#cathica

[doctorwholikesvsdislikes]

Like or Dislike: Cathica Santini Khadeni (Doctor Who)

Strongly Like

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Voting ended onJun 2, 2025

[khruschevshoe]

Me, really not understanding why people don't like the Long Game: It's got the best example of both the worst of humanity and the best in Adam and Cathica, it's got a great first example in New Who of one of my favorite tropes "this timeline is really not where it's supposed to be at, let's go investigate," it's literally the Doctor and Rose solving a mystery together, it's got a great cheesy, bad-CGI villain that skewers Capitalism like all the best episodes do, it's got amazing NineRose chemistry/moments, it introduces Satellite Five (which might just be my bias coming in, but three of my favorite episodes of all time-The Long Game, Bad Wolf, the Part of the Ways) all take place on Satellite Five, so it gives me nostalgia), it has Simon Pegg chewing the scenery, it reinforces why the Rose/Nine dynamic works, and have I mentioned that I love Cathica with all my heart? Anyway, in this essay I will-

[quiteunlikely-screencaps]

Doctor Who 1x07: The Long Game

[omgyeahdoctorwhosidecharacters]

Eight favourite shots of every Doctor Who episode > The Long Game (2005)

[screencaps]

[dyingslowlybutfasterthanyouare]

I just loved? Her whole thing? So much? Her hair guys! Look at all the stuff she put in her hair! Did I do it justice? Not at all!

[devotedlittlefreak]

What if I hid my love so as not to compromise myself, and you did the same to survive the competitiveness of the system I fought? What if it changed the narrative anyway ? The very course of human history

I just rewatched the Long Game, I must have been 11 or 12 when I first saw it, and I was so happy to see Cathica and Suki! For some reason this episode impacted me a lot, it was the one I had in mind when I restarted my NuWho run

I mean, you can read it as just political resilience, but I had this feeling that this was about love. But I felt as if this was a memory actually? I just expected a scene where Cathica hold/acknowledge Suki's body (I don't remember being a preteen too well, so there's that)

[sayeverythingwillbefineplease]

Watching Doctor Who: CATHICA BABY GIMME A CHAAAANCE 😮‍💨😫😫😫😫😫😻

[ilikedoctorwhoproject]

Why I like Cathica

Cathica Santini Kadanie is the head Journalist for floor 139 of Satellite 5, news hub of the purportedly Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. That is to say she's the one with the info-spike in her head, the conduit through whom all that information flows - in the Doctor's words "her brain is the computer." Except that Satellite 5 is Wrong, the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire hasn't happened - or at least is horribly stunted - and Cathica is the latest generation of a humanity bred and conditioned to be slaves. She's a journalist who doesn't ask questions - a symbol of everything that's wrong with the current system. And she does this by being perfectly "normal," thereby illustrating what counts as normal. She's happy enough, successful enough, intelligent enough. She's ambitious and presumably very good at her job. She does what she's been taught to do and wants what she's been taght to want - promotion to floor 500 where "the walls are made of gold" What does that even mean? From Cathica's perspective it's just obvious - and so it's never been examined. That's what's insidious but also compelling about the situation set up in this episode - there's nothing wrong with Cathica. She's beautiful, intelligent, competent, and ambitious, a good and law-abiding citizen. And the Doctor does nothing but insult her for 75% of the episode. She's not a rebel like Suki - she's just a work-a-day person, and she initially resists the Doctor's subversive approach. But despite everything working against her - comfort, routine, and even at times literal mind control -Cathica is able to choose again. She doesn't get drawn into the plot - she walks out of it, thinks things over, and then decides to walk back into it. "The Long Game" is all about choices, and Cathica is deliberately contrasted with Adam, who makes some very poor choices which end up severely compromising the team. Cathica however moves from complacency into activism, utilizing both the new information she's received and her existing expertise to bring the system (and quite literally the Almighty Jagrafess behind it) crashing down. It's important to note that Cathica does not enact any plan of the Doctor's - the Doctor's only role is to give her the information she needs and light the proverbial fire under her. Cathica processes that information and makes her own plan. And then makes it work. The Doctor and Rose are just the shiny distraction that lets her do her thing unimpeded (I've mentioned how much I love Doctor-as-Catalyst type plots). Nobody tells Cathica what to do or how to do it - she is everything she needs. And she doesn't let her entrenched world-view or the Doctor's derision get in her way. And our heroes are able to go on their way knowing that Satellite 5 and the world's news - and therefore the entire human empire - are in good hands: Cathica's. Of course given that when they come back in "Bad Wolf" everything has gone utterly to pot, poor Cathica almost certainly gets murdered by Daleks as soon as they leave. But you can't win 'em all.