Torchwood’s always been a strange programme. Fittingly described by Charlie Brooker as being like “a hitherto secret episode of Postman Pat in which Pat runs down fifteen villagers while masturbating at the wheel of his van” it began life desperately trying to distance itself from its mother programme Doctor Who by being sexy and violent. It started life on BBC3 and BBC2 for its first two series, eventually graduating to BBC One in 2009 for the critically acclaimed five part miniseries Torchwood: Children Of Earth. After that, the series more or less fell off the radar with plans for an American remake on Fox luckily being axed. Then came the news that there would be a Series Four.
Co-financed by American cable network Starz, Torchwood: The New World (its initial title) was promoted as a globe-trotting ten part thriller set in a world where suddenly, nobody is able to die, something that is initially referred to as “the Miracle” but eventually sees the world fall into hell. Fans were hyped and the day of the first episode came. But as the new series wore on, it showed signs of fatigue and it was evident that the programme had taken a downward turn since Children Of Earth. Why was Miracle Day so flawed? Let’s look further into it…
8. It’s Too Americanised
One of the more quirky facets of Torchwood is that always been very Welsh. It’s set almost exclusively in Wales with a predominantly Welsh cast and the occasional good natured dig at the country and its people through the dialogue.
But because Miracle Day is partly financed by an American cable network, they’re suddenly able to call some of the shots, leading to the bulk of it being set in America. Children Of Earth was largely set in London but that makes sense as Torchwood’s base is destroyed after the first episode and the attention of alien menace the 456 is on the UK government because of their previous dealings with them. But there’s not really an explanation for most of Miracle Day being set in America other than that old adage of American network executives that people don’t want to watch something that’s outside of their frame of reference. So because of that, the series gets relocated wholesale to America with the flimsy explanation of the CIA rendering Torchwood, which makes no sense since the CIA has no connection to or authority over Torchwood especially since that, at the start of Series Four, it is defunct. But to keep established fans watching, there’s the need to have parts of it set in Wales which leads to a ridiculous amount of continent hopping whenever a subplot in the UK needs advancing.
Also, at 50 to 55 minutes long, each episode’s five minutes shorter than it would have been had this been a series made with the BBC put first. Then again, this may not be such a bad thing given that probably the worst thing about the series was…
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16 Comments
I’d have put Rex’s immortality first. I could have just about watched Miracle Day and thought – maybe there is something salvageable. Maybe they could fix this. But that one single moment in that ending – ruined the entire reality (or reality as far as continuity goes) behind Jacks immortality. Definitely RTD’s weakest work (and thats counting Doctor Who’s Love and Monsters).
You’ve Hit the nail on the head here.
The Rex immortal was rubbish, HATED IT, as soon as that happened I didnt watch the rest, fair enough it was like 5mins left but didnt watch it. Glad it ended if they are going that way, Series 2 was the best
I decided to leave it off the list because (as stupid as it was) it happened in the final scene of the last episode which thankfully meant it had no real impact on the story as a whole.
THANK YOU for calling out the small matter of Jack’s immortality being altered when it’s convenient to the plot. Torchwood’s odd relationship with Doctor Who was always going to end up betraying long term fans, what with veering from denying its connection to completely embracing it. Also, I too waited for Miracle Day to somehow tie everything together, assuming that Jack’s flashback to Angelo would begin the reveal. When that panned out to nothing, I pretty much dreaded things would play out exactly as they did. I’d love to see some complete honesty from Davies on the end result, but I’m sure for the time being he’ll need to play nice in the interest of future cross-productions….such a shame that because of Miracle Day, Torchwood probably won’t be one of them.
Agree with pretty much everything you say but would have included some over dramatic acting-I cringed at some points -and sadlly the included John and Eve–there was scene where CJ is popping up all over the stadium-just pointless and there was nothing in the acting to make it remotely intersting.Equally when Gwen knocks some books offf the table as she exits after a rant-it was childish and embarrassing for some one who was suppose to be this warroir mother-not necessarily their fault-thats whar directors are for -to insure the acting is credible
“(though thankfully there’s no Ianto substitute for fans to get needlessly worked up about and literally build a public shrine to)”
Well considering that Ianto/Jacks relationship was replaced with unecessary sex scenes designed to titilate I would rather have had the original witty take on CJ’s gay side and the more innovative charactor that was Ianto.The comment above let down what could have been a balanced and well reasoned argument.
I was merely making an offhand comment about the hugely disproportionate fan response to Ianto’s death, in particular the fact that in Cardiff Bay there is a massive shrine to the character despite him being fictional. I personally don’t see how it affects the validity of my argument but to each his own.
Firstly I want to say that I thought that this idea was simply genius. it’s the sort of story that really forces you to consider your own mortality and the descions you would have to make if placed in such a volatile situation such as this.
But unfortunately the idea came from BBC, and on Torchwood. I have no problem with the show, but I felt this was far too ambitious and definitely a bridge too far.
I only wish that this story had been conjured from the mind of Stephen King, who I believe would have made this into both an incredible epic novel as well as a brilliant film/miniseries adaptation. Still, one can dream.
An excellent review, and I think you’ve raised valid criticisms of “Miracle Day”. It certainly didn’t seem as tightly-scripted as “Children of Earth”.
The CIA connection seemed over-done. (Aside from which, it’s illegal for the CIA to operate on US soil. FBI agents might’ve worked better. Or even a fictitious American version of Torchwood? Perhaps the US arm of UNIT?)
I suspect that that one reason that “Miracle Day” seemed to meander is that the concept of undeath and social implications was just so incredibly radical. How do you write about something that is so utterly beyond human experience? (Even most aliens in “Dr Who” and sf are simply ‘people’ in different forms. The motivations of aliens are still recognisable to us.)
Could it be that Russell T. bit off more than he could chew and deliver up to us?
The concept of “The Blessing” perhaps should have had an additional twist… Maybe aliens, who themselves were discovered near the end to be manipulated by… humans! Using massive social unrest and collapse would be the ideal means by which covert conquest would take place (has worked well for Imperial powers colonising South America, Africa, etc).
As for not knowing what “the Blessing” was… I kinda like that. Aside from leaving something for a future story for “Torchwood”, it makes sense that often there simply aren’t answers to everything.
I’d have said the big problem with Miracle Day is that it even exists at all. Torchwood had ostensibly had its grand finale in Children of Earth and had nowhere else to go after that. Then the RTD era ended, and for two years we had no Torchwood. By the time it came back, it was redundant already, and the bulk of the first two episodes then had to contrive to undo the ending of Children of Earth to get the team back and get them relocated. It was the farthest thing from natural storytelling, and really gave the whole thing a cold, mechanical feeling.
Reason no.9: it’s boring
I honestly thought it wasn’t that bad at all.. but granted, I only made it through the first 5 episodes.
The series was so unfocused. The idea that someone could be a charred body and still awkae, but that someone who had a stroke would just be like a vegetable was stupid.
Don’t you think that if the blessing was part of the torchwood universe than it would be part of the doctor who universe . There for if everyone’s lives were prolonged forever than the doctor would had of handled this personally .
was there actually anything you enjoyed about it?
It was quite gripping at times and there were some pretty exciting bits. As a character, Oswald interested mea lot because of the whole “Dark Messiah” image he was building. But, for me, the good was massively outweighed by the bad.