3.01: Children of Earth - Day One

[Lenny]

An ordinary day becomes a world of terror as every single child in the world stops. A message is sent to all the governments of Earth: 'We are coming'. But as a trap closes around Captain Jack, sins of the past are returning, as long-forgotten events from 1965 threaten to reveal an awful truth.

---

Torchwood is back in a welcome return to our (well, mine at least) screens, with what I thought was a good first episode - it gave us a snippet of backstory from which this whole thing has come, but not enough to tell us everything, rather we've only been given enough to start our own speculation.

It was a bit of a shame to see only the three of them (it's going to be strange without Owen and Tosh), but I was happy to see no Martha or Mickey (of Doctor Who fame). However, the picture of Owen and Tosh and the mention of Martha on her hooneymoon (surely not with Mickey?) were both nice touches.

A fair bit of humour here and there, which was nice, and some interesting bits and bobs about a couple of the characters - Jack has a daughter (I wonder if she is anything to do with the old woman - one of Jacks flames - the fairies got in the first series of Torchwood?), and Ianto has a sister!

I must say that I was a bit disappointed when I saw the doctor and the new girl at the Home Office - here we go, I thought, a doctor and a tech-whiz to replace Owen and Tosh... I'm rather glad at least one won't. Though saying that, a lot more could have made of that character.

Questions - why are Torchwood being monitored? Who wants TW dead? Was it TW2 in Scotland that transported the children in the 1960s? And who was the guy with the old machine that picked up the transmission on the 456 channel?

I'm going to watch it again when it's on iPlayer/BBC3 (either later tonight or sometime tomorrow) for bits that I missed.

 

[PTeppic]

All in all I thought that was a rip-roaring start to a week's shows. The pace hardly slowed, the back-story was both surprising and well-placed, with more twists and turns than a twisty-turny thing.

To answer one of Lenny's questions, if not stating the obvious, the guy with the 456-detector referred to Thames House, making him a government spook. Which is who I'd put money on to answer the preceding question: my money is on the "blank page" thing being used to hush up that "the government" were in communication of a sort with the 456s in the 60s and handed over the kids. And now it's come to bite them.

 

[Mary Hoffman]

Loved every minute of it!

Really glad no Tosh and Owen any more but I hope next year we'll have a proper 13-part series and two new recruits.

 

[Ursa major]

I have to say, I watched this with trepidation. In part this was because some past episodes of Torchwood have been very poor, and if this one had matched those in quality, the wider BBC1 audience might have reacted badly, perhaps with repercussions for future series. I was also a bit doubtful about the children; their presence could have been really cringe-worthy.

Having said all that, I neededn't have worried. The quality was much improved, and even if there was some relationship stuff going on, it was more what you'd get in other BBC1 dramas, and not like some of those "there's an alien; let's all shag it" episodes seen in past series. Even the way the children were presented was good (thus surpassing my most optimistic hopes).

And on top of that, the plot was nice and convoluted, but not too confusing, and very well paced; a good combination.



All in all, excellent. Let's hope the next episodes keep up the standard.

 

[Lenny]

To answer one of Lenny's questions, if not stating the obvious, the guy with the 456-detector referred to Thames House, making him a government spook. Which is who I'd put money on to answer the preceding question: my money is on the "blank page" thing being used to hush up that "the government" were in communication of a sort with the 456s in the 60s and handed over the kids. And now it's come to bite them.

Ah, OK.

My thoughts about the "blank page" are the same - that they're trying to hush up the handing over of the children. Which is one of the "historical events" that the Home Office (?) fellow was suggesting the Prime Minister wipe from the books.

 

[Ursa major]

With four more episodes, I expect that the 1960s handover is only one skeleton in a rattlingly well-filled closet.


(Well, one can hope.)


I never thought I'd find myself typing the following words, but this episode of Torchwood was far, far better than the last Doctor Who special. (Perhaps it goes to show what can be achieved when the loose ends of a plot don't have to tied up inside sixty minutes.)

 

[Lenny]

I was going to say something in reply to your comment, but then I realised that it was written by RTD.

Could be because it's for a completely different audience?

I find it slightly reminiscent of Classic Who, in that it's one story spread across multiple episodes.

I'll be quite interested to see the viewing figures for the whole week when it's finished.

 

[Ursa major]

The original Torchwood was a aimed at a different (more "adult") audience, but the only change that this seemed to produce in the scrpts was the introduction of some of the more risible "shag-an-alien" storylines (which are - for obvious reasons - not highlighted in Doctor Who).

This episode (and, one hopes, the series) went further: to the extent that prime-time sci-fi can, it was more adult, in the proper meaning of the term. It was what Torchwood ought to have been from episode 1.01.


(But I still think the time allowed - 5 episodes - is crucial: too many Doctor Whos - and Star Treks, etc. - suffer from the "we've three minutes to wrap it all up: lets pretend the characters are superhumanly clever" syndrome.)

 

[High Eight]

All in all I thought that was a rip-roaring start to a week's shows. The pace hardly slowed,

I thought it slowed to painful crawl for all the soap-operas bits in the middle twenty minutes.......

the back-story was both surprising and well-placed, with more twists and turns than a twisty-turny thing.

Not if you've seen the original Quatermass stories.

To answer one of Lenny's questions, if not stating the obvious, the guy with the 456-detector referred to Thames House, making him a government spook.

It is actually called Thames House South, as any Civil Servant knows

Which is who I'd put money on to answer the preceding question: my money is on the "blank page" thing being used to hush up that "the government" were in communication of a sort with the 456s in the 60s and handed over the kids. And now it's come to bite them.

Me too, but because I've seen Quatermass Two. (No it's not the identical same plot but has a very similar 'government colluding with unfriendly aliens' theme).

I'd give it about four out of ten - better than the last series. But then it could hardly be worse. At least this time RTD has shown some evidence of actually having read a bit of SF recently.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Well I thought there was far too much dross in ti for my tastes.

Do we really need the old pregnancy twist.

Do we need the newly discovered daughter/grandson business

Do we need the stereotyped reactions to the happy couples relationship from the brother in law.

What about the racist comments about the English.

The bomb had a blast radius over a mile which apparently extends to just the other side of a door/roof exit. (In reality this would take out the whole of Cardiff).

The plot is a mixture of the village of the damned and the day of the triffids interwoven with a bit of X file abductions and encounters of the third kind.

No doubt we will find HMG sold some children to some aliens for unsavoury experiments and now they are coming back to take their revenge or get some more children. (this is just about the only believable part - probably happens every day)

Acting - ludicrously over the top and all very unsatisfactory.

 

[Lenny]

What about the racist comments about the English.

Oooh! I rather liked those.

"Have you got some currency?"
"Yes. Had my injections, too."

Made me chuckle.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Yes but if average English Joe public made such a remark we would be hauled into the court/clink for using provocative racist insinuations.

No doubt using anti terrorist legislation as a means to getting me 'seen to'

 

[Ursa major]

In the context of the story, it was a private joke (carried on a private medium) between two people who knew each other very well and who - given their nationality - were unlikely to take offence.

 

[Lenny]

I always ask people if they've got their passport when they're off to Scotland. And if they're going down South, too, thinking about it...

---

Right, I'm off to watch it again (iPlayer), this time with the subs on. I'll have Notepad open, and will be making notes!

If anyone wants the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ln5cv/Torchwood_Children_of_Earth_Day_One/

 

[Dave]

TEIN - it wasn't that bad! You obviously didn't watch series 1 & 2 (which I mostly watched to see how much worse it could possibly get!) I had even forgotten this was on, but my son was watching it and told me to come. I was surprised that it was actually quite good IMHO. If you have never seen Torchwood before, this is the episode I would recommend. It was another reboot of sorts, as the first episode of series 2 was, but as the pan handle just said, it was for a mainstream BBC1 audience, now having made a full transition from obscure digital channel to BBC2, to BBC1, and how it should have been from the start. Third time lucky!

I also thought the Doctor and the new girl were obvious replacements, and thought it great that they made him an undercover agent. Someone would try to do that sometime.

Jack having a daughter seems very likely. Why not? And she would want him to stay away, feel like that. Immortals have a tough life, but Jack never tells us how he feels. Being killed must be painful, yet how many times has he died? How many wives, lovers and children has he seen die?

Ianto having a sister is not so unlikely either. I also didn't find the gay conversation with her followed by the brother in law already knowing everything as funny as the writer obviously did. Was it credited to RTD? I didn't really look.

Okay, I agree that the subject has been covered before in the examples given - classic Doctor Who, Quatermass, the Tomorrow People, X-Files - but you'd make nothing new if you subscribed to that rule.

I don't like the idea of it being on five nights in one week. I hate it when they do that. I might like scifi but i also have a life. I've missed TV series before because they were shown like that. At least it is on later on BBC3, and we now have hard drive recorders and iPlayer.

 

[The Ace]

I always take my passport when I go south and, passing through Newcastle this time, I've had my shots as well.

(The currency thing isn't really a joke, I've had a sod of a job sometimes trying to pay for things with Scottish notes. )

 

[Lenny]

Here's my blow-by-blow commentary. A couple of things people might be interested in, but most of it is pure gloop.

---

- Who's this Glyn fella who watches "What's occuring"? First indication that Torchwood still isn't secret?
- Surely they don't agree someone is dead by general aye like that?
- Pretty good special effects with the slicing of the body.
- Should they look into the bodies going missing? "NHS". "Yeah, too much red tape". Heh.

There's an interesting thought - the dozen or so kids that were taken in the 1960s could have been used to create a weapon, or device, to allow the aliens to hone in on kids and only kids.

- The agency that we see hunting Jack later on is the same one that our man in the green uniform (General something. The badge on his uniform tells us he's from UNIT. Why are UNIT hunting Torchwood?) talking to the Home Office guy belongs to. Torchwood - "We're onto them now".
- However, Jack spoke to someone he fondly called "Sergeant Grunt" (Martha is on her honeymoon) from UNIT, and was given details of some tests that the UNIT base in Washington have done.
- Not only is it a secret organisation, but nobody knows where it's based... /sarcasm
- "Torchwood ... From what I've heard"... oh come on.
- It's kinda creepy, seing all the kids stood motionless.
- The kids are stood motionless, and screaming: "It's alright, I'm a doctor".
- Bit of a gormless "Oh my God!" from Gwen when the kids start talking.
- It's amazing how trusting of new people in the office you are. Enough to give them your u/n and p/w straight off.
- Who plays Mr. Dekker? I recognise him. EDIT: Ian Gelder. Don't know why I recognise him...

An interesting fact from the Torchwood WIKI page on the Home Office internal network -- Torchwood is currently operating as a remote team working from Torchwood 3 - Cardiff. Looks like they're the last. TW1 was London, and we all know what happened there. TW2 was/is Glasgow, and was/is run by a "very strange man", Archie. TW4 I assume was in Ireland, bit is "missing". Surely TW2 is still active? We've not heard about its demise... unless we do in the next four episodes - currently, my best guess about the kids being handed over to the aliens is that the government authorised TW2 to hand over kids from an orphanage, maybe as some sort of appeasement? Anyway, back to the episode.

By the way, if it is put up on iPlayer in HD, I'll see if I can read and write down what the WIKI page says - might give us a bit of info we've not seen!

- Judging by his "little domain", I'd say that this Mr. Dekker, at Thames House, is more of an archivist than a true spook.
- It's incredible, this modern world -- people take video footage of things on their phones and e-mail it to the police, or the media, and all that jazz.
- I don't see what Ianto has against being in a couple with Jack.
- One wonders if this PM will run over into Doctor Who.
- Very shifty. Makes you wonder how many things the British Government did in terms of aliens, but used Torchwood to keep it quiet.
- Poor Home Office man -- this is going to destroy his career.
- The Torchwood car... broken into just like that? Roflcakes.
- I'm absolutely adamant that Torchwood had something to do with 1965... and when Clem finds out the Gwen is from Torchwood, I think there'll be trouble.
- Order to Kill: Colonel Michael Sanders (ret.d), Ellen Hunt, Captain Andrew Staines, Captain Jack Harkness (acti... ). Can't see the link between the four - possible UNIT/Torchwood personnel?
- The people monitoring this that and the other are connected with the people hunting Torchwood, who I assume are UNIT, judging by the comments made by the guy in the green uniform at the start. But why?
- Now this is the bit I didn't like much -- Rupesh is reveiled as a tool to get into Torchwood. We get a minute to digest this fact before he's killed. What?! Why waste such a useful tool? It's like digging up a garden with a wooden handle, only to find that there's a spade on the other end, which you destroy after using it to start a hole...
- So everyone has laser saws now?
- A state-run orphanage - all the easier to make the kids disappear.
- I love that! A scanner that scans your hand and tells you everything about your body.
- CONTINUITY!! She'd taken her hand off the scanner when Jack walks in. It's on again with no visible movement when Ianto tells them he's lost the car.
- I agree with above -- a blast radius of a mile is hu-yooge!
- Quite a good ending.

According to a pre-review of episodes 1 to 3, the next two pale a bit in comparison with the first, but give a definite feeling of something epic in the last two.

And John Barrowman and RTD are toying with the idea of the same sort of format for future Torchwood series, but with maybe two or three five-episode stories making up the series. It all sounds rather fun!

 

[PTeppic]

- Surely they don't agree someone is dead by general aye like that?
- It's amazing how trusting of new people in the office you are. Enough to give them your u/n and p/w straight off.

In other medical shows the lead medic doing the attempted resuscitation often asks his/her colleagues to agree that continuing is pointless and, in that manner, gets a generalised group agreement the patient is "dead".

And, whether you trust them or not on a personal level, anyone new in an office like that will have been seriously vetted. However, it's still probably a disciplinary offence to hand them over...

 

[Susan Boulton]

And, whether you trust them or not on a personal level, anyone new in an office like that will have been seriously vetted. However, it's still probably a disciplinary offence to hand them over...

I don't think they were handed over, but on a post it note she found. I have seen folk keep user ID's and passwords on post it notes in their drawers (not cotton ones ) at work.

As to the show, not bad, some of the tongue in cheek bits jarred with the serious stuff. As if the cast were giving you a nod, nod, wink, wink, before the 'joke'. For those to work best they have to be written and played seriously. Touchwood has never quite got the balance right.

 

[Dave]

Yes, some things I forgot here but are probably important:

...my best guess about the kids being handed over to the aliens is that the government authorised TW2 to hand over kids from an orphanage, maybe as some sort of appeasement?

Seems likely.

- One wonders if this PM will run over into Doctor Who.

I think unlikely, but it would be the only time in Earth's recent history that something extraterrestrial has happened and the Doctor was NOT present (though I haven't watched the Sarah Jane Smith Adventures.)

- Order to Kill: Colonel Michael Sanders (ret.d), Ellen Hunt, Captain Andrew Staines, Captain Jack Harkness (acti... ). Can't see the link between the four

I will be very upset if the other names are not mentioned again. Also, why do they seem to be after Gwen in the trailer. Her name is not on the list. The list would be first priority. Is the blank page now empty? Has Gwen been added? Is this 'hit squad' something totally separate from the Government Home Office and UNIT, an organisation with their own list and agenda and they simply got to Jack first?

- The people monitoring this that and the other are connected with the people hunting Torchwood, who I assume are UNIT, judging by the comments made by the guy in the green uniform at the start.

What comment leads you to that? I missed any comment but I'm thinking there could be more than one (even more than two) organisations hunting Torchwood.