3.05: Children of Earth - Day Five

[TheEndIsNigh]

Dave: Well the 10,000 was actually 300,000 from the UK alone and I think the earth total was in the many millions. The red explosion certainly seemed to be the end of it.

What was all that green gunge and head banging about anyway - Talk about nonsense. Surely they could have sent some tissues in.

Personally I thought the sacrifice of Steven was an easy choice (but then it wasn't my son) Even so, in real life, even in the newspapers today, we seem to accept that a few deaths for the good of the many is OK. (not my opinion, just that of our glorious leaders)

The thing that the BBC use to justify adult themes is purely the relationship (as was) betwixt Yanto and Harkness plus a few references to sha**ing. Well I'm sorry that's not so unusual nowadays. Most eight year olds are say/referring to/contemplating the implications of those kind of things everyday. I certainly was no stranger to those words when I was that age. I used them on a regular basis, from before the age of eleven, as I believe, do most children today - walk into any school, you'll here them frequently.

The only interesting point of the whole series was the reference to just how many children die in the world every day. A point that sadly got glossed over in a throw away line almost.

That was the real shocker.

Yet we all seem to accept the figure as just a statistic, not worthy of any protests or demands for change.

Still, trainers are cheap, so thats OK.

 

[HareBrain]

The only interesting point of the whole series was the reference to just how many children die in the world every day. A point that sadly got glossed over in a throw away line almost.

I was thinking that. The children whose deaths we deem unacceptable are those we see being herded onto the buses, those whose mothers we hear shouting for them. The ones who die of malnutrition or war in the developing world, whose names we never know and whose faces we never see, who cares? (Or at least, who cares enough to do anything about it?)

The programme did raise the question of what measure of sacrifice might be justified in such a situation, but because the scenario was (as far as we know) impossible, it seemed more like a school debating society debate; it was too abstract to be relevant to the real world. In the end, whether or not the sacrifice of millions of children was justified to save the rest of the population might depend on whether it was your kids who were taken - those who lost their children might well have thought it better that the whole human race had refused, and risked destruction, rather than taking part in a trade that so dehumanised it; those whose families survived intact would have breathed a sigh of relief and lived with guilt for years.

So although the programme did encourage some difficult questions, because of its subject those questions can now be put away again, even though the human race might well face some dilemmas just as grim in the coming decades.

 

[PTeppic]

I was thinking that. The children whose deaths we deem unacceptable are those we see being herded onto the buses, those whose mothers we hear shouting for them. The ones who die of malnutrition or war in the developing world, whose names we never know and whose faces we never see, who cares? (Or at least, who cares enough to do anything about it?)

In a way I'm surprised the politicians didn't extrapolate the argument they used for British selection, and simply said "lets pick 10% quantity from the 3rd world..."

 

[mercs]

i thought that was surprising too, as if they were looking for ones that wouldn't be missed -as they suggested with the FAS- then surely they would point the aliens in the direction of africa and just do a media blackout of the results...

 

[Dave]

...surely they would point the aliens in the direction of africa and just do a media blackout of the results...

I've a feeling that that is exactly what would happen in real life, and no one would bat an eye. It would have had no dramatic effect in this story either. How utterly damning is that?

The only interesting point of the whole series was the reference to just how many children die in the world every day. A point that sadly got glossed over in a throw away line almost.

Let's say that if we noticed it, others did too.

The red explosion certainly seemed to be the end of it.

As I said it was left vague, but whatever remained was beamed back up in that fire column. We would recover a dead body from a foreign land, so why not the 456, but we haven't been told either way.

 

[mercs]

the ending seemed rushed and not clear. i'm also convinced that if this was a real event, they would just go to the third world and round up the millions of poor kids dying or in extreme poverty and justify it by saying "well they are going to die anyway"...

 

[Moonbat]

No sorry this was crap. I can understand average Joe public being taken in but come on guys. We revel in SCIENCE FICTION. This wasn't it.

I've always found DW and Torchwood to be very light on the science side of things. That's probably why I liked TW:Children of Earth. I am used to the absence of sense and so just enjoy the drama.

Bravo! I say. Hats off to RTD, that was very entertaining.

 

[Ursa major]

I think the only reasons that trawling the third world was not considered were:

1. Given that the three available members of Torchwood include two people from Wales plus Capt. Jack and the (absent) fourth member is from London, it's hard to see why (or how, for that matter) any of them was going to be in a position to make a difference in, say, Lagos.
2. there was a very short deadline, so organisation of the delivery was very important;
3. the more likely a country would be to be out of the public eye and in no position to resist the actions of more powerful rich countries, the more likely it would be that its poulation would be dispersed and its resources for moving its children (or anyone else) poor or absent.
4. Oh, and the drama concentrated only on the UK, with the addition of a US general and a brief mention of Germany thrown in for good measure.

The first and fourth reasons are obviously to do with the drama and its presentation to a UK audience, but the second and fourth are more to do with (real world) logistics.


By the way, Torchwood is Sci-fi, not SF, and has to be taken as such.

 

[j d worthington]

Having had an odd, unexpected chance to see this this weekend, I was pleasantly surprised. As for the child being used that way at the end... it was forshadowed very early on; in the first episode, with all the children screaming. That sound cropped up off and on throughout, always a puzzle; but obviously linked in some way to the children already taken and being used by the 456; perhaps the one little corner of their minds where the individual still lived, trapped in this horrendous situation (after all, we have no reason to believe they weren't suffering, only that they were so tranquilized that they couldn't physically show it). The signal itself was from a recording, and the child -- already susceptible to the effects because of the previous "possessions" -- could be used as a link-amplifier to the other children, who could thus be in turn used as a positive feedback unit, as it were.

As for this:

What was all that green gunge and head banging about anyway - Talk about nonsense.

That struck me too, at first... but once the child trapped in the thing emerged, I began to have a glimmering of what it might be, and when it was confirmed that what they got from the children was a "fix", it seemed obvious: violent withdrawal tremors. Their need for the "drug", like so many addictions, grows with time; which also would explain why the jump in numbers... more junkies + need for stronger and stronger doses = a demand for a much, much larger (and secured) supply.

I'm also not sure that "throwaway line" was such a throwaway line. It was sort of underscored by the callousness of the people involved in the scheme, it seemed to me. And yes, I found the fact that the woman who devised the particular scheme (the "lower orders" being picked in that way -- which also has something to do with why they employed the armed forces as they did, rather than culling elsewhere; they had selected these specifically to "ensure" less "loss" to the respective countries' futures) is now going to be more in control of things quite a chilling point.

My major complaint is the "six months after" bit... I'm sorry, but after something like that, the world simply ain't gonna go back to anything even approaching normal. There was at least one pirate broadcast indicating what was happening, not to mention various parents who witnessed the procedures involved. After something like that, you'd have major civil unrest: riotings, marshal law, rebellions, a great deal of violence directed against those perceived as in some way responsible, and possibly violent revolutions... most likely complete chaos, which would take decades (at least) to settle down. To me, this smacked of the "cozy catastrophe" sort of thing such as has been debated in the John Wyndham thread here. The personal impact with the Torchwood personnel, and Jack essentially running away from the trauma, that part was done fairly well... but the overall world picture was (by implication, at least), just a bit too rosy to quite jibe with the horrific situation which had gone before.

Still, overall I was quite taken with it. Some wobbles here and there, but I'd call it a good send-off for the series....

 

[ctg]

Fourth season is on planning board. If TEIN keeps commenting, I will watch every single episode just for that reason

Torchwood, the BBC spin-off of Doctor Who, has defied critics of its new format and beaten the usual trend of miniseries events by posting large ratings for its weeklong run of the Children of Earth story.

Kicking off last monday with 5.94 million viewers, Torchwood then posted 5.87 million for Wednesday and, amazingly, peaked on Thursday with 6.24 million. Its finale posted 5.8 million. Usually, a miniseries will see its viewership drop off from initially good figures, then rise in its final episode. These figures give a good deal of hope for a fourth series, even if they don’t quite approach the ratings typically garnered by an episode of Doctor Who. Series creator Russell T Davies has said that there is a plan in place, should the series receive the green light for a fourth season.


Torchwood stars John Barrowman, Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd. A fourth season is currently under consideration, although given the support shown during the week-long event, likely to occur.

Torchwood bucks ratings trend | SciFiNow

 

[tangaloomababe]

I must be easily pleased, I have loved Torchwood almost without exception from the vey first episode, yes there were a couple of episodes that were not as good as others but overall I haev been thoroughy entertained.
Having watched this new Children of Earth, which I have been completely absorbed in I have to wonder if there will be anymore Torchwood. Jack looks like he has had enough, will he come back. How can Gwen work at Torchwood and still raise a child, can't happen can it??? I will miss Torchwood but I just don't know if it will make it back to our screen which woll be very sad indeed.

 

[Interference]

Four words (and a smiley) -- Torchwood: The Next Generation

 

[tangaloomababe]

Interference: You are brilliant!! Of course the dreamy Captain Jack does of course not age in any great hurry "I found a grey hair" Gwen's future baby could be a part of the new Torchwood Team.

 

[Pyan]

Having watched this new Children of Earth, which I have been completely absorbed in I have to wonder if there will be anymore Torchwood.

Exactly my thought, tanga. With Gwen the last of the originals left on Earth, and, with all due respect, not having the sheer charisma of the Captain, and with the new baby to look after (I know, in an ideal world - but this is definitely not that...), would she be able to set it up again? Would the Foundation (presumably they access the funds - certainly I doubt they'd get anything from the Government after CoE) rebuild?

And then I read ctg's post above, and hope is renewed...

As one of the scorn-merchants on some of the earlier episodes, (actually a lot of the earlier episodes), however, I must say that Torchwood is almost unrecognisable from the early days. I just wish that they had started at this level - who knows what heights they'd be at now?...

 

[CBellenis]

I thought it was excellent - and very disturbing (I'm usually one for happy endings!)

One issue which hasn't been mentioned is the huge questions RTD raised about how many is too may to sacrifice? If it is unacceptable to sacrifice 10% - because each is individually important - why is it OK to sacrifice 1?
And if it OK to sacrifice one, where is the line drawn...10? 1%? 9.5%?

All my 'non-sci-fi' were talking about the show and debating the issues for ages.

Brilliant!

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

As long as the aliens do the culling and everyone is in the choice that isn't made by any human

99.9999% of the whole population

that is the threat we live with today from our own. Why treat aliens any differently - Don't they have rights too.

If freedom is a right isn't it worth paying for etc.

the survivers would /should make it their busness to pay the bast**ds back.

love and peace

 

[daveac]

Just joined these forms so missed commenting on the individual days - but I thought this was an excellent mini-series with only the 'concrete block' causing me belivablity problems.
Again the Human Race provide both the best and worse of life.

Depressing yes - but totally absorbing TV.

Cheers, daveac