The Children of Earth
First I'd like to share an article written by Matt Roush, which eloquently sums up the miniseries event. Though warning, don’t read it at work because you may get emotional. If you are American, you probably watched Ianto die last night. I saw it a few weeks ago, and I was hysterical. I couldn’t believe the final member of Jack’s original crew was gone. And Jack’s love. Jack and Ianto were fabulous, I’ll always remember Ianto’s line last series about Jack being “very innovative” in bed. UGH! IANTO I’m sad just writing this right now, and it’s been a few weeks. For me the Ianto love came in the second series, when he showed his humor, always delivered in his serious Ianto voice. I have a friend who will never be able to watch Torchwood again because of this. I wouldn’t go that far, but it will definitely take some of RTD’s best rapid character developing skills to come up with a new team that will connect with the viewers. Reportedly the BBC was waiting to see how the miniseries performed before renewing it, but the show did really well in the UK and is a BBC America hit so I’m sure we’ll see Torchwood again. Some general thoughts on the miniseries as a whole: I really enjoyed parts 1, 2, and 4. Part 3 felt like filler, while 5 was almost so dark it became ridiculous. Between the government rounding up children, Gwen telling Ianto’s sister about his death, the guy shooting up his family, and Jack killing his grandson, I couldn’t take it. It was all very dark, and I normally like dark, but there comes a point when it gets very dense and overbearing, and the fifth part entered that territory.
One of my biggest gripes with the first series was it was dark just for the sake of being dark. Jack’s whole character seemed to shift from the sexy, rogue time agent on Doctor Who, to this dark and brooding man. Plus everything was just so dreary, I got bored of it. Then the second series rolled around and Davies found his balance and made Jack more multifaceted, allowing him to have his dark side while not forgetting about the Captain Jack introduced on Who. Davies also balanced his plots with fun ones and dark ones and silly ones.
Back to “The Children of Earth” though. I wish Davies had balanced it out more in the end. The first part had some great humor and lighter events, and while this crisis wasn’t ripe for humor, I wish he could have chosen his dark aspects more carefully instead of tossing it all out there and seeing what sticks. How dark did the ending really need to be, you fucking killed Ianto, wasn’t that dark enough for your viewers?
Finally, here’s an interview Michael Ausiello conducted with RTD concerning Ianto’s death. He’s a little cocky to tell all those who are upset to fuck off and get another show to watch. There was one question asked by Ausiello, concerning some questions his fans have asked him. “Was killing Ianto a reaction to pressure to ‘de-gay’ Torchwood?” I read that in the middle of the night and was stunned that American viewers would think that. CLEARLY they haven’t watched Doctor Who, which does its fair amount of gay, and that show is a family program. Duh. If the BBC was worried about the gays on TV, you think they would have let the guy who created Queer as Folk work on a British sci-fi staple? You think they ever would have allowed Jack to show up on Doctor Who in the first place? Think they would have allowed Jack and the Doctor to kiss? Such ignorance on the part of American Torchwood fans. It does piss me off how so many of them don’t watch or even know about Doctor Who. At least they could do their research.
One of my biggest gripes with the first series was it was dark just for the sake of being dark. Jack’s whole character seemed to shift from the sexy, rogue time agent on Doctor Who, to this dark and brooding man. Plus everything was just so dreary, I got bored of it. Then the second series rolled around and Davies found his balance and made Jack more multifaceted, allowing him to have his dark side while not forgetting about the Captain Jack introduced on Who. Davies also balanced his plots with fun ones and dark ones and silly ones.
Back to “The Children of Earth” though. I wish Davies had balanced it out more in the end. The first part had some great humor and lighter events, and while this crisis wasn’t ripe for humor, I wish he could have chosen his dark aspects more carefully instead of tossing it all out there and seeing what sticks. How dark did the ending really need to be, you fucking killed Ianto, wasn’t that dark enough for your viewers?
Finally, here’s an interview Michael Ausiello conducted with RTD concerning Ianto’s death. He’s a little cocky to tell all those who are upset to fuck off and get another show to watch. There was one question asked by Ausiello, concerning some questions his fans have asked him. “Was killing Ianto a reaction to pressure to ‘de-gay’ Torchwood?” I read that in the middle of the night and was stunned that American viewers would think that. CLEARLY they haven’t watched Doctor Who, which does its fair amount of gay, and that show is a family program. Duh. If the BBC was worried about the gays on TV, you think they would have let the guy who created Queer as Folk work on a British sci-fi staple? You think they ever would have allowed Jack to show up on Doctor Who in the first place? Think they would have allowed Jack and the Doctor to kiss? Such ignorance on the part of American Torchwood fans. It does piss me off how so many of them don’t watch or even know about Doctor Who. At least they could do their research.