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Torchwood - Children of Earth (DVD)
by dippycat I have only recently been converted to Torchwood having been a Doctor Who new series fan who thinks Captain Jack is fab. This is the third series of this science fiction programme and was broadcast over five nights for an hour each night. From the very start, I was totally gripped. The regular Torchwood characters were ... excellent as per usual and the other characters in the series, although maybe a little stereotyped, were very good. The children of earth suddenly turn into statues and start chanting in unison. You can totally imagine how terrifying that must be to watch. As the series went on, more and more happened and there were more twists and turns than I can remember! I was in tears at several points and it made me want to go and cuddle my child to make sure of their safety it affected me so badly! But I wanted to watch it and see what happened in the end. Captain Jack has the hardest decision to make and it reminded me of the Doctor in Fires of Pompeii, but more real. I had to watch it several times before I could stop crying long enough to hear what was being said. Gripping stuff and I can highly recommend this. Glad to hear they are making more and I am looking forward to seeing who will join Jack and what they will encounter next... Read the complete review |
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Torchwood - Children of Earth (DVD)
by plipplop A review of the third season of BBC science-fiction drama Torchwood. 'Children of Earth' was released on region 2 DVD in July 2009. Expect to pay around £10 for the disc set online. Across the globe, the Earth's children have stopped. In a catatonic state, panicked parents and guardians are momentarily unable to get them to do ... anything but then as quickly as they became motionless, they simply carry on doing what they were doing without any knowledge of what was happening. In London, a Home Office minister named John Frobisher meets with one of his advisers to discuss the return of the '456', an extra-terrestrial entity so named after the frequency on which its communications were received. When the children once again go into a trance-like state, Frobisher realises with dread that he must deal with events long since forgotten. As the children start to chant 'We Are Coming', Torchwood finds itself under attack from an unknown enemy, intent on silencing the one team that might be able to save the planet. The 456 are coming - but what do they want? I've always struggled with Torchwood. Really struggled. The idea, in itself, isn't necessarily a bad one, but the fact that the show is helmed by the same man who has taken Doctor Who in such a ridiculous direction doesn't help, nor does it help that the show's lead character is a hopeless actor, without a shred of screen presence. To cap it all off, like all things 'who-related' these days, the entire series is based in Wales and full of Welsh people. That, in itself, isn't a problem, but when equipped with Russell T Davies's child-like scripts, it's often hard not to convince yourself that you are, in fact, watching Gavin and Stacey, rather than an edgy science-fiction drama. The first series of Torchwood was abysmal and I abandoned it within a couple of episodes. Series two wasn't much better, but this third series encouraged renewed interest with a new format. Stripped down from thirteen episodes to five, the show was screened nightly over five consecutive nights and comprised one continuous story arc as opposed to the usual format of self-contained stories/episodes. For many, this really was the 'make or break' moment for the show. It's safe to say that this is easily the best that Torchwood has had to offer thus far. The change in format lends itself enormously well to the pace and tension of the storyline and leads to something that, for the first time, is often very exciting. The five-hour running time provides the opportunity for more interesting characterisation, an important move given that the core cast was reduced to three at the end of series two. Now dominated by Gwen, Ianto and Jack, there's a new, more intimate dynamic to the story here that works very well. Written by Russell T Davies, the story takes a reasonably familiar stalwart of Doctor Who stories (a corrupt, cowardly, ill-guided government) and weaves a ghastly story of impending doom and destruction around it. In the absence of an intergalactic super-hero to save the day (The Doctor never features here) it is left to the agents of Torchwood to try and prevent the world from making a huge mistake. The villain of the piece - an alien race known only as 'the 456' - is well conceived here, if only because we never really properly see them. Secured inside an atmospherically controlled chamber, the aliens transmit their demands via an artificial (and rather creepy) human voice, but seem to spend most of their time vomiting and spitting on the sides of the cage. Hidden beneath the swirling gaseous atmosphere, much is left to the audience's imagination here, and it's a much more effective technique than your standard 'guy in a rubber suit'. The pace of the story is extremely effective. Each of the five episodes cranks things up a little more than the one before and the drama hurtles towards an appropriate revelation or incident to form solid cliffhangers at the end of each episode. Notably for Russell T Davies, however, these aren't completely contrived and injected purely for sensationalism and they all genuinely add something to the storyline. The cast is less reliant on the Torchwood regulars here too, and there are interesting performances from Peter Capaldi as the Home Office Minister in charge of the incident, Paul Copley as a disturbed man who definitely knows more about the 456 then anyone else and Liz May Brice as a hard-faced military women tasked with silencing Torchwood. In comparison, therefore, with previous Torchwood outings, Children of Earth is a veritable triumph. But that's not really the end of the story. It may look favourable in comparison to previous episodes of the show, but that doesn't mean it gets anything like a thumbs up overall. The Torchwood concept is still riddled with issues of characterisation, context and scope and Children of Earth does nothing to address them. First and foremost, the production continues to groan under the weight of John Barrowman's ego. A relatively limited actor at best, he simply doesn't have the skill or charisma to carry this off, and Children of Earth exposes his limitations more than ever. Captain Jack's inability to die isn't just stupid now, it's really, really irritating and completely inhibits natural dramatic plot elements. If we know he can't die, why do the writers insist on keep killing him, knowing that sooner or later he's just going to gasp and sit up again? Barrowman's exposure through the media on vacuous talent shows and singing competitions also greatly undermines his presence here and his apparent insistence on showing his naked body in every show is pretty nauseous. It soon becomes clear that with Jack at the helm, Torchwood will never really thrive on the screen. And then we have our friends in Wales. In fairness, Gwen (Eve Myles) is genuinely likeable and feisty enough to convince. But saddled with a doughy husband and a doe-eyed team mate named Ianto, she struggles to maintain a serious edge. I'm not sure whether it's that Welsh accent or the script or the combination of the two, but any of the scenes featuring an exclusively Welsh cast just can't be taken seriously. Top of the 'excruciatingly awful tree' is a ginger policeman who seems convinced he is in a comedy, and Ianto's chavtastic sister and fat knacker husband who also play it entirely for laughs. Amidst a backdrop of gloom and impending disaster, these scenes are completely at odds and whilst it's lovely for BBC Cymru to have regular work, the show just doesn't take itself seriously enough all the time it's staffed by the Welsh. The creators really struggle with the scale of what they've created too. As events unfold and it becomes a global issue, signs of this on screen are restricted to hastily fabricated foreign news reports and some interaction with the Americans who descend upon London. This is where Torchwood really shows its roots. Filled with good ideas, it simply hasn't got the time or budget to deal with a story on this scale, resulting in a rather amateurish output. The drama is (surprise surprise) heavily restricted to Welsh filming locations and never really looks very realistic. The makers try and inject some 'gritty realism' into things in the last episode with some 'edgy' camcorder moments but these fall almost entirely on their face. Torchwood is supposed to be a darker, more adult-orientated version of Doctor Who, but there are times when you'd really struggle to spot the difference. The themes here are no more or less disturbing than previous Who stories. Davies seems to think that throwing in a few swear words and some same-sex relationships means that this is now more targeted at adults, demonstrating with some resolve why his departure from Doctor Who is to be welcomed so enthusiastically. All in, this is better, but still pretty rubbish. Despite the protestations and press releases, this is neither 'edgy' nor 'dark'. It's gloomy, and exciting enough in its own way, but still ultimately gets hamstrung by its dreadful casting choices and Welsh bias. A season four is in the pipeline though. I can hardly wait, me. Read the complete review |
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Torchwood - Children of Earth (DVD)
by Dangey2009 Torchwood: Children of Earth is created by Russell T. Davis and was shown on TV around last September or at least that is when I watched it. I was never really into Doctor Who, or occassionally at least but really enjoyed this Torchwood mini series despite never watching the show before. The 456 have returned. The 456 is an ... alien speicies that the British government throught they had dealt with successfully in 1965 by giving them a number of children for their use and to help sustain them. The information surrounding that time is top secret and highly classified and almost no-one knew they were there at the time. Their name refers to the radio frequency they use to communicate. However, all these years later in present day they are back with alarming consequences. The story beings with every child on the planet freezing at the same time and then later on the aliens transmit a message through the children of earth - 'We are coming'. Every child on the entire planet chants these words together in unison which is very chilling and eery. They repeat this for a minute and then stop and carry on with what they were doing, oblivious to what has occurred. Torchwood is an underground organisation set up in Victorian times and is adept at dealing with such situations. Led by Jack Harkness(John Barrowman), a man who cannot die and has lived for hundreds of years. The Home office try to kill him as he was part of the original conspiracy when the aliens first appeared years ago and they want to keep this quiet. With his team and while trying to avoid being blown up and shot and coming back to life, he sets about trying to prevent this disaster and helping. This time the aliens are back but their demands are extreme and frightening. The home office is led by Frobisher who tries to negotiate with the 456. Meanwhile Torchwood is trying to find their leader after their headquarters are blown up by a bomb. One of the best things about this mini series is that it keeps you on the edge of your seat write the way through. The demands for more children and how this is dealt with are startling and exciting. Plus, anyone can die including the main characters so you don't know who's going to survive and who's not. In a similar way to terrorism the series addresses the issues of whether the world stands up and fights or gives into their demands to take their children from every country of the world. The fact that Harkness cannot die is intriguing as although he is immortal himself the fact that loved ones and those around him can effects him deeply as it would. Torchwood act as representatives of Earth and act for the greater good and what is right. This mini series is full of suspense to the end and there are many twists and turns during the 5 parts. I would recommend this to anyone as I hadn't seen it before and loved it. As things go it is a little far-fetched but then so was Doctor Who and look how popular that was. It is science fiction after all. Read the complete review |
Torchwood TV Series |
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12 reviews Genre: Television - Torchwood / TV Series / Theatrical Release: 2009 / Suitable for 15 years and over / Actors: John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd, Kai Owen ... / DVD released 2009-07-13 at 2entertain / Features of the DVD: PAL |
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5 reviews Genre: Television - Torchwood / TV Series / Theatrical Release: 2006 / Suitable for 15 years and over / Actors: John Barrowman, Gareth David-Lloyd, Eve Myles, Naoko Mori, Burn Gorman ... / DVD released 2008-06-30 at 2 Entertain Video / Features of the DVD: PAL |
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6 reviews Genre: Television - Torchwood / TV Series / Theatrical Release: 2006 / Suitable for 15 years and over / Director: Brian Kelly, Colin Teague / Actors: John Barrowman, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori ... / DVD released 2007-11-19 at 2 Entertain Video / Features of the DVD: Box set, Dolby, PAL |
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