(no subject)
Thoughts on last nights Torchwood (2x02: Sleeper)
Liked
- the idea of sleeper agents, those who believe they are human but are actually aliens.
- the bumpy skin and red light arm prosthetics.
- Owen’s suggestion of how to occupy the time when the world is about to end and Ianto’s reply.
- new pre-titles voiceover telling us that ‘Torchwood is ready’. We shall see.
Didn’t like
- the full arm prosthetics with the blades - looked a bit hokey
- the nuclear warhead magubbins
- the masking of vitals signs and unexplained escape from the cryo-chamber
- Gwen getting taken hostage for the second week running. Can’t it happen to someone else for a change?
Overall, I didn’t really enjoy it. It felt contrived to me. If the aliens were going to take over the world, why activate only 4 agents? I thought the girl playing the alien did a decent job but it just didn’t add up to me. Apparently she could resist the alien urge inside her but no reasoning was given. You can tell the budget is bigger this time around - big explosions, more extras - but it’s not necessarily better.
Early indications on the new series are a bit mixed. I loved Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, don’t get me wrong. I think James Marsters helped a bit but it was also a decent story with a good amount of humour, well written by Chris Chibnall, which is a lot coming from me as I didn’t like many of his episodes last year.
I’ve noticed a few canon changes which I’m not entirely sure about though.
Jack/Gwen is being implied as much more of a relationship than we ever saw in series 1, and his jealousy over her engagement seems out of character. He told her he wanted her to have a normal life, to go home to her boyfriend. What did he think would happen? For such a love-em-and-leave-em guy it seems overblown, especially when 5 minutes later he is asking Ianto out on a date. I’m sure he can juggle multiple relationships but surely there is the chance of setting up conflict between team members which doesn’t seem like much of a leader-y thing to do.
Ianto has tuned into a wise-ass and master of sarcastic looks. While I don’t hate it, I’m not sure I love it either. I want Jack to have most of the good lines!
Where has all this new alien tech come from? Tosh’s scanner I can cope with but now we have weapons scanners, mind probes and Tosh has had time to write a rift predictor program. How long was Jack gone? Was stuff raining through the rift while he was away???
I’m going to watch the edited version tonight (and Declassified) to see if it was just me being distracted, but I think not. I’ll let you know.
Liked
- the idea of sleeper agents, those who believe they are human but are actually aliens.
- the bumpy skin and red light arm prosthetics.
- Owen’s suggestion of how to occupy the time when the world is about to end and Ianto’s reply.
- new pre-titles voiceover telling us that ‘Torchwood is ready’. We shall see.
Didn’t like
- the full arm prosthetics with the blades - looked a bit hokey
- the nuclear warhead magubbins
- the masking of vitals signs and unexplained escape from the cryo-chamber
- Gwen getting taken hostage for the second week running. Can’t it happen to someone else for a change?
Overall, I didn’t really enjoy it. It felt contrived to me. If the aliens were going to take over the world, why activate only 4 agents? I thought the girl playing the alien did a decent job but it just didn’t add up to me. Apparently she could resist the alien urge inside her but no reasoning was given. You can tell the budget is bigger this time around - big explosions, more extras - but it’s not necessarily better.
Early indications on the new series are a bit mixed. I loved Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, don’t get me wrong. I think James Marsters helped a bit but it was also a decent story with a good amount of humour, well written by Chris Chibnall, which is a lot coming from me as I didn’t like many of his episodes last year.
I’ve noticed a few canon changes which I’m not entirely sure about though.
Jack/Gwen is being implied as much more of a relationship than we ever saw in series 1, and his jealousy over her engagement seems out of character. He told her he wanted her to have a normal life, to go home to her boyfriend. What did he think would happen? For such a love-em-and-leave-em guy it seems overblown, especially when 5 minutes later he is asking Ianto out on a date. I’m sure he can juggle multiple relationships but surely there is the chance of setting up conflict between team members which doesn’t seem like much of a leader-y thing to do.
Ianto has tuned into a wise-ass and master of sarcastic looks. While I don’t hate it, I’m not sure I love it either. I want Jack to have most of the good lines!
Where has all this new alien tech come from? Tosh’s scanner I can cope with but now we have weapons scanners, mind probes and Tosh has had time to write a rift predictor program. How long was Jack gone? Was stuff raining through the rift while he was away???
I’m going to watch the edited version tonight (and Declassified) to see if it was just me being distracted, but I think not. I’ll let you know.