...and somehow the American version has MORE gay sex?
Watched Torchwood: Miracle Day. Actually, I finished watching it last night but I thought I'd let my thoughts percolate for a bit. Bad idea, because the more I think about it, the less it makes any damn sense at all.
So, awesome premise, right? And it doesn't actually start out too badly -- there's serious thought put into what would happen if death suddenly stopped. But then literally everything in the first six episodes turns out to be a macguffin because, oh wait, Jack had a stabby boyfriend that one time. The ending doesn't even make sense by the writers' own admission, because it's flat-out stated that Jack's immortality isn't in his blood, and if it was, then everyone would stop aging and heal like Jack does. Hey, that might actually be a better story. But the societal collapse would take longer to happen, so it would make for a better book than a miniseries. Can I steal that idea?
Also, was anyone else hoping that the miracle would be somehow related to Owen's unexplained survival throughout most of season two? That's where I really, really hoped they were going with it, but no. Giant, vaguely benevolent, sucky hole in the ground. Literally sucky.
Anyway, good things about Miracle Day: the Jack/Gwen interaction, especially the car ride where she basically tells him she'd kill him herself if it meant protecting her daughter. The scenes with just the two of them are the only thing about this that actually feels like Torchwood; the rest of it feels like a completely different show altogether. Oswald Danes and Jilly Kitzenger were both excellent characters (morally despicable, but you know what I mean) and terrifically acted. The way they flirted with the parallels between Jack and Oswald as child-killers was interesting, and of course quickly abandoned, like everything else. I think it would have worked better if Oswald was just a killer rather than a pedophile -- it would have given Jack less high ground. And Oswald's corporate-backed rise to fame: again, an interesting storyline that went nowhere.
I could pick it apart for ages, but I wouldn't be saying anything that a thousand raging internet denizens haven't already said. Whatever flaws Children of Earth had, especially at the end, at least it worked as a coherent, compelling story. You even cared about the ancillary characters (or at least I did). I've read a lot suggesting that Miracle Day would have been better if it had been five episodes instead of ten. Better, yes, but probably still not good. And why end on a mini-cliffhanger if you're not even sure there are going to be more episodes?
However, one thing that they kept from the old Torchwood that made me happy: they always put Gwen in appropriate shoes, usually ass-kicking boots. None of this Barbie high-heel bullshit that the poor CIA analyst had to wear, even after they were on the run and it was established that they all bought new clothes.
Semi-related note: a friend of mine just had twin boys and named them Jack and Owen. Pretty sure she's not a Torchwood fan, though.
Oh, and it totally occurred to me the other day that Jack Harkness actually is what the cultural perception of TOS!Kirk seems to be -- namely, will sleep with any sentient entity in any universe. I wonder if the writers actually had that in mind when they were creating Jack's character. Eh, probably not.
So, awesome premise, right? And it doesn't actually start out too badly -- there's serious thought put into what would happen if death suddenly stopped. But then literally everything in the first six episodes turns out to be a macguffin because, oh wait, Jack had a stabby boyfriend that one time. The ending doesn't even make sense by the writers' own admission, because it's flat-out stated that Jack's immortality isn't in his blood, and if it was, then everyone would stop aging and heal like Jack does. Hey, that might actually be a better story. But the societal collapse would take longer to happen, so it would make for a better book than a miniseries. Can I steal that idea?
Also, was anyone else hoping that the miracle would be somehow related to Owen's unexplained survival throughout most of season two? That's where I really, really hoped they were going with it, but no. Giant, vaguely benevolent, sucky hole in the ground. Literally sucky.
Anyway, good things about Miracle Day: the Jack/Gwen interaction, especially the car ride where she basically tells him she'd kill him herself if it meant protecting her daughter. The scenes with just the two of them are the only thing about this that actually feels like Torchwood; the rest of it feels like a completely different show altogether. Oswald Danes and Jilly Kitzenger were both excellent characters (morally despicable, but you know what I mean) and terrifically acted. The way they flirted with the parallels between Jack and Oswald as child-killers was interesting, and of course quickly abandoned, like everything else. I think it would have worked better if Oswald was just a killer rather than a pedophile -- it would have given Jack less high ground. And Oswald's corporate-backed rise to fame: again, an interesting storyline that went nowhere.
I could pick it apart for ages, but I wouldn't be saying anything that a thousand raging internet denizens haven't already said. Whatever flaws Children of Earth had, especially at the end, at least it worked as a coherent, compelling story. You even cared about the ancillary characters (or at least I did). I've read a lot suggesting that Miracle Day would have been better if it had been five episodes instead of ten. Better, yes, but probably still not good. And why end on a mini-cliffhanger if you're not even sure there are going to be more episodes?
However, one thing that they kept from the old Torchwood that made me happy: they always put Gwen in appropriate shoes, usually ass-kicking boots. None of this Barbie high-heel bullshit that the poor CIA analyst had to wear, even after they were on the run and it was established that they all bought new clothes.
Semi-related note: a friend of mine just had twin boys and named them Jack and Owen. Pretty sure she's not a Torchwood fan, though.
Oh, and it totally occurred to me the other day that Jack Harkness actually is what the cultural perception of TOS!Kirk seems to be -- namely, will sleep with any sentient entity in any universe. I wonder if the writers actually had that in mind when they were creating Jack's character. Eh, probably not.