As an overseer and idea man- "editor in chief", if you will- Russell T. Davies has been a godsend for Doctor Who. But as a screenwriter, his work's seemed a bit flat, with The End of the World being the only one of his stories to date that comes anywhere near "classic" status. The Long Game continues this streak of mediocrity, although much like Rose and the Slitheen two-parter, there are fantastic elements that convince you the second coming of, say, The Caves of Androzani is right around the corner.

One of Davies stated goals for Who is that he wants to give the series a true emotional centre, something it's lacked for a good long while. Curiously enough, The Long Game is perhaps the least emotionally involving episode this season. Intellectually, I appreciated and admired Davies' biting commentary on the current stagnant state of Western civilization, but there was nothing in the episode that really made me want to rush out and change the world. It was only at the end that I really *felt* anything- namely, admiration for Cathica's selfless acts and pride at the Doctor's assault on Adam's selfishness. The rest of the time, I was distracted by the episode's similiarities to The End of the World- everything from the Doctor explaining the state of affairs on future Earth to a new companion while overlooking the planet from an observation window on a space station to the superphone call back home to the villain exploding due to excessive heat right down to the cameo by the Face of Boe reminded me of that far superior episode. RTD would've been wise to explicitly link the two episodes, similiar to The Ark in Space and Revenge of the Cybermen, perhaps with The Long Game taking place on Platform One in its infancy. It probably wouldn't've made the similiarities any less glaring, but it would, perhaps, make them more excusable.

In the plus column, Adam has gone from a character with potential to a fascinating possible new enemy for the Doctor. While I did enjoy Bruno Langley's performances as Adam and wished he'd stayed on a bit longer as a proper companion, I'm glad that he wasn't killed off and that he has an interesting new status quo- the companion gone bad with (potential) access to all the information in the world. Also, Anna Maxwell-Martin was very, very easy on the eyes and lovably perky. In some ways, she reminded me of Jewel Staite from Firefly/Serenity, and it's a shame her character was killed off so quickly. And while Davies aforementioned attack on the rot that's set into American and British culture may not have been terribly subtle, it was brave, and certainly thought-provoking (I hasten to add that I don't think Blair and Bush are controlled by an enormous phallic ceiling-hanger from outer space, but hey- anything's possible!).

Rusell T. Davies deserves all the accolades in the world for getting the BBC to bring back Doctor Who, and honestly, I hope he sticks around for a few years to guide the show. But for season two, I sincerely hope he cuts back on his writing duties. His scripts have been serviceable, but rarely above, and I'm beginning to see a "sameness" creep into them. A wider range of writers would very much help the series stay fresh and diverse.

Quick!! Quick!! Quick
Pack it all in- be slick!
Go Go Go
Do not explain- too slow!

Why? Why? Why?
Did Dr Who land? – I cry.
Holes Holes Holes
This cullinder – own goals!

Who? Who? Who?
Ceiling monster – were you?
Past Past Past – lacking
So Lost in pace – whizzing!

Earth Earth Earth
Reality – Too much
Seen Seen Seen.
Marrs fantasy – spoils dream.

Two Two Two
Parter by rights – would do.
Brew Brew Brew
The plot with care – time flew!

Hiss Hiss Hiss
Happy villain – fright missed.
Served Served Served
Sole strength none – no verve!!

Set Set Set
Plastic door flaps – forget!
Spin Spin Spin
Station so real - revolvin’.

Joe Joe Joe
Average grade – good show.
Act Act Act
This man Chris can- Fact Fact!

Given the speculation over the media's effect on the election campaign, 'The Long Game''s subject of media manipulation is pretty topical. It's been done before, though (notably by another long-lived franchise in 'Tomorrow Never Dies'), and I didn't feel this treatment brought much insight. Little about the newsgathering technology made much sense (why process the news in a human brain rather than a computer? what are the subsidiary people for? why bother with an external datastream?). As the secret of Level 500 is revealed to the viewer early on, the episode lacked tension, and the CGI Exercise, whoops the Guaranteed-Easy-To-Kill* Alien of the Week, had a refreshingly bland World Domination motivation. (*It's beginning to remind me of that infamous 'Blake's 7' episode 'Sand'.)

Like the main plot, the B-plot toyed with an interesting idea -- the ethics of time travel -- without exploring it in enough depth. Bruno Langley as the teen genius Adam acquired in 'Dalek' never had much oomph, and I'm not particularly sad to see the back of him.

After the heavy investment in the relationship between Rose & the Doctor in previous episodes, I was disappointed that there was no fallout from the events of 'Dalek'. Indeed, neither had much to do here, beyond holding hands in the lift.

All in all, 'The Long Game' had a distinct lack of sparkle. The sets felt very 70s DW, and not in a good way: I wondered if they'd spent all their budget on twelve episodes, and had to squeeze this one in on the tea money. The satellite setting in a far-future Earth empire was over-reminiscent of 'The End of the World', which only highlighted 'The Long Game''s relative poverty.

We're more than halfway through the new season now, and some worrying glitches are emerging. I commented earlier on the upbeat pacing, cutting straight to the action & avoiding all those exposition scenes on the Tardis. The downside is that I'm beginning to miss the grounding effect of the Tardis interior -- like the Liberator flightdeck or the Buffy library it's central to the show, even if scenes there tend to be workaday. The focus on Earth in all the episodes so far is rational given the foregrounding of Rose, yet I'm beginning to doubt the assertion that the new Tardis can travel in space as well as time.

Last week's 'Dalek' set a high standard, and 'The Long Game' just didn't deliver.

First of all let me say to one of the other reviewers Paul Clarke, mate you should put your name down to produce the series, because I agree with you 100%. RTD is ruining Dr Who to the point where I think overtime the series will lose ratings in the same fashion that Star Trek Enterprise did, because the stories are shallow, lacking depth, and lacking that sense of realism.

I am really disappointed in how the new series is going, I thought that RTD being a loyal fan of the series would have stayed true to the original, but he has done exactly the opposite. I love Rose, she is played brilliantly by Billie Piper, and the Doctor is ok but I do feel that he is very violent at times, makes quick judgements, and abuses people who don't know as much as him. This is probably why I loved Dalek so much, because the Doctor finally found his equal, the Dalek.

There was only one thing I liked about the Long Game, and that was Simon Pegg, he was absolutely brilliant, and he would have made and awesome Master! Speaking of which if they could find a way to bring back the Master that would be brilliant, if not then the Valeyard or the Rani would be great. As I mentioned before there just aren't anough ties with the original series. But this story was so shallow, you learn nothing useful about anything, the stories do just seem to concentrate on the relationship between the Doctor and Rose, which I have to say is actually quite sickening. The way he grabs her hand every time he runs off to solve the next part of the mystery.

This story is just so fake, and pathetic I don't know where to start, the only epsidoes I have loved, and I mean really loved are The Unquiet Dead, and Dalek, both of which are the only non RTD stories so far this season. Why can't he pick years which are a little more realistic 'the year 5 billion, the year 200 000', pick something a little more believable. I remember watching an interview with RTD saying that the old way of having two parters and four parters just doesn't suit the new series, but I beg to differ, even the non RTD stories lack some depth and would be brilliant if they were made into two parters, that's what Dr Who is all about, being left in suspense until next weeks episode.

I spose I should get back to the story. This story like the other RTD stories are very manufactured, and it seems that all RTD's writings including this one just seem to be mainly focused on the Dr's and Rose's relationship, whereas the other non RTD episodes developed their relationship with the story. Adam, to me, just seemed like a waste of space in this episode, RTD kind of made him like the other boyfriend, and the Dr was like the jealous boyfriend.

Sorry Russell, but if you continue going the way you are with the new series you are going to have to find yourself a new job, because writing, your writing, is pathetic, and the only reason why people are watching the new series is because Dr Who has a new generation of fans out there aswell as many old fans like myself who have been so anxious to see a new series. Dr Who is the best concept of any sci fi I have ever seen and with every episode you are writing you are destroying a legend. You are turning the Doctor into everything he is not. The RTD episode seem more like fantasy than science fiction, and this time war keeps being mentioned as if it is an excuse to get rid of all the old characters from the original series, I do hope that we one day get to see this time war , and get it reslved finally. What I think would work well with the new series would be a season long story much like what Enterprise did with the Xindi, and perhaps have it deal with the time war when we see the 8th Dr in the middle of the time war, and have the 9th or 10th Doctor there somewhere aswell.

The new series just lacks depth and realism, and this episode is very representative of that, no wonder the yanks haven't bought the rights, they like sci fi that they can believe, and this is just rubbish.

RTD stick to Queer as Folk.

It was always going to be tough following an episode like ‘Dalek’ but it would appear RTD didn’t really try and instead recycled a rejected script from series 24.

The Tardis materializes in the distant future, on a space station orbiting the Earth at the height of its Fourth Empire. The series is once again let down by dull, lifeless sets, unimaginative costume design and in the year 200,000 we can still be expecting to eat fast food courtesy of ‘kronck’ burgers. If it had been set in the year 2020 I would have struggled to accept this as the future but 200,000, please…

The story and plot are paper thin, a scary monster attaches itself to the ceiling of a satellite (why the ceiling? – less CGI – saves the purse strings) but don’t worry, turn the heating up and he’ll explode. The End.

The one redeeming factor with this episode has to be Simon Pegg, who despite some seriously dodgy dialogue manages to pull off one of the best performances of the series, so far.

A few people seem upset/shocked with the sudden removal of Adam from the Tardis but I think they’re missing the big picture here. Adam has been returned to Earth with a computer in his head for a very good reason and I expect him to return in series two with a very large axe to grind with the Doctor.

I have enjoyed the series so far but have to agree with the general opinion that the stronger stories are those not written by RTD. He has definitely got the length right, 45 minute self contained stories seem to be the way forward. Imagine having to sit through another three episodes of ‘The Long Game’.

In my book, the true mark of a great TV series is how good or bad it’s “normal” episodes are. By that I mean an episode that doesn’t have some big event or special status that will grab attention by itself. It can be argued that “The Long Game” is the first episode of the new series that hasn’t got an inbuilt hook like that, and that’s why I was more delighted than usual to find myself enjoying it so much.

In fact, the only thing I can say I didn’t care for much (apart from the odd lick of Murray Gold music, which in general was a bit better this week) was the look and design of Floor 139. We never seemed to get a proper wide shot of it, and I suspect it’s because they knew it wasn’t looking too good. This has the smell of an episode which had to save money after some other ones had blown their budgets, and where this seemed most obvious was on Floor 139, where it’s all tight shots and all humans and really nothing much more than a shabby looking shopping mall food court.

The other floors, while still done economically, came across rather better, especially Floor 500 with all that frost and populated by real dead and living dead people, all with their own sheen of frost. That looked genuinely creepy… like a lesson was learned from “The Tomb of the Cybermen,” where it wasn’t so much that the tombs were full of Cybermen that was creepy but that little extra touch of there being frost on the Cyber Controller’s head (which he doesn’t notice or care about) when he wakes up. That helped to stress his inhumanity, and it does the same job here with the zombies that the Editor oversees.

Ah yes, the Editor. His frosty hair and eyebrows help to compliment a very solid performance by guest star Simon Pegg. He hit exactly the right note between a man who is in charge of everything and knows it and yet hasn’t seemed to let that go too far to his head as he isn’t ranting and raving, nor is he so full of himself that he can’t admit the possibility of his own error. An example of this is after the bit where he’s discovered and dealt with Suki the anarchist and only then spots the Doctor getting up to no good, when he keeps questioning his computer about how the Doctor and Rose can be “no one.” Though he keeps doubting what he’s being told, never once does Pegg do that standard clichй villain thing of getting angry with the people that are giving him these answers… he just keeps asking questions in a manner that suggests he’s not closed his mind to the possibility that what he’s being told can be true after all. In fact, he tells us later on that it’s fascinating not to know something for once.

In fact, I liked the whole set-up in general… Satellite Five and its vertical structure (even if we did see this same sort of thing as recently as episode 2, complete with heating problems)… its function as the news distribution center for the entire Earth empire… the way the news gets packaged by “journalists” who don’t actually do any field reporting but rather just compile and pass along what others tell them (very like how most news agencies do it nowadays… just look at how many Google news entries on a given day are word-for-word the same story as each other)… the casual attitude people have to getting brain implants to get them ahead in their job… how they’re so driven to get a promotion that they put up with never leaving the floor they’re on in the satellite, etc. It felt like a bit of a cross between a good “Farscape” standalone episode and the point behind “Max Headroom” (the media satire), only without so many main characters to juggle (and thus a clearer, cleaner story).

Ah yes, the main characters, temporarily increased to three for this week’s episode. I’ll start with number three, Adam, who becomes the first “companion” that the Doctor throws out of the TARDIS because he wanted to throw him out. Actually, I consider him to be more of Rose’s companion than the Doctor’s, since it was her who wanted him along in the first place and who gets to show off where they’ve landed (with the Doctor’s help) and pass along her cell phone and her TARDIS key to Adam. And this may lead into something in the ongoing story arc which I quite like, where if you stop and think about this, it’s as though the Doctor is here looking to see if Rose can function as himself, i.e. correctly selecting and training in a companion of her own. She seems to get it wrong with Adam since he lets his greed for knowledge get the better of him and winds up betraying the Doctor and Rose as a result, but Rose does seem to get this at the end, for although she tries to blunt the sharper edge of the Doctor’s tongue as he takes Adam home at the end, she joins in the joke of snapping her fingers to open up Adam’s implant, and doesn’t object to the idea of leaving him at home on Earth. Anyway, it’s my guess that with the Time Lords all gone, the Doctor may be looking at the idea of slowly building a new organization of people to take their place, and Rose might be his first recruit. Anyway, Adam was a false start at this, but someone Rose can learn from in who not to look for in future travelling companions.

Our two main supporting characters were very likeable as well. Christine Adams as Cathica was note perfect as the hungry-for-promotion corporate gal who nevertheless eventually sees what’s wrong and puts a stop to it. I was especially glad to see that she survived in the end, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she wound up running the place afterwards. Anna Maxwell-Martin was excellent too, and had a sort of Willow/Dark Willow thing going on where she was so sweet and girl-next-door-ish to start with, only to turn into a perfect soldier type later on when she confronts the Editor, and remains so even after death when she ensures he doesn’t get away. It’s just a shame the sound effects people gave her gun such a naff effect.

And finally there was the Jagrafess of Holy Something-Or-Other, the true power behind the throne that was using the media to stunt the Empire’s growth. We never found out why it was doing this, but from the way the Doctor talked about how the technology and the delay in human progress was “wrong,” I wonder if it wasn’t a time traveler itself or was perhaps working for some.. perhaps even the big Bad Wolf we keep hearing namechecked everywhere. Whatever its motives, it looked really rude and nasty (in a good way)… almost as much so as the real Rupert Murdoch. It’s fitting that it generates a whole lot of hot air and explodes when it has to put up with it itself.

And really finally I should mention Brian Grant’s direction, which I thought was marvelous (given what he had to work with set-wise), particularly the POV shots for the Jagrafess, the way he kept moving Simon Pegg in and around his set, and most especially his removal of that filter on the lens that’s been there in every other episode. It’s intended to help enhance the filmizing effect I think, but I much prefer the sharper image we get as a result of it not being there.

All in all then, a very solid adventure that I was a bit surprised to find myself liking so much. Let’s say… 7.5 out of 10.