Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Million Dollar TTRPG Crowdfunders
Most Anticipated Tabletop RPGs Of The Year
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Geek Talk & Media
Torchwood episode 4
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Cthulhudrew" data-source="post: 3161334" data-attributes="member: 4090"><p>I thought this was the weakest of the four episodes thus far. I think there were some kernels of a good story in there- actually, there were kernels of several good stories in there, but they seemed all mishmashed together, and nothing really substantive came of it.</p><p></p><p>For example, a Ianto-centric episode was a good idea, as we've seen/learned nothing of him so far. Unfortunately, when the episode centers around him being a complete git who puts everyone in danger, and whose actions lead to the deaths of two innocents, and then we have an extended scene featuring his anguish where- presumably- we're supposed to be moved by the pain he is going through... needless to say, it didn't work for me. If we'd learned more about him in previous episodes, if we'd had some groundwork for us to say- hey, this guy is a standup and interesting fellow, rather than having it thrown at us all of a sudden that he's a man tormented by love and his actions are a result of that torment, it might have sat better with me. Give me some buildup, is what I'm saying. Now I really don't give any sort of fig about Ianto at all.</p><p></p><p>(Plus, that whole scene where Ianto is talking about "oh, you've never bothered to ask about me before, you don't care." Wah, and wah. Not feeling it, dude.)</p><p></p><p>The love story in and of itself might have been an interesting exploration- but there wasn't enough done with it. We get some glimpses of Lisa's humanity early on, then *blammo* she's suddenly and incomprehensibly full-on Cyberwoman. Just as suddenly, she decides she needs to sacrifice her cyberness for Ianto's love. It just didn't play out evenly.</p><p></p><p>Far too much time was spent with some other story elements that seemed tacked on as well. The snogging in the morgue drawer, as horacethegrey mentions, seemed random and unnecessary to me. Much like the overtly (and needlessly) sexual gun shooting scene from last week, it was just over the top. I don't mind the snogging and adult themes, but I just think they go about them in a tacky way. No sense of subtlety, no sense of trying to really fit them into the plot. It's like the director just shouts out- "okay, um, how about you shove your tongue down her throat?" and the actors don't ask "what's my motivation?" <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p>Similarly, Jack trying to revive Ianto- that didn't look much like mouth-to-mouth resuscitation the way I learned it. Kind of pointless. If you want to have same sex snogging, do it, don't concoct some silly scenario for it, just have it actually occur as a result of character development and plot.</p><p></p><p>I also got tired of hearing Toshiko constantly saying how she couldn't leave everyone behind; okay, we got it the first time. Not to mention Jack's constant reiterations of how he's in charge and everyone needs to listen to him. If they aren't listening, then you're not getting through, and maybe you need to hire a better staff. </p><p></p><p>Jack's darkness is getting old. This isn't the character I begrudgingly came to enjoy on Doctor Who, and whose return I so eagerly anticipated. Plus, the darkness almost seems more like something we're being told about, and not seeing. "You're the monster!" Really? What's he done so far that's so monstrous, besides yell at his panic stricken, unprofessional team? Oh, yeah- he isn't willing to help the lying, whining sack with his murderous, rampaging girlfriend. That's evil, man. Give love a chance, Jack! </p><p></p><p>Plus, a cyberwoman can't take out a single pterodactyl? Wow. The Mondans wouldn't have had any problems. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p>I've enjoyed Torchwood so far- it hasn't knocked my socks off, but it's fun. This episode really just tanked for me.</p><p></p><p>On the plus side, it looks like next week we'll finally start getting some answers about Jack.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cthulhudrew, post: 3161334, member: 4090"] I thought this was the weakest of the four episodes thus far. I think there were some kernels of a good story in there- actually, there were kernels of several good stories in there, but they seemed all mishmashed together, and nothing really substantive came of it. For example, a Ianto-centric episode was a good idea, as we've seen/learned nothing of him so far. Unfortunately, when the episode centers around him being a complete git who puts everyone in danger, and whose actions lead to the deaths of two innocents, and then we have an extended scene featuring his anguish where- presumably- we're supposed to be moved by the pain he is going through... needless to say, it didn't work for me. If we'd learned more about him in previous episodes, if we'd had some groundwork for us to say- hey, this guy is a standup and interesting fellow, rather than having it thrown at us all of a sudden that he's a man tormented by love and his actions are a result of that torment, it might have sat better with me. Give me some buildup, is what I'm saying. Now I really don't give any sort of fig about Ianto at all. (Plus, that whole scene where Ianto is talking about "oh, you've never bothered to ask about me before, you don't care." Wah, and wah. Not feeling it, dude.) The love story in and of itself might have been an interesting exploration- but there wasn't enough done with it. We get some glimpses of Lisa's humanity early on, then *blammo* she's suddenly and incomprehensibly full-on Cyberwoman. Just as suddenly, she decides she needs to sacrifice her cyberness for Ianto's love. It just didn't play out evenly. Far too much time was spent with some other story elements that seemed tacked on as well. The snogging in the morgue drawer, as horacethegrey mentions, seemed random and unnecessary to me. Much like the overtly (and needlessly) sexual gun shooting scene from last week, it was just over the top. I don't mind the snogging and adult themes, but I just think they go about them in a tacky way. No sense of subtlety, no sense of trying to really fit them into the plot. It's like the director just shouts out- "okay, um, how about you shove your tongue down her throat?" and the actors don't ask "what's my motivation?" ;) Similarly, Jack trying to revive Ianto- that didn't look much like mouth-to-mouth resuscitation the way I learned it. Kind of pointless. If you want to have same sex snogging, do it, don't concoct some silly scenario for it, just have it actually occur as a result of character development and plot. I also got tired of hearing Toshiko constantly saying how she couldn't leave everyone behind; okay, we got it the first time. Not to mention Jack's constant reiterations of how he's in charge and everyone needs to listen to him. If they aren't listening, then you're not getting through, and maybe you need to hire a better staff. Jack's darkness is getting old. This isn't the character I begrudgingly came to enjoy on Doctor Who, and whose return I so eagerly anticipated. Plus, the darkness almost seems more like something we're being told about, and not seeing. "You're the monster!" Really? What's he done so far that's so monstrous, besides yell at his panic stricken, unprofessional team? Oh, yeah- he isn't willing to help the lying, whining sack with his murderous, rampaging girlfriend. That's evil, man. Give love a chance, Jack! Plus, a cyberwoman can't take out a single pterodactyl? Wow. The Mondans wouldn't have had any problems. ;) I've enjoyed Torchwood so far- it hasn't knocked my socks off, but it's fun. This episode really just tanked for me. On the plus side, it looks like next week we'll finally start getting some answers about Jack. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Geek Talk & Media
Torchwood episode 4
Top