mo(re)view

[binidj]

I have finally seen (most of) the last two episodes of Torchwood (and jfs you are officially a scamp) but I thought I'd cut-tag this as there are mahoosive spoilers below:

Torchwood
Certainly the best of the bunch, I was rather taken with the final two episodes ... though I heartily wish that Jack had gutted the whining Owen at the end instead of hugging him. The penultimate episode was great stuff right up until the "big finish" when Jack and Jack share a "moment" on the dance floor. It's very hard to be moved by something like that whilst simultaneously screaming "no no no, that would never have happened in the 1940s you idiots!" at the telly screen. Clearly Russell T's wish-fulfillment got in the way of his sense of history when scripting that particular scene. Had the two shared a dance in the now-deserted basement, to be interrupted by Toshiko as the Rift opened, then I would have been both convinced and moved. But I'm afraid that no matter how secure (or otherwise) one might have been in one's sexuality, I cannot believe that a gay man in that period would allow himself such a public display of affection as was actually shown.

The final episode, on the other hand, was very entertaining, though I too am forced to wonder if the earth has a core, not of liquid iron but of imprisoned super-entities, aliens, spaceships, stuff and t'ing. The bereavement scene was very well done, and the build up to it was very strong (ye gods but that man has a nice arse!) and the resolution made me a very happy bunny indeed. I don't care if it didn't make sense ... I got to keep my totty in the show and, at the end of the day, that's what's important.

Somewhat annoyingly, a combination of my video clock being one minute fast and the BBC getting progressively poorer at time-keeping meant that I missed the closing credits. I saw as far as hearing a TARDIS, the fluttering of bits of paper and Gwen looking around for Jack ... and then it cut off. So what happened after that? Anything? Help me Lazyweb, you're my only hope.


In other news, I've recently been trying my hand at writing a sonnet and am finding it probably the hardest piece of writing I've ever done. Although by no means a stranger to tight syllable and rhyme schemes, there's something about iambic pentameter that is driving me batsh*t. I had a flash of inspiration at 4am (just when you need it *sigh*) and was up till 5am scribbling away in a notebook. In total, my nocturnal emissions amount to six lines and the final couplet (so eight lines in total) ... only six more to go ... wonder when the muse will strike for them?

Comments

[jfs.livejournal.com]

The only thing you missed was a shot of the rest of Torchwood staring moodily into the middle distance as Jack pissed off to be with the Doctor.

And I'm a very repentant scamp, if that's any consolation.

Sonnetry

[oldnick.livejournal.com]

The one time I wanted to write a sonnet, enough to complete it and make sure it complied with the rules, it took a spreadsheet.

Worse - I wanted it to be a puzzle-sonnet - in the sense that the initial characters of each line spelled out a name.

One column per syllable. Stress pattern colour coded.

One line per line - rhyming scheme marked up in an additional column.

I don't still have a copy, I wish I did, either of the spreadsheet, or the finished result, but sadly, it was an IC composition directed at a LRP character.

As far as I ever got.

[harrytc.livejournal.com]

First line:

methyldioxymetamphetamine

Last line:

acquired immune deficiency syndrome

[yapman.livejournal.com]

Two things I got last night, but I'm wondering if I've just been missing the point for ages. The rift manipulator looked and, if you were listening enough, sounded like a Tardis core, and I finally worked out where the damn hand had come from.

Have to say, I enjoyed the episodes, but he got that tender moment too wrong for it to be tender ...

[jfs.livejournal.com]

With regard to the hand, yes - you've missed that for a long time.

I think that it is the first time we had ever seen the rift manipulator in action, or even focussed on it particularly - and yes, I heard the vague tardis-like sounds as it was starting up :-)

[binidj.livejournal.com]

Yes, I noticed the distinctly TARDIS-like quality of the rift manipulator ... very intriguing. Hmm, I wonder what happened to the Master's TARDIS, the one with the fully functional chameleon circuit.

The hand thing really just means that you haven't been paying attention, but better late than never. =)

[yapman.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, I'd not been considering it as something worth applying any brain power or observation to before.

For quite a while I was caught up in the idea that Billis might have been the Master ...

(I still think it would be cool if he were.)

[yapman.livejournal.com]

oh, btw, don't know if you've seen maleghast's post, but how busy are you right now? The boss woman wants a consultant "familiar with blogging and community web sites" for a 60 day period starting asap. "measured and rewarded with significant bonuses"

[binidj.livejournal.com]

Yep, I've seen it ... but it's not really my thing and there looks to be a much better choice already interested.

[castorlion.livejournal.com]

Never mind his TARDIS, what happened to the Master?

I've never quite got it straight in my head just how much of the TV movie was canon.

[kathbad]

The rift manipulator looked and, if you were listening enough, sounded like a Tardis core

We thought that - although we had already twigged the hand...

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Ouch.

Bilis' plan would still have been to open the rift. And Torchwood would fail in trying to get it closed, and then, the only hope would be for the ultimate deus ex machina to turn up.

Right where the Master wants him.

(And I've just realised quite how appropriate that phrase is when it applies to the Doctor)

[sack-boy.livejournal.com]

The last time the Master was seen in definite canon was at the end of Survival, the last of the Sylvester McCoy stories, stranded on the Cheetah people's dying planet.

But given that Mr Tennant seems to be officially referred to as the 10th Doctor, then perhaps the Master is either trapped or destroyed by the Eye of Harmony. If trapped then he could possible have escaped during that thing with Rose in Bad Wolf or he's kicking around somewhere inside the workings of the TARDIS ...

[binidj.livejournal.com]

Ah, but which TARDIS?

[binidj.livejournal.com]

I tried, without success to make sense of the letters B-I-L-I-S-M-A-N-G-E-R but then I've never been particularly good with anagrams, cryptograms or any other sort of -grams.

[yapman.livejournal.com]

He ought to be Billis, I tell you.

[sack-boy.livejournal.com]

The EoH was on Gallifrey (now destroyed) and in the 8th Doctor film, his TARDIS was a link to the EoH. So, if the Master was trapped in the EoH, he could potentially have escaped into any functional TARDIS connected to the EoH, including his own or the Doctor's one.

Err ...

[captainweasel.livejournal.com]

I agree, dancing in the basement would have been a far better way of handling that scene.
And I wished Adabbon had looked more like Cthulhu and less like a bad guy from Quake
Remember when the Daleks invaded Earth? the first thing they did (after subjugating Humanity) was get a huge bomb and try and blow out the Earths core - it had been assumed to fit big engines and fly the Earth around, but now it looks more likely they were trying to get all the Aliens/Spaceships/Evil Gods out.

[jayphoenix.livejournal.com]

Grim Lesbian :D

[greatbigshowoff.livejournal.com]

Dance scene was wrong. The surepticiously holding hands before that scene worked really well I think.

I loved the Foo Fighter style demon stomping over Cardiff. Billis has the makings of a great nemesis.

All in all a remarkably good episode. For once they didn't screw it up. I was waiting all through the last 10 minutes to see how they messed up up, but they didn't - at least as far as I could tell.

The only improvement would have been if Ianto shot Owen in the head not the shoulder. I even began to feel sorry for Gwen and not want ot poke her in her bulbous eyes. (Is she from the same stock as Alec Sammon the Scottish Nationalist - man-frogs are them)

bad wolf

[deadmandancing.livejournal.com]

These episodes of torchwood were very much my favourite so far. Your comments on the 1940s ending I completely agree with, we too were screaming at the TV. We also noticed the similarity with the tardis and the machine in the torchwood base. Did you notice the words BadWolf were in the graffiti on the stairs inside the dancehall in the current timeline. Also we all agree about the death & subsequent return of Gwen's other half, glad he 's still around and that bottom shot wasn't bad either ;-)

Re: Sonnetry

[binidj.livejournal.com]

This, too, is an LRP composition ... though not aimed at anyone in particular, nor even for IC use (though it is written from an IC perspective).

Re: bad wolf

[maddave.livejournal.com]

I was too busy paying attention to the Vote Saxon Poster.