Doctor Who-The Long Game

                          Upon arriving on Satellite 5,part of the bountiful 4th human empire millennia in the future the doctor observes some odd behavior from some of the people there as Rose and Adam mingle with the other residents on the Satellite. For one there's the presence of two news magnets gunning for a promotion: long time head staff member Cathica and new hopeful Suki. As an intimidated Adam wanders off on his own to explore the Satellite,the doctor and Rose discover Cathica and all the other members of the news staff are in fact fed a wealth of information through a connection to a massive computer on the Satellite through chips in their brain that open up a gigantic memory core in the middle of their forehead. What Rose and the doctor don't know is at the same time,Adam has been trying to send computer information about human history back to his families answer phone,and inadvertently had such a chip installed in his brain in order to gain access.  It is Suki who gains access to Floor 500 of the station,where it seems those chosen for the position of Editor are sent but never return. Rose and the doctor both question this,along with the unusually high temperature on board Satellite 5. 

                    The man in charge who calls himself the Editor reveals Suki to actually be a resistance fighter to this news system who is sent to infiltrate Satellite 5,and she is pacified into working for him. When Cathica helps the doctor and Rose infiltrate Floor 500,they find their suspicions are correct-an alien called a Jagrafess has been the power behind Satellite 5 since it was built nearly a century earlier,manipulating the entirety of humanity by using media intimidation tactics to keep them from resisting it's will. It is not helped that Adam's attempt to interface with the main computer reveals the doctors identity and plans to the Editor and his master Jagrafess. Realizing the Jagrefess is diverting the heat to the rest of Satellite 5 to maintain it's own preferred cooler temperature,Cathica interfaces with the main computer and kills the Jagrafess and the Editor-leaving Cathica to rebuild humanities golden age back to where it was meant to be.  Realizing the betrayal,the doctor continues on with Rose but leaves Adam behind with his family-asserting he "only takes the best".

               This story represents the most telling and socially relevant socially relevant future fiction that either the audience ignores after the show is over or cynically takes the incorrect way. The message however is an important one. From the Jagrafess,The Editor and even Adam Mitchell-essentially the Benedict Arnold of Doctor Who companions,are all motivated by their own avarice and greed in their actions. The humans aboard Satellite 5 are controlled and mechanized like machines-literally the slaves of fear to an alien who is using their gullibility to take over their  intergalactic empire. It's media manipulation gone amok. And Adam,of course being very much the spawn of another media controlled era of the early 21'st century,is just as susceptible for the Jagrafess's manipulations as anyone on Satellite 5. While the doctor,Rose and eventually Cathica reaching for her humanity are able to save it by thinking for themselves,Adam fails due to his own selfishness and therefore goes against the doctors core morality. A wonderfully written story that reveals not only much about Doctor Who and it's characters,but the dangers humanity face if they are not thinking independently.