Doctor Who: The Witch’s Familiar First Impressions

This one went in a different direction than I thought it would.  That’s a good thing, by the way.

  • Consider the Doctor: Interesting opening.  Missy is in top form, and the story she tells is definitely something I could see happening to the Doctor.
  • Missy and Clara Hanging Out: More awesome Missy and Clara interactions, love it.
  • How Does the Doctor Get Out: As simple as the statement “He assumes he’s going to win” is, it also makes a lot of sense.
  • Dalek Nightmares: A pissed off Doctor wheeling around in Davros’ chair?  Yeah, that’s gotta be pretty high on the Daleks biggest fears list.
  • Where’d He Get the Tea: I think “I’m the Doctor, just go with it” sums up the show as a whole pretty well.
  • Throwing Stones: You know, as soon as I heard Missy ask how far down that hole went, I knew Clara was going to get pushed in to it.
  • The Sewers of Skaro: Well, that’s not utterly awful at all!
  • Missy Pokes a Dalek:  That has to be one seriously strong brooch.  And no one should be surprised that Missy taunts the thing the whole time she’s doing the poking.
  • The Only Other Chair: They keep it around just for the Doctor.  Don’t even try to convince me otherwise.
  • Full Circle: Clara in a Dalek.  Something tells me this won’t end well; either in the short term, or the long term.
  • The Doctor and his Shades:  Sunglasses are the new fez.  You heard it here first.
  • Davros and the Doctor: Why are you trying to make me feel sorry for Davros show?  I’m not going to feel sorry for the guy who created the universe’s most evil pepper-pots!  Also, I can’t be the only one who thought that Davros opening his “real” eyes was just wrong somehow.
  • Missy and the Daleks:  I really do wonder what Missy was trying to do here.  Is she just playing to give the Doctor time to come up with something?  Or did she have some plan of her own?  At any rate, it’s all a moot point because…
  • Davros’ Real Plan: Ok, show of hands.  Who was expecting this little plot twist?  It couldn’t have been only me, right?
  • “There’s a Prophecy”: Oh dear, we have another season spanning plot here, methinks.
  • Second Word…Sewers: Oops, don’t think Davros thought of that.  This is why it pays to think of as many contingencies as you can.
  • “I Show Mercy”: Here’s the thing, remember when Missy said that Daleks sort of “weaponize” emotion?  When Clara calmed down a bit at the end there, she was able to get her meaning across more clearly.
  • Sonic Sunglasses: I’m…not really sure how I feel about this.  I guess we’ll have to see if it ends up being kind of a stupid idea or not, but right at this moment?  Not a fan.
  • Daleks Don’t Know Mercy:  Bit of a plot hole here.  If I’m remembering correctly, (not very likely, but still) I think we’ve heard a Dalek or two use the word mercy before.  I can’t remember which episodes, but I’m fairly certain that we have.  At any rate, the Dalek wasn’t in that case, it was Clara; so whatever systems govern the speech coming out of the case just searched for the closest word that would get Clara’s meaning across.  At least I think that’s what happened.

So next week we appear to have underwater ghosts.  Of course they won’t be actual ghosts, but whatever.

Doctor Who: The Magician’s Apprentice First Impressions

Good news: I’m still alive!
Better news: There’s a new season of Doctor Who!

  • Hand Mines: Nice and Creepy, I like it.
  • My Name is Davros: Ooh, that can’t be good.
  • The Colony Sarff: I had a feeling we were dealing with snake people, and I was right!
  • #theplaneshavestopped: Yeah, that would get noticed pretty quickly.
  • Death is for other people: Considering how many times the Master is supposed to have “died”, I’d say that’s accurate.
  • The Doctor’s Last Party: Yeah, meditation isn’t really the Doctor’s thing.
  • The Doctor’s Big Entrance: Ok Doctor, I’ll give you the tank, and the guitar solo, but that entrance could have been much more Metal. Next time, add some flamethrowers.
  • Dude: Dude.
  • He spent yesterday in a bowtie: I always like it when the Doctor calls back to his previous regenerations.
  • Traps are her flirting: That makes so much sense it’s kind of ridiculous.
  • The TARDIS is Located: That can’t be good.
  • Missy and Clara: I really like the interactions of these two. They’re really fun to watch.
  • Doctor vs. Davros, Part 1: Boy Davros really wants to throw that whole “Left young Davros alone in a minefield” thing back in the Doctor’s face.
  • Why would anybody hide a whole planet: Because it’s more dramatic that way!
  • The TARDIS will be destroyed: I’m on Clara’s side on this one, good luck with that guys.
  • Missy Turns the Tables: WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED BY THIS TURN OF EVENTS DOCTOR?! THE MASTER’S ONLY DONE THAT KIND OF THING, LIKE, ALL OF THE TIME!!
  • Random aside: It was really nice to see some of the classic Dalek designs make a bit of a comeback.
  • The Death(?) of Clara: We’ll see how well that sticks.

So, overall I think this was a pretty solid start to the new season. But I am kind of worried that instead of playing with the themes of Genesis of the Daleks, they’re going to be cribbing whole-cloth from it. But I guess we’ll find out next week.