Torchwood: Miracle Day (US airings)

[Mister Six]

So it turns out that, for reasons unknown but presumably ludicrous, the US is getting episodes of Miracle Day six days ahead of the UK. To avoid accidental spoilering, let's shift all the US chat to this thread.

So, er, Wayne Knight, eh? He's looking like a shifty one and no mistake.

[papalaz4444244]

I bet he's a SLITHEEN......

[SteveDave]

Hellooooo Newman.

I am funny.

[Gulftastic]

So, er, Wayne Knight, eh? He's looking like a shifty one and no mistake.

Not as shifty as Katya out of Neighbours. Evil bitch.

[Phil_A]

Not as shifty as Katya out of Neighbours. Evil bitch.

I was slightly amused that instead of being freaked out when she turned up with her head on backwards, they were all like "Ah. Um, this is a bit awkward..."

[Mister Six]

I was slightly amused that instead of being freaked out when she turned up with her head on backwards, they were all like "Ah. Um, this is a bit awkward..."

I was enormously amused by that. Anything that involves contrasting the CIA people, who all act like they've just stepped out of 24, with Gwen being increasingly deranged and absurd, works for me. That scene got a hearty guffaw, as did any time she started snapping at people on the plane. Gwen is easily the most improved sci-fi character of the past 10 years.

[BritishHobo]

If only they'd fuck the fuck off with this love triangle horseshit with Captain Jack, I'd probably be able to tolerate her.

I hope Rhys is going to be in this series more, and they didn't just put him on a bus in episode 2. I'd hate to think the development in Children of Earth where he became a useful member of the team, and Gwen stopped going after every mysterious tosser who glanced her way in favour of not dicking her husband around has been completely shat on and ignored.

I'm really loving the Oswald Danes storyline, though I've no idea where it's headed. Stories like this, and horiffic moments like episode one's suicide bomber (though it still freaks me out that after that they happily blew up a helicopter carrying immortal passengers) are the sort of style of thing that really put CoE way above the ridiculous adult-Primeval stories of the first two series.

[Mister Six]

If only they'd fuck the fuck off with this love triangle horseshit with Captain Jack, I'd probably be able to tolerate her.

Eh? They've not had any of that so far have they? They've played up the 'strong connection' thing (and to be fair, the pair have saved the world together a bunch of times), but I don't think there's been anything overtly romantic.

(though it still freaks me out that after that they happily blew up a helicopter carrying immortal passengers)

Given that the helicopter was quite prepared to do the same to them (and a baby) I think that was pretty justified.

[BritishHobo]

Eh? They've not had any of that so far have they? They've played up the 'strong connection' thing (and to be fair, the pair have saved the world together a bunch of times), but I don't think there's been anything overtly romantic.

Well they had Rhys' 'Every time you go running off to Captain Jack Bollocks' line, and then the thing with Rex 'hinting' that they're closer than friends... you're right, it's not loads, so here's hoping.

Given that the helicopter was quite prepared to do the same to them (and a baby) I think that was pretty justified.

Oh aye, that I understand, it's just kind of a horrific thought, what's going to happen to all the people they come up against who would usually just die off-screen. Not that dying is a cheery thought either, but... that was a pretty horrific fate.

Like I say, I'm not expecting them to just let bad guys go free with a pat on the head, or refrain from injuring anyone even slightly, and I'm not criticizing the writing when they do fight and injure people, it's just a thought.

[Phil_A]

Well they had Rhys' 'Every time you go running off to Captain Jack Bollocks' line, and then the thing with Rex 'hinting' that they're closer than friends... you're right, it's not loads, so here's hoping.

Ohh, there's a scene in the most recent episode you're not gonna like at all.

[papalaz4444244]

Ohh, there's a scene in the most recent episode you're not gonna like at all.

I'm at that exact bit..... FFS

[pk1yen]

I remember quite liking the ending of this weeks. But I can't remember why, or what exactly happened.

Rex can still get to fuck.

[Mister Six]

Well they had Rhys' 'Every time you go running off to Captain Jack Bollocks' line, and then the thing with Rex 'hinting' that they're closer than friends... you're right, it's not loads, so here's hoping.

Balls. Looks like you were right. Although I don't mind it if it's Jack pining away while Gwen gets on with life with her baby and husband. Definitely not the same as having them almost copping off whenever Rhys's back's turned.

Oh aye, that I understand, it's just kind of a horrific thought, what's going to happen to all the people they come up against who would usually just die off-screen. Not that dying is a cheery thought either, but... that was a pretty horrific fate.

Like I say, I'm not expecting them to just let bad guys go free with a pat on the head, or refrain from injuring anyone even slightly, and I'm not criticizing the writing when they do fight and injure people, it's just a thought.

True. Actually, I like how the basic concept is completely changing how I look at the actiony moments in the show. Knowing that they're going to reverse this immortality thing at the end of the series means I keep thinking, 'Christ, I hope they don't injure themselves too badly...'; it adds an unusual tension that isn't there usually in shows like this. Oddly, the immortality has served to make the characters seem even more fragile.

Anyway, third episode was fine. Bit disappointed that it looks like a fucking corporation is at the centre of all this - is it still the 80s? - but it's nice to see how Paxton's fitting into the whole story, and I really can't tell where the whole thing is going, which is very satisfying.

[weekender]

Is it just me who's wondering if The Silents have anything to do with all this, somehow related to 'The Impossible Astronaut'?  Like the shockwave thing which happens when the Doctor is killed - which I'm convinced is incredibly important somehow - is one of those timey wimey things that Jack is talking about (I can't remember the name) on a massive scale, and essentially causes Miracle Day?

[pk1yen]

Is it just me who's wondering if The Silents have anything to do with all this, somehow related to 'The Impossible Astronaut'?  Like the shockwave thing which happens when the Doctor is killed - which I'm convinced is incredibly important somehow - is one of those timey wimey things that Jack is talking about (I can't remember the name) on a massive scale, and essentially causes Miracle Day?

I hope the Doctor is at least tangentially involved.
It feels like the whole Doctor Who connection has gone out of the window, and Torchwood is now just a dark sci-fi show with Jack as the only crossover character.
Doesn't really feel like the same universe either (I didn't watch series 1 and 2, so I'm judging it purely on this series and Children of Earth).

(Though I'm really glad the mention of aliens was casually thrown around this episode. In shows like this, where something miraculous and unprecedented happens, it's usually the case that - lacking ANY other ideas - someone suggests aliens, and whole rooms of people start shouting "Are you mad?! Aliens?! Well I've never heard such nonsense!" despite the fact that it's a perfectly valid explanation considering the inexplicable events already taking place.)

The only character I'm interested in is the paedophile. Though I have a suspicion that it's going to go down one of two roads, either he'll turn good and it'll come out that it wasn't him wot did the murder-rape -- or, more likely, he's some intergalactic evil demon-alien presence or a fundamentally evil psychopathic character.

Whereas I really liked the tension of feeling sorry for the guy when he was being beaten up for murdering a child. That was brave. I fear they won't keep it up, though, and the ambiguity will be straightened out to a clean American sheen one way or another.

[Mister Six]

Is it just me who's wondering if The Silents have anything to do with all this, somehow related to 'The Impossible Astronaut'?  Like the shockwave thing which happens when the Doctor is killed - which I'm convinced is incredibly important somehow - is one of those timey wimey things that Jack is talking about (I can't remember the name) on a massive scale, and essentially causes Miracle Day?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CHAAAAAAAAAAAAANCE!

C'mon, as if they'd tie the plot of 10-episode serial airing in America[nb]Well, given to America a week before the UK, at least.[/nb] to that of a Brit-produced TV show airing on a completely different channel, being produced by completely different people. They'd be barking mad. It'd be like the 'who killed Laura Palmer' reveal in Twin Peaks actually happening on All Creatures Great and Small or something. The head of Starz would choke RTD to death with his bare hands.

Not to mention the extraordinary amount of effort it would take during the planning stages to get both parties to synchronise their stories for precisely no benefit whatsoever.

Torchwood is a separate show now, to all intents and purposes. There's no way you could do anything approaching a proper crossover without alienating - no pun intended - the US audience. I did like the mentions of the CoE stuff in the first episode, though, and the callback to Ianto's death. They seem to be regarding CoE episode one as the 'Zero Hour' for the show, not making any explicit references to series one and two. That's just fine by me.

EDIT: Just wanted to repeat my love for the all-new, all-crazy Gwen Welshwoman. The world-weary eye-roll she gave after saying that she'd knocked out guards 'so many times' was golden. Even if the show was absolute shit, I'd still watch it for her. I actually want to see her transplanted into other shows now. Can we digitally insert her into 24 or something?

[phantom_power]

One of the several things I don't like about this so far is how they came so quickly to the conclusion that it all must have something to do with Jack. The come up against bizarre alien and non-alien threats all the time so it could be anything. That Jack has become mortal could just as easily be an effect of what has happened particular to him rather than some link to the cause.

[hundred]

Those sex scenes were some of the worst I've seen. The music was awful and it looked like they used the wrong takes. Rex and Dr. Lady couldn't even find each others lips. I actually had to look away at one point.

Also, the transformation of Danes from paedo to drugs guru literally took 5 minutes. I don't know why he was even talking about the new drug policy, let alone why people were interested in what he had to say. By the end of the show, he was being worshipped by that woman who helped Jack up off the floor. Extremely clumsy. By the end of the show he's going to be the President, CEO of Google and Oprah all in one or some shit.

I can't see the whole thing being run by a drugs company, were only 3 eps in, it's difficult to see the evil chain of command not meander from here.

[sirhenry]

Presumably the paedo is the key, having been primed by BigPharmaCorp somehow,

Spoiler alert

as he was about the only person on the planet whose time of death was known exactly so they had a couple of years or more to prepare.

[close]

[pk1yen]

Spoiler alert

"We are everywhere, we are always, we are no-one ..."

[close]

- piss off.

They'd better have a good explanation for that fucking rotating triangle - at the moment, it's a lazy 'LOOK THIS PERSON IS A BAD-GUY!' symbol. Might as well have them wear a big badge with 'BADDIE' on it, if they think the audience is too stupid to tell.

My theory: --

Spoiler alert

I remember reading about a short story the other week (though alas I cannot find the actual story) - about aliens using the WW2 concentration camps as an energy source. But I can't for the life of me remember where I read it. Any ideas? Anyway - perhaps that's where they're going?

[close]

Rex still pisses me off, only being there as a deus-ex-machina-with-a-gun, or to say 'I TOLD YOU SO!' to people a lot.

I am actually enjoying the show, though - despite the fact there is an annoying amount of things to complain about.

[Mildly Diverting]

Yep, Rex is a tool of a character. Just as well he's a 'strategy expert'.

Funniest bit for me was Cap'n Jack running into the server room gun a-blazing looking like a beefed up John Inman.

Still, I too am enjoying it.

[papalaz4444244]

I just don't get this.

If you sat on a nuclear bomb when it went off and were reduced to atoms, are you still alive?

or burned to ash, or freeze dried and powdered?

[sirhenry]

"Everything's online" she says, with a sodding screen behind her saying L5 -OFFLINE?

Anyway, it's all about

Spoiler alert

the families

[close]

, it would appear.



_"Torchwood"

[BritishHobo]

I'm not the only one who was expecting the always-pretentious 'we are Legion, we are Anonymous' bollocks to follow that 'we are everywhere' guff, am I?

Anyway, aside from Rex being a bit batshit insane, I really quite enjoyed that episode. It's not quite Children of Earth (though a few moments, like the realization of what the car crushing means, threaten to reach it), but it's entertaining all the same. I just hope next week Rhys actually gets to bloody do something, hopefully chasing down those ambulances, as I thought the episode was going to end.

Oh, as for speculation on who's behind it all, the immediate jump to the 'Dead is Dead' poster on the stairwell while the lovechild of George Clooney and Patterson Joseph was cryptically doing his 'we are...' schtick stuck out for me, obvious but not in a too-obvious-it's-clearly-a-red-herring kind of way.

Also enjoying the Oswald Danes storyline still. A little OTT sometimes, but that's why I love it.

[papalaz4444244]

best guess so far..... space vampires trying to create an unending food supply.

worst guess.... Smurfs

[pk1yen]

Wasn't there a comedy sketch with someone being inside the cube of a crushed car at some point?

I seem to remember maybe two hands being free, and legs at odd angles. But I can't remember where it was from.

[Gulftastic]

Wasn't there a comedy sketch with someone being inside the cube of a crushed car at some point?

I seem to remember maybe two hands being free, and legs at odd angles. But I can't remember where it was from.

Omar Sahrif ended up crushed in a car in 'Top Secret'. Sadly, I can't find the clip on youtube.

[papalaz4444244]

I remember Super Dave Osbourne being crushed in a car in an episode of Bizarre?



So anyway, if the crushed car that the cunt is in, still alive, gets melted down into molten steel and recast into an i-beam, does that mean the cunt is still alive as some carbon atoms in the steel?

[Endicott]

So anyway, if the crushed car that the cunt is in, still alive, gets melted down into molten steel and recast into an i-beam, does that mean the cunt is still alive as some carbon atoms in the steel?

Surely the cunt would be slag.


*gets coat*

[Mildly Diverting]

This is starting to get seriously good...

I won't spoiler until you've all had to chance to see it, but its getting better by the episode.