Clara Oswald and the School of Death was the eighth story of the Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor comic series published in 2016. It was the first story of the second year of the series and saw a restart of the issue numbering, with the series now taking place during the events of the ninth series. The story featured the surprise return of the Sea Devils.
Summary
The gothic, sprawling Ravenscaur is the top private school in the UK, educator of the children of royalty, politicians and celebrities, and epicentre of generations of power and influence. When an old friend of Clara's dies at the school under mysterious circumstances, she and the Twelfth Doctor go undercover to investigate.
Plot
Part one
Late at Ravenscaur School, Christel Dean is packing up her things, when a piece of chalk lifts up and writes on the chalkboard, "I must not murder my teacher." She runs out of the school, and as she drives away, leaves a voicemail for her friend Clara. A group of students appear in the middle of the road, and Christel swerves into a tree. As the children approach her, she runs onto a bridge, where the water rises and she is attacked by a sea creature.
Meanwhile, the Twelfth Doctor is being harassed by an alien in the bar of a starliner. He uses the sonic sunglasses to hack into the aliens' jetpacks, sending them flying, and hops into the TARDIS with an extra drink for Clara.
to be added
Part two
to be added
Part three
to be added
Part four
to be added
Characters
- Twelfth Doctor
- Clara Oswald
- Jack Irvine
- Lucy Walker
- Christel Dean
- Mr Beck
- Mrs Mariner
- Lucifer van Volk
- Catriona Stewart
- Daniel Claremont
- Kate Stewart
- Petronella Osgood
References
The Doctor
- The Doctor takes a trip to the Rosette of Sirius in 2242. Lucifer van Volk, captain of the Steel Reivers, considers killing him with a firestorm incinerator cannon and a Kronaan laser-ax.
- The Doctor once ended up conducting the last night of The Proms, where he played the Sex Pistols' version of "God Save the Queen".
- The Doctor's contact image for Kate Stewart is photo-shopped to give her her father's moustache.
Clara
- Clara's outgoing voicemail message is, "Hi, it's Clara. I'm either banging my head against a brick wall trying to teach Class 2B Shakespeare, or, y'know, out saving the universe."
- It is confirmed that Clara attended teacher's college.
Sea Devils
- Clara notes that Sea Devils are less sophisticated and more savage than Silurians.
- Sea Devil hatchlings communicate via sonic telepathy.
Notes
- The character of Christel Dean is named for, and takes the likeness of, actor Christel Dee, host of the BBC-produced webseries The Fan Show.
- For the first time, we see what the Doctor sees through his sonic sunglasses.
- The story implies that Clara has taken a leave from Coal Hill School given that she is able to take on a full-time (if temporary) teaching position at Ravenscaur. At the end of the story, the Doctor offers to take her back to Coal Hill.
- A running joke in the story involves the Doctor taking on a new "companion" - a stuffed swordfish he names Sonny.
- In keeping with the format of a number of series 9 stories, the Doctor and Clara spend much of the story separated.
- The presence of two Osgoods dates this story as happening after the events of TV: The Zygon Inversion.
Original print details
to be added
Continuity
- The Doctor now uses his sonic sunglasses. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice etc.)
- While not recognising Lucifer, the Doctor queries whether he knew "a mop-head in a fedora and rainbow scarf", "a skinny chap with electro-shock hair", or "a bow-tied whippersnapper". (TV: Robot, The Parting of the Ways, The Eleventh Hour)
- The Doctor claims that he gets distracted rather than running off. (TV: Into the Dalek)
- Clara is said to have used psychic paper to get the job with the school, leading the Doctor to remark that she is acting like him. (TV: Flatline)
- A teacher shows attraction to Clara, a la Danny Pink, but in a more negative manner and she shoots down his advances (unlike in TV: Into the Dalek).
- Clara refers to herself as being impossible. (TV: The Name of the Doctor, et al)
- In keeping with Year Two being set in the Series 9 continuity, the Doctor is now wearing more casual clothes, in particular his hoodie. (TV: Last Christmas)
- The Doctor once again claims to be a master swordfighter, and fights using an unconventional weapon. (TV: Robot of Sherwood)
- Clara possesses a sonic screwdriver, which she got from the Doctor during the Fracture invasion. (COMIC: The Fractures)
- Clara attended teaching college before taking her job at Coal Hill School (TV: The Day of the Doctor). The story does not indicate whether she is still employed by Coal Hill at this point.
- The Doctor recalls the emergence of the Sea Devils in the English Channel. (TV: The Sea Devils) He notes that it happened in either 1972 or 1982, referencing the UNIT dating controversy.
- The Doctor tells Mrs. Mariner that he "had a run-in with some intelligent fireballs a while back". (COMIC: The Hyperion Empire)
- When Kate finds out that the Prime Minister isn't human she remarks, "Not again". (TV: The Sound of the Drums)
- The Doctor gives Clara and the students a device that boosts their mental abilities. (TV: Hide)
- The Doctor again refers to an unusual object as a companion and mourns its loss. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
- Clara refers to the TARDIS as her home, much as Ace did in TV: Survival.
- Claremont mentions Scotland's wish to separate from the UK. (TV: The Beast Below)
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