The Long Game

Alanis Morisette are you out there? If so how do you like this for a definition of irony: - A public service broadcaster revives a forty year old television program which, against all the odds, proves a popular move with the Rupert Murdoch owned Sun newspaper, DVDs and merchandise are imminent. One of the episodes of said revived TV show is implicitly about the power of the media and subliminal messages, the result being a intellectual stagnation. Meanwhile on Independent Television channel 1 (ITV1) Chesney Hawkes has just won 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' this is followed by minor celebs making TV comebacks by performing in gladiatorial combat reminiscent of the Roman (human?) empire. I need a piece of paper to work out if this episode is a poor man's 1984, a BBC lead charge against 'I'm a Celebrity...' (but somehow not Strictly Dance Fever) or sombody taking the Mickey. My confusion is not helped by Dr Who Confidential talking about Simon Pegg like HE is the second coming.

Taking this one at face value it had filler written all over it, not that that makes it poor, it was just a bit of a mixed bag. So, what was right, the special effects were on form, Simon Pegg was suitably enjoying himself, although not the Alan Rickman/Sheriff of Nottingham he was made out to be, the sets were great and the script wasn't lacking, embarrassing or silly? Which for me has been a recurring flaw this season. The final scene was like one of the more memorable episodes of the twilight zone, with a grange hillesque wearing clothes in the swimming pool mix of scary, self implicating and also funny and was a refreshing alternativ to the TARDIS dematerialisations were getting used to. I also enjoyed the banter between the Doctor and Rose their relationship being suitably ambiguous to those within, and outside, the diagesis.

So what was wrong? Well not much, more nitpicks than anything else, the year 200,000 seems a bit far in the future for suits to still be in fashion. For that matter the 'future' episodes being set in the year 5 billion and 200, 000 smacks a little of the school playground "lets play Dr Who, lets pretend its the year 50 gazillion, def it lets play conkers". Still its a minor quibble. I also felt that making the episode a crisis threatening all of humanity was a bit ambitious, after all its a bit difficult to contextualise a plan of that magnitude when you can't see its effect, or even the cause for that matter. I also didn't really understand the Jagrophess's plan or how it would make a profit. Like TEOTW, AOL/WW3 the real villain was money which, frankly, is wearing a little thin. Like a bad episode of The Next Generation the moral is plain to see and I prefer my ethical musings to reside in the shades of grey, like a good episode of Deep Space Nine, or Dalek for that matter. I wasn't sure if Adam had had a personality transplant or if his story was a clever cautionary tail? The face of Boe must be a fellow time-traveller or a creature of extraordinary long life, but again intra-series continuity is nice to see.

Overall I enjoyed it but I didn't feel compelled to watch it again on Sunday, Dr Who confidential provided a worrying insight though, Davies seemed to imply that this episode was part of the/a story arc, this completely passed me by and I had no unresolved questions (that I didn't think were attributable to flaws in the script the script) by the episode's end, perhaps all will be revealed and the episode will improve when placed in context? The real twist ending is that despite any criticisms I've made out of all 7 episodes which have aired I'd probably place this one third behing Dalek and TUD in order of preference. I can't decide if that says something good about this episode, something bad about the overall series quality or is a manifestation of my own intellectual stagnation following too much crap telly, wouldn't that be ironic?