Doctor Who: ‘The Magician’s Apprentice’/’The Witch’s Familiar’ Advance Screening Review Round-Up (Spoilers)

Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor in the Doctor Who Series 9 premiere ‘The Magician’s Apprentice’/’The Witch’s Familiar’ (Credit: BBC)

Last night in Cardiff, a lucky group of fans were treated to an advance screening of the Doctor Who Series 9 premiere, followed by a Q&A with producer Steven Moffat and stars Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman.

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Unlike the screening in Edinburgh a few weeks ago though, the crowd in Wales was shown BOTH parts of the premiere: ‘The Magician’s Apprentice’ and ‘The Witch’s Familiar.’ As Moffat told the assembled fans, “The Scottish and the English got to see Episode 1. We saved Episode 2 for the Welsh.”

The audience was, of course, sworn to secrecy, but that hasn’t stopped a few mild reviews and opinions from floating around the internet. Now, I personally would label these as “spoiler-free,” because none of these comments contain earth-shattering spoilers, but since some people consider any advance knowledge to be a spoiler, please know there will be some minor information revealed here. With that said, let’s get to the reviews:

From The Telegraph:

"“…these opening episodes are packed full of jaw-droppers, one whopper of a cliffhanger and nerdy nods that date back to the time of Tom Baker. Not to mention yet another return of the Daleks.“We also have a new baddie who resembles a cross between the Harry Potter and Star Wars costume departments, but who has a secret CGI trick up his sleeve, and is just as scary as you’d expect from Moffat and Hettie MacDonald, the director of the skin-crawling episode Blink.“The undoubtable highlight here is the return of Michelle Gomez as arch-rival Missy – the latest incarnation of The Master. We’ve long known that she wasn’t really dead after the series eight climax and she’s back at her battily brilliant best here – be it seductively tickling one of the balls on the front of a Dalek or trying to assure Clara that her and the Doctor trying to kill each other is pretty much as casual as texting.“But remember those jaw-droppers mentioned earlier? That’s no exaggeration.“By the time it ends, the Whovian world has altered, the effects of which we’ll undoubtedly see in the future.”"

From Warped Factor:

"“During the pre-credits sequence of Episode 1, longstanding fans will get a tingle. Even fans that haven’t been glued to the rumour mill will get a tingle if they know their Who. And as the pre-credits sequence goes on, you begin to get a creeping fizz of joy as the notion of the story they’re going to try and tell you sinks in. And when that’s confirmed for you as you head into the credits, you settle back and think ‘OK. Big one. Takes courage. For the love of fifty years of heritage, don’t mess this one up. Impress me.’“There’s one piece of exposition about a prophecy which pops up from abbbbbsolutely nowhere quite late into the second episode and makes you go ‘What? Eh? Well, that’s clearly nonsense.’ And there’s at least one scene that might give fandom absolute apoplexy about numbers, incarnations, and the potential of the future, because we no longer know what we thought we knew. We still think everything’s fine but there’s a scene akin to the cutting off of the Tenth Doctor’s hand. At the time, it was just a thing – but we all know what came from it eventually.In an attempt to be as spoiler-free as possible, let’s say that one widely-reported returning character is on much better form than they were in their previous story, showing depth, skill and a mix of characteristics that will win over all but the most hardcore disbelievers in their portrayal.“Is The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar two solid hours of perfect Who? No – the dips back, the prophecy, one physical moment that makes you ask ‘How?’ and the slightly weird ultimate solution stop it from being that. But it’s probably closer to perfection than any two-parter has yet come in New Who.”"

Continued on next page

Next: PAGE 2: Reddit, Tumblr Reviews

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Jenna Coleman as Clara in the Doctor Who Series 9 premiere ‘The Magician’s Apprentice’/’The Witch’s Familiar’ (Credit: BBC)

From Reddit:

"“This was an extremely confident pair of episodes. I saw a lot of comparisons to Star Wars, and they’re dead-on. We even get a ‘We’re coming out of hyperspace.’ This is, initially, a universe-spanning story that makes the canon of Doctor Who feel consistent and connected.“…people who rail against ‘Clara Who’ will be pleased with this story. Clara does initially take charge in a very Doctor-like manner while the Doctor is AWOL, but once the Doctor comes back on the scene this is very much his story. It is, ultimately, a story about the Doctor’s compassion.“I do want to briefly mention the direction and cinematography, which were excellent. The episodes were really very cinematic. For one thing, the difference in the way the Shadow Proclamation was shot, compared to The Stolen Earth, made the quality of the direction exceedingly clear.“Lastly, I will say that you know very little about the episodes. There are a lot of shocks coming.”"

From Tumblr:

"“Ten Teasers for The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar [MILD SPOILERS]1) It’s implied Clara has kissed a famous author2) We hear the voices of lots of Doctors from archive footage3) We find out why Daleks say ‘exterminate’ and how the cases work4) ‘Dudes!’5) Missy’s entrance is brilliant but does recycle a gag from her previous appearance 6) ‘Sewer’ means something else in the Daleks’ language 7) Chairs8) There’s a meta joke about the Master always escaping9) ‘Mercy?’10) An arc is started”"

There are a few other vague reviews and notes floating around on Twitter and other message boards, but the general consensus is that it’s an excellent story and one of the best the show has ever done. I’ve yet to see a negative word uttered about these two episodes. There are a few pranksters out there spreading false spoilers too, so be careful what you believe.

Doctor Who Series 9 premieres September 19. For full episode information, check out our frequently updated guide: Doctor Who Series 9: Everything There is to Know So Far.

What do you think? Are you even more excited after reading these reviews? Any theories as to what the episodes are about? Sound off in the comments below!

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