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beccaelizabethI'm only on episode one but it's still spoilers.
and I think I've figured out why everyone looks different. The lighting is different, the colors are different, I don't know why, but it's making everyone look weirdly photoshopped. And it's bugging me.
The law does not work like that. Which has been covered extensively by better informed people, but seriously, the quotes does not work like that, and the law really doesn't. It's annoying, because now they'll build plot on that basis. Get a better base, pls.
The BBC made me tick a box to be sure I was old enough to watch this for disturbing content. Someone had great fun with making exploded looking people. Yaays? Well, not much, I mean, it's gross, but we only care in a fairly generic way. Unless we're supposed to be yaay he's exploded. I'm not. It clearly sucks to be him. But we don't know why he did it. Are we meant to wonder?
Okay, so, it takes them half an hour to decide this is a Torchwood case? Isn't that generally the Teaser?
This whole thing feels like a re-run. Woman investigates Harkness! er, we did that?
I know Retcon is supposed to make you think up something plausible to go in the gaps, but seriously, a CIA agent wakes up trashed and covered in bruises and all she does is just go to work?
Also, the high heels are making me plain not believe in this character. I don't know. If she can't run six feet without tottering, which we saw, and she can't run up stairs on her own, which we saw, how are we supposed to consider her a competent person? But oh, wait, she's a woman, that's probably not the point.
*sigh*
So far we know Rex is an arsehole who wants to be promoted. And isn't dead. And...
No, we know more about his doctor (Juarez, network of friend doctors around the world, caring and competent, can we keep her?)
Esther does staring at papers. It takes many seconds and doesn't tell us much. Except she knows which end of a paper is what, and apparently nobody else at the CIA does, at least not well enough to find the entire box full of files she found. Competent I believe, only competent, not so much.
So far this seems entirely meant for people who never watched Torchwood. They're making the 456 thing into a mystery. They're making Torchwood into a mystery. I so bored.
Gwen with guns: yaays.
Rhys trying to tell her to stop helping other people and stay at home looking after the baby: are we meant to want to slap him already?
It's annoying though, because he was quite supportive before. She saves the world, he does the trucking. It all worked. Now there's a baby and he's telling her off. Blah.
Jack! Yeah, I guess I'm happy to see him again. But he's being all mysterious stranger guy. Like he's new.
The bruises... he only heals fatal injuries, why are cuts and bruises bugging him? Well because by the time you realise you're no longer immortal you're screwed. Which was always the point. If you don't know why it happens you don't know when it will stop happening.
If he's a fixed point in the universe and the TARDIS made him immortal then what is powerful enough to mess with that?
Well, other than the writer's whims.
There's no plot of the week, is there? It's just going to be an episode full of introducing people and nothing much getting solved. Well that's a bit boring.
Gwen joined the Torchwood Institute in October 2006.
Slight problem, and it's the same one as usual with Torchwood dates - while the TV series started in that year, the DW 'verse was a year ahead, starting with Rose's first return home.
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/2006
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/2007
Change Doctors, change companions, and it goes back in line.
It might be geeky, but, it's ours to geek about.
... Rex is kind of shouty and rubbish. We should try going around shouting CIA at people. Do you think it would work?
Esther has the knowing of things though.
Did I read once, somewhere, back when Torchwood was new, that Owen Harper was originally going to be a character called Rex but got renamed when BG was cast? It's sitting in my head but lacks citations. It's bugging me.
Also bugging me is the way the rest of the world doesn't seem to have a Torchwood equivalent. I can see why these two people are focused on Torchwood, they set that up. But where's everyone else's?
Gwen, gun in one hand, baby in the other... yes, ear protectors are totally what she needs right then
FFS Gwen put the baby down first!
... no, seriously, this is bothering me: WHY is Gwen the one holding the baby? Rhys is standing right there, or sitting right next to her, and he's the noncombatant. She can shoot with both hands! Which is more useful right now, the fat bloke having his hands free and empty, or Gwen with freedom to act? Why is she holding the kid? I'm trying to read this in a way that doesn't involve gender assumptions of fail and coming up with big nothings.
Jack gets a good grand entrance there. Nice colors with the light and all.
... it's cute funny that he's sat next to Rex on the plane. Jack has competence! Who knew!
Oh now she gives Rhys the kid, when Jack and Rhys tell her to.
Stormtrooper shooting pisses me off. They really should be pretty dead by now. Helicopter vs little car shouldn't be that much of a problem.
(It actively annoys because inaccurate depictions of violence contribute to wonky understandings of consequence and really shooting should lead to dead people. Or inconveniently undead people. If they're just doing a lot of shooting and nobody gets hurt it's a big lie.)
Also, I'm not finding the big helicopter chase sequence adds to my appreciation of the show.
So far it's been more about 'look at our budget!' than 'look at our story!'
Undead dudes in that fire should be screaming.
If there was ever a setup to let you see the horrific consequences of violence this should be it.
But no, they got to play with the big booms, they have a little grin now.
You know when Jack had been blown up and he came back before he was healed and screamed and we all felt sick?
THIS IS WORSE!
Why is there no feeling sick?
Also, I hope at some point it will make sense to try and kill people that way, with the very slow hovering and the ridiculously stupid use of kaboom. Because sending people up to the door worked pretty well, and this did not. Stupidity needs an excuse.
Aaaaand so does that ending.
CIA and America and Britain does not work that way.
Andy, as we saw, under extreme pressure, does not work that way. Orders from above? Just like last time, then. He fought back.
This series keeps throwing 456 around whenever it wants to paper over a doesn't work that way. This world is different because of the 456, but only in that the security measures got insane.
One lone drug chugging CIA agent cannot do that.
It's not just a suspension of disbelief issue. I'm used to physics working on the 'we say so' principle. But once law, politics, and people's personalities start doing the same, what is there left to follow?
So, funnily enough, I was right the first time: I do not like RTD's writing, I do not like his idea of plots, I do not like this new 'Torchwood' with all the Torchwood-y bits taken out.
... now I have watched the first episode I will almost certainly watch more, because I'm stupid like that.
... the BBC will consider this Job Done. Drat, there's a reason to illegally download it if ever I heard one...
and I think I've figured out why everyone looks different. The lighting is different, the colors are different, I don't know why, but it's making everyone look weirdly photoshopped. And it's bugging me.
The law does not work like that. Which has been covered extensively by better informed people, but seriously, the quotes does not work like that, and the law really doesn't. It's annoying, because now they'll build plot on that basis. Get a better base, pls.
The BBC made me tick a box to be sure I was old enough to watch this for disturbing content. Someone had great fun with making exploded looking people. Yaays? Well, not much, I mean, it's gross, but we only care in a fairly generic way. Unless we're supposed to be yaay he's exploded. I'm not. It clearly sucks to be him. But we don't know why he did it. Are we meant to wonder?
Okay, so, it takes them half an hour to decide this is a Torchwood case? Isn't that generally the Teaser?
This whole thing feels like a re-run. Woman investigates Harkness! er, we did that?
I know Retcon is supposed to make you think up something plausible to go in the gaps, but seriously, a CIA agent wakes up trashed and covered in bruises and all she does is just go to work?
Also, the high heels are making me plain not believe in this character. I don't know. If she can't run six feet without tottering, which we saw, and she can't run up stairs on her own, which we saw, how are we supposed to consider her a competent person? But oh, wait, she's a woman, that's probably not the point.
*sigh*
So far we know Rex is an arsehole who wants to be promoted. And isn't dead. And...
No, we know more about his doctor (Juarez, network of friend doctors around the world, caring and competent, can we keep her?)
Esther does staring at papers. It takes many seconds and doesn't tell us much. Except she knows which end of a paper is what, and apparently nobody else at the CIA does, at least not well enough to find the entire box full of files she found. Competent I believe, only competent, not so much.
So far this seems entirely meant for people who never watched Torchwood. They're making the 456 thing into a mystery. They're making Torchwood into a mystery. I so bored.
Gwen with guns: yaays.
Rhys trying to tell her to stop helping other people and stay at home looking after the baby: are we meant to want to slap him already?
It's annoying though, because he was quite supportive before. She saves the world, he does the trucking. It all worked. Now there's a baby and he's telling her off. Blah.
Jack! Yeah, I guess I'm happy to see him again. But he's being all mysterious stranger guy. Like he's new.
The bruises... he only heals fatal injuries, why are cuts and bruises bugging him? Well because by the time you realise you're no longer immortal you're screwed. Which was always the point. If you don't know why it happens you don't know when it will stop happening.
If he's a fixed point in the universe and the TARDIS made him immortal then what is powerful enough to mess with that?
Well, other than the writer's whims.
There's no plot of the week, is there? It's just going to be an episode full of introducing people and nothing much getting solved. Well that's a bit boring.
Gwen joined the Torchwood Institute in October 2006.
Slight problem, and it's the same one as usual with Torchwood dates - while the TV series started in that year, the DW 'verse was a year ahead, starting with Rose's first return home.
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/2006
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/2007
Change Doctors, change companions, and it goes back in line.
It might be geeky, but, it's ours to geek about.
... Rex is kind of shouty and rubbish. We should try going around shouting CIA at people. Do you think it would work?
Esther has the knowing of things though.
Did I read once, somewhere, back when Torchwood was new, that Owen Harper was originally going to be a character called Rex but got renamed when BG was cast? It's sitting in my head but lacks citations. It's bugging me.
Also bugging me is the way the rest of the world doesn't seem to have a Torchwood equivalent. I can see why these two people are focused on Torchwood, they set that up. But where's everyone else's?
Gwen, gun in one hand, baby in the other... yes, ear protectors are totally what she needs right then
FFS Gwen put the baby down first!
... no, seriously, this is bothering me: WHY is Gwen the one holding the baby? Rhys is standing right there, or sitting right next to her, and he's the noncombatant. She can shoot with both hands! Which is more useful right now, the fat bloke having his hands free and empty, or Gwen with freedom to act? Why is she holding the kid? I'm trying to read this in a way that doesn't involve gender assumptions of fail and coming up with big nothings.
Jack gets a good grand entrance there. Nice colors with the light and all.
... it's cute funny that he's sat next to Rex on the plane. Jack has competence! Who knew!
Oh now she gives Rhys the kid, when Jack and Rhys tell her to.
Stormtrooper shooting pisses me off. They really should be pretty dead by now. Helicopter vs little car shouldn't be that much of a problem.
(It actively annoys because inaccurate depictions of violence contribute to wonky understandings of consequence and really shooting should lead to dead people. Or inconveniently undead people. If they're just doing a lot of shooting and nobody gets hurt it's a big lie.)
Also, I'm not finding the big helicopter chase sequence adds to my appreciation of the show.
So far it's been more about 'look at our budget!' than 'look at our story!'
Undead dudes in that fire should be screaming.
If there was ever a setup to let you see the horrific consequences of violence this should be it.
But no, they got to play with the big booms, they have a little grin now.
You know when Jack had been blown up and he came back before he was healed and screamed and we all felt sick?
THIS IS WORSE!
Why is there no feeling sick?
Also, I hope at some point it will make sense to try and kill people that way, with the very slow hovering and the ridiculously stupid use of kaboom. Because sending people up to the door worked pretty well, and this did not. Stupidity needs an excuse.
Aaaaand so does that ending.
CIA and America and Britain does not work that way.
Andy, as we saw, under extreme pressure, does not work that way. Orders from above? Just like last time, then. He fought back.
This series keeps throwing 456 around whenever it wants to paper over a doesn't work that way. This world is different because of the 456, but only in that the security measures got insane.
One lone drug chugging CIA agent cannot do that.
It's not just a suspension of disbelief issue. I'm used to physics working on the 'we say so' principle. But once law, politics, and people's personalities start doing the same, what is there left to follow?
So, funnily enough, I was right the first time: I do not like RTD's writing, I do not like his idea of plots, I do not like this new 'Torchwood' with all the Torchwood-y bits taken out.
... now I have watched the first episode I will almost certainly watch more, because I'm stupid like that.
... the BBC will consider this Job Done. Drat, there's a reason to illegally download it if ever I heard one...
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no subject
Date: 2011-08-06 07:21 pm (UTC)Now, I get the Dueling Shows phenomena, but the shows themselves (the other one's Alphas) aren't really, just these two characters. Are they both drawing off of a stereotype that I'm unaware of? A racial stereotype, or it's just coincidence that they're both black? (Yeah, right.) It's weirding me out a bit.
~
no subject
Date: 2011-08-07 05:35 am (UTC)Scary Black Man, sub category Scary Black Boss
Dead Bro Walking, sub category scream before the credits (Black Dude Dies First).
... I think we know which Rex most definitely is. He screams and dies as his character introduction.
When they made Jack have the superpower of dying a lot I thought it was hilarious, because I thought the writers were on the joke. Like they knew the queer guy dies a lot, so here they keep doing that, and yet it doesn't stop him. I was very amused.
... after CoE I don't quite think it's hilarious any more, and neither do I think it's conscious.
So here they have an actual dead bro. And it has the potential for hilarity for the same reasons - he's the guy that always gets killed, but hai, u no can has. Except I'm pretty sure they're going to work towards restoring death, and it's possible he's even phrased it in the form should be dead, and do we now have a deadbro that is arguing for his own death? Cause that could be a problem.
... aaaaand then I fell into TV Tropes for a while
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RaceTropes
There's nothing quite like it for making one completely insecure about whatever one is writing.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-08 01:33 am (UTC)But yeah, looked through the race tropes and couldn't find anything solidly on target. So I'm not sure if I'm being over-sensitive or if there really is something wrong with two black guys on two drastically different shows playing barely differentiated versions of the same character. If they were white I'd just shrug it off, but that's because there are so many white guys on TV, there's bound to be some overlap. It's the low number of black-guy roles that makes the lack diversity in the characterization disturbing.
~
no subject
Date: 2011-08-06 02:21 pm (UTC)Me neither, and I'm four episodes in and feeling like it's a duty, not a pleasure. On the other hand, we're getting that channel for free right now, so I might as well hang in and hope it gets better. Fat chance of that, I'm afraid.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-06 03:22 pm (UTC)but free is nice.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-06 07:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-07 05:02 am (UTC)also, fourth season pilot is... weird. but it is a new show.