Comments on: Torchwood Miracle Day, Episode Ten: Second-guessing the Blessing?

By: andrew pickmere

andrew pickmere — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 10:46:08 +0000

I have really enjoyed reading your excellent articles. MD was a great concept, perhaps it could have been better executed but it’s surely not as bad as most of the reviews have suggested. The last two episodes seemed weaker as though the writers were struggling with an ending. Will certainly watch out for your book. Thanks again for a good read.

By: Matt Hills

Matt Hills — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 09:02:34 +0000

Interesting — I agree with a number of your points. The main thing that’s striking, for me, is just how much Jack is reworked as a character in ‘Miracle Day’. He becomes almost a cipher in places, rarely or never discussing his history/background with others. And any notion of him being omnisexual is completely lost, as you note. Instead he becomes the butt of Rex’s gay jokes, and a whole layer of complexity in relation to sexual politics just completely disappears from the show. Compare this with series one, for example. It’s all highly problematic!

By: Matt Hills

Matt Hills — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 08:55:59 +0000

It was an intriguing surprise! I, for one, wish that Chibnall could have been more involved. It would have been extremely interesting to see how he approached writing for post-CoE Torchwood.

By: Matt Hills

Matt Hills — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 08:51:12 +0000

Thanks, Bettina, I’m glad you’ve enjoyed these pieces. And thanks for the Chris Chibnall information too — hopefully more detail will emerge on this over time. In marked contrast to Doctor Who there seems to be far less production information typically available on Torchwood, although Jane Espenson’s livetweeting and After Elton columns helped a bit with that this time round!

By: Matt Hills

Matt Hills — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 08:46:34 +0000

Given that Shapiro had relatively little to do, John de Lancie certainly made him a compelling character! And he was the beneficiary of what I assume was Russell T. Davies’s desire in the final episode to prove that the f-word could be appropriate to Torchwood’s voice after all, rather than jarring badly as it had previously done in ‘Everything Changes’.

By: Matthew Kilburn

Matthew Kilburn — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:20:04 +0000

How many viewers laughed when they saw Chris Chibnall thanked in the credits? Metatext, intertext and paratext in a circle dance…

By: Bettina

Bettina — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:12:05 +0000

I remember Jane Espenson saying in an interview that Chris Chibnall was involved in the early planning states when she first met up with RTD to talk about the concept of the series. Apparently Chibnall didn’t have the time to get involved later on but contributed some ideas to the overall concept and probably to the resolution too.

Matt, thanks for your insightful reviews over the last 10 weeks. I thoroughly enjoyed the input of a “fan-professional” as a nice contrast to the usual fan reviews. I loved your “Triumph of a Time Lord” and can’t wait to read your Torchwood book when it comes out next year.

By: icerose

icerose — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:26:41 +0000

Reset-Reset-Reset MD was just one big dissapointment from episode to episode-they even managed to turn into a ranting warrior women who seemed incapable of intelligent reactios or subtlety–the only subsiuary charactor who remotely interested me was Q -although Verawas okay-but basically it was poorly scripted ,overblown and at times just cheesy without the benefit of camp or wit

By: theoncominghope

theoncominghope — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 09:02:09 +0000

This season was so disappointing that part of me wishes that the show would die a merciful death.

But if it doesn’t, here are my 5 wishes for any future series:
http://theoncominghope.blogspot.com/2011/09/5-things-i-like-to-see-on-next.html