I watch a lot of TV. I love TV - I like it better than movies most of the time. Movies of late have become very formulaic: A well-paced or drearily tedious setup (depends on the writing, acting and director), the reveal of the plot device the story will turn on, some sort of love interest (i.e., sex scene - necessary or not), an F-bomb from a grade-schooler or grandma, a pee joke (usually dog pees on hero's/villain's leg), some other potty humor, a car chase, a fight sequence (also well-paced or tedious), a heroic victory, and denouement, the end.
Meanwhile, television has hours and hours to pace its storylines. Character development is richer and deeper, and maybe the car chases are fewer and further between, just like most of the fight scenes. Maybe the sex scenes are tamer (thank God). Maybe there's less language (do we really need that ALL the time - I am a cussing connoisseur and even I find the language in movies egregious and way too much). Maybe there's less money to do CGI effects - and thank God for that, because I am sick to death of obvious and even less obvious CGI - I'd much rather see practical effects (that's when they use masks or suits or puppets to make aliens, instead of having the actors talk to tennis balls and then flying in the character via computer animation later). Television in the past 8 or 9 years has had a more organic quality, one that makes things feel a little more real to me than movies have been able to over the same time.
Because you have more time in TV, the viewer has more chances to get to know and like or dislike characters, understand subtle ideas that are introduced over the course of a season, etc. You get more emotionally invested in the characters. For me, this happened in a big way over the past three years with Torchwood, a BBC spinoff of the venerable Doctor Who. I love this show so much, because it's such fun, so surprising week to week, so quirky and strange. But this season, Torchwood took a big risk, and instead of running a normal 13-episode season, they put all their money and effort into just 5 episodes. Just 5. These 5 remarkable episodes have stuck with me over this past weekend. I still feel this story, way down deep. It resonated on a lot of levels. So I did a review of it and I wanted to share it with you in hopes that you'll watch if you haven't yet.
This is a re-post of the review I did for the Metropolis Comics forums.
Since it began, Torchwood has been a favorite of mine. I love the campy, fun feel which can switch on a moment to poignant and real. Though I've never been a regular Doctor
Who fan (I watch from time to time and enjoy it that way), this spinoff has always captured my imagination the same way that X-Files used to. The characters have been interesting and unpredictable - Captain Jack, the leader of the covert unit is dashing and daring as Indiana Jones while being as enigmatic as Fox Mulder. Gwen Cooper, the former policewoman, lends tenderness and a sexy spirit of fun to her role - she has the most beautiful green eyes, and is as lovely as a movie star; then she smiles, and her charming gap-toothed grin makes her feel like the girl next door. Ianto Jones, the "butler" turned field agent was gallant yet innocent, cuddly yet capable.
Children of Earth is the third season. The BBC produces TV programming that is not reliant on advertising dollars - television is produced by the crown; a certain amount of money is allotted per season, period. Rather than doing the usual 13 shows, this year, the Torchwood producers elected to make just 5 shows and tell just one very big, very intense, very compelling story. A very risky gamble by American standards.
But does this gamble ever pay off.
Though unquestionably some of the darkest moments I've ever seen on TV are contained in these five hours, this might be the very best TV I've ever seen, out of the UK or Hollywood.
Briefly, the plot centers around an attempt to destroy the Torchwood agency entirely (assassination attempts on the lives of our heroes), in an effort to contain a terrible secret: in 1965, the British government makes a deal with the 456 - aliens so named for broadcasting on one frequency - the 456 will provide an antiviral agent to to combat an impending flu epidemic that might have a casualty rate as great as the one in the early 20th century. In return, the British government will give the aliens 12 children. Of these, 11 are taken, and one escapes. The official in charge of the handover: Captain Jack Harkness. Today, the 456 have returned. And what they want now is more terrifying than we could have ever imagined.
With Torchwood crippled, the world's governments try to negotiate with the dreadful aliens, but are stymied and feel they have no choice but to capitulate - and cover it up. In the end, of course, a sacrifice is required, and it is here that Jack's dark past catches up, and all the sins of the past must be repaid.
What is normally a camp romp through a monster-of-the week style formula matured into a terrifying political thriller. The scope of the show suddenly became so much larger than it has ever been. You see every bit of that extra money on the screen, every episode, and some of the scenes were so raw and terrifying, I held my breath. Throughout the show, I wondered whether I was more afraid of the aliens or our own governments. All of them - all over the world. Given the choices they had, I wondered about the notion that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. I also wondered whether I'd want to live in a world where this terrible devil's bargain was made and the cover up the governments were trying to arrange came off successfully - at least as successfully as something like this could ever manage to be done.
Torchwood Children of Earth is compelling and disturbing, and it's haunted me every moment since I saw the ending. It was sad, frustrating, and amazing. Torchwood has never been vapid or silly, but this season especially points out the power of television, when it puts its mind to being really, really good. I cannot recommend this highly enough (and I beg you to then go back and watch seasons 1 and 2 so that you can shake off the sorrow and have some fun). It'll stay with you forever. If you have children of your own, make sure you have someone next to you, to hold your hand. You'll laugh a little in the beginning, you'll feel the dread and hopelessness and heartbreak in the end. And if you believe in Captain Jack and Torchwood, you'll have hope, too.
Meanwhile, television has hours and hours to pace its storylines. Character development is richer and deeper, and maybe the car chases are fewer and further between, just like most of the fight scenes. Maybe the sex scenes are tamer (thank God). Maybe there's less language (do we really need that ALL the time - I am a cussing connoisseur and even I find the language in movies egregious and way too much). Maybe there's less money to do CGI effects - and thank God for that, because I am sick to death of obvious and even less obvious CGI - I'd much rather see practical effects (that's when they use masks or suits or puppets to make aliens, instead of having the actors talk to tennis balls and then flying in the character via computer animation later). Television in the past 8 or 9 years has had a more organic quality, one that makes things feel a little more real to me than movies have been able to over the same time.
Because you have more time in TV, the viewer has more chances to get to know and like or dislike characters, understand subtle ideas that are introduced over the course of a season, etc. You get more emotionally invested in the characters. For me, this happened in a big way over the past three years with Torchwood, a BBC spinoff of the venerable Doctor Who. I love this show so much, because it's such fun, so surprising week to week, so quirky and strange. But this season, Torchwood took a big risk, and instead of running a normal 13-episode season, they put all their money and effort into just 5 episodes. Just 5. These 5 remarkable episodes have stuck with me over this past weekend. I still feel this story, way down deep. It resonated on a lot of levels. So I did a review of it and I wanted to share it with you in hopes that you'll watch if you haven't yet.
This is a re-post of the review I did for the Metropolis Comics forums.
Since it began, Torchwood has been a favorite of mine. I love the campy, fun feel which can switch on a moment to poignant and real. Though I've never been a regular Doctor
Who fan (I watch from time to time and enjoy it that way), this spinoff has always captured my imagination the same way that X-Files used to. The characters have been interesting and unpredictable - Captain Jack, the leader of the covert unit is dashing and daring as Indiana Jones while being as enigmatic as Fox Mulder. Gwen Cooper, the former policewoman, lends tenderness and a sexy spirit of fun to her role - she has the most beautiful green eyes, and is as lovely as a movie star; then she smiles, and her charming gap-toothed grin makes her feel like the girl next door. Ianto Jones, the "butler" turned field agent was gallant yet innocent, cuddly yet capable.Children of Earth is the third season. The BBC produces TV programming that is not reliant on advertising dollars - television is produced by the crown; a certain amount of money is allotted per season, period. Rather than doing the usual 13 shows, this year, the Torchwood producers elected to make just 5 shows and tell just one very big, very intense, very compelling story. A very risky gamble by American standards.
But does this gamble ever pay off.
Though unquestionably some of the darkest moments I've ever seen on TV are contained in these five hours, this might be the very best TV I've ever seen, out of the UK or Hollywood.
Briefly, the plot centers around an attempt to destroy the Torchwood agency entirely (assassination attempts on the lives of our heroes), in an effort to contain a terrible secret: in 1965, the British government makes a deal with the 456 - aliens so named for broadcasting on one frequency - the 456 will provide an antiviral agent to to combat an impending flu epidemic that might have a casualty rate as great as the one in the early 20th century. In return, the British government will give the aliens 12 children. Of these, 11 are taken, and one escapes. The official in charge of the handover: Captain Jack Harkness. Today, the 456 have returned. And what they want now is more terrifying than we could have ever imagined.
With Torchwood crippled, the world's governments try to negotiate with the dreadful aliens, but are stymied and feel they have no choice but to capitulate - and cover it up. In the end, of course, a sacrifice is required, and it is here that Jack's dark past catches up, and all the sins of the past must be repaid.
What is normally a camp romp through a monster-of-the week style formula matured into a terrifying political thriller. The scope of the show suddenly became so much larger than it has ever been. You see every bit of that extra money on the screen, every episode, and some of the scenes were so raw and terrifying, I held my breath. Throughout the show, I wondered whether I was more afraid of the aliens or our own governments. All of them - all over the world. Given the choices they had, I wondered about the notion that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. I also wondered whether I'd want to live in a world where this terrible devil's bargain was made and the cover up the governments were trying to arrange came off successfully - at least as successfully as something like this could ever manage to be done.
Torchwood Children of Earth is compelling and disturbing, and it's haunted me every moment since I saw the ending. It was sad, frustrating, and amazing. Torchwood has never been vapid or silly, but this season especially points out the power of television, when it puts its mind to being really, really good. I cannot recommend this highly enough (and I beg you to then go back and watch seasons 1 and 2 so that you can shake off the sorrow and have some fun). It'll stay with you forever. If you have children of your own, make sure you have someone next to you, to hold your hand. You'll laugh a little in the beginning, you'll feel the dread and hopelessness and heartbreak in the end. And if you believe in Captain Jack and Torchwood, you'll have hope, too.
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