Torchwood: Children of Earth

[NecronLord]

So, today is the start of the BBC's five-part five-hour Torchwood story, Children of Earth, in which a mysterious force takes control of every child on the planet. From what little I've seen of this, I'm actually rather excited about this potentially being very good.

It's on BBC1 at 9PM, today, and every day this week.

I'll edit in polls for this later.

[Bounty]

Good thing you mentioned this or I'd have forgotten completely. More Gwen Cooper! Woohoo!

So they basically have a five-hour miniseries to play with. Let's hope this means we get a plot that's a bit more intricate than "aliens want to fuck us to death" this time. I wonder who the new team members will be...

I know it's Torchwood, but the second season - I couldn't help not liking it. It seems like they really found their footing and tone with the Owen arc, let's hope this new story can keep that up.

And just because I can: it sucks to be Owen Harper.

[Dartzap]

Well, thats certainly one way of making me want more. Talk about damn cliffhangers!

[andrewgpaul]

Yeah; unlike a normal episode, it's going to be full of wierd shit until at least Wednesday.

And the credits went by too fast; I recognised Peter Capaldi, but who was playing Clement MacDonald?

[andrewgpaul]

Also, did anyone else catch the Afternoon Play on Radio 4 last week? Episodes 2,3, and 4 are still up on the iplayer. Episode 2 will disappear tomorrow.

edit: there are only three; Asylum was on last Tuesday, Golden Age on Wednesday and The Dead Line was on last Thursday.

[Crazedwraith]

Damnit. I forgot to watch this. Oh well, I wasn't sold on having to watch everyday for a week anyway.

[NecronLord]

I found that interesting...

I read it thus: The Home Office gave some aliens a bunch of kids way back when (from that Bus) in exchange for something unknown, or possibly just to make them go away for a bit. This is how the aliens learnt to speak English. Now they're back, possibly for more (a lot more) or possibly for some other reason. The Government clearly expects humanity to survive (though for all we know, they're expecting the Doctor or UNIT to give these wallas what for) and wants to cover its ass by burying the evidence. Hopefully UNIT are going to come down like a ton of bricks on this bunch of traitors to all human kind.

[Stark]

And lock them in Gitmo.

[NecronLord]

And lock them in Gitmo.

My comments on the absurdity of UNIT-gitmo have been aired here before, and should be quite easy to find on search. Until further notice, I'm assuming that there was a lot more unrevealed there, due to simply being so completely against every appearance of UNIT anywhere else, so utterly lame, and so internally nonsensical. ("You stole from the British Government. This is a matter for UNIT! But we'll let a rogue guy we barely give a shit about take you out of here")

[Big Orange]

Heh, if only Torchwood was as good as this right out the barn door and the lack of Chris Chibnall is keenly felt, but in a good way.

[Captain Seafort]

who was playing Clement MacDonald?

Paul Copley - hang your head in shame for not recognising Matthews.

[Bounty]

No comment on yesterday's episode?

It's going well I'd say. Seeing what's left of the Torchwood team pull together to break Jack out was neat to see. It probably wasn't the spooks' brightest idea to put his leftover parts in the same bag, granted, but the concrete was a smart touch. I loved Gwen's expression as she gave Jack the coat

Looks like tonight all hell will break lose and I'll miss it. bah.

[NecronLord]

I thought it was pretty good, and was honestly saying that Gwen should just shoot that woman, because even I couldn't see a way out of that situation. Of course, turns out there was - Ianto just happened to find a large piece of earth moving equipment unsecured on a military base on high altert.

Nonetheless, it was pretty damn cool.

[Captain Seafort]

The forklift aside, the bad guys (and girl) seemed surprisingly competent - not telling Jack their plans, encasing him in concrete, actually sounding an alarm when the cameras started going down, etc. Basic stuff, but the sort of thing that usually gets ignored. Pity they couldn't shoot for shit.

[NecronLord]

Captain Harkness, you are a traitor to humankind!

[Thanas]

To my surprise, I enjoyed the first episode. Maybe it is because Euros Lyn is directing, he always has been one of the better directors of the series with his great pieces of Season 1 and 2.

Also - no Martha? Anyone else expecting a massive Martha ex machina at the end?

[Big Orange]

That boffin in the mustard coloured lab coat really creeps me out and the 456 alien reminds me of the Tentacle creatures from the Half-Life franchise. Oh, and at the start of yesterday's episode it's as if the writers were saying; 'Hey guys the Torchwood Hub was going nowhere fast in the last three years so we decided to scrap the whole thing entirely and start all over!'

*BOOOOM!!!*

This show has improved by leaps and bounds, the general tone set by the "Children of Earth" serial was what Torchwood should've been right from the start, and I hope they'll stick to this winning formula from now on. Keep it lean, mean, and coherent.

I like that Black-Ops woman (who was also in Resident Evil, Dead Set, and Fortress 2), I really dislike that elderly civil service woman, and Peter Capaldi is a revelation as the genuinely put upon, morally ambiguous chief civil servant. I wonder if the Black Ops woman and her team switch sides, then end up as members of a genuinely resurgent Torchwood Institute?

[Pinjar]

... Ianto just happened to find a large piece of earth moving equipment...

I see those fork lifts quite a lot - they seem to be fairly common pieces of farm machinery used for moving giant hay bales and the like. There were some aerial shots, but I don't remember, they were in the country-side in a fairly small compound weren't they?


The aliens seem to be really hamming it up. Is that typical for the show or is it because the aliens are pretending to be big-shots?

[Big Orange]

The aliens seem to be really hamming it up. Is that typical for the show or is it because the aliens are pretending to be big-shots?

The 456 alien is rather low key and menacing by NuWho's mostly florid standards, almost as unnerving as the Weeping Angels and Midnight Creature.

[Crazedwraith]

I actually saw a couple of minutes of last weeks episode. Specifically them setting up in their new base and attempting to be funny or whatever. Where Jack gets a new longcoat so he can be badass again.

[Bounty]

...what? It's a one-week series, so there was no "last week's episode", and thanks for the spoilers.

[Crazedwraith]

Last night. Last night I meant. And also fuck you, everyone's been posting spoilery comments in this thread.

[Bounty]

Sorry, though you had accidentally seen a preview of the last episode or something.

[andrewgpaul]

The aliens seem to be really hamming it up. Is that typical for the show or is it because the aliens are pretending to be big-shots?

The 456 alien is rather low key and menacing by NuWho's mostly florid standards, almost as unnerving as the Weeping Angels and Midnight Creature.

Reminded me of the alien in Area 51 in Independence Day.

[Rye]

All this moral quandry stuff is actually pretty good watching. Holy shit. I never thought Torchwood could be good.