The new Doctor, Matt Smith, is in – along with his assistant, Karen Gillan. It’s not much more than a teaser for things to come, but it’s still pretty good.
I’m still catching up on the new Who series, having finally admitted that it’s not bad, and the last episode I saw ws ‘Blink’ – so glad to see the stone angels back.
It’s funny; neither of my parents are the slightest bit nerdy at all, but both my eldest sister and myself come pretty close. Honestly, I’m not sure that I really qualify as a nerd. I’ve never been entirely sure of the definition, or of the difference between a nerd and a geek – although somehow, I think that geek involves technology in some way.
My father comes closest to either definition, I suspect, but only because as an engineer he’s always been interested in computers and various gadgetry – something I have inherited in a far less hands-on way.
So where do all my interests come from? I think it’s because I was encouraged when I was little to pursue what I enjoyed. Just look at this picture of me aged 8, circa 1982.
Right there is pretty much the genesis of every bit of nerdiness I have – except for my deep and abiding love of all things Star Trek. Yes, even Voyager.
In this picture there’s evidence of my early interest in Star Wars, Doctor Who, fantasy, comics, books, Dan Dare, science fiction, figure collecting (in the form of Kermit and Fozzie) and even talking monkeys – allow me to elaborate:
See?
Right here, in this one photo, is the genesis of a nerd. I have to admit, in spite of collecting comics and toys (not to mention movies and TV shows) pretty consistently from the age I was in this picture to, oh, about now, I’ve always kind of hidden my nerdlight under a bushel.
I mean, yes, there was that picture of me in the Eagle wearing a logo jumper that my mum knitted for me (and believe me, if I can find that picture, I’m putting it up here), but aside from that I think I’ve always managed to come across as relatively…well, normal for lack of a better word.
I think the main reason for this was my shyness. I was – and still am – incredibly shy. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself too much when I was younger; to a large extent I still don’t. And I think because of it I’ve held back a bit from doing things that I always wanted to do. I followed the safe career path because that was easier.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s served me pretty well, and more importantly I met my wife through work so I can’t really complain too much – but I still have this itch that needs to be scratched.
As my wife has said in the past, looking wistfully at the bucket loads of money earned by ubernerds such as Joss Whedon, “Yes, you’re nerdy. You’re just not nerdy enough.”
A PSA – Amazon has a sale on Doctor Who today – the first four seasons available separately for $33 each – they normally retail for more than double that, so its a pretty damn good deal!
As a kid, I loved Doctor Who. Loved it. Watched every episode (except that last one of State of Decay because all those vampires scared the crap out of me and I was about 5 at the time).
But for some reason I couldn’t get into the new take on the show, because Christopher Eccleston hamming it up just seemed wrong after watching him in stuff like Cracker and Shallow Grave.
As a result I never really watched spin-off Torchwood either – but as I’ve been slowly watching the new Who over the past year, I figured I could do worse than give the five-night miniseries Children of Earth a go.
(Some spoilers follow)
And I was pretty impressed to start with. Sure, it suffers in comparison to a lot of US TV thanks to a low budget, but it was pretty solid, creepy stuff and it retained its Britishness very well.
If Torchwood was a US show, everyone would be gorgeous, thin and ripped, all bulging muscles and toned leg. But its not. Instead we get people who look more, well, real – with double chins and beer bellies. Even Captain Jack’s looking a little portly and plasticky these days. It’s kind of charming and makes me think of home and also makes me a little bit glad I’m not still there.
Anyway, it was pretty good. You get the mystery set up with the children all stopping and speaking in unison, you get a governmental conspiracy, and you get a nice intro to the characters. It’s kind of like the X-Files in Wales.
By the third night, though, the problems were beginning to show.
Firstly, we were being told information twice. We’d find something out in scenes with the governmental characters, and then find it out again when the Torchwood team found it out. That’s not exciting, that’s repetitive.
Secondly, the team were pretty much reactionary for most of the first three nights. Things were happening to them rather than them being proactive and instigating things. That at least changed a little in the fourth night.
Thirdly, we spend a lot of time with the survivor of the 456’s original contact who spends a lot of time looking nervously over his shoulder and telling us things that, once again, we either already know or are about to be told again.
Conventional storytelling would suggest that he should have some information that can help the 456 be defeated, but he knows nothing that Jack doesn’t know – instead here he’s merely used to externalize Jack’s guilt at handing over the first batch of children back in 1965. Once Jack’s confessed to his guilt, he’s killed off as Jack now needs something else to feel guilty about – like being responsible for Ianto’s death.
Then there’s the biggest problem for me – the alien 456. From the moment the children start talking, everyone is running around terrified of the aliens, building them a special environment to live in, giving children to them…
…but we never find out exactly why they’re so terrifying. Sure, they can make children stop and talk. It’s a little creepy at first but after a while it’d just become annoying, and then, finally, I can only imagine that it’d be a bit of a relief.
“The 456 have put little Johnny and Lisa on pause again – time for a cup of tea!”Other than that, and the fact that they’re obviously a bit disgusting physically, there’s no overt reason why they’re a threat, so you’re left wondering why everyone has themselves in such a tizz – after all, the first episode goes to great length to establish that most of the world has now had alien contact.
Admittedly, the threat becomes a little clearer in the fourth episode when the 456 release a virus in the Ministry of Defense building killing everyone in there but it still feels a little…pedestrian.
They’re basically not that threatening.
And that deflates the whole thing for me.
Not that it’s all bad – like I said, the opening night has a nice sense of menace, and there’s a good Jack regeneration of sequence (although it unfortunately takes him out of play for most of an hour) – and it’s refreshing to see Jack and Ianto’s relationship relatively underplayed – for most of the time anyway.
I did say most of the time.In fact there is one quite nice element to their relationship – Ianto’s realization that he’s just going to be a blip in Jack’s abnormally long life, and that, eventually, Jack will move on and forget him.
So…its pretty much the show I thought it was. Okay, but not great.
And ‘Torchwood’ is an anagram of ‘Doctor Who’ you know.
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