So, I re-watched both parts on Monday night, one after the other. It has occurred to me that in years to come, when people are looking for "classics" of this era of Doctor Who, this story will, in my opinion, be a commonly given example.

I think it's brilliant. In my opinion, it's the unofficial celebration of the ten years that Doctor Who has been back. An array of returning monsters from the last ten years crop up. The Judoon, the Shadow Proclamation, the Hath, the Odd, possibly the Sycorax. There may even be others that I failed to spot.

On top of that, we've got the Master, the Daleks (inlcuding classic daleks), Davros and the Sisterhood of Karn.

It moves at a decent pace, and doesn't feel at all rushed. It's got the action to satisfy casual viewers, some humour and some great character moments.

Credit to the Doctor Who team for this story. It fits SO much into approximately ninety minutes, and never feels overcrowded or rushed, in the slightest bit.

I think this is a bang average story at best. I mean nothing really happens in the first part of the story till we get to the final 10 minutes. They misused UNIT terribly and they honestly did nothing, and when did Clara become the number one go to person in the world? Anway the story meandered around for about 30 minutes with no real direction and some poor character development and Peter Capaldi acting line Matt Smith.

The reveal of Skaro was brilliantly done though and Davros's speech at the end of the first episode was brilliantly done. But the cliffhanger was terrible, it was obvious exactly how they escaped, we knew they didn't die and we knew The Doctor wouldn't kill young Davros.

Then the second part comes where Clara is used the entire time for the purpose of exposition which is just uninteresting to watch and creates some more character problems. The Daleks were as nonthreatening and out of character as they have ever been in the history of the show , why would the Daleks want to be part Time Lord? They are against everything which isn't Dalek, why do they give a toss if Davros lives or dies.

I mean they were this useless this story The Doctor mocked them in a chair, a piece of Jewellery destroyed one and Davros is using the Colony to trap the Doctor not even the Daleks.

Anyway we go to the Clara in a Dalek scene which again goes against everything we already have established with The Daleks, this scene was simply here for the Doctor to potentially kill Clara and obviously pick up the Mercy thing. But these scenes felt so forced.

The good of this episode was The Doctor and Davros and there scenes, all of which was nullified when we realising they were both playing eachother. I am not even going to mention the Dalek Sewers.

So overall IMO a poorly done story with many errors and you could miss 10-20 minutes and it wouldn't effect the story at all as this story has so much padding. But it isn't terrible and has some enjoy-ability, but a classic, sorry just can't see it.

Definitely one of my New Who favourites. The opening where the child is revealed to be Davros was done brilliantly in kicking off such an outstanding series. Peter Capaldi was in great form, capturing that sense of volatile inner conflict that Tom Baker often had, particularly in Genesis of the Daleks, and the guitar and tank entrance was so ridiculous I couldn't not love it. Michelle Gomez really proved herself as a capable Master, whatever her gender may be, and stole every scene she was in. Julian Bleach was yet again a fantastic Davros, but actually had a decent script to work off of this time.

I loved the scene where Clara gets into the Dalek and finds her identity and ability to express emotion to be gone: a very haunting concept and one of those intriguing bits of lore Moffat adds to the show. The initial scenes between the Doctor and Davros were beautifully done and the dialogue was great: no overblown action or loud music; just two old enemies playing off of each others' similiarities and differences and discovering more about themselves.

I would actually go as far as to say only Genesis of the Daleks beats this as my favourite Davros story.

As an added bonus, I loved the retro Daleks. So much better than the bronze ones, but that's more nostalgia talking.

I absolutely loved The Witch's Familiar..but one of its strengths was that it ditched much of the baggage from the episode before it. The Magician's Apprentice was, to me, one of the weakest episodes of Series 9. It was an absolute pacing nightmare - failing to tie into the Christmas special before it very well, dwelling on the tank scene for well over ten minutes but feeling oddly rushed in other departments.

The opening montage of locations was chucked in for the sake of nostalgia, and didn't really add anything beyond that. On top of that, it served only to make the universe feel smaller as we constantly cycle through the same old over again. Retrospective nods are great, but only when they're there for the story.

It was a tale of two halves, and for me the first half - whilst not without a few charms - sacrificed itself to make the second episode much better. But that basically suggests that the premise was spread a bit too thinly. As opening episodes go I considered TMA one of the weakest of all nine... it then somehow turned the same story around into something brilliant.

I thought they were two best episodes of the Series (alongside Hell Bent) and there were lots of stuff there to enjoy. Davros's apparent humility, the flashbacks and the conversation between him and The Doctor probably one of the best since Genesis.

However, there was an opportunity wasted with him not really having any interaction hardly with Missy and Clara was horribly underused.

However, these episodes still don't rank anywhere near the ones I've enjoyed in the past and they only stand out more as the rest of the series was so poor at times.

A lot unexplained. Was the snake fella a mara. I thought skaro was destroyed in remembrance of the daleks or was this set in an earlier timeline? Why the different dalek casings? Classic cases and the modern bronze ones? Is there more than one special weapons dalek as thats the 3rd time its popped up?

No the snake wasn't a Mara.

Well Skaro came back in Asylum, so that is really that episodes problem.

Why different, maybe different ranks, the materials on Skaro make that sort of Dalek idk.

Well i presume more than one special weapons Dalek can be created, it is something which can be manufactured.

A lot of this is your opinion, so I respect it - I don't agree with it personally, but I won't try to dissuade you.

But the BIB - really? Obvious? Before they'd even introduced the actual escape method? Rubbish. I call foul on that. The escape method was entirely new to the devices they were wearing - and needed the story of the Doctor's escaping the 50 invisible assassins to explain it to us. It was obviopus they had escaped, and the eagle-eyed would have recognised the fact they were both wearing the same device.

But saying it was obvious exactly how they'd escaped? I find it hard to believe you knoew that. And if you did, what a fantastic coincidence you came up with it too. Because up until then, that capability was entirely unknown.

These are most definitely not 'unexplained questions' in relation to the episodes.

The first question is just silly, but the rest are not unexplained, as they have entirely no bearing on the story or the denouement. They are just you and your own thoughts completely unconnected to the main thrust of the episode.

They escaped by teleporting, everyone knew they wouldn't die, nor was there a suspense of how they are going to get out of this. Because there were 2 options, teleporting or Doctor kills young Davros which we know wouldn't happen.

I take it this version of skaro is an earlier version before it was destroyed in remembrance of the daleks. Set somewhere between the daleks and evil of the daleks.

Lots of fun window dressing (Missy is always value for money) but a very weak story all in all.

The resolution was plain silly, especially since all the Daleks could fly.

And the Doctor/Davros scenes was not in the same league as the 4th Doctor/Davros scene from Genesis.

So not a classic in my book.

Missy was great, the episodes are enjoyable enough but no-where near a classic for me.

They should of had Missy show up again later in the series, her and Capaldi are by far the best thing about DW these last two years.

Definitely not a classic as it was nowhere near the best of a fairly poor series. There was probably a good 65 minute story in there, but the cliffhanger spot ruined the pacing, making the two-parter as a whole both padded out and bloated while also somewhat rushed.

I don't want to overstate things or go into fanboy mode but I think a lot of the Moffat episodes fit this description.

No other writer even comes close to the number of standout episodes Moffat has written. RTD was great but I don't think a large percentage of his individual episodes stand as classics. Robert Holmes is probably the nearest contender but Moffat has surpassed him now for sheer volume of fantastic episodes. I find it hard to imagine anyone matching his body of work.

There are Moffat written bona fide Doctor Who classics in every single season of Doctor Who since 2005.

Moffat has written some brilliant stories, but no writer is even in Robert Holmes universe for Doctor Who yet. That isn't a knock on Moffat, but Holmes has written so many brilliant stories and most of which are in the best episodes ever in the show. And has only written a couple poor stories in his time. Even which have there redeeming values.

And i really have to beg to differ the quality of Moffat's writing since S6 part 2, generally his stories and arcs have been quite weak.

Well I'll only comment on the Magician's Apprentice because I watched that again the other night. Certain things I did like but not a classic start. The bits I did like were things such as the dialogue between the Doctor and Missy as Missy seemed much more toned down and young Davros and the Doctor but it's a flawed episode. All the preamble before the Doctor is found as Clara out thinks UNIT,Missy stops the planes is just a bit of padding. The episode seems a bit clunky in parts. the tank scene does require you to seriously suspend your disbelief that a) The Doctor would introduce future tech to a medieval world so allowing a means for history to possibly change b) that he wouldn't have been killed as a sorcerer by these uneducated masses first before being indulged in a stand up comedy routine. As fun as it might have been on paper the episode only really goes up a dramatic gear when snake man finds the doctor and they get away from that what is really nonsense. I don't dislike the episode but it's uneven tonally so can't describe it as a classic

I'm a huge fan of Holmes and Moffat. Believe me you won't find many bigger Holmes enthusiasts than me. To clarify, I didn't mean to imply that Moffat has surpassed Holmes in importance or is the 'better' writer, just that in terms of sheer volume of episodes one might hold up as a 'classic' I think Moffat now has a greater number than even Holmes (equating a full Holmes serial with a single 'episode' of course).

(I think Moffat has only written a very small percentage of poor episodes too by the way. Percentage - wise (after all, Moffat has written more 'stories' so there is a greater statistical probability of a not so good one) I think he is probably about even in that regard with Holmes, or maybe very slightly ahead. But of course that's subjective.)

Regarding the arcs: whether I agree or not (and in part I do) it's not really relevant to the point I was making, which was about individual episodes (or stories) that one might hold up as a classic. Consistency is not really a part of that. I didn't intend my comments to be a full critique of Moffat's work as showrunner, simply an observation that episode for episode his ratio of what could be held up as exemplars of 'classic' Doctor Who is formidable. Sure, there are weaknesses from his time on the show too.

I do stand by my opinion that you could pick out a 'classic' episode of Doctor Who written by Steven Moffat from every season of Doctor Who since its relaunch in 95. Often multiple.

Well i can't pick a Moffat classic from S6 p2 onwards, he ahs written some decent stories since then but not to the quality and consistency of Holmes.

Moffat's best sotries, Doctor Dances/ Empty Child, Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, Library 2 parter (forgot the episodes names), Eleventh Hour, S5 finale, Good man Goes to War, Day of the Doctor, Heaven Sent.

Blink and Doctor Dances/Empty Child are the only stories which could even be in discussion to Holmes best stories. Which include Talons, Caves of Androzani, Deadly Assasin, Morbius, Ark in Space, Carnival of Monsters, Spearhead. I mean all these stories and i missed a couple are in the best ever in the history of the show. While the other Moffat stories i mentioned are good/great, they aren't really in the same ballpark as these.

The only weak story i could say Holmes wrote was The Space Pirates and Power of Kroll which i'd say are still better than Moffat's worse. Which include The Beast Below, Lets Kill Hitler, Wedding of River Song, Asylum, Death in Heaven. And an array of average episodes.

Moffat wrote better stories when he just needed to focus on a single story, being a showrunner has definitely created problems in his writing.

Clara underused? She was barely off the screen, being the Most Important Person Ever once again (yawn) except when the spotlight was rightfully on the Doctor and Davros!

Well the first episode she somehow became the most important person.

The second episode she was there for exposition only

How about building some criteria around this. What boxes does a story have to tick in order to be considered a Doctor Who classic? How about these as a starter:

1/ Critically Acclaimed (at the time of transmission)
2/ Positive response from the audience (the AI rating?)
3/ Overall memorable content for viewers (as opposed to fans)
4/ Includes at least one stand-out memorable scene (e.g. 4th Doctor/Davros conversation or the 10th Doctor 'Don't Blink' video message)

For me, a classic isn't decided on forums like this. It happens organically and mainly because people outside these forums (viewers more generally) remember specific episodes with fondness or excitement. In all honesty, I think there have been far fewer classics in New Who than is generally believed here.

For me, Blink is the stand-out winner in terms of being a modern classic, simply because so many people remember it and even recall the episode title. Dalek could be another and possibly The Stolen Earth/Journey's End simply because they were critically acclaimed, massively popular and have a number of stand-out scenes including the fake regeneration. It was genuine 'event telly', something Who's not really had before or since.

But I certainly don't personally think The Witch's Familiar ticks nearly enough boxes to be considered a classic even with the 12th Doctor/Davros scenes. I do think many forum members enjoyed it, however.

I'd be interested to hear other views.

Generally the way i have seen it past few seasons.

An episode airs- it is called amazing

Couple weeks same episode drops down a level

And every year it just falls away and rarely regarded.

So what makes a classic for me is if years down the track this will be looked upon and you still go WOW, whenever you watch it, and when you think about the story it doesn't fall apart. The Classic term seems so loosely flung around these days, much like World Class players in football a term which is overused.

I think that Moffat has written far more classics than RTD, but I wouldn't say as many as Holmes or even of his quality. But I would definitely agree Moffat has at least one brilliant episode a season.

I'd say the story fits your criteria.

1) It received critical acclaim from most reviews.
2) The AL ratings were 84 and 83 respectively.
3) I'd say it's a very memorable story.
4) "Davros. My name is Davros."