The Magician’s Apprentice Recap
PLEASE NOTE:If you haven’t seen The Magician’s Apprentice, please stop reading now! This article contains spoilers about the episode.
Doctor Who is back, yay! Saturday saw the start of Series 9 with Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman as they saw the return of Missy and the Daleks! AND Davros! We’re sure you’ll agree that it was a terrific episode packed full of fun, drama and references!
So included here are some of the points you may have missed in The Magician’s Apprentice.
Familiar Faces & Places
The eagle-eyed amongst you would have noticed an Ood, Kahler (A Town Called Mercy), Sycorax (The Christmas Invasion) and Hath (The Doctor’s Daughter) hiding away in The Maldovarium (first seen in The Pandorica Opens). And for uber-fans, there was some spin-off monsters too! A Blowfish from Torchwood, Series 2 and a Skullion from The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 5.
Making a return from the Series 4 finale with David Tennant and Catherine Tate was The Shadow Proclamation complete with Shadow Architect (played by the same actress) and everyone’s favourite rhino space police, the Judoon.
Next up, we journey to the planet Karn; first seen in the Tom Baker story The Brain of Morbius and then again in the 50th anniversary minisode starring Paul McGann, The Night of the Doctor. And nice to the Sisterhood again too!
On Earth, we welcomed back Kate Stewart, making her fourth appearance in the series along with UNIT. We also find Clara still teaching at Coal Hill School, featured throughout Series 8 and in the very first episode of Doctor Who in 1963, An Unearthly Child.
Of course, how could we not mention Skaro? The home planet of the Daleks is also back, last seen in 2012’s Asylum of the Daleks and apparently destroyed in 1988’s Remembrance of the Daleks. In their city was a plethora of various Daleks from throughout the ages, including fan favourite, the Special Weapons Dalek.
And making a triumphant return was Davros, creator of the intergalactic fighting tanks. Despite being an iconic part of Doctor Who history, the scientist has only previously featured in six adventures over 40 years. Such is the power and allure of Davros.
That’s New!
The Sonic Screwdriver creates an “acoustic corridor” to enable the Doctor to talk to the young Davros.
Confession Dial - we see the Doctor’s last will and testament which will open when he dies.
Guitar - the Doctor displays some sick axe skills as for the first time in Who, the Time Lord wields an electric guitar.
Cloister Wars - Intriguing mention from Missy, she and the Doctor fought in them. Whatever they are! The TARDIS features a Cloister Bell, could be connected.
References
Missy talks about going through the “square window” - a reference to BBC children’s show, Play School (which ran from the 1960s to the 1980s).
Clara calls Jane Austen a “phenomenal kisser”. It’s not the the first time the author has been mentioned, just last year she and the Doctor, in the guise of the school’s caretaker, quibbled about the date Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice. She also quotes Dylan Thomas during this ep - “Do not go gentle into that good night.”
Upon being reunited, the Doctor says, “Hugging is a great way to hide your face,” which echoes a line in last year’s finale, Death In Heaven - “Never trust a hug. It's just a way to hide your face.”
Past Episodes
We see clips from Genesis of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks and The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End featuring previous Doctors Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and David Tennant.
Missy stops the planes in The Magician’s Apprentice, The Master once stole a Concorde in 1982’s Time-Flight.
Bors, the Doctor’s axe rival, reveals a Dalek eye-stalk when finding the TARDIS - just like a number of characters in 2012’s Asylum of the Daleks.
Music
To communicate she was back, Missy paraphrases the lyrics to the 1982 hit single by Toni Basil, “Mickey” (just as she did in Death In Heaven). Peter Davison was the Doctor at that time!
The Doctor plays the guitar riff from the Roy Orbison song, “Oh, Pretty Woman.” It was first a hit in the UK back in 1964, just as Doctor Who’s very first series was finishing.
Whilst partying in 1138, the Doctor gets to mention the Mott the Hoople hit, “All The Young Dudes.” It was riding high in the pop charts when Jon Pertwee was in charge of the TARDIS. Oddly, the song was actually written by David Bowie - a man Peter Capaldi would love to make a guest appearance on Doctor Who.
)... but still... who am I to try and guess what The Moff is up to?... lol!... cheers.
