PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Science Fiction Sunday 770

Torchwood Series 3 Children Of Earth

The 5 part series was presented one per day between July 6 and 10, 2009.

 

This is the last 5 days in the life of Torchwood Cardiff. Some bad aliens came to Earth in 1965 and Captain Jack gave a dozen children to the invaders to save the Earth. Now the aliens are back and they want 10% of the worlds children. They'll kill off humanity if they don't get what they want.

 

Turns out prepubescent children are filled with fluids the aliens like to ingest, it makes them feel good. The children from 1965 are still alive, strapped to an alien, not growing or dying. Now they want more children. The aliens don't seem to expect anyone to fight back, the human's gave in last time, they expect the same this time.

 

The Prime Minister is a horrible two faced monster that wants to keep the previous alien visit a secret from the rest of the world. He has one of his subordinates order the killing of Captain Jack and the other three living witnesses so the PM doesn't leave his fingerprints on anything incriminating. Peter Capaldi plays the weak kneed civil servant. The PM is caught out in all his lies at the end of the story but sadly, there isn't enough punishment for him on screen. Disappointing Russell, very disappointing.

 

Captain Jack only has Gwen, Rhys and Ianto left at Torchwood. Sadly Ianto doesn't make it through the mess. The teams families are harassed by the evil government and some of them don't get out of this alive. Jack's grandson is one of the victims, used by Jack to transmit a signal to the aliens, it causes them pain and they leave the Earth. Jack's always ready to sacrifice someone to save the rest of humanity. It causes his daughter never to speak to him again. It's lonely at the top.

A big downer of an episode, one bad thing heaped on another, only alleviated by the fast forward button. The series ends with Torchwood done, Jack blasts off to the stars, leaving Gwen and Rhys to get back to their life.

In a couple of years Torchwood returns for a last hurrah in America. It isn't enough to save the show. I didn't really look at the extras this time. Didn't want to waste the time.

The sad thing was before I watched these episodes of Torchwood I watched the return of David Tennant as Doctor Who, it was so much better than this and it was only an hour. I'm more looking forward to the other two episodes more than I'll ever look forward to Torchwood ever again and I have a whole series to go.

Science Fiction Sunday 769

Torchwood Series 2 Episode 8 to 13

 

A Day In The Death February 27 2008 Written by Joseph Lidster and directed by Andy Goddard.

 

Owen is still alive after being resurrected but he's got some issues. So does Jack. Martha checks Owen out and says he's human. Owen can't breath and doesn't seem to age. She does find a problem, he's incapable of healing. His lack of body heat helps him break into a house where he finds Richard Biers playing a collector of alien artifacts.

 

Richard's got something that is gathering power, he believes it is keeping him alive but it's not. While Owen helps him conquer his fear of death the poor guy has a heart attack , Owen is incapable of giving him CPR so he dies. The alien artifact is more benign than thought. It puts on a nice light show.

 

Owen saves a woman from jumping off a roof by telling her about his day. They admire the alien artifact's light show.

 

Something Borrowed March 5 2008 Written by Phil Boyd and directed by Ashley Way.

 

Gwen gets pregnant when a shapeshifting alien bites her. Gwen wakes the next day pretty much ready to pop. This is another of the common plot elements shared with countless SF, fantasy and horror TV shows and movies. The pregnancy disturbs Rhys and complicates Gwen and Rhys wedding day. It only gets worse when the alien shapeshifter shows up to collect the baby.

 

From Out Of The Rain March 12 2008 Written by Peter J Hammond and Jonathan Fox Bassett.

 

A couple of evil baddies pop out of a silent movie and start gathering the last breath from some poor people. The victims goes into a coma but don't die. Torchwood sorts it all out but saves one of the victims.

 

Adrift March 19 2008 Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Mark Everest.

 

Gwen's old police pal Andy tells her about a group of missing people. Ruth Jones is mother of one young man who has disappeared. Gwen wants to dig into the story but Jack says no. She goes behind his back and discovers a building filled with the missing. They were damaged by encounters with the rift and Jack has set up a secret place to keep them safe until they die.

 

Gwen brings Ruth to see her son and it's all too much for Ruth, she has a bit of a break down. She later tells Gwen not to show the place to other people. Gwen is sad.

 

Fragments March 21 2008   Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Jonathan Fox Bassett.

 

Most everyone gets blown up in a building. Gwen is late to the site and has to rescue everyone. Jack was dead but he revives, the others are alive but trapped under rubble. The injured think back to how they were recruited by Torchwood. At the end of the episode Captain John reveals he was the one who set the bomb. He shows Jack a picture of his long lost brother Gray before cutting off the video.

 

Exit Wounds March 21 208 Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Ashley Way.

 

Captain John blows up several more bombs in Cardiff. He captures Captain Jack and takes him back to 27 AD. Jack meets Gray, who stabs him in the gut. Gray is hateful because Jack didn't rescue him from the evil aliens who captured him on their home planet. Jack had been holding Gray's hand but they still managed to get separated, the aliens snatch Gray and torture him. Gray eventually escapes and he wants some revenge. He's taken control of Captain John with a bomb on his wrist. Gray is the one who had the bombs put in place. Back in 27 AD Captain John buries Jack and Gray frees Captain John from his bomb.

Gwen, Rhys and Andy work with the police to keep order. The local nuclear reactor is going to blow and Owen tries to get it shut down. He fails and gets locked in the control room, he's killed when the coolant floods the room. Gray goes to Torchwood, shoots Toshiko and leaves her to die. Jack is dug up in 1901 by Torchwood. He asks them to freeze him in the vault. Gray thaws Captain Jack but won't accept his apology. Captain Jack subdues Gray and freezes him. The series end with Gwen, Jack and Ianto left of the Torchwood gang.

The episode 11-13 disc has some making of material and the last disc in the set has 13 short making of videos. I kind of skipped through all that and wrapped up the second series. Not a commentary to be found. Mind you, I can't complain too much, I would have skipped through them a bit and forgot about them.

I'm not overly thrilled with the stories and doubt I would have time to get around to the series again. I just didn't find the characters that compelling. I'd rather watch Doctor Who over again, or some other shows I liked better.

Science Fiction Sunday 768

Torchwood Series 2 Episodes 4 - 7

 

Meat February 6 2008 Written by Catherine Tregenna and directed by Colin Teague.

 

Torchwood investigates some odd meat that was found in a delivery truck that's crashed. It's alien meat. Gwen's hubby Rhys is the dispatcher at the trucking company. This is the episode that he finds out about Torchwood.

 

Rhys gets to go on a mission to rescue the creature the meat is coming from but things don't go to plan. Everyone is captured but escapes. The poor alien whale like creature gets put down when it gets all stressed by the fighting,

 

Adam February 13 2008 Written by Catherine Tregenna and directed by Andy Goddard.

 

An alien called Adam infiltrates the Hub and feeds everyone false memories to hide among them. The memories confuse the team and there's friction. Gwen nearly kills Rhys. The alien is captured and killed. Sloppy, Torchwood, sloppy.

 

Reset February 13 2008 Written by Matt Jones and directed by Andy Goddard.

 

A biotech company has some aliens and is experimenting on humans. The test cases are dying and Torchwood is tries to save a few of them. Jack calls in Martha Jones for some help. she's now the chief medical person for UNIT. Jack has to shoot the owner of the biotech company in the head after the man kills Owen.

 

Dead Man Walking February 20 2008 Written by Joseph Lidster and directed by Andy Goddard.

 

The Torchwood gang revive Owen with another resurrection glove he found hidden in an abandoned church by some Weevils. Owen stays alive but doesn't drain the energy out of the person who revived him. So convenient. Sloppy Joseph, Sloppy. Martha gets tuned old for some reason.

 

Owen becomes king of the Weevils. There's some other mumbo jumbo going on with Owen. Death makes a visit but Owen defeats him in a fight. Martha discovers that the energy keeping Owen alive is dissipating. Oh, well, sucks to be Owen. Martha on the other hand returns to young again.

There were no extras on the disc. Saves me some time.

Science Fiction Sunday 767

Torchwood Series 2 Episodes 1 - 3

 

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang January 16 2008 Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Ashley Way.

 

While chasing down a fish guy the Torchwood gang are surprised by the return of Captain Jack. He'd been off with the Doctor and he's been gone a while. The team are happy to see him but mad at him for not telling them anything before he left or while he was gone.

 

James Marsters plays Captain John Hart, a co-worker and lover from Captain Jack's days as a time agent. Captain John tricks the Torchwood gang into helping him find three objects. Turns out he's a double crosser and murderous crook. He cripples the gang, kills Captain Jack, then runs off.

 

The Torchwood gang find him in their HQ trying to open a device that will lead him to the giant diamond he had killed to get. The jokes on him as the image of the lady he murdered is projected 3D. She tells him there's no diamond, it's all a trap. The device ejects a small but powerful bomb that attaches itself to Captain John.

 

Captain John handcuffs himself to Gwen and tells the Torchwood gang to help him or everyone dies. They do, everyone lives. Jack sends John back through the Rift.

 

Sleeper January 23 2008 Written by James Moran and directed by Colin Teague.

A couple are woken by burglars. Within a couple of mins the robbers are dead, sliced up. Torchwood kicks the police off the case and figure out it was Beth, the wife, that did the murders. The hubby is in the hospital.

 

The team interview Beth and find alien technology in her arm. Jack figures out she's a sleeper, put in place by the aliens to gather info before an invasion. Beth thinks she's human but it's soon proved she's an alien. Other alien's activate, regroup with a plan to blow up some nuclear warheads near Cardiff.

 

Beth stabs her poor hubby. The Torchwood gang stop the rest of the aliens but not before some major bit's of action. Beth can't stand the prospect of being frozen so she has the gang shoot her dead. Just another sad day at Torchwood.

 

To The Last Man January 30 2008 Written by Helen Raynor and directed by Andy Goddard.

 

A wounded WWI soldier gets caught up in the Rift and has been frozen by Torchwood for the last 90 years. They wake him up every year to check on him, then it's back in the freezer. This time something big happens and he's got to go back through the Rift to save the world.

The episodes were OK but I'm still not enjoying the show as much as I do Doctor Who. There were no extras on the disc and very little from what the box set says.

Science Fiction Sunday 766

Torchwood Series 1 Episode 10-13

 

Out Of Time December 17 2006 Written by Catherine Tregenna and directed by Alice Troughton.

 

A plane with three people from 1953 wind up in Cardiff in 2006. They are confused and each deal with being stuck in another time in a different way. The three are befriended by Jack, Gwen and Owen.

 

Combat December 24 2006 Written by Noel Clarke and directed by Andy Goddard.

 

Some guy is running a fight club with a weavel. Every action series seems to have this plot. Owen gets involved and they make him fight the weavel. He nearly dies but Jack arrives to save him. The guy running the fight club lets the weavel slaughter him instead of going to jail.

 

Captain Jack Harkness January 1 2007 Written by Catherine Tregenna and directed by Ashley Way.

 

Jack and Toshiko get sent to 1941 by the time rift. Jack meets the real Captain Jack Harkness. Ianto tries to stop Owen from opening the rift by shooting him in the back but it Owen manages to open the rift. That will cause problems next episode.

 

Murray Melvin plays an evil guy who travels back and forth through the rift. Some might remember him as the computer interface on the Tulip from the Starhunter series.

 

End Of Days January 1 2007 Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Ashley Way.

 

The rift causes problems and Jack fires Owen. The Torchwood team does a poor job a lot of the time.

 

Murray Melvin releases a giant monster, Jack pumps it full of life and kills it. Jack revives a while later and is picked up by the Tardis.

I skipped through the making of material and listened to about half of one of the four commentaries.

Science Fiction Sunday 765

Torchwood Series 1 Episodes 6 - 9

 

Countrycide November 19 2006 Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Andy Goddard.

 

A gang of human flesh eating humans is killing people in the Brecon Beacons. Apparently the cannibals harvest human bodies every 10 years then live off the canned meat. The Torchwood gang find some flesh stripped bones. Owen left the keys in the car and the baddies steal it. The Torchwood gang follow the car's tracker and everyone but Jack gets caught by the gang. The cannibals even have members in the local police force. I've seen that plot device in several horror films.

 

Luckily Jack arrives at the last moment before the gang get slaughtered. He crashes a tractor through the wall and gets the drop on the cannibals. The story ends with the police taking the baddies away.

 

Greeks Bearing Gifts November 26 2006 Written by Toby Whithouse and directed by Colin Teague.

 

The Torchwood gang investigate a skeleton found on a building site. Toshiko meets a gal at a bar called Mary, we'd already seen her among the spectators at the building site. Mary gives Toshiko a special pendant that lets her read minds. It shows how shallow and dismissive some of the gang are. I wouldn't want to hang round with them. I'm on the fence about hanging around with Jack. The production wants to be an adult SF drama and that means a lot of character development. Problem is the more I get of their personality the more I'm disappointed in the characters.

 

Mary reveals herself to be an alien and gets Toshiko to takes her to Torchwood. Jack has figured out that Mary is an alien and a serial killer. He's found the alien transporter, repaired it and set it for the middle of the sun. When Jack hands Mary the transporter he turns it on and she disappears. Ha ha. We need more bad aliens in the middle of the sun.

 

They Keep Killing Suzie December 3 2006 Written by Paul Tomalin and Dan McCulloch, directed by James Strong.

 

Suzie, who killed herself in the first episode, has a plan in place to revive her with the glove. It requires a good number of people to die. Various things happen that lead Jack to reviving Suzie. Gwen wields the glove and she does such a good job that Suzie doesn't die again, in fact she gets better.

 

Suzie tricks Gwen into taking her to her father. Suzie kills her father. I could see that coming. Jack chases after them and shoots Suzie. She doesn't die until he has the glove destroyed. Suzie had been draining the life out of Gwen. Makes me think Jack needs a good HR department recruiting department to vet his staff.

 

Random Shoes December 10 2006 Written by Jacquetta May and directed by James Erskine.

 

A young man called Eugene is killed on the highway, Torchwood investigates because he was known to Torchwood as a collector of alien artifacts. He'd often turn up at their investigation sites. Now dead Eugene follows Gwen around as she investigates the alien eye he was selling on eBay.

 

It's a rather sad story of a nice young guy with jerks for friends. That's Eugene's sad mom on the right. Two of his friends secretly bid on the eye to get Eugene excited about the sale until someone else runs the bid up to £15,000. One of the two pals bids an extra £5.50 and wins. When Eugene shows up at the meet up place he finds it's them. They want the eye for next to nothing so they can resell it for a lot of money. Nice guys, huh.

 

In a struggle for the eye Eugene swallows it and runs out of restaurant only to get run down. The alien eye inside his dead body is what kept him there and it gives him a chance to save Gwen at the end of the episode. He becomes corporeal, allowing him to push Gwen out of the path of an on coming car, and then disappears with everyone looking upward.

I watched two discs this week, there were only 2 episodes on each disc. I find I'm speeding through the episodes more than I had been. The extras are some making of featurettes and a commentary for each episode. I kind of skipped through the featurettes and gave a miss to the commentaries. Just not that interested.

Science Fiction Sunday 764

Torchwood Series 1 Episodes 3 - 5

 

Ghost Machine October 29 2006 Written by Helen Raynor and directed by Colin Teague.

 

An alien artifact lets people see events in the past. Gwen sees a lost boy at a train station in 1941, Owen sees a young woman murdered under a bridge in 1963. The Torchwood team find both the young boy and the murderer survived to the modern day. Gwen meets the young boy as an old man while Owen confronts the murderer and gets driven out of the man's house.

 

They find the guy who had the alien device, he'd managed to get away during an earlier encounter. He doesn't know anything about it but he's got the other half. Activating it has Gwen see herself holding a bloody knife and crying. She later accidentally kills the murderer. The artifact gets put in the vault.

 

Cyberwoman November 5 2006 Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by James Strong.

 

Ianto is keeping a woman in the basement. She was his girlfriend before the Cybermen started converting her. They never finished the conversion and Ianto thinks he can save her. He fails miserably and the cyberwoman nearly kills everyone before Jack covers her with BBQ sauce that attracts the company pterodactyl.

 

While Jack is yelling at Ianto the cyberwoman revives and kills the pizza delivery girl. The cyberwoman puts her brain in the pizza gal's body and everyone blasts her with guns. Ianto goes back to making coffee.

 

Small Worlds November 12 2006 Written by Peter J Hammond and directed by Alice Troughton.

 

Deadly fairies are scaring and killing people that bother their chosen one. The chosen one is that little girl in the yellow dress. She reminds me of that kid in The Twilight Zone that puts people into the cornfield.

 

Jack loses an old friend to the fairies. The Torchwood gang goes after them. Captain Jack tries to stop the fairies from taking the chosen one away but eventually Jack lets them have her. The fairies are unkillable and they'll kill more people if he keeps their chosen one from going with them.

Three fair episodes. I thought the producers trying to sex up the show was kind of weak. The cyberwoman in a bikini and a metal bra? Why didn't Captain Jack toss Ianto out for making such a big mistake? I wouldn't be so forgiving.

 

The fairies episode was the more interesting to me but it also reminds me that Torchwood sure reminds me of an earlier US show called Special Unit 2. A team of monster fighters working for the government to find and kill monsters of one sort or another. I liked that series, it had a nice sense of humor.

There were commentaries for each episode, I listened to them but found myself a bit uninterested so I skipped ahead now and again. There was the usual short making of film for each episode.

Science Fiction Sunday 763

Torchwood Series 1 Episode 1 - 2

I'm watching the Torchwood British DVD box set that came out in 2012. There's 18 discs in the set. I watched the first disc of the first series. There are two episodes and some extras. Series 1 has a lot of extras, Series 2 has a lot less extras.

 

Everything Changes October 22 2006 Written by Russell T Davies and directed by Brian Kelly.

 

Cardiff police officer Gwen Cooper takes an interest in the people from Torchwood when they take over a murder investigation. She sees them bring a corpse back to life with a metal gauntlet.

 

The next day she gets knocked down on the job. She has her knocked noggin checked at the hospital and sees Jack running up a stairwell. She follows and finds the floor taped off. She goes through the barrier only to encounter an alien called a Weevil. A maintenance man shows up and is killed.

 

Jack shows up and captures the Weevil and Gwen starts investigating Torchwood, she fakes a pizza delivery, she gains access to the headquarters and Jack takes her out for a drink. He spikes her beer with an amnesia pill.

 

A strong memory of a strange looking knife breaks the pills control and she returns to the Millennium Center where Torchwood has their secret underground lair. Doctor Who fans should remember that that area is home to a space and time rift that occasionally lets aliens and their technology through. Torchwood collects the aliens and artifacts and stores the bad ones away.

 

Gwen encounters Suzie, one of the Torchwood team, and realizes that Suzie is the killer. She just wanted some dead people to test the gauntlet on. Suzie kills Captain Jack, when he revives she kills herself. Jack asks Gwen if she wants a job and she accepts.

 

Day One October 22 2006 Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Brian Kelly.
 

On her first day on the job Gwen accidentally releases an alien from a meteor. It's a pink cloud that inhabits the body of some poor random woman. The alien cloud turns her into a sex fiend wanting men for their orgasm. Sadly, for the men, this means their deaths when they are turned into a pile of sexless dust. 

 

Using plenty of technology they figure out who she is and the chase begins. The Torchwood team is mostly too late to save the dozens or more victims but they catch her in the end. They get the alien out of the young woman and return her home. Gwen has some bits of business with her boyfriend.

 

It seems that Jack has lumbered himself and Torchwood with some less than stellar co-workers. Suzie is a crazy psycho and Owen is perfectly happy to use a alien spray to attract partners for sex. That seems a bit date rapey but the series is certainly trying to be grittier than Doctor Who.

I'll be curious to see how it goes. I plan to watch a disc each week, maybe two if there are less extras to plow through. The first disc had a commentary for both episodes and there were three making of featurettes.

Science Fiction Sunday 762

Doctor Who 2 Series 13 Specials

 

Eve Of The Daleks January 1 2022 Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Annetta Laufer.

 

Sarah runs a self storage business, Nick has stuff stored there. The Tardis stops there and accidentally creates a time loop. Some Daleks show up and kill everyone, the time loop resets, everyone's murdered again, repeat.

 

The Doctor figures how to repair the problem and blows up the self storage building. Sarah and Kevin realize they are in love with each other, lucky for them they survived after the time loop is turned off.

 

Legend Of The Sea Devils April 17 2022 Written by Ella Roads and Chris Chibnall, directed by Haolu Wang.

 

Geomagnetic anomalies bring the Tardis to 1807 China. The Tardis gang meets up with a lady pirate who is looking for Ji-Hun's legendary treasure. The Tardis gang find out the Sea Devils are back and they've had Ji-Hun in a status chanber for many years. The Sea Devils plan is to take over the planet but the Doctor sets that plan on it's ear.

 

The Power Of The Doctor October 23 2022 Written by Chris Chibnall and Jamie Magnus Stone.

 

Cybermen attack a space train and the Tardis gang is there. Dan is nearly killed and he decides at the end of the film that he'll be staying in Wales. A renegade Dalek contacts the Doctor to sell out the other Daleks.

Kate calls the Doctor and asks for some help. She also brings in Tegan and Ace for some advice. The Master turns up again. He's so much trouble, hopefully he's really dead this time. We'll see what the new show runner has to say in a year or two. The Doctor regenerates and the new Doctor is an old Doctor. It was nice to see some of the past Doctors and companions again.

The stories were fairly good. I liked the Sea Devils episode best. There's a few making of videos and each episode has a commentary. I'm glad that the Chibnall era is over and I'm looking forward to the David Tennant specials that are coming. I'm not that fond of Chris as show runner and main writer. He's so bombastic and so many episodes are constantly bathed in darkness. I can't see some of what is going on. I read that the episodes are in the £5 million range. You'd think they would have had some money for lights. I'm probably going to watch Torchwood next. Might be fun to visit Captain Jack for a while.

Science Fiction Sunday 761

Doctor Who 2 Series 13 Episode 5 - 6

 

Survivors Of The Flux November 28 2021 Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Azhur Saleem.

 

The Doctor gets turned into a Weeping Angel for a while then she meets the woman, Tecteun, who experimented on her when she was the timeless child. The Doctor has no memory of Tecteun's experiments and subsequent use of her genes to create the race of Time Lords. Those memories were erased and stored in a Time Lord watch. Tecteun created and runs the Division and that Ood helps her. Tecteun created the Flux to kill the Doctor for being such a nuisance, one who interferes with her experiments. When Swarm shows up he will put an end to Tecteun in a most satisfying way. She is a monster.

 

Yaz, Dan and Jericho are lost in 1904 trying to figure out when the world will end. Kate Stewart confronts the head of UNIT with his being a traitor and he opens the Earth defense to let the Sontarians take over.

 

The Vanquishers December 5 2021 Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Azhur Saleem.

 

The Doctor gets split into three bodies in three timelines. She brings the various groups together and they battle the Sontarians. The Sontarians wipe out the Lupari and then lure the Daleks and the Cybermen into a location where the Flux devastates their fleets. The Daleks and Cybermen have been wiped out so often and returned it seems a bit pointless.

 

The Sontarians get consumed by the Flux and the Flux is consumed by one of the Passengers. Time destroys Swarm and Azure and the Doctor maroons the head of UNIT on a small asteroid. They should have popped him into the sun. He's a real bastard. Most of the problems are wrapped up. The Doctor, Yaz and Dan head off for the next adventure. 

There's a handful of making of shorts as extras. There's just the three specials to go and I'll be done with the series until the David Tennant specials air. I think I'll watch Torchwood next.