One of the shortest term companions in Doctor Who‘s history was the selfish boy genius Adam Mitchell, whom the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler met when they visited the underground museum of billionaire Henry Van Statten. Adam was employed by Van Statten until a Dalek escaped from Van Statten’s collection and killed most of his personnel. Adam joined the TARDIS and was taken to the year 200,000 by the Doctor and Rose. On Satellite Five, all of Earth’s news is broadcast throughout the human empire (The Long Game). However, Adam selfishly decides to steal information about the future of society from Satellite 5 and send it back home. But this plays into the hands of the villainous Editor and his manipulative employer, the Jagrafess. The furious Doctor drops Adam off at home in the present day, unmoved by the consequences of Adam having a forehead-opening, voice-activated chip type 2 surgically implanted in his head… The character of Adam is based on another boy genius companion of the Doctor called Adric.

Dalek

★★★★★

TX: 30/04/2005

Written by Rob Shearman    Directed by Joe Ahearne

The TARDIS is drawn off course by a signal that takes the Ninth Doctor and Rose to an underground base in Utah. The base is home to a private collection of extraterrestrial artefacts (including a Slitheen’s arm from Aliens of London/World War Three and a Cyberman head from Revenge of the Cybermen) owned by a powerful billionaire businessman called Henry Van Statten, who has similarities to Elon Musk, 20 years before his fame. Elon Musk is another prick that needs to be locked up! Elon Musk is a douchebag! Actor Corey Johnson told me that he feels that Van Statten is actually more similar to human garbage pile Donald Trump. Van Statten’s prized exhibit is what he calls a Metaltron. But the Doctor realises to his horror that it is in fact a Dalek, the most evil race in the universe. Van Statten interrogates the Doctor (Vengeance on Varos) because he is also an alien, but the Doctor warns him that the Dalek will exterminate everyone on Earth. The Daleks are motivated by racial hatred and they want to exterminate all non-Dalek lifeforms in the cosmos. The Doctor was unsuccessful in completely wiping out the Daleks during the Time War. Rose Tyler takes pity on the caged Dalek and touches it. Her DNA revives it because she is a time traveller. The Dalek gets loose and kills hundreds of Van Statten’s staff. After Rose is captured by the Dalek, the Doctor resolves to use an alien weapon in Van Statten’s archive to destroy it. But Rose persuades the Doctor to spare the Dalek as it is mutating as a result of absorbing Rose’s DNA and has therefore gone insane. The Dalek commits suicide rather than carry any further pain. Van Statten is sacked by his own PA. A boy genius called Adam, who worked for Van Statten, joins Rose and the Doctor in the TARDIS by stowing aboard. This is what another boy genius called Adric did in Full Circle and State of Decay. Billie Piper and Christopher Eccleston both give incredible performances in this fantastic episode. Eccleston is on the podium of Doctors!

The Long Game

★★★☆☆

TX: 07/05/2005

Written by Russell T Davies    Directed by Brian Grant

The TARDIS arrives on Satellite 5 in the year 200,000. The space station broadcasts all news and media to the planet Earth below. However, the Ninth Doctor realises that Earth society is being manipulated by a higher power. Rose Tyler is keen to know why the temperature in Satellite 5 is so high. Upon close inspection, the Doctor discovers that the central heating pumps all the heat downwards from Floor 500. Floor 500 is the coveted head office where all employees of Satellite 5, particularly Cathica, dream of being promoted to. However, up in Floor 500, the walls are not made of gold… After venturing upstairs, the Doctor and Rose confront the true controller of Satellite 5 and therefore humanity: the Jagrafess and his henchman, the Editor. The Jagrafess is a disgusting, gigantic purple alien that needs to live in cool conditions and has a lifespan of 3000 years. The Jagrafess and the Editor have been feeding Earth society fake news so that they can manipulate humanity. The Editor says that for example, it is easy to keep the borders closed when a climate of fear is created in the mainstream media. The situation worsens when the Doctor’s selfish companion Adam gets a chip in his head so that he can steal information from Satellite 5 and send it back to the present day. The Editor intercepts this and realises that the Doctor is a Time Lord and that he can therefore steal his TARDIS. Cathica thankfully comes to the rescue and vents the heat up to Floor 500, which destroys the Jagrafess killing the Editor in the process. The Doctor and Rose escape in the nick of time and reunite with Cathica. The Doctor tells Cathica that Earth society should now go back to normal after these events. Although, he later discovers that he is wrong about this during the events of Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways. The Doctor and Rose confront Adam who apologises for his irresponsible behaviour, but the Doctor drops him off at home anyway and leaves him there. This story has some similarities to the plot of Dragonfire.