Torchwood: Children of Earth

[Draken]

Ok the first two series of Torchwood were at best hit and miss but bloody hell, what about the recent 5-part mini-series?

Nobody talking about it? Too dark maybe?

[BeardofPants]

I never bothered with it; loved Captain Jack in Dr. Who, but TW hasn't managed to snag my attention yet. Maybe I'll DVD it when it gets a bit more progressed.

[Draken]

Hi BoP! Good to see you still around. Seeing your name here is a welcoming sight to returning wanderers like me!

Well TW 1 & 2 really left me disapppointed. The "mature" content came across in a rather "Oooh we're on after 9pm! Let's have swearing! And boys kissing boys! And girls kissing girls!" manner. Plus some of the plots were stinkers.

Children of Earth though took me totally by surprise. It was just stunning. Very little TV drama, and no other sci-fi, has left me thinking about its messages long after it finished, or has made me feel so damn... angry, I suppose.

I won't say more cos it's hard to without giving spoilers. It's challenging alright, but in my opinion it's magnificent. Don't feel you have to sit through the first 2 series though, you might get a bit more of a feeling for the back story but Children of Earth stands alone and is a class apart from what preceeded it.

[BeardofPants]

Interesting - cos that's sorta why I never bothered w/ TW actually (ooh gay kissy kissy... *yawn*). I'll keep an eye out for it.

[Snowdog]

I hear they're going to resurrect Torchwood with another mini-series.

[Earniel]

Plus some of the plots were stinkers.
I mostly had problems with the characterisation, although some of the plots could have been better indeed. But none of the characters were at all likable in the first season, they tried to rectify it in the second season, but I don't think I'll ever really watch any of the episodes again. Or possibly only the ones with James Marsters, those were well above average. I was rather disappointed he didn't appear in more episodes.

I can't tell whether I liked Children of Earth any better than I did the other two seasons. It was a decent try, and a bit of a gamble to do a short, 5-episode season with one story-arc. But the ending didn't quite deliver.

The built-up was great and rather exciting. But by Day Four, it sort of fell apart in my opinion. Not in the least because Ianto's death was so utterly pointless. Here you have a fearsome, powerful alien race and how do they deal with it? They just waltz in and demand that the aliens stop what they're doing and go home. And they seriously thought that was going to work?!

And the thing with Jack's grandson was terribly contrived. If they wanted to deal the audience an emotional wallop, they should have made the boy a part of the previous season. Now he pops up out of nowhere just so he can be the sacrificial lamb. It annoyed me immensely.

I had heard they were going to do an ordinary season again next, but one mainly set in America. Will probably watch it if it gets broadcast here. Maybe they've learned to improve it.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I was disappointed that they're doing another season. The first two seasons were watchable, but not really good; when they finally turned out something that was really quite good with Children of Earth, I was ticked that it didn't end there. I can't imagine it will be followed very well.