"Doctor Who" The Long Game (2005)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Brian Grant

Writer:

Russell T. Davies (written by)

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (2005)

Original Air Date:

7 May 2005 (Season 1, Episode 7)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Doctor and Rose arrive in the year 200,000 to see The Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. But something has gone wrong - someone is holding back the development of mankind. Who could have done this? And why? |

Plot Keywords:

Fantasy Episode | Alien | Time Lord | Tardis | Companion

Cast

Christopher Eccleston	...	Doctor Who
Billie Piper	...	Rose Tyler
Bruno Langley	...	Adam
Colin Prockter	...	Head Chef
Christine Adams	...	Cathica
Anna Maxwell Martin	...	Suki (as Anna Maxwell-Martin)
Simon Pegg	...	The Editor
Tamsin Greig	...	Nurse
Judy Holt	...	Adam's Mum

Runtime:

45 min | 45 min (50 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:PG | USA:TV-PG

Company:

BBC Wales

Trivia:

Bad Wolf Reference: On Satellite Five, the "Bad Wolf Channel" is broadcasting news that the Face of Boe is pregnant.

Quotes:

[first lines]
The Doctor: So, it's two-hundred thousand, it's a spaceship - no, wait a minute - space station, and, er... go and try that gate over there. Off you go.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Doctor Who Confidential: The New World of Who (#2.10)" (2006)

The weak link in Season One's chain

In an ironic twist of fate, the best episode of Doctor Who's first season, Dalek, is followed by the weakest, The Long Game. Adding to the crushing sense of disappointment is the fact that the incriminated 45 minutes are written by none other than Russell T. Davies, the man responsible for bringing back the Doctor in the first place.

This time, it all takes place in the year 200,000. The specific location is Satellite Five, the heart of the Fourth and Bountiful Human Empire, an ideal place for Rose's first "date" with new companion Adam (Bruno Langley), who joined our time travelers in the TARDIS after the Van Statten incident. It all looks perfect, which means it obviously isn't: something or someone is blocking every kind of human evolution, effectively enslaving and entire race. The prime suspect is the malevolent Editor (Simon Pegg), but the increasingly deteriorating situation indicates something more serious than one man's machinations have to be behind this. And it's up to the Doctor to save the day. Again.

Normally, Davies' stories are among the best of each season because they're (usually) part of a more complex mythology arc, similar to what Chris Carter conjured on The X-Files. But whereas Carter never wrote an X-Files episode that couldn't be enjoyed without considering the bigger picture, Davies has managed to come up with a story that makes little sense on its own and seems to exist solely to set up a more important story later on in the season. The consequence is that most of The Long Game passes by without leaving anything memorable behind. Only Eccleston, always a gas no matter how silly things get, and Pegg (a huge fan of the show), reversing his slacker image with an OTT but utterly enjoyable villainous turn, save the episode from being a throwaway experience.

6,5/10