Torchwood

[altariel]

I liked last night's episode rather a lot, although the Torchwood element seemed almost incidental to what was a jolly good story. I suppose this isn't surprising in a show that's still finding its feet... although we are now five episodes in to a 13 episode run. But then Blake's 7 didn't hit its stride till 'Shadow' (discuss).

However, it's good to see that PJ Hammond's instincts for the atavistically scary have not in fact deserted him. (I watched a very disappointing episode of Midsomer Murders by him the other week, when I was hoping he would nail that sense of being in a hell dimension that makes Midsomer Murders so compulsive...) Anyway, yes: FEEL THE FAIRY FEAR! And it was bang on that Lord of the Dance sounds more like a HYMN TO SATAN! *shivers* Honestly, scariest song ever.

Anyway, so, plenty that was good, plenty still to quibble about, mostly to do with my still not having a sense of this show's identity.

Spooks finale tonight, woo hoo! *gnaws knuckles*

Comments

[executrix.livejournal.com]

But then Blake's7 didn't hit its stride till 'Shadow' (discuss)

Oh, I don't know--in a sense SpaceFall is the whole thing in microcosm, especially the computer-room argument.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh, TWB and Space Fall are definitely brilliant openers...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It's the bit about the sky turning black that gets me. We used to sing it all the time when I was at primary school.

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

The "Not So Much" is utterly ... no I won't say that. I've been too offensive on LiveJournal already this evening.

What I will say is that the proper words actually tell the story of how God's only son came down to be among men, was rejected by those who claimed to be God's representatives, and was quite brutally tortured and killed in order to silence him. Whatever impression the unchurched have of Christianity being all "gentle Jesus meek and mild" and fluffy warm fuzziness, the brutal reality is that Christianity is all about the brutal reality. This world is a mess and we all need something pretty darned dramatic for our salvation - but God provided that through the crucifiction, being the only way to finally and fully break the devil's claim against us.

But enough of this - I'm not here to evangelise, I just wanted to point out why the sky turning black bit needs to be unpleasant to think about.

[gaspode.livejournal.com]

I believe the original folksong that Carter changed wasn't a christian song, was far older ...

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you've ever read In a Dark Time: An Anthology for the Nuclear Age (fascinating book that puts all sorts of poems/extracts side by side to produce a meditation on war and Othering etc.), but it makes good use of quotes from 'Lord of the Dance' in the section on the peace movement. It's a much better protest song than it is a hymn.

Also: thank you for keeping the ep. review spoiler-free :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I don't know that anthology, no. That would certainly put a very different feel to the bit about the sky turning black.

Oops, should probably have put a just-in-case warning on that LJ cut!

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I'm caught between my pleasure that their story-telling is getting into the realms of "rather enjoyable", and annoyance that they've muffed their premise and show's identity so badly.

I do think that Torchwood, despite positioning itself to be "top-secret-political-organization-crossed-with-SF", is winding up being a sort of mediocre amalgam written by people with a general acquaintance with both genres, but little sophistication in either. So it comes out a bit like a dime store novel, and the problem is that all their competitor programs have that sophistication. When your audience, even your mainstream audience, has moved on to Spooks and BSG and Life on Mars, you need to be able to keep up with them, because they're going to be very well-versed in politics, ethical conflict, character development, science fiction plotting and structure, and genre-straddling. Torchwood's writers don't seem to be that well-versed.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

When your audience, even your mainstream audience, has moved on to Spooks and BSG and Life on Mars, you need to be able to keep up with them

I think you are absolutely bang-on with all of this.

It's as if genre themes have shifted back to being acceptable mainstream topics (I think Spooks had a real "five minutes in the future feel this season). I think this can leave genre fans unsatisfied by the mainstreaming of what have been their shows (such as all the fuss about New Who not being SFish enough - well, no, that's because it's intended to be family entertainment, and not an SF show). But it also seems to have affected genre shows, which seem to be struggling to find good stories to tell (personally, I find BSG much too simplistic and broad-brush).

What's odd is that the script editor on Torchwood (Chris Chibnall) wrote for Life on Mars, the episode which I think was the best episode of the season (the penultimate one).

[hafren.livejournal.com]

And it was bang on that Lord of the Dance sounds more like a HYMN TO SATAN

Well, Carter did pinch the tune from an old folk song called The Bed-Making, which had very little to do with religion.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

What a brilliant website.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Missed this one, too busy, uh, sleeping, I think. May try to catch it on the rerun. The eps I've seen seem more like first season AtS, which changed direction a few times before it got settled in.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I think this one is definitely worth a watch. They're repeating Torchwood constantly at the moment, but if you can't find it, I can keep it on the box until you visit, if you'd like.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing I can catch the beeb2 repeat, tho' television & recreational reading are what's gone by the board with pico.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Hmm, was so uninspired this eve that I did watch it, but fear I wasn't hugely impressed. What is it with these guys & cgi budgets?

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

It took me a few moments to place the song, and the first words that came to mind were "I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black. It's hard to dance with the devil on your back."

We weren't allowed to sing that verse at primary school.

I thought it was the best episode so far. It had a good atmosphere, and it reminded me of both The Dark Is Rising series and Elidor.

Mind you, given we've had a succubus (or possibly I mean an incubus, but I can't be bothered to look them up right now), a female cyborg, and a changeling girl, I wonder what we're going to get next week? Are we on course for a crone? A siren?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was definitely the atmosphere I liked: it hit that vein of dark and scary faerie, like in the Tam Lin story, or in Strange and Norrell.


a succubus (or possibly I mean an incubus, but I can't be bothered to look them up right now), a female cyborg, and a changeling girl, I wonder what we're going to get next week? Are we on course for a crone? A siren?

God, I hadn't even noticed that.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

it hit that vein of dark and scary faerie

It certainly did! We only watched it last night, as it's just that bit too late for me on a Sunday night with work the next day, and when I went to bed, switched the light off, and shut my eyes, there was a faerie face looming at me. I put the light back on and read for a bit longer.

God, I hadn't even noticed that.

Maybe I have too narrow a focus.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

when I went to bed, switched the light off, and shut my eyes, there was a faerie face looming at me

Yikes!

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

We sang all the verses, with gusto. "They buried my body and they thought I'd gone, But I am the dance and I still go on."

I think I'd have preferred it if the Chosen One had eventually been Estelle, rather than Jasmine. Because, despite her fairy-fancying, Estelle's plot felt too much like bolted-on-Jack-angst. But given the fairy-fancying and her childlike spirit, she might have been an acceptable alternative to Jasmine at the end, and we could have seen her reverting to Jack's seventeen-year-old beauty as she strolled off into the forest. That may sound like a corny happy ending, but I don't think Jasmine would have found a happy ending if she had stayed, even if her mother didn't work out she'd connived at Roy's brutal murder; she'd have been too angry that her secret friends had rejected her, like her father and schoolmates.

I was a bit worried that Jack didn't appear to notice the fairies hadn't answered his question about whether Jasmine would get hurt. "She will live for ever" didn't exactly rule out "in everlasting pain".

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I like your ending much better.

I didn't quite work out why the fairies killed Estelle. Was it because she was talking about them to all and sundry?

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I thought it was so that Jack could angst, Gwen could understand, and they wouldn't have to keep a 79-year-old on as a recurring character.

Why are they all so young (apart from Jack, who doesn't count), when Torchwood is supposed to date back to the nineteenth century? Perhaps, if he has been involved in Torchwood most of that time, he has to shed staff regularly in case they notice the not-getting-older thing?

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

I didn't quite work out why the fairies killed Estelle.

Because they wanted to? Because they could? Because they'd tangled with Jack before and wanted him suffer to some more (being hurt-comfort fans, but without the comfort)?

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

I think we'd have sung them all with gusto (in my case, it certainly wasn't with tune), but we were always told to skip that verse.

Estelle as a Chosen One would have been great. I don't think Jasmine would have had a happy ending, but Lynne suffered a double bereavement. (Mind you, I think she was better off without Roy.) I really, really, really did not want Estelle to die.

"She will live for ever" didn't exactly rule out "in everlasting pain".

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

(Something weird happened with the comment post and it lost half my reply.)

I also thought about Jasmine, Lynne and Estelle (maiden, mother and crone) being Chosen Ones, since they didn't seem to be limited to one in a generation.

She will live for ever" didn't exactly rule out "in everlasting pain".

It didn't! And then we'd be in Little Mermaid territory, and I mean Hans Andersen, not the saccharine Disney version.

Did the fairies come through the Rift?

[nestashouse.livejournal.com]

If not, and they're actually endemic to Earth, I don't see what they have to do with Torchwood. Presumably JH thinks he can drag in the whole organisation to solve his personal problems.

Dragging in the Cottingley fairies was a neat idea, but I noticed that they never got too close to the photos (except the detail at the end that they manipulated), because close up it's obvious that the photos are as bogus as hell.

I thought they were going to take the little girl and substitute a changeling. That's normal fairy behaviour. Like Eustace Scrub, they seem not to have read the right books.

Re: Did the fairies come through the Rift?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I missed this comment what with my email problems; sorry! Good point about what the fairies have to do with Torchwood: presumably Jack isn't bothered with the niceties, particularly if he's afraid they might affect someone he loves.

I loved the Cottingley stuff, which I had a mild obsession about as a kid, and I thought they handled the creepiness very well. Was the mother supposed to pregnant by her new chap? Perhaps they have left a changeling...