Three Contributions

[mcity]

First, the latest member of the Red Lantern Corps.

from Champ

Then a reaction to recent, spoilery developments in Blackest Night.


And finally, a legality scan.



series:foxtrot
char:sinestro
event:blackest night
(fanart tag)

Comments

[mcity]

>Or at least seek immediate psychiatric help for his problems, 'cause evidently, the man has quite a few).

What do you think of Torchwood? I either get people raving about it, or deriding it as gussied up Doctor Who fanfic.

[zordboy]

I seem to be one of the only people on planet Earth who doesn't find John Barrowman sex on legs. Possibly it's a pheromone thing? That, plus the fact I only dipped my toes into the Who-franchise because of all my friends, I never really had any interest in checking out "Torchwood" at all. So I didn't. Even Spike showing up didn't pique my interest one bit.

I *did* watch "Children of Earth".

*BIG* mistake.

But if I type out the list of reasons *why* I thought CoE wasn't brilliant, I'm likely to offend the people who enjoyed it.

[mcity]

I'm starting to wonder how many people like Harkness as a character, and not for being a lot like every smut fanfic fantasy ever. He likes girls! (Yay, I can imagine him with me, the fangirl!) He likes boys! (Yay, slash!) He likes interdimensional space creatures with visages indescribable*! (Yay, tentacle porn!) And when you start combining them, that's when the fun really starts.

I've never seen the show myself, since it's on BBCA, and I don't pirate. I'm not sure I'm missing much. I liked Jack well enough as the Doctor's sidekick, but I'm not sure there's enough character depth there to lead his own show.

*I'm guessing on this one.

[skalja]

I think Jack Harkness is a fascinating character who's been derailed by the writers continually piling on more angst without addressing any of his previous angst.

- When intro'ed in Doctor Who, he was a former secret agent-ish type from the future with trust and honesty issues that were implied to extend from the traumatic and likely shady tampering with his memory by the organization he was a part of, and the ensuing identity/betrayal issues.
- Then he reappears in Torchwood, where he still has identity and betrayal issues, this time ensuing from his abandonment by the Doctor and the little miseries that come with being immortal. All acceptable and even plausible developments, except that TW!Jack is immediately established as being perfectly okay with wiping people's memories, a reversal that was never explained. (The creators involved later admitted they'd completely forgotten about his missing two years. Well, that's understandable; after all, it was only the basis for the primary conflicts of the character in Doctor Who!)
- We later learn that he was coerced into joining Torchwood and has spent the ensuing hundred-plus years as, more or less, an indentured lackey to an organization which disagrees with his most profound beliefs.
- Plus he felt responsible for the disappearance and probable violent death of his little brother as well as the disintegration of his family after said disappearance.
- Then he showed up again in Doctor Who and not only got his trauma thrown back in his face by the Doctor, but he was tortured for a year by a genocidal psychopath. After which the Doctor, onscreen, cried for said madman, but not for him. He returns to Torchwood and everyone's mad at him (not unjustifiably) without having a clue what he went through.
- Shortly afterwards, two of his coworkers and closest friends are murdered by his long-lost brother who hates him working with his former partner. He can't help his friends because he was buried alive for two thousand years and didn't get out until it was too late.
- His dear friend Rose returns from the parallel universe and, judging by the pacing of the last few scenes, gets dumped back there before they can catch up.
- He's never shown to deal with the aftermath of being BURIED ALIVE FOR TWO THOUSAND YEARS, or even the repercussions of seeing Rose (instrumental in his redemption from con man, and also for making him immortal!) again.
- Instead, he watches his lover die in front of his eyes and has to murder his own grandson in front of his daughter to save the lives of other children. His daughter cuts off all contact.

Seriously, a couple of these would be fine -- three or four, even, if the ramifications of earlier traumas were dealt with somewhat before piling on more -- but this is just ridiculous. He's gone from being a campy but mysterious and obviously troubled man learning to let himself be good again to an even wangstier Doctor with more guns and a convoluted backstory.

[mcity]

Who hits on everyone. Can't forget the hitting on everyone.

[skalja]

Naturally.

[stig]

The premise of "Torchwood": If Men in Black started off, badly, in Cardiff, led by a man with the powers of Wolverine & Bill Clinton combined.

Don't get me started on the sheer playground-game writing style of "Cyberwoman", or the disgusting insult of "Countrycide", where the people-eating monsters turn out to be...depraved humans. When you read about local mass murders in the news EVERY DAY it seems beyond tasteless to write sci-fi episode about it, with the protagonists sleeping around on each other AGAIN by the closing credits.

[skalja]

Season 1 is amusingly bad, Season 2 is great, Children of Earth was obnoxiously awful with bonus let's-insult-the-fans drama from the series creator afterwards.

The only people I know of who liked Children of Earth are a segment of the people who'd never seen Torchwood before. I'm sure there ARE fans who liked it, but I've never spoken to or read commentary from any!

[zordboy]

See, I'd never watched "Torchwood" before "Children of Earth", and I absolutely hated it. Even leaving aside Ianto's fridging and Jack killing his own grandson, the sheer... stupidity nearly all the characters displayed made it excessively difficult to care about any of them.

[skalja]

That's why I said "a segment" of people who'd never seen Torchwood before. I know plenty of people in your boat, too.