Review: The Long Game (9th Doctor)
The Long Game is my least favorite episode of the new Doctor Who so far. I’d love to be more specific than that, but I’m reserving my specificity for the spoilery stuff below. I’ll give you a hint: Adam is annoying. I’m only re-watching this so that I can be thorough, and because I told y’all that I would. On to the spoilers!
Episode: The Long Game by Russell T. Davies
Rating (1 to 5): 1
Baddie: The Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe and The Editor (and that Nurse)
Rose is Trapped: In handcuffs (that can shock you)
The Doctor is Trapped: In handcuffs (that can shock you)
The Doctor Enjoys: that Adam is leaving
The Doctor Dislikes: Adam and the fact that the timeline is wrong.
Doctor-y Strangeness: Nothing really strange. Just his insistence that the timeline is wrong.
Scary Stuff: Body-based computers that open up your head, “Max,” Cold Zombies
Does someone local help out? Cathica and (Zombie) Suki
Bad Wolf? Bad Wolf TV is one of the channels the station transmits.
What we learn: The Doctor can tell when the timeline is off. The Doctor will hug anyone. Rose would rather be with The Doctor than Adam.
The Doctor’s Death Wish:Umm…he jumps into trouble. Nothing too obvious in this one.
The Doctor Apologizes To: No one.
My Favorite Bits: The Doctor and Rose tormenting Adam at the end by snapping their fingers. Adam’s Mum’s dog is cute…
Observations and musings:
So, Rose just had to bring Adam with her. I sort of get the impression that she felt a bit sorry for him, and she sort of hoped that he would adapt better to the lifestyle. It becomes obvious fairly quickly that she would rather be with The Doctor, even if that means being in danger or captured by freaky aliens and zombies. By the end of the episode she torments Adam a bit and then leaves him behind.
This time it isn’t that The Doctor got the flight wrong, but they are instead confronted by a changed timeline. He spends the whole episode trying to put the timeline back on track. Too bad that Adam can’t resist causing a problem. At least he never really liked the boy. I’m kind of surprised that he didn’t do Adam bodily harm. After all, Adam almost got them into some really hot water…and The Doctor tends to be protective of Rose. Pretty straightforward episode, overall. Doctor arrives, sees problem, finds source of problem, fixes problem, leaves. (It turns out not to be so cut and dried later on in the season, but that’s later.)
Adam annoys me. I know that I am not alone in this feeling. If nothing else, he seems to annoy both The Doctor and Rose. Hey…maybe he ends up working for Torchwood? Also, I am not liking the Door in the Head technology. Ewww. Not very many extra layers in this episode. Ah well, next week we go from my least favorite episode to my favorite one for the season - Father’s Day. See you then!
The Long Game, Russell T. Davies, Doctor Who, 9th Doctor
Image Source: http://www.time-and-space.co.uk/
February 6th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Kind of my saving grace from this ep was Suki, she was just so darned cute. I so wish Shaun of the Dead had been in a better show. I also found it strange that this and the second episode of the season were the weakest for me…but the most traditional in the sense of the classic Doctor Who shows.
February 6th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Yes, Suki was cute. Even Russell T. Davies wasn’t too big a fan of this episode. He didn’t feel that it came out quite right. For me, I think it lost out because it just didn’t have much to it. Not too much to analyze, beyond The Doctor’s obvious jealousy of Adam and Rose’s relationship. It exists to set up the last two episodes of the season.
February 6th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Yeah, kind of like the boring bit in the middle of a symphony. It never gets played by itself, but the symphony as a whole would be weaker without it.
February 6th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Ooooo! Well said!
It’s like those verses of hymns that everyone skips on sunday, but not during a choir performance.
July 13th, 2007 at 12:09 am
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