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The Magician's Apprentice (TV story)

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The Magician's Apprentice was the first episode of the ninth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. It saw the return of Kate Stewart, as well as Missy, the latest incarnation of Missy, who had apparently been killed by a Cyber-converted Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart at the end of Death in Heaven.

The episode brings to reality an issue long ago posed by the Fourth Doctor: "If someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives... could you then kill that child?" This is something the Twelfth Doctor experiences as this episode not only reintroduces Davros into the series after his apparent demise in Journey's End (and also the first encounter between the Twelfth Doctor and Davros), it also introduces a younger Davros before his disfigurement, but also as a young boy, for the first time on television.

Synopsis

Where is the Doctor? When the skies of Earth are frozen by a mysterious alien force, Clara needs her friend. But where is the Doctor, and what is he hiding from?

As past deeds come back to haunt him, old enemies will come face-to-face, and for the Doctor and Clara survival seems impossible.

Plot

 
A young Davros

On a misty battlefield, soldiers flee a bombing run. When the dust settles, one of the soldiers notices a small figure running in the mist. The soldier's companion warns him they need to leave, for Kal drones are going to pass through the area to pick off those whom the bombing run missed.

The soldier says he thinks he saw a child and will catch up; he runs off and discovers a boy, whom he tells to stop. Dressed in the same uniform as the soldier, the boy turns fearfully and is asked if he is lost. The boy nods and the earth below him rumbles; something appears to be tunneling underneath it. The soldier warns the boy to be still and quiet; he takes out a scanner. It turns out the soldier and the boy are standing on a Handmine field; they will be safe as long as they remain still and quiet.

The soldier pulls out some tools and tries to keep the child calm; he asks if the boy has ever seen a Handmine before. The boy nods and points to the man's leg; a muddy hand has clamped onto the soldier's ankle. The soldier looks upon his ankle in fear and then back to the boy; the Handmine pulls the soldier down, creating a gaping hole that closes afterwards.

Alone and panicked by what he has seen, the boy begins to scream for someone to help him. His cries aggravate the Handmines; several muddy hands with a single eye on their palms rise from the ground and search for the source of the noise.

The Doctor arrives to help the child, but is shocked to discover that this is the Thousand Year War, and the child is Davros.

Colony Sarff, an envoy of Davros, is searching the universe for the Doctor. He isn't in the Maldovarium. In the Shadow Proclamation, the Shadow Architect refuses to tell Sarff. On Karn, Ohila warns Sarff of the dangers hunting the Doctor can bring.

Davros is dying, but anticipating his final meeting with the Doctor.

Clara's teaching in Coal Hill School, where, through the window, she sees a plane frozen in the sky - which the rest of the world have also noticed. UNIT summons Clara.

At UNIT HQ, Kate Stewart's tracking the frozen planes. Clara deduces that the planes aren't being weaponised because an invasion doesn't forewarn itself. Missy intrudes the meeting on the Doctor's communication channel, and proposes a meeting with UNIT.

16:00. Clara and Missy meet in a cafe, where Missy demonstrates her ability to freeze the planes with a simple Time Lord trick and shows Clara the Doctor's confession dial - containing the Doctor's last will and testament. A confession dial's given to a dying Time Lord's closest friend on their final day. The Doctor's confession dial has been given to Missy, but will only open once he's dead. The Doctor's living his final day, Missy tells Clara, and has therefore come to Earth. Clara tells Kate to track mentions of the Doctor that don't also mention an alien disturbance - Essex, the Middle Ages.

Clara and Missy arrive in a castle where the Doctor's performing a music gig for a primitive crowd atop a tank. They think he's a magician, and his apprentice is Bors. Sarff arrives and demands for the Doctor to speak with Davros, who's also dying. The Doctor remembers his encounter with the child Davros, and agrees to go with Sarff. The Doctor, Clara and Missy are teleported to Sarff's shuttle. In their absence, Bors - a Dalek puppet - procures the TARDIS and informs Dalek High Command.

Travelling to Davros' location - an apparent space station hospital - the Doctor tells Clara who Davros is - the creator of the Daleks; a war child who sealed his species inside tanks to preserve them.

In the hospital, the Doctor goes with Sarff to see Davros, leaving Clara with Missy. Both the Doctor and Missy can feel the gravity - it's natural. The hospital isn't a space station. Missy opens the air lock.

The Doctor meets with Davros, and they talk of how their conflict's been fuelled by a conversation - is the Davros right to create the Daleks, or does he lack compassion?

Clara and Missy walk out apparently into apparent outer space, until Missy realises that, once on the planet, one begins to synchronise with it. At that moment, both Missy and the Doctor realise they're on Skaro.

Sighted by the Daleks, Clara and Missy are taken to see the Supreme Dalek, who's with the TARDIS and a large weapon aimed at it. Missy attempts to reason with the Daleks - if they don't destroy the TARDIS, she can help them fly it, allowing them to conquer the universe. The Supreme Dalek orders her extermination instead. Missy is exterminated.

The Doctor pleads with Davros to not let Clara come to harm - but Davros doesn't control the Daleks. Davros observes the Daleks' preference for waiting for Clara to run. Then, they exterminate her. Davros reasons with the Doctor that this happened because the Doctor showed him compassion as a child, despite knowing his destiny - allowing Davros to create the Daleks, that have killed Clara and Missy.

Back on the battlefield, the Doctor returns to the child Davros, confusing the boy on how he ended up behind him. The Doctor explains he's come from the future, and that he has to save the friends that died because of Davros. Holding a severed Dalek gun, the Doctor prepares to exterminate the child.

Cast

Crew

to be added

References

Real world

  • Whilst playing the electric guitar, the Doctor gets a crowd in medieval England to chant the word "dude", most likely a reference to "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". In the film, the two rock musician protagonists often use the word "dude", and also use a time machine disguised as a phonebox to visit medieval England.
  • The Doctor also gets the crowd to complete the phrase "all the young dudes", the title of a song written by David Bowie, originally recorded and released as a single by Mott the Hoople in 1972.
  • The Doctor being able to play the guitar is because Peter Capaldi was in a band when he was younger and learned to play the guitar.
  • Clara tells her Coal Hill students to turn on their phones and go to News, websites and Twitter, and use hashtags, telling the world that planes have stopped mid-air.

The Doctor

  • The Doctor invented the word "dude".
  • The Doctor jokes about having bought his tank online from his fish, meaning fish-tank; he claims it will be hilarious in a few centuries.

Story notes

  • To keep Davros's return a surprise, Julian Bleach went uncredited until the episode's release.
    • The young Davros, played by Joey Price, is not credited as Davros, but rather as "Boy".
  • In Welsh, "Sarff" means "serpent".
  • This was the first series opener since Doctor Who returned in 2005 to be directed by a woman.
  • The episode's credits list the creators of the Kahler, Skullions, Hath, Blowfish, Ood, and Sycorax, all of whom were present when Colony Sarff was searching for the Doctor. This is the Skullion's first appearance on Doctor Who, having previously appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures.
  • This is the first time a Special Weapons Dalek has been shown to talk on-screen, and also reveals that the gold square windows encircling its dome actually light up. This trait was subject to debate and speculation ever since the Special Weapons Dalek model first appeared in Remembrance of the Daleks, because that particular Dalek was never shown speaking, nor was the one seen in Asylum of the Daleks.
  • The title sequence was slightly modified starting with this episode, the clock gears, the gas and the first Roman numeral clock face tunnel now have a purple hue.

Ratings

To be added

Production errors

To be added

Continuity

"If someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?" (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)

Home video releases

To be added

Footnotes

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