Torchwood: Children of the Earth
To start: I LOVED THIS. While I haven't read reactions yet (because even though I knew the big spoiler, I still wanted to actually experience it), I simply cannot understand what everyone was so upset over. That was GREAT TV.
I loved the plot firstly. It was creepy. It was executed so well. Why the 456 wanted the kids? So amazing in its utter ridiculousness. Drugs. It's so simple. And yet, unlike casa in the Stargate verse, this drug goes well beyond affecting just the users and any family/work/government/trade. They wanted to use a sentient being as Vicodin. It's as barbaric as eating human flesh because it tastes good. But of course, to the aliens it didn't matter. They apparently have no moral compass--or at the very least, it is completely skewed. I think this was a step out for both the Doctor Who/Torchwood series and for sci-fi in general. Often, aliens do bad things because of a skewed moral system or a different cultural system, or "evilness" (ala TOS Mirror Mirror). Here, I truly believe the 456 simply didn't have one. It makes you wonder where they first discovered kids were heroin for them, but nonetheless. Being sentient, living and breathing didn't matter to them. And that is what makes the 456 frankly, scary.
I am also incredibly impressed with the special effects. Not revealing the alien not only made it scarier, but it also then allowed for more money to be spent on a few things, and we didn't end up with a Doctor Who ep or Torchwood's Meat. It felt like a movie. The acting was suddenly brilliant, the script tight, emotional, and anger-inducing, and the show as a whole probably shot up 10 points from last year's even. It was just that well done. (Although, i cracked up after the first 1 or 2 times of the alien's spazzy movements. I was like, do you have indegestion? I mean, what was its deal?lol)
What I truly loved about the series though, is that is focused on my favorite aspect of sci-fi: humanity. Sci-fi is only interesting when you're testing the limits of human ability. That ability might be physical, intellect, or emotional. Showing the bureaucrats...well, they truly are the ones who do the work and aren't written about. Brilliant. The interplay between the different task forces and the various military and heads of state (well, ok, only the GB PM was there, but you know what I mean) was spot on.
You wouldn't believe how angry I was at them all for not choosing to fight. I was disgusted. You fight till the death against something like that, even if it does mean you die. At the same time, some of that logic (ie the population control) was not entirely unconvincing. Of course, it should have been random selection. All people are equal. In suggesting what she did, that lady proved humanity is still young. I couldn't believe so many soldiers would do that. You don't turn over someone elses kids to save your own. You stand up and fight back.
But I was perhaps most angry at Jack. Not at the past experience. But that he gave in so quick again. He spouts this rhetoric only to back out of it. The Jack I always thought he was stood up to things like that, no matter the cost. I realize Jack is deeply, deeply flawed, and I'm not saying this is OOC. Merely that, I don't understand why he didn't try more. He just...gave up. In one sense, I love him more for his sudden and sharp flaws that stood out in CoE. We have all come to think of Jack as this brilliant, cheery, sexual hero. But he's not. He's in pain. He's done horrible things. He's beginning to have lived too long to care. The next progression is 1, 2, 5 centuries down the line, Jack becomes the bad guy. It's how bad guys work. The most interesting evil is not born or prophesied. It's created. It's misperception. It's hurt and anger and vengeance, and sometimes, the inability to feel anymore.
Oh, when they bury him in concrete. POOR JACK. To do that to him again...and then he looses Ianto. OMG, my heart broke. I get people are upset about Ianto dying...but I'm still not sure I get why. It's not quite like Carson who dies for no real reason (the problem was already solved). And while I was annoyed at first by the death spoiler because Tosh and Owen had just died last series, in the actual execution, it made sense. It was needed to have Jack leave. To break Jack. I'm not mad. I'm sad, sure. I bawled my eyes out. But I am not raving mad at the writers, etc.
And John, the civil servant. His story is by far the most tragic. He was put in the middle, did his job and cursed by the "sudden but inevitable betrayal". The PM knew all along John would do whatever he was told and that he would suffer for it. Small casualties, right? It reminded me of the only part of The Mist that I liked--the end. They also do it in Watchmen (the novel, not the movie, if I recall, correctly). Killing in order to avoid what may be worse than death. That, I think, made me cry harder than Ianto.
My only real complaints regard the lack of Martha Jones and the Doctor. I realize it's Torchwood, not Doctor Who. And actor availability, etc. But given the 'verse, was Martha really completely oblivious to what was happening while on her honeymoon? I would have cut that short to help. If she could be called (as gwen tells Jack not to do), she wasn't off planet--the only excuse. And how could the Doctor have overlooked this? Because it was only drug-trafficking? But it involved the most susceptible of a species. And it drove the world to the brink of war; with itself and with an alien race. I just...those aren't the characters they've built by not being there. OOC, shall we say.
Oh, who thought that doctor at the beginning was HOT? I was so excited to get another new member and a really cute one, too. That's ok, though, the story was good this way, too.
Shows like CoE and Battlestar Galactica are what we need more of. It's TV that makes you think. That's true art. The sci-fi aspect brings it closer (the situations are more extreme and make us pause) and removes it. But either way, the watcher must stop and go, "what would I do? Am I capable of that?" I realize I don't put in BSG every time I want to fall asleep or every time I want to watch TV. It's too deep to treat it like that. We'll always need our escapism: our Stargates and Big Brothers. But more of true art and storytelling like CoE needs to be made. It's the human condition.
Here's some questions about Jack, though, for any Doctor Who watchers.
1. In first season he was waiting for the Doctor to come to send him home or something like that. But here he clearly states he's talked to the Doctor and he suddenly can go off planet. What gives?
2. How did he become immortal again? And how did he end up back in time?
3. The Doctor calls him a "fixed point in space and time". What? I know this relates to his immortality, but what caused this? He certainly wasn't born like that (was he?). What makes Jack special this way. And why, for God's sake, does he not travel with the Doctor. Seems to me, they'd make an awesome team. At least as a third. I think the Doctor uses humans for a reason, but still. Jack can't die.
In sum: one of the best bits of TV I have watched in a very long time.
I loved the plot firstly. It was creepy. It was executed so well. Why the 456 wanted the kids? So amazing in its utter ridiculousness. Drugs. It's so simple. And yet, unlike casa in the Stargate verse, this drug goes well beyond affecting just the users and any family/work/government/trade. They wanted to use a sentient being as Vicodin. It's as barbaric as eating human flesh because it tastes good. But of course, to the aliens it didn't matter. They apparently have no moral compass--or at the very least, it is completely skewed. I think this was a step out for both the Doctor Who/Torchwood series and for sci-fi in general. Often, aliens do bad things because of a skewed moral system or a different cultural system, or "evilness" (ala TOS Mirror Mirror). Here, I truly believe the 456 simply didn't have one. It makes you wonder where they first discovered kids were heroin for them, but nonetheless. Being sentient, living and breathing didn't matter to them. And that is what makes the 456 frankly, scary.
I am also incredibly impressed with the special effects. Not revealing the alien not only made it scarier, but it also then allowed for more money to be spent on a few things, and we didn't end up with a Doctor Who ep or Torchwood's Meat. It felt like a movie. The acting was suddenly brilliant, the script tight, emotional, and anger-inducing, and the show as a whole probably shot up 10 points from last year's even. It was just that well done. (Although, i cracked up after the first 1 or 2 times of the alien's spazzy movements. I was like, do you have indegestion? I mean, what was its deal?lol)
What I truly loved about the series though, is that is focused on my favorite aspect of sci-fi: humanity. Sci-fi is only interesting when you're testing the limits of human ability. That ability might be physical, intellect, or emotional. Showing the bureaucrats...well, they truly are the ones who do the work and aren't written about. Brilliant. The interplay between the different task forces and the various military and heads of state (well, ok, only the GB PM was there, but you know what I mean) was spot on.
You wouldn't believe how angry I was at them all for not choosing to fight. I was disgusted. You fight till the death against something like that, even if it does mean you die. At the same time, some of that logic (ie the population control) was not entirely unconvincing. Of course, it should have been random selection. All people are equal. In suggesting what she did, that lady proved humanity is still young. I couldn't believe so many soldiers would do that. You don't turn over someone elses kids to save your own. You stand up and fight back.
But I was perhaps most angry at Jack. Not at the past experience. But that he gave in so quick again. He spouts this rhetoric only to back out of it. The Jack I always thought he was stood up to things like that, no matter the cost. I realize Jack is deeply, deeply flawed, and I'm not saying this is OOC. Merely that, I don't understand why he didn't try more. He just...gave up. In one sense, I love him more for his sudden and sharp flaws that stood out in CoE. We have all come to think of Jack as this brilliant, cheery, sexual hero. But he's not. He's in pain. He's done horrible things. He's beginning to have lived too long to care. The next progression is 1, 2, 5 centuries down the line, Jack becomes the bad guy. It's how bad guys work. The most interesting evil is not born or prophesied. It's created. It's misperception. It's hurt and anger and vengeance, and sometimes, the inability to feel anymore.
Oh, when they bury him in concrete. POOR JACK. To do that to him again...and then he looses Ianto. OMG, my heart broke. I get people are upset about Ianto dying...but I'm still not sure I get why. It's not quite like Carson who dies for no real reason (the problem was already solved). And while I was annoyed at first by the death spoiler because Tosh and Owen had just died last series, in the actual execution, it made sense. It was needed to have Jack leave. To break Jack. I'm not mad. I'm sad, sure. I bawled my eyes out. But I am not raving mad at the writers, etc.
And John, the civil servant. His story is by far the most tragic. He was put in the middle, did his job and cursed by the "sudden but inevitable betrayal". The PM knew all along John would do whatever he was told and that he would suffer for it. Small casualties, right? It reminded me of the only part of The Mist that I liked--the end. They also do it in Watchmen (the novel, not the movie, if I recall, correctly). Killing in order to avoid what may be worse than death. That, I think, made me cry harder than Ianto.
My only real complaints regard the lack of Martha Jones and the Doctor. I realize it's Torchwood, not Doctor Who. And actor availability, etc. But given the 'verse, was Martha really completely oblivious to what was happening while on her honeymoon? I would have cut that short to help. If she could be called (as gwen tells Jack not to do), she wasn't off planet--the only excuse. And how could the Doctor have overlooked this? Because it was only drug-trafficking? But it involved the most susceptible of a species. And it drove the world to the brink of war; with itself and with an alien race. I just...those aren't the characters they've built by not being there. OOC, shall we say.
Oh, who thought that doctor at the beginning was HOT? I was so excited to get another new member and a really cute one, too. That's ok, though, the story was good this way, too.
Shows like CoE and Battlestar Galactica are what we need more of. It's TV that makes you think. That's true art. The sci-fi aspect brings it closer (the situations are more extreme and make us pause) and removes it. But either way, the watcher must stop and go, "what would I do? Am I capable of that?" I realize I don't put in BSG every time I want to fall asleep or every time I want to watch TV. It's too deep to treat it like that. We'll always need our escapism: our Stargates and Big Brothers. But more of true art and storytelling like CoE needs to be made. It's the human condition.
Here's some questions about Jack, though, for any Doctor Who watchers.
1. In first season he was waiting for the Doctor to come to send him home or something like that. But here he clearly states he's talked to the Doctor and he suddenly can go off planet. What gives?
2. How did he become immortal again? And how did he end up back in time?
3. The Doctor calls him a "fixed point in space and time". What? I know this relates to his immortality, but what caused this? He certainly wasn't born like that (was he?). What makes Jack special this way. And why, for God's sake, does he not travel with the Doctor. Seems to me, they'd make an awesome team. At least as a third. I think the Doctor uses humans for a reason, but still. Jack can't die.
In sum: one of the best bits of TV I have watched in a very long time.