The opening episode of Doctor Who (S9) was aired on BBC tonight. It's entitled 'The Magician's Apprentice' and forms the first half of a two-part adventure.
My initial impression is that it's the best episode since Peter Capaldi took on the role. He seems to have lost the 'what the hell have I let myself in for?' body language that plagued so much of the previous series, and may - finally - be about to stamp his undoubted talent on the character.
The story oscillates wildly, and entertainingly, between genres until it settles down into something very dark indeed, and ends with a moral conundrum of the 'could you kill the infant Hitler?' type.
[For what it's worth I'd advise against it. Better the devil you know, and all that.]
Two moments which may be of more than passing interest to aficianados of this show: it's revealed that the Doctor was once a little girl - though this is probably a lie; Clara, meanwhile, confesses to her English class that her familiarity with Jane Austen isn't limited to her novels...
This episode looks like it had a decent budget. It's chock full of visual - and aural - surprises. And there's footage of Tom Baker from the 1970s.
A welcome return to form.
Comments
Hmmm...
I enjoy Peter Capaldi's Doctor. I liked Matt Smith and Christopher Eccleston in their portrayals as well.
But I loved David Tennant's Doctor. And I miss him.
~And so it goes...
Hear Hear!
David Tennant had THE BEST portrayal of the Doctor in my opinion: personality, quirk's , responses, and charm. He had it all and left the series on a high note. I wish there could have been 3 -6 seasons more of him. To me, His Doctor is like family to be with.
Sephrena
Sigh...
I can't stand the Clara character and haven't watched since she became the companion.
Whatever happened to that Time Lady?
I don't mind Clara to the point of not watching, but she seems like a light version of Amy Pond. Amy and Rory were such a cute couple. But what I really wish is that they'd bring back the Time Lady companion that scarfy-guy (Tom Baker, I forget his number) had, and who was his equal in every way. She can regenerate, can't she? And if she died for good there's always a way when you have a time machine. Fixed points, my eye!
antediluvian whovian adalusian spacedog hugs
Laika
Just remembered, Tom Baker was #4. I just got off a 14 hour writing day and i'm tired. I'm actually putting some dr who references into my current project, which is the mermaids and aliens series I abandoned 4 years ago. The MEN WITHOUT HATS (Agents Tom Eli Jons and Willis Smits) are a secret government alien hunting agency that gives me lots of opportuntiies to do that. Like:
My back was to them, I continued to lie still so I could eavesdrop on my captors.
“What about that crazy stuff about a genie turning her into a mermaid? That was about consistent with a Spongebob cartoon.”
“She must’ve been turned into one somehow…”
“Come on Thomas, you don’t really buy all that!”
“Then how did she survive all underwater? She had to’ve been down there to know all the things she knows.”
“Maybe the MHH have developed some kind of Scuba gear.”
“Not likely. One of the main reasons their threat rating on the Toho Scale is so low is their level of technology being, at best, Late Medieval. Now maybe they found a coupla tanks, they are known to be scavengers. Or maybe…. Maybe it happened just like she said.”
Smits snorted. “A genie. Right…”
“No. Somethin’ they THOUGHT was a genie. Alien stuff is falling to Earth all the time. Like that Chula medical transport that crashed in London during the Blitz, that they at first was some new kind of German bomb. One of those could’ve read both of their DNA and turned her into a copy of her adoptive sister…”
AND:
As I was shrugging back into my costume she said, “I really feel sorry for Eli.”
“Agent Jons?”
“Yeah. He had partner he worked with for almost twenty years and everyone says they were a great team. Best friends too. But she was killed on the job. Some aliens got her, just tore her to little bits. A species our counterparts over in the UK gave the name Weevils, but they're nothing like insects. Vaguely humanoid, ugly as sin and dumb as a rock. She fell through a rotten floor of an old house they were investigating, right into a nest of them. Eli was devastated.”
Which is more of a TORCHWOOD reference but what they hey...
What borders on pure insanity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
Sarah Jane Smith
....sigh
Love, Andrea Lena
Sarah Jane...
was great, but I didn't mean her.
The Time Lady was from Gallifrey.
RIP Elizabeth Sladen. Yeah, sigh...
What borders on pure insanity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
The Time Lady in question ...
... was Romanadvoratrelundar, or Romana for short. In the episode Warriors' Gate, she chose to stay in the space between E-space and n-space (normal space) to help a race of lion-like time sensitives rebuild their civilization.
And yes, she was awesome, in both of her incarnations. *grin*
Of the modern companions
I think I liked Dr. Jones the best. She challenged the Doctor intellectually
I quite like Clara
though it's been announced she's leaving the series to do one on the young Queen Victoria - all bustles and back-biting.
Not sure what I thought of the latest episode.
Angharad
I like her too
While Amy will most likely always be my favorite, Clara is a close second. She used to be a good moral center for a Doctor that is obviously turning a little darker. At least until they killed off Danny Pink. Now Clara's character doesn't really seem to care much about moral lines.
I read that they're going to be filling in for her later with River Song returning, and someone from Game of Thrones. And I highly doubt River will be much of a moral center for the Doctor. I'll miss Clara though, like I miss Amy, bow ties and David Tennant.
~Taylor Ryan
My muse suffers from insomnia, and it keeps me up at night.
GoT
The character will be played by Maisie Williams, aka Arya Stark - she's confirmed as a new character, but from the trailers, evidently a pre-existing acquaintance of the Doctor who's definitely present during the Viking episode.
Still, before then we've got a lot of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff to get through, especially considering that [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] were exterminated but appear again later in the series...
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
I loved the episode!
I thought 'Magician's Apprentice' was brilliant- what happens when you finally let everyone involved (writers and actors) 'off the leash' and just let them go at it. Capaldi was magnificent- his entrance in... Well, I won't spoil it either, only I was in stitches afterwards. :-)
I liked the first part of season 8 but felt it dropped in quality a lot as the season went on. The episode on the Moon with the spiders was particularly awful, but I have high hopes for the rest of season 9. :-)
Debs xxxx
Loved the episode
I read a review that compared Michelle Gomez's Missy in this episode to Christopher Eccleston's Doctor. Lots of swagger but highly secretive and more aloof.
Also, it has been confirmed that Jenna is leaving. All her filming is complete.
Doctor Who
About the only time I ever had to rewind to hear what was said. Some of it was so weird, so disjointed, that it made no sense.
As someone on facebook said, it only makes sense if he's wearing one of those dream things.
Some bits felt like they were added for the cheap crowd pop, others like "We did this for Matt Smith by his xx episode so lets do it here in Peter's xx episode." Some bits felt like both.