Episode 7 was always going to be the middle of the series, and this is turned out to be in more ways than one. Not that I'm complaining as being middle of the road is no bad thing in the quality series we are being presented.

The story was a risk for RTD (and his team) as it had many areas that could go horribly wrong. The editor could have been played over the top, the monster could have been plastic and the large open sets could have appeared as no more than large open spaces. But this is where Doctor Who is now safe, the clever acting and excellent dress of the editor kept him realistic, the monster was CGI'ed and limited in screen time and the sets were kept busy and were sensibly weathered.

Once again the main and support cast were strong and kept me focusing on the story rather than some poor or obscure acting technique. Chris' Doctor has now truly settled down from his wobbles in AOL and I now feel he has excelled all expectations.

The down side to this story was it felt ninety eighties, I had to keep checking the TV to ensure it wasn't going to be Sylvester McCoy's Doctor in the next shot. Whilst this was not a problem it seemed a little out of place with the other episodes to date.

In summary it was great to see an episode not on earth and a true run of the mill Doctor Who story.

(Did anyone else think it was odd Adam's family home looked current day despite being in 2012. Furthermore Adam's ability to phone 2012 further confuses the Rose's mobile phone issue as discussed by RTD in DWM!!)

I came to this story with a certain degree of trepidation. The Unquiet Dead and Dalek are amongst the very best stories the show has ever produced, but the RTD scripted episodes, whilst always well-written and entertaining, have thus far been irritatingly lightweight at times. . . . and so it was a pleasant surprise that for me the Long Game was a solid, entertaining mid-season story with a nice dramatic build up and not too much frivolity in between.

The idea of media manipulation and control, the 1984 style reference to Room 500, Earth's development being impaired by an interfering malevolent alien. . . . familiar territory this but effective nonetheless.

A feature of this series whether people like it or not has been the emphasis on character development and here we have the Doctor's apparent disgust at Rose and Adam sharing the same breathing space, whilst elevating Rose even further up his personal pedestal;Adam's struggle to come to terms with the enormity of the difference between Satellite 5 and his own little world and the resultant almost disastrous consequences of his curiosity and Rose's increasing ability to adapt quickly, almost effortlessly, to whatever extraordinary situation she finds herself in. The acting of all concerned was excellent especially of course from the Editor himself Simon Pegg and the nurse played by Tamzin Greig.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that this season is a resounding success which has restored the concept of family viewing on Saturday night and drawn praise from many non-fan quarters. All concerned deserve every credit for what they are achieving here and the minority who feel it's all a load of empty childish tripe may have to take off their rose coloured spectacles (no pun intended) and realise that their views were no doubt expressed by others about the old series. Roll on the next episode.

After last week's "Dalek", which I found ultimately disappointing, I was hoping that "The Long Game" would live up to the promise of the intriguing trailers. It did. The plot was classic Doctor Who - the Doctor and his companions arrive on a space station in the distant future, where life seems to be going on as normal. But something is wrong. The 4th Great and Bountiful Human Empire is not as great, or as bountiful, as it should be - something is holding back their technology and their society. As the episode unfolds, we discover that those who get promoted to floor 500 never return - something is lurking up there, directing everything, controlling the lives of every single human being by manipulating the news media. In a nice little nod to the series' previous incarnations, you don't see the alien until the end of the episode, and while the toothy CGI Jagrafess was a bit of a let down, it still looked more scary than, say, a big rubbery glowing blob, or a man made from licourice allsorts.

The episode is a very obvious and at times unsubtle satire on the modern media, with all the galaxy's news manipulated by the Editor (played with gleeful menace by Simon Pegg, who stole every scene he was in) in order to turn humanity into a race of unquestioning conformists. There were some more subtle moments, such as when the Doctor confronted Cathica over the absence of aliens on Satellite 5. Defending the strict immigration controls, she could only cite vague "threats," reflecting the current climate of distrust created by politicians and the media on matters of immigration and asylum.

The acting was at times excellent - Simon Pegg stuck a wonderful balance between pragmatic self-interest and hand-rubbing evilness - and at others, poor. Bruno Langley's Adam never really moved beyond "irritating idiot side-kick," making it quite a relief when the Doctor got rid of him, and the character of Suki, while no more fleshed-out than the usual "first victim of the alien" role, seemed a rather unlikely freedom fighter. And mention should briefly be made of the moment when, as his brain absorbs information directly from Satellite 5's computer, Adam's mobile transmits glowing blue light to his mother's answerphone, destroying any suspension of disbelief that had been built up.

All in all, a thoroughly watchable episode - inventive, satirical, and with one or two genuinely scary moments. Classic Doctor Who with a very modern slant.

Well, that was kinda different.

This was another first for TV Doctor Who -- an example of how sometimes, the Doctor might up and pick up someone who is NOT cut out to travel in the TARDIS.

Adam, who you might remember survived the events of the Van Statten Complex last episode in "Dalek," has well, how to put this? Turned out to be a bit of a dipshit. Unlike Rose, who took everything that she's seen so far with a sense of amazement and childlike wonder, Adam was taken to one era (The Fourth Human Empire) and tried to capitalize on it in his own time, by first not only using the cell phone the Doctor gave Rose to call his house and relay future history to his voicemail; but then up and goes and gets a tactical neural implant. And not just ANY implant -- the kind that opens a door on your forehead, revealing your brain, and capable of receiving a compressed information stream, which Adam then tries to call home and record.

So, yeah, abusing not only the Doctor's tech, but trying to bring far future tech into our century? Never a good idea. And the Doctor realizes his mistake, and for the first time ever, merely dumps the fool off at home. Not that the Doctor seemed to mind too much, even before he mucked about -- there was definitely some jealousy there, with Adam around Rose. Hmmm, you don't think? ;-)

Oh yeah, and there was some story happening too, something about an information satellite having been corrupted by am alien parasite thingy, and with Shaun of the Dead in charge of things, and humanity in a cyberpunk/Blade Runner type future setting going backwards because of the parasite....

But you know, it was kinda secondary to the real story in the end -- that sometimes, schmucks come aboard the TARDIS too.

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.