Have Any of You People Watched...? D

Torchwood – Children of Earth

I have only just discovered Torchwood. It is a science fiction show that I meant to watch and put off due to doing other things. My eldest son said he had enjoyed the show. Obviously, years went by and then I decided to by the first season on eBay. I watched and enjoyed.

Instead of going for the season two next, I decided upon the third season of Children of Earth. It was a continuous story in many episodes. The whole set up grabbed my imagination straight away. The use of children, throughout the entire planet, to alert the powers that be, of alien visitation.

1. The Slow Realisation of Horror that is Revolting

This is done very well as all the children just stop and stare up into the sky. Every child in a trance for a minute or two. In shopping centres, at school, walking along the street. They just stop and stare upwards. It is all very creepy. Then they snap out of their trance and carry on playing as though nothing has happened. When the next communication comes the children stare into the sky again and after a time they all break into a high pitched scream with their mouths wide open. Then they begin to chant, “We are coming, we are coming.” It is all very disturbing and the trepidation of what is coming begins to get very powerful indeed.

The British government seems to have some prior knowledge of the alien coming as this type of thing has happened on a smaller scale many decades back in a remote part of Scotland. All the introductory groundwork is laid out and the audience is drip-fed this potential alien coming. It is something ominous and terrible. As the plot begins to unfold the politics of the dreadful situation begins to take over. The horror of what is coming is outweighed by the horror of what the government must do in secret.

The story is very clever in that we do not need too much of the alien presence. Just to know of the eventual arrival and the diabolical preparations that world governments must undertake to preserve the human race is where the crux of the science fiction story lies. The mere suggestion of our elected politicians collaborating in such a dreadful expectation is what becomes most chilling. The sight of the nauseating alien is almost unnecessary. The visitor’s demands are sheer horror. What it has done before is hideous and very disturbing. The government’s collaboration is even more appalling and sickening. Stomach-turning selfishness begins to take root.

2. The One Bad Point

Then there is the population mass panic part as realisation and the Torchwood team battle to salvage and limit the inexcusable effects of the dreadful situation the planet is in. This part of the story went a little wobbly for me. For a time, this aspect of the story was not so believable or presented that well. The round-up as the armed forces went out trying to gather. It was not credible or convincing.

Then the notion and idea of battling the vicious impasse that the human race was in, brings the story back to some form of credibility. Everything apart from the snippets of mass panic were done well. The population alarm was a little corny in my opinion. It took a little integrity away from this rather good science fiction story.

So much of this tale was carried by the mere suggestion of something inexcusable. Something that would need to happen. Yet something we could never let happen. The whole situation was spine-chilling.