12 Years Later, Doctor Who Just Did The Exact Opposite Of Clara Entering The Doctor’s Time Stream

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 15, episode 1, “The Robot Revolution.”Doctor Who‘s season 15 opener, “The Robot Revolution,” quietly repeats a storyline that happened during the era of Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor – but with a twist. Despite “The Robot Revolution” being written by Russell T. Davies, the showrunner uses the season 15 premiere to put an interesting spin on an arc penned by Steven Moffat – the showrunner who stepped in as the Doctor Who boss after Davies’ first departure in 2009. Davies’ nod to the mind-bending arc of Jenna Coleman’s Clara Oswald can be easy to miss, even for long-time Doctor Who viewers.

Jenna played Clara alongside Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor for his final two seasons and stayed on for Peter Capaldi’s first two runs as Twelve. Her complex timeline and unique place within the show’s canon make her one of the best Doctor Who companions ever. Although Coleman hasn’t appeared in the show since her brief cameo in 2017’s “Twice Upon a Time,” the door technically remains open for Clara to return at any time. She doesn’t appear in “The Robot Revolution,” but Davies certainly borrows from her character’s lore.

The Doctor Experiences Belinda’s Timeline In One Go In “The Robot Revolution”

Fifteen now appears throughout Belinda’s life, just as Clara did in the Doctor’s

Near the end of Doctor Who season 15, episode 1, the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) steps in and absorbs the energy from the paradox being caused by Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) and the AI Generator (Jonny Green) touching together two temporal copies of the same star certificate. By doing so, Fifteen permeates his new companion’s timeline – as proven by the shot of Gatwa’s character holding Belinda as a baby. To new viewers, this may seem like an original concept, but it’s pretty much what Clara does to the Doctor in Doctor Who season 7’s finale, “The Name of the Doctor.”

Clara enters Eleven’s time stream in “The Name of the Doctor,” accounting for the various characters he has experienced throughout space and time that look just like her. “The Robot Revolution” flips that storyline, as it’s the Doctor this time who slots himself in throughout his companion’s history. It’s not yet been revealed how this will impact the rest of Belinda’s life, or even if it will, but it’s a fascinating turn of events considering something so similar has canonically happened before. I would be surprised if Fifteen’s actions didn’t come back to haunt the story.

How Belinda Is Different (& Similar To) Doctor Who’s Clara Oswald

Sethu & Coleman both play “mystery girl” companions

Belinda made her debut as part of the Doctor Who season 14 cast, playing Mundy Flynn in episode 3, “Boom.” The connection between Belinda and Mundy has been confirmed as a distant genetic link, but other unanswered questions about Sethu’s newest Doctor Who character make her the latest in a long line of “mystery girl” companions. Clara fits into this category as well, as she was introduced as an enigma to be solved rather than just a traditional TARDIS passenger. Regardless, neither version of either character the Doctor first meets is the “original” version of each respective companion.

Clara and Belinda are very different people, though. The biggest difference is that Clara always gravitated to the Doctor, eager to either learn more about him or travel to the stars with him. Inversely, Belinda has no interest in being aboard the TARDIS. She was taken to an alien world against her will by the Robots, and only wants the Fifteen’s help so she can get home to Earth. So, while Clara being a Doctor Who companion was voluntary, Belinda is being forced into the role by circumstance.

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  Doctor Who
  

  Release Date

  2005 – 2022-00-00

  Directors

  Graeme Harper, Euros Lyn, Douglas Mackinnon, Jamie Magnus Stone, Charles Palmer, Rachel Talalay, Joe Ahearne, James Strong, Jamie Childs, Saul Metzstein, Toby Haynes, Wayne Che Yip, Nick Hurran, Richard Clark, James Hawes, Daniel Nettheim, Colin Teague, Keith Boak, Azhur Saleem, Adam Smith, Andrew Gunn, Nida Manzoor, Lawrence Gough, Paul Murphy

  Writers

  Steven Moffat, Russell T. Davies

  
  

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    Jodie Whittaker

    The Doctor

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  Doctor Who
  

  
  

  5/10

  Release Date

  December 25, 2023
  

  Directors

  Douglas Camfield, David Maloney, Christopher Barry, Michael E. Briant, Barry Letts, Michael Ferguson, Richard Martin, Peter Moffatt, Pennant Roberts, Lennie Mayne, Chris Clough, Ron Jones, Paddy Russell, Paul Bernard, Michael Hayes, Timothy Combe, Morris Barry, Gerald Blake, Graeme Harper, Waris Hussein, Rodney Bennett, Mervyn Pinfield, Hugh David, John Gorrie

  Writers

  Russell T. Davies, Dave Gibbons, Kate Herron, Steven Moffat

  Franchise(s)

  Doctor Who