📝6/10

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

"The Long Game: Adam’s Exit Strategy"

The Long Game serves as both a satire on the media and a reflection on the consequences of technological advancement—two recurring themes in Series 1. It shares some thematic DNA with Vengeance on Varos, though it’s not as relentlessly grim. The episode also delves into the responsibilities of time travel and the consequences of abusing it, though its narrative weight is undercut by an overemphasis on Bruno Langley’s Adam, one of the series’ least likeable characters.

Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor continues to evolve, showing more of his moral complexity. Here, he grapples with the ethical implications of breaking the Laws of Time to benefit a civilisation while also demonstrating his ruthlessness when expelling Adam from the TARDIS. Billie Piper’s Rose is as charismatic as ever, cementing her bond with the Doctor. Unfortunately, much of the focus shifts to Adam, whose nosiness and self-serving decisions make him difficult to sympathise with.

Nine and Rose’s dynamic is on full display here, with the pair gleefully mocking Adam and treating him as little more than comic relief. While it’s satisfying to see Adam’s foolishness lead to his downfall, his prominence detracts from the episode’s sharper social commentary.

Simon Pegg’s turn as the Editor is a highlight, delivering a deliciously campy performance as one of the more memorable antagonists of the Eccleston era. He easily outshines the Jagrafess, a frankly uninspired blob with teeth that fails to leave much of an impression. It’s hard to take the Jagrafess seriously as a credible threat when the Editor’s snarky menace is far more compelling.

Christine Adams’ Cathica is a welcome addition as a smart and relatable supporting character. Her growth over the episode—from complicit worker to an active participant in toppling the system—is one of the more satisfying subplots.

The setting of Satellite 5 is impressively realised, with its bustling upper levels contrasting sharply with the grimy, downtrodden lower ones. Despite the CGI showing its age, the production design is top-notch, creating a believable environment that reinforces the episode’s themes of inequality and manipulation. The atmosphere echoes classics like The Macra Terror and The Krotons, with unsuspecting humans exploited by a malevolent force, only for the Doctor to disrupt the status quo.

The episode takes its time, balancing the Adam-focused B-plot with the overarching Level 500 mystery. While the slower pacing allows for atmosphere-building, it also diminishes the tension leading up to the climax. The confrontation with the Jagrafess and the Editor escalates quickly, resolving in a way that feels fleeting and lacking in suspense.

The real climax lies not in defeating the villains but in the fallout of Adam’s betrayal. The Ninth Doctor’s stern dismissal of Adam—complete with a final, darkly comedic shot—demonstrates his uncompromising nature and commitment to his mission. It’s a powerful moment that highlights this Doctor’s no-nonsense approach to his companions.

Final Thoughts:

The Long Game is an uneven episode, blending sharp satire and engaging world-building with a weak central threat and an over-reliance on Adam’s unlikeable antics. While it raises intriguing questions about power, responsibility, and exploitation, it struggles to deliver the tension and excitement of a true classic. Unless you’re a completist, this one feels like a skippable detour.

A middling filler episode with standout performances, strong atmosphere, and a satisfying comeuppance for Doctor Who’s most irritating companion.

Random Observations:

• This is the first story in Doctor Who where the Doctor explicitly kicks the current TARDIS companion out of the TARDIS due to their bad behaviour.
• The troubled production of this episode contributed to the introduction of the companion-lite and Doctor-lite episodes that were commonplace during the RTD and early Moffat eras.
• We will return to Satellite 5, the setting for this episode, later on in this season, in a narrative development similar to the one from The Ark in Space to Revenge of the Cybermen or the first and second halves of The Ark.
• Keen-eyed viewers might notice that this episode has been shot on the same set as The End of the World. That's a cost-cutting measure for you!

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.

Whilst RTD gives this story an interesting setting, engaging characters and a strong premise, it comes off quite slow and slight. Not as well paced as the rest of the series and feels incidental when looked at in its own context. It might even take less risks than most of the series around it.

Part of the issue is that the main villain is a big blob on the ceiling (not to be confused with the big blob on the floor in Rose). Simon Pegg does a marvelous job selling the importance of his monster boss with a long name (again, lifted from Aliens of London) but it is unable to be intimidating or do just about anything. The dialogue sells the situation well, it’s just the plot that is lacking.

Eventually the room blows up around the Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe in the same way it blew up around the Nestine Consciousness. And the Gelth. And the group of Slitheen. Similar to how Cassandra blew up. And we saw a Slitheen blow up due to being hit by vinegar. And the Dalek from last week blew itself up.

The difference is that all of the above stories had a USP. The Long Game’s USP could have been using the news to spread disinformation, an idea that it dangles but never really goes for the jugular with.

What it does succeed in is showing Adam as a failed companion and what a time traveler should *not* be like. It’s realistic that some ambitious people when given a TARDIS would try and use it for their own ends, so The Doctor ends his journey short. There’s a nice bit of tension between Rose, The Doctor and her “new boyfriend” which ultimately plays out as Rose treating it like a failed date.

The characters carry the whole story.