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Episode 7: “The Long Game”Broadcast on BBC1, Saturday May 6th, 2005
Director:
- Brian Grant
(Hex, Clocking Off)
Screenplay:
- Russell T. Davies
(Bob & Rose, Casanova, Children’s Ward, Cluedo, Doctor Who, The Grand, The House of Windsor, Linda Green, Mine All Mine, Queer as Folk, Revelations, The Second Coming, Springhill, Touching Evil)
Cast:
- The Doctor: Christopher Eccleston
Rose Tyler: Billie Piper
Adam Mitchell: Bruno Langley
The Editor: Simon Pegg
Cathica: Christine Adams
Nurse: Tasmin Grief
Sandra: Julie Holt
Suki: Anna Maxwell-Martin
Head Chef: Colin Procktor
Adam discovers that being a Time Lord’s companion isn’t as easy as it lookswhen the trio arrive in the year 200,000 A.D, aboard Satellite 5 a centralhub for the galaxy’s news broadcasts.
“The Long Game” already marks the show’s second venture to an orbitingsatellite after Davies’ own “The End Of The World” (is he obsessed withsatellites, or is this a cost-cutting concern? Probably both). One thingprevalent with this new series is the limitations of the settings, which inconjunction with the constant return to present day Earth, makes the wholeshow seem somewhat constricted. The TARDIS can apparently go to anywhere,and “any-when”… so quite why The Doctor is obsessed with Earth-relatedsatellites and underground complexes is beyond me (sigh).
Anyway, “The Long Game” is a fairly strong episode blessed with a goodcentral premise and a likeable guest appearance by Simon Pegg(Shaun Of The Dead,and narrator of BBC3’s Doctor Who Confidential) as The Editor (above right), awhite-haired, frosty-faced villain who lives on Floor 500 which houses adeadly secret from the human workers below.
Christopher Eccleston is really coming along now, managing to give a morethree-dimensional performance than in the earlier episodes, while BilliePiper continues her solid and believable work. Bruno Langley, playing Adam,is also a good new addition (although, it will transpire, under-used in theseries as a whole…)
The production reeks of ’80s Doctor Who, however. For some reason the BBCjust can’t create believable futuristic architecture, so just make sureeverything’s shiny, metallic, and with computer screens dotted about. In”The Long Game” they’re going for a “Blade Runner-meets-Deep Space Nine”style that just doesn’t come together. Still, it’s effective enough on itsown terms and doesn’t ruin an enjoyable story.
The CGI used it generallygood (particularly “Type 2” brain surgery where a flap opens in the centreof your forehead to allow assimilation of news, and the episode’s “end oflevel” monster a sort of limbless, ceiling-suspended, Giger’s Alien )
The Editor imprisons Rose and The Doctor, while his boss looks on from above.
Fundamentally, there’s always something quite old-fashioned and frivolousabout all of Russell T. Davies episodes. “The Long Game” is very average,but contains enough good-natured old-school “mystery” to keep people happy.At times it’s almost like a futuristic episode of Scooby Doo! As I’ve saidbefore, I just don’t think Davies’ has the chops to pen truly greatscience-fiction stories, and it’s a shame the majority of the 13-episodesare written by him.
While I can’t deny “The Long Game” kept me entertainedfor 45-minutes… I just wish we had more Doctor Who episodes that actuallychallenged and provoked ideas within the audience, instead of just coastingby on good-will and light-heartedness…
Next Week: Rose travels back in time to meet her father before his death ina car accident, and uses the TARDIS to change history with disastrousconsequences!
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.