The Long Game

It seemed unavoidable that “The Long Game” would mark the end of a long week’s comedown after the exceptionally brilliant “Dalek.” Had “The Long Game” been up to the standard of any of the first five episodes, it would STILL have been a comedown after “Dalek”, but sadly it didn’t keep up the high standards set by the new series at all.

I don’t want to focus on the negative, but the space station just looked like the same set as Platform One, re-hashed. Of course, being “Doctor Who” that’s forgivable but I’ve come to expect more from this brilliant new series. The monster with the unpronounceable name – feeble. The realisation was dire. The plot – NOT the character story, the science-fiction story – abysmal. Moreover, I don’t know whether it was just my reception or not but in the opening scenes the dialogue was virtually inaudible over the score (I’m not slagging the score off… it was especially brilliant last week… it was just too loud this week!)

I had to look hard for things I liked about “The Long Game,” for some reason I couldn’t stop thinking about “Paradise Towers” afterwards. Must be the elevator! The whole episode had that awful studio-bound money-saving “filler story” feeling to it. It really was that bad!

I liked the premise of a companion that couldn’t cut it – it hadn’t really been done before. To actually have Adam as a threat was a stroke of genius. Even the reality TV / propaganda angle was interesting; the problem was that the plot didn’t grab me at all – it just wasn’t very good.

As for the character story, the sub-plot as it were, that I felt was well done, if a little rushed. It took Adam far too little time to decide that he was no match for the Doctor in Rose’s eyes; though I can see why it was put in so early because Adam needed to take off on his own for the purposes of the main plot. I liked the closing scene where the Doctor frog-marched Adam into the TARDIS on Satellite Five then straight back out into his living room in 2012. The last scene with Adam’s Mother clicking his fingers was the episode’s highlight for me, at least in comedic terms.

The only thing good about the episode at all, really, was Simon Pegg as the Editor. He portrayed the character with a cold humour which suited him very well; it’s a shame Russell T. Davies couldn’t concoct a better story for him to star in.

I’m very sorry that this review is so negative – I’m a huge fan of the series and I’m so happy we have it back it’s just that I didn’t enjoy the episode. I think the first six episodes have been excellent and I’m a huge fan of Russell T. Davies’ work, and while I can see the potential of this episode it just came off as cheap and throwaway, second-class. Borders closed to aliens? Another space station? Talk about a money-saving show! The Psychic paper… even the Face of Boe, nearly five million years younger, popped up again!

One MAJOR criticism. Thirteen episodes. Eleven likely set on Earth, two in orbit of Earth!!!! I hope I’m wrong and the final two-parter takes us off to an alien world somewhere, just for a change!

I’ve always thought some “Doctor Who” stories were poor. “Paradise Towers,” “Creature From The Pit,” “Frontios”… the list goes on. You have to take the rough with the smooth I’m afraid; nothing’s perfect. To end on something positive, though, the trailer and the plot summary for next week’s episode looks absolutely brilliant. I for one can’t wait!