just a couple of articles...
Torchwood: Children Of Earth episode 5 review: the finale
Cameron K McEwan
The latest series of Torchwood comes to an end after an exceptional week, but does the finale keep up the high standards?
Published on Jul 10, 2009
LOTS OF SPOILERS AHEAD!
Whatever happened to the expression TGIF? Aren't we all meant to have a good time at the weekend? Isn't it our right to party? Shouldn't we be allowed to have fun? Russell T Davies doesn't think we should. He wants to hurt us. He wants us to feel actual pain, all in the name of entertainment!
Day Five, the finale of Torchwood: Children of Earth, was not the Friday night viewing I thought that RTD & Co. had in store for us. I expected, foolishly as it now transpires, an upbeat resolution with some good old fashioned British fight. There was the latter but sadly we were fighting one another. After Day Four I didn't think my bleak-o-meter could go below 'Absolute Bleak' but tonight it did. Harrowingly so.
It kicks off with Gwen (Eve Myles) talking directly to a digital camera, almost in a Cloverfield-style message, citing The Doctor (you know, from that other show) and why he may turn his back on us now and again. Chilling stuff from the get-go. But the despair continues as the Government put into plan the abstraction of 10% of our children and the Prime Minster (ghoulishy played by the excellent Nicholas Farrell) has another terrible plan. He uses Frobisher (played by the even more excellent and BAFTA contender Peter Capaldi) and his family to 'sell' the idea of inoculation (how they refer to taking the kids) to the population.
And this is where Children of Earth dipped to the very lowest in its horror. The scene where Frobisher returns to his family in order to end their lives was ghastly and even disgusting. But ultimately, heart-breaking. Director Euros Lyn handles these moments delicately and with great sensitivity - the audience hears the testimony of his life from his secretary, now hero, as she praises this "good man" to Lois Habiba (who we didn't really get to see much of, sadly). Certainly, one of the most powerful moments I have witnessed in many, many years.
Of course, that wasn't only unpleasantness on show. The scenes where the children are dragged off by the army from their families was distressing in the extreme. (And I don't even have kids!) Add to this the revelation that The 456 don't actually need the children, they are merely a "hit" for them, then you've got yourself a real nasty feeling in your stomach. Top marks and a gold star to writer Russell T Davies for this idea; drug dealing on an intergalactic scale.
Torchwood: Children of Earth
If there's one point about the finale that I would take some issue with, it's the resolution. I didn't quite 'get' it on first viewing so I had to go back and try and figure out just how and why The 456 were defeated. I'm still not totally convinced by what went on and it does seem that Captain Jack was merely guessing that the frequency that destroyed Clem (in the previous episode) could be turned on its master to the same effect. Jack makes some leaps of logic to come to this conclusion (and pretty quickly) but this paled into insignificance when presented with the sight of Jack's grandson shaking to death and bleeding out of his face. Gruesome stuff again.
Children of Earth as an entity was startling proof that Russell T Davies knows how to entertain and knows how to create 'event television' (if I may use such a useless and vacuous phrase). And, again, Rusty D demonstrates his ability to utterly destroy you with the power of drama; he knows where the tear ducts are and just how to make them work. But it isn't all down to one man. Euros Lyn was at his directorial best and the vast cast were supreme and utterly convincing.
With shows falling and being axed as regular as my bowel movements, it would surely be a real crime if the Beeb did not stick with Torchwood. Children Of Earth has risen above everything else around it, with much confidence, and demonstrated the need for a unique televisual experience. A unique and markedly different experience to the usual prime-time garbage pumped out by the terrestrial channels here in the UK. This 'five night gamble' has paid off so remarkably that even RTD himself must be wondering if he's living in some parallel world where sci-fi has become the genre of choice on telly (and in the middle of flippin' summer!); a parallel world where John Barrowman beats off soap stars (in the ratings). As Rufus Wainwright would say, "Oh, what a world we live in."
But, here's the real question: Is Torchwood now better than Doctor Who?
Let the discussions commence...
* Episode 1 review
* Episode 2 review
* Episode 3 review
* Episode 4 review
source: http://www.denofgeek.com/television/284491/torchwood_children_of_earth_episode_5_review_the_finale.html
Torchwood: Children of Earth: Day Five
The wrenching final episode examined what humans will do to protect their own. Will Torchwood ever be back?
This blogpost contains spoilers
• Watch Day Five on iPlayer
• Read the review of episode four
Torchwood
Captain Jack (John Barrowman), Eve (Gwen Cooper) and Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd). Photograph: BBC/BBC WALES
"There's one thing I always meant to ask Jack, back in the old days. I wanted to know about that Doctor of his. The man who appears out of nowhere and saves the world. Except sometimes he doesn't. All those times in history when there was no sign of him, I wanted to know, why not? But I don't need to ask anymore, I know the answer now. Sometimes the Doctor must look at this planet, and turn away in shame."
When this blog began on Monday, there was a sense of worry. There were two distinct voices of pessimism. First, those who could barely believe that such a terrible show they'd never watched had been given such a platform. And then there were those concerned fans worried that moving the Torchwood they loved to such a flagship slot was a sentence to death by a thousand tiny viewing figures.
But something extraordinary happened this week. These forums have been rife with reports of people who never even watched nu-Who turning out, and the casual fans there were became die hards. On Thursday night, 6.2m saw the death of Ianto Jones. For a show that started out with a not-undeserved reputation for a default setting of sexing-the-alien-to-death this is victory indeed. What could possibly go wrong now?
Yesterday I predicted the action-packed reveal of the part-CGI, part-prosthetic, part-marionette reality of the 456's laborious true form. I was stupid. The CGI was the flaming fireball from Wednesday. The prosthetic was the squirting slime. The marionettes were the beaklike-pincers we saw through the glass. Turns out, we'd been looking at the monster all along, and it wasn't the things in the tank.
Of course, Ianto didn't get resurrected, not even through swallowing the anti-virus or drinking Jack's immortal tears. His final soliloquy proved to be the moral of the story; the human impulse to protect our own, and things we will and won't do to achieve that. Some will point to a political gesture in one "childless" man putting that moral into the mouth of another to say it. That too is stupid, because like all of Russell T Davies' stories, this was a story about love.
It's been said that Peter Capaldi was even more brilliant this week in the scenes when he didn't speak. Today the logical conclusion of this brilliance comes off-screen, when Frobisher kills his himself and his family so that the girls will never have to face whatever horror the PM had subjected them to in the face of the 456. Even Gwen is driven to contemplate abortion rather than face bringing a child into a world of such apocalypse.
Which leaves us simply with a desolate, desperate Jack. And we realise why we met Alice in the first place. If the only way of saving the children (or, indeed, the Earth) is to send a sci-fi concept called a Rival Constructive Wave through a child, and the only child in the building is Alice's son Steven, then there isn't much else that can be done.
(At this point, my mate Dave texts me with the same fury as he did yesterday at the cabinet's plans for "cleansing". We discuss the possibility of dispatching a car to nearest hospital and finding a terminally ill child to send the Constructive Wave. I suggest that if the healthy Steven is burned up, then what hope a cancer patient to save humanity? He's a bigger optimist than me.)
But the point still stands. Lucy's maternal love makes her fight those grunts, but only so hard. She knows what needs to be done. And why? Because Captain Jack Harkness has yet another price to pay for giving away those 12 children of earth. It's here that I give up on the slightest beam of light at the end of the tunnel. It's all the more gutting because this is a Friday night.
Around all this, we must consider the supporting cast. Bridget Spears redeems herself beautifully. She knows instinctively that she won't be seeing Frobisher again, but she won't forget the way she used to love him, and she reveals herself as a Goodie with the Torchwood contact lenses, dispatching the PM to a grisly fate, if not gory death (and indeed an even scarier successor). Dekker gets away with his sniffy-sniffy routine never explained, surely him and the rest of the unanswered questions of 1965 surely begging for a ruoe as villain in a future series. Lois Habiba, with her ingenuity and her stares and her gorgeous awkwardness, is surely destined for Tosh's old job in whatever form Torchwood is going to take. But did anyone else think that Johnson might be destined for a seat next to her? A woman unafraid to kill - if she's convinced whoever she's killing deserves it - might be just what Torchwood needs.
And yet ... and yet ... those doom-mongers we were talking about at the start might just have been onto something. It feels completely set up like the end of a series that isn't coming back. Ianto is dead. Jack is so wracked with guilt that he's fitted himself with (yet another) stolen teleport and sent himself into exile. And now Gwen's going to be a mum. In continuing (or not) to fling herself in front of bullets to defend the Earth, she's going to have to make that same awful decision between her own child, or everybody's.
But what an incredible week. From its hideous Sex Alien vs Cyberwoman beginnings, Torchwood has become a true treasure. But it's hit upon a terrible theme in Tosh, Owen and Ianto; as people realise their potential in this world, they die. If the same thing does happen to the series it would be awful. But God, it would be poetic.
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvandradioblog/2009/jul/10/torchwood-children-of-earth-day-five
'Torchwood's Final And Finest Hour
Saturday, July 11 2009, 7:17am EDT
By Ben Rawson-Jones, Cult Editor
'Torchwood's Final And Finest Hour
Terrible. Absolutely terrible. Fortunately that's not a description of Torchwood's resoundingly brilliant final hour, but the reaction to some of the heartbreaking decisions made by Captain Jack and John Frobisher during 'Day Five'. It was agonising to witness the loss of innocent young lives, particularly Jack's grandson Stephen, at the hands of men trying to do the right thing. This reaction underlines why 'Children Of Earth' is one of the most powerful, compelling dramas on television in recent times.
Kicking off with a painfully bleak video message from Gwen, the episode twisted and turned in unexpected directions that maximised the tension and tested the tear ducts of the audience. Unlike many sci-fi shows, the climax didn't result in a stale physical battle between good and evil, or simply pressing a 'reset' button. Given Gwen's mention of The Doctor in her message, perhaps he might unexpectedly turn up and save the day? He thankfully didn't. Instead, the resolution revolved around an agonising choice to sacrifice one life to save millions.
The pain was etched on Captain Jack's face, with Stephen's piercing screams provoking happiness at the defeat of the 456 and immense sadness at the cost. For a moment, we hoped that despite the streams of blood filtering out of the young boy's face he'd somehow be alright. But Torchwood, to its credit, didn't have an 'everybody lives' moment. The emotions were expertly drawn out by director Euros Lyn and John Barrowman's brilliant portrayal of a man destined to be tortured for eternity.
Similarly, the end of John Frobisher's family was an artistic tour de force. Throughout the week, Peter Capaldi gave us an excellent character study of a 'good man' put in an increasingly distressing and conflicting situation. When his children were chosen for 'inoculation' it was the final straw. As Frobisher walked up the stairs in his house, brandishing a gun, the unimaginable prospect of a father killing his own family became very real.
The moment was shocking - and brilliantly conveyed without us seeing a drop of blood. We listened in agony, from behind the closed bedroom door, as the first gunshot rang out. Then the second. And the third. There was a slight pause as Frobisher presumably surveyed the horrific scene. The trigger was then pulled for the final time. Lumps must have suddenly materialised in throats across the country. This is powerful human drama, reliant not on special effects but incredible acting, direction and writing.
Although 'Children Of Earth' experienced the occasional lull during its five days, the decision to screen the series over consecutive nights was a masterstroke. Seen in isolation, some episodes were stronger than others, but as a whole this latest incarnation of Torchwood has been a massive success. Excellent supporting turns by the likes of Capaldi, Paul Copley (Timothy/Clem), Cush Jumbo (Lois) and Liz May Brice (Johnson) squeezed every bit of depth out of their characters, while Barrowman, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd (RIP Ianto!) and Kai Owen guided us through the adventure with panache and verve.
At the core lies some magnificent writing. The concept of the 456 wanting to use the world's children to get their latest narcotic hit is genius and terrifying to contemplate. Director Euros Lyn was consistently brilliant as he dealt with five of the most compelling hours of British science fiction since the similarly themed Quatermass. Actually, referring to the show as 'science fiction' almost does it a disservice, as if it's being dumped into some niche category. It's simply great television. Fact.
source: http://www.digitalspy.com/cult/a164598/torchwoods-final-and-finest-hour.html
'Torchwood' sneak peek, details on U.S. airing
Curt Wagner on 07.10.09
I thought I'd share the latest video tease for the upcoming "Torchwood: Children of Earth," which, by the way, is just the most outstanding five hours of television I've watched in quite awhile.
view the trailer: http://www.chicagotribune.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=7b3c6abf-3bb4-4c30-8f3d-1dc3c28dc9c0&src=front
In it you see the creepy affliction that happens to children around the world. I guarantee you that the tension of this scene from Night One of the five-night event only scratches the surface of the dark places "Torchwood" goes. And you don't have to be a sci fi fan, or a "Torchwood" fan even, to get into this season. It's a conspiracy thriller, a character-driven drama and an action-adventure exrtravaganza all rolled into, well, five nights of awesomeness.
And as if the series isn't enough, BBC America is giving it a real DVD treatment when it begins on July 20 and airs at 8 p.m. each night that week. The network will kick off the season at 7 p.m. July 20 with an exclusive, behind-the-scenes special called "Torchwood: Inside the Hub." According to BBC Am, the special will tell fans all there is to know about Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones and more about "Torchwood: Children of Earth."
But that's not all, Torchwood fans. Each episode of "Children of Earth" is 60 minutes long without commercials, so BBC Am plans to air them with breaks from 8 p.m.-9:15 p.m. Monday-Friday, and will give fans an exclusive "Inside Look" from 9:15-9:30 p.m. each night of the run. So even if you've been streaming it online--and shame on you!--tune in for all the extras.
Watch in the next few days for my interview with Gareth David-Lloyd, who play Ianto, and feel free to read my earlier interviews with Eve Myles, who plays Gwen, and Euros Lyn, who directed "Children of Earth."
If you plan to attend San Diego Comic-Con later this month, "Torchwood," "Doctor Who" and the new "Being Human" will be represented there. I'm hoping to score some interviews and sit in on the panel discussions/screenings listed below.
Saturday, July 25
2:15-3:45 p.m Being Human/Torchwood: Being Human creator Toby Whithouse and cast members Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner, are on stage to give an inside look at BBC AMERICA's U.S. premiere sci-fi drama about the lives of three twenty-somethings and their secret double-lives - as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. Following that actor John Barrowman, creator/writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn talk about the making of the epic five-night television event Torchwood: Children of Earth as well as take questions from the fans. Room 6BCF
7:30-10 p.m. Torchwood/Doctor Who: Key talent from both shows introduce the last episode of the five part series Torchwood: Children of Earth and an advance viewing of Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead, the first of four specials starring David Tennant. Room 6A
Sunday, July 26
10-11 a.m. Doctor Who: actor David Tennant, writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, director Euros Lyn and executive producer Julie Gardner discuss their creative process and experiences working on BBC AMERICA's Doctor Who with exclusive clips and a Q&A session. Ballroom 20
2:15-3:45 p.m. Being Human/Torchwood: Being Human creator Toby Whithouse and cast members Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner, are on stage to give an inside look at BBC AMERICA's U.S. premiere sci-fi drama about the lives of three twenty-somethings and their secret double-lives - as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. Following that actor John Barrowman, creator/writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn talk about the making of the epic five-night television event Torchwood: Children of Earth as well as take questions from the fans. Room 6BCF
source: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/show-patrol/2009/07/torchwood-sneak-peek-details-on-us-airing.html
TV Review: Torchwood - Children of Earth Day V, BBC One, Friday 10 July, 9pm
After a couple of sluggish episodes that could have been combined into a single much better one, and a chapter that hinted at better things to come, last night's fourth episode finally delivered on the promise that had been established. Dark and gripping, there still wasn't much action in the truest sense of the word until the last few minutes, but those appalling conversations in the Cabinet made that episode something special. And after that, you just knew the finale was going to be a humdinger...
Before the episode began, the continuity guy announced that this is 'definitely not for children' and how right he was. Day V may not have been particularly gory, but my word it was chilling.
In the same way that seeing Cybermen in ordinary homes was surprisingly terrifying in Doomsday, seeing the government - meant to support and defend its people - send army troops to round up children for little more than glorified junkies looking for their next hit... that's, as they say, intense. But last time, aliens were the bad guys - this time, the horror is accentuated because it's man who's the monster.
But with Captain Jack in custody, apparently having given up all hope, and Gwen on her way back to Wales, deep in mourning, the "process" as the Prime Minister euphemistically puts it gets underway. The first victims? The Frobisher family. What a shocking, gut-wrenching sequence as Bridget Spears explained that John was a good man as he, well, "saved" his children from what he felt was a fate worse than death.
People have had their issues with Russell T Davies, and always will, but for me his greatest strength is that he makes heroes of ordinary people. Shop-worker Rose is a great example of course, but also the populous returning strength to a weakened Doctor just by believing, or the rotund kid at school who saves his classmates from the Krillitane. And now Bridget, Lois, the local bobby fighting back against "maximum force", and the fathers of the very "undesirables" being taken away. Wonderful stuff.
The denouement however, I've yet to make up my mind about... Jack using his own grandson to destroy the 456? I realise that's not meant to be something we're happy about, but it's worse than just ambivalent... it might be dark edge too far, and we'll just have to wait and see whether the character can survive it.
As for the series overall, it has been blessed by some great performances including Peter Capaldi as the grey man used as the Prime Minister's plaything, Kai Owen as Rhys (the 'heart') and Susan Brown as Bridget Spears. And Eve Myles too - not a favourite of mine usually - really came into her own. It was, however, also quite unbalanced and maybe the final episode approached emotional overkill at times. But then, this is sci-fi, it aims to go one step beyond reality, and entertain. And I was very entertained.
Posted by alowman on July 10, 2009
source: http://www.tvscoop.tv/2009/07/tv_review_torch_13.html
Torchwood burning up the UK weekly ratings
Posted Jul 10th 2009 1:00PM by John Scott Lewinski
John Barrowman stars as Captain Jack Harkness in the BBC's Torchwood: Children of Earth.Premiering to an audience of almost 6 million viewers and holding fairly steady all week long, the BBC's "event programming" of Torchwood: "Children of Earth" looks like a success.
Series star John Barrowman griped last week about the BBC producing only a five-episode series for Torchwood's third season. But, the week-long mini-series turned the 2009 appearance of the Doctor Who spinoff into a TV phenomena desperately awaited by its fans.
Torchwood's move to BBC One more than doubled the show's season two ratings, and there's no telling how high those numbers could go for tonight's mini-series finale.
While venturing into new heights of success, "Children of Earth" has a ways to go before it puts any ratings envy into its mother production, Doctor Who. The mini-series topped out at a very healthy 27% viewership share, but Doctor Who premieres and specials boast shares north of 45%.
Stay tuned to TV Squad for reviews and potential spoilers as "Children of Earth" approaches its BBC America U.S. premiere.
source: http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/07/10/torchwood-burning-up-the-uk-weekly-ratings/
Torchwood: It’s Doctor Who with a gay twist
* News & Star
* Opinion
* Anne Pickles
Last updated 11:50, Saturday, 11 July 2009
In the fallow wastelands of summer scheduling, Torchwood was supposed to be the BBC's great white beacon of dramatic relief.
And what did it turn out to be? Doctor Who.
Five consecutive nights of invasion by green, slimy aliens, with menacing threat of possessed child-stealing and only a tiny team of sci-fi spooks able to save the world.
Doctor Who - with a couple of gay heroes to remind us that this was in fact being screened after the 9pm watershed and therefore intended for grown-ups.
But only the ones who never really grew out of the Time Lord and his Tardis travels, eh?
What a let-down.
source: http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/opinion/anne_pickles/torchwood_it_s_doctor_who_with_a_gay_twist_1_581600?referrerPath=opinion/