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.

Summer Falls to be Available for Sale

The book featured in last week's episode, Summer Falls, is set to be available as an eBook starting this Thursday at £1.99 (US$2.66). It is supposedly written by Amy, and chapter eleven will make you cry (at least it made Clara cry).

Available for pre-order here and here.

Synopsis

“When summer falls, the Lord of Winter will arise…”

In the seaside village of Watchcombe, young Kate is determined to make the most of her last week of summer holiday. But when she discovers a mysterious painting entitled ‘The Lord of Winter’ in a charity shop, it leads her on an adventure she never could have planned. Kate soon realises the old seacape, painted long ago by an eccentric local artist, is actually a puzzle. And with the help of some bizarre new acquaintances – including a museum curator’s magical cat, a miserable neighbour, and a lonely boy – she plans on solving it.

And then, one morning Kate wakes up to a world changed forever. For the Lord of Winter is coming – and Kate has a very important decision to make.

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.

The Great Intelligence's MO

All of the Great Intelligence stories (I haven't seen the classic series ones, but I've read the Wikipedia articles, so please forgive me) have certain elements in common. Be warned, some of this may be spoilery if you haven't seen The Bells of Saint John yet.

The mirroring multi-nuclear host: In each story, the Great Intelligence has a multi-nuclear (that means it has more than one nucleus, or center) host that it possesses. In the classic series stories, it was those metal balls. In The Snowmen, it was the telepathic snow, each snowflake a nucleus. The snow actually had nothing to do with the Great Intelligence, it just happened, and the Great Intelligence took advantage of it. In The Bells of Saint John, it was the wireless routers and the Spoonheads. Both the snow and the Spoonheads appeared to be able to mirror people's thoughts back at them. It would soak up images and words from the surrounding people (like the girl on the book, the Doctor, the snowmen, and "that's the way to do it!") and copy them.

The beasts/foot soldiers: There were also the creatures that the Great Intelligence controlled to do its bidding. In the classic series these were the Yeti, while in the new series they were the snowmen and the Spoonheads. The Yeti were simply animals that the Great Intelligence was controlling telepathically, though they later turned into robots. The snowmen were controlled by the Great Intelligence because they were made of the telepathic snow that the Great Intelligence was already in control of. The snow was able to remember the shape of Dr. Simeon's snowman as a child. The Spoonheads were manufactured specifically for their purpose by Ms. Kizlet's company. They were controlled by the Great Intelligence simply because they were Wi-Fi connected, and the Great Intelligence was living inside the Wi-Fi.

The boss: This was the person that the Great Intelligence had contacted as a child and was connected to telepathically. I don't know who it was in the classic series episodes (I think there was something about a monk or a professor in one of the episodes), but in The Snowmen, it was Dr. Simeon, while in The Bells of Saint John, it was Ms. Kizlet. Each of these people became telepathically linked to the Intelligence as a child. Both of them felt very alone (Simeon didn't like the other children and Kizlet's parents had disappeared) and the Intelligence used this to befriend them and use them for its own purposes.

Behind the Scenes of The Bells of Saint John

Watch this behind-the-scenes clip about today's episode.

The Bells of Saint John Spoiler Summary

The following is a summary of all the information I could get my hands on about tomorrow's episode, The Bells of Saint John, which is written by Steven Moffat and directed by Colm McCarthy.

Clip 1

Clip 2

Prequel

Trailer

Clip 3

Clip 4

Clip 5

Teaser

There are also trailers for Series 7 here and here.

The Doctor somehow finds Clara after spending time at a monastery in 1207 Cumbria. He meets her, she's suspicious of him, yada yada yada, they get in the TARDIS, bigger on the inside, etc etc. Anyway, a company run by Ms. Kizlet (Celia Imrie) is using software to take people's minds and upload them onto the internet. The people's minds are taken when they click on some alien symbols in their wireless network list.

<mega spoiler>Her client is the Great Intelligence, played by Richard E. Grant.</mega spoiler>

<speculation>After people's minds are uploaded, evil bad guy (see mega spoiler, if you dare) is going either use them to increase his own powers or take over their bodies and use them as hosts.</speculation>

Nabile's Warning

A warning to the world about the dangers of Wi-Fi.

Introducing The Bells of Saint John

New video with Matt and Jenna introducing this week's episode, The Bells of Saint John.

Sixth Clip from The Bells of Saint John

It's actually a clip they released before on some show. I think it was the Jonathan Ross Show.

Meet Ms. Kizlet

A new clip has been released feature this Saturday's episode's villain, Ms. Kizlet.

Two New Pictures of the Doctor

These were released alongside yesterday's new poster.

The Doctor Gets Dressed

The Doctor gets dressed in this new clip from The Bells of Saint John.

New Picture for The Bells of Saint John

A similar version of an image that's been floating around the internet for a few days and that was on the cover of a magazine has been released by the BBC.

First Trailer for The Bells of Saint John

New TV trailer out for next week's episode.

The Prequel to the Bells of Saint John

So my only question is "what year does this take place in"? Though I suppose there's always "just how many versions of her are there anyway"?

The Great Intelligence Returns!

Spoilerphobes beware!

The BBC has released the full cast list for The Bells of Saint John and it includes Richard E. Grant as the Great Intelligence, which is very curious, since he technically played Dr. Simeon. The Intelligence was voiced by Ian McKellan. Perhaps it has found corporeal form, or perhaps this is just a mistake.

Cast list: (courtesy of Doctor Who TV)

• The Doctor – Matt Smith
• Clara – Jenna-Louise Coleman
• Miss Kizlet – Celia Imrie
• Mahler – Robert Whitlock
• Alexei- Dan Li
• Nabile – Manpreet Bachu
• Paul – Sean Knopp
• The Abbott – James Greene
• George – Geff Francis
• Angie – Eve de Leon Allen
• Artie Kassius – Carey Johnson
• Little Girl – Danielle Eames
• Barista – Fred Pearson
• Waitress – Jade Anouka
• Newsreader – Olivia Hill
• Child Reading with Comic – Isabella Blake-Thomas
• Man with Chips – Matthew Earley
• Pilot – Antony Edridge
• The Great Intelligence – Richard E. Grant

This does confirm what I've been thinking for some time now that the Great Intelligence is behind the events of this episode. I mean, it fits its MO (Method of Operations). It's a disembodied mind, floating in some host (in this case, the Wi-Fi), draining people of their mind, then taking them over.

UPDATE: The BBC have since removed the offending spoiler from their page.

New Clip from The Bells of Saint John

There's a new clip out from The Bells of Saint John. I'm not sure where it was released, appears to be something to do with BBC America.

New Clip of the Doctor and Clara on a Motorcycle

Jenna-Louise Coleman was on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson last night, where they showed a special clip from The Bells of Saint John.



Full interview below

Interview with Matt Smith (Includes New Clips)

There's a new video interview with Matt Smith out, which includes some new footage from The Bells of Saint John.