Timelord Thoughts 1 - The Magician's Apprentice

So a new run of Doctor Who episodes and although I originally wasn't going to write anything about series nine, I've changed my mind and decided...not to write a set of reviews. Everyone else is doing that and the list of draft posts for the blog is long enough as it is. Instead what follows are my thoughts and observations (more or less) as I watched the episodes for the first time (well okay I did watch it a second time just to make sure I caught everything). I've not read any other reviews yet so this is a set of bullet point views into my brain if you will. Mostly unedited. Definitely ill-considered. We'll see if this works for the next twelve weeks...

The Magician's Apprentice

• Bi-planes with lasers and bows and arrows? It's definitely not World War I then.
• Clam drones. That sounds familiar...
• "Even seen a hand mine before?" Boy points to the soldiers foot. Fantastic.
• Less than three minutes in and we have our first shock death.
• The hand mines are brilliantly horrible and fantastically realised. Squelching and oozing out of the ground. Shade's of the Pale Man from "Pan's Labyrinth" too (one of my favourite films).
• Great first appearance of the Doctor, hidden by tendrils of mist.
• "My name is Davros". Bloody hell. If ever the Doctor could be said to have a look of "Oh F*****k", it's right here, right now.
• I love the titles (even though it takes ages to get to the name of the show) but I'm still not sold on that theme music arrangement. Too shrill.
• Colony Sarff is lovely and spooky, especially the way he moves. Not sure why the Ood has it's second brain in the sphere though.

• "DOK-TOR". David Walliams would be proud.
• Shadow Proclamation! And the hairstyles from Bride of Frankenstein. What the hell is a "suicide moon? I can't imagine that's been mentioned for no reason.
• So Davros is still alive. How did he escape The Crucible after "Journey's End"? You know what, I don't care. It doesn't matter. We always knew he would so it doesn't need an explanation.
• Karn now. A real whistle stop tour of the galaxy. Moffat loves doing this. What would the Sisterhood do with Sarff's skin?  A container for the elixir (Sacred fire...sacred flame)? A new handbag?
• I'm guessing that the "prologue" released earlier comes after this scene then.
• Davros is Dark Lord now? Voldemort or Sauron (or even Darth Vader) might have prior claim to that title.
• So child Davros kept the sonic. Doesn't that mean that the 12th Doctor has rewritten his own timeline? Again.
• Planes frozen in the sky is a nice simple threat, but they do all seem a bit low.
• Sorry but Kate Stewart isn't this stupid.  She didn't get where she is today without knowing the full effects of an unexplained event when she sees one. She certainly shouldn't need Clara to tell her stuff.
• The Doctor Channel? A bit convenient.
• Ha ! Love the 3D Missy head but could do without the comedy "sproinggg" noise. Super reference to "Playschool" too. We know how much he/she enjoys pre school kids television.

• "Not Dead. Back. Big surprise. Never Mind" Yes! Missy always escapes and we never find out how.
• Her opening speech reminds me how much I love Michele Gomez in this role.
• Men in dark suits and shades instead of UNIT soldiers? Shame. Then again maybe its not UNIT.
• The Confession Dial reminds me of the Chameleon Arch fob watch. Bound to come up again later in the series.
• "You're the puppy". Ouch that must hurt.
• Moffat's is fan-baiting again. The "Cloister Wars". The moon and the President's wife. Ever since he was a little girl? He must be cackling with glee that some fans will be frothing at the mouth by now.
• I do like this reclassification (or should that be reclarification) of the Doctor  / Master / Missy relationship. It harks back to the Petwee era.
• Still a raving psycho killer then. I wouldn't have it any other way.
• "Blue Box. Doctor". Calling back all the way to "Rose".
• Three version of Atlantis. So thats "Underwater Menace", "Time Monster" and..."The Daemons" ?
• UNIT can detect crisis points across time? Did the Doctor give them that technology?
• The Doctor playing an electric guitar solo riding in on a tank. Oh why the hell not !
• Urrgh. Could have done without the crap "jokes". It spoilt what was otherwise a grand entrance.
• Hugging. He does hugging now.
• If Four is "Scarf" and Eleven is "Bowtie", is Twelve "Hoodie"?
• Okay so I wasn't expecting that from Colony Scarff. Fantastic effect as his face twisted away.
• Thank god it's not the Mara
• "Hang on so Davros is your arch-enemy now? I'll scratch his eye out". Brilliant.
• Damn. After "The Doctor's Meditation" I was thinking Bors was going to be much more important. Was he the Magician's Apprentice? Typical Moffat to twist the knife after making you like a character.
• If they saw Missy die on Earth "ages ago", how much time has passed since "Death in Heaven"?
• The season 8 theme of lying is back but dealt with in a flash. It shows how the Doctor / Clara relationship has changed (due to the events of the Christmas Special I guess).
• I'd love to know how gravity can be sexy.
• Who frowned him a face that looks like Davros? I'd want a refund.
• Baker! Davison! McCoy! Unlimited rice pudding! Just wonderful.
• I get the feeling that Moffat has been waiting forty years to follow up on that line from the Fourth Doctor. 
• "It ended in the Time War". So does that confirm that "Genesis" was the first salvo in the Last Great Time War? 
• The reveal of the Dalek city and Skaro is just perfect. And for once Murray's music fits.

• How do you recreate a whole planet? Never mind. Skaro should never have been destroyed by the Seventh Doctor in the first place.
• Oooo Missy, tickle those Etheric Beam Locators (love the way the Dalek's gun rose into the air)
• Missy tries to betray the Doctor and gets exterminated. Another curve ball in an episode full of them (not that I think for one nano-second that she's dead).
• Davros twists the knife one last time as the Daleks twitch in anticipation. I'm so glad Julian Bleach is back. No Clara's not dead either but it's certainly surprising.
• Wow. We've gone from "You would make a good Dalek" to "Exterminate" in ten years. It just shows how a cliffhanger doesn't have to be about the Doctor being in jeopardy.

Conclusion:

A fantastic start to the season and Moffat's most confident opener since series 6. 

Who needs a Doctor Who movie when you have something as epic as this?