The Long Game

Interesting - That was kind of the word that was in my head throughout this episode. But that is a good thing.

We are now at the half way point of the first season and really the first episode that I have seen that I was not aware of the plot. The hype (and that's not a bad word) for the new series has pretty much covered every aspect of the first six episodes but from 7 - 13 I personally know very little. You could say (and I would agree) that this is where Dr Who starts. Rose had (pretty much) the introduction of everything, End off.... had the first collection of New wave BBC aliens, The Unquiet Dead had the first PAST ADVENTURE, Aliens... the first cliffhanger and Dalek, well duh! This episode was BRAND NEW!!!!!

But because of that I found it very difficult to judge either positively or negatively. However I did find it Doctor-lite (is that a word?)

There is no need to continue praising the effects or the production design because they remain spot on. Nor can I fault Billie Piper's performance and the series still seems to be HER story rather than that of the Doctor. Chris Eccleston is however pretty much excellent in this episode and oddly, concidering that it has so much humour in it, has become the most serious portrayal to date. To get it out of the way though, I will say "Max" (because I can't pronounce his name either - see Simon Pegg's attempts in 'Confidential) reminds me of the Nestene in "Rose". Otherwise it's excellent.

I say Doctor-lite because I found The Doctor and to a degree, Rose rather absent from most of the proceedings and certainly had nothing to do in solving the mystery or defeating the Villian. But this certainly showcased the talents of Tamsin Greig, Bruno langley and especially Simon Pegg who stole the whole show. I found him the most captivating character in the series so far. Sorry Doctor - Sorry Rose. Every line was delivered perfectly, his mannerisms and humourous giggly and again although humouroius was played straight and with menace and certainly the best Villian of the series. His on again - off again appearance in the show was publicised in the media and I did expect some Pegg mannerisms but he eclipsed the work he has already done in series such as SPACED and the film SHAUN OF THE DEAD. Bruno Langley hopefully will come back as his character makes a certain foil to the Doctor/Rose team. The additional cast handled their respective roles well.

The plot was thin in the extreme and I'm still not sure what it was all about but this however plaid to the actor's strengths and I even kind of hoped The Editor had survived.

I noticed another reference to "BAD WOLF" on a tv broadcast to which my partner said "Normal people would not have noticed that" He is enjopying the series howver so I'll let him off.

The episode again was easily told in 45 minutes so this seems the perfect length to tell a story in after the (necessary) rush of episodes "Rose" and "The End of...." - Trek - Galactica - Buffy can all do it - So can Who.

Overall though and barring the excellent perfomances and perfect humour (especially the final shot) the episode seemed empty of something so only comes back to me thinking - Interesting.