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Torchwood thoughts
I'm at skip=200 going back to see others posts, but before that here's my thoughts.
The first thing I thought after the show had finished was about "The Cold Equations". I read somewhere else that the reason this story had such a major impact is that in the 1950s science fiction was mostly full of happy endings, and this story subverted that trope of "It's hopeles... Unless".
Putting a character into a situation where he has to chose between the lesser of two evils makes good drama. Picking the evils such that the audience will disagree as to which was the lesser makes great drama.
I got "spoiled" on Twitter on Thursday, and really do think it spoiled the episode for me. One of the things I loved about this series is I really had no idea where it was going. It was a tight story (as opposed to meandering), that didn't follow such a well trodden path that you knew where it was going. There's merit in such stories, but I do like the uncertainty. But at the same time it all flowed, and didn't feel like an episode of Lost where they hit you with a shock twist every 15 minutes exactly. It felt like anything could happen, up to the 10% being killed off, so there was tension. Except for the last 10 minutes of episode 4, as I knew exactly where the lead up was headed.
Also it completely slipped my mind that I's heard RTD being interviewed and saying that he was moving to America, and somehow though that he was planning stay. Which meant I wasn't going into this thinking it could be a potential finally. So blowing up their base, and did come as a bit shock.
Although I had rationalised that as "Peter Petreli" syndrome. They had too many toys in their base, so in order to make it a struggle they had to be stripped of their powers.
In conclusion, I enjoyed this series. A fine tragedy, without (too much) melodrama.
Plus, you know, I'm a sucker for a mad scientist in a lab coat who grins inanely a tells the hero he has to kill an innocent.
The first thing I thought after the show had finished was about "The Cold Equations". I read somewhere else that the reason this story had such a major impact is that in the 1950s science fiction was mostly full of happy endings, and this story subverted that trope of "It's hopeles... Unless".
By echoing the conventions of the puzzle story, but focusing on the fates of characters trapped by the puzzle instead of the machinations of solving the puzzle, the story showed critics that science fiction would not always be about "lesser" subjects than other literature.from Wikipedia.
Putting a character into a situation where he has to chose between the lesser of two evils makes good drama. Picking the evils such that the audience will disagree as to which was the lesser makes great drama.
I got "spoiled" on Twitter on Thursday, and really do think it spoiled the episode for me. One of the things I loved about this series is I really had no idea where it was going. It was a tight story (as opposed to meandering), that didn't follow such a well trodden path that you knew where it was going. There's merit in such stories, but I do like the uncertainty. But at the same time it all flowed, and didn't feel like an episode of Lost where they hit you with a shock twist every 15 minutes exactly. It felt like anything could happen, up to the 10% being killed off, so there was tension. Except for the last 10 minutes of episode 4, as I knew exactly where the lead up was headed.
Also it completely slipped my mind that I's heard RTD being interviewed and saying that he was moving to America, and somehow though that he was planning stay. Which meant I wasn't going into this thinking it could be a potential finally. So blowing up their base, and did come as a bit shock.
Although I had rationalised that as "Peter Petreli" syndrome. They had too many toys in their base, so in order to make it a struggle they had to be stripped of their powers.
In conclusion, I enjoyed this series. A fine tragedy, without (too much) melodrama.
Plus, you know, I'm a sucker for a mad scientist in a lab coat who grins inanely a tells the hero he has to kill an innocent.