Torchwood: Miracle Day episode one "The New World"

[Alidar Jarok]

I thought that was sweet the way he said "what's retcon." He seemed so kind about it. He was so nice she couldn't even freak out, she was just like "aw come on." Even though it was exposition for newbies (and I'll be honest, I forgot the name of it), it worked well.

 

[The Wormhole]

Actually, this talk about why doesn't the Doctor get involved got me wondering, does Jack even know the TARDIS phone number?

 

[od0_ital]

^

He probably has it written down in a matchbook or something...

 

[Scotty]

I really liked the first episode. It lacked the tension, dread and urgency of the first episode of CoE, but I'm sensing the build up of tension will be mofe gradual this season.

The New World was action packed, fast paced and a lot of fun. Favorite line? "i had a pole through my chest... I was dead and then I wasn't... I had to pay for this bridge. Now I want to know what the hell is going on here!"

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I enjoyed it for the most part. When I saw what was going on I was not surprised they made Jack mortal for this, I'm intrigued for sure and curious as to what the purpose of this is. I assume some alien force or something is doing this for their own ends and I'm curious as to why.

An alien plot to make it possible to assassinate immortals like Captain Jack perhaps? Or an immortal who's tired of living forever doing it so that they may become mortal and die?

I'm fairly new to the franchise having only seen Children of Earth and scattered episodes of Dr. Who, so some of the references might fly right over my head, but I found it pretty accessible. I enjoyed the first episode, though I thought Mekhi Pfeiffer's overacting during and after leaving the hospital was pretty dreadful. Great action with the helicopter, and I thought the scenes with Gwen fighting with baby in hand were hilarious and awesome.

The autopsy scene was very gruesome and well done (literally and figuratively).

 

[Mr Light]

Maybe it's just an evil alien who wants to wipe out the population of Earth using Jack's immortality as a weapon of mass destruction.

I'd totally geek out if it involves Bad Wolf somehow since that's how he got the powers.

 

[Sci]

I'd totally geek out if it involves Bad Wolf somehow since that's how he got the powers.

Yes, making an important and overt reference to a story element from a season that aired six years ago in Britain of a foreign TV series that hasn't achieved any level of popularity in the United States until just these last few months, after it's changed starring actors twice. A series that is designed with children in mind when this season of Torchwood is designed for adults (to the point of airing on a premium channel and including lots of overt sex and violence).

That's exactly how you build an American audience for Starz.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I was just going to say the Bad Wolf thing is convoluted enough as it is. Making it a part of this explanation would be very unsatisfying.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

Bad Wolf became a call girl that makes her own memoirs so it works out.

 

[Worf2DS9]

Did anyone watching the UK version on SPACE (not HD) Tuesday notice a weird blurring effect with movement (such as people) that, I'm pretty sure, wasn't on the US version on Saturday?

On a related note, I didn't notice any differences in the two versions as far as content is concerned, though the runtime Tuesday was about 5 minutes shorter.

 

[The Wormhole]

^^I think I read somewhere (possibly this very thread) that the only difference in the premiere is the trailer at the end. One version had a trailer for the rest of the season, the other a trailer for the next episode only.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Yep, although some Americans are saying there was a season trailer on some versions too.
I wonder if they're showing the actual UK version, so it's 4% faster because of the PAL/50hz conversion. May be why it looked odd on your TV Worf

 

[Owain Taggart]

That was quite good, and makes me look forward to the rest of the season. Although there are some moments that may be unintentionally funny, such as Gwen carrying the kid during the shootout which looked really goofy. I could have sworn I saw the kid smiling through all that. And then there's the scene where Rex tells them they're being extradited, and the way it was delivered I thought felt contrived. Other than that, it's really good.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

That was quite good, and makes me look forward to the rest of the season. Although there are some moments that may be unintentionally funny, such as Gwen carrying the kid during the shootout which looked really goofy. I could have sworn I saw the kid smiling through all that. And then there's the scene where Rex tells them they're being extradited, and the way it was delivered I thought felt contrived. Other than that, it's really good.

The kid was smiling, it was meant to be funny, I think, Jane Espenson was live tweeting while it was on last night and specifically said "look at the baby in this scene"

 

[Capt_Pickirk]

That was pretty good. Why the hell couldn't the last series of Doctor Who have been this entertaining instead of the dull lifeless mess we got?

It was good to see a Doctor Who show where people were Acting instead of performing again. It was cheesy as hell, but it's Torchwood so I can live with that.

 

[wamdue]

Im coming late to the party, but one thing that crossed my mind during the episode, isnt this a great chance to find out when live begins in the womb? are aborted fetus staying alive?

 

[Sci]

Im coming late to the party, but one thing that crossed my mind during the episode, isnt this a great chance to find out when live begins in the womb? are aborted fetus staying alive?

I mean, in a biological sense, there's no controversy about when life begins. An fertilized egg is as alive as any other collection of cells. The controversy is over what stage of development can be reasonably said to confer upon the embryo/fetus the status of personhood -- at what point does it cease to be just a collection of unconscious cells and become a person? Someone who's pro-life would argue that it happens at the instant of conception; a pro-choice person would argue that it occurs later in the pregnancy as a result of cognitive development.

I think the more interesting question would be whether or not severed limbs remain alive. If Gwen were to chop off her hand, would her hand still be alive, or would it die and start to rot? If it dies, that suggests that the Miracle is somehow tied to the presence of a brain in the affected tissue.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

Do miscarriages still happen then?

 

[wamdue]

well the preview I saw in the UK, kinda suggests an answer to that one, I suppose the question about a fetus is would it continue to grow, and the BIG question of the series, is will the undead dead die when life returns to normal (not a spoiler I just assume it will)

First interesting thing is that the head stayed alive despite being deattched from the body, is this evience of some sort of soul? how would that play into the abortion debate, as the time when the collection of souls first develops a soul would in theory be the cut off point for abortion.

As for episode 1 general, for stupid reasons I kept expecting the 8th Doctor to show up, Jack and Esther just kinda had that same vibe the Doctor and Grace did, or maybe that is just because of the fact they are in the USA. Liked how they were able to keep the Welsh element to it, and PC Andy.

Did think it was intersting that despite wars being stopped the US is still quite happy to use guns and missles to blow up stuff, River was right about them.

The next characters, Rex, Oswald & Esther all seem fine, but its still early in the series.

456 refrences play really well, and put to rest any notion of this not being part of the Whoverse, whilst also helping the plot.

John Barrowman seems very home on this show, like he was born to play Jack in this series.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

The UK were using missiles launched from a helicopter, so I can't say it's the US that's gun happy (or do you mean the fact that it's a US-produced show?).