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| {{retitle|"Clara" (song)}} | | {{merge|Clara (song)}} |
| {{Infobox Object | | {{real world}} |
| |name = Clara
| | '''''The Impossible Girl''''', written by [[Murray Gold]], was the theme that occasionally accompanied [[Clara Oswald]]'s appearances in episodes of ''[[Doctor Who]]''. The theme was characterised by a flute melody and a harp-like accompaniment. |
| |type = [[Song]]
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| |made by = [[Twelfth Doctor]]
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| |only = Hell Bent
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| |clip =
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| '''"Clara"''' was an instrumental song composed by the [[Twelfth Doctor]]. He performed the song several times for [[Clara Oswald]] in [[Clara's TARDIS|her TARDIS]], disguised as an American diner, during a visit to [[Nevada]]. This occurred after he erased most memories of his former [[companion]], so he was unaware that he was playing it for Clara herself. | |
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| The Doctor didn't know the origin of the tune. However, after discussing the fact that the Doctor no longer had specific memories of Clara, and in particular had forgotten a private message she gave him while in the [[cloisters]] on [[Gallifrey]], Clara suggested that songs, such as this one, might represent those lost memories. The Doctor considered this and continued to play the song as Clara's TARDIS dematerialised around him. ([[TV]]: ''[[Hell Bent (TV story)|Hell Bent]]'')
| | This theme was also heard on several soundtrack CDs. |
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| == Behind the scenes ==
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| In reality, "Clara" was composed by series music composer [[Murray Gold]]. It is a very rare case of a soundtrack composition — as opposed to a vocal song — becoming [[diegetic]], or part of the narrative.
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| Originally titled "Clara?" and also known as "The Impossible Girl" (the title it was performed under during the [[Doctor Who at the Proms (2013)]] concert and the [[Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular (Melbourne)|Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular]]), the composition was first heard briefly in [[TV]]: ''[[Asylum of the Daleks (TV story)|Asylum of the Daleks]]'' in 2012 during the sequence in which Oswin utters the phrase "Run you clever boy, and remember" for the first time.
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| A full arrangement of the song was first heard on [[Doctor Who - The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe and The Snowmen (soundtrack)|the soundtrack]] to ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'' in 2012, most notably during the sequence in which Clara Oswin Oswald ascends to where the Doctor's TARDIS is hidden; the soundtrack album for the special titles the track "Clara and the TARDIS". The "Snowmen" version incorporates a wordless choral vocal singing the melody, which is unique to this version of the leitmotif.
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| Prior to this, Gold had also composed "Oswin Oswald", a musical theme for the earlier character. This tune had a similar melody, but a number of noticable differences to the later track.
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| "Clara?", although introduced for Oswin and Clara Oswin Oswald, became the recurring leitmotif for Clara Oswald proper, beginning with ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'' and was featured prominently in the opening minutes of the 50th anniversary special, ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]''. It was also borrowed for the Red Button spoof ''[[The Fiveish Doctors Reboot (TV story)|The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot]]'' for a sequence in which [[Jenna Coleman]], [[Matt Smith]] and [[Steven Moffat]] appear.
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| It continued to be a recurring theme for Clara during [[Series 8 (Doctor Who)|Series 8]] and [[Series 9 (Doctor Who)|9]], before becoming part of the narrative in ''Hell Bent''; a sombre variant was featured during her death scene in ''[[Face the Raven (TV story)|Face the Raven]]''. Besides being played on camera during ''Hell Bent'' in an electric guitar version by [[Peter Capaldi]], the tune also was prominently featured in the Cloisters sequence where the camera pans away from the Doctor and Clara during their private moment. A narrative link is made between the use of the melody in that sequence and Clara later suggesting the song might represent what she said in the cloisters. Behind-the-scenes footage of Clara's farewell scene, included in the ''[[Doctor Who Extra]]'' instalment for ''Hell Bent'' reveals that Capaldi played the melody off-camera on an acoustic guitar as Coleman filmed her final goodbye to the Doctor.
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| The theme also plays during a scene in ''[[The Pilot (TV story)|The Pilot]]'', when the Doctor is about to wipe the memories from [[Bill Potts]]' adventure with him and she asks him to imagine what it would feel like if someone did it to him. According to [[DWM 512|''Doctor Who Magazine'' #512]], a deleted scene had the Doctor playing the melody on his guitar, on stage in a nightclub as the characters of Bill and [[Heather (The Pilot)|Heather]] meet; the episode, as finally broadcast, removed most of this scene in favour of a [[montage]].
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| This is not the first piece of music attributed (in the fictional universe) to the Doctor; he previously conducted a fourth wall-breaking orchestral performance of another piece of music he created ([[TV]]: ''[[Music of the Spheres (TV story)|Music of the Spheres]]''). It is also, after "[[Love Don't Roam]]" ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride (TV story)|The Runaway Bride]]''), the second diegetic song to refer (albeit in this case instrumentally) to a lost companion, although "Love Don't Roam", in-universe, just happened to be a song the [[Tenth Doctor|Doctor]] heard being played in a night club with lyrics that invoked memories of [[Rose Tyler]].
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| {{OrigSongs}}
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| [[Category:Songs]]
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| [[Category:Doctor Who music]] | | [[Category:Doctor Who music]] |
| | [[Category:Leitmotifs]] |
| | [[Category:Real world stubs]] |
