Strumpet
gypsy girl
Yeh he even chuckled as he said the kid would fry......evil little shit. I think he was a very unhinged man tbh.
torchwood
- Thread starter nightowl
- Start date
Was worse than that, the lad was his own grandson!
8ball
Decolonise colons!
Fair point. But I didn't really get that bit - why he had that gleeful air about it. There was no gain for him.
Maybe I'm being thick but earlier on I quite liked him - he reminded me of a cross between Q from the Bond films and the President's assistant from the West Wing . .
<thick smiley>
BlueSquareThing
With chips
Aye, I don't think they could broadcast it though!
I'm thinking internet only subscription channel?
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
That was quite clever. He sacrificed one (this time) to save the many, the same thing he did in 1965, which no one could understand and which he couldn't live with. Of course he will always live with both occasions, literally.
ivebeenhigh
Well-Known Member
the least important and convincing part of the whole series was jack harkness. they could have made the whole thing without him.
scifisam
feck! arse! girls! drink!
Perhaps he was glad because it would destroy Jack and wouldn't exactly please the woman who shot him.
Strumpet
gypsy girl
I don't agree. I thought he was good. Such a sad, desperately lonely, damaged character.
8ball
Decolonise colons!
Not sure - doesn't seem like 'enough'. It's not like Jack and hard-faced bitch* had any meaningful bond.
* - who causes a bulge in my pants tbh
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
C'mon, one minute he's Peter Pan in Panto, the next Batman - well, until his Robin died, and then Superman. What's not to like.
agricola
a genuine importer of owls
Huge question to ask the audience and then involve them in the consequences of though.
I mean, maybe its just my own insanity talking but it is, on reflection, a bit mad that the moment the choice dawned on him I did find myself realising who the kid would be (lets face it, it was obvious) and that it would be the "right" thing to do. Has any tv programme ever done that with regards to sacrificing a child, and then made the audience deal with the consequences?
gnoriac
lowly seer
I was also well on side with Head Geek for continuing to help them after the leg shot, though. Takes a bigger man than me . .
I've never been shot in the leg but I imagine it's very, very painful. Found it hard to imagine he'd be helping them rather than writhing with pain.
8ball
Decolonise colons!
I thought there must be some way around it.
scifisam
feck! arse! girls! drink!
The storyline couldn't have worked without him.
Not sure - doesn't seem like 'enough'. It's not like Jack and hard-faced bitch* had any meaningful bond.
* - who causes a bulge in my pants tbh
No - she was close to the kid and his mum.
8ball
Decolonise colons!
Obviously there's a 'suspension of disbelief' element, plus the fact that legshots are often fatal in reality, but yes, I didn't get where his motivation was in continuing to help them.
8ball
Decolonise colons!
What, really hard-faced bitch that as far as we know doesn't know this guy? He doesn't know how much it took for her to begin to show sympathy unless there is some unexposited back story.
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
I haven't seen much tv for a number of years so I can't comment on that. I did think though that, in the end, they dumped moral compexity into our laps in an exceptional way.
Aside from the 10% of children, there was the civil servant shooting his family, Jack's grandson, the role of police, army, special forces, and even the UK's relationship with the empire of the day.
It was a tight weave.
8ball
Decolonise colons!
Nicely put - there was a lot to deal with for a primetime BBC1 audience.
Ok, most people would have switched off either cos of the sci-fi thing or the gay thing but still challenging for anyone still watching.
8ball
Decolonise colons!
I think I was overwhelmed by some of the emotional dillemas but I caught a whiff of Deus Ex Machina too.
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
Same old; turn whatever they're using against earth back onto the aliens. Independence Day, et al.
feyr
evil evil monkey!
i have to admit, i went in and fussed over my kids, had to stop myself waking them up to hug them
hehehe. i loved that musical episode
that bit did seemed a bit rushed, didnt explain how the 456 had used the frequency to kill clem without killing itself, or if jack changed the frequecy to one fatal to 456 but not humans
YouSir
Retired from Urban
I thought that the mad scientist ultimately helped them because he was generally disinterested in the whole thing; he was indifferent when he prophesised doom and indifferent when he found himself in a position to contribute, he helped for the vague feeling of power and the glee of maintaining his dettatchment while the others had to make all the hard choices.
As for the Deus ex Machina ending, yeah, a bit cliched but nicely done. After all, Will Smith never had to kill his child in Independance Day and there wasn't much of a sense of victory even when the 456 left, just depressed relief.
As for the Deus ex Machina ending, yeah, a bit cliched but nicely done. After all, Will Smith never had to kill his child in Independance Day and there wasn't much of a sense of victory even when the 456 left, just depressed relief.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Love the way she blithely knee-capped the smug scientist!
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
To be fair, they'd probably popped a syrette of morphine into him, or he'd have been screaming like a howler monkey.
scifisam
feck! arse! girls! drink!
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
The 456 used a transmitted resonance wave to kill Clem. jack and the smug boffin reasoned that to have used that waveform the 456 must be attuned to it, and that the children (who the 456 had been using as their mouthpieces) would also be attuned to it. They used Jack's grandson as the "transmitter" of the wave to the other children, who amplified it and sent it down their link to the 456. It did to the 456 what the 456 did to Clem.
