald & Clara ________

This is not very likely, it is not the type of thing Moffat would do, unless he knows we think this and is trying to trick us. Here's a couple different ways it could work. 1) Seeing as only .1% of the human genome varies from person to person, with the right amount of random chance and dumb luck, you could get two visually identical people born hundreds of years apart. 2) Spacial genetic multiplicity, or whatever was the explanation behind Gwen Cooper and Gwen Cooper.

Possibility 2: Fractured in time as per Scaroth in City of Death

It could be the same person, fragmented through time. Each of her fragments exists at a separate point in time, but her mind jumps from one another. When this fragment died in the asylum, she just woke up somewhere else. That fragment remembers everything that happened in the asylum, everything that happened before she got fragmented, and various bits from other fragments. Every now and then, she falls unconscious and her mind goes into another fragment.

Possibility 3: She escapes and meets the Doctor again in the right order

Oswin might very well be equipped with an emergency temporal shift. She could escape the asylum before it explodes and go somewhere else. She's a genius and has Dalek knowledge, so she could build a crude chameleon arch. She could use it to rewrite her DNA and assume her previous human form. For some reason, she decides to use the emergency temporal shift to go to 1890s England. There, she meets the Doctor again in the Christmas special. Everything happens to both of them in the right order.

Possibility 4: She dies in the asylum and the Doctor meets her later at an earlier point in her time stream

Maybe she does legitimately die in the asylum. The Doctor meets her in the Christmas special, and takes her traveling, not realizing who she is (he never saw her human face in Asylum). Eventually, the Doctor realizes who she is. He knows that she must meet that fate so that he can make it out of the asylum alive. They eventually get permanently separated, and she loses all her memories. Not knowing who she is, she changes her name from Clara to Oswin Oswald, and takes a job on the Alaska starship.

Possibility 5: She escapes and meets the Doctor again as a Dalek

This is essentially the same as Possibility 3, but instead of rewriting her DNA, she uses a perception filter. That way, she could go back to being a Dalek whenever necessary.