Tons of suspense. When that young woman got "promoted" and the bodies popping out - chills!

Great satire too. (Jagrafess should've been called "Murd" not "Max"!)

The "ho hum" previews by Ceefax and Radio Times were wrong. The only thing they made sound promising was the Jagrafess ("send the tots to bed", "Gerald Scarfe nightmare" etc)... but the story turned out great (the Jagrafess design, less so. Bit bland).

Everything was the opposite of what I expected - the story being good and suspenseful, the Jagrafess a bit disappointing. Nice idea calling him Max though (obviously a Robert Maxwell media emperor reference - lucky they didn't call him Murd!)

This could have been a McCoy era concept - and if the McCoy era had had the deft and experienced writing and direction of this, it would've worked.

The Face of Boe thing was a bit daft but fun. The psychic paper is going to make the doctor as invincible as the all-purpose sonic screwdriver (which has more functions now than it ever did in the Classic Series).

Perfectly paced, wonderfully acted (especially by Pegg, predictably) with three (count 'em!) excellent female roles (the Nurse and the two journalists) four if you count Rose.

Some superb dialogue, wonderful use of colour.

And anyone who says Adric is annoying, he's nothing compared to Adam. Think yourselves lucky!

Two things I didn't understand: the title (what Long Game?) and Rose saying Adam was her boyfriend. This was clearly his first trip, so exactly what had they been up to in the TARDIS -- spooning?

All in all, a tight little story and a nice breather after the grimness of last week.

The TARDIS makes its first random landing since 1983. And despite an apparent lack of enthusiasm in the media, the resultant adventure is an unqualified success.

The Long Game owes much to RTD's previous stand-alone episode, The End Of The World. The jolly music that has irritated so many fans (and delighted this one) is present; there's a breathtaking panoramic view of Earth for the Doctor to explain the setting against; a companion makes a phone call back home; and The Face Of Boe shows up for another irrelevant cameo. But this time, the absence of bizarre aliens is relevant to the plot, and it's the Doctor doing the sabotage, not this week's villain.

New companion Adam gets a bit of a raw deal from his fellow travellers, as he is teased for his all-too evident lack of suitability to life aboard the TARDIS. This might have made for an interesting dynamic aboard the TARDIS, but Adam is given his own plot strand for the majority of the episode, and is written out of the show at the end. A pity, perhaps, but given his part in the story's climax, it's hard to imagine this Doctor acting in any other way. Peter Davison he ain't.

If the children who were so scared by The Unquiet Dead's zombies were still watching The Long Game, it's almost certain that the creepy music and frozen corpses of this episode will have the same effect. The effects here are on a par with the top end of the horror genre, and the Jagrafess, whilst a little unconvincing round the edges, is an original, scary and mostly well-realised creation. The biggest triumphs on the CGI front, however, have to be the holes in the guest cast's foreheads...

Despite plot and theme similarities with The Krotons (aliens promoting humans to a place from which they never return) and Vengeance On Varos (a population controlled through the television broadcasts), this story is far more tightly written than either of those serials or the aforementioned The End Of The World, and should dispel the myth that RTD is the least able writer of the current series. The story is well-acted by all, and in particular, Simon Pegg is a joy to behold as The Editor, and he seems to relish every line he's given. Well, except that one.

Niggles are few. The sets - especially on Floor 139 - look somewhat unrealistic, and there's a lack of sparkling wit, or even quotable dialogue. Once again, it's up to a member of the guest cast to save the day. And why exactly is it called "The Long Game"?

Nevertheless, if this is the series at its most "ho-hum" (as one preview put it), the remaining six episodes promise to be something very special indeed.

9/10.

From the outset I must admit that I came to the end of "Dalek" thinking that the following week's episode had a near-impossible task in topping the return of our "pepperpot" friend, however I did expect rather better than we got.

First things first. It seems to be integral to the new series that the Ninth Doctor is not the saviour in all situations that his predecessors tended to be. As has been pointed out, he has only really saved the day in "The End of the World", and in "The Long Game" both the Doctor and Rose seem to be merely bystanders. I am not suggesting that the Doctor SHOULD always be Superman in a police box, but I feel he should provide the answer more than he does thus far, otherwise he comes across as somewhat impotent, possibly even too human...

Unfortunately Satellite Five does look suspiciously like the platform in "The End of the World", and causing the Jagrafess to overheat and explode was exactly how Cassandra was vanquished. It does suggest a certain famine of imagination on RTD's part.

I wasn't at all sorry to see the back of Bruno Langley's Adam, more as I find him irritating than that his crime deserved the punishment it received. The latter was far too ruthless on the part of the Ninth Doctor, I felt, and seemed to be motivated by jealousy over Rose more than anything else. Tom Baker's Doctor and Sarah Jane were close, but you can't imagine him doing the same to Harry Sullivan as Ecclestone behaves here. One could argue he ultimately showed more sympathy for the Dalek.

Perhaps I am being over-harsh, but I found little in this episode from three viewings to make me think other than that it is the weakest of the series so far. Simon Pegg's Editor was predictably excellent and stole the show, and I found myself hoping he would survive to fight another day. Tamsin Greig also shone as the Nurse, gently comic but clearly motivated by money rather than patient care.

In fairness "The Long Game" was weak in comparison with an otherwise fine series so far, and it did keep me watching, disappointed as I was in the end. Next week's episode, however, looks a cracker...

I thought this was a good, solid episode witha few salient points to make about the manipulation of the media and how clever distortion of language can lead to overgeneralisation and people not thinking too much as they are bombared with information (All together now, "weapons of mass destruction"....as opposed to "pretty harmless weapons that don't hurt anybody" perhaps?) Things didn't get too preachy and I think Simon Pegg gave an absolutely terrific performance which was the best thing in the story. So, not up there with 'Dalek' or 'The Unquiet Dead' but not at all bad...

BUT, and it's (ahem) a big but.....

I'm a tad worried about how the Doctor is coming across at present. This is no criticism of Chris (he was SUPERB in 'Dalek') . This stems from the writing....

Basically, my worry is that the Ninth Doctor is in danger of becoming far too unsympathetic in his treatment of supposedly "lesser mortals" which is beginning to risk him seeming far too judgemental and, well, that can lead to seeming positively smug! Not an attractive trait in anybody, let alone our favourite time-lord. Adam may have been foolish in his actions, but come on.....he's a young chap who's been thrust into a ridiculously alien environment and not adapted at all well. But the final scene with the Doctor and Rose leaving him behind (with a massive hole in his head!) left me feeling genuinely uncomfortable. Their behaviour just seemed too, well, smug? Callous? I just didn't *feel* right.

I mean, the Doctor didn't exactly cover himself in glory during 'Dalek' and it was terrifically handled. As a big Fifth Doctor fan I have no problem with fallibility in our hero, but a consistant lack of understanding of the fallibility of others? Yes, I do have a problem with that. (Contrast the 5th Doctors treatment of the would-be assassin Turlough. He came good when the chips were down *because* of the Doctors' inherent goodness, y'know?)

Maybe all this is going somewhere and I'll have to eat my words, but whilst I have no problem at all with a "darker" Doctor, it will be a problem for me if these traits continue without being challenged and I end up not liking the Ninth Doctor very much!

Thinking on, it has been the "stupid apes" that have saved the day in most of the stories so far. Rose, Gwynedd, Mickey and now the promotion-obsessed girl in this episode all helped to save his (and many others) ar*e!!! Shouldn't he have twigged that by now?

If this is a subtle 'character' arc and such potential hypocisy is addressed, I'll have my words served with chips, please. But I'm not sure this is the case!

Whole episode...six out of ten.

With The Long Game ready to be dismissed as a re-hash of Vengeance on Varos I was simply struck dumb by yet another mind blowing episode, both literally and figuratively.

The TARDIS arrives on the seemingly cosmopolitan Satellite 5 with new companion, the slightly shifty Adam. It all seems like a bustling cornucopia of human achievement, however both Rose and the Doctor feel something is amiss. Why does the technology feel wrong, where are the aliens and why is floor 139 so uncomfortably hot.

The sets first off were (to coin a phrase) fantastic and had a real feel of solidity and age about them. The acting was superb, everyone from the coldly sinister Editor to the Kronk Burger Van Man played the action as so without knowing winks or playing down to their audience.

Everything seemed to slot into place with events happening for a reason and every character acting within believable parameters. The most innocuous of plot details bore on all aspects of the denouement which the better of these one-off 45 minute episodes do so well.

Revealing many elements alongside characters who are seeing them for the first time worked even better than in 'Rose' not least because the entire audience were experiencing for the first time as well that character. The most effective of these being both Suki and Kaffika's separate arrivals on floor 500. Despite having seen it on several occasions the character's response, actions and in particular the incidental music relayed the feelings of fear and suspicion which grew in their minds. You could almost feel their apprehension as each character felt their way around the sinister surroundings.

Simon Pegg, cameoing in a similar fashion to many comics in eighties Who, excelled as the sinister editor believing to have control but really being a puppet for the true master of the station.

The Doctor seems to have settled down after his harrowing confrontation last week and his grin/gurn quotient appears to have dropped considerally, and this is a good thing. Billie Piper unfortunately is still not convincing me, particularly as her character is imprisioned in a mockney accent more at home in the mouth of Eliza Doolittle or Dick Van Dyke.

Bruno Langley also shone as the dodgy Adam seeking to better himself financially through foreknowledge, but with a role model like James Statton you can hardly expect him to act any different. His slightly comical fate brings the program back to earth (so to speak) and allows the audience to come back to reality after an engaging and exciting adventure in the far flung future.

Bog-standard. I felt this was below the standard set so far I'm afarid. I'm glad RTD finally got his old uncommissioned story from the 1980s realised as I hope in vain to get some of mine produced, but it really was a clever idea but badly executed.

Depicting the media as enslaving the population is an excellent idea but the story was a generic runaround without even a gripping runaround! Eccleston was his excellent self and so was Billie Piper who just shines in every episode, no matter the quality of the story. Bruno Langley was quite under-used I felt. It was a surprise [for me anyways!] that he got abroad the TARDIS in the first place but to only use him for one episode seemed pointless. I tend to concur with reviewer Joe Ford on most things, and I agree that Dalek should have come after Father's Day. Much more could have been made of the character, but I was one of the sad minority who thought the joke at the end was quite good.

Simon Pegg, while motiveless, was excellent in this. He gave a terrific performance in every scene he was in and I loved the way he tried to flee the scene at the climax but was trapped by one of his zombies. Christine Adams was absolutely gorgeous - better looking than Billie Piper in fact! I have to really fight the urge to not make this whole review about her! Let's hope we see her in more things!

So there you have it. Ordinary. Traditional Doctor Who, but one of those, like Terminus, which you'd never watch again. Although Christine Adams is a good enough reason to still make me get it on DVD!