7. The Long Game

In the far future, Satellite 5 broadcasts to the entire Earth Empire.  Nothing escapes the eye of the sinister Editor and the Doctor suspects mankind is being manipulated.  But just who is the Editor working for? And does Adam have what it takes to become the Time Lord's companion?

- DR. WHO COLLECTORS' EDITION EPISODE GUIDE

The TARDIS arrives on board Satellite 5 in the year 200,000 AD.  The Doctor, Rose and Adam emerge, with Adam more than a little lost for words. They show Adam an observation deck, with a large window and the Earth below… and what does Rose's and the Doctor's new companion do?  He faints.

The Doctor leaves Rose and Adam behind to have breakfast while he does some looking around by himself.  To pay for the food, he uses his good ole sonic screwdriver on a futuristic version of an ATM and gives them a very futuristic kind of credit card.  Then as Rose and Adam sit down to enjoy their fast food (complete with beef flavoured slurpies) he goes off to explore.

The Doctor meets Cathica and Suki, two journalists who work for Satellite 5.  At first Cathica is rude to him for asking so many questions, but then Suki suggests that he could work for management and this could be a test. Cathica completely changes her tune if this is the case.  The Doctor goes along with Cathica and Suki, with Rose and Adam now catching up, and they go to watch a news broadcast of some sort. Humans have computer chips in their heads or little doorways in their foreheads that allow direct neural interfaces between the computer and the human brain in downloading and uploading information. Then the Editor is the one who sorts through the news and decides on what should be shown to the public, and even manipulates it (as our heroes later find out). 

When the Doctor first met Cathica and Suki, they talked about Floor 500, where the Editor was located.  They said the story was that the walls were made of gold.  The Doctor learns when a person is promoted to Floor 500, that the person is never seen again. But when Suki is promoted much to Cathica's envy, and she arrives at this so-called paradise, she finds it a frozen graveyard. Although the Editor may be human, the Editor-in-Chief is something quite different, and the poor lass loses her life over it. 

The Doctor is unhappy at how mankind's future is progressing.  The Doctor tells Rose and Cathica that humanity has been stunted by 90 years, and Cathica tells them that Satellite 5 started 91 years ago.  As the Doctor and Rose go to investigate why so much power and all the station's air-conditioning is being pumped to Floor 500, Adam lies to Rose and says that this all a little too much for him and that he needs some alone time.  Then Rose give him her mobile to make a call home, believing that once he's touched base with 'reality' it might make him feel better.  But Adam has other plans.

Whilst the Doctor and Rose rig the elevator to take them up to Floor 500, Adam tries to cheat by reading up on the history of humankind to send back in time on Rose's mobile phone.  But because he doesn't have a chip in his head, the computers won't work for him.  So Adam pays a trip to Floor 16 - Medical Non-Emergency.  There, with the unlimited credit on the credit card that the Doctor gave him, he purchases not a chip but a 'spike' where the little doorway to his brain opens in his forehead, the full upgrade. The sales lady/ medical technician assures him that to have the procedure done it only takes 10 minutes and it's guaranteed in the contract that there is no pain. Adam goes ahead with it, and afterwards, when he learns he can control the spike by the click of his fingers, goes back to the broadcast room where he saw Cathica do the interface with the computer.  With Rose's phone turned on, he begins downloading the history of humanity.

Meanwhile the Doctor and Rose are captured on Floor 500 and meet not only the Editor, but the Editor-in-Chief, an alien being that resembles a slimy meat glob that hangs upside down, clinging to the entire ceiling.  The being is called Jagrafess (actually it is a longer name, but like the family Slitheen in the previous episodes, there is no way I can even attempt the correct spelling of its species name).  But the Editor smiles to the Doctor and says he just calls him Max.  The Editor is trying to get information from the Doctor on who he is, but the Doctor and Rose refuse to give any.  It's at this stage Adam's greediness also becomes his stupidity, and the Jagrafess senses Adam's brain in the computer system as he is downloading information, and instead creates a feedback loop so the Editor can extract information on the Doctor instead. 

Cathica, now suspicious from the Doctor's observations about what was happening around her, also sneaks up to Floor 500.  She sees what's happening, and goes into another computer interface room where she uses her 'spike' to stop the Jagrafess from reading Adam's mind.  Next she redirects the flow of the air-conditioning away from Floor 500, so that the Jagrafess who needs the cold, cannot cope with the heat and then explodes in another big SPLAT, taking the Editor along with him (death by ugly, giant, meat, squidgy blob - what a way to say on a death certificate!)

The Doctor is furious with Adam and takes him home (the TARDIS arrives in Adam's living room of his parent's house in England). Adam at first tries to shirk the blame, and then pleads with the Doctor and Rose that they can't leave him after all he's seen.  The Doctor doesn't buy it though, and he walks over to the answering machine that Adam has been downloading all the information to, and with one wave of his sonic screwdriver, it explodes into sparks. The Doctor tells Adam with his new flip-top forehead, that he's going to have to live very quietly.  Then this episode has another humorous ending… as Adam is left in the living room, his mother comes home from shopping.  She's thrilled to find her son home, and during her remarks, she clicks her fingers to exaggerate her point, and then the episode closes by her stunned expression while staring at her son's forehead.