3.01: Children of Earth - Day One

[Dave]

Google is wonderful:

Andrew Staines was the Captain of the SS Bernice, Carnival of the Monsters, the cargo ship crossing the Indian Ocean caught inside a Miniscope. No idea what this means! I don't know how old he would be today or whether the SS Bernice was returned to 1926 since IIRC she was recorded as missing. Of course the name could have just been chosen as a nod and a wink to classic Who.

Would this be anything to do with Colonel Michael Sanders:
http://www.defenselink.mil/Blog_files/Blog_assets/20090416_ArmedwScience_Episode11.pdf
Usually there is some kind of spoof website with the Doctor Who episodes.
Edit: but that seems to be a real US DoD website!

 

[Mary Hoffman]

No, Gwen did not find the U/N and P/W on a post-it. She was told it orally by the female boss and made a note of it. Incredible but necessary.

 

[Lenny]

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.

I'm basing it on the General in green from UNIT who told the Home Office guy the bad news. (Part of) The conversation went something like:

Gen: We're the only ones with the technology to piece it together. Well, us and Torchwood.
HOG: *sigh* Do you want me to speak to them? They're a pain in the backside but they can be helpful sometimes.
Gen: *cheeky smile* It's alright, we're already onto them.

---

You might be right about two organisations hunting TW - the second may be as a result of the blank page (though that was for Captain Jack Harkness, not TW as a whole). Because they planted a bomb designed to destroy the Hub (and everybody in it, I assume) rather than stealing away with Jack when they had him in their hands, I think that the SWAT team and the woman in the black uniform were from UNIT - the people who are "onto" Torchwood.

Can't wait for tonight, when we'll find out the HRH Vic set up a second agency to watch over TW and make sure they didn't overstep their bounds.

 

[Moonbat]

Well I thought it was all very marvellous. It was probably the best Torchwood episode I have seen. The children chanting their way to the full sentence of 'we are coming, back' was scary (for me).
I found that RTD's love of same sex relationships all very amusing, and Jack and Ianto's kiss before jack exploded was so cliched I laughed out loud. Also if Gwen had left (sprinting) before Ianto and was still thrown to the floor by the explosion, then surely Ianto is dead. He wasn't even out of the building.
It'll be interesting to see how jack looks once his guts are decorating the inside of the Hub.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the weeks episodes.
Ok, my thoughts are that:
in the 60's the Government exchanged children for technology with an Alien race
and Jack was part of the organisation that carried this out. Now that the world is aware the government want to cover up that's why they have ordered Jack's death. It kind of makes Torchwood look like a joke, when thier phones are tapped and a spy is close to infiltrating them, and there are only 3 of them, compared to the hundreds of soldiers and what-not that the other organisations have.

Well, we will see tonight!

 

[ctg]

Jack and Ianto's kiss before jack exploded was so cliched I laughed out loud.

How can you say it was a cliché? I thought there was nothing wrong with that drama. In fact, I believe many people would had done the same in that situation.

 

[Moonbat]

I believe many people would had done the same in that situation.

That situation? You mean if the immortal person I love has had a bomb inserted into their stomach, and I have just seconds left to escape with my life. Yeah you're right I'd stop for a quick (and seemingly awkward) snog.

Or do you mean, if I were a writer and two of my characters were in love and one of them (an immortal) has had a bomb put into thier stomach and the other has to leave the Hub before the aforementioned immortal explodes and destroys the whole building, would I have written in a cliched final kiss? Personally probably not, then I could have Ianto moaning about how he never got to kiss Jack goodbye (or t'other way round)

That's one of the problems with Torchwood, it isn't funny (not for me anyway) Whenever there is a joke I'm close to groaning. I think I only laugh at the bits that are meant to be dramatic.

What's the funniest line from Torchwood?

 

[ctg]

In logical way one should be logical and just run away, but Ianto after all is a mortal person with normal feelings. So he follows illogical human ways and wants stay with his loved one to the bitter end. Remember the struggle before the departure. The only ways Jack was able to send him away was either give him a last-snog or punch him on face.

What would had said if they wouldn't had been lovers and Ianto would had chosen to stay behind because he felt responsible guarding Torchwood secrets. I think Jack would have knocked him out and send him out before the explosion or maybe he even would have kissed Iantos forehead as one last goodwill, just because he knows his going to survive but after Ianto is at the topside he's going to face the assassins.

I don't man, I think it was good drama and not cliched in any way.

 

[Moonbat]

...And what about the dude with the super smelling ability.

He can smell your hand to tell if your lying
He can smell if you're pregnant
He can even smell if the government has sent soldiers disguised as cops to come and arrest him.

That is some smelling ability. Will it play a vital role in the 5 day drama?

I'm just wondering, is it scientifically possible to smell if someone is pregnant?Obviously not for us mere mortals, but does being pregnant give off some smell, could a dog tell, or a snake? Is it possible to smell if someone is lying.
I'm a bit more sceptical about smelling the police coming for you, but I suppose he could have smelt the exhuast fumes.

 

[ctg]

LOL. I'm not saying anything about the super-sensitive guy. I just grin when they bring him back in the play.

 

[Lenny]

A little thought about Clem - could be that he, and the other kids, were different. There must have been a reason for that orphanage to be chosen... hell, maybe the 456 have been using Earth as a breeding ground for a while, and every now and then they come back to take away their spawn?

Either way, I can't see Clem having picked up his "abilities" from the light that night in 1965 (he ran away, after all), or in Leeds. I know it's a strange place, but it doesn't mutate people.

Saying that, think of the episode in series 2 in which we were shown the randomness of the Rift - people disappear into it, and come back changed. Usually the Rift plays a huge part in Torchwood, but so far there's been no mention of it (yes, I know it's early days).

 

[ktabic]

He can smell your hand to tell if your lying

I got the impression that what he could smell was aliens, so could believe her when she said she had met aliens, not that he could smell she wasn't lying.

That is some smelling ability. Will it play a vital role in the 5 day drama?

Pretty certain he will still play a part (why else you he have escaped?). He might be the only background Torchwood will have access to, but the smell ability is just to weird for it not to be used again.

 

[Ursa major]

Not just weird, but quite nifty....


We're assuming (almost certainly correctly, but bear with me) that the fact that he calls it smelling and that he seems to use his nose - but that may have nothing to do with it - means that what he is experiencing is the result of chemical detection (like out own sense of smell).

The sense he's using may be quite different, but could be wired into the "smelling" part of his brain, i.e. he may have a form of Synesthesia (Synesthesia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

 

[Dave]

...is it scientifically possible to smell if someone is pregnant?...

I don't know if it is practical, but since the balance of female hormones change, and that might affect pheromones in the sweat, it might be possible.

I would tend to agree with Ursa that it is more likely a form of ESP. That would support what Lenny said - that the children weren't kidnapped, they were a reclaimed colony. We'll just have to see!

 

[Lenny]

I've got a screencap of the Torchwood Wiki (HD for the mega-win! ). Nothing new.

Here's a link, as it's a bit big for embedding.

 

[Susan Boulton]

No, Gwen did not find the U/N and P/W on a post-it. She was told it orally by the female boss and made a note of it. Incredible but necessary.

Sorry, I must have missed that bit, just saw the post it note on the computer.

 

[Ursa major]

I recall being in a meeting in a senior manager's office (at another site, and he/she wasn't present, so I wasn't sure whose office it was) in the 1980s. The manager's username and password were typed on a postcard, which was selotaped to the top of the (dumb) terminal.


(It was unusual not to be using a proper meeting room, but even so....)

 

[Serenity79]

Well I have to say this episode was brilliant. I have attempted to watch Torchwood twice before, the first time the unbelievably rubbish alien put me off. The second time I only watched it for James Masters, being a huge Buffy fan, and almost got into it. This time I was avoiding it, but last week, I was tapping away on my laptop in the early hours and it was the only thing that looked remotely interesting. I was hooked and I watched the second episode last night.

I love the gay side of it, I think it makes a really refreshing change to see gay leads openly in a relationship. The reaction to their relationship by family members was really funny.

I have to admit to being a bit lost, because from the looks of it I've missed a couple of series', but I won't be missing anymore if I can help it.

I'm still hesitant about doctor who though, I've not watched it since I was a kid when I was scared off by nightmares of Daleks. (laughs nervously)

 

[Pyan]

Ianto's not gay, you know - it's only Jack...

And Jack doesn't care, as long as it's warm...and even then, I'm not that sure it needs to be...

If you enjoy this series of Torchwood ( did you realise that Torchwood is actually an anagram of Doctor Who? ), even the darkest stories in the senior series shouldn't be a problem - TW is much more adult-themed than DW. Try to catch the David Tennent stories if you can: I think you'd like them...

 

[Serenity79]

Oops didn't know that Ianto wasn't gay, sorry guys.

 

[Pyan]

Oops didn't know that Ianto wasn't gay, sorry guys.

Keep watching, Serenity - there's more on the subject in the next three parts...