Torchwood

[tonycollinet]

That was crap


Hated it. A real dissapointment.

[Malandro]

Overall I enjoyed this series although some parts of the storyline were extremely weak.  Jack confronting the 456 was pathetic...they've built him up like Doctor Who so you just assumed he'd deliver the goods.  He didn't!  The alien drug addict thing was...different, unexpected but not really convincing.  And turning the children on the aliens at the end was just too obvious.  Actually, after seeing Gwen say she thought the Doctor sometimes turns away from the world in disgust, I expected him to pop up.  Too obvious I guess...

[Spinners]

and I bet they recruit Lois.

Yep, that's what I'm thinking.

[TimO]

and I bet they recruit Lois.

Yep, that's what I'm thinking.

That's fairly predictable, so they may do something else!  Earlier on, they were also trying to make us think that that doctor was going to be recruited, but they put paid to that.

I can't help thinking of Rhys as just being a useful character who they can bring in when they need someone else, I don't think of him as being a central character, so they are really only left with Capt Jack and Gwen now.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Overall I enjoyed this series although some parts of the storyline were extremely weak.  Jack confronting the 456 was pathetic...they've built him up like Doctor Who so you just assumed he'd deliver the goods.  He didn't!  The alien drug addict thing was...different, unexpected but not really convincing.  And turning the children on the aliens at the end was just too obvious.  Actually, after seeing Gwen say she thought the Doctor sometimes turns away from the world in disgust, I expected him to pop up.  Too obvious I guess...

It did look like they were setting it up so the Doctor would come and help. I'd like to see more crossover between the two shows, with the Doctor popping up in Torchwood occasionally as well as Torchwood helping the Doctor, although if there's no Jack, there won't be such an obvious link. But it would be really hard to keep that kind of thing a secret, and I'd like to not know it was happening until I saw it on my tellybox.

[TimO]

Isn't there a risk that bringing in the Doctor would be a bit like a universal solution; End of the world problem, Wham, the Doctor appears and all is sweetness and light.  In the way that they've built him up so much, that he's too powerful.  I think he has to be "used" with restraint.

[mr magnolia]

hot damns from Sevilla.

will all this still be on iplayer when the family magnolia return to the real world and go back to work on 27 July?

[Valiant]

That was powerful, though I thought the end was really weak. I was half expecting his daughter to shoot herself with his gun just for that little extra. I also think the footage should have been released too.

[Regulator]

I want them to find a way of bringing Ianto back.

After all, he's had some Cap'n Jack 'in him' - so perhaps a bit of the anomaly has rubbed off on him?

[toekneep]

I want them to find a way of bringing Ianto back.

After all, he's had some Cap'n Jack 'in him' - so perhaps a bit of the anomaly has rubbed off on him?

I reckon he passed some magic to him in that final kiss and he will return.

[Cunobelin]

I love the way Torchwood "teases"

When Jack's daughter and grandson where captured, there was a line from Johnson to the effect of testing whether Jack's immortality had been passed to the child, so I half suspected a resurrection, but of course that was too easy.

I do have a suspicion though that we will see Johnson (Liz May Brice) in future. With her skills, amorality, recent disillusionment with Government and the lines about "the greater good", she is a shoe-in to the Torchwood team, even as a temporary replacement for Jack?

Besides - I live black Nomex!

 

[gonzo]

I love the way Torchwood "teases"

I thought that was the best bit about the series - most of the things that you expected had the opposite happen!

I did wonder though if someone in the BBC has a bone to pick with the government - they always seem to be the bad guys.

[tonycollinet]

Ok - a philosophical question - what should the authorities have done?

Should the human race give up 10% if its children to an elongated (possibly eternal) life of suffering, to avoid the human race being annihilated?

Or would that act in itself destroy the humanity of the race, and so in effect result in self annihilation?

[border-rider]

Or would that act in itself destroy the humanity of the race, and so in effect result in self annihilation?

That, plus acquiescing would have guaranteed that the 456 kept coming back for more.

[Valiant]

^^ What he said.

[TimO]

Well, there are a few plot holes as regards how powerful the 456 were.  Arguably they couldn't destroy the human race, since they would loose that which they sought.  Why did they have to get the children assembled so that they could take them?  Why couldn't they just grab them piecemeal themselves, or where they just being a bit lazy, and going for the easy option.

For that matter, was the UK government that embarrassed by their previous interactions with the 456 that they thought it was worth destroying Torchwood, whose purpose was to fight alien threats, just to hide this?  It seems particularly fuckwitted even for the somewhat self centred politicians portrayed in this series.

It is an interesting question though regarding what else they could have done, and whether morally a government could survive what this one tried to do.  Even without revealing what was going to happen to the children, I think the politicians would be lucky to survive, if the public at large ever found out, I think they'd be lucky to find themselves being hung or shot.

With that number of children taken, a very large percentage of the population would be extremely pissed off with the politicians, and inevitably some of them would be in a position to attack them, however well guarded they were (some of the assassins probably would be their guards).

Politically, even when they seemed to have no idea how to fight the 456, giving in to them would probably be unacceptable to most people, and as others have said would inevitably just have ended up as a case of Danegeld, so what would their next set of demands have been.

ps I also think that we will see Johnson back.  She has an interestingly morally flexible view of things, so it could make for some novel storylines.  And as other have said, they did seem to be positioning her to be on Torchwoods side, and against the baddies aka the Government.

[andygates]

So (I missed a lot of this) what makes the 456 so scary that we didn't just say "come on then if you think you're hard enough" and hit them with the death-star London beam of doom that toasted the Syccorax when they tried it on? 

[Adam]

In a very sneaky move, the 456 didn't have a detectable spaceship.

And when they tried to call their bluff, they released a virus in Thames House killing almost everyone.

[gonzo]

Well, there are a few plot holes as regards how powerful the 456 were.  Arguably they couldn't destroy the human race, since they would loose that which they sought.  Why did they have to get the children assembled so that they could take them?  Why couldn't they just grab them piecemeal themselves, or where they just being a bit lazy, and going for the easy option.

Presumably, the writers could just answer that the aliens were druggies and thus not entirely rational.

[border-rider]

Well, there are a few plot holes as regards how powerful the 456 were.  Arguably they couldn't destroy the human race, since they would loose that which they sought.  Why did they have to get the children assembled so that they could take them?  Why couldn't they just grab them piecemeal themselves, or where they just being a bit lazy, and going for the easy option.

I read it as a power game.  They wanted the human race to be complicit, so that next time it would be easier.  They said "but last time you did what we asked" as part of their justification

[tonycollinet]

Well, there are a few plot holes as regards how powerful the 456 were.  Arguably they couldn't destroy the human race, since they would loose that which they sought.  Why did they have to get the children assembled so that they could take them?  Why couldn't they just grab them piecemeal themselves, or where they just being a bit lazy, and going for the easy option.

I read it as a power game.  They wanted the human race to be complicit, so that next time it would be easier.  They said "but last time you did what we asked" as part of their justification

Biggest plot hole in my opinion.

Torchwood wanted to protect the kids - why did they not release the video, making it clear what was going on?

and to answer my own question - much better for humanity to be wiped out than to try to come to terms with, and live with the alternative.

[TimO]

Also, on reflection, lets assume that the 456 couldn't grab kids one by one for some reason, like it would cost too much power, or they would need to keep on adjusting the settings that pointed it at a location (yeah, some nasty alien, "sorry, we're too out of our heads to do it that way").  Why couldn't they get them to all walk into a suitably convenient location, and then beam them up from there.  If they could get them to all talk in unison, that should have been equally possible.

[andygates]

and to answer my own question - much better for humanity to be wiped out than to try to come to terms with, and live with the alternative.

Better to be dead than sad?  I think not. 

[Moloko]

Those self-cleaning windows that housed the 5705 were most impressive, always staying smear free.
Who needs a squeegee when you've got those.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I wanted to know why the 2468 kept emitting goo - was it sneezing or puking?