Clara's Farewell Tour - An Overview of "Doctor Who" Series 9

Note: Sorry for the delay in this overview. I had too much fun at Phoenix Fan Fest during the show's season finale (ironically with a former cast member) and spent week last trying to catch up with my life after Fan Fest!

Same Old, Same Old: The Doctor and Clara on the Run!

“Never be cruel, and never be cowardly, and if you are always make amends.” – The Doctor

It’s a shame that the ratings for BBC1’s ‘Doctor Who’ were down for the year in the UK. It’s a shame because no one will talk about dancing shows or singing shows or baking shows in a few years, but they will always talk about ‘Doctor Who’, especially since viewership is increasing in the one country that counts as much as England to the BBC: the United States of America! These people have missed what has been the best season of ‘Doctor Who’ since Series 5!

Starting with the Doctor surviving a three-way confrontation that included Missy and the Daleks (the two-parter The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar), he and Clara went on one crazy adventure after another! Freed from anything holding her back on Earth, Clara was more carefree and bold with each episode. However, Clara’s newfound daring came with increasing risk, culminating in her death from a plot by the Doctor’s own people (the Time Lords) in Face The Raven. Outraged, the Doctor overcame a 4.5 billion year trap to make it back to his home world Gallifrey, where he overthrew the planet’s leadership. Using his newly installed Presidential Powers he ordered Clara’s revival, then escaped with her in a stolen TARDIS (sound familiar?). Yet his plan was to make Clara forget she ever knew the Doctor in order to keep her safe was subverted as Clara turned the tables on the Doctor, making him forget about her so the Time Lords couldn’t use his memories to find her!

The acting on the show this series was first-rate, but Peter Capaldi (the Doctor) and Jenna Coleman (Clara) gave standout performances. Clara was no longer a mystery to solve (Who is the impossible girl?) but a character in her own right. Coleman gave us a Clara we could root for: almost the Doctor’s equal despite only being human, making her death that much more tragic and making her resurrection that much more joyful. As for the Doctor, Capaldi threw out the grumpy, uncaring Doctor of Series 8 into the fun-loving, caring Doctor! One who not only can bring an electric guitar to medieval duel, but also make us believe he can win with that choice of “weapon”:


Most of the stories this year were two-parters, allowing for stories to develop rather than be cut short after one hour. Serious questions where asked this series (Would you kill a child knowing he would be responsible for genocide in the future?) mixed with hot button issues of this year of immigration and terrorism, adding depth to a children’s show. For all the criticism ‘Doctor Who’ takes regarding its treatment of women, the ladies really shine in Series 9! Yet the best idea showrunner Steven Moffat had was to make the Doctor less grumpy and way cooler, playing to Capalidi’s strengths. In fact Moffat (with Peter Harness) wrote this blog’s favorite Series 9 story, The Zygon Inversion, with the Doctor and UNIT scientist Osgood desperately trying to keep a peace treaty between humans and Zygons from breaking down despite the Zygons taking over Clara and UNIT leader Kate!

This series found a happy medium with experimenting with new ideas (the Hybrid, confession dials and sonic sunglasses) with the decades-old structure of the show. It’s sad that Coleman is leaving the show, but her character got the best parting gift of any companion: her own Tardis. Now ‘Doctor Who’ can be remade new again, with a new companion for the returning Capaldi, and a new sonic screwdriver:

How cool is that?

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