The Doctor and Rose discover that the Doctor's oldest and most deadly enemy is about to break free, after being held captive beneath the salt plains of Utah. Doctor Who TV series, characters, stories - all belong to BBC Enterprises. (PROSE: Twice Upon a Time), Rassilon's plan to return Gallifrey to the universe would have allowed the Nightmare Child and other horrors to come out of the Time War and into reality. [22], The episode was watched by 6.54 million viewers, the lowest consolidated rating for the programme since the Matt Smith episode "The Crimson Horror". The Nightmare Child was the first and only specimen of a new type of Dalek, created by Davros during the first year of the Last Great Time War. The trailer for the episode was released on 5 September 2015. [11][13], The Sisterhood of Karn, already seen in the 2013 teaser "The Night of the Doctor", originally appeared in the 1976 serial The Brain of Morbius. Another of the Canary Islands, Lanzarote, has been used as a filming location twice previously, in 2014's "Kill the Moon" and in 1984's Planet of Fire.[10]. On present-day Earth, all the planes are frozen in mid-flight. Let me hear you say it, just once. Colony Sarff, a composite being made from numerous snakes, and an agent of Davros, tells the Doctor that Davros is dying. [12] The Shadow Proclamation, an intergalactic police force last appearing in 2008's "The Stolen Earth", also briefly returns, featuring the Shadow Architect (from the same episode) and a Judoon. Meanwhile, Missy is suspicious of the gravity of the station, and shows Clara that the station is just an illusion, as they are on the planet Skaro, the Dalek homeworld. The first Dalek shown in the episode is a blue-and-silver model as first seen in 1963. Compassion is wrong. 5 questions raised by the Doctor Who series 9 prologue", "12 Great Moments from 'The Magician's Apprentice, "Was that really Peter Capaldi playing the guitar in Doctor Who? The Doctor pulls out a Dalek weapon and vows to save his friend the only way he can. (PROSE: The Third Wise Man) Cass Fermazzi had an encounter with the Nightmare Child. A brilliant idea – just waiting for someone to have it". The episode received a score of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 18 reviews, with an average score of 8.7/10. The Doctor feels shame for having abandoned Davros as a boy, and agrees to be taken away; Missy and Clara persuade Sarff to take them as well. There were 1.3 million "download requests" through the BBC's iplayer service. ", "Doctor Who: Extra Terrestrials – Bosses' SOS for Daleks, "BBC One Trailer – Sneak Peek of Episode 1, Series 9", "Cinema Outing for 'The Magician's Apprentice, "Doctor Who's Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and Steven Moffat at Cardiff screening - in pictures", "The Magician's Apprentice – Official Rating", "octor Who' Season 9 Premiere Ratings Up Double Digits In L+SD – Deadline", "Doctor Who Review: "The Magician's Apprentice, "Doctor Who S9.01 – The Magician's Apprentice review", "Review: 'Doctor Who' Season 9 Episode 1, 'The Magician's - Indiewire", "Doctor Who: "The Magician's Apprentice" Review", "Doctor Who Premiere Recap: Genesis of the Davros -- Vulture", "Doctor Who Series 9, Episode 1, 'The Magician's Apprentice': 'the jury's out, "Doctor Who review: The Magician's Apprentice", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Magician%27s_Apprentice_(Doctor_Who)&oldid=1007856571, Television episodes written by Steven Moffat, The Master (Doctor Who) television stories, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Stefan Adegbola, Shin-Fei Chen, Lucy Newman-Williams – Newsreaders, This page was last edited on 20 February 2021, at 07:54. [10], When the Doctor spies Clara and Missy, he plays the opening notes to Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman". The Doctor regenerates into a new form when he or she dies. After throwing the boy his sonic screwdriver so he can communicate with him, the Doctor encourages the boy and tries to save him, until he learns that the boy is Davros, the future creator of the Daleks, and as a result, abandons him. So far there have been 13 Doctors, 14 including the War Doctor. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)By another account however, Davros' crippling had led to him being shunned and given small-scale scientific projects. "The Witch's Familiar" is the second episode of the ninth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. (PROSE: The Third Wise Man) Another account claimed the Eighth Doctor, the incarnation of the Doctor before the War Doctor, had been present instead. These correspond with locales for many of the Doctor's past adventures: San Martino (The Masque of Mandragora);[10] New York City (The Chase, "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks", and "The Angels Take Manhattan") and three possible appearances in Atlantis (The Time Monster, The Underwater Menace, and The Dæmons). [11], Clara, upon deducing the Doctor's location and intent, says "Do not go gentle into that good night", the first line of the titular poem by Dylan Thomas. [8] On 18 September, this was released on Facebook in the United Kingdom, and also made available through other online channels. Missy and the Doctor's companion Clara (Jenna Coleman) track down the location of the Doctor before his expected death, and the three are taken prisoner on the planet Skaro where a weak and dying Davros (Julian Bleach)—an enemy of the Doctor and the creator of the Dalek race—seeks the Doctor after recalling an encounter from Davros' childhood. She asks the Doctor if he will go, insisting: "You owe that creature nothing." But tempers it with "there’s no real sense of jeopardy"....In a universe where everything is now "unzappable'". [10], Davros plays excerpts from his prior conversations with the Doctor's earlier incarnations, ranging from Genesis of the Daleks to "The Stolen Earth". Doctor Who is a British Sci-Fi TV show about a time traveling alien called The Doctor fighting off monsters with his or her companions using the TARDIS to travel. Sarff presents the Doctor with the sonic screwdriver the Doctor gave to Davros years before. [11] The scene features several returning aliens: the Sycorax, the Hath, the Ood and a Tivolian. Jami Reid-Quarrell made a subsequent appearance as "The Veil" in "Heaven Sent", the penultimate episode of Series 9. You bet your axe it was! He says that he will, but that he will first 'hang out' for a bit. Davros planned to destroy it by luring it to the Gates of Elysium. The DoctorDonna is born, creating another copy of the Tenth Doctor. The site's consensus reads "In "The Magician's Apprentice," Peter Capaldi and the writers settle into an emotionally engaging tone while raising the stakes for the Twelfth Doctor". This is a fan site, not ran for profit. While there, they are contacted by Missy, who needed to get UNIT's attention to arrange a meeting with Clara. In the episode, the alien time traveller the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) disappears and gives a confession dial—his version of a last will and testament—to his former childhood friend Missy (Michelle Gomez). (TV: The End of Time), By the end of the Time War, Earth was duplicated thousands of times over to be used as bullets to fire at the Nightmare Child. "The Magician's Apprentice" is the first episode of the ninth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode was written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Hettie MacDonald.It is the first of a two-part story; the second part, "The Witch's Familiar", aired on 26 September. To provide the necessary Dalek props, some were taken from the nearby Doctor Who Experience exhibition. [21] It was also screened along with "The Witch's Familiar" on 10 September 2015 in Cardiff by BAFTA Cymru with a Q&A session following. As they leave, Bors is revealed to be a Dalek "puppet" and secures the Doctor's TARDIS for the Daleks. [1] It was first broadcast on BBC One on 19 September 2015. As Dalek Caan recounted, "[he] flew into the wild, and the fire; [he] danced and died a thousand times." He said "Steven Moffat promised us a season opener that feels like a finale and, boy, does he deliver. Boy Davros. [38] However, Benji Wilson in The Daily Telegraph gave it 3/5 saying that the "jury is still out" and questioning whether "seemingly catastrophic events" can be very thrilling in the Doctor Who universe which "keeps reminding you you're not supposed to take it seriously". The Doctor, travelling across a war-ravaged battleground, encounters a young boy trapped in a field of "handmines". The Nightmare Child was the first and only specimen of a new type of Dalek, created by Davros during the first year of the Last Great Time War.Davros saw it as the "perfect Dalek," rising above the flaws of every other Dalek. It is the longest running science-fiction show in the world. With half his body crippled, Davros began working on implanting organic brains into mechanical shells to serve as semi-autonomous attack drones, being assisted by Gharman. (PROSE: The Third Wise Man), Cass Fermazzi had an encounter with the Nightmare Child. And it’s the climatic reveal/cliffhanger here that will help bring this Doctor towards the latter emotional state". "The Magician's Apprentice" is the first episode of the ninth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The Doctor attempts to plead for their lives, but Davros says he has no control over the Daleks, and Missy, Clara, and the TARDIS are seemingly destroyed. [16], The Doctor's playing electric guitar and teaching medieval people the term "dude" echoes the movies Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, films featuring two rocker teens who travel back in time – in a telephone call box – and teach historical figures their customs. [15] Most notably, he shows footage (from Genesis of the Daleks) of the Fourth Doctor asking the question "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? Clara helps Missy track down the Doctor to Essex in 1138. It gained a 21.2% share of its timeslot and came second for the night, behind The X Factor. (TV: The End of Time), When reliving a memory from his eighth incarnation, the Tenth Doctor recalled "laugh[ing] in the face of the Nightmare Child". (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor) The Nightmare Child quickly became out of control, wanting to consume everything like a hungry child. [27], Scott Collura of IGN awarded the episode a 9.4 out of ten, deemed "amazing". Sarff takes them to a space station, and the Doctor is led alone to Davros, who shames the Doctor for his actions in the past. It is the first of a two-part story; the second part, "The Witch's Familiar", aired on 26 September. They are captured by the Daleks and taken to a room where the TARDIS has been procured. A large collection of various Doctor Who-related books, texts, magazine articles and literature. [19] In fact he delivers boy. Clara is summoned to UNIT headquarters to help contact the Doctor. He went on to say "The Twelfth Doctor can have lots of fun in this episode, but he can also hit some real dark patches too. © Old Doctor Who - 2013-2020 All articles on Olddoctorwho © of author. [3], The Twelfth Doctor has returned to the planet Karn. (PROSE: The Whoniverse), However, after escaping New York, Dalek Caan fell into the Time War and saved Davros at the cost of his own sanity. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 19 September 2015. In the early days of the Time War, Davros encountered the Nightmare Child at the Gates of Elysium. [13][14], UNIT seeks the Doctor using a computer algorithm, plotting on a map the locations of various crises at which he has been rumoured to have appeared. There, Ohila of the Sisterhood, explains that someone has been seeking him across all time and space. The Doctor's hand spare hand finally fulfils its purpose in Journey's End, the close of the fourth season of the revival. [11] Nick Setchfield of SFX also gave the episode five stars, claiming it was "full of wit and menace" and "unafraid to take on the show's museum piece classics". The Witch's Familiar [9.2] (26 September 2015) [Having just survived being fired upon by Daleks, the Doctor sits calmly in Davros' chair, sipping a cup of tea.] The Fourth Doctor confronts Davros. [2] The episode was written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Hettie MacDonald. [25] The episode broke records on BBC America with 1.1 million viewers in the 18–49 category. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Time War) The War Doctor fought to prevent the rise of the Nightmare Child (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor) and made arrangements for it "to never arise and [to] forever be aware of its non-existence". Kelly Hunter had previously appeared as the Shadow Architect in the Series 4 episode "The Stolen Earth", with Julian Bleach also having appeared as Davros in that episode and its conclusion, "Journey's End".