With Doctor Who returning to our screens last Saturday, I think it's time it made an appearance on this blog. In fact, it'll be appearing every week, as I recap every episode of the new series. Some weeks, I'll post another film review, such as when Spectre and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 are released. As with the last series of Doctor Who, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) lead the show as the time travelling duo, encountering enemies old and new, as well as alien civilisations and historical events.
The series opener is titled The Magician's Apprentice, and within the first five minutes, the show drops a massive story bomb. We see a young boy on the battlefield of an unknown planet, where he becomes trapped by creatures hiding underground. the Doctor soon appears in an effort to save him, and asks the boy's name. The boy replies that his name is Davros, the creator of the Doctor's most feared enemy, the Daleks. Fast forward to the present day, where we learn that another rival of the Doctor, Missy (Michelle Gomez), survived the end of the last series. With both her and Clara unable to locate the Doctor, the two meet and discover the Doctor is partying in the middle-ages. He is doing so, according to Missy, because he is apparently living out his remaining days, with Missy being in possession of his "last will and testament". With the three of them captured, the Doctor meets with Davros (Julian Bleach), who is on death's door, and Davros attempts to gain one final victory over The Doctor by making him feel the guilt of abandoning him to die as a young boy, as shown at the beginning of the episode.
Much of the promotion featured what looked like a deliberately quirky scene: the Doctor playing the electric guitar. Thankfully, the scene isn't just there for the sake of having a light moment, it actually makes sense for the character to do this. Being that he believes he will die soon and has the freedom to travel anywhere, wouldn't you want to tear things up in the middle-ages and act like a rockstar? Other than this scene, there is an overall sense of an oncoming danger present throughout the episode. This is embodied by new villain Colony Sarff (Jami Reid-Quarrell), Davros' henchman, who moves from place to place in search of The Doctor. Snakelike in appearance, wearing a long, dark cloak and an speaking in an intimidating voice to match, he works very well as a counter the Doctor's comedic moments in the above mentioned scene.
Michelle Gomez is just as great as ever, with Missy getting all the best one-liners and dialogue exchanges. It was also great to see Julian Bleach return as Davros, as he gives one of the best portrayals of the character against the many other actors to have played this role. Because this is a two-parter, it is not clear yet as to what kind of impact both these villains will have on the story. What we learn from this series opener is that they seem to be on opposite sides, with The Doctor caught in the middle, which makes for great drama. The Daleks are pretty downplayed in this episode, but when they all appear at the end, it's a cool moment to see so many different designs of Dalek together in one scene. I hope this scenario is used to its fullest in the next part.
Overall, this is a very strong opener for the new series. After the all together disappointing previous series, the show can hopefully return to form with more episodes like this. A list of Pros and Cons will be featured after the series' finale, so until then, I'll be recapping the rest of the series every Wednesday (most likely!) as written here. Until the next post, I'm happy to say that Doctor Who has got me highly anticipating the next episode. Bring on The Witch's Familiar!
Much of the promotion featured what looked like a deliberately quirky scene: the Doctor playing the electric guitar. Thankfully, the scene isn't just there for the sake of having a light moment, it actually makes sense for the character to do this. Being that he believes he will die soon and has the freedom to travel anywhere, wouldn't you want to tear things up in the middle-ages and act like a rockstar? Other than this scene, there is an overall sense of an oncoming danger present throughout the episode. This is embodied by new villain Colony Sarff (Jami Reid-Quarrell), Davros' henchman, who moves from place to place in search of The Doctor. Snakelike in appearance, wearing a long, dark cloak and an speaking in an intimidating voice to match, he works very well as a counter the Doctor's comedic moments in the above mentioned scene.
Michelle Gomez is just as great as ever, with Missy getting all the best one-liners and dialogue exchanges. It was also great to see Julian Bleach return as Davros, as he gives one of the best portrayals of the character against the many other actors to have played this role. Because this is a two-parter, it is not clear yet as to what kind of impact both these villains will have on the story. What we learn from this series opener is that they seem to be on opposite sides, with The Doctor caught in the middle, which makes for great drama. The Daleks are pretty downplayed in this episode, but when they all appear at the end, it's a cool moment to see so many different designs of Dalek together in one scene. I hope this scenario is used to its fullest in the next part.
Overall, this is a very strong opener for the new series. After the all together disappointing previous series, the show can hopefully return to form with more episodes like this. A list of Pros and Cons will be featured after the series' finale, so until then, I'll be recapping the rest of the series every Wednesday (most likely!) as written here. Until the next post, I'm happy to say that Doctor Who has got me highly anticipating the next episode. Bring on The Witch's Familiar!
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