...NEW DR WHO TONIGHT, EPISODE 7, THE LONG GAME...

[ARRISARRIS]

...the Editor is watching...

[GordonR]

I see it's another Russell T Davies episode.  Is it just me, or have the best episodes so far - The Unquiet Dead and Dalek - been the ones written by people other than RTD?

[paulvonscott]

Yup, I've come to that conclusion as well.  I suspect tonights episode will be influenced by RTD's love of reality shows, which bodes well...

He's done a good job of the show overall, but I have to say his episodes have been a bit overfull of emotion and a bit empty of content.

Still, enjoying it all, more or less.

[wrighty47]

RTD's episodes do tend to be more character than story driven, but personally I think this gives the show some much needed diversity. Much as I loved TUD and Dalek, I wouldn't want every episode to be like those.

I also don't subscribe to the theory that the RTD ones are poorer, as my favourite episode so far is The End of the World (just away from Dalek), which I thought was a superb 80's style story full of wonderful ideas and character interaction. I also loved the first half of Aliens of London, 20 minutes which I thought were as good as anything we've seen in Doctor Who... ever!

It is true that the weakest (imho) episode was a RTD one (WW3) but at the same time I read on the Outpost Gallifrey forums that a audience enjoyment survey conducted by the BBC last week (and before Dalek) had Aliens of London and WW3 as the 2 most popular episodes, which somewhat goes against common perception of *us fanboys*.

I guess it's all down to tone. The sci-fi/comic geeks tend to love the more serious stories, whilst the general populace are going for the more humourous ones. Either way, the public are tuning in so RTD must be doing something right.

It is gonna be interesting to see how tonight's goes, as RTD claims that he originally wrote the story 20 years ago and then updated it for today.

Alan!

[The Amstor Computer]

Well, that was *another* great episode!

A lovely hammy performance from Pegg, some fun ideas executed well & some great moments from Ecclestone & Piper.

All that, *and* they put a hole in Bruno Langley's head & dumped him! Hurrah! ;-)

Roll on next week!

[ARRISARRIS]

...i think thats the first real episode that hasnt jelled with me on a first viewing dispite being full of alot of great ideas, loved the idea of the Doctor actualy chucking a companion out of the tardis...

[paulvonscott]

It was enjoyable enough.  Again, more character driven than story.  Pegg livened up what could have been quite a dull roll.

[Carlsborg Expert]

argh that was fucking brilliant with a just end to Langleys charactor
Blackbooks actress + Simon Pegg and some cute freedom fighter and plot as tightly wound as the managers corn braids.

phew. Id say it wasnt so charactor driven this time around.And made funny by the comedians in their sci-fi a roles.Oh and the last scene.

Top.Not a review this.just appraisel.

[The Amstor Computer]

Oh, how could I forget Tamsin Greig...

***swoons***

;-)

[The Amstor Computer]

I think it probably falls after "The Unquiet Dead" in my personal favourites so far - something like:

1) Dalek / The Unquiet Dead
3) The Long Game
4) The End of the World
5) Rose / Aliens of London + World War III

That'll probably change when I get the chance to see the episodes again on DVD, and when we see what else is coming down the line.

[Carlsborg Expert]

Did you catch the Mega-cities reference at the beginng?

[The Amstor Computer]

Yep, but I didn't spot any "Bad Wolf" ones this time...

[Quirkafleeg]

There was a bad wolf tv channel

[SamuelAWilkinson]

Not a bad episode, with sufficient eye candy to satisfy those of us who don't find the horse-faced former Mrs Evans attractive, and a cautionary tale on going to the future and ringing yourself in the past to tell yourself stuff.

The trailer for next week looks intruiging, though. It seems from what little we saw that Rose tries to change the past, and is attacked by those flying buggers. I'm going to speculate here that these things will turn out to be the Time Lords' replacements, looking after time and making sure no-one breaks it.

[Quirkafleeg]

This is a bit of a nit-pick but the final joke was a bit stupid in that having someone with a techie hole in their head and someone else knowing about it IS gonna change history... as the doctor pointed out. And changing history looks like a BIG BAD THING according to the usual spoilerific trailer. I mean is he gonna kill his mother to stop other people finding out.. ahh but perhaps people finding out leads eventually to the Great Empire. I probably think to much about this sort of thing.

Entertaining enough otherwise.

I'd say Miss Billie is more a frog than a horse imho...

Of course the REAL telly event of Saturday night is still to come....!