Finally had a chance to digest and rewatch Children of Earth, and still have very mixed feelings. When separated from the series as a whole, the story was compelling; a tale of what the government would do in an un-winable situation. The visions at the end of Gwen, Rhys, and Ianto's family running to protect the children were moving. The same can be said about the ultimate sacrifice which Captain Jack is forced to make.
In terms of the Torchwood series as a whole, writer Russell T. Davies threw the baby out with the bathwater. Not that the underlying series was perfect, most of the time it was pure over the top sci fi schlock, or derivative sci fi schlock. Many episodes seemed like rejected X-Files, or Angel scripts. I'll go as far as to say that for the second season premiere, they even cast James Masters to essentially play his Angel/Buffy character, Spike.
But beneath all the bad storylines, and inconsistent characterization there was still the sense that there were relationships between the group of characters who eventually became somewhat of a family. The characters were characters with personalities, and histories, and not plot devices as you might see in something which was more symbolic science fiction. There was still some hope that the show could develop into something excellent, the seeds were there. The biggest phenomenon to come from this show was Janto (aka the relationship between Jack and Ianto) which to me seemed to be one of online sci fi fandom's most popular pairings.
Children of Earth is an Alan Moore style morality tale and to some degree it worked. Those who are not regular Torchwood fans, those who do not have much invested in the characters and certain relationships, or those who knew what type of a ride Torchwood could might get great enjoyment out of it. But those who watched the first two seasons, and got to know the characters will be nitpicky and see that Jack's daughter and grandson, who we never heard as much of a word about during this series or Doctor Who, were really nothing more than convenient plot devices for the ultimate downer ending. The same can also be said for Ianto's sister and her family.
Would this storyline would have been just as effective if Russel T. Davies had used completely new characters who were not the Torchwood characters we knew and loved? Would it have been better had he invented a few new characters to serve as plot devices leaving the rest of the show intact for more of the Torchwood we love? I honestly feel that if this had been done with completely new characters, and the Torchwood team in the background, waiting for another series, it would have been just as effective.
If they were going to do this storyline, things would probably have been better if they had an entire season, or few seasons, to gradually build up to the entire storyline. Have an episode with a B plotline where we meet Ianto's family, and get to know a bit more about the character and things he holds back? Another episode where we get to meet Jack's daughter, and grandson? Perhaps if this were all spread out over several seasons, or perhaps if these details had been written about these characters from the inception, it would not have seemed as bad.
There is also the ultimate issue of the death of Ianto. I'll go as far to say that I felt it was completely unnecessary, and didn't need to occur. Russel T. Davies seemed to be doing it to deliberately dump and anger the rabid fan following for whatever reason. Perhaps because he didn't want the show being associated with the kind of "sci fi" fan following her felt was laughable. Perhaps he didn't want this show known as a sci fi soap, and more a serious sci fi show. Whatever his reasoning, it was a cruel thing to do to some of the show's most loyal fans.
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I agree with some of what you've said. Ianto's family was certainly a surprise, but since Jack keeps many things so close to the chest, his family was a surprise, but I wasn't surprised about the surprise. It made narrative sense, I mean.
ReplyDeleteWith Ianto's family, it did feel sudden, but he's always been a bit of a mystery and we never knew much about his personal life. We didn't know until this week whether he was always bi, or just turned gay recently, for example. So again, it made sense in terms of the character.
As for Ianto's death, well, thanks to FB statuses, I was spoiled that someone was going to die and I guessed it was him. Just based on the schmoopy looks he was giving Jack in ep. 1, either Ianto was going to die, or they would end up getting married at the end. If RTD has a long term plan for Jack after he comes back from being so destroyed and haunted, then Ianto's death was necessary, because Jack wouldn't have left him. Though, even in terms of this story, Jack's grief is what makes him give up at the beginning of ep 5, so it was already necessary in one way.
Mind you, I'd rather Jack & Ianto had been given an happily ever after. I was much more devastated by the rounding up of the children and bawled through every one of those scenes. Ianto's death has meaning in that sense. He died doing what we'd all hope we'd do in that place: refusing to commit an atrocity even in the service of the greater good. Because people who would round up children, or anyone else, just to save themselves don't deserve to survive.
With Jack's family, yes I know he kept a lot on his chest, but I still feel that if they were not meant as a plot device, we should have been given some small clue that he as family living in this time period, and perhaps cares about it an eansy bit more. But then again Jack is a character who has always been shrouded in mystery so perhaps it is in character for him to keep it a secret?
ReplyDeleteI understand your point about Ianto's death, I kind of saw it coming from one of the audios that came out a few days beforehand, where he was all "you are going to outlive me." On the other hand, I still don't know if it was right for RTD to anger a large, vocal segment of the fanbase like that.
But as a writer, he can't worry about angering anyone. He should worry about alienating his fan base, say, by making the show totally hetero, or turning the doctor into Gollum and then Jesus. But angering the fans is just a side effect of making the fans care enough to get that angry. Maybe some fans will run off and pout and never watch anything by RTD again. But in most cases, they'll be back, because they know he'll make them care this intensely about other characters.
ReplyDeleteWanting the story to go exactly the way you want it to is why people write fan fiction. RTD isn't writing fan fic. He's telling a powerful, gut wrenching story. If he were writing fan fic, then Captain John would've stuck around and they would've started a happy little threesome. Which would've been hot, but maybe not the best story.
He shouldn't worry about angering anyone, I just felt that the death was unneccessary and done just to anger a section of the fanbase. I am well aware that the LJ posters and fanficers make up a very small portion of the fanbase in the longrun, but still if he knows the show is importan to them, why do something like that to piss them off?
ReplyDeleteI completely understand there is always the world of AU fanfiction.