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Jul. 22nd, 2009 11:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynneSo today I had something that has become very rare: a five-hour stretch of free time. So I thought, hey, I'll finally get around to watching Torchwood: Children of Earth! I'd been waiting to watch it until I could watch it all together, and I'm glad now, because wow I would have hated having to wait as they aired. XD
But I just finished Day Four.
OH MY GOD THEY KILLED IANTO?
THEY SERIOUSLY KILLED IANTO?
But...it's so soon after Tosh and Owen!
I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY KILLED IANTO.
Do I even want to watch Day Five now? *sigh* Jesus fucking Christ. RTD wants to be Joss Whedon when he grows up, doesn't he?
I mean, CoE has been good, tight storytelling, which is nice to see on Torchwood. And I know, good drama blah blah. I am SO FUCKING TIRED of all the death on shows I care about? (Or, you know, being separated forever.)
I get wanting realism. I get being glad about making people care about the characters so much that killing them off matters. I get being "brave" enough to kill off beloved characters -- though seriously, I think it's happening often enough that it's not brave anymore, it's just following the trend.
Yeah, Torchwood is a more adult show. All John Barrowman's nude scenes made that clear enough. Adults can better handle all that violence and death and destruction so it needs to be there, of course. *slightly sarcastic*
But Jesus fucking Christ, where's the damn hope anymore? I spent all this time completely unspoiled for CoE, but once I watched Day Four I had to give in and read what's going to happen in Day Five. I mean, it could have been worse -- Jack could have been left totally alone and determined to never make friends again while getting creepy prophecies, for instance -- but come on.
Hope. What happened to a bit of hope in dramatic TV? And I don't just mean "hope that the human race will survive and possibly prosper", either. I mean the kind of hopes that ordinary people have. That relationships can work out (without one of the pair dying or being locked in an alternate universe, or whatever other excuse). That there's an end to loneliness. That people can find a happiness that isn't ephemeral.
Then there are the not-so-ordinary hopes, because people dream of heroes. But why do heroes get no hope? Their relationships never work out, the people around them die, they always end up alone, and happiness never lasts. Saving lives is its own kind of reward, of course, but can hereos never have any hope for themselves? Good on them for being selfless and sacrificing, but someday they'll just implode if they're always giving and never getting anything from Powers That Be that are always testing them and testing them and testing them.
I know that Torchwood is meant to be the underside of Doctor Who, that it's supposed to be about the dark side of the human heart. That people need to tell stories about failure and death as well as success and life. I know that heroes don't always choose to be heroes and they can't walk away even if their lives suck, and their stories need to be told too.
It just feels so much like that's most of what's out there now. I imagine it's a literary trend of the times, like Romanticism and Realism, but it's just...one that really depresses me, and makes me tired. I'm tired enough already. I suppose it's my own fault, though. I knew what kind of show Torchwood was when I started watching it, so I shouldn't be angry that it came as advertised. Well, it's not that I'm angry. I'm just so tired.
Though I think I'd feel better about Torchwood if it hadn't been for Journey's End. If Torchwood is the darker side of Doctor Who, then what does it mean when the hero of Doctor Who can't get a break either? Of course I'm going to have to wait until the end of the specials to find out the conclusion of Ten's storyline, but right now I'm just sort of wondering what kind of story these shows are telling.
But I just finished Day Four.
OH MY GOD THEY KILLED IANTO?
THEY SERIOUSLY KILLED IANTO?
But...it's so soon after Tosh and Owen!
I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY KILLED IANTO.
Do I even want to watch Day Five now? *sigh* Jesus fucking Christ. RTD wants to be Joss Whedon when he grows up, doesn't he?
I mean, CoE has been good, tight storytelling, which is nice to see on Torchwood. And I know, good drama blah blah. I am SO FUCKING TIRED of all the death on shows I care about? (Or, you know, being separated forever.)
I get wanting realism. I get being glad about making people care about the characters so much that killing them off matters. I get being "brave" enough to kill off beloved characters -- though seriously, I think it's happening often enough that it's not brave anymore, it's just following the trend.
Yeah, Torchwood is a more adult show. All John Barrowman's nude scenes made that clear enough. Adults can better handle all that violence and death and destruction so it needs to be there, of course. *slightly sarcastic*
But Jesus fucking Christ, where's the damn hope anymore? I spent all this time completely unspoiled for CoE, but once I watched Day Four I had to give in and read what's going to happen in Day Five. I mean, it could have been worse -- Jack could have been left totally alone and determined to never make friends again while getting creepy prophecies, for instance -- but come on.
Hope. What happened to a bit of hope in dramatic TV? And I don't just mean "hope that the human race will survive and possibly prosper", either. I mean the kind of hopes that ordinary people have. That relationships can work out (without one of the pair dying or being locked in an alternate universe, or whatever other excuse). That there's an end to loneliness. That people can find a happiness that isn't ephemeral.
Then there are the not-so-ordinary hopes, because people dream of heroes. But why do heroes get no hope? Their relationships never work out, the people around them die, they always end up alone, and happiness never lasts. Saving lives is its own kind of reward, of course, but can hereos never have any hope for themselves? Good on them for being selfless and sacrificing, but someday they'll just implode if they're always giving and never getting anything from Powers That Be that are always testing them and testing them and testing them.
I know that Torchwood is meant to be the underside of Doctor Who, that it's supposed to be about the dark side of the human heart. That people need to tell stories about failure and death as well as success and life. I know that heroes don't always choose to be heroes and they can't walk away even if their lives suck, and their stories need to be told too.
It just feels so much like that's most of what's out there now. I imagine it's a literary trend of the times, like Romanticism and Realism, but it's just...one that really depresses me, and makes me tired. I'm tired enough already. I suppose it's my own fault, though. I knew what kind of show Torchwood was when I started watching it, so I shouldn't be angry that it came as advertised. Well, it's not that I'm angry. I'm just so tired.
Though I think I'd feel better about Torchwood if it hadn't been for Journey's End. If Torchwood is the darker side of Doctor Who, then what does it mean when the hero of Doctor Who can't get a break either? Of course I'm going to have to wait until the end of the specials to find out the conclusion of Ten's storyline, but right now I'm just sort of wondering what kind of story these shows are telling.
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“call no man happy till he is dead”
Date: 2009-07-23 02:43 pm (UTC)Do you remember when you said that Nine was your favorite Doctor because of his character arc? That “while I lovelovelove Ten, I think the main reason he’s not my favorite Doctor is because I don’t know exactly where he’s going”? (And I tried to argue that they were the same character, and they had the same arc? That seems hysterical in hindsight.) I think you were right. We haven’t seen the way Ten’s story ends yet (and I’m not planning to), but I’m not expecting another “Parting of the Ways.” I don’t think RTD is telling that story anymore.
(As for the story he is telling, all I can do is quote C.S. Lewis: “Only the skilled can judge the skillfulness, but that is not the same as judging the value of the result.”)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-23 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-26 04:13 am (UTC)