Writing Good Drama

[satanassa]

RTD wished to create a great sci-fi 'drama' with Torchwood: Children of Earth. It resulted in lots of disgruntled fans because one of the best-loved pairings on the show came to a tragic end. He ridiculed these 'hysterical' fans by claiming that all they wanted was to see boy-kissing and handsome men and that they were upset because they couldn't

Comments

[love_jackianto]

'The point I am making here is that if RTD had actually bothered to write GOOD drama, then there wouldn't have been such an unhappy reaction from fans.'
I second that. Personally, I've always been more irritated (among other emotions) that Ianto was killed off in such a cheap, pointless way than the fact he was killed off in general; because love interests for lead characters tend not to last too long in sci-fi, I always expected it. And than to be told that because I didn't like it meant that I didn't understand what 'real' drama was just made me angry. No, I just know a cheap, over-used plot device when I see one.

[kholran]

I totally agree with you. How much more dramatic would it have been if Ianto had been ALIVE and then had to deal with the fallout of Jack sacrificing Steven (which I am thoroughly convinced would have happened anyways)? What if he had been right there next to Alice as Jack pushed that button? Is watching his lover kill a child something he could forgive? Or would that cause a split between them? Or conversely, what if having Ianto there too STILL wasn't enough to keep Jack from leaving Earth? At least with Ianto still alive, Jack would have a reason to ultimately come back again, even if their relationship is beyond repair at that point.

And if that had happened, while I would have mourned the split of my OTP, I would have been able to accept it and not STILL be pissed off six months later. It was such a waste of dramatic potential AND the one character I still related to.

[mosame]

Actually, if you ever happened to read jovialien fix-it fic you'd know that the whole thing would have been much more dramatic with Ianto still alive.
I kind of liked how she fixed the scene with Steven although it still broke my heart.
And we don't get a happy ending but there's still some hope and love.
And there's even some humour in it. More humour and more drama than in CoE. Hard to believe!

[aviv_b]

I haven't - could you provide a link?

[mosame]

Here you go:

http://jovialien.livejournal.com/188370.html

[aviv_b]

Absolutely

[alba17]

I think I agree. (Addicted to the Christian/Syed storyline here.) It's a cheap trick to just go for killing off a character. How many times is RTD going to go for that? COE was maddening because Ianto's death was so unnecessary and stupid. If RTD had developed the story to make it seem that Ianto's death was inevitable and/or necessary, it would have been somewhat less painful. And the way he milked Ten's death/regeneration in End of Time was along the same lines.

I still think Christian and Syed could end up together, btw. Eventually. After much pain and suffering, because it's a soap, after all. *crossing fingers*

Thanks for your thoughts!

[chryssalys]

As devastated as i was by the deaths of Tosh and Owen, their deaths made sense in the storyline and were beautifully written for the characters. The failure in CoE was the failure to be true to the characters and create a story that fit them. So, yeah. Agree with you here.

[aviv_b]

Yes, this. RTD has stated that the CoE story is one he has been thinking about for a long time. So he took the TW characters and stuffed them into his story.

This is only second hand, but apparently JB's new book talks about how he and other actors argued that the charcters were not what they had been. And JB really, really didn't want Jack to kill Stephen. It didn't make any sense to him and he knew that it would destroy the character of Captain Jack.

And if the actors say the story isn't ringing true, then somethings wrong with the story.

[chryssalys]

I had not heard that the actors felt that way. But after spending the time to build the characters and portray the characters, they would know.

I certainly felt that they were OOC. Although, personally, I could see Jack killing Stephen to save the rest of the children. Hating it, fighting it with everything in him, but doing it if it came down to it. Because Jack saves what he can.

[aviv_b]

Actually I could see CJ doing it too. But JB knew people would hate it. Again second hand, but apparently some people at cons have been telling him that they hate CJ and him for playing it that way (like he could do anything about it).

also - rumor has it that there were some things he wouldn't do the way Eros (I dont know if I have the name right) wanted him to do them and it got to the point where he said, that's what I'm doing, you don't like edit it or cut the scene.

Assuming its true, what a shame. Here's a character that everyone liked and you could tell JB got a real kick out of playing and RTD and his minions broke all the shiny toys.