Doctor Who

“Night Terrors” Review

September 11th 2011, 08:09pm

It feels like a long time since we’ve spent an episode on present day Earth (The Lodger?). It feels even longer ago that we used to return there every third episode or so, to catch up with Rose/Martha/Donna’s family (presumably Amy gets to cram all her catching up when the Doctor periodically dumps her in Leadworth, and anyway gets to bring her husband in the TARDIS, so it’s no surprise she’d rather have “planets and history and stuff”). Where the grimy reality of the Powell estate used to be shot with an eye for normality and, er, “Earthiness” even the litter strewn streets have taken on the fairy tail alien feel of Moff-Who (helped immensely by some beautifully photography revelling in symmetry). It was this “otherness” that made the simple pleasure of seeing the Doctor, Amy and Rory knocking on doors so enjoyable. Conversely, as the narrative is gradually translated into the more timeless dollhouse locations it lost a little of that charm. Despite that, this was a very strong episode (allaying a concern I had since it came from Mark Gatiss who penned the only real clunker early in the last series).

The setting – and story – was such that it was easy to imagine how it might have slotted into the Tenth Doctor’s era (indeed, it was reminiscent in some way of Fear Her though, thankfully, vastly superior). Matt Smith’s edgy performance, evident in the way he aggressively continues to make tea when asked to leave, highlights the differences in the way it is realised.

When I first started watching The X-Files I always looked forward to the conspiracy episodes, and after last week Doctor Who I started to feel I so much wanted another River episode we’d just be killing time until the next one. But just as I later came to appreciate Mulder and Scully’s more routine Monster of the Week investigations, this diverting episode showed just how consistently strong this series is proving to be.

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“Torchwood: The End of the Road” Review

September 8th 2011, 08:09pm

What was the point of that? Most of the developments in episode eight of Miracle Day had me asking that question. The momentum from the flashback episode was instantly squandered as Angelo’s involvement with morphic immortality fields proved to be tangential, and the kidnapping of Gwen’s family part of a sideshow.

Torchwood is back with the CIA, who are compromised by infiltrators. What was the point of that?

Newly introduced and reintroduced characters Olivia Colasanto and Brian Friedkin are de-introduced. What what the point of that?

The Danes/Kitzinger story is back, but remains in its rather separate little bubble. And the episode culminates with the depressingly useless Esther wailing “I don’t know what to do”. So what’s new?

There were a few enjoyable tidbits in the episode. Despite the CIA being generally rather useless, its reintroduction brought along Allen Shapiro with his amusing insistence on deporting the “English girl” Gwen. And there was a fabulously touching reference to Ianto. It was written by Ryan Scott with Jane Espenson (the latter apparently having done the most writing on this series); Ryan Scott penned the recent radio play Torchwood: Submission, a very traditional tale with some clunky dialogue and poorly executed radio action but also some captivating imagery. The End of the Road wasn’t a poor episode, it was just that with only a couple of episodes ahead, it seemed strange to be throttling back to idle again. It seems to me that so far Miracle Day could have told with just the first episode, the House-style airborne episode and Categories of Life; with Immortal Sin too good to miss, despite its irrelevance to the story. And some sort of conclusion…

John Fay, the other main writer with RTD on Children of Earth, penned the next one. I’m hoping for something better than satisfactory. Well, I’m an optimist.

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Doctor Who

“Let’s Kill Hitler” Review

September 4th 2011, 04:09pm

Daylight. For the first time since Utah, there’s daylight. That reflects the lighter tone in this densely packed story that ends the Summer hiatus in series 32 (or heralds the arrival of series 6b, depending on your personal preferences) and that’s despite the war criminals and attempted assassinations that crop up with astonishing frequency.

Let’s Kill Hitler promises the title of the episode, though we were warned that was misleading: Moffat admitted this would be a straight follow on from A Good Man Goes to War. But it wasn’t really that either; this was simply a River story, picking up on that (in)famous revelation at the end of the first half season concerning River’s identity.

I was rather disappointed the first time I watched this. It wasn’t a bad episode, but it felt the weakest so far by the high standards this series; I focused on the flaws and the overloaded plot (I think there are about 4 episodes’ worth of story in here: looking for Melody, the Hitler story, the robot with the miniaturised crew, and finding River). On second viewing I’m sure I was overly harsh; it’s hugely entertaining and there isn’t a moment on when the action doesn’t roll along. I remember seeing an interview where Moffat explained his reason for the horse on the spaceship in The Girl in the Fireplace was to grab the interest of viewers just in from the pub; a philosophy that he’s clearly applied to keeping the viewer on their toes through this. The flaws that bugged me weren’t terminal, some were small things (why would the Teselecta react to Rory’s “heil”?) while other niggles connected to the larger plot (if Melody is this ultimate weapon, why such pedestrian assassination techniques?) but always with the possibility that they might be explained away.

What I loved about this episode was the way it perfectly reflects Silence in the Library as the diametrically opposite point in the Doctor and River’s meetings. Her total devotion to him then counterpoints his absolute faith in her now; for each of them at the other end of the scale this commitment is puzzling and bewildering. I’m more and more in awe of Moffat’s handling of the non-linear relationship between the Doctor and River each time they meet. It’s reflected in River’s name which I speculated before came from a time in the Gamma forest, but it’s actually a Timey Wimey thing: The Doctor gave her that name, because River told him that was her name. Lorna just provided the link. The River regeneration is all about her making the choice of who she wants to become.

Most of my other River/Melody series get shut down fairly quickly: the little girl from the start of the series is River. Baked in the TARDIS, Melody has a time head. She is the child of the TARDIS. (There’s still the question of how older River doesn’t recognise young Melody’s space suit, and Moffat’s hint to revisit “The Silence in the Library” hasn’t helped me with that.) The theory that River the Doctor’s mother hasn’t been totally squashed, but I now rather hope she isn’t. The Doctor’s dedication to her in this episode is all the more astounding and touching if she is just River/Melody. Perhaps this will become clearer when we discover how River learns to read Gallifreyan? Also we still have the question of how Melody knows who her parents are: if she was given this information to allow her to get close to the Doctor when he returned for Amy, why hasn’t she met him before? (“Not doing weddings” is barely a reason not to attempt her mission.) We get no more of Lorna (she’s not River, she’s not a weapon) but might we see her again in the Gamma Forest? This other girl who waited?

And a new question: the Doctor says always waste time when you have none. In one scene there are 32 minutes remaining, in the next the first mention is of 3. Where was the Doctor in-between?

The design in this episode is superb: it simply looks fantastic. Swansea as 1938 Berlin would have seemed so unlikely the week before. I love the Doctor’s new coat, too, a huge improvement on his costume.

Moffat doesn’t seem capable of resisting the sly continuity references: the Temporal State of Grace is “a clever lie”, and the 12 regeneration limit that’s been exercising fandom has been neatly fudged (and in good time, since we still had 2 more doctors in the bank, as it were). But there’s a whole new issue around Time Lord (or just Time Baby?) ageing with River’s throwaway comment about losing a few years. Apparently an indulgent in joke to explain a production quirk (like Romana trying out new bodies in Destiny of the Daleks) I suspect it may have been there for a deeper reason: explaining how Mels aged at the same speed as Rory and Amy by suggesting not that Time Lords age slowly, but that they can age deliberately.

One final reason why I’ve re-evaluated this episode: fine performances. Nina Toussaint-White hits a perfect balance with just enough River in it to convince. Alex Kingston really gets to let rip in this one. And Matt Smith is, again, amazing: just look again at his face as he repeats the line: “give them hell”. But the emotional high-point in this episode for me followed a concern that, after the emotional extremes so firmly rung out by RTD, Amy’s reaction to discovering her pregnancy and losing her baby was just to muted. In her reaction to facing death, believing her friend the Doctor dead, her daughter having killed him, and with Rory in her arms, the words “I love you” are so chilling filled with a kind of resigned peace.

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“Torchwood: Immortal Sins” Review

August 25th 2011, 09:08pm

Seven episodes in Torchwood has suddenly gone “classic”, with a flashback episode reminiscent of Small Worlds or Fragments from Jane Epsenson, but it is (at least for the first 40 minutes) very, very good. It’s another crazy tonal shift, too, for a series which began with a global epic conspiracy saga with myriad new plot strands to focus down on what is essential a Harkness solo set in an almost comic book evocation of the prohibition era.

While “classic” Torchwood (the first two series) was never really to my taste, there were a few good stories told (in the second series especially) and plenty of potential that was never quite realised in the flashbacks to Jack’s life from 1879 through to the present day. Although what we are seeing in this episode is clearly designed to lay the foundations for the endgame, it’s a stand-alone story in its own right; there’s even a Torchwood mission which is, for once, conducted successfully. (Quite who would want to manipulate Earth’s history in this way is frustrating unlikely to be revealed, but we’ll overlook that since we actually get our first sight of something alien…)  It consolidates this series’ position as being not so much pure Children of Earth as a hybrid with its predecessor series, and if I’m not entirely enthusiastic about that in general, this episode shows that where it’s veering closer to the earlier versions in style it is still thankfully heading in the opposite direction in terms of quality.

The other major strand in this episode is the Jack/Gwen two-hander scenes in the car, which crackle with tension. At the end of last week I was fearful there would be a meal made of Gwen’s dilemma: but Espenson has her zap Jack unconscious within the first five minutes; instead we get a powerfully honest interchange that has all the more resonance when you think how far Gwen has come since those early days of trying to shoot straight in The Hub range with Jack’s hand on her arse.

It was certainly fortunate that I was watching this one alone and that no-one witnessed my “Jack mentioned The Doctor” dance. It’s also a pleasure to see Jack operating alone. There’s even a hint of the lone chancer we were first introduced to in The Empty Child, albeit with a greater sense of responsibility now. For me, the only real weak point in the episode was the cop-out ending. Rex and Esther were credited with more gumption than they had hitherto indicated they possessed, and the cliff-hanger reveal (like the PhiCorp origins moment) was predictable from early in the episode. Plus any resolution that puts a firearm in the hands of PC Andy counts as pushing it, in my book. Despite that, this is the kind of new direction the series has been needed to sustain its 10 episode arc, and it’s a delight that Torchwood has not lost the power to surprise.

NB. I couldn’t work out which 10 seconds would get cut in last week’s episode. It would have surprised me less had this one been edited!

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Doctor Who

“Torchwood: The Middle Men” Review

August 20th 2011, 07:08pm

The middle: piggy-in-the-middle, middling, in the middle of it all. Being in the middle can be good, or it can be bad. Or it can just mean mediocre.

At the start of The Middle Men we’re midway through the 10 episode run of Miracle Day. At about lunchtime in the first series of 24 (each hour long episode represented a real chunk of time from midnight to midnight) the bad guy gets wiped out and we go back to square one with finding out who is behind him. It was an effective way of invigorating the series; and I was reminded of it in this episode with the revelation that PhiCorp aren’t the ultimate baddies. Except we knew that all along. (Perhaps it will turn out the mysterious power invisibly manipulating PhiCorp is The Silence: it certainly fits their MO; if they weren’t Moffat’s monster it would be a dead cert!) On the other hand, maybe 24 is not the best model since by around tea-time it was reduced to introducing an amnesia plot strand; let’s hope that the cliff-hanger here doesn’t indicate an equally tired hostage storyline. The introduction of Ernie Hudson’s character is a welcome way of injecting something fresh; we need new blood, but he’s not in it enough. During the pre-title sequence (perhaps the best part of this episode) I was excited at the prospect of the action moving China: a whole new perspective on the Miracle and the consequences of overpopulation, but alas there was nothing that radical. The middle was a symbolic marker only; the whole episode was essentially the conclusion of a two-parter that began with The Categories of Life, wrapping up the same three strands with Rex & Esther in San Pedro, Gwen in Cowbridge and Jack’s sideline in investigation.

I’ve also been increasingly convinced by the thesis espoused on the Doctor Who Podcast that this series is in the middle ground between the first two series ofTorchwood and the serial Children of Earth. Especially with James’ recent remark that Rex and Esther are essentially Owen and Tosh replacements. Esther’s even inherited Tosh’s tragic unrequitedness. However this is a better episode for Esther, for once, with a superbly staged fight scene: in her shock and distress, sending her back for the keys is a superbly callous twist that is entirely undermined by the disappointingly predictable undeadness (or rather, > category-1-ness) of Maloney.

Right at the middle of Children of Earth was Peter Capaldi as Frobisher. He represented the utilitarian servants of the system that in Miracle Day are embodied by Bad Mitten playing Colin Maloney and and Dr Patel. Maloney’s storyline in The Categories of Life is shocking, brutal, a highlight; but the way he’s written in this episode he quickly outstays his welcome. Miracle Day lacks a Frobisher character; Danes is the major goest role but he is a polarising figure, far from being a “middle man”. Indeed, The Middle Men is the first episode in which he makes no appearance. I’m enjoying Pullman’s performance, but I make no complaint about his absence; we don’t need him on screen to be reminded of his significance, especially when there has been so little for him to do. All the same, we need a “Middle Man” of the calibre of Peter Capaldi, and Ernie Hudson isn’t doing it for me, yet.

Look at her -- that was a practical shot of her in front of flames -- not greenscreen. She felt the heat. #Torchwood
August 18, 2011 9:50 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@JaneEspenson
Jane Espenson

One of the best things about this episode, though, is the return of Gwen’s Awesomeness, which was a little subdued last week. Any story that features Gwen on a motorbike detonating explosives by remote control gets my vote. Nothing middling about that.

 

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Doctor Who

“Torchwood: The Categories of Life” Review

August 12th 2011, 10:08pm

Threes. Everything comes in threes. Being alive, after the miracle, there’s three ways for that. Strands of subplot in this episode: there’s three of them. But maybe one would’ve been enough.

First of all, the category nonsense: mostly it’s been admirably clear what the effects of Miracle Day are. You can’t die, however horribly mutilated you are; you can heal too. But the brain dead? Was the suicide bomber in episode 1, who blinked, brain dead? What about Ellis Hartley Monroe in the scrapyard? And crucially, how much damage must you sustain to reach this state… Because Oswald Danes has been pumped full of potassium chloride and seems to have healed without difficulty.

The other problem is the three strands of the plot. Previously I complained that everyone was being brought together; now the opposite. You can’t win, eh? But the problem here is that two strands of the plot are definitely category 1s, and they detract from the one of them that is a category 3. The confrontation between Vera Juarez and Maloney is Children of Earth vintage Torchwood: the small minded, racist sexist bureaucrat proud to come in under budget, deadened to the meaning of the work he’s involved in is a complete contrast to Dr Juarez, an passionate intellectual. Espenson writes these showdown scenes superbly: Harkness/Danes was the highlight of Dead of Night, and and reeling from the shocking actions of a man whose whole concept of death has changed so profoundly I did not realise how horrible a crime he was committing, and indeed what he was already complicit in.

I’m currently watching, and enjoying, The Hour, a superbly executed period thriller set against the backdrop of the Suez crisis. The acting is all first rate (there are at least two actors who would make a superb 12th Doctor in it), and it’s the kind of thing the BBC is justly lauded for. It’s flawless entertainment. But despite some gruesome murders and ruthless scheming, watching it is comparatively safe by contrast to the dark depths of human nature that recent Torchwood has exposed.

But if there’s a problem with the latest incarnation of Torchwood it is the unevenness. The “miracle rally” just looks a bit feeble. It’s hardly Nuremberg. And although I was intrigued by the notion of a concentration camp in Cowbridge, the Welsh strand felt a bit redundant. The smart writing of the panels carried a feel of House or the West Wing; a shame that was so quickly dispensed with. And for all the PhiCorp mystery, the governmental angle is starting to be notable for its absence - besides throwaway references to Hilary Clinton and the UK Prime Minister (presumbably Denise Riley?). And, to return to a criticism I voiced last week, there’s still a question in my mind over whether 10 episodes were needed. Although the story is motoring again, would I have enjoyed it even more if this had been episode 3 rather than episode 5?

There’s enough in this one to give me confidence in Miracle Day. Despite a dip last week, it’s been rather brilliant so far. But I still have expectations, due to its predecessor series, that it should be outstanding. That may be unfair, but it’s probably the reason I’d pin a blue peg to it rather than a white one.

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“Torchwood: Escape to LA” Review

August 4th 2011, 10:08pm

I like slow-build long-fuse stories. I enjoy the atmosphere and the interplay between the characters, and wondering what each twist and turn will bring. Or at least I enjoy it when the writing is so top-notch, from the likes of Russell T. Davies, John Fay, Doris Egan or Jane Espenson. Unfortunately when the dialogue is flaccid and the thrills never faster moving than a man with a ruptured heart plodding up 33 flights of stairs, it gets a little harder to keep that thought out of one’s mind. The thought: “Is 10 hours too much?”

I do think there’s a lot of milage in the Miracle Day concept. The first three episodes were mad, weird and interesting, with a batty sense of humour just like the first couple of days of Children of Earth. I don’t know Jim Gray, but John Shiban co-wrote some of my favourite X-Files episodes (Christmas Carol, Dreamland, Monday). But on the other side of the ledger, he’s at least half responsible for dialogue like “thanks again for saving my ass yesterday”, not something to be proud of.

The pre-title sequence of this one was dark and rather good, but everything else in the episode heavily telegraphed. Some of the old (series 1 & 2) traits re-emerge. Torchwood 3 always seemed rather ignorant of its incompetence and unsuitability for any serious Earth-saving work, something sidestepped in Children of Earth by forcing the action on them, but the self-importance has returned (“They need me. I’m on a mission.”) We seem to have reverted, a little, to the bad old days. We’ve got the format of Children of Earth but where that (and the first couple of episodes of Miracle Day) were multi-stranded with actors all over the place, the focus seems to have zeroed in on the new “team”. After Children of Earth proved how much better the show can be just a couple of “heroes” that’s the last thing we need. We may not have Peter Capaldi but we’ve got Bill Pullman and Lauren Ambrose. Let’s see more of them instead, before hope that we might still get something even half as good as the last series starts to fade.

There were gruesome scenes in episode one that were so darkly entertaining they made me giggle. But the gore in this episode (eyeball & palm, car crusher) comes across as just rather nasty. And the episode storyline just didn’t make much sense. Who was the man left in the Phicorp server room? How did they get away? Perhaps I drifted off a bit, but please don’t tell me I need to watch it again.

Hoping for better next week. Espenson’s wielding the quill again.

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“Torchwood: Dead of Night” Review

July 28th 2011, 10:07pm

After the two transatlantic set up episodes which have deftly interwoven the storylines of our principle characters, episode three spends the first fifteen minutes hunkering down with our new Torchwood team (to the exclusion of Danes, Kitzinger & Juarez). Just like when Gwen, Jack and Ianto were reunited in London in episode three of Children of Earth. Unfortunately, there’s not much of a dynamic in the team to carry this yet. Indeed, it seems only to bring out the sullenness and self-pity in Rex and Esther who have, up to now, proved entertaining and sympathetic characters (respectively). For the first time this claustrophobic narrowing made me want to see more of the global reactions to the “Miracle”. Up to now I’d been happy to see the reactions through the prism of television news, CIA intelligence reports and the growing chaos in the hospital ER. To understand why our heroes are cowering in their hovel, we need to see who’s hunting them. Instead there’s a rushed sequence where Rex trusts and is betrayed by an unseen mentor, a sequence told through an overheard telephone conversation and an overlooked police raid. It’s as if the plot is on fast forward, but it’s not clear why: it could have been a dramatic event, or it could have been left out entirely.

The plot lurches forward, too, with a non-too subtle expose of Kitzinger’s employers, the pharmaceutical outfit Phicorp. Kitzinger meanwhile remains great value, and I’m still enjoying Juarez’s character. Have I mentioned how awesome Gwen has been yet? She’s still very, very awesome. Compared to the usual Doctor Who/Torchwood we have a particularly high number of strong female characters in Miracle Day.

I did note that Murray Gold’s score has departed further and further from the more familiar Doctor Who/Torchwood sound and has become more bluesy and… well, American.

Again there are continuity references for the Doctor Who fans (“bigger on the inside”) with the Gwen’s lie about the contact lenses being “isomorphic” reflecting the TARDIS’ sometime isomorphic controls (it can only be flown by the Doctor, except when someone else flies it). There are references too for long time viewers of Torchwood with an overt reference to Ianto. This episode is written by another writer of some pedigree, Jane Espenson (Buffy, Battlestar Galactica), who clearly also shares an affection for Torchwood past. The telephone conversation between Jack and Gwen is beautifully written, too, perfectly capturing the intimacy between them (“your turn to talk”).

I enjoyed the episode more and more as it went on, building towards the satisfying confrontation between Jack and Danes. Once again, there was so much resonance with Children of Earth (“the life of a child”) that I wondered if this was something new viewers would need to pick up on, or if it was just an acknowledgement of the terrible, powerful, harrowing climax of that series. There are still very few clues as to the direction Miracle Day is going in, but I’m still enjoying the ride.

I’m guessing the 10 seconds cut from the UK version (which I haven’t seen) occurred around the 28′ mark, though it’s a long sequence and I’m not sure how much difference 10″ can have made…

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Doctor Who

“Torchwood: Rendition” review

July 21st 2011, 10:07pm

The second episode of Miracle Day gives away a little bit more of what kind of a beast this new incarnation of Torchwood is. I’m enjoying it a lot.

From last week’s episode it’s clear that, besides buying exclusive first screening rights, the US cash that has been poured in has made a visible impact on what’s on screen. But it’s also paid for some top-notch writers, and Rendition is by Doris Egan, who has written some of my favourite episodes of House (House vs. God, Son of Coma Guy etc). I was looking forward to see what she would do with the Doctor Who universe, and the lovely scene where Gwen tells Jack that she feared he would not come back until she was an old woman (and he’d look exactly the same) reveals an affection she obviously already holds for the show, so resonant is it with the powerful epilogue of Children of Earth.

Early in the episode there’s a reference to Rupert Sheldrake‘s theory of Morphic Resonance (the hundredth monkey syndrome). My teacher from school will have loved this reference (in the unlikely event he was watching). Sheldrake is a biochemist with a double first class degree and a PhD from Cambridge who has specialised in psychic research and parapsychology. He’s the kind of guy Fox Mulder would have pin-ups of. I’m not quite sure what it tells us about the developing plot, yet, but it’s becoming clear it’s not as simple as everyone gaining Captain Jack’s immortality: for one thing we discover that everyone is ageing, something Jack has never done.

Jack’s immortality is one thing that new viewers to the show will only just be picking up on where fans are already well-versed. Another is the vortex manipulator: like Rex they still have no idea what it is or why it is significant but like Jack and Gwen we know exactly what it is and why it’s important.If Jack’s immortality is significant to the plot, will the suspense for us be diminished? And how will his current mortality be reconciled (if at all) with the  way in which Rose/Bad Wolf brought about his universal permenance in The Parting of the Ways?

The sequences in American hospitals in both of the first two episodes make this series even more reminiscent, for me, of the only other American-produced story in the Doctor Who universe, the 1996 movie. But with Doris Egan writing, House is the other medical connection, and I saw a few overtones from there too. The sequence, in the plane, is reminiscent of the House episode Airborne (where House and Cuddy have to improvise to treat an outbreak on a plane) and the pacey sequence with the extemporised cure has all the tension and excitement that show brought to the art of diagnosis. It should also be mentioned that once again, Gwen’s awesomeness attains a new order of order of magnitude. That’s even before she reminds the evil Lynn of her nationality.

Meanwhile Doctor Juarez also gets a substantial and satisfying role in this episode, shaking up the panicked assumptions about managing the crisis the end of death has brought about and exploring the wider, more profound implications for disease management and healthcare priorities. That maybe sounds a little dry but it’s not, it’s refreshing to explore the social and scientific implications in this way.

That’s one major difference with early Torchwood, Doctor Who and even Children of Earth. In the the first two of those, ideas are treated as disposable and lightweight, used to pad out 45 minutes while the viewer is taken for a visual ride with a few jokes and some unresolved romances. Here we have a single idea, a simple yet substantial one, that is going to be explored over 10 hours, and after two episodes it feels like we’ve only just begun. Children of Earth explored a single idea in a similar way, but with 5 hours (so we’d be almost half way through by now) it had far less time to do so. Miracle Day is taking it very slowly, and I love the intricacy this allows. I’m completely hooked.

 

 

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“Torchwood: The New World” Review

July 14th 2011, 09:07pm

When a show’s been good, I’m always a bit apprehensive about a new series. John Cleese famously ended Fawlty Towers after just 12 episodes, while it was still good. Regrettably few other shows demonstrate that restraint. When a great show runs out of juice and the characters become tired and flat I always feel there’s a danger of contaminating what made it good originally. Torchwood is a bit odd in that respect. The last series, Children of Earth, was besides being a superbly structured story , the most harrowing piece of dramatic television I’d seen in over a decade. But prior to that it had been… well, to be blunt about it, dire (poor plotting, feeble characterisation and clunky dialogue). Certainly a mixed bag.

So while I welcome the show’s return in Torchwood: Miracle Day, I was hoping it wouldn’t spoil its immediate predecessor too much. (Indeed I almost watched Children of Earth again so I could enjoy it unsullied, just in case, but I decided that despite having bought the Bluray I lack the emotional stamina to view it.)

Miracle Day shares with the long story serial format of Children of Earth rather than the individual story format used previously (albeit with 10 weekly instalments rather than five nightly episodes). And it is also driven by a BIG concept, in this case no-one dying, explored in depth over the run of the show.

It’s also the first ever BBC Worldwide production, being made with money from the Starz network in the US who have the right to premier it (it went out last Friday over the pond). Torchwood therefore has a slightly bizarre pedigree, having first aired on BBC 3 (series 1), BBC 2 (series 2), BBC 1 (series 3) and Starz (series 4). All this means that most of the viewers for Miracle Day are new to the show. And also that a lot of it is set in the US.

So a lot is new, including the characters at the forefront of this opening episode, through whose eyes Torchwood is seen. Bill Pullman is a pedophile and murderer (so not terribly sympathetic!) Mekhi Phifer and Alexa Havins are CIA, the former being fairly unsympathetic too. He’s deeply self-centred and driven, but it’s a great performance and he makes the most of it (he has a great line in self-pity, making being made to pay the Severn Bridge toll a tribulation on a par with being killed and resurrected to endure constant pain).

But there’s a surprising amount of continuity too, with references to the 456, Owen Harper, and Jack’s immortality. It’s not clear whether the 456 references are throwaway lines or indicative of their return, but they do not intrude on the plot. It’s only the reference to Jack’s immortality, which clearly is related to the central concept, where no allowances are made for new viewers. Retcon also makes its irritating return (I’m not sure whether I hate it because of it’s irksomely self-referential name, distaste at the notion of forced amnesia or because it’s such a clumsy story device since we have no way of knowing which bits of memory the character retains). And despite the influx of US money and the new locations, there’s still a lot of welshness: not just Gwen, Rhys and PC Andy, but Gwen’s family, shots of Cardiff and of the coast (the Old Rectory, Rhossilli – thanks @JohnGreenaway). It’s nice having PC Andy back too, he was great, although Rhys was perhaps a little disappointingly myopic in his attitude to the global situation after previous developments. Above all, after everything that transpired in the last series, John Barrowman is hitting precisely the right tone with Captain Jack. His reappearance is written perfectly, too, just enough explanation to motivate a return to Earth, without unnecessary exposition of the aftermath and its effect on him. Gwen’s baby is brilliant, too; hanging on to mother while she shoots at the helicopter she’s just too perfect. (My enjoyment is only slightly tempered by apprehension occasioned by the cruelty to infant characters that RTD has shown he is capable of).

It makes for an unusual but rather successful mix. The swish US locations, high production values and cash-guzzling explosions make it reminiscent of other glossy and slick US imports, whilst all-Welsh scenes of a family reunion around a hospital bed feel like typical Russell T. Davies series and very, very British. It’s also a great mix of clever, funny, and utterly gruesome – in one scene, the one in the morgue, all at once. Despite the retcon, this is a very solid return. I’m looking forward to Rendition immensely.

NB. This is based on seeing the US edit, which is around five minutes shorter than the UK version but contains some material the UK edit doesn’t. When I’ve seen the UK version, I’ll add any differences I notice. Or hopefully someone else will do a proper forensic comparison that I can link to.

Update: I didn’t notice any differences, and indeed one of the show’s writers has suggested that contrary to RTD’s suggestion of unique UK and US edits, the UK version is identical save for 13 seconds cut from two episodes.

I'm told only diffs in Torchwood content are a 10 second trim inthe UK version of ep.3 and a three-second cut in the UK ep.6
July 20, 2011 6:45 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@JaneEspenson
Jane Espenson
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