Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 7 - The Long Game
Solar Flare warnings are playing on a television set, as The Doctor, Rose and Adam step out of the TARDIS in the year 200,000AD, onto Floor 193 of Satellite 5. Rose shows Adam her recently acquired space travelling awareness skills (engines = space ship), and both she and The Doctor enjoy showing Adam the view of the Earth from space, which is now the capital of the 4th Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Rose and The Doctor look on in awe, and Adam faints behind them. Absolutely nothing can go wrong.Just as The Doctor is waxing lyrical about how awesomely polite and awesome the period is, lots of un-awesome and un-polite people appear in a market. This confuses The Doctor, who wonders where all the non-humans are and why his watch must be wrong, although this doesn't stop him from sonic-screwdrivering a cash point for free cash, which he gives to Adam. He ushers Rose off to follow Adam, wishing them luck on their first date, although Rose seems more fussed about promising to spank The Doctor when she gets back, although I might be reading too much into that. The Doctor collars two local workers to find out where they are, one of whom is very happy to flirt her way to Floor 500, where the walls are apparently made of gold. It turns out that Satellite 5 is full of journalists who make the news, and Simon Pegg is apparently in charge, with several slightly chilly looking workers next to him.
In a futuristic McDonalds, Rose and Adam share a beef slush puppie, before Adam says he misses home. Rose lends him her phone, which he pockets whilst looking very sinister when The Doctor calls them over. Simon Pegg continues to observe them. The Doctor, Rose and Adam follow the two workers from earlier, to observe the generating of a news report. One of them, the innocent looking one, is called Suki. The other, we shall call 'GET ME TO FLOOR 500!',, because I missed her actual name. What we don't miss, is how when she clicks her fingers, a strange silver device bulges out of her forehead, and a stream of compressed information is fired into it from an overhead machine. Her brain therefore becomes a computer, although she'll forget it all when it's finished - all the workers surrounding her have small chips inside themselves which they use to transfer information up to the big machine that's firing it into her brain. Simon Pegg manages to track his disturbance in the force to that room, just as The Doctor declares, quite happily, that the technology is wrong and that it all means trouble. However, we discover that Simon Pegg hasn't noticed our heroes, but Suki as the problem - she has a second biography hidden within her data stream (or something), and when he explains this to something on the ceiling that growls, the growling thing isn't very happy. To lure her upstairs, they give her a promotion. GET ME TO FLOOR 500! is unhappy, but there's nothing she can do.
As Suki celebrates back in the main market place, Adam looks very sneaky when he says he wants to go to the observation deck and that he think Rose is really in love with The Doctor and not him so she should stay put, but Rose doesn't notice because that wouldn't make good television. Rose gives him the TARDIS key 'in case it all gets a bit too much', and he gives an evil grin as he walks away. Seriously, have none of them picked up any hints that he's a bit of a bad egg? Suki quickly says her goodbyes and gets in the lift, and GET ME TO FLOOR 500! (I've just looked up her name - it's Cathica) says that no-one ever comes back from Floor 500. Those who get chosen only get up there with a special key given upon promotion. As Suki arrives on Floor 500, it's a bit less glamourous, and a bit more snowy than she expected. As she searches around with a torch, she discovers a set of rather decayed people in a chamber similar to the one that Cathica received information in before. A door opens revealing a bright light, which she naturally investigates, to find Simon Pegg waving rather camply. He reveals that he is The Editor, and that Suki's biography is all lies. She willingly agrees when she pulls a gun on him, revealing herself to be a bit of an anarchist for 'The Freedom Foundation', who have discovered that Satellite 5 are lying to the people. The growling ceiling creature then makes itself known, called the Editor-in-Chief by Simon Pegg, and appears to eat Suki.
Meanwhile, Adam is sneaking around being a prat. He learns the history of the microprocessor, presumably so that he can go back to the past and make his fortune. Cathica leads The Doctor and Rose back into the information chamber, who deduces that they aren't management, and says there are lots of little reasons that add up to why she had missed the fact that there are no aliens on board. The Doctor says that they whole attitude of the 4th Great and Bountiful Human Empire is behind by about 90 years, and Cathica reveals that Satellite 5 began broadcasting about 91 years ago.
Adam rings home to leave himself a message about the microprocessor, but is instructed to make his way to Floor 16. It's the floor for Medical non-emergencies. He blags his way to getting a chip by saying he is a student from Mars, although he takes some persuading to go through with it when he thinks about the whole brain surgery part of it.
The Doctor breaks into the mainframe, observed by Simon Pegg, and we see that Suki has been made into a chilly worker. The Editor-in-Chief gets grouchy and demands The Doctor is looked into. Cathica panics about them investigating, but The Doctor says she should be more like Rose, who is asking the right questions, like 'why is it so hot?'. Simon Pegg learns that The Doctor and Rose have no identification at all, which earns them a promotion to Floor 500. The Doctor, Rose and Cathica learn that Floor 500 is generating tons and tons of heat, and has all the cooling systems directed upwards to counter this and send the heat downwards, hence why it's so hot. There can be only one solution - GET ME TO FLOOR 500! Which is possible thanks to Simon Pegg sending it down to them.
Adam's surgery is complete, and by clicking his fingers it will appear and disappear. He also has his vomit frozen by nano-termites as a bonus offer. The Doctor and Rose meanwhile step into the lift, but Cathica refuses and leaves. They find the same snowy setting that Suki did when they arrive, and they make their way to meet Simon Pegg. It's revealed that Suki did indeed die, and that all the chilly workers are too, their brain chips continuing despite this. As they try to leave, chilly people restrain them. Simon Pegg explains that it isn't really the 4th Great & Bountiful Human Empire at all, but a place where humans are allowed to leave by the Editor-in-Chief, who is revealed to be a slimy thing with lots of teeth, who's real name is The Might Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. It has controlled the broadcast of news for the last 91 years, and shaped humanity by doing so. His nickname is Max.
Back down on Floor 139, Cathica decides she would like to visit Floor 500 after all. The Doctor and Rose are shackled, learning that humanity is effectively enslaved. Simon Pegg loves this part particularly well, and he notes that he can see the doubt in anyone and put a stop to it easily. He doesn't notice Cathica sneaking up behind. Rose notes that he isn't a
Adam carries on trying to send messages home meanwhile, which has the unwanted side effect of telling Simon Pegg that The Doctor is a Time Lord. As Adam has the key, Simon Pegg also now has the key. That's a bit of a blow really. The Doctor tries to get a message to Cathica to tell her to upload a message to the rest of humanity, and she has to throw a few decomposed people aside to accomplish it, so she's made up for being a bit moody earlier on to me. She reverses all the air conditioning, melting the icy Floor 500, sending Satellite 5 into a bit of a meltdown (if you'll excuse the pun), killing the Jagrafess. The Doctor and Rose escape using the Sonic Screwdriver, but Simon Pegg doesn't make it. They take Cathica back down with them.
The rest of the station has calmed down a bit, and The Doctor and Rose leave Cathica to clear up - in a good way. The Doctor marches in a very grumpy and Northern way towards Adam, dumping him back home, and erasing the answerphone message that Adam left. Adam wants The Doctor to help remove the chip, but The Doctor refuses. He'll have to live a very average life as punishment, so no-one notices the chip. The Doctor only takes the best, and he has Rose. As we wipe our eyes, Rose laughs at the predicament Adam is in now, before the TARDIS leaves with her and The Doctor in it. Adam's mother arrives home and clicks her fingers...
After last week's excellence-fest, it's not quite such a high level this time. It's not to say this doesn't have a good mystery and excellent sci-fi look and feel to it (the market place on Floor 139 is very Blade Runner-esque), but it's not got the same impact as seeing the Daleks (or Dalek) for the first time this series, or The Doctor threatening to become everything he despises.
One of the disappointments is Adam. I just don't find myself caring at all about him until the very end, when I'm glad he gets punished, and I understand why he's there - it's to show what happens if you abuse the privilege of travelling with The Doctor. The Doctor refusing to allow Adam to continue as a companion is one of the stand out parts of the episode, showcasing how he gives everyone a chance, friend or foe. I just remain very ambivalent to Adam all the way through.
There are some excellent moments showing how Rose and The Doctor's relationship is growing, with moments like The Doctor declaring he only takes the best, and has Rose. There are even stronger hints as well that Rose is falling in love with The Doctor, and although Adam uses it as a way of getting time along on Satellite 5, it's clear that the adoration is there for all to see. No wonder Mickey gets jealous!
Simon Pegg is fantastic as The Editor, and it's a pity that he only has a one episode role, because I could happily see him play a slightly camp evil person any day of the week. The chilly people are sufficiently creepy, especially when you realise that they're dead, although the Jagrafress is a relatively standard evil alien trying to enslave humanity.
I really did love the sci-fi setting this time. Compared to the space station in The End of the World, the sci-fi cheese has gone to a large extent, and it's all the better for it. I could happily spend a bit more time on Satellite 5 (keep quiet, those of you who've seen the rest of the series...).
How It Fits Into The Series As A Whole
Satellite 5 will come back in to play in the two-part series finale.
Bad Wolf Sightings
One of the TV stations is Bad WolfTV.
Overall
It's not up to last week's standard, but it's a great piece of sci-fi TV, and has some great moments of growth in the relationship between The Doctor and Rose, and showcases The Ninth Doctor's sense of morality in giving everyone a chance to prove themselves. Well worth watching still, just don't tell me Adam is an interesting character.
8/10
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