3.03: Children of Earth - Day Three

[Lenny]

The eyes of the world turn to Britain, as the 456 announce, 'We are here'. As a pillar of fire descends upon London, the members of Torchwood must battle to protect their own families, as the fight gets personal. But will Clem's memories destroy everything?

---

"I gave them twelve children. As a gift".

Scary episode! Less action than the second, but the tension was fantastic! I'm interested to see these aliens, too - a far cry from what we usually get in Doctor Who (who got an honorary mention).

There were a couple of moments when I jumped up with a "HaHA!", which scared the cats, but I've forgotten most of them now.

Apart from one - Michael Sanders, Ellen Hunt and Andrew Staines, along with Jack, handed over the twelve children in 1965. I believe we can say with safety that it was Torchwood, but it just wasn't enough for me to notch a mark of victory for my prediction that it was TW2 who did it (actually, thinking about it, TW3 doing it is believable - they may have jacked the bus on its way down to Portsmouth. Though the fact that Jack doesn't recognise the names of the other three may suggest he was the only TW operative involved).

Let's see what I can remember...

The old TW1 building was a nice touch. And I did like how Gwen masterminded the criminal empire (I think she's starting to show that, if Jack disappears, she would make a great leader).

I thought PC Andy springing Clem from jail was a bit dubious, and how cold is Johnson! I thought she was bad when she made Jack into a concrete boot, but not this bad!

 

[HareBrain]

Wow, this is the first episode of Torchwood I've tried to watch and actually made it to the end, largely thanks to the acting of Peter Capaldi. But I've realised what it is that annoys me about it so much - the bloody incidental music. There's way too much of it, and it's ham-fistedly emotionally directive - it's like having big flashing red letters appear on the screen saying DRAMATIC! or MYSTERIOUS! Plus I don't for one second buy the way that girl got herself attached to Frobisher's group.

Still, I'll watch the others, and I guess that's what counts.

 

[PTeppic]

Apart from one - Michael Sanders, Ellen Hunt and Andrew Staines, along with Jack, handed over the twelve children in 1965. I believe we can say with safety that it was Torchwood, but it just wasn't enough for me to notch a mark of victory for my prediction that it was TW2 who did it (actually, thinking about it, TW3 doing it is believable - they may have jacked the bus on its way down to Portsmouth. Though the fact that Jack doesn't recognise the names of the other three may suggest he was the only TW operative involved).

I'm not convinced it was a predominantly TW affair: I think Jack WAS brought along as TW, and thus alien specialist, but perhaps almost as an afterthought. "I never knew their names" - that's a pretty short, one-off kind of arrangement, seems to me. And they all seemed to be military: so perhaps the military did the rounding up and Jack was there on alien day. Like the current situation: the one thing missing from "give us some children" is the "or else..." Presumably the same occurred in 1965: even Jack(?!) wouldn't just hand children over without an "or else" (would he?).

Anyway, it's definitely shaping up nicely - one of the best, consistent sci-fi minis on the TV in quite a while. No low-quality CGI to let it down (yet), a plot-line which gets better and better, appropriate humour and so on.

Now, the speculation: a) did the bits we could see in the fog look like claws? Or jaws? [And if claws, what about.... Macra?] b) What do they want the children for?

 

[Lenny]

I think they looked more like heads - long necks, bug eyes, and a proboscis that shoots dirty oil. Possibly a two-headed creature (I didn't get the impression that they were separate - the two shadows we could see were always together). The thrashing parts looked slightly reptilian, too.

That's the one thing that let the episode down - terrible sound effects when the yellowy liquid was squirted by the 456 onto the glass.

EDIT: Very tired today - I'll do my recap tomorrow, unless anyone else wants to give it a go?

 

[Ursa major]

Jack may have been present at the 1965 handover because he was likely to survive, and thus would be a witness (provided he wasn't whisked away by the 456).


Re the first occurence of the liquid: I was half expecting the 456 to say it was the result of travel sickness. (Perhaps it's just as well no one on the show thought this, or that someone else stomped on it if they did.)

 

[Dave]

I'm interested to see these aliens, too - a far cry from what we usually get in Doctor Who...

There have been some good aliens in Torchwood i.e. the thing in 'Meat' was particularly unusual, but a baby elephant with some kind of stomach bug??

Plus I don't for one second buy the way that girl got herself attached to Frobisher's group.

Possible, but only is she was at the end of a very long line of previous girls, and how would Lois have known that about Frobisher?

There were more answers today and less action, and less humour. The BBC did spoil that one member of Torchwood held secrets about 1965, and it really had to be Jack given the ages of Ianto and Gwen, so no big surprise there. The actor that plays Clem/Donald (Paul Copley) was born in 1944, which would make him a little older than the child shown in the 1965 flashbacks though.

There was much about the 456's not being able to be trusted. I expect that they demanded a gift of children in 1965 and said they would never return. This was authorised at the time, but now is seen as a huge mistake - the equivalent of a blackmailer who greedily comes back to demand more and more. Now a whole 10% of all children. Frobisher does not look old enough to have been in a position in 1965 high enough to have made such a decision, so why is he so keen to hide this? Keen enough to assassinate people and hold others to ransom. It would be much easier to blame it on his predecessors. I think some other element is still missing.

One thing I've noticed about UNIT both in Torchwood and in the recent Doctor Who, as opposed to classic Doctor Who, is the 'intelligence' part of the United Nations Intelligence Task Force (or Unified Intelligence Task Force as the newsreader said) is somewhat lacking. Quite frankly, they never know anything.

They are still taking Torchwood equipment and alien artefacts home. This time it's Gwen with the contact lens. I thought that they would have put a stop to that after the experiences with the Telepathy Pendant and Quantum Transducer.

These three episode are really very good. Much better than previous Torchwood (some of which I found cringe-worthy), better even than the best of Doctor Who. I can't think of any recent British scifi this good, and I only only wonder why, given it has been proved possible, Torchwood couldn't have been this good from the very begining.

 

[ctg]

The silly man can smell if you're a gay and the government CT-team knows how to handle perimeter security better then any team seen in 24-universe. Another thing that I did find mildly amusing was the walls of the alien cage. Not only the aliens thought about us with their poisonous atmosphere, but they thought about the janitor with their nasty habit of spraying yellow-y goo all over the place.

Other then those points, I liked it.

 

[Dave]

The silly man can smell if you're a gay...

Yes, he's obviously just making it up now. He couldn't smell that he would be caught for picking pockets. He couldn't smell that Gwen and Rhys were married. He couldn't smell that HUB2 wasn't their house.

 

[Moonbat]

There was a really cheesey moment, that had me laughing and cringing at the same time, but I can't remember what it was...oh wait now I do!
It was the clothes thing, when Ianto bought them all clothes and went to the Army surplus store for Jack. Then Jack walks in to dramatic music, all slow and shadowed and says 'I'm back'

That had me cringing.

Interesting that the government would give 12 orphaned kids to some aliens that they know nothing about, as a gift!
Surely they only gave 11, because Clem got away and didn't go with them, or was it supposed to be 13, but Clem got away?

Clem did get away somehow didn't he? I thought he didn't go with the Aliens, although we don't really know yet. We've seen him running away, then being stopped by people with guns (probably the other three present and now assasinated) did they turn him back. If he went with them, and was returned then where are the other 11 (12)?

Looking forward to tonights episode

 

[ktabic]

'intelligence' part of the United Nations Intelligence Task Force (or Unified Intelligence Task Force as the newsreader said) is somewhat lacking. Quite frankly, they never know anything.

So an accurate portrayal of military intransigence then.

 

[Ursa major]

We've now had three episodes of Torchwood (and in a row) that I wouldn't be embarrassed to admit watching and enjoying to someone who wasn't an SFF fan. There is still the possibility that it won't keep the standard up, but I'm more hopeful than I should be that it will.


Why oh why oh why didn't they do something like this before?

(And can we all pray - or whatever you feel comfortable with - that the public at large doesn't get to see the first two series?)

 

[Moonbat]

Not sure who it was, but someone on here said that episode's 2 & 3 were a bit slow and that 4 & 5 sped up again. But I have found both ep2 and 3 to be very enthralling.

Ok, just another query. When Jack's daughter is stopped by Johnson (the woman in leather?) she says to go ahead and shoot her, and see what happens. She then says that they would have opened fire if they didn't want her alive. Now I'm not an expert on dealing with life or death situations, but surely she should have shot the woman. If they want her alive then the soldiers wouldn't kill Jack's family without authorisation, and surely the woman in leather is expendable and would have been replaced by another military/mercenary person. So in essence, just to annoy the people that want to catch her alive and use her a collatoral against Jack she should have shot thier leader. Does that make sense, logically?

 

[Ursa major]

I must say a little voice in my head was saying: "At least shoot her in the leg: she deserves to feel a bit of pain!"

*cough*

But that was because I, as a viewer, had seen what she'd been doing. And even I realised - as would Jack's daughter - that there was no guarantee that one of Agent Johnson's troops wouldn't react instinctively by firing, perhaps hitting the child by mistake. (And we all know - though Jack's daughter doesn't - how bad an aim they've got.)

 

[Lenny]

I must say a little voice in my head was saying: "At least shoot her in the leg: she deserves to feel a bit of pain!"

I was thinking the same thing! Except that a shot in the leg would slow her down considerably. It looks a bit a daft, seeing a woman and child running away, with six or seven heavily armed men puffing and panting behind them, not one drawing his weapon.

---

Not sure who it was, but someone on here said that episode's 2 & 3 were a bit slow and that 4 & 5 sped up again. But I have found both ep2 and 3 to be very enthralling.

That was me again. Only repeating what some critics have said!

Last nights episode was a lot slower than Tuesdays, and less seemed to happen in it than in Mondays, but I, like you, still enjoyed it. I think the critic said that the second and third episodes suffered after a brilliant first - methinks he watched them in the wrong order.

 

[Moonbat]

I must say a little voice in my head was saying: "At least shoot her in the leg: she deserves to feel a bit of pain!"

yeah ok, a shot in the leg might slow her down. But a bullet through the brain would have really screwed things up. Wouldn't the soldiers have rubber bullets if the targest they were chasing were to be taken alive? wouldn't they have nets and stuff, or was it all just guns. I wondered how the bad guys (johnson and her armed soldeirs) made the street go quiet? Did they call/notify all the other residents of the road (including birds and pets) to stay indoors and be quiet cos they were coming in to attack someone?

And why would Frobershire (that has got to be a wrong spelling) not want Jack in Floor 13? Wouldn't he be a good asset?

I think that (I'm terrible with names) the girl working for Frobershire will eventually tell him that Torchwood can help and he needs to keep old smoky, slimy pants talking for a bit longer while they sort out some kind of weapon.

I liked the landing, although it doens't really make much sense does it, a flaming streak of something that parts clouds and lands through the roof of a building without disrupting the glass/steel cage that has been errected. It looked really good, but where did it come from? Why has no-one noticed a space ship?

 

[Mary Hoffman]

Frobisher. And she's called Lois Habiba.

No-one's mentioned that all the Weevils and other aliens would have been destroyed by the explosion.

 

[Ursa major]

I liked the landing, although it doens't really make much sense does it, a flaming streak of something that parts clouds and lands through the roof of a building without disrupting the glass/steel cage that has been errected. It looked really good, but where did it come from? Why has no-one noticed a space ship?

I thought that it might be a party trick. (Like making all the children in the world behave strangely; very theatrical.) Now it may be they like the odd bit of pyrotechnics, but it seems to me that conjuring up a pillar of fire feeds into the culture of a large number of the world's religious adherents. They may very well be trying to cow the human race (big misteak - sorry, couldn't resist it ). But Why?

Perhaps we should ask why they only took a dozen (another number with conotations) children in 1965. And why did they say that they wouldn't come back? Who would care what the 456 had promised if they were all-powerful? Who would stop them? I'm willing to believe that we've another Slitheen (sp?) situation: a small number of relatively advanced aliens acting as if they are more powerful than they appear. (And given that we're hoping good old Jack, Gwen and Ianto are going to win the day, the 456 can't be omnipotent.)

 

[nj1]

Personally after seeing last nights episode I think things will end like this -


Jack gave the aliens 12 children to stop them destroying the world or something back in '65, except one got away (that crazy sniffing bloke) and thats why they came back and now want more, to resolve the probelm, old sniffy pants will eventually go with the aliens and that will satisfy the original deal.

Although how a super race of aliens took 40 odd years to realise they were one nipper short i don't know, perhaps that nasty dose of galatic swine flu they've obviously got a dose of has dulled them a bit?

 

[Moonbat]

Jack said the 12 kids were a gift, and if you think about it what would happen if an alien race contacted our government and said they were here, would we offer them some kind of welcome gift, probably. What could we possibly offer to an advance alien race, not knowledge, or technology, the only thing we have to give is ourselves.

I liked the way the 456 kept asking for a gift, as if they are expecting to be given more children. but you don't ask for a gift, a gift is soemthing that is given, you don't ask for it, otherwise it is a request and a response.
Then again my sister always asks me what I want for christmas. But I never ask for her kids!!!

Surely they can't be omnipotent if they have to stay inside a poison gas filled vivarium. What kind of arium would an alien inhabit? Is there a word for it, I know of the obvious ones
Aquarium - for fish (water)
Vivarium - Dry, for a snake or the like

I saw one the otherday for shellfish, it had another name, hmm what was it?

 

[Mary Hoffman]

Um, shouldn't there be more than one of them? I mean the message was "we are coming" not "I am coming."

Sorry to be thick.