(no subject)

[catslash]

Yeah, so I didn't not post yesterday because of the boycott. It just sort of worked out that way. I forgot all about doing a drabble, though, because I was working on a real story (!). Why, no, it wasn't any of my WIPs, it was a brand new one. ADD is fun.

So anyway! Double Torchwood week. And I'm kinda ded from tired, so I'm gonna try and keep my thoughts short.

So that was . . . interesting. I had kind of a sinking feeling that doing an origins story so late in the run of the show was going to be a bad idea, and I was not entirely wrong. Happily, it wasn't an incoherent bad idea like "From Out of the Rain," nor was it bleak and vaguely annoying like "Adrift." Instead, it was just hilarious. Mostly.

My brief thoughts on each segment:

Jack: God, it's fun to watch John Barrowman just totally overact the living shit out of EVERYTHING. The story itself pretty much confirmed what everyone except me already thought (I never mentioned it to anyone, but I assumed based on Jack's comments to the Doctor in "The Sound of Drums" [I think] that Jack had joined up with Torchwood fairly recently. I lose!), and was otherwise unremarkable. I think. I don't know, I kept pausing the ep to write, so it took like three hours to watch it. I've already forgotten most of the details of the first third of the episode. (That's a ringing endorsement, isn't it?)

Tosh: Eek. There is no funny here. There is just very unsettling and creepy. But at least Jack was an enormous douchebag, which is new. Oh wait.

Ianto: The good news - Ianto's mastery of all things coffee is officially canon, which is amusing, and the episode contained what was possibly the most believeable Jack/Ianto moment in the show's entire run, which is too little too late but was quite enjoyable to watch because I do love me some UST.

The bad news - they somehow found a way to make Ianto's backstory MAKE EVEN LESS SENSE. I SERIOUSLY FUCKING GIVE UP. The Lisa thing was insanely ridiculous even when one could assume that Ianto was transferred to Torchwood Three/hired by Jack in fairly short order, like maybe within a couple of days, which is stupid but fuck it, so's the entire storyline. But now we are meant to believe that Ianto had to hike out to Cardiff, spend a few days hassling Jack, and hang out with Myfanwy (whose name, correct me if I'm wrong, STILL wasn't mentioned) for however long it takes for a pterodactyl and a human to bond, AND that Lisa was officially deceased (as Ianto told Jack), and so WHERE THE FUCK WAS HE KEEPING HER THAT WHOLE TIME?? I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY MANAGED TO MAKE THAT STORY EVEN WORSE. WELL PLAYED, TORCHWOOD.

AND WHILE I'M IN ALL CAPS, I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT IANTO IS YOUNGER THAN I AM. BY LIKE SIX MONTHS. THIS DOES NOT SIT WELL WITH ME. I HAVE ISSUES ABOUT THIS SORT OF THING.

Owen: Oh, Owen. Oh, Owen. I'm so sorry. I am so very sorry that I had to keep pausing during your segment to laugh hysterically because your fiancée, Mary Sue, had crazy-early onset Alzheimer's, then a tumor that just sort of randomly showed up, and then a squid on her brain. It truly is tragic that your backstory most resembled a terrible fanfic.

On the other hand, you got to punch the shit out of Jack, which was entirely fucking awesome and worth sitting through the rest of it. Yes, even your speech about making your life worthwhile by saving others, except the bastards keep wanting to be saved, and I think it would be best if we just kept the punching-Jack part and pretended the rest of it never happened. Oh, except for the working up a load of delicious UST with Jack part. That part was good. It can stay too.

In other news, John Hart is the worst mad bomber in the history of ever. Way not to kill ANY of them, even though they were all STANDING DIRECTLY OVER YOUR BOMBS AT THE TIME OF EXPLOSION. Dude, you suck.

Overall, I think I kind of loved this episode after it was over, but did not particularly enjoy it while it was playing. I mean, it took me three hours to watch the whole thing. I think that pretty much speaks for itself.



Well. Sort of short.

Comments

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

AND WHILE I'M IN ALL CAPS, I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT IANTO IS YOUNGER THAN I AM. BY LIKE SIX MONTHS. THIS DOES NOT SIT WELL WITH ME. I HAVE ISSUES ABOUT THIS SORT OF THING.


THAT WAS EXACTLY MY REACTION MY GOD. *BOGGLES* ... also I think that makes you roughly the same age as me, but still. THAT'S WRONG. PEOPLE IN COVERT ALIEN-HUNTING AGENCIES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE YOUNGER THAN ME.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

DUDE SRSLY. I have STILL not gotten over this. I was more or less okay with him being twenty-six, but twenty-four is NOT ON. I mean, TW and DW take place in the near future, so maybe he's not twenty-four at this moment in time, but THAT DOESN'T MAKE HIM NOT YOUNGER THAN ME.

I turned twenty-five at the end of January. I am having minor issues with this not because of OMG OLD, but because I am not really prepared for the idea that a decade is now a span of time which I should be able to clearly remember the other end of. (Whether I actually do is another story, since my longterm memory, like, doesn't exist, but anyway.) Characters like Ianto running around being all YOUNGER THAN ME does not help.

Also, your icon is excellent.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Gyah, I'm older than you, too. I hit this horrible mid-life crisis age at the end of October.

I am not really prepared for the idea that a decade is now a span of time which I should be able to clearly remember the other end of

YES GODDAMNIT. I say things like "when I was fifteen" and suddenly instead of being three years ago it's TEN FUCKING YEARS AGO. That shit isn't right!

Characters like Ianto running around being all YOUNGER THAN ME does not help.

It makes me feel dirty and wrong. I don't know why, as pretty much everyone I've ever *dated* ever has been younger than me, but ... DPOFJaodhsai FICTIONAL CHARACTER WARGH.

Merci. ;)

[catslash.livejournal.com]

Twenty-five is the age when you're definitely supposed to be an adult now, and yet I'm only in my second year of college. Oops?

You know what else isn't right? Looking up info on a show you loved as a teenager and discovered that it debuted WELL over ten years ago. Or hearing a song on the radio and going, "I remember they wouldn't stop playing that my first year in high school," and then doing the math before you can stop yourself.

And I have this sinking feeling that you don't ever get used to this phenomenon, because the numbers keep getting bigger. By the time ten years is acceptable, it's fifteen. You just never manage to catch up.

FICTIONAL CHARACTER WARGH.

I have this problem sometimes when an actress is playing substantially younger than she actually is. When that happens I just look up her real birthdate and it makes me feel better. Usually.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on putting off the hideousness of The Real World for a little longer. :-/ I graduated a few years ago and am now stuck in the world's most boring dead-end job, with too many months of unemployment behind me to consider quitting. YAY ARTS DEGREE.

Looking up info on a show you loved as a teenager and discovered that it debuted WELL over ten years ago.

YUH-HUH. Like QAFUK. The life-altering experience of watching that was about ten years ago now. TEN. YEARS. MY GOD.

You just never manage to catch up.

Oh don't. There was a thing on TV last night about how your brain starts to deteriorate once you hit twenty and ... how wonderful, I thought. I'm *already* past my best.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, I did the real world thing for a while first. Funny how two years at a convenience store selling gasoline and beer to assholes drives home the importance of higher education.

Like QAFUK. The life-altering experience of watching that was about ten years ago now. TEN. YEARS. MY GOD.

FUCK YOU IT WAS NOT. Well, I didn't see it till I was eighteen, so, uh, I CAN'T HEAR YOU.

Heh, I only saw it because a friend of mine mailed me copies of her tapes from across the country. Oh, back in the days where downloading one song took forty-five minutes. DLing QaF would have taken DAYS. And now I have it burned onto DVDs and I kind of want to pull it out and watch it. I never bothered with the US version. I'm a snob purist.

. . . and I saw Charlie Hunnam in Children of Men last year and went, "OMG Nathan!"

Huh. I thought the brain continued to develop until around twenty-five.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

... ow. That sounds like every kind of not fun. I failed to make it in the glorious world of retail. Fired after three days. ;)

I saw it when it first aired on TV. I had to FIGHT people to be able to watch it on the TV in our room (I went to boarding school). Fun times.

I never bothered with the US version. I'm a snob purist.

Likewise. Any interest I might have had in the US version was quickly erased when I found out that the Vince character wasn't a Dr Who nerd anymore, that Nathan-esque had been aged up, thus destroying the POINT of him, and that by the end everyone was paired off and having virtually heteronormative monogamyfests. NOT RIGHT, I TELL YOU. *Stuart* would never have settled down in a bloody house with Nathan to adopt babies. *vomit*

I saw Charlie Hunnam in Children of Men

I TOTALLY failed to recognise him when I saw it the first time. Too busy spasming and shrieking about Clive Owen and the general high levels of awesome.

Huh. I thought the brain continued to develop until around twenty-five.

I'm going to ignore the TV on this one. I like your explanation better.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

The US adaptations are never as good, probably because half of what draws me to the original shows in the first place is the unique Britishness of them. I love The Office UK but couldn't maintain interest in the US version; Whose Line is it Anyway? had a lot of the same players, but somehow still didn't measure up, possibly because Drew Carey is no Clive Anderson; and the less said about Coupling US, the better. Once you lose the British viewpoint and humor and storytelling, you've lost everything that made these shows more than just their basic premises. Might as well just create something new at that point, but that's not the American way, by damn!

*Stuart* would never have settled down in a bloody house with Nathan to adopt babies. *vomit*

EW. EW TIMES A MILLION.

You know, before I started watching New Who, the only things I knew about DW I learned from QaF and Coupling. Namely, that Paul McGann doesn't count (which canon has since contradicted, and I can JUST see Vince going all indignant fanboy over that and posting long bitchy screeds in his LJ), and that decorative cushions are useful only as defense against Daleks (I love Steve). And now both showrunners have had a hand in New Who. It gives me glee.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why it's done ... it's not like we remade FRIENDS or anything - we just import things wholesale. Largely because, if I'm honest, British remakes of things like CSI would suck leaky donkey balls every bit as hard as US remakes of ... Spaced ... I cannot believe anyone is actually seriously doing that, even now.

I love The Office UK

I *hated* it, but this is because cringe humour fails to move me and I'm allergic to Ricky Gervais. Please, keep him in America.

Namely, that Paul McGann doesn't count

I believed that for ages, but while the made-for-TV movie sucked shit, the radio plays he's in are really good and he makes an excellent and iconic Doctor! The only part of Eight I'd retcon is that RIDICULOUS "half-human" bullshit, which it seems RTD has done anyway. It is the only area in which I deviate from the Gospel of Vince Tyler. At least on Dr Who.

Also, randomly, the other Dr Who nutter that Vince cops off with is played by the same guy who plays arsonist Tourrette's sufferer Andy in Shameless. I do love playing Six Degrees Of British Actors.

And now both showrunners have had a hand in New Who. It gives me glee.

STEPHEN MOFFAT REPRESENT. I would honestly have his little scary babies.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why it's done

Because the American entertainment industry sees no reason to be creative when it can just rip something else off. It seems like most of the movies coming out these days in the States are remakes or adaptations of books, too.

Spaced US is going to be SUCH A TRAINWRECK, though. I never finished watching it, but from what I remember, I just don't see how it can possibly translate to the general American public. At all.

I *hated* it, but this is because cringe humour fails to move me

As a general rule, I can't stand it, and Series Two did lay it on a bit too thick for me, but Series One did it just enough to be funny without making me want to hide under my bed.

STEPHEN MOFFAT REPRESENT.

:D The first DW I saw was the "Empty Child"/"Doctor Dances" two-parter. I was, in spite of my love/hate relationship with zombies and my utter terror of creepy children, totally enthralled (even if I did panic at the end of the first episode and have to skip to the next). And when I noticed the Moffat connection, it all made sense.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

I fail to understand how Spaced translated to people outside of London half the time ...

The first DW I saw was the "Empty Child"/"Doctor Dances" two-parter.

I wish that had been the case for me, I'd be utterly rabid in my support of NuWho had that been so!

[catslash.livejournal.com]

Oh god yes. I was hooked two-thirds of the way through the first episode, even if I was trying and failing to hide under my bed (it's a boxspring and mattress on the floor, so there is no hiding under it), and then "Everybody lives, Rose!" just completely sealed the deal. Even if I had been "meh" up to that point, there's no way the Doctor's sheer joy wouldn't have reeled me in. It's also no coincidence that I prefer Eccleston over Tennant. *g* Of course, that's like preferring chocolate cake over vanilla - either way, it's still cake.

But yeah, to wander back to my point, I kind of doubt that I would have gotten sucked into DW in quite the same way if I'd started out watching the eps in order. (My mom tried that and didn't like it, so next weekend we're having a "Blink"/"Empty Child"/"Doctor Dances" triple feature.) And I've never seen any classic Who, which is shameful, I know.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

One of the fortunate things about growing up in the UK, I guess - I grew up watching reruns of old Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell Dr Who, and later the other doctors, so I kind of came to it with a real and abiding terror of the daleks, the cybermen, and the sea devils. I don't know if kids now would be very frightened of our current daleks ... they don't do the same kind of chilling scream when people die and so on.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

Classic Who is easier to find in the States now than it probably was even ten years ago; there are DVD releases and, of course, the Internet. (Man, it must have been such hard freaking work being a proper geek back before the Internet. All zines and third-generation VHS copies.) So really I'm just lazy.

As for the daleks, all I know is that I've gotten a little tired of looking them. You'd think the Doctor never ran into anything back in the day except daleks and the occasional cyberman. Is that sort of like how aliens never attack anywhere except London?

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

See, this is why the Hartnell stuff is so fantastic! There are really RETRO cybermen. And cavemen. And GIANT WASP PEOPLE. And then later on there are freaky slug people and a superintelligent jelly blob and OH MY GOD SUCH BAD SPECIAL EFFECTS. :D Yes, some of the best stuff has daleks in it (I take it you've seen Genesis of the Daleks?) but oh lordy, lordy. There are some fantastic Whomonsters!

... I feel I ought to thank you for provoking a geeksquee I didn't even know I had.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

I - may have a copy of "Genesis of the Daleks"? I have one story from series seventeen, I can't remember the title. I haven't had the attention span to watch it yet.

SEE new Who CLEARLY requires MORE GIANT WASP PEOPLE. I think a lot of shows would benefit from giant wasp people, actually.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Genesis of the Daleks is, if I'm remembering correctly, absolutely classic Who. It has Tom Baker, and people dying in a really disturbing fashion, and Davros, and it's just ... it manages to be scarier and more alien than any amount of CGI ever is.

... Big Brother, for one. Or just giant wasps, in the Big Brother house.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

I got curious and hauled my external drive out to check, and sadly it is not Genesis, but Destiny. I was only off by one word.

I would totally watch that series of Big Brother. It would be better than that DW episode. Seriously, what were they thinking there? That episode is ALREADY horribly and rather embarrassingly dated. I can just imagine what it's going to be like to watch in ten years.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

That's Rusty's zeitgeist-humping drive showing. Rewatching QAFUK causes minor cringes, just for the gaps in the Dr Who list and the AWFUL 1990s FASHION.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

Heh, but every older show showcases AWFUL *insert era here* FASHION. I think the last decade to have fashion that didn't instantly become appalling when the decade switched over was the forties. And that's only because I don't actually know anything about forties fashion, not even stereotypes, so I assume it was unremarkable and there was nothing particularly disgusting about it. I could very well be wrong. I probably am.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

I imagine the people of the forties were suitably looked down upon by the people of the fifties for their austerity and lack of GINORMOUS skirts.