(NB: as I have been doing, On Whoday I post one of my archive reviews I didn't post during the series here because this blog didn't exist. I do believe that this finishes up all of S9 to date here.
Enjoy.)
What the hell are you up to now?...some brief thoughts about The Magician's Apprentice
September 20, 2015 at 11:43am
Welcome back, after nearly a year, to my weekly brief thoughts about Doctor Who. I'll be with you for the next 12 weeks talking about each new episode in sequence, in varying formats. This week I did the insta-reaction thing, 2 viewings on.
I do want to start by setting some of the guidelines for things:
1) Spoileriffic, so if you haven't watched, please don't read :-)
2) That's really about it.
Before I begin, I want to comment on two things. I watched last night on BBC-A and this morning on my yarred HD copy. Last night's audio was HORRIFIC. I don't know if it was a 5.1 mix that didn't get downstepped to stereo properly, but a good chunk of the time the dialogue was unhearable. I had no issues with the HD copy. Secondly, there were some definite downgrades on the special effects. The stopped planes matte work was...not good. The ground swallowing up the soldier was very rough around the edges. And the Planet Skaro appearing as it did was pretty naff. On one hand it felt like a 70's episode, on the other hand it felt like a 70's episode.
That said, Capaldi was excellent, I'm growing to like Missy, Clara didn't have a whole lot to do and thus was pretty OK, and I am super glad they got Julian Bleach to come back as Davros. Second best Davros ever, after Michael Wisher.
And now...commentary!
1) We open on a cloudy field
2) Is...is that a biplane?
3) with...lasers?
4) Soldiers with bow and arrow? And gas masks?
5) Kid, you're running the wrong way.
6) Seriously...you're running the wrong way.
7) I do not trust him.
8) And wow, moving ground. Kinda a naff effect, but spooky.
9) Oh, hand mine, not land mine.
10) And that effect was even less good.
11) But the hands coming out of the ground...proper spooky.
12) Mist definitely helps. Why is it so misty...HOLY FUCK EYES.
13) Enter stage left sonic screwdriver.
14) Hello Doctor!
15) Such a combination of the First doctor and the Tenth dialogue wise. And the Fourth. And the Seventh.
16) Oh fuck.
17) Look on Doctor's face = Oh shit.
18) Credits...I still love the spiraling clockwork.
19) The Maldovarium?
20) Is that a Headless? No.
21) Love his movement.
22) Ooh, snakey!
23) Apparently he's called Colony Sarff.
24) Nice to see all the old aliens there tho.
25) Who is running the Maldovarium now anyway?
26) Holy hell, the Shadow Proclamation?
27) Well, she has no idea.
28) And damn, she already knows why he's here. But of course.
29) Karn now? It's the galactic tour!
30) I love the sisterhood of Karn. So much.
31) Dark Lord of Skaro? Really? No no no, too Star Wars.
32) Ha ha, your powers mean nothing! Ha ha ha!
33) Holy shit he was there, and she is pissed!
34) Those doors...
35) And wow, a broken, dying Davros.
36) Is that Julian Bleach? He was such a good Davros!
37) Welcome back to Coal Hill School!
38) And Clara sees something...
39) And into action! Phones! Check news, websites and twitter for the planes have stopped!
40) And here we have the patented Doctor Who news montage!
41) Clara on a motorbike on her way to UNIT.
42) Geez, the matte work is ungood.
43) But waved right through? Wow.
44) Yay Kate Lethbridge Stewart!!!!
45) I don't know the scientist working the computer sims, but I LIKE her! She's got some sass!
46) The...Doctor Channel?
47) You so fine?
48) You blow my mind?
49) Missy.
50) Not dead, back, big surprise?
51) 8 snipers...3 for each heart, 2 for the brain stem to stop regeneration.
52) And there they are.
53) OK, maybe I'm warming up to Missy a little.
54) And here's our Clara.
55) Side note, love her boots :-)
56) Ouch, Missy. How's your boyfriend? Aloe for the burn.
57) And let's stop a plane over top for some nice shade.
58) And no one can find the Doctor.
59) A confession dial...the last will of the Doctor.
60) And Clara can't touch it.
61) And now we have the verification that the Doctor and the Master were friends. Cloister Wars. Stole the moon.
62) And there's the Time Lord ego.
63) Damn, Clara has some ovaries.
64) Wow, she's kind of talking like River there.
65) And...Elizabethan theater and its 1138 AD...and that's wrong.
66) In Essex?
67) LOL, you go girl!
68) And a vortex manipulator.
69) Cheap and nasty time travel...sounds familiar.
70) Electric guitar in 1138 AD.
71) On a tank.
72) The doctor as punk with mad guitar skills!
73) Are those First Doctor pants?
74) Dude?
75) These jokes are so bad.
76) ...Three weeks?
77) Oh Clara.
78) And a hug...from the Doctor?
79) The Wicked Stepmother:-P
80) Boris...stop swallowing marbles.
81) Holy snakey!
82) And it's that guy again!
83) Oh wow this is freaky. I've seen stuff like this in my nightmares...
84) Are you so dangerous, little man? Yes he is.
85) Ooh, green eyes of jealousy from Missy.
86) And well, that's a shocker...spanner thrown in the works.
87) I don't have a screwdriver now.
88) And Missy is shocked.
89) Shame?
90) Doctor, what have you done?
91) And a flashback, and he's gone.
92) Traps are my flirting, and this is a trap!
93) And those are incredibly final goodbyes. Holy damn.
94) And Missy and Clara decide to go along, and voting...because they are a democracy after all.
95) Boris, you're looking well.
96) TARDIS!
97) Oh, bollocks.
98) A nice history lesson from the Doctor about Davros and the Daleks. Good for catching people up.
99) Those doors again...
100) The architecture...
101) No.
102) No. Really?
103) What's wrong with the gravity? Nothing. Not space station gravity.
104) Airlock, and the day Missy kills Clara!
105) :-O
106) And Davros in his life cocoon...
107) Shades of Vader in his support machine. More Star Wars. Intentional, I think.
108) Whoa...loads of Doctor/Davros/Dalek audio from the past.
109) And THE line. THE DAVROS LINE.
110) Guilt, duty, shame.
111) The argument that has spanned the years.
112) It ended in the time war.
113) They survived the time war, but it ends tonight.
114) Missy exploring...side note: I like her bracelets.
115) Treading softly...leave it to Missy for the quip.
116) It's the ground. This is the ground. This is a planet.
117) Oh damn, Missy is freaking.
118) HOLY FUCK IT IS.
119) Missy is totally done. She's broke.
120) SKARO.
121) Goosebumps.
122) The beginning, where it all started. This is the planet of the Daleks.
123) And all the architecture makes sense.
124) Love the Dalek heartbeat.
125) All of the Daleks...including Dalekmania ones from the original serial!
126) The Supreme Dalek...missed him!
127) And Missy holds court. And turns on everyone.
128) OK, extermination effect looks better in HD.
129) And the Daleks are toying with Clara.
130) Goddess, Davros' discussing Dalek psychology is frightening.
131) And there goes Clara.
132) Why did I ever let you live?
133) Davros' final victory...compassion is wrong.
134) And the Daleks begin to destroy the TARDIS...
135) And the Doctor is back on Skaro in the distant past...and there's Davros as a boy.
136) How did you get there?
137) And The Doctor with a Dalek gun, about to exterminate Davros as a boy.
138) ...To Be Continued...
Overall...wow. What a dark way to open the series. We have Missy dying (again? maybe?), Clara dying (maybe?), the Doctor and Davros dialogging like no one's business (and their dialogue is always so tight)...the endless war on Skaro...the handmines...moody and evocative throughout. Of course, this is a Part I, and the second part could either seal this as a very good story or deposit it all in the rubbish bins.
But for now, Julie is satisfied.
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