Doctor Who season 9 just had its debut, and things are off to a dark start.
Gonna go back in time
The show kicked off with a sequence of anachronisms. There were WWI-era planes firing what were akin to laser shots at troops running from them on the ground. The troops, however, were in more modern dress and were armed with bows and arrows. Evidently, in the chaos, the troops run into a minefield where they confront a frightened child who has also been caught up in the turmoil.
Only, this is no ordinary minefield. It’s filled with hand mines: literally hands with eyes that suck people underground to fates unknown. Cue one screaming, terrified child, and the Doctor comes to the rescue. He is as irascible as usual, telling the child his odds were practically nil. We cheer on his actions until we learn the name of the child is Davros, A.K.A. the creator of the Daleks, and now the Doctor has a choice: does he help the terrified child, or does he let the boy grow up to become the creator of a genocidal race whose credo is “Exterminate?” The Doctor leaves the child to fate with only the sonic screwdriver and no instructions on how to use it.
They seek him here, they seek him there…
At Mos Eisley Cantina… er… a lookalike bar, enter a shadowy, robed figure named Colony Sarff who declares he is looking for the Doctor. The messenger starts to writhe, emitting a hissing sound, and things are looking bad for people in the bar. Flash forward to the Shadow Proclamation headquarters, where we learn the bar was a site of a mass suicide which they believe to be suspicious. The same shadowy figure reappears here demanding to know the whereabouts of the Doctor, and is told that the Shadow Proclamation does not know; however, we learn that this figure calls Davros “master.”
The Shadow Proclamation is now interested in what Davros wants with the Doctor. Finally the figure arrives on Karn, the site of the prologue. He tells the Sisterhood of Karn that Davros is dying and, “Davros knows. Davros remembers. He must face Davros one last time.” Once the figure leaves, the chief sister calls to the Doctor, who has been there hiding, asking what he has done. We then see a decaying Davros in his lair clutching a sonic screwdriver. Davros decides that if the Doctor won’t come to him, he’ll force the situation by using the Doctor’s friends as leverage.
Let it go, let it go
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Clara is teaching a class, and notices a plane frozen in flight. Apparently it’s a global problem, and Clara runs off to help Kate at U.N.I.T. when she calls. They try to puzzle out why the planes are frozen in time while they attempt to reach the Doctor. Suddenly, an old “Doctor Channel” pops to life that U.N.I.T. and the Doctor had all but forgotten about. Only, it’s not the Doctor, it’s Missy (A.K.A. The Master). And with her usual flair for the dramatic, she sets up a meeting.
In her own warped, homicidal little way, Missy is actually trying to help. She is the apparent recipient of the Doctor’s will. It’s a circular device that will only let the recipient open it once he is dead. According to Missy, such devices only arrive on a Time Lord’s last day alive. The question is: where and when is the Doctor? Once Clara learns what the last hours of a Time Lord are supposed to be like, Kate recalibrates the U.N.I.T. search parameters, and they find him in what seems to be medieval England. Missy grabs Clara and, via a vortex manipulator, they arrive to find the Doctor in a combat challenge playing electric guitar on a tank. They are going to have to put aside their differences and work together.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
Clara and Missy join the Doctor, who apparently has been the life of the party for the last three weeks, causing all sorts of anachronistic havoc. Before the Doctor can explain why he sent his will and what all the showmanship is about, Davros’ messenger arrives and announces that Davros is dying and that he wants to see the Doctor. The Doctor agrees, on the condition that no one in the arena is harmed. Before the Doctor goes, he wants to know why his arch-enemy (cue Missy jealousy) wants him. In response, a dilapidated sonic screwdriver is thrown at his feet. We now see the outcome of the Doctor’s first encounter with Davros: he left the innocent child with a sonic screwdriver in a hand minefield to fend for himself. The biggest surprise is revealed right after they leave. The Doctor’s combatant was really a Dalek in disguise.
Feelings, woh, oh, oh feelings
The Doctor, Clara points out, seems ashamed. He is ready to face Davros and, we assume, atone and meet his end. Missy and Clara have other ideas: they willingly ask to be taken captive with the Doctor, so off to Skaro all three go. On the trip the Doctor relates Davros’ history to Clara. He muses, “Davros created the Daleks, but who created Davros?” The Doctor goes off to meet Davros, and Clara and Missy make their escape via an airlock.
Don’t you remember?
In short order, the Doctor and Missy realize that they are on Skaro, the planet of the Daleks. Missy and Clara are captured and taken to a holding area where the TARIS is also being kept. The Doctor talks with Davros, and Davros haunts him with their encounters from the past. They discuss the Doctor’s weakness of compassion. Davros wants the Doctor to admit that compassion is wrong.
Meanwhile, Missy seems to have some sort of plan, focusing the Daleks on her, telling them that she can control the TARIS and that they need her to maximize their destruction. Instead, they exterminate her. Immediately after, Clara tries to make a break for it and she, too, is exterminated. The Daleks begin to destroy the TARDIS, and suddenly we see the Doctor back with young Davros — only this time he is holding part of a Dalek. As he fires at young Davros yelling “exterminate,” he states that he’s just trying to save his friends.
We would bet that Clara and Missy aren’t dead. Our money is on some sort of trick with the vortex manipulators. Also, the Doctor turning to the Dark Side is a tad unlikely, too; he always has some plan. We’ll have to find out next week when Doctor Who returns with part two of the season opener titled “The Witch’s Familiar.”
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