The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar (2015) Review

I think this image speaks for itself

NOTE: This is my original review of this episode that I made on GateWorld Forum on September the 27th, 2015.

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The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar is a pretty great start to the season and probably the most meta Doctor Who story ever told(apart from The Feast Of Steven of course).

PLOT

Davros is dying and the Doctor returns to Skaro to check up on him. Ever observant, Missy and Clara join him to help, but it turns out to be even worse than they feared...

ANALYSIS

The first thing I can say is wow. Doctor Who is finally delving into meta comedy(something parodying itself). It's that old. Well, I'm all for it. At least it's fun(unlike most of Series 8). 

Given the number of new series cameos in this story, I'm suspecting it may be the 10th anniversary special. I don't think it is, but if they're not going to treat the rest of the season like this, I'm going to take it as that, because the amount of stuff they bring back, apparently just for kicks is insane. 

But basically, yeah, this story is either the 10th anniversary special or Moffat just going "hey, wait a second, I'M in charge of Doctor Who. I can make him play a guitar on a tank! I can get Davros to regenerate! PARTY!!!"

I like to think it's the second, because this story... guys, THIS STORY. 

CHARACTERS

One of the best things about this is the way they've made Peter Capaldi finally completely click as the Twelfth Doctor. His cold and rude Doctor never really properly worked for me last season as it seemed a completely random U-turn from a character who's been fairly consistently developing from Eccleston to Smith. However, here I caught that connection once more as the Doctor goes even crazier than when he wore bow-ties. 

Now, here's how I see this development: from Series 1 to Series 5, the Doctor recovers from the Time War and becomes a gradually lighter figure(with some mood swings in the Tennant era). Then, in Series 6, this goes into overdrive and he basically becomes Superman, which is reversed in Series 7, where in The Day Of The Doctor he gets back on track. Series 8 is another mood swing and now, he's gone completely bonkers. I didn't think that was possible after Matt Smith's Willy Wonka turn, but he's an even bigger madman in a box now. How the next guy is gonna follow this up, I have no idea.

Michelle Gomez as the Master is basically Anthony Ainley 2.0, just like John Simm was Roger Delgado 2.0. I don't find her character insulting anymore, as she fits into the tone.(whereas in Series 8, it was a bit weird). I'll never call my favourite though, sorry. She's just a bit too out there for me to enjoy fully(which could be said for most of what Moffat's written these last few years).

Julian Bleach returns for another magnficient performance as Davros. Now, I would've liked it far, far, FAR better had they actually killed the character off and shaken up the status quo for a change... I loved the idea that Davros is so, so ancient he's finally kicking the bucket and the scenes between him and the Doctor were the best ever. Like, this is totally the best Davros story, if ONLY he'd had the decency to die. Although I suppose the same could be said for Genesis Of The Daleks.

Jenna Coleman has gone back to her Day Of The Doctor levels of irritating for me. Like, she's not the worst thing in the world anymore, but she still sort of makes me grate my teeth. The scene where she was stuck in the Dalek was actually pretty intense though. I would've loved it had the Doctor just left her there and she was never seen again. What a great finale that would've been.

Colony Sarff... meh. Cool, but nothing much to tell.

NOTES

*That electric guitar playing, the sunglasses... this is the Twelfth Doctor we never knew we wanted. And he is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Completely ridiculous, of course, but c'mon, this is legendary. It's time to live a little.

*Davros opening his eyes... that hurt. That was perfect. Why couldn't he have died in this story?!?!?

*Why were the classic Daleks around? Like, seriously. Think about it.

*I really liked the way they resolved the cliffhanger from last episode, although I'm a bit confused by the "mercy" ending. How did it actually affect Davros's character?

*But the biggest question of all is how much the Doctor's regeneration cycle was affected by Davros's meddling. He was being drained for quite a few minutes. I'm pretty sure we lost one Doctor there, at least(probably not, but still... I was expecting them to comment on that). 

*How did Davros survive outside of his chair? Maybe I missed something(Colony Sarff?), but in Genesis Of The Daleks, he was supposed to be dead after 20 seconds without his life support system.

*The scene where the Doctor was bossing the Daleks around in Davros's chair was awesome.

*The sonic sunglasses idea is pretty neat(and wonderfully easy for kids to emulate, me included), but having him flick them out every episode from now on... I don't like that. It's just too cheesy for full-time replacement.

*How can the TARDIS scatter itself? I thought the HADS system meant moving the TARDIS in full.

*In the Maldovarium, why is the Ood's translator glowing the whole time? I thought it only glowed when they talk.

*Why does the Supreme Dalek have three lights? I don't remember him having those in The Stolen Earth.

*The idea of the Dalek casing translating everything the occupant says made for a great scene towards the end, but other than that, I hate it. It removes the humor(the only reason anyone will ever watch this again) of Daleks with regular speech, plus... why would the Daleks need that? 

*For once, just for once, Moffat explains away one of his disrepancies, that being the Dalek who screamed for mercy in The Big Bang. Thanks, Steven, you've made my day. 

*Clara's skirt is hideous. And clashing. 

*"Dark Lord of Skaro"? Huh? 

BEST QUOTE

"Of course, the real question is... where did I get the cup of tea? Answer? I'm the Doctor. Just accept it." 

CONCLUSION

If you ever want to have a laugh about Doctor Who, you no longer need The Curse Of The Fatal Death.