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Episode --

Doctor Who – Season 9, Episode 1 The Magician's Apprentice

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Doctor Who – Season 9, Episode 1

The Magician's Apprentice

Aired Sep 19, 2015

Sci-Fi

Fantasy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

83%

Tomatometer

18 Reviews

When Earth's skies are frozen by a strange alien force, Clara cannot find the Doctor, who is hiding from his past.

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Critics Consensus

In "The Magician's Apprentice," Peter Capaldi and the writers settle into an emotionally engaging tone while raising the stakes for the Twelfth Doctor.

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Peter Capaldi

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Clara Oswald

Michelle Gomez

Missy

Julian Bleach

Davros

Jemma Redgrave

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Noam Cohen

Observer

09/28/2015

The episode, in other words, is fun and strange in the classic mode of Doctor Who.

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Kelly Connolly

Entertainment Weekly

09/28/2015

From the minute the Doctor's sonic screwdriver flies through the air and lands at the feet of a child yet to be named, "The Magician's Apprentice" feels like coming home.

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Alasdair Wilkins

AV Club

09/28/2015

B

This is now a Doctor every bit as capable of emotional engagement as his predecessors, and he is broken in a way we almost never see him.

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Emmet Asher-Perrin

Reactor

01/09/2019

The 'verse feels cohesive, the nods to the past are earned, undistracting, and clever.

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Mark Rozeman

Paste Magazine

12/07/2018

8.5/10

[It] feels more akin to the penultimate episode of a season rather than the premiere entry. This either means that shit's going to get even crazier from here, or that it's all downhill from this point. For now, I'm putting my money safely on the latter.

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Craig Owen Jones

PopMatters

12/07/2018

7/10

The Magician's Apprentice was not perfect, but its strengths outweighed its weaknesses, and in leaving us with the image of our non-violent, absolutely moral protagonist pointing a Dalek exterminator at a small child, it made for compelling television.

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Synopsis

When Earth's skies are frozen by a strange alien force, Clara cannot find the Doctor, who is hiding from his past.

Executive Producer: Steven Moffat
Screenwriter: Richard Curtis, Chris Chibnall, Toby Whithouse, Mark Gatiss, Simon Nye, Steven Moffat
Network: BBC
Rating: TV-PG
Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Drama
Original Language: British English
Release Date: Sep 19, 2015