Interesting - That was kind of the word that was in my head throughout this episode. But that is a good thing.

We are now at the half way point of the first season and really the first episode that I have seen that I was not aware of the plot. The hype (and that's not a bad word) for the new series has pretty much covered every aspect of the first six episodes but from 7 - 13 I personally know very little. You could say (and I would agree) that this is where Dr Who starts. Rose had (pretty much) the introduction of everything, End off.... had the first collection of New wave BBC aliens, The Unquiet Dead had the first PAST ADVENTURE, Aliens... the first cliffhanger and Dalek, well duh! This episode was BRAND NEW!!!!!

But because of that I found it very difficult to judge either positively or negatively. However I did find it Doctor-lite (is that a word?)

There is no need to continue praising the effects or the production design because they remain spot on. Nor can I fault Billie Piper's performance and the series still seems to be HER story rather than that of the Doctor. Chris Eccleston is however pretty much excellent in this episode and oddly, concidering that it has so much humour in it, has become the most serious portrayal to date. To get it out of the way though, I will say "Max" (because I can't pronounce his name either - see Simon Pegg's attempts in 'Confidential) reminds me of the Nestene in "Rose". Otherwise it's excellent.

I say Doctor-lite because I found The Doctor and to a degree, Rose rather absent from most of the proceedings and certainly had nothing to do in solving the mystery or defeating the Villian. But this certainly showcased the talents of Tamsin Greig, Bruno langley and especially Simon Pegg who stole the whole show. I found him the most captivating character in the series so far. Sorry Doctor - Sorry Rose. Every line was delivered perfectly, his mannerisms and humourous giggly and again although humouroius was played straight and with menace and certainly the best Villian of the series. His on again - off again appearance in the show was publicised in the media and I did expect some Pegg mannerisms but he eclipsed the work he has already done in series such as SPACED and the film SHAUN OF THE DEAD. Bruno Langley hopefully will come back as his character makes a certain foil to the Doctor/Rose team. The additional cast handled their respective roles well.

The plot was thin in the extreme and I'm still not sure what it was all about but this however plaid to the actor's strengths and I even kind of hoped The Editor had survived.

I noticed another reference to "BAD WOLF" on a tv broadcast to which my partner said "Normal people would not have noticed that" He is enjopying the series howver so I'll let him off.

The episode again was easily told in 45 minutes so this seems the perfect length to tell a story in after the (necessary) rush of episodes "Rose" and "The End of...." - Trek - Galactica - Buffy can all do it - So can Who.

Overall though and barring the excellent perfomances and perfect humour (especially the final shot) the episode seemed empty of something so only comes back to me thinking - Interesting.

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.

An icy interior, a Giger-esque monster, a melting enemy, and the departure of a companion: if 'The Long Game' felt like a 21st century version of Dragonfire - complete with dodgy slang and canteen scene, but without the Shirley Temple kid - then, for me, that was no bad thing. In many ways, this was the most 'science fictiony' of the new series to date, with the cyberpunk elements in the 'living computer' scenes suggesting that Russell, like Cartmel before him, knows his Cronenberg and William Gibson.

This also felt more like 'Doctor Who' than we've come to know it lately. The decision to let Rose and the Doctor take more of a back seat than usual allowed the supporting cast to come to the fore, among whom were some familiar Whovian archetypes: the boy genius, the freedom fighter and the slick-tongued villain sneering at the Doctor's 'Time Lord' pedigree. Unusually, given that this was a Russell T. Davies script, the story didn't sacrifice suspense to pace; there were several jump-out-of-your-seat shocks, and at least one genuine moment of peril, as Adam writhed in cybernetic agony, forced to sacrifice his knowledge of the Doctor at who knew what personal cost?

From interviews with the production team, beforehand, you'd have thought that they were working a little too hard to convince us of the appropriateness of Simon Pegg's performance. But, in the event, there was nothing to complain about: Pegg brought to the part an estuary twang and gutter carnality, befitting a symbol of the worst excesses of Wapping 'journalism'.

Less successful, however, was the characterisation of the Doctor. Magnanimous on a universal sacale, but capable of pettiness, petulance and possessiveness on a personal one, particularly where Rose's boyriends are concerned, too often the Doctor comes across like a surly political activist, who has pulled the prettiest girl on the housing estate and isn't allowing anyone else to get a look in. I'm not particularly sure that this is a Doctor I like, still less one I would ever want to travel with; and this in itself marks a significant change in the way I respond to the series. Even in the days of Colin Baker would-be-strangling his companion, there was something reassuring about the figure of the Doctor, smiling out at me from the title sequence and commanding every narrative by sheer force of character. In the final scene, here, however, as Adam's punishment far exceeds his crime, the Doctor seems motivated as much by sexual jealousy as moral outrage. Adam is condemned to a life of mediocrity with an alien technology in his head, and the Doctor's response is callously to finger-click. Worse still, Rose temporarily loses her trademark empathy, siding with the Doctor, as the script plays Adam's predicament purely for laughs. Russell has hinted that a future story will see the revelation as to who installed the Jagrafess and why. The sequel I want to see, however, is the one involving Adam. Adam's fate hereon seems either melancholy, madness or medical curiosity, and if he were to return at a later date to take his revenge on the Doctor, I, for one, wouldn't blame him. Here's hoping Bruno Langley is in it for the long game yet.

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.

Russell T Davies, you bastard. I find it deeply distressing that one man can be so talented. In forty five minutes – forty five bloody minutes! – you delivered a sly satire of contemporary politics and media (I cannot wait to see how the Murdoch press reviews this episode), an intriguing examination of what it takes to be an assistant and a thrilling and chilling science fiction story. Oh, and you wrapped it up with one of the funniest gags I have seen for a long time. This script should be dipped in gold and put on the spare plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Of course the trouble with a script this good is that you find directors, set designers, lighting engineers and all the myriad of behind the scenes people who rarely get their deserved praise feel compelled to step up to the challenge. Technically the episode was superb – yes, I noticed the CGI lens flare on the external shots and, yes, it was beautiful.

With all of these technical wonders in place it became inevitable that actors would come scurrying out like the rodents that they really are. King Rat was Simon Pegg as The Editor delivering a master class in being scary and unsettling for no discernable reason. I desperately want to hate him for being so talented but “Spaced” and “Shaun of the Dead” revealed that Pegg is just a fanboy living the dream and, as such, deserves all the success that he is enjoying.

The character of Cathico showed more development in one episode than most other characters get in a series and Christine Adams’ subtle performance neatly portrayed this.

Adam (Bruno Langley) was just slimy enough for the purpose of the story but not so irritating that he threatened to usurp Adric’s position as most hated companion (I didn’t realise for years that there was no music at the end of “Earthshock” as I was too busy laughing). If we compare the Doctor’s attitude to Adam to that he showed towards Turlough then we see that this is a very different Doctor with less patience and less time and I wonder if how this will replay having seen the entire season.

Last week I said that “Dalek” would not be topped and I was wrong. I started this review with the words “Russell T Davies, you bastard”. I stand by that comment.

In addition to being an anorak (and proud of it) I am also a counsellor in training. One of the main counselling theories is Carl Roger’s Humanistic approach which states that everyone has the desire and drive to achieve their best and that a counsellor can help them to realise this but the person already has the ability to achieve this. A fairly convoluted sentence but one which I feel is relevant as Christopher Eccleston is the Humanistic Doctor. While some people have criticised him as not always being in the thick of the action, I see this Doctor as manipulating events and people to allow them to resolve the situation and leaves them with the confidence to improve their lives.

Had the Doctor defeated the Editor in Chief and left then humanity would have taken years to recover but by giving the required information to Cathica and allowing her to be the victor he has left humanity with someone possessing the self confidence to get history back on track. This is a Doctor who truly loves humanity and wants people to achieve greatness for themselves.

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!