When I think of the segments with the Ninth Doctor, his companions, and these television parodies, almost every moment I remember is actually in Bad Wolf and not this episode. It is almost uncanny how little of this satellite is explored beyond the most superficial critiques of modern technology and its role in human culture. I recognize there is some intelligent, thoughtful ways to explore these ideas, and science fiction has done it before and since The Long Game.

Unfortunately, this sweatly, silly, poorly animated even by Series 1 standards episode just doesn't hold up. Simon Pegg should have been a good fit for Doctor Who and you can see that in his Star Trek work, but here he just doesn't work at all. I don't think he worked well with the then inexperienced production and it just feels like a waste of good talent and a big name. Neither Rose nor Nine get to shine here, and the Ninth Doctor seems almost cruel with how he treats Adam. I also found the brain hook-up thing just such a clumsy, heavy handed version of the possible future of information technology. It's bonkers we would accept something so intrusive (though somewhat salvaged knowing what was going on with humanity's future as part of Series 1's larger arc).

All told, it is an episode worth watching for the sake of knowing the larger continuity points of the Ninth Doctor's era, but otherwise, it is a prime candidate for a story I usually just skip right on by on rewatch.