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I've just read something that made me remember my Thursday evening, which was a Total Wash. And now I want to share because, HAY, THAT'S WHAT THE INTERNETS ARE FOR, RITE???
So yeah.
Last week, BBC America aired the 5-night third series of Torchwood, my Queer British Science Fiction Programme. (They call it "event television," this business of writing a big five-hour story and showing it all in one week, rather than writing 13 one-hour stories and spreading them out over a season. We call it a miniseries. Heh.) Anyway, it aired in the UK at the beginning of the month and I tried not to read spoilers but I eventually couldn't help myself because why deny oneself information when you have the internet and it's all right there, you know? So I knew what was coming, but on Thursday night ("Children of Earth: Day Four") when they killed My Favourite Character, I was still really broken up. Good storytelling, it gets to you anyway, yeah? But Flatmate's band was having an Important Show in Hollywood, and they had a really early set, so as soon as it was over, I got underway... slightly later than I should have, probably, but they always tell people their sets are earlier than they actually are, so the "latecomers" arrive right on time. Except. I was avoiding the freeway because, you know, weekday evening, Los Angeles traffic, so Google told me to take National and I. Got. Lost. Honestly, National does some really confusing shit by my apartment and I ended up getting kicked really far out of my way to get to a street from whence I could find my way back to Google's directions. And at that point, I'm feeling down because of the telly already and I don't really want to go out on the town, especially by myself and sober (since if you go alone you're always the D.D.), but I carry on because I do like Flatmate's band a lot and I want them to have people in the audience for their Important Show. But, this city being what it is, by the time I actually got to the venue, their set was practically over, and there was nowhere to park that wasn't going to cost me $20. So I gave up, started to make my way back home. I took a more meandering route, to avoid traffic (and to refuel at the ARCO STATION OF THE FUTURE -- it's at Robertson and Olympic and it's the coolest gas station EVAR but the in the street view on Google maps it isn't even BUILT yet so I can't show it to you), and that's when I saw ads for "Torchwood: Children of Earth" on at least TWO billboards, and that made me even more sad. I cleaned passive-aggressively when I got home, read people's reaction posts on LJ, and actually sobbed myself to sleep. Not just because of Queer British Sci-Fi, but it was a large contributing factor, along with Los Angeles traffic and disappointment and being too much in my head.
Thursday was a low point.
And honestly, as much as "Children of Earth" is extremely high-quality television, nothing about it is quintessentially Torchwood and it could have been made without those characters and I wish it had, because it was too dark and too desperate, and the show I love is campy and full of plot holes and hope, and this miniseries left everything too broken. The ratings were exceptionally good, and I'm sure the Beeb will give them a fourth series, but I can't see how it can be anything recognisable as Torchwood, because CoE stripped away everything we cared about -- silliness, the wonder of the stars, the goodness in humanity, and especially the Big Gay Romance.
Sorry. I've been needing to get that out.
So yeah.
Last week, BBC America aired the 5-night third series of Torchwood, my Queer British Science Fiction Programme. (They call it "event television," this business of writing a big five-hour story and showing it all in one week, rather than writing 13 one-hour stories and spreading them out over a season. We call it a miniseries. Heh.) Anyway, it aired in the UK at the beginning of the month and I tried not to read spoilers but I eventually couldn't help myself because why deny oneself information when you have the internet and it's all right there, you know? So I knew what was coming, but on Thursday night ("Children of Earth: Day Four") when they killed My Favourite Character, I was still really broken up. Good storytelling, it gets to you anyway, yeah? But Flatmate's band was having an Important Show in Hollywood, and they had a really early set, so as soon as it was over, I got underway... slightly later than I should have, probably, but they always tell people their sets are earlier than they actually are, so the "latecomers" arrive right on time. Except. I was avoiding the freeway because, you know, weekday evening, Los Angeles traffic, so Google told me to take National and I. Got. Lost. Honestly, National does some really confusing shit by my apartment and I ended up getting kicked really far out of my way to get to a street from whence I could find my way back to Google's directions. And at that point, I'm feeling down because of the telly already and I don't really want to go out on the town, especially by myself and sober (since if you go alone you're always the D.D.), but I carry on because I do like Flatmate's band a lot and I want them to have people in the audience for their Important Show. But, this city being what it is, by the time I actually got to the venue, their set was practically over, and there was nowhere to park that wasn't going to cost me $20. So I gave up, started to make my way back home. I took a more meandering route, to avoid traffic (and to refuel at the ARCO STATION OF THE FUTURE -- it's at Robertson and Olympic and it's the coolest gas station EVAR but the in the street view on Google maps it isn't even BUILT yet so I can't show it to you), and that's when I saw ads for "Torchwood: Children of Earth" on at least TWO billboards, and that made me even more sad. I cleaned passive-aggressively when I got home, read people's reaction posts on LJ, and actually sobbed myself to sleep. Not just because of Queer British Sci-Fi, but it was a large contributing factor, along with Los Angeles traffic and disappointment and being too much in my head.
Thursday was a low point.
And honestly, as much as "Children of Earth" is extremely high-quality television, nothing about it is quintessentially Torchwood and it could have been made without those characters and I wish it had, because it was too dark and too desperate, and the show I love is campy and full of plot holes and hope, and this miniseries left everything too broken. The ratings were exceptionally good, and I'm sure the Beeb will give them a fourth series, but I can't see how it can be anything recognisable as Torchwood, because CoE stripped away everything we cared about -- silliness, the wonder of the stars, the goodness in humanity, and especially the Big Gay Romance.
Sorry. I've been needing to get that out.
