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9X01 "The Magician's Apprentice" Grading/Discussion)

Grade "The Magician's Apprentice

  • Eyebrows!

    Votes: 56 45.9%
  • Souffle

    Votes: 46 37.7%
  • Lasagna

    Votes: 13 10.7%
  • I wish the magician can make this episode disappear

    Votes: 5 4.1%
  • Exterminate!

    Votes: 2 1.6%

  • Total voters
    122
  • Poll closed .
4. Why don't Dalek victims have corpses anymore?

Maybe they used maximum extermination, which disintegrates the victims? Explains why it affected Missy too, a timelord/lady (especially since the Doctor was exterminated in the Stolen Earth and only needed a half regeneration). Plus there were a vast amount of Daleks.
 
Just one question; what relevance does the title have to the story?

Perhaps Moffat had the title first and expected that the title would fit the story when it was finished. I think every writer runs into this at some point -- they have a title they fall in love with, the story that goes with it doesn't fit the title, and then the writer has to decide whether to come up with a new title or keep it even though it doesn't fit anymore.
 
As much as I enjoyed it, I couldn't help but think of 'Attack of the Cybermen'; another story that required a pretty exhaustive knowledge of the series history going back decades to fully understand. In other words, what will the casual viewers who make up the majority of the audience have made of it?
 
Just one question; what relevance does the title have to the story?

Perhaps Moffat had the title first and expected that the title would fit the story when it was finished. I think every writer runs into this at some point -- they have a title they fall in love with, the story that goes with it doesn't fit the title, and then the writer has to decide whether to come up with a new title or keep it even though it doesn't fit anymore.

In the minisode "Meditation" the Doctor is called the Magician, Davros is the Doctor's "Creation", forged by the Doctor's action/inaction, his "apprentice" so to speak.
 
Lasagna. Good overall. I really enjoyed Rock God Doctor and found wartime Skaro appealing. Not sure about the logic of allowing the Doctor to interact with Young Davros; looks like Moffat is playing fast and loose with the show's continuity. I hope the first meeting wasn't just a chance encounter; that would be a bit too much. In any case, there's a bit of inconsistency in that the Doctor and Davros - indeed, the Doctor and the Daleks - seem to have been meeting in the same mutual order since Genesis and here we see that paradigm coexisting with the Doctor's out-of-order meetings with Young Davros. Needs clarification, I think, as does the obvious issue of why no Time Lord has done it before but somehow it can be done now.

Presumably Missy, Clara and the TARDIS have been spirited away somehow. I imagine that the Daleks effectively jump-started the vortex manipulators. Interesting, too, that Missy implied to Clara that her and the Doctor's friendship was older than Clara's civilisation. Of course, she could be measuring it from the Renaissance or the Magna Carta.
 
Lasagna. Good overall. I really enjoyed Rock God Doctor and found wartime Skaro appealing. Not sure about the logic of allowing the Doctor to interact with Young Davros; looks like Moffat is playing fast and loose with the show's continuity.

It doesn't change anything; not even Big Finish's Davros series, which I was sure was going to be out the window. He doesn't learn about the Doctor as a boy and only remembers it at the end of his life.
 
So Davros has a battered, destroyed 12th Doctor's sonic-screwdriver...man, I'd ship that shit back to Amazon for a refund :p


And we get some new info on regeneration: To stop a regeneration, you have to stop both heart and sever the brain-stem all at the same time.
 
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In any case, there's a bit of inconsistency in that the Doctor and Davros - indeed, the Doctor and the Daleks - seem to have been meeting in the same mutual order since Genesis and here we see that paradigm coexisting with the Doctor's out-of-order meetings with Young Davros. Needs clarification, I think, as does the obvious issue of why no Time Lord has done it before but somehow it can be done now.
I don't really see the inconsistency of it, at all. Why couldn't 12 meet a young Davros? What precludes it?
 
In any case, there's a bit of inconsistency in that the Doctor and Davros - indeed, the Doctor and the Daleks - seem to have been meeting in the same mutual order since Genesis and here we see that paradigm coexisting with the Doctor's out-of-order meetings with Young Davros. Needs clarification, I think, as does the obvious issue of why no Time Lord has done it before but somehow it can be done now.
I don't really see the inconsistency of it, at all. Why couldn't 12 meet a young Davros? What precludes it?
Respect for the laws of time and what passes for the causal nexus, one presumes. In reality, probably narrative convenience.
 
In any case, there's a bit of inconsistency in that the Doctor and Davros - indeed, the Doctor and the Daleks - seem to have been meeting in the same mutual order since Genesis and here we see that paradigm coexisting with the Doctor's out-of-order meetings with Young Davros. Needs clarification, I think, as does the obvious issue of why no Time Lord has done it before but somehow it can be done now.
I don't really see the inconsistency of it, at all. Why couldn't 12 meet a young Davros? What precludes it?
Respect for the laws of time and what passes for the causal nexus, one presumes. In reality, probably narrative convenience.
Its also very likely to occur, especially when the Doctor himself is the only Time Lord running around.
 
there are no New Paradigm Daleks in sight - do we take this as confirmation that they are never to be mentioned again?
i noticed that too. you'd think there would at least be a few way in the background or something.
 
Highly enjoyable, Clara didn't bug me, Missy continues to entertain and the Doctor segued from playing Queen to the Doctor Who them tune.

Telling us that Clara and Missy had linked vortex manipulator's took away what little suspense the Dalek showdown had.

Lots of good stuff though, special weapons Dalek was there the old ones looked great but giving the Doctor the choice of saving Davros is no dilemma.
 
And here, once again, I vote Exterminate!




...thinking it's option for the BEST. Come on, am I the only Dalek here? The episode was fantastic.
 
Two thoughts:

The Special Weapons Dalek can talk! I wonder if that little light has been in there all these years or they kitted it out for this?

It's been fairly implicit in Time of the Doctor and Inside the Dalek, but this basically confirmed the Fatleks are relegated to an inevitable BBC book or Big Finish audio explaining what happened to them. Introduced as the new big Dalek chesse, now that can't even pad out crowd scenes.

The rest was very good, but all will depend of the resolution (if Part 2 starts with a "Ah, I was actually shooting behind you!" moment I will scream).
 
Here's a thing: The scene with the Doctor and the High Priestess of Karn that was released a week ago seems like a scene that should've been left in the finished product. And even the prologue seemed like it could very easily be edited into the episode itself.

Quite unlike other prologues, prequels and what nots, don't ya think?
 
Here's a thing: The scene with the Doctor and the High Priestess of Karn that was released a week ago seems like a scene that should've been left in the finished product. And even the prologue seemed like it could very easily be edited into the episode itself.

Quite unlike other prologues, prequels and what nots, don't ya think?

I was thinking that myself. More like cut-scenes and not special content.
 
Two and a half hours to go, before we get it on BBC America here. I haven't been this psyched for a DW premier in a very long time.

:techman:
 
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