elisi: Edwin and Charles (TW (civil servants) by paperthinxgfx)
elisi ([personal profile] elisi) wrote2009-07-20 12:50 pm

So, BBC America viewers, welcome to Torchweek (or the Torchpocalypse, as it is also known. *g*)

I am here, obviously, to tell you to watch ‘Children of Earth’.

Now part of me wants to just wave my arms and go “It’s AWESOME!” and witter on about the writing and directing and cinematography and acting (did you know JB can do subtle? Well he can. And how). Shiny show is SHINY!

Another part of me wants to talk about how this is pretty much a new show - how this is finally ‘Adult Doctor Who’. To quote [livejournal.com profile] kraken_wakes: The difference between DW and CoE is that in the former, it is the characters (most commonly, but not exclusively the Doctor) who are challenged on the issue of morality and ethics. In the latter, it is the audience. It's show not tell.

A third part wants to talk about the fabulousness of Jack/Ianto and Gwen/Rhys and the tiny little bits of crack they did leave in. *hearts*

But fourthly, because I *know* you, flist, my final attempt at getting you to watch this (even if it’s not your cup of tea) is... the women. This story is crammed full of real, fully realised and 3-dimensional women, all integral to the plot, all important in their own right. RTD could create a series 4 of Torchwood entirely from the women in CoE, if he wanted. (Bechdel Test? It *flies* through. Also, because this is the BBC, they look like actual, normal women, not toned actresses.)

In conclusion, this thing is awesome. And DARK. Really, really really dark. Harrowing even. But awesome. Watch it. (If you want to come yell at me once it’s finished, that’s fine. I can perfectly understand those who hated it.)

ETA: Spoilers in comments.

[identity profile] magista.livejournal.com 2009-07-20 12:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll have you know that I travelled to the US for the express purpose of catching this week's broadcast. (Er... no, but since I'm here anyway, it's all queued up on the DVR.)

It's been killing me avoiding all you spoily commenters out there.
gillo: (Torchwood JM)

[personal profile] gillo 2009-07-20 10:02 pm (UTC)(link)
It's been killing us to avoid letting spoilers out. Believe me, [livejournal.com profile] elisi understates when she says it's awesome.

[identity profile] arclevel.livejournal.com 2009-07-20 01:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Yay, finally!!! I've been deliberately avoiding it so I can watch it on my actual *television*, rather than my computer. Not that my TV screen is particularly high-quality or anything; it's about 15 years old. But it has subtitles, which help when, like me, you miss half of what people say, and it doesn't require either finding the least fuzzy little 10-minute chunks of the show or else spending ages downloading and then convincing my computer that yes, it really does know how to play video files.

JB can do subtle? Really? That ... honestly ...is a bit surprising. Don't get me wrong, I love the man (with a frequent side order of exasperation), but subtle is not really his acting strength.

Day 4

[identity profile] arclevel.livejournal.com 2009-07-24 05:11 am (UTC)(link)
Okay, see, here's the thing. I was doing really, really well at avoiding spoilers for the past two weeks -- except. People's **mood** listings on otherwise cut posts. And from those alone, I guessed tonight's biggest spoiler. But I figured, I was prepared, I could handle it, and hey, hopefully I guessed wrong anyway.

No. And no, I was totally wrong about the handling it. At this point, I really can't bring myself to care what happens in tomorrow's episode. At all.

So tell me, I know you've been linking various fics and stuff, which obviously I've not been reading due to spoilers. Once I get around to watching episode 5, which will probably but not definitely be tomorrow night, will you have some good, cheerful AU fic for me?

Re: Day 4

[identity profile] arclevel.livejournal.com 2009-07-24 07:47 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, all the stuff about their relationship would definitely have been a hint... which, again, I was trying desperately to ignore. Which actually says something kind of pathetic about the way TV writing works; that was by far the worst aspect of Joss's writing.

Also, I'm mostly mad b/c it seems like the entire point of that whole scenario was to say, "Oh, if you weren't sure they were dangerous, they are. And Torchwood's "plans"? They suck. A lot." It just makes it feel really dumb and pointless. (I'm fluctuating between denial, anger, and bargaining -- mainly by trying to mentally kill off Rhys, instead, even though I do like him quite a bit. They're happy, too!)

Eventually, I'll probably settle into a semi-content denial. I frequently actually forget the entire finale of Angel, and particularly the fact that Wesley died. But doing that seriously limits fanfic reading abilities, which I don't want to do. And yes, after watching the last ep, I'll probably need that rec to spend many hours on. (Papers to write? Test to study for? No idea what you're talking about.)

Speaking of which, it occurred to me that I've been doing a really *lousy* job of reviewing My Immortal lately. I am still reading it, honest, and I absolutely love it. I just ... suck at reviewing things with any consistency. And it's particularly relevant at the moment, b/c that fanfic is the entire reason I'm *in* this fandom, so :-P (but normally that's a very good thing, so thanks, too.) ;-)

Finally, this churned my emotions enough that it's a *really* good thing it was Thursday's episode and not Wednesday's. I don't have to leave my apartment until 12:35 tomorrow, which is good, since my computer says it's now 3:47, and I've been up since 7.

[identity profile] adoxerella.livejournal.com 2009-07-20 01:32 pm (UTC)(link)
*whines*
But I have to wait another week!!!

Without getting spoiled. (not to imply anything about this post.) This is harder than it seems since I managed to get spoiled for a bit of it last week in a SPANGLE community. The TW comms have actually been awesome about not spoiling people.

[identity profile] adoxerella.livejournal.com 2009-07-20 03:28 pm (UTC)(link)
You can do it! (I used to have to wait half a year for Buffy...)
Ack! I'd go nuts. As it is, I am so very glad they are releasing CoE right away.

Just stay away from the internet completely?
I'll take spoilers over the internet withdrawal. I've actually been hanging out in other fandoms. This would be why the aforementioned spoiler was so freaking annoying. Although the smack down the poster got was amusing.

('Batshit crazy' is probably the kindest term for parts of fandom...)
So no different from any fandom which gets in a tizzy. The Bones fans got so annoyed with the season finale that the creator had to come into the forums and spoil the next season slightly because he was tired of getting Tweeted threats.

[identity profile] spikereader.livejournal.com 2009-07-21 09:32 am (UTC)(link)
And you forgot to mention Peter Capaldi. Who was awesome. As were the women.

It's so nice to be able to read TW stuff now I've managed to watch it all (last three eps one after the other - superb), and I'm going to go back and click on all sorts of links and cut tags I avoided before.
ringthebells: picture of bells (Default)

[personal profile] ringthebells 2009-07-21 06:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Watching Day 1 right now. Rather excited. Plan to go back and read all your old posts about CoE once I'm done! (Meanwhile, sadly avoiding all online discussion due to high probability of spoilers!)