Some might see this deferral as building tension.
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Besides belaboring the point, this series of scenes, combined with about 15 minutes of Clara (Jenna Coleman) and Missy (Michelle Gomez) threatening each other in their parallel search for the Doctor, delays the “real” plot until about halfway through the episode. As cool as Sarff is (a democratic colony of snakes with a unified personality), we don’t need to watch his entire journey to get that he’s looking really hard. After the dramatic scene of young Davros on the battlefield, much of the first act follows Colony Sarff, Davros’s head of personal security as he searches for the Doctor on far-flung worlds from prior episodes.
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The best references are ones that will crack up fans who get them, but won’t even be noticed by those who don’t.ĭespite the fantastic main ideas behind these episodes-namely, the Doctor’s involvement in Davros’s beginnings, and the blurring of friend and enemy-both plots suffer from unnecessary diversions that distract the viewer from the primary plot and from the substantive character development that takes place. After all they do remind the audience who Davros is, granted they wait 30 minutes to do so. For the most part, they strike a good balance.
Both Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat (the writer of the season 9 opener and the producer of Doctor Who) grew up watching Classic Who, so it’s not too surprising they sometimes have trouble speaking to both audiences. The reaction of our friend who casually watches Nu Who was more “Who’s Davros? Oh, you mean that ridiculously wrinkled old dude from that one David Tennant episode? What’s the big deal?”Īnd here’s the problem: referencing characters familiar to we Classic Who fans can be confusing to those who have only seen Nu Who. If you’re hardcore, classic Whovians, like us, this is one of the best episode openers in the history of Doctor Who. Enter the Doctor, who tosses his sonic to the child and asks: “Tell me the name of the boy who isn’t going to die today.”Īt this point, we’re like HOLY SONIC, the Doctor has just been given the choice of rescuing a child who will grow up to be the diabolic, megalomaniacal creator of the Daleks, a species that has terrorized countless civilizations and committed myriad atrocities including the war that led to the apparent destruction of the Doctor’s homeworld and every other member of his species. Once the plane flies off, a soldier spots a young boy running through the haze, and soon both are trapped in a deadly field of “hand mines” which abruptly kill the soldier and leave the boy stranded. The new season of Doctor Who opens with a shot of a gray and hazy battlefield as a group of soldiers, bows and arrows strapped to their uniforms, flee before the laser fire of a 1920’s biplane. This opening season is second only to those of Matt Smith’s era if the rest of season 9 sticks to this standard, then we certainly have something to look forward to. The superb acting of Peter Capaldi (the Doctor) and the actor playing the main villain more than compensates for any failings of the plot. Unlike the beige Nicolas Cage of similar name, “The Magician’s Apprentice” possesses the magic its title suggests.
But this paragraph is safe, so before you stop reading let us tell you what you need to know. So anyway, for those of you who haven’t seen Part 1, “The Magician’s Apprentice,” the rest of this review will contain spoilers, though we promise to avoid spoilers for Part 2, “The Witch’s Familiar” (well, for the most part). In a manner perfectly suited to the show’s timey-wimey nature, these episodes provide a splendid example of how sci-fi can explore deep questions rather than just showcase explosions and mayhem (cough, Star Trek: Into Darkness, cough).
“Listen, if someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?” This question drives the two-part opening of “Doctor Who” season 9.
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