Torchwood: Children of Earth

the doctor wouldn't have done what jack did...

but blimey- what an amazing week's telly

barnaby salton wrote:the doctor wouldn't have done what jack did...

but blimey- what an amazing week's telly

The thing is- the Doctor did sort of do what Jack did. Remember Eccleston's line in Dalek? "I saw it happen. I made it happen!" He was talking about what he did to end the time war, and it cost him Gallifrey.

I think what happened to Steven was Jack's "I saw it happen, I made it happen" moment. I half expect that the next time we see him, Jack will be wearing a battered leather jacket over a V-neck jumper.

Nah. He'll wear that coat of his for the rest of time, because Ianto gave it to him

I forgot Frank was on a weekend vacation. I'm eagerly awaiting his review of Day 5.

Been in Kintyre - there was telly - Infected friend with Torchy - 10/10 awesome

Jenny! You're back!

Finally caught up with CoE. Really quite surprisingly good - hard to believe it's actually Torchwood!

Probably could have done with losing an episode, mind, but then that's traditional for anything longer than a four-parter...

McGann out of ten*

Graymalkin wrote:robably could have done with losing an episode, mind, but then that's traditional for anything longer than a four-parter...

Don't you feel the opportunity for pauses, and rounded subplots and a chance to breathe, actually helped Gray?

For example, IMO the gentle opening 15 minutes of Day Three made Frobisher's encounters with the 456, in the second half, all the more awesome. And the fact that the villain of the piece didn't appear until 2 1/2 hours in was brilliant!

I've not, generally, been one to complain about the pacing of Nu-Who. But I really hope Moff takes the opportunity to bring in an additional 2 parter, or maybe even two, to try and give us a tad more character development and raison d'etre.

barnaby salton wrote:the doctor wouldn't have done what jack did...

but blimey- what an amazing week's telly

Well, the Doctor might have gotten away with the speech at the end of Day 4 and scared them off. He also may well have worked out who they were and predicted the whole 'shooting up on kids' angle. But he's the Doctor, you'd expect that. Jack's lived a long time and knows a lot, but he's still just a man.

Patrick wrote:The thing is- the Doctor did sort of do what Jack did. Remember Eccleston's line in Dalek? "I saw it happen. I made it happen!" He was talking about what he did to end the time war, and it cost him Gallifrey.

I think what happened to Steven was Jack's "I saw it happen, I made it happen" moment. I half expect that the next time we see him, Jack will be wearing a battered leather jacket over a V-neck jumper.

I agree with Lucy about the coat. As for the Doctor doing what Jack did, yep...he has. The Doctor has done some grim stuff, but we tend to accept it from him. When a Time Lord says "There was no other way!", his authority and knowledge back the claim up. Poor Jack, he's riddled with doubt, though he did the best he could.

The Co=Ordinator wrote:Don't you feel the opportunity for pauses, and rounded subplots and a chance to breathe, actually helped Gray?

Absolutely. But I did feel, at least on first viewing, that there was flab that could have been trimmed. Maybe not a whole episode's worth, now I think on't, but there were moments of drag. Don't get me wrong, though, it was definitely on the right side of the drag/rushed scale. And such a dramatic improvement compared to the storytelling of the last two series that I'm prepared to admit I might be being a tad churlish.

Albeit right.

I've not, generally, been one to complain about the pacing of Nu-Who. But I really hope Moff takes the opportunity to bring in an additional 2 parter, or maybe even two, to try and give us a tad more character development and raison d'etre.

I would, and indeed always have, agree with that. I'd probably swap the ratio around and make one-parters the exception rather than the rule. But, then, what do I know about making stuff for the tellybox?

The Co=Ordinator wrote:Don't you feel the opportunity for pauses, and rounded subplots and a chance to breathe, actually helped Gray?

For example, IMO the gentle opening 15 minutes of Day Three made Frobisher's encounters with the 456, in the second half, all the more awesome. And the fact that the villain of the piece didn't appear until 2 1/2 hours in was brilliant!

To each their own, but I thought the pacing was spot on as well.

Zoltar wrote:To each their own, but I thought the pacing was spot on as well.

I'm always prepared to entertain the possibility I may not be entirely correct...

Graymalkin wrote:I'm always prepared to entertain the possibility I may not be entirely correct...

If it's any consolation, Gray, we're all awaiting Ol' Coxy's review Day 5. He may very well agree with you.

Dingdongalistic wrote:

Also interesting is the fact that the bodies weren't quarantined. What's up with that?

It's not that interesting, the nation is in a state of emergency. Plus they're expecting the world to end so whats the point in putting them in quarantine?

Dingdongalistic wrote:

The Co=Ordinator wrote:It's what School League Tables are for Patrick.

I nearly burst out laughing at that point. Whoever wrote that episode must love New Labour.

I'm sure they were brought in before New Labour....

Indeed they were, but Labour has taken the idea to its heart, and created more tables in the public sector than Ikea have in their warehouses.

School League Tables are Satan's work...

I was utterly appalled when I found out what they were as if education can be measured in a quantifiable manner.

Kate Seadevil wrote:I was utterly appalled when I found out what they were as if education can be measured in a quantifiable manner.

Isn't that also a problem with exams (particularly since all they actually test is how good you are at sitting exams...)?

One of the best things about the success of The Children of Earth is that it has blown the fallacious arguement that people will not watch a drama with an umbrella title and segments labeled "Part One", "Part Two" etc if they have missed one of the earlier episodes. The Ratings for this series actually went up with each passing episode. A series which had an umbrella title and episodes labeled "Day One", "Day Two" etc which is as close to "Part One", "Part Two" as it is possible to get. Lets hope the message gets through, and when Doctor Who returns, the two part stories will have proper titles and the episodes within those stories will be refered to with the logical "Part One" and "Part Two".

The Browncoat Cat wrote:Lets hope the message gets through, and when Doctor Who returns, the two part stories will have proper titles and the episodes within those stories will be refered to with the logical "Part One" and "Part Two".

I agree wholeheartedly Cat.

The Browncoat Cat wrote:One of the best things about the success of The Children of Earth is that it has blown the fallacious arguement that people will not watch a drama with an umbrella title and segments labeled "Part One", "Part Two" etc if they have missed one of the earlier episodes.

My parents watched it even though they'd missed the earlier episodes. My brother was in Prague last week, and he's now watching all five episodes in order on the iPlayer.

Graymalkin wrote:Isn't that also a problem with exams (particularly since all they actually test is how good you are at sitting exams...)?

Luckily, I'm very good at sitting exams

Graymalkin wrote:

Kate Seadevil wrote:I was utterly appalled when I found out what they were as if education can be measured in a quantifiable manner.

Isn't that also a problem with exams (particularly since all they actually test is how good you are at sitting exams...)?

I'd say that's slightly different - if you know a subject then you can sit an exam in it. There not as scary or hard as people make out, and I'm sure I read somewhere that people tend to do better than they think.

The Browncoat Cat wrote:One of the best things about the success of The Children of Earth is that it has blown the fallacious arguement that people will not watch a drama with an umbrella title and segments labeled "Part One", "Part Two" etc if they have missed one of the earlier episodes. The Ratings for this series actually went up with each passing episode. A series which had an umbrella title and episodes labeled "Day One", "Day Two" etc which is as close to "Part One", "Part Two" as it is possible to get. Lets hope the message gets through, and when Doctor Who returns, the two part stories will have proper titles and the episodes within those stories will be refered to with the logical "Part One" and "Part Two".

Yes, once Doctor Who goes daily then that will work.

This was brilliant TV. i watched it along with Frank and Geoff at Bad Wolf. When we got round to the final scene with Frobisher I thought that the drama couldn't get any bleaker but somehow it managed to do just that. It was a perfect emotionally satisfying ending. I was totally drained.

And yet there are some people who still talk about DEM and 'magic button', finales. I weep for them.