Torchwood - Children of Earth

[Neil]

I believe this 5 part series starts in the US today? It's cheesy but I actually thought it was pretty good, and a good fun watch!

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41739

[Danny]

i liked it all but the final episode, great acting from the main cast but the "bad guys" where just another dr who villain that shows up, twirls his moutsache and thats about it. It just ended in a way where you expected a bigger payoff but no it ends without the "this is where it all changes" occuring again.

dont get me wrong it was great to see gwen, jack and ianto back but still, the ending was'nt for me.

but i liked battlestars ending so im the minority on sci-fi endings.

[MinionZombie]

I really enjoyed Children of Earth - sure, the reason why the aliens are there is a bit iffy, but it's still an interesting idea (perhaps an idea better suited to a one-off Torchwood stand alone episode though).

I really, really liked the sheer increasing bleakness of it all - it was truly grown up and adult in that respect - it took an idea, a truly horrifying idea (especially to parents, I would assume) and ran with it.

The nice little background swipes at the state of the UK today were nice little additions, and Peter Capaldi was absolutely superb throughout - that scene with him in in the final episode was just pitch-perfect, in my view ... and when you think about that scene, in the context of the ending, it's even more "woah" ... you know?

There are daft bits in it, but they're only small little niggles - the overall tone, pace and plot was ruddy good - and loads better than half of series 2 ... half of series 2 was pretty good (e.g. the final episode, or that one about those people who'd teleported to some horrific place and were kept hidden away as they were completely broken mentally - tortured minds - it was quite a strong episode that one) ... but half of series 2 was a complete load of pish (childish writing, dialogue, characters, crap aliens, lack of large scale threat).

Indeed, the large scale threat of Children of Earth was exactly the sort of scale Torchwood should have been more about in series 1 and 2.

So if this is it for Torchwood, I would say it went out on a bloody strong note - this is what Torchwood should have always been, but which it only sometimes attained during its first two series.

[Rottedfreak]

The roundtable bit in part four was the best scene for me and the following scene of the boys in green raiding socially deprived areas rang so true.

[MinionZombie]

The roundtable bit in part four was the best scene for me and the following scene of the boys in green raiding socially deprived areas rang so true.
Indeed, those were great scenes - I could understand the gubment's theory as to how to acquire "the units" - it's relentlessly logical in a North Korean-ish kind of way - but it's also totally wrong on all moral plains.

There was some really deep ideas and discussions being had throughout the week's run on the show, and like I've said before, it's exactly what Torchwood should have always been ... rather than what it oftentimes was in it's main run (to paraphrase Charlie Brooker - "Scooby Doo with fucking" ... or something like that).

CoE was bloody good though.

[AcesandEights]

I may have to give this a look. I had a bad initial impression of it when I saw the first round of ads online for it. And damn have I been seeing an awful lot about it online, even my XBox live is trying to get me interested in it. Now that I hear it has some worthwhile bits, I guess there's little reason not to eventually give it a look.

[MinionZombie]

I may have to give this a look. I had a bad initial impression of it when I saw the first round of ads online for it. And damn have I been seeing an awful lot about it online, even my XBox live is trying to get me interested in it. Now that I hear it has some worthwhile bits, I guess there's little reason not to eventually give it a look.
Ugh, adverts eh?

I've almost not watched shows simply because of the relentless and annoying advertising - for example, "Lost" - the Channel 4 advert really wound me up (they were all dancing on the beach - and I was like, "what the fuck does this have to do with anything?!" - and it was on all the sodding time) - but regardless I watched the show and have been ever since.

Same thing with the UK teen drama (that's mainly watched by 20-and-30-somethings :p) "Skins" - I really hated the relentless and smug advertising, but I did get into it (although it is ludicrously over the top, over dramatic, over serious, and so insanely unlike real teenage British life) ... which reminds me, the superior teen sitcom "The Inbetweeners" is a million miles more accurate than Skins is, and it's bloody funny too - but again, the relentless advertising of it made me not get into it until just before series 2 got going - and I'm glad I did get into it, because it's a well funny show.

...

Long story short, and cutting to the pointy chase, ignore the adverts as best you can and just give it a watch. :)