Torchwood of its mandate (to protect the subjects of the British Empire from aliens)
The Torchwood motto is "If it's alien, it's ours." They make no distinction between bad alien and good alien - as demonstrated via the single alien presented as most heroic good in the 'verse, the Doctor. They shoot down aliens for violating Earth's airspace and then strip the ships.
That isn't about 'protect', that's about 'loot'.
If there was an organisation dedicated to "protect the subjects of the British Empire from muslims" then that's clearly wrong. Protect from a group, not the actions thereof. It don't get less wrong if the word is 'aliens'.
They're xenophobic bastards, the worst traditions, with a splash of imperial can-do on the side that thinks they can get away with it despite repeated stompings. They're pure trouble.
And they answer to a Queen that may very well be a werewolf, making the whole enterprise utterly hypocritical.
"remind Torchwood of its mandate" is not a useful mission, because the mission was screwed up from the start.
"rewrite Torchwood's mandate so it's more like police work" *is* useful, and is what Jack seems to be doing.
Gwen, otoh, keeps saying 'human' as if it were the source of all value, which makes her an unlikely source for change. She treats aliens as "you lot" at the start of the series, reckons they all come here to enslave and invade, and we don't see her change her mind about that.
It's like she's the everyday prejudice of the average person, unthinking, leaving room for the other (pointy, painful) sort to exist.
YMMV ... and obviously does because you're reading it as a hero story.
If it was UNIT it would be - but UNIT has several important differences, like chain of command, political oversight, and listening to advice. Still had flaws, the Doctor was never best pleased at how eager they were to shoot stuff, but it had more balance. Torchwood? Tells off the Prime Minister. There is no balance there. And which lot nearly destroy the world the most?
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branchandroot
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Date: 2007-02-17 07:23 am (UTC)The Torchwood motto is "If it's alien, it's ours."
They make no distinction between bad alien and good alien - as demonstrated via the single alien presented as most heroic good in the 'verse, the Doctor.
They shoot down aliens for violating Earth's airspace and then strip the ships.
That isn't about 'protect', that's about 'loot'.
If there was an organisation dedicated to "protect the subjects of the British Empire from muslims" then that's clearly wrong. Protect from a group, not the actions thereof.
It don't get less wrong if the word is 'aliens'.
They're xenophobic bastards, the worst traditions, with a splash of imperial can-do on the side that thinks they can get away with it despite repeated stompings. They're pure trouble.
And they answer to a Queen that may very well be a werewolf, making the whole enterprise utterly hypocritical.
"remind Torchwood of its mandate" is not a useful mission, because the mission was screwed up from the start.
"rewrite Torchwood's mandate so it's more like police work" *is* useful, and is what Jack seems to be doing.
Gwen, otoh, keeps saying 'human' as if it were the source of all value, which makes her an unlikely source for change. She treats aliens as "you lot" at the start of the series, reckons they all come here to enslave and invade, and we don't see her change her mind about that.
It's like she's the everyday prejudice of the average person, unthinking, leaving room for the other (pointy, painful) sort to exist.
YMMV
... and obviously does
because you're reading it as a hero story.
If it was UNIT it would be - but UNIT has several important differences, like chain of command, political oversight, and listening to advice. Still had flaws, the Doctor was never best pleased at how eager they were to shoot stuff, but it had more balance.
Torchwood? Tells off the Prime Minister. There is no balance there.
And which lot nearly destroy the world the most?