I love the new series of Doctor Who. It is exciting, occasionally scary, funny, romantic, cheesey, but above all else fun. At last, we have a television series that people actually like and enjoy. With ratings justifying a second series, and rival networks competition failing in their battle to rule Saturday nights, every Saturday the tension is almost unbearable as I sit with some friends awaiting the Doctor's latest adventures.

It was with a massive disappointment, then, that 'The Long Game' seemed to be a real downturn in the programme's ambitious scope. Whilst I applaud Mr Davies for helping to resurrect the series, I find that his latest script suffered from acute 'sameness' from two recent storylines. Basically, he has said that Doctor Who can go anywhere and anytime - truly, the basis behind the programme. Yet, the journey with the wonderful Rose and annoying Adam was simply too similar to previous outings. So... where to begin?

First: A giant space station revolving around the earth. Whilst the special effects were marvelous, wasn't the viewing platform which showed the 'magnificence' of the planet the same one as in The End of the World? Far too similar in concept and design to be an error on someone's part? Or was it just a 'running out of concept sketch ideas' for this? Mmm...

Secondly: The whole end concept - 'The End of the World' and 'World War Three' concerned the ruling of the planet/selling of the planet FOR ECONOMIC GAIN. Which is exactly what seemed to be the point of 'The Long Game'. Whilst it is nice to see that journalism and the journalistic empires of media barons can be attributed to being callous, manipulative and harmful, the fact that the ruling or governing of the planet was all part of some banker's get-rich-quick scheme seems to indicate that this story, as well as having similar thematic elements as those listed above, was too stuck in a certain period of actual-history i.e. the 1980s. Admittedly, Mr Davies has said that his story was a re-hash of an earlier story submitted to the then-production office during the Murdoch empire-building years. Yet it is stale for modern audiences. If, for example, the story had been set on earth during the eighties, still with the monster etc (although various elemts would have to be 'tweaked' to become contextually real rather than fantastical) then a direct critique against the power of television could have been made (a forgotten example of media manipulation is John Carpenter's 'They Live' which although short on many a dramatic situation, useds the idea of media manipulation adroitly). It just did not seem to have a decent enough 'hook' to justify the entire story. I know that 45 minutes is a short time to develop an entire story, but it can be done. However, this story seemed incredibly rushed both in execution and storytelling. For example, the Doctor and co immediately get taken to the television chamber where Cathica 'plugs' herself into the network. What happened to the plot exposition scene which shows how the Doctor et al got there? Poor, poor storytelling. It's okay to suspend disbelief, but let's have some credibility in there somewhere, if only from a directorial point of view. And talking of poor directorial abilities...

THIRDLY: Whilst 'Dalek' and 'World War Three' were given a sense of a director in charge of his material, 'The Long Game' seemed to be sadly lacking in most instances. For example, when the Doctor, Rose and Adam first step into the space station, the resultant imagery is so jumbled (yes, I suppose the space station is overcrowded) that any sense of 'place' is actually dissipated. By using a rapid-editing style, the audience is fed the message that the place is bustling. Yet, I cannot believe this at all. Perhaps if a better image of, say, a high-shot looking down at crowds of (CGI crowds of) people had been used then this would give a better example of 'a crowd'. If one takes the end scene of 'The End of the World' in juxtaposition to this, which sees Rose wanting a bag of chips (mmm... chips!) then a simple two-shot of the Doctor and Rose walking through a crowded street is done simply and economically, with no hint of directorial 'fussiness', which is unlike the similar opening scenes of Saturday's episode. Admittedly, there were some nice directorial sweeps - the finding of the dead body in that freezing ante-chamber stands out as simple yet effective, rather than fussy and rushed; yet, the whole directorial tone was steadfastly uncontrolled unlike say, 'Dalek' which was a high-point in the series so far.

Fourthly: Characterisation. I love Rose's character; witty, funny, spunky and a 'real' companion for once, which throughout the series has only ever happened twice before with Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. Rose is meant to help and guide us through the adventures. The character does this with style. The Doctor? Well, I like the fact that he's nasty and irritable, fun and adventurous, chivalrous and romantic, morose and manic - a good melding of previous incarnations. It seems to me, however, that Mr Davies has turned these two into Mrs Peel and John Steed of 'The Avengers'. The last scene of 'The Long Game' is testament to this (as well as the red and black outfit worn by Ms Piper which suits the iconic status of the similarly-garbed Diana Rigg in various episodes of the said 'The Avengers'). For example, with Adam (thankfully) booted out of the way, the Doctor sais that he will only accept the best of companions in the TARDIS. Therefore, a friendship akin to Steed and Mrs Peel has grown between the two characters, and for this, Mr Davies is to be applauded. Yet, in this story, every character was either under-used or badly written/performed for. Why was an actress like Tamsin Greig only allowed two rather ineffectual scenes? She had all the aura of becoming a sinister character, yet this was not followed through. Adam? Badly written, poorly performed and exhibiting all the hallmarks of an Adric. Thank goodness he was gotten rid of. Yes, I know that Mr Davies has said that he wanted Adam to show the good and evil in everyone, but the part was so underwritten, that unlike say Turlough who had the ability of a long-ish run of stories to stand him in good stead for developmental purposes, or Grace from the telemovie, who became instantly likeable with a backstory to create empathy towards, this character of Adam had all the hallmarks of something not properly thought out. I can't say it's a shame, because I thought that Mr Langley's acting style was not particularly good, compared to Ms Piper or Mr Eccleston's. And what a waste of Simon Pegg - so obviously a great choice for the Master. Whilst obviously relishing the part of the Editor, it seems that again, his role was underwritten. Yes, I know that 45 minutes is difficult to get information across, but why 'waste' such a good actor and a well-known one at that in a role that demanded more screen time, rather than concentrating on the Cathica and Suki characters who were bland to the point of inconsequentiality? A shame.

I suppose that there would be downpoints in every Doctor Who season. It's such a shame that this story, which had some nice touches, has come off the back of 'Dalek' which was the highpoint of the series thus far. Whilst some parts of 'The Long Game' were genuinely nice and enjoyable, I get the feeling that perhaps Mr Davies has taken on the mantle of 'saviour of Doctor Who' a bit too far and is relishing his job or 'aura' more than actually concentrating on the drama that has made the programme fantastic. Whilst Mr Gatiss and Mr Shearman have made 'complete' narratives, with beginnings middles and ends, it would appear that whereas Mr Davies has created two great characters in the Doctor and Rose, giving them lovely touches of back stories and great emotional dialogue, his actual storytelling skills have let him down. That's not to say that his stories are unenjoyable, far from it. It's just that with him being the guiding force behind the programme, perhaps writing six or so of this seasons stories was simply too much for him. With him only writing five of next years stories, then this must surely be a blessing for the programme, for without good storytelling, which he seems to strive for yet not quite attain, then the programme may collapse inwards into self-referential twaddle which it is on the brink of doing now. Whilst I applaud Mr Davies for helping (and I stress helping) the show into the new televisual age, perhaps he should now concentrate on good storytelling or executive producing - for to do the two jobs simultaneously would surely be to the detriment of the programme. And that is something no fan wants.

Is it RTD's secret wish to rename the show Doctor Rose? If RTD was so obsessed with needlessly infusing New Who with just a hint of Buffy (a deplorably stupid programme in my opinion anyway), and have the series give a nod to Girl Power, why didn't he go the full hog and have a female Doctor? God, and to think some of us used to tire of the serial emphasis on Ace in the McCoy era! At least, to be frank, she was a more interesting and troubled character than Rose is, especially in the latter part of Season 26, and though at times Sophie Aldred's mock-cockney vernacular could be grating to say the least, at her best she was truly engaging and had a more natural attractiveness about her than the heavily made-up, paroxide blond Rose. (A female friend of mine, new to Who, recently commented that she thought the series looked quite good, but was put off by the cliche of having a blond, Buffy-style girl in one of the main roles!) If the Doctor was to get infatuated with one of his female companions couldn't it at least have been one more enigmatic and genuinely attractive such as Tegan, who at least had some grit and charisma about her? I don't say much for the Doctor's taste to be honest. Yes, Ms Piper can act, so what? That doesn't in turn make her character any more interesting does it? The character of Rose is quite mediocre because although Piper infuses it with some energy and believability, the basis/background for/of the character just isn't very interesting. I would have preferred a grittier, more cynical kid from the council estates as a companion. In my opinion, excepting Sarah, Romana, Tegan, Turlough and Ace, most companions have been traditionally irritating and superfluous anyway, and while Rose is certainly one of the more fleshed-out of companions, to me she is increasingly irritating, especially in the general air of smugness which she shares with her Timelord travelling companion in The Long Game, much to the detriment of TARDIS Temp Adam, who at least has a vaguely distracting curiosity and ambiguity about him (reminiscent of Adric's and Turlough's disobedience in various Davison stories), only to be swiftly deposited by the Time-Travelling New Avengers (perhaps Eccleston should start donning a bowler hat and umbrella?) in the rather pathetic and implausible denouement of this weird and scrambled episode. The Ninth Doctor is an elitist, even a Social Darwinian (like the villains of Season 26); previous incarnations, especially the Fifth Doctor (as evidence in his retaining an obviously treacherous Turlough in his TARDIS crew in Season 20), would have kept Adam on board precisely because of his suspect character - this Doctor dumps him back home because he threatens to upstage his more superficially appealing sidekick. Plus, apparently, and unforgiveably, he appears to fancy her. This is all rather absurd and I predict potentially detrimental to the series in the long run. What's the point of building up such an over-written and over-emphasized rapport between Eccleston and Piper when he's going to change into David Tennant in a few months anyway? Or is this superfluous and highly intrusive thread to RTD's New Who going to be stretched out into the Tenth incarnation? I sincerely hope not.

After the virtually immaculate Dalek, and the best performance so far of Eccleston as the Doctor (bar a couple of clumsy scenes which portrayed him as a gung-ho assassin), RTD brings the Ninth Doctor's characterisation back down to base level with a thump! We're back to the self-consciously emphasized 'working class blokeishness' of Eccleston's other RTD-episode portrayals, with plenty of 'Oi you' and 'tough''s and even a 'grub' or two. There's nothing really wrong with a Doctor sporting a regional accent as long as articulation isn't compromised, which it is sometimes with Eccleston's Doctor (though not as much and as gratingly as with Rose with her constant and equally self-conscious t-dropping), but why the constant use of bloke-ish vernacular and expressions? All class issues put aside, this just isn't right for the Doctor I'm afraid. It just doesn't convince; it just doesn't work; it just detracts from the character and grounds him far too much in present day Earth, or rather, Salford. I would be one of the first to say it is a welcome social wake up call to the complacent middle-classness of classic Who to have a more obviously 'ordinary', more casually spoken incarnation - but you don't need to take it to the absolute extreme from the RP Doctors 1-6 do you? McCoy's Doctor had the right balance of approach: more casually spoken, with a hint of regional accent (rolling R's etc.), but still essentially lifted in manner and (on occasions) gravitas of verbal command and vocabulary than the average parochial drawl of the apolitical man on the street who mistakenly thinks it is socially progressive to drop your t's. Apart from anything else, in the same way that the so-called BBC English/classless accent makes it hard to pin down where someone has come from in English real life, I feel the RP of previous Doctors translated onto screen in a similar way, adding to the alienness of the character in that on a sort of metaphoric level it emphasized how his own special categorisation was hard to pin down. This over-emphasized regional accent of Eccleston's Doctor is all the more noticeable when surrounded by the received pronunciation of incidental characters - why not have everyone in Who, including the aliens, talking in Salford accents? Why just the Doctor? Of course his attire also needlessly gives even more emphasis to his bloke-ish persona. One can only assume when he had first regenerated from his 8th incarnation, the 9th Doctor must have releaved a paralytic bouncer of his clothes and steel-toecaps! The Doctor was not particularly likeable in this episode, and wasn't even particularly interesting either (Simon Pegg outshone him in a far more enigmatic performance, albeit a completely unsubstantiated one - what exactly was his motive? I suppose he was as much a slave as everyone else. Wow, what a profound message.) We had, as one reviewer has observed already, a manipulative Doctor giving Adam all the green lights to inevitably meddle with the future, only to smugly berate him for it at the end! Does he have a bit of an Old Testament God complex this 9th incarnation? He's very good at dangling the fruit of knowledge at people, encouraging them to 'throw themselves in' to time travel, only then to be judgmental and pompous by the end. What's the point? Or doesn't RTD ever redraft his scripts and spot all these inconsistencies and holes? Obviously not. We also had the Doctor threatening to beat up the Editor while - perhaps then justifiably - restrained; and he did seem very physically intimidating pushing Adam back into the TARDIS at the end. I thought he was going to shove his face up to him and holler 'Are you looking at me?'

The Long Game itself? Seemingly retro in realisation with a very 80s view of the future about it - the twist about human society being held back 90 years could have been much more convincing if, given the ludicrously ambitious year of 200,000 (RTD seems to suffer from an inverse parallel ailment to the equally though prematurely ambitious Arthur C Clarke with 2001; not to mention whoever invented Space 1999), if the society had been stalled at something like 900 years ago at the very least! Again it just doesn't hold up datewise as in End of the World. RTD might also stand for Relative Time Disorder! To hint at the retro aspect to this backward society, we have Suki (her other names were actually quite imaginative) dressed like an extra from The Good Life; not to mention a (nicely satirical) private healthcare system for non-emergencies, but does the satire backfire timewise here too as this seems very similar to how things are today in terms of NHS ethics.

What the hell was the Face of Boe doing a) in the year 200,000 when we have seen him in the year 5 Billion? Is his lifespan really that long? and b) doing being pregnant? Ok, he's an alien, maybe male Boes or whatever they are can have babies, that's probably perfectly possible, but that just leaves one other nagging question: How can a 'face' procreate? I'd be interested to know how RTD was graded in GCE Biology.

Good things about The Long Game? Apart from the Editor, there were some well-realised sets, particularly Level 500's Logan's Run-esque ice-scape; an admittedly brilliantly realised alien which did look genuinely convincing considering it was CGI again - however, I think the story would have benefited from an alien who was more accessible and less unwieldy, something more like a floating Moxx of Balhoon type thing, and also an alien whom we could actually understand (what's happened to the Doctor's TARDIS translation component then?); there does seem to be an interesting parallel between the parochial vernacular of the Ninth Doctor and his alien enemies' equally parochial vernacular in that they speak untranslated in their own home tongues re: the Nestine, Face of Boe and 'Max' (sounds a bit like Mox doesn't it?) The Moxx managed to speak near-perfect English, as did (perhaps unfortunately for us) the Slitheen. Puzzling to say the least.

Other flaws: Adam apparently knowing everything about the Doctor down to him being the last of the Timelords: is the Doctor likely to have related all this to a companion he'd only just met and who he obviously didn't want to recruit in the first place anyway? Also, why did entrust the TARDIS key to Adam? Also, what's happened to the isomorphic nature of the TARDIS key? In the classic series only the Doctor could use the key (see Pyramids of Mars) and it could not be used to open the TARDIS by any other hands (unless he willed it so). Are we to take it then that he would have willed the Editor to use it? No, of course not, hence no real threat there.

Overall, a fairly average sort of episode with an admittedly very good twist that the whole space station was a life support system for an alien - that was certainly a redeming feature to an otherwise uneven and typically clumsy RTD vision of the human future. A few quirky stylistic touches were not enough to lift this story beyond mediocrity, though it is certainly better than all the other RTD offerings so far in that it didn't embarass at any point, only mildly irritate (particularly re the Doctor's portrayal and Rose's growing smugness) - it definitely required two episodes to develop it properly and is thus also let down by its brevity and half-hearted, semi-developed but ultimately completely implausible setting in time. I'm sad to say after Eccleston's superb performance in Dalek, that The Long Game was, in extreme contrast, let down by his unlikeable and unengaging performance.

Oh, and it's also quite ironic that RTD, an expert press manipulator and spin Doctor himself, decides to dedicate an entire storyline to attacking the media - though admittedly this was a fairly nice satirical turn. 5/10.

I noted when I reviewed ‘Aliens of London’/‘World War Three’ that, for me, the rot was starting to set in. I was sufficiently impressed with ‘Dalek’ that I’d forgotten this, but with ‘The Long Game’ the feeling came back with a vengeance. And I’ve realised exactly what it is about the series that is bugging me.

Russell T. Davies has made it well known that his primary concern when writing television is characterisation. This is obvious throughout his Doctor Who episodes, with the main emphasis being firmly on the relationship between the Doctor and Rose. The trouble is, the episodes written by Mark Gatiss and Robert Shearman both boasted characterisation that complimented the plot, with memorable supporting characters in form of Charles Dickens in ‘The Unquiet Dead’ and the Dalek in ‘Dalek’. What Davies seems to be doing is concentrating on characterisation to such an extent that his plots are secondary to it and suffer as a result. Worse still is the fact that none of his characters have any depth besides the Doctor and Rose; the supporting characters are usually barely sketched ciphers, with prime examples here being the Editor and Cathica, neither of whom we learn anything meaningful about; the Editor is a villain, Cathica is a journalist, but beyond that we get no insight into what motivates them. There are obvious exceptions, including Mickey and Adam, but both of these exist purely to emphasis the bond between the Doctor and Rose, and Rose’s suitability as companion material.

This is painfully obvious in ‘The Long Game’, as Davies uses Adam as a contrast to Rose. Consider the similarities; both step out of the TARDIS for the first time to find themselves in the far future on a space station orbiting the Earth. Both initially suffer from culture shock as they stare out of observation platforms at the Earth below, and both are provided with a reassuring link to their lives in the past via the contrivance of Rose’s modified phone. At this point, they make different choices; Rose wanders around with a sense of wonder, talking to various people, whereas Adam quickly sees the potential of his new situation and tries to exploit it, having a chip implanted in his head so that he can download information about his future to make use of when he gets home. The result is that the furious Doctor dumps him back home, informing him, “I only take the very best” and looking pointedly at Rose. Which is fine, except that Davies did exactly the same thing with Mickey in ‘Rose’, presenting two humans of the same age group and background with something alien and terrifying; Mickey ended up gibbering in terror, whereas Rose turned into Mrs. Peel and saved the Doctor. We were given another reminder of Rose’s suitability as a companion in ‘Aliens of London’/‘World War Three’, with Mickey redeeming himself but turning down the Doctor’s offer of travelling with them because he believes that he is incapable of coping with the lifestyle. We don’t need reminding that Rose is great, the Doctor keeps pointing it out to us. It’s also rather ironic that as a result of Davies’ use of Adam here, Rose is relegated to the traditional companion role her, following the Doctor around and asking questions, and being used as leverage over him by the villain.

Then there’s the Doctor. The portrayal of the Ninth Doctor is proving rather interesting, as he seems to be a bit of bastard and not somebody I’d actually like to go travelling with. He’s quick to judge people, and his treatment of Adam here is a case in point; Adam’s actions in ‘The Long Game’ are a mistake, but understandable. Yet the Doctor gives him no second chances, dumping him back at home and rather nastily warning him, “If you show that head to anyone, they’ll dissect you in seconds. You’ll have to live a very quiet life.” This is of course after he not only took Adam to the future and left him wandering about on his own anyway, having told him, “The thing is Adam, time travel is like visiting Paris; you can’t just read the guide book, you need to throw yourself in”, but also after he gave him a credit chip with unlimited credit that allowed him to have a chip fitted in the first place. The point being, that this Doctor is short-tempered, unforgiving, and very quick to judge others. He also threatens the Editor with physical violence, and looks like he’s going to punch Adam at the end; as the Editor says, “Ooh, he’s tough, isn’t he?” All of which makes for an unsympathetic lead character, and is presumably a result of the trauma he feels as a result of seeing Gallifrey destroyed by the Daleks, and whilst I don’t actually like the Doctor as a result, he does make an interesting character in this respect.

Unfortunately, in another key respect, he’s simply irritating across the board. I had put some of my growing dissatisfaction with the Ninth Doctor down to Christopher Eccleston’s occasionally forced and stilted performance, but I think its more down to Davies’ writing, since I had no problem with the Doctor in either ‘The Unquiet Dead’ and ‘Dalek’. This is a Doctor who does tricks, using his sonic screwdriver to pull rabbits out of hats in a way that makes me think it’s time the Terileptils paid him another visit. Yet again somebody else saves the day; having bumbled around until Rose saved him in ‘Rose’, and having relied on Mickey to blow up 10 Downing Street in ‘Aliens of London’/‘World War Three’, he here depends on Cathica to save the day, adding to the air of impotence that surrounds this Doctor. The other main problem lies again with his relationship with the Rose. Having indulged her by informing her that they are in the year two hundred thousand and that they are on a space station he rather sweetly lets Rose point all of this out to Adam in order to show off. Almost immediately afterwards however and for the rest of the episode, he starts acting like a jealous lover. When Adam faints, the Doctor tells Rose, “He’s your boyfriend” and she replies, “Not any more”, a badly scripted a juvenile exchange that makes the pair of them sound like horny adolescents squabbling. Even whilst furious at Adam for getting himself chipped and letting the Editor know all about him, his only reprimand to Rose when he learns that she has given Adam the TARDIS key, and thus provided the Editor with the chance to get his hands on it is, “You and your boyfriends.” Basically, we’ve gone from the kind of subtle sexual tension that arises from the gentle flirting between leads seen in programmes like The Avengers to a situation where the Doctor seems to be actively trying to get into Rose’s pants. I don’t especially want the Doctor to start having sexual relationships with his companions, but if it will put an end to this feeble sixth form sexual tension and petty jealousy, I’d rather he just shagged her on the console and had done with it.

Anyway, what about the plot? For one thing it’s rather flimsy, and is extremely lazily executed, with a massive infodump from the Editor and yet another big explosion at the end. It has already been described as “old school” and it certainly feels like a rather clichйd nod to the past; some fans hypothesized that Simon Pegg’s character would turn out to be the Master, and he might as well have done, since the Editor is a smug, self-satisfied, gloating, chuckling megalomaniac with a goatee, who sells out the human race to a big alien monster and then tries to leg it at the end. Pegg is also slightly hammy at times, which only heightens the effect, but I must admit that despite my reservations about the episode, the Editor is easily the best and most entertaining thing about it. The plot is also used as an excuse for some more satire, and as in ‘Aliens of London’/‘World War Three’ it’s far too unsubtle to be called subtext, with commentary on the use of the media to manipulate the public, such as when the Editor notes, “Create a climate of fear, and its easy to keep the borders closed. It’s just a matter of emphasis.” Cathica explains the lack of aliens on Satellite Five by telling the Doctor, “I suppose immigration’s tightened up, it had to what with all the threats” but is of course unable to specify what these threats are. The trouble is that whereas the satire in, for example, ‘The Sunmakers’ was used to drive the plot, here it feels bolted on so that Davies can take casual pot-shots about whatever issue happens to on his mind this week.

‘The Long Game’ is at least quite well directed by Brian Grant, with some particular scenes worth mentioning, including Suki’s discovery of the rather grisly frozen corpse, and the swift cut between the Doctor bundling Adam into the TARDIS on Satellite Five and the throwing him out into his living room. The design is bizarre, with very retro sets that like a nineteen-eighties attempt to depict the future, with padded red leather walls, perforated metal seats, and junk food outlets. The Jagrafess also looks quite good, although it does remind that the scripted reasons for keeping aliens out instead of trying to manipulate them like humans is more down to budgetary limitations than plot logic. The guest cast is also generally good, with Bruno Langley working perfectly well as Adam, Christine Adams as Cathica, and Tamsin Grief as the slightly sinister yet slightly seductive Nurse.

But it isn’t enough to save the episode. Yes, ‘The Long Game’ is mildly entertaining, but it really ought to have been so much better. So many details annoy me here, from Rose’s utter stupidity in forgetting the word “Jagrafess” seconds after it’s been said several times, to the fact that yet again a character in a Davies script keeps uttering “Oh my god!” which is starting to feel like a lazy catchphrase. I’m also getting board with his sense of humour; I didn’t mind the burping wheelie bin or the farting Slitheen, but I don’t want this kind of base humour every single week, and in this episode we get the facile inclusion of the utterly ridiculous vomitomatic. But the part of the episode that annoyed me like no other was the diabolical final scene, as Adam’s mum comes into the room. Guess what? She clicks her fingers! No, really, did anyone see that coming? As a consequence, ‘The Long Game’ had the unexpected result of making me try to remember when I last heard somebody clicking their fingers in real life, and coming the conclusion that it doesn’t actually happen all that often.

So basically, I’m starting to realize that whilst I’m still entertained by the new series, I’m looking forward to the three remaining episodes not scripted by Davies far more than the ones that he’s penned. Which does rather bode well for next week.

This story, from the outset, didn't really excite me that much; Doctor and co arrive on a space station which is being manipulated for sinister means by an alien menace. It didn't really strike me as anything amazing, unusual or different, which the series had offered up to this point. In short it really wasn't anything to look forward to or get excited about because the plot had been done before in other stories such as The Ark in Space and to be blunt it didn't strike me as anything special.

So I am pleased to say that overall these fears were dispelled. It was exciting, and it was a different and interesting take on a classic storyline. It flowed along with a fast slick pace and the CGI effects were amazing, especially the Jagrafress of blah blah blah, which looked like a very convincing hunk of meat. The choice of casting Simon Pegg as the evil genius' puppet, The Editor, was inspired and I can not think of a better person to play the part. I can't begin to praise his performance and he is one of my all time favourite actors and comedians, why can't he play the next Doctor?!!!! The guest appearance of Tamsin Greig actor was very welcome, I thought she would play it for laughs but she delivered her character very convincingly. I am pleased to see that Adam has been cast aside as I felt his character had nothing fresh to offer the series. But as usual the performances by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper were top notch.

These praises aside I do have have a few niggles about the episode: First of all I thought the interior of the station could have been more imaginative, as I thought that what was portrayed was slightly glitzy and reminiscant of the eighties. This was definitely an 'old school' episode but updated. Also, what was the reasoning behind the Jagrafress of blah blah blah's plan? It wanted to stunt the advancement of humanity, yeah great, but what was it for? To herald an invasion? Or will this be answered in a later episode? Who knows, no pun intended.

To wrap up i'll just say that the episode was good but for such an average story to come after Dalek is unfortunate. I think I'd place this story above The End of the World (my least favourite story so far, yes I know it's a controversial opinion! I know some of you love it but I think its just an average story) and the unfairly ripped apart Aliens of London. This story did better than I thought it would but then again I didn't expect too much...

So, we've passed the halfway stage of Doctor Who's return to TV. So, in addition to reviewing The Long Game, I'm going to make a few comments about the season so far.

The Long Game was built on that mainstay of Doctor Who plots for over 40 years: Something's wrong at the heart of the glorious Earth empire, with a quick sideswipe at the media. RTD's wish to tie everything in to the human race takes a mundane approach: people buy food from fast food outlets, and wear suits, jeans and t-shirts. The space station interior is impressive, and well lit.

Simon Pegg is suitably menacing as the Editor, and his turncoat act at the end is worthy of the Master's various attempts to leave his collaborators to their fates. The easy manner, and humour he injects into the role, add to its general creepiness.

His unpronouncable, but incredibly impressive CGI alien boss, is used well. In a very "Alien" approach, we see ever-increasing glimpses of the creature throughout, which builds up a lovely tension to the piece.

The subplot involving Adam is a great treatment of the idea that we'd all use a trip to the future to enhance our own lives, although the denouement of this plot seems to indicate what I suspected: it would take an impressive companion indeed to break in to the chemistry between Rose and the Doctor. Tamsin Grieg is slightly unnerving as the nurse, without actually being a villain.

The Doctor is on top form, possibly the most recognisably "Doctor-ish" performance from Eccleston so far.

My one gripe now is that I think the Bad Wolf storyarc is being a little overplayed now. Is it really necessary to have a reference dropped into EVERY episode? A minor grumble, I know, but sometimes it just seems to be there for the sake of it. Maybe all these references are crucial to the resolution, but its difficult to see how.

After the excellent Dalek I wasn't expecting Doctor Who to come up with another rather good story directly after. But Episode Seven did just that.

Appearantly the idea for this episode was one from several years ago and for the original series. And that shows because it feels like it wouldn't be out of place, too much, in the original series. But this doesn't mean the episode, as with Dalek, is without flaws. I want to look at them first.

The special effects (CGI). They have really failed to impress me so far. The best thing about the original series was they knew they couldn't rely on special effects because they didn't have the budget too. Instead the writers concentrated on storyline rather than visual appearance. If a story was driven by special effects the plot and episode would suffer because of it and the whole thing would feel terrible. This time around the producers and writers obviously feel they have the budget to go along the special effects drive route. It feels to this viewer that they prefer visual appearance above well constructed storylines. And I'm afraid that the special effects just aren't good enough to make up for often lack in plot. Also the special effects never look realistic. If aliens are created through CGI then that's how they look, they don't look real just computer generated animations. The creature in this episode, I won't even attempt to spell its name, looked excately like that. That may be why we didn't see it until the end.

The other criticism I have of this episode concerns the Doctor's attitude towards Adam when he dumps him back on earth and with his father. Adam did try to change history and because of his foolish antics he put Rose and the Doctor at the Editor's mercy. BUT Turlough tried to kill the Doctor (and Tegan/Nyssa) several times. When all of this was revealed the Doctor didn't drop him off back home, he kept him aboard the Tardis. Both Turlough and Adam repented by the Doctor still dumped Adam, why? Well maybe because, as with Mickey, he was jealous of his closeness to Rose. If this is true its a side to the Doctor I don't like. The Doctor doesn't fall in love with companions and isn't jealous of their love interests. Otherwise poor old Ian or Mike Yates would have really been in for it!

My other criticism is the tagged on feeling of Adam's departure. It didn't feel as if it was a natural part of the storyline but instead tagged on when it was decided Adam wouldn't become a regular. It's quiet likely that it was always intended for Adam to leave in this episode but that doesn't come across on screen.

With that aside I'll concentrate on the good aspects. Excellent script, for a change, and excellent acting all around. I can't think of one bad performace. Another round of excellent guest stars with Judy Holt & Tasmin Greg both giving excellent and amusing performaces even with their limited screen time.

The supporting characters are all well done and fit the storyline perfectly. In other episodes they have felt rather pathetic and weak, also pointless, but here they seem to serve a purpose.

As always Billie Piper continues to shine but I suspect next week's episode will outdo all of her performances so far and that's no easy task! At last I am slowly warming to Christopher Eccelston's Doctor. He is starting to feel like the hero I watched on UKGold when I was younger. He is becoming the Doctor more and more instead of some character stuck with that name tag, as other episodes have made me feel. But just as one grows to like the 9th Doctor he's going to regenerate and it does feel rather pointless growing to like him when he's going so soon.

And finally, the banks sold the human race to whatever the creatures name was. Not the most original plot device ever, is it, really? But I'll give this episode 9/10.