Pre-Advance Review: The Magician’s Apprentice / The Witch’s Familiar

Richard Forbes is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

You’ve read the previews, buzzed about the praise, admired the interviews and gawked in delight at the stills, but only at Kasterborous do we have your exclusive look at… your exclusive look at Series 9’s audacious two-part premiere: The Magician’s Apprentice / The Witch’s Familiar, written by showrunner, Steven Moffat and directed by Blink’s Hettie MacDonald.

The Magician’s Apprentice begins with a surprising revelation – a cold open sure to have you screaming in disbelief as the titles appear: oooooooooeeeeeooooo. Things aren’t looking that good for the Doctor as an impossible dilemma arises – a compelling choice that no man, woman or ood would ever want to make.

Clara returns too, with a spunky but soft touch, yet this particularly blockerbuster premiere will challenge her in ways we have yet to see from our beloved schoolteacher as events unfold around her; a storm – nay, the perfect storm – brews as old enemies of the Doctor’s return, a harbinger of only darker things to come…

Expect nothing short of an action-packed explosion of thrills and the occasional laugh – this premiere packs a mighty punch – taking audiences from one end of the universe to the next; not even the end of the universe itself is too big for this engrossing tale of the trials of its heroes and the summery triumph of optimism over its seemingly insurmountable odds.

When a particularly triumphant moment comes, I know you too will be singing along with the music of Murray Gold, spellbinded by the ‘magic’ of this series premiere. Certainly too the return of the Daleks and Death in Heaven’s Missy (played deliciously by fan favourite Michelle Gomez) helps to raise the stakes in a story where increasingly the Doctor and Clara are forced by events out of their control (kind of) to decide who to trust and who not to. They may not be the best shots in the universe, but in my opinion, the Daleks do muster a few good “EXTERMINATE!!” ‘s – and do watch out for Missy too, whose appearance will almost surely have you cackling along with a sinister brogue! This is a series premiere, I can confidently say, that fans won’t want to miss – and that’s not an opinion, that’s a fact!

You heard it here with Kasterborous first: some of you, I am certain, will come to regard this premiere as Steven Moffat’s BEST WORK since Blink, others too, The Curse of Fatal Death (you might even catch a passing reference to the latter if you’re lucky). Even if the conclusion doesn’t leave you wanting more, I assure you at the very least a particularly shocking cliffhanger is around the corner, ready to spark waves of awe and urine-inducing screams. Ultimately however, it’s hard to say what fans will make of this premiere – whether it’ll rise to the heights of a classic or fall into infamy – whether it’ll be beloved or beleaguered. That is to say: good, bad or Love & Monsters. Judging a classic has become something of a clairvoyant act among a notoriously fickle fandom. Honestly, even if we did have an opinion though, we probably couldn’t tell you. The BBC’s watching, after all.

Mark it down on your calendar, folks: September 19 through to September 26.

Have any questions about the series premiere for our resident pre-previewer? Ask below and prepare for the delicate tap-dance sure to follow…

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