9X02 "The Witch's Familiar" Grading/Discussion)

[Guy Gardener]

Are we absolutely certain that Missy is the Master?

Maybe Donna regenerated?

A Template of the Master was forced onto every human being in the world except Donna (and Wilf?), just because Donna had the precautions installed to ignore the "upgrade" it doesn't mean that she didn't keep a copy of his "brain" on file for later use, or that she was forced to stick the Master's Psyche into her trash folder like everyone else had.

 

[Captain Shaw]

I wanted so much for the Doctor to point that Dalek gun at Missy's head when he found out Clara was in the Dalek and say "Run. Get out of my sight while you still can," or something like that.

Me too! If ever there was a time for him to really lose his cool, that would have been it.

I was hoping for something like that too.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Brevity is the soul of wit.

Less is more. (I know!)

That's what he did say.

 

[ihno]

I'm not too sure what to think about those two episodes.

Some parts esp. in the first episode served no real purpose other than to strech the episode. And the Daleks are not scary any more. They are a bit like the Borg at Voyager. There was also a little bit of the typical Moffat-Recycling and I don't think it's really necessary to show each episode how "cool" doctor who is.

On the other hand the episodes had good quality too. I like Miffy. I also liked the "Clara in the Dalek" piece.

Yes, the "plus" parts are shorter but it will be an episode I will enjoy when I rewatch it. So I guess it's "Lasagna" +

 

[Romulan_spy]

In regards to why the Doctor ran away from Gallifrey, didn't we already get an answer in Sound of Drums where the Doctor tells the story of how he and the master as boys went through timelord initiation by looking into the Untempered Schism:

Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families age of eight to enter the Academy. And some say that's when it all began. When he was a child. That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired, some would run away, and some would go mad. Brr. I don't know.
MARTHA: What about you?
DOCTOR: Oh, the ones that ran away, I never stopped.

It seems pretty clear to me from this quote that the Doctor ran away because of he was scared of the power the Umtempered Schism.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

OK for some reason the forum is busted. I could not quote Janeway Girl's post. It wouldn't let me.

Anyway yeah that kind of bugged me. I also thought Clara would have flashbacks to Souffle Girl...

Also the whole language thing is a cop out. Clara could talk properly in "Asylum" so what is the issue? Lazy writing?

The Dalek in the Asylum is different: Clara has been turned into a actual Dalek, and this Dalek is in the Asylum, which means that it is definitely a Dalek considered damaged. Not only I imagine that an experienced Dalek has finer voice control going beyond the basic vocabulary, Clara had her time to mess with it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

He stole the TARDIS when he was 8 years old?

The Doctor had a GRAND DAUGHTER when he was 8?



They joy rode together as 70-something year olds and dealt to the Medusa Cascade.

We're not sure if that was them running away for good, or they went back and ran away all over again.

 

[Starkers]

Well I loved it, better than last week (and I enjoyed last week). Not sure which pairing I enjoyed more, clara/Missy or Doctor/Davros, obviously they were very different in tone but four great performances.

The Doctor in Davros' chair was hilarious, but Missy poking Davros in the eye was almost better.

For those who say that A/ A female Doctor wouldn't work and B/A female Doctor would need a male companion, I think the Missy and Clara double act negates both those issues, IMO obviously but hell I'd watch a Missy/Clara spinoff series!

Loved our final shot of Missy as well, that was fab and very Master'like.

Sadly the overnights don't look good 3.7 million shame as Capaldi's really getting into his stride now.

 

[Romulan_spy]

He stole the TARDIS when he was 8 years old?

The Doctor had a GRAND DAUGHTER when he was 8?



They joy rode together as 70-something year olds and dealt to the Medusa Cascade.

We're not sure if that was them running away for good, or they went back and ran away all over again.

Obviously, the Doctor did not run away at that very moment when he looked into the untempered schism, but it was the reason why he would run away later. Seeing the raw power of the timelords scared him young which motivated him to run away as soon as he was old enough.

 

[DWF]

He stole the TARDIS when he was 8 years old?

The Doctor had a GRAND DAUGHTER when he was 8?



They joy rode together as 70-something year olds and dealt to the Medusa Cascade.

We're not sure if that was them running away for good, or they went back and ran away all over again.

Obviously, the Doctor did not run away at that very moment when he looked into the untempered schism, but it was the reason why he would run away later. Seeing the raw power of the timelords scared him young which motivated him to run away as soon as he was old enough.

One of the many, many reasons why her left Gallifrey, I like the second Doctor's excuse that he was bored.

 

[Gov Kodos]

He stole the TARDIS when he was 8 years old?

The Doctor had a GRAND DAUGHTER when he was 8?



They joy rode together as 70-something year olds and dealt to the Medusa Cascade.

We're not sure if that was them running away for good, or they went back and ran away all over again.

Obviously, the Doctor did not run away at that very moment when he looked into the untempered schism, but it was the reason why he would run away later. Seeing the raw power of the timelords scared him young which motivated him to run away as soon as he was old enough.

One of the many, many reasons why her left Gallifrey, I like the second Doctor's excuse that he was bored.

I'm happy without a definitive reason. I can do without the magical-elf Doctor origins with portentous nonsense like burning with the fires of the Medusa Cascade and such. The best use of that nonsense was 10 giving the Oncoming Storm speech to the rabbit.

 

[DS9Continuing]

FYI they are replaying the entire two parter as a full movie edition at 3.15 GMT on BBC One.

I think as well as the Chekov's Gun of the confession dial, we are also getting thematic stuff here with the return of a planet thought to be dead, with finding your lost people again, etc.

I appreciated that this episode spent so much time as just two guys in a room having a conversation. If it's done right, that kind of writing can be far more fascinating and worthwhile than any amount of wacky zipping about the timeline and riding a tank while playing a guitar. The two episodes balanced each other out in that sense - the first one ran at top speed, this one slowed down and spent the time.

BTW, it occurs to me that the Doctor riding in on a tank in the first ep was totally foreshadowing for Clara doing the same in this one - just that he nearly killed her for it.

.

 

[Guy Gardener]

He stole the TARDIS when he was 8 years old?

The Doctor had a GRAND DAUGHTER when he was 8?



They joy rode together as 70-something year olds and dealt to the Medusa Cascade.

We're not sure if that was them running away for good, or they went back and ran away all over again.

Obviously, the Doctor did not run away at that very moment when he looked into the untempered schism, but it was the reason why he would run away later. Seeing the raw power of the timelords scared him young which motivated him to run away as soon as he was old enough.

What was scarier?

The untempered schism or Clara's hand reaching out from under his bed and grabbing his ankle?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

FYI they are replaying the entire two parter as a full movie edition at 3.15 GMT on BBC One.

Oh, good to know! I've been thinking my opinion of the overall story may improve it was edited together as one. I'll probably tune into this.

Good thing I noticed now. I'm almost missed it.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

I don't buy the prophecy about the Time Lord Dalek hybrid.
The Doctor was playing Davros all along, for all we know he told young Davros the story on their way home to make sure he would fall for that bullshit later in his life.

I watched Curse of the Fatal Death again to get all the injokes from the episode, and holy crap, Moffat really has mined that spoof for jokes in the proper show and not just in this episode, hasn't he?

 

[Lonemagpie]

Last night's Who was predictable but fun- I'd love to see a Missy/Clara spinoff

 

[intrinsical]

I really liked these two episodes because they are so different from all the previos episodes. Its a breath of fresh air. I loved all the interactions between Missy and Clara. The Doctor encourages his companion to think through the situation. Missy on the other hand just shoves her companion into situations. rofl, twovery different teaching methodologies.

I loved the conversation between Doctor and Davros. Moffat was especially smart in getting the audience see Davros's own eyes, then have The Doctor share a laugh with Davros. Those two little actions allowed the audience to establish an immediate rapport with Davros, which almost made me sympathetic towards Davros. Almost.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I don't buy the prophecy about the Time Lord Dalek hybrid.
The Doctor was playing Davros all along, for all we know he told young Davros the story on their way home to make sure he would fall for that bullshit later in his life.

Yeah, the whole deal with the Time Lord prophecy sounds nonsensical and stupid.

Frankly, there's been so many indications to why the Doctor left Gallifrey, it'd have to be something really interesting and revolutionary to actually delve into what that actually was... and this ain't it.

 

[Skellington]

Last night's Who was predictable but fun- I'd love to see a Missy/Clara spinoff

They could take turns to get killed off at the end of each episode.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Last night's Who was predictable but fun- I'd love to see a Missy/Clara spinoff

They could take turns to get killed off at the end of each episode.

Haha I like that idea