Actually, it were under-age failed asylum seekers, if I'm not mistaken. It makes sense since they wouldn't be missed and they're treated pretty badly in reality, at least over here, the UN children rights Charter not withstanding. 
Torchwood: Children of Earth DAY FOUR grading thread
- Thread starter Jim Steele
- Start date
oh my.
i wonder if they tried stabbing and removing jacks pertuatory gland? Turn him into a child till it grew back?
of course how pompus elite of the 456 not to consider that any human can be converted into what they needed, if they could put up with a shittier product.
Hmm?
What about a virus that delays puberty by a decade or longer if the eventual plan was to farm us, (although you have to wonder how this ties into the tochlofane that hey didn't reinvent the very same technology up the timestream there billions of years later to beget their own immortality?) either by the 456 themselves, or by our leaders preparing for the return and the increasing annual tithe.
i wonder if they tried stabbing and removing jacks pertuatory gland? Turn him into a child till it grew back?
of course how pompus elite of the 456 not to consider that any human can be converted into what they needed, if they could put up with a shittier product.
Hmm?
What about a virus that delays puberty by a decade or longer if the eventual plan was to farm us, (although you have to wonder how this ties into the tochlofane that hey didn't reinvent the very same technology up the timestream there billions of years later to beget their own immortality?) either by the 456 themselves, or by our leaders preparing for the return and the increasing annual tithe.
I managed to get hold of both this episode and the following and watched them both last night. Wow, what a punch in the stomach!
The discussion about how to select the children was creepy, especially when Denise Riley suggested "the best ones." Maybe this was just me and I overreacted, but I felt like her suggestions felt like Nazism. *shudder*
Yes, the entire setup was very nazi Wannseee conference like. Which i guess was the main inspiration for it.
I don't think that was over-reacting at all. It was, basically, an act of class warfare.
The Home Secretary and the Cabinet took advantage of the opportunity to take something that could have hurt their socio-economic class equally -- or worse, because the elites always make up a smaller percentage of society, and therefore the loss of every individual child from their class would be proportionately more damaging to their class than to others -- and turned it into a weapon to use against the poor.
First they rationalized protecting their children and families while not protecting everyone else's, and then they rationalized protecting their friends' families, and then they rationalized deliberately targeting the children of the poor in the name of "stability" -- i.e., in the name of making it harder for anyone to remove them from power after the 456s left with the kids.
It was treasonous, really; the poor and the working class depend upon the elites to protect them, and the elites fundamentally betrayed them. Instead of sharing the burden, they went out of their way to target children on the basis of, basically, their parents being poor -- in other words, of their parents not being like the Cabinet members and their friends who work in the City. On the basis of their parents representing a potential threat to the rich.
That scene was one of the most disturbing in the entire min-series, because it rings so true.
Wow. I don't know if I have words to describe this segment. This has been one of the most brillient, heart-wrenching things I've seen on TV in a long time. In fact, this might give BSG a run for it's money. You think Torchwood has a handle on the situation and then wham, that happens. This thing has had everything that makes some good storytelling and tonight was the antithisis of this series 3. Ethical discussions that are really scary to even consider, emotional gut wrenching moments, excellent pace, and I really wonder what is going to happen to conclude this. My God this week and this miniseries has really been an event.
I'm bumping this up for those who just saw it.
Excellent episode - I'm excited to see what's ahead tomorrow...I hope they don't screw it up.
Excellent episode - I'm excited to see what's ahead tomorrow...I hope they don't screw it up.
NOOOOO!!!!!! Ianto is my favorite character! 
He has been since the very beginning... I know what some of you guys mean about the reset button though... I want Ianto back, but at the same time it would kinda ruin the story for there to a big reset button thing...
The episode itself though was incredible. The discussion about how to select which children have to go... The way it instantly went from Torchwood being on top of everything to suddenly being knocked back to square one... It was the best Torchwood episode so far, and definitely the best out of the 3 series Torchwood has had so far. I really hope there will be a series 4, I love Torchwood, but it kinda almost seems like this is the wrapping up of the show...
He has been since the very beginning... I know what some of you guys mean about the reset button though... I want Ianto back, but at the same time it would kinda ruin the story for there to a big reset button thing... The episode itself though was incredible. The discussion about how to select which children have to go... The way it instantly went from Torchwood being on top of everything to suddenly being knocked back to square one... It was the best Torchwood episode so far, and definitely the best out of the 3 series Torchwood has had so far. I really hope there will be a series 4, I love Torchwood, but it kinda almost seems like this is the wrapping up of the show...
Last edited:
Ianto and Tosh were tied for my least favourite/least useful characters. To me Ianto was just there to make coffee and service Jack.
However, this may make you happy:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8166655.stm
At least the money goes to charity.
However, this may make you happy:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8166655.stm
At least the money goes to charity.
Strange that there was no such effort for Tosh and Owen...
Seriously, though, this has been a brilliant mini-series. I can't remember being so excited about rushing home from work to see a TV show in... well, maybe forever.
I agree with all of those who pointed out the absolutely terrifying realism of the conference in the PMs office and who tied it to the Nazis and Wannsee. And if there are any Yanks out there who are feeling superior and thinking that sort of classism is just a remnant of the British Empire and couldn't happen here, you are so wrong. Just look at how our country has become slowly split by the growing income gap between rich and poor and how the rich and even upper middle class are fleeing public schools. I'm quite positive that such a conversation could have happened in the Bush White House and I'm not too sure that it couldn't happen under the present Administration (see Lord Acton on power).
Just my two cents... (see my sig)
Strange that there was no such effort for Tosh and Owen...
Seriously, though, this has been a brilliant mini-series. I can't remember being so excited about rushing home from work to see a TV show in... well, maybe forever.
I agree with all of those who pointed out the absolutely terrifying realism of the conference in the PMs office and who tied it to the Nazis and Wannsee. And if there are any Yanks out there who are feeling superior and thinking that sort of classism is just a remnant of the British Empire and couldn't happen here, you are so wrong. Just look at how our country has become slowly split by the growing income gap between rich and poor and how the rich and even upper middle class are fleeing public schools. I'm quite positive that such a conversation could have happened in the Bush White House and I'm not too sure that it couldn't happen under the present Administration (see Lord Acton on power).
Just my two cents... (see my sig)
I don't think any reasonable person could argue that the British have any sort of monopoly on elitism or class warfare. The wealthy in America wage war against this country's poor just as much -- if not moreso, given the lack of universal health care.
I was walking past the door entrance to the Torchwood Hub last night and some fans had tied flowers and poems and the like in remembrance to Ianto to the grill which is there protecting the door.
Someone had even tied packets of coffee granules to some of the messages.
Aren't fans crazy?!
Someone had even tied packets of coffee granules to some of the messages.
Aren't fans crazy?!
Last edited:
and I thought it was only US fans who did those kinds of things.I was walking past the door entrance to the Torchwood Hub last night and some fans had tied flowers and poems and the like in remembrance to Ianto to the grill which is there protecting the door.
Someone had even tied packets of coffee granules to some of the messages.
Aren't fans crazy?!
I guess having an actual place which is both open to the public and central to the show, can lead to this kind of madness.
What really impressed me was how this show challenges us to think about those in society who we think of as "disposable"...How we write people off due to their schools, upbringing or circumstances. When the 456 shoots back something like "Well, children die everyday...no one seems to be upset or is fighting for them...what's the big deal?" It really should challenge us in some ways.
I lived in South America for a while and saw lots of street children. I couldn't get their images out of my head while watching this episode. Some merchants would get together and hire off duty police officers to "deal" with them when their numbers would become too high. There are people in this world who see these children as no different as a rat infestation. I kept thinking while watching this : well there are some who wouldn't fight to protect all children.
I lived in South America for a while and saw lots of street children. I couldn't get their images out of my head while watching this episode. Some merchants would get together and hire off duty police officers to "deal" with them when their numbers would become too high. There are people in this world who see these children as no different as a rat infestation. I kept thinking while watching this : well there are some who wouldn't fight to protect all children.
Watched first four back to back last night.
Holy crap!
Just a couple of unimportant points, though...
1. Whoever was wondering about Sarah Jane has a valid point. This IS the same universe and realistically speaking she would have shown up somewhere.
2. Being that this is the same universe, I'd have tried going to the aliens and would have said, "Hey, you'd better get going, right now, or else."
Alien would been like, "Or else what?"
And I would be like, "Or else we call HIM..." and hold up a picture of the Doctor.
Just idle thoughts...
Holy crap!
Just a couple of unimportant points, though...
1. Whoever was wondering about Sarah Jane has a valid point. This IS the same universe and realistically speaking she would have shown up somewhere.
2. Being that this is the same universe, I'd have tried going to the aliens and would have said, "Hey, you'd better get going, right now, or else."
Alien would been like, "Or else what?"
And I would be like, "Or else we call HIM..." and hold up a picture of the Doctor.
Just idle thoughts...
Considering that that's basically what Ianto and Jack tried to pull on the Four-Five-Six -- and Ianto died for his trouble -- I don't think the Four-Fix-Six really care.
Children of Earth is, in some respects, a repudiation of the mythology that RTD has built up around the Doctor over the last few years.
Without any slight meant to Sarah Jane, I think her showing up in her little blue car and asking "Okay, how can I help?" would have cheapened these TW episodes. These episodes have been so "realistic", unrelenting and powerful, that I just can't imagine her being involved in this story. Sure it's interesting to wonder what she was doing during the crisis, but she (or the Doctor for that matter) had no place in Children of Earth. You could almost say that this is a prime example of why Torchwood is how the grown-ups play in the Whoniverse.
Anyway, this episode was brilliant once more. Poor Clem. And Ianto! Damn, I did not see that coming. Even as he lay there dying I kept thinking Jack would do something that would save Ianto, but no. Devastating. This series is holding nothing back, and that's fantastic.
Similar threads
