The Magician's Apprentice

Doctor Who has always been equal parts smart and silly. This is a tonal blend that has often backfired, such as last season's finale. This, however, is an example of when it really works. It's an amazing setup, and I really hope it doesn't get wasted like the last finale.

For the first minute or so, it seems to be a typical Doctor Who episode; weird creatures (that look like the Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth) attack a young boy, and the Doctor shows up to save him. Then, things took a huge turn that brought back the moral ambiguity I loved from last season in a very interesting way.

Then, the show rights one of the wrongs of last season's finale, bringing back Missy, and reciprocating her tonal clash. She provides Clara a chance to shine in a scene demonstrating what a great companion she is.

Now, the two of them reunite with the Doctor, and this is where the silly comes in. As hilarious as the Doctor's entrance is, I almost started to worry that it was going to go too far and ruin the wonderful thing they had going, but Moffat pulled back just in time.

The final act involves Daleks, and is very clever in the way it ties in to the old show. It all ends with a shocking conclusion/cliffhanger, that makes you wonder how much is going to stick in the long run, and how much is going to be conveniently fixed in the next episode. We can only hope that this won't be wasted like last season's penultimate was.

Now there will be spoilers as I try to piece together this story for myself, and you.

We see a little boy running across a wore torn field containing Hand mines, stranded, suddenly the Doctor appears, offering a helping hand The Doctor is surprised when the boy reveals his identity.

This was simply pure brilliance, watching this I'll be honest I found myself thinking, can life get any better then watching this? So many elements to it, I felt like it had been written purely for my own personal enjoyment. Where to begin, I'll start with the scare factor, the hand mines and Colony Sarff both hit the mark, really scary ideas, snakes too, yikes!!

I fell in love with Missy in Season 8, for good reason, she was once again truly magical, her return was so big and bold, I loved it. She just owns the screen.

What I particularly loved was the story itself, they dared to reference Genesis of the Daleks, how bold was that, Davros posed a question to the Doctor, could he kill a child if it grew up to be totally evil. I loved seeing UNIT, Ohila, the Shadow Architect, classic Daleks, Skaro, Jay Griffiths, the list just goes on. The humour was great too, Missy tickling the Dalek, and the Doctor calling Colony Sarff a snake nest in a dress.

The rebirth of Skaro is long overdue, and it looked awesome, even the doors used were reminiscent of the ones used in the 60s.

10/10 Pure brilliance, next Saturday cannot come quickly enough.

In my review of the season 8 finale I suggested Steven Moffat wasn't happy to destroy present day DOCTOR WHO and he felt the need to destroy the show's past also . He continues this with the series 9 opener where he ret-cons Genesis Of The Daleks from 1975 . Genesis is perhaps the greatest story from the classic show where a supremely talented production team really pushed the boat out as to what they could get away with in something that was perceived as a cosy family show . One controversy was the subtext of racism with an eternal war between two races The Kaleds and the Thals and I wonder if anyone praising this episode has any knowledge of the concept of subtext ? Two separate races complete with fascist imagery and iconography including Nazi salutes . The Daleks are space Nazis descended from the Kaled race but the Kaleds were space Nazis to begin with , obsessed with racial purity and as I said this is paramount to the point Terry Nation narrative is making . Not so here where the opening scene shows the Kaleds as being a totally diverse ethnic group of people which ignores the xenophobic motivation of a race war . It also ignores the internal logic of a "war of attrition only backwards" seen in Genesis . Bi-planes with lasers , "hand-mines" ( Hey you've seen PANS LABYRINTH haven't you Steven ? ) clash with soldiers armed with bow and arrows might be striking on a visual level but instantly collapses given the slightest thought and unfortunately this ill thought out plotting in the pre title sequence is a highlight compared to what comes after it

This is the first half of a two part story but seems to be entirely composed of padding . Planes become frozen in the air and UNIT call on Clara and Missy to find the Doctor who is playing electric guitar in ye days of olde Not only is it obvious padding but is misguided and embarrassing padding . Missy is dreadful in both writing and the way she's played by Gomez and is a million light years removed from the previous incarnations of The Master . Even the cartoonish Marvel Super-villain played by Simm was superior to the "Mary Poppins on acid /speed/cocaine/any drug you can name" character seen here . But the main irritant is the interpretation of the Doctor himself Capaldi was the trump card from season 8 , an older more serious , darker character . His character didn't always reach the full potential because of the writing was uneven and different writers seemed to be writing for a different character every week , but the potential was there . Here however Capaldi seems to be playing a different character scene to scene and this is reflected in the tone of the episode as it veers all over the place . A lot of bluster , a lot of noise ,a lot of whole lot of nothing in the grand scheme of things . With the exception of Julian Bleach as Davros there's little to praise in this episode . I also noticed Davros was sleeping and having a nightmare . Let's hope next week's resolution sees Davros suddenly wake up and finds the Moffat era has been a nightmare . It's certainly a nightmare to sit through believe me .

There are of course people who will always have complaints about doctor who episode. I myself even have some i didn't found as good. But it never gets bored. I never feel that i am not entertained.

I am not a whovian, and i feel a shame to say i have not watched all episodes from the Tennant series. I am going but haven't come to that. I did fell in love with Matt Smit as the doctor, and i had troubles in my head when i saw Peter Capaldi the first time.

His first season was OK to good. I wanted to have more of an overall arc in the season, and that lacked a bit.

Now here we have a great opener for a new season. what a thrill ride i found it. Sometimes strange, sometimes dark, but again, never dull and always surprising. What a cliffhanger. I hope that there will be more arc related overall stories back in this next season(s). This opener however was great and i can't wait for the next one.

With the first episode of the Ninth season of the revived Doctor Who, we are offered the first of what is at least a two-part story. I'm pleased to see a return to the longer form because we are given a heck of a cliff hanger on top of the return of Davros and the Master.

After what I consider a botched ending to the last season, I am again filled with a sense of hope. Some of my issues with the Twelfth Doctor stories have been caused by the exigencies of character establishment. It's been a concern since Patrick Troughton took over the role in 1966. It's not simply nostalgia for what came before and fear that the future will not live up to the past. We, the audience, must learn to care about this new Doctor before his adventures can touch us emotionally. So we have to spend several episodes in character establishment.

One of the strengths -- and weaknesses -- of Steven Moffat's term as show-runner has been producing a complex, alien Doctor. The Doctor is an alien who is several thousand years old. He should be both. That, however, makes him difficult to understand and hard to like. We need to see him through the eyes of more understandable intermediaries: friends and enemies.

That's what this episode offers us: Clara, the Master and Davros. Friends and enemies, although how they stack up may surprise you.

It's all very interesting, but I am not yet willing to declare this episode a success. It's a two-part story. I'll get around to that next week...assuming that's when this particular story ends.