Torchwood: Miracle Day - The Middle Men

Again, another week of mostly padding.

I know I keep missing out every other week with these Torchwood reviews but mainly it's because half of each episode feels unnecessary. I get the feeling this all would've made a marvellous 5-part mini-series whereas instead we get something that's... okay, I guess.

for instance, this week we found out that, yes, they do cremate the Category 1s - which we already knew about the week before. Meanwhile Mr. "Bad-mitten" and his rather short, puny-looking marine sidekick tried to cover things up whilst getting more and more depressed/mental.

Oh and Gwen's family got kidnapped (off screen, I might add). That was after Gwen somehow found some explosives just lying around (as you do!) and blew up the facility containing all the Welsh Category 1s. Which, I guess, saves PhiCorp from transporting them to the incinerators!

I suppose the team did put their recordings of everything that happened on the 'net so now everyone knows what's happening to the Cat 1s. This doesn't seem to be PhiCorp's fault though - it's the government that decided this.

Meanwhile, what's happened to poor old omni-sexual (not gay!) Captain Jack? I know he's now mortal and therefore vulnerable but you'd think he'd do a bit more than just sit behind a keyboard or slap waiters' bottoms.

Another things that bugs me is how 'death' is inconsistently portrayed. We've seen one guy burnt and blown to bits, his head cut off, with no lungs and yet he was still conscious. We've seen a woman's neck snapped and turned 180 degrees but she's still able to walk. And yet lately we've had people strangled and then fall unconscious, or shot and then left for dead, or have a heart attack and be considered "brain dead".

Anyway, next week's episode looks a little more interesting as we see a bit more of Jack's past. And Gwen decides to use Jack to get her family back.

Me, I'm just waiting to find out who's behind all this and what they've got against Jack.

Torchwood: Miracle Day - Rendition

This second episode wasn't quite as explosively entertaining as the first episode but was reasonable enough, I guess. Most of the action took place on board a plane with Gwen and Jack taken prisoner by the CIA. I guess it served as a way to show the viewers and Rex that there are some shady people in his organisation who are out to kill, rather than question, Torchwood. Otherwise though, it felt a little like padding. At times I couldn't tell whether the artificially-frantic treatment of Jack's poisoning was supposed to be amusing or serious or both. It just seemed a little silly.

Again, I felt that the acting from a number of the actors was, well, okay I suppose. I like Rex and Jack is always fun to watch. But even Gwen seemed a little off this time. Esther still doesn't convince though.

I guess this episode was setting a few things into motion - Rex's and Esther's split from the corrupt CIA, Oswald's rise to fame (and eventual cult status), Jack's mortality, the introduction of PhiCorp - whilst continuing to ask how the world would cope.

And who is Jilly Kitzinger? She appears to be touting herself differently to different people - first as a PR guru to Oswald then as an employee of PhiCorp. Red seems to be her colour - she's not supposed to be some sort of devil figure, is she?

So, not a bad episode and I'll continue to watch Torchwood until the end, but nothing incredibly exciting either. And although the mini-series format seems to suit Torchwood, I do sometimes mourn the loss of standalone episodes.

Torchwood: Miracle Day - Episode #1

Well, you can tell it's now American.

The first half of this new episode of Torchwood seemed a bit like a tacky, CSI-like thriller. The pace and cutting was faster than before and there were a fair number of explosions. And, again, annoying zoom shoots of the mouths of multiple newsreaders were used near the beginning to highlight the shock of 'Miracle Day'. So thank goodness for the earmuff-wearing baby as Gwen shot at a helicopter outside her window after being reintroduced to Captain Jack!

It was at the point about half way through when Rex, the injured CIA agent, travelled across to Wales when things picked up for me. In fact, if it wasn't for Rex's tough, gruff, get-stuck-in attitude together with his dry wit then all of the American newcomers would've been somewhat bland and forgettable.

By the end of the episode though, I found I was quite enjoying the show. I have no idea how they'll run with the same mystery for another 9 episodes (mind you, other US shows have extended single mysteries over longer seasons in the past) but I reckon it'll be pretty entertaining. And I'll be interested in discovering why Jack is now vulnerable whilst everyone else is unkillable, why he came back to Earth after leaving at the end of the last series, who sent the Torchwood email that seemed to start this thing off and why some group is sending helicopters and suicide bombers to kill Jack and Gwen. Plus, it looks like we'll get to see more of Bill Pullman's creepy character Oswald the child killer.

Let's hope they stop using the "456" designation for almost everything though.

When is Miracle Day?

Very quickly, it looks like we have a confirmed date when the BBC is going to show Torchwood: Miracle Day. The first episode will be on Thursday 14th July (3 days after my birthday). Hoorah!

Also, the Daily Blam has an 11 minute behind-the-scenes featurette.

That is all.

Torchwood: Children Of Earth

They are coming...

Later this year Torchwood (the Doctor Who spin-off) returns for season 3, which has the overall title of "Children of Earth". Apparently it's about a government who struck a deal in the 1960s with an alien race and the consequences that come from that action - something that will affect all the children on Earth. And, of course, the Torchwood team - Captain Jack, Gwen and Ianto - are called in to save mankind whilst still coming to terms with the death of two of their comrades.

The bad news is that this season is only 5 episodes long. The good news is that it's on BBC1 and that the Beeb has just released a trailer for it. Hoorah!

The fabulous trailer can be found at the BBC Torchwood site.

It looks pretty amazing (although trailers often do). It's strange how kids can be spooky, eh? Anyway, I can't wait for Torchwood (and the next Doctor Who special) to come back on our screens!