And so we got a new episode of Doctor Who yesterday. Was it a yay or a nay? To 'cut the chase' (as Missy would say); it was yay - but did have its fair share of nay-ness. If that makes any sense. Probably doesn't. So let's have a closer look.

Nowadays I've become one of those people who don't look out for spoilers. I don't actively avoid them either, but let's say the Doctor Who Twitter account posts a video of the upcoming series - will I watch it? Most likely not. Cons of doing this is that I may seem like a massive idiot and an ignorant fool when talking to my fellow nerds. But the significant pro is to get the satisfaction of 'Oh'.

The Magician's Apprentice started with a big 'Oh', when the little boy in the battlefield is surrounded by hand mines (literally hands - loved it) and the Doctor is reaching out to help him. He throws the little boy his sonic screwdriver and tells him he has one chance in a thousand for survival. Better concentrate on that one instead of the thousand. But then.

'Tell me the name of the boy who isn't going to die today.'
'Davros.'

Oh. Oh. 'If someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that child grew up totally evil... to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives... could you then kill that child?'


The Magician's Apprentice is definitely more of an episode for those Doctor Who fans, who have some knowledge of the series beyond the reboot. Naturally, it also works, if all you know about Davros is that he appeared in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, but you'll definitely get more out of this episode with some more detailed background knowledge. References to Genesis of the Daleks are heavy, and if you've seen that episode you understand more of the world Davros and Daleks come from. I personally recommend reading the book version of the episode, if you still haven't seen it - it's great and leaves space for imagination.

After the title sequence we see a shady person wander around the galaxies looking for the Doctor muttering that 'Davros knows, Davros remembers'. The shady person is actually a big snake formed of lots of little snakes, and he calls Davros the Dark Lord of Skaro, which, to be frank, sounds absolutely ridiculous in a way that's far from good. The association with Voldemort just doesn't work. Nope. Makes me cringe. Anyway, the shady snake person returns to Davros, who has survived of the destruction of the Crucible - but seems to be feeling pretty poorly. The Snakey (his name is actually Sarff, but Snakey fits better, doesn't it?) hasn't found the Doctor, but Davros isn't concerned - the Doctor has a weakness and will come to him. And dun-dun-dun we see the Doctor's screwdriver in Davros' hand.

But it's not only Davros who's back - Missy, too, is here, even though we left the Series 8th thinking she was dead. Didn't last long, did it? The mystery of her resurrection is shuddered off with a pretty cheap line: 'Cutting the chase. Not dead. Back. Big surprise. Never mind', and people who aren't too fond of Moffat's writing get a new thing to complain about. Yet, I don't really mind, to be honest, because Missy is such a superstar with superb lines! She catches Clara's and the whole Earth's attention by simply stopping all the aircraft in the sky, and then has a nice little chitty-chat with Clara about an object delivered to the Doctor's closest friend on the eve of his death: the Doctor's confession dial - a Time Lord's final testament and will. Now delivered to Missy. So, the Doctor is going to die! Again! It's probably safe to assume that the contains of the Doctor's confession dial is a start of a series-long story (or longer, who knows about Moffat).
But I do have some problems with the whole Missy and the Doctor being best friends. I mean, obviously they were best friends, but it's a bit difficult to swallow it from the Doctor's end after all the things the Master/Missy has done. They're more like the only family they have left - which is why the Doctor's always had a soft spot for her. But bezzy mates? Though, when I started thinking about it, would have the 11th Doctor delivered his confession dial to Missy, if he had never regenerated? Or would have maybe Amy or River been the Doctor's closest friend in that case?

So, the Doctor is dying tomorrow and is no where to be found. Missy and Clara joint their effort to find him, and they locate the Doctor having sort of a party in the medieval Essex - classic, dude. The party is cut off pretty quickly, because Snakey has also found the Doctor by following Clara and Missy. We get yet another Harry Potter reference, but it's pretty amusing, actually (go, Neville, go!). Snakey reveals that he's possessing the Doctor's screwdriver - and oh now, it's heavily implied that the Doctor did not help poor little Davros back in Skaro. How naughty. The ashamed Doctor is pretty docile after seeing his old screwdriver and goes willingly with Snakey. And so do Clara and Missy!

(Now we see one of the Doctor's medieval friends, Bors, turn into a Dalek. Dammit, Bors, I had faith in you. Bors-Dalek goes and locates the TARDIS.) Snakey takes the Doctor, Clara and Missy to a floating building in space that looks more like a fancy jar - and that's where Davros is hiding. The lot gets dumped into a prison cell for a bit, before Snakey comes back to fetch the Doctor - who then, has a slightly awkward conversation with Clara about the teeny-tiny fact that the Doctor sent his confession dial to Missy - even though she was supposed to be dead (the Doctor also seems to pick up Clara's underlying feeling of betrayal, since he tries to explain why he sent the dial to Missy and not her). Now off you go Doctor! We're gonna see Missy in action for a bit. These tiny moments ('but this (gravity) feels real, maaaaaan') make me sincerely hope we'll get to see Missy A LOT in the future. While the Doctor is catching up with Davros, Missy and Clara have discovered that they're not in a floating building in space or a space station, but in fact, they've been brought onto an invisible planet. Why would a planet be invisible?

Shit.

Well, if the planet was a new Skaro, then it's pretty obvious why to try and hide it.

Well, now that the truth is discovered, Clara and Missy are in a trouble. Thanks to Bors, the TARDIS has been brought to Skaro as well, and the Daleks have plans to destroy it. Missy, however, suggests they make a deal - let her and the TARDIS live and she, as a Time Lady, can show them how the TARDIS works. Whether the suggestion was a genuine one or just an attempt to save the Doctor's skin as well, we'll not know, because the Daleks decide to exterminate her immediately. The same fate comes to Clara, even though the Doctor begs Davros (who claims he doesn't control his children) to save her. And the TARDIS. Wow. Bye bye.

The Doctor is pretty pissed off. The whole episode ends back in the old Skaro where the child Davros has just been abandoned by the Doctor... However, the Doctor is back - but this time to kill him. What a powerful and great way to end the episode.

Overall, the episode reminded me strongly of The Impossible Astronaut. It's clearly a start of a bigger story-arc, lots of things happen in many different places - and the fate of Clara, Missy and the TARDIS seem as bad as the Doctor's after he got shot by the astronaut. For me this episode needed a rewatch before I warmed up for it properly (unlike The Impossible Astronaut which I loved immediately). Also if you didn't manage to miss the spoilers or don't know Genesis of the Daleks, you probably miss out on some of the episode's charm.

Pros:

There he is! My favourite Dalek model!

+ Davros.
+ Genesis of the Daleks 2.0.
+ The Shadow Proclamation, The Maldovarium, Karn!
+ Missy. She's charming! Michelle Gomez is a wonderful actress. Beautiful job.
+ Retro Daleks.
+ The ending.

Cons:

- The Dark Lord Davros... seriously
- I didn't warm up to the literacy references. I might have to pick up a copy of The Magican's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar to completely understand the link. If someone's read the books, please enlighten me.
- Quite shallow explanation of the Doctor's and Missy's relationship
- Pacing. Too much things happening way too fast - a trademark of Steven Moffat. I needed a rewatch to totally catch-up with everything and without the rewatch, I would have probably rated this episode down.
- While Missy was great, Clara lacked all life. Well, I guess there's always one star that shines brighter.
- The Doctor dying is losing its charm. Sorry.

 Overall:

7/10

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Doctor Who is starting once again today with Peter Capaldi starring as the Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald in the ninth series of the reboot... but before we even go anywhere near the new episodes and next Saturdays, let's have a quick glance back at the eighth series - just for a reminder.

I don't know about you guys, but no matter how much I brace myself for the Doctor's regeneration I'm still not completely ready for it. Rationally thinking I'm all in for it - yes, amazing, a new Doctor, that's the way of the whole show and a part of its charm - and yet, every time there's something that keeps nagging in the back of my head about new Doctors. It happened with David Tennant, mind I'm the new era Whovian who only got into the series through the reboot, and it happened with Matt Smith and now it once again happened with Peter Capaldi. I think it took me the whole fifth series to get used to the eleventh Doctor - and to show run by Steven Moffat, and I still think the fifth series wasn't all that good, but I did get used to Matt Smith's Doctor and I enjoyed him greatly.

I'm still working on getting under Capaldi's Doctor's skin - but he's the Doctor alright, and pretty good one.

As a series, I think the eighth series did a very good job. Well done. Interestingly, I think Moffat has more and more shifted away from certain Moffat-ness that bothered me about the fifth series especially - it was the most fairy-tale-y Doctor Who we've ever seen. One day I can write a detailed analysis of the subject, but what I think, is that Moffat is evolving as a show-runner and broadening his own style - it's almost weird to think this series 8 is run by the same man.

One of the big themes of the eighth series was the Doctor and Clara's relationship which is one of the most dynamic and most interesting in Doctor Who, and I'm very, very curious about Clara's future with the Doctor. In the eighth series Clara starts to see the man behind the tricks and bowties (since, he's no longer wearing those) and she's not sure what to do about it. Then again, the Doctor is getting challenged by her in a new way since she's no longer amazed by the dashing young Doctor. In the mid-series Clara realises she can't keep doing the travelling in the TARDIS anymore, but letting go is just too difficult.

And one more thing: I love Danny Pink. Danny is/was great and probably a character I've been able to relate the best. He was calm most of the time, and rational, and just generally pleasant. He's awesome in The Caretaker episode where he totally owns the Doctor in his own game by saluting him. For this once I almost wished they'd do some wibbly-wobbly time magic and bring him back - but I'm a fan of powerful story-telling, and keeping Danny six feet under is more powerful than bringing him back. Sadly.

Anyway, I think now is a good time to have a quick look back onto the episodes of the 8th series:

Deep Breath - For the reasons I explained earlier, I don't have high hopes for the debut episode of the new Doctors. Deep Breath wasn't bad, but I never like watching the unbalanced, still regenerating, silly-weird Doctor. Well, the Doctor is always a bit silly and weird, but especially Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi's Doctors first minutes are dreadful to watch for me - I get the idea, but there's just something I can't stand about the almost hysterical, new Doctor. Well, if we put that on the side and think about the episode itself... it was alright, really. I didn't really like the dinosaur that much, but fair enough, I absolutely love Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax - but after giving this episode a rewatch, it really bothered me how both Vastra and Jenny... objectify everything. All females are to flirt with a bit, all males to be made fun of. But I don't want it to bother me too much, cos to be honest, the trio does amuse me a lot and are great together. I liked Clara having problems with the new Doctor, it was like a reversed Rose-situation. The clock-work androids were cool and the link with the Pompadour ship was nice. The Heaven, however, was damn ridiculous and I didn't care for the idea - but it was still pretty intriguing and so was the Missy.

Into the Dalek - Into the Dalek has a great concept which is also executed pretty well, I think. To be honest, I think this episode could have maybe worked better not immediately after introducing a new Doctor, but there you go. One of the purpose of this episode was to show the darker side of the new Doctor right from the start. The twelfth Doctor sees people dying around him and keeps whatever emotions it brings up deep within him.

Robots of Sherwood - It's a bit of a shame we didn't get a story about a respected, creative genius from the past like Agatha Christie or Vincent van Gogh, but instead we got Robin Hood. Robots of Sherwood is more of an easy-going, silly episode. It was okay, but I don't have that much anything to say about it really.

Listen - Oh, the new Blink, it was! Listen is an amazing episode, hands down. Is there really creatures there we can't see or is this only the Doctor's personal paranoia? I'm not sure which option would be less terrifying - and that makes Listen such a good episode. But it's not only that, the exploration of Clara's relationship, hopes and fears regarding Danny Pink.

Time Heist - An excellent episode, I mean, who doesn't love a heist? It's not however just the heist I personally love in this episode - it's the whole package really and it may even be my very favourite episode of this series. I often criticise Moffat's team's ability to create good one-off characters (something Russell T Davies was very good at), but Psi and Saibra are exactly the kind of characters I enjoy watching. They're interesting, have a background and motives - and especially when I thought Psi died, I was genuinely upset. And the plot was just great and something only Doctor Who could pull off - and for once, despite all the twists this episode wasn't the confusing, hard to keep up with type.

The Caretaker - The Caretaker, I love it, it's like a better version of School Reunion back in the second series.

Kill the Moon - Some big ones like The Independent, IGN and The Daily Telegraph have labelled Kill the Moon one of the best episodes in the New Who, but I must disagree on this one. I can't have been the only one who wasn't surprised that the moon was actually an egg? I think everything in this episode was extremely predictable, but it wasn't a bad episode - just not worth all the praise it got, it wasn't good drama. Clara's decision didn't have any consequences - and did we even expect that something bad would have happened? Nope. Only real, good, television drama we experienced was the interaction between the Doctor and Clara after the Doctor's decision to leave Clara alone.

Mummy on the Orient Express - I liked this episode. A nice little mystery and there is just something about the periodical style!

Flatline - 2-dimensional creatures, loved the idea.

In the Forest of the Night - I admit: on my first watch I fell asleep in the middle of the episode and kinda missed everything and anything that happened in it. For my defence, I watched it pretty late, but it was still an upsetting occasion - I used to be such a massive Doctor Who fan that this would never have happened in the past, but my biggest flame for the show is probably behind me. This episode was sweet and innocent, and sometimes it's just good.

Dark Water - My one and only criticism is that why the hell did they include the Cybermen already in the preview trailer of this episode? I was lucky and had forgotten the involvement of the Cybermen, and got to experience the amazing sensation of realising the twist just seconds before it actually happened. The death of Danny Pink was SAD. And Clara was magnificent.

Death in Heaven - The first episode of this two parter was definitely the better one of these, but this one was still good. In the end it was pretty damn obvious Missy was the Master - the last few years people have been going on about should the Doctor for once be a female and clearly the Missy is here to try the ice and warm all of us up to the idea of a female Doctor.

More of this dotted shirt, please.

So, what are the expectations for the new series? I haven't been watching the preview trailers too much, but I saw one some months ago with the dragon - the dragon is sadly the only thing I remember of it, and not in a positive sense - because it looked absolutely awful. So, I'm definitely not looking forward to the episode with the dragon, and I think the dragon might be first on the line judging by the episode name The Magician's Apprentice (and The Witch's Familiar). At least the dragon will be soon done and over with! But apart from that the ninth series has very intriguing episode titles just like the eighth series - and for me a good title is always a promising start. I'm definitely most intrigued by the episodes The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived, and just because of the curious titles. Also, since it's been pretty much everywhere, it's hardly a secret Jenna Coleman will be leaving us in this series and we get to say goodbye to Clara - I for once am looking forward to that.

Capaldi has been an amazing Doctor and now in the new series he'll shine even more. Also, he has a great wardrobe. Love it.

And oh, only a couple of hours to go.

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On multiple occasions my boyfriend has said he's been woken up in the middle of the night by my 3DS screen's light flashing in the dark bedroom. In reality this has probably happened only once or twice, but there is no saying that my 3AM playing sessions are only a far-fetched story.

The Pokémon fandom is still waiting for new main series Pokémon games to be announced after very quiet E3, but it hasn't been completely Pokémon-less summer for the fans of the franchise - thanks to Pokémon Shuffle and Pokémon Rumble World. Let's be honest, though. When Pokémon Shuffle was released last February (and the mobile version just a few days ago), I was about as interested in it as I'd be in a broken pair of ugly shoes - I've never been a big fan of puzzle games and the fact this puzzle game happened to involve my favourite franchise hardly changed my stance. It was probably in early May when I finally decided to give it a go - which is pretty late for the PokéManiac I am.

And for a puzzle game it hardly does anything new. In Pokémon Shuffle you compete in levels against Pokémon. You damage your opponent by combining your own Pokémon in rows of three or more. Combining the same characters make them disappear from your board and damage your opponent. The trick is to lower your opponent's HP bar to zero within a set number of moves – if you manage in this, you can try to catch the Pokémon. The less moves you've used the better catch rate you have. Sounds like your everyday puzzle game, right? Well, Pokémon Shuffle does bring in the type advantages and disadvantages from the main series. Your combos are more effective and deal more damage if your chosen Pokémon have a type advantage over the opponent – we all know this, right? But it doesn't always come down to the type advantages or disadvantages either. Some of the Pokémon have better special abilities that can aid you in certain stages and help you do better. On the other hand the opposing Pokémon can use all sorts of distractions to make your combo game harder, for example, freezing the play arena and limiting your choice of moves. Some stages can seem almost impossible, but with the right strategy it is actually a piece of cake. And then there's a bunch of items you can buy with in-game coins to make stages easier to beat - like an item that gives you +5 moves, delays the opponent's distractions or Mega Evolves your Pokémon instantly.

It's probably appropriate to mention now that Pokémon Shuffle is a free downloadable game from the 3DS Eshop - so it obviously means there's something optional you can pay for - and in Pokémon Shuffle's case it's the play time. And that's where go right into Shuffle's addictive nature.

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Imagine your childhood for a bit. You might have an hour to play with your toys or watch the telly before bedtime. Did you ever waste that hour doing any lame shit like cleaning up or just lazing around? I didn't think so - you were already there doing the nice things because eventually you'd run out of time and have to do something boring. It's the same with adults really. How often have you, instead of working on that approaching deadline, wanted to pick up a game or something fun and just relaxed a little? And then after the deadline on a relaxing day you just can't be arsed to pick up that PS2 controller at all - cos you can do it tomorrow after all.

Pokémon Shuffle addiction is just that - the devilish, almost parental restriction. In Shuffle you start with 5 Hearts - to play a stage you use a heart - and one heart needs 30 minutes to replenish. Whoops. With quick math you can already tell that to replenish all 5 Hearts you have to wait 2 hours and 30 minutes to use them all up again - and the Hearts won't store up even if you didn't touch your Pokémon Shuffle for days.

To get the most out of Pokémon Shuffle would be to pick it up every two and a half hour - just to play it maximum of 10 minutes (at least that's how long it takes me to use up all 5 Hearts since the levels aren't that long). Cheeky 10 minutes! Well, we all want to play more than that, so I'll leave my 3DS on sleep mode and check it every now and then in the vain hope that I've magically got more Hearts to spend.

With currently 220 Normal stages and 27 Expert stages (and they keep adding on more) Hearts can't replenish quickly enough. And it's definitely not likely that you'll pass all the levels on the first try! Just passing the stages isn't good enough, though. Depending on how many moves left you finish off the stage, the better rank you'll achieve. To unlock all the 27 Expert stages you must S rank all 220 Normal stages, and believe me, it ain't always easy. Especially without the help of the items that are quite costly.

And that isn't all. In addition to normal and expert stages, Pokémon Shuffle also offers the player all the delights of Special stages. On Special Stages we get special competitions and challenges that run only for a limited time - and if you miss out on those, who knows when the next chance will come? Competitions and challenges can often be quite hard ones - especially if only the best players will get the specific Pokémon in question - so you'll need to level up the team you've already got and spend serious amounts of play coins to make sure you'll succeed. After all this you'll probably not have that many play coins to help you to unlock all the Expert stages - now you can try to gather up your coins in the Meowth Stage where you may get about 500 coins if you're very lucky - which I'm not, usually ending up with 330 coins instead. For a bit of perspective, to buy one Mega Start that allows your Pokémon to mega evolve right from the beginning of the round, you need 2000 coins.

Well, if you happen to have the real-life money (something I don't possess very often) all these struggles matter very little. You can spend about £43 (48 dollars/euros) to get yourself 75 Jewels which can be then exchanged either for new Hearts or play coins. Those rich bastards.

So when you wake up at night and maybe have a sip of water, it's surprisingly tempting to just pick up the 3Ds and make most of it really - it's just convenient to use your Hearts at night after all and wake up in the morning with them completely replenished. Wouldn't it be waste not to do this? I think my boyfriend is very unreasonable to make such a fuss about my logical Shuffle strategy...

But I just dread to imagine what my life would be, if I also had Pokémon Shuffle on mobile.

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