Doctor Who (2005) 9-02: The Witch's Familiar

Episode:

815

|

Serial:

254

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Air Date:

26-Sep-2015

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing all kinds of words about The Witch's Familiar, the second half of The Magician's Apprentice.

The weird thing about this year of Doctor Who is that it's almost entirely made up of two parters. Classic Doctor Who was all about the serialisation and when it came back to TV last decade in a new format it still managed to fit a few two parters in each series, but from 2012 to 2014 it shunned serials and stuck with standalone episodes almost exclusively, so the return of the cliffhanger is a bit of a surprise.

Personally I think this can go either way, because some of the best episodes of the show have been two parters (like The Empty Child, The Impossible Planet and Silence in the Library), but Doctor Who's kind of all over the place in quality and I don't much like the idea of being trapped in a bad story for two parts.

Anyway my writings will be filled with all kinds of SPOILERS for this two parter, but nothing that comes after it. I'll discuss the future when I get there.

Doctor Who (2005) 9-01: The Magician's Apprentice

Episode:

814

|

Serial:

254

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Air Date:

19-Sep-2015

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm spoiling the hell out of The Magician's Apprentice, episode 3 billion and 1 of Doctor Who.

The Magician's Apprentice kicks off year two of Peter Capaldi's time in the role of the Twelfth Doctor, who's actually the thirteenth incarnation of the renegade Time Lord because of reasons. The backstory gotten a bit convoluted and confusing at this point, so this is probably not the ideal place for a newbie to jump in. But the series has been running on and off since 1963 so it's a train you really have to catch in motion somewhere.

Me though, I'm very familiar with the mythology and continuity of the Doctor Who universe. Well I've been watching it since Matt Smith took over at least, plus I went back to check out a few of the David Tennant episodes and a bit of Eccleston. But this season (or series I suppose) will all be new to me, so you'll be getting my first impressions and utter cluelessness about where it's all going. My plan is to go through the entirety of series 9 in order and then after that I'll decide if I want to keep writing about the show. Fortunately Doctor Who has taken an entire year off and won't be back until spring 2017, so there's no rush!

I'll be going through the episode almost scene by scene, dropping SPOILERS and discussing every tiny thing that happens in it, so I wouldn't go any further unless you've either already seen the episode before or you'd rather just read about it.