Stuff I have watched

[girlofprey]

Most people are working at the moment. I am not. This is of course fine while I can fend off the guilt and until the money runs out, but by that point I think it will be a bit late. It just feels a bit odd to be applying for jobs when I'm also planning a weekend/long weekend in London, since I don't have a job to come back to. Of course after this weekend, when I have nothing to do but look for a job and nothing to look forward to if I don't, THINGS WILL BE A HUNDRED TIMES BETTER. Hmph. I'm complaining a lot. Mostly I just wish I had some sort of assurance that there is a decent job out there waiting for me, if I just look. Oh, and someone to confirm that no, I probably don't want that "fun, flexible!" work-from-home job that pays £24.99 an hour and describes itself in NO OTHER WAY. Hmm. I should probably just go to Nottingham, at some point.

Anyway. Mostly I've been helping with my nephew and watching stuff. I feel the need to point out that the reason I got quite excited about the Settle-Carlisle railway the other day is because I still remember the song they taught us in primary school about it. I don't remember much except the line "From Settle to Carlisle" and that it was about how it was built in winter and how many men died building it, but it was a bit of a pleasant shock to see it suddenly come to life in front of me.

Anyway. Watching. Torchwood! Oh God, it's bad. It sort of makes me sad for the world, watching it. At least, the first two episodes did - it was frustrating, because it never seemed that bad when they were setting up the stories, but then it was just resolved really oddly, and OH GOD they're all wankers/jerks and they saved the day, and there was about 5 seconds of social commentary for no reason before the aliens died. There was a touch of good stuff, like the possessed girl going to her ex-boyfriend for killing sex, but mostly it was just awful. But Ianto was pretty, and had momentary angst about getting Chinese food when Gwen EMOTED at them all, so I decided to give it one last chance with Cyberwoman.

And it was suddenly better! Still not great. Maybe I was distracted by Ianto crying all over everyone and doing TERRIBLE AWFUL things because he loved his girlfriend, but I was actually interested in what was going to happen for once, and how they were going to get out of it. It was sort of - about the team, not just the team doing BRILLIANT THINGS (debatable) to save the day. And Lisa was actually a bit scary. I don't know. I didn't hate it. But again, I was mostly focused on Ianto. He got knocked out. That was lovely. And I'm still not entirely sold on Jack, but him kissing him to wake him up was rather special. I'm not sure if he was quite so meant to come off like a jealous boyfriend - "You hid from us, you hid yourself from us" - but it was certainly more amusing for me. Oh, I just love Ianto being THE COFFEE BOY THAT WAS GOING TO RUIN THEM ALL. Mostly I want fic where aliens come and steal him away from the rest of the team, because he's clearly the best one. And probably they have sex with him, y'know. I'm totally not thinking about Owen's Rapist Perfume, and the amnesia drug, because that sort of thing is apparently fine when you know the characters. NOT AT ALL.

Um. Anyway. It wasn't awful, for me. And the one after it, with fairies, seemed a bit more interesting than the previous stories. So I might give the rest of the series a go, at some point. Bit by bit. I'd like to see the 'They Keep Killing Suzy' one because she seemed pretty cool, in the first episode. I have a feeling trying to garner canon on Ianto is going to be a painful business, but I'll probably give it a go. At some point.

And then I watched the first episode of Babylon 5, which was better! It was fine, and then G'kar wanted to mate with a human telepath to breed psychicness into his race, and asked her if she'd prefer to be conscious or unconscious during the mating, and I just thought "This is the best show I've ever seen!". I expected Londo to be a bit more foppish and less like a burned out Russian spy, who misses the days when he was a shark and now just wants to drink and gamble, but I loved him all the same. Sinclair is clearly a jerk, but HE IS LEAVING, YES? I liked it anyway. Hurrah!

Comments

[nerdcakes.livejournal.com]

They taught you a song about how a railway KILLED THE MEN BUILDING IT? You went to a sick school, my friend. We already knew this, like, but STILL.

It's weird, I was re-reading my torchwood posts the other day and I was surprised how well-disposed towards it at the start. The cyberman one is totally the first of the many times that Torchwood (or, if you'd been watching it when it was on, Torchwood fandom) DRAGS YOU BACK. It is very tricksy of it. I didn't love it as much as most people seemed to, but it was certainly a relief. And I really liked the fairy one.

One thing that's quite great about Torchwood is that it is quite good on a very shallow level. On a pure 'I like it when people have to kneel down' level, Ianto is very good. It's just that I don't think it's terribly good at backing up the Pretty with, y'know, the vaguest of substance. So mostly I think I judge Torchwood for exposing me as NOT AS SHALLOW AS I'D ASSUMED. Which made me a bit sad.


Oh! Oh, I didn't realise you had the actual pilot! I didn't see that until we were about halfway through series four! This is probably for the win because it has Lyta and G'Kar blackmailing Londo and Sinclair CASUALLY flashing his medals. Oh, Sinclair is so rub. But he will go VERY SOON. Yes.

[girlofprey.livejournal.com]

They taught us a song about THE PERILS OF BUILDING RAILWAYS. It was clearly ALL TO OUR EDUCATION, DUDE. And I learned the word 'Carlisle', which was shiny.

OH GOD I loved it when he had to kneel down! I was all "Jack, this is not the time for him to work off his debt to the team". And then he just had to stay kneeling down while they yelled at him, and he was all 'I clean up your shit!'. Substance is NEVER SOMETHING I HAVE REQUIRED in characters like that. I can do that part myself, as long as they don't go odd, and frankly, I have other shows for substance. I only worry that like the first few episodes, there won't be enough Ianto shallow to make up for all the pain. If he gets knocked out again that will probably help though.

Oh, the extra long shot on his medal was the BEST THING EVER. Then the extra-long account of the battle he didn't want to talk about. That really had me falling asleep hooked. It made me love characters I'll never see again, and worry that I'd have to wait another season for Ivanova, but it was shiny all the same. It taught me ALL I NEEDED TO KNOW about rub Sinclair the station.

[missmomoko.livejournal.com]

I do think Torchwood gets a lot better as the series goes on. It's a really short series compared to something like Lost... anyway 'They Keep Killing Suzie' and the last two episodes are standouts for me!

[girlofprey.livejournal.com]

Well, most things are short compared to American series like Lost. I mean, my God. 25 episodes. With one a week, that's about half a year. Torchwood is as short as short American series, 12 or 13 episodes. It's still quite a while though, with downloading as well.

I saw the season finale(s) at New year, and thought they were alright. I've heard from other people that it gets better as the series goes on, so like I say, I'll probably stick with it, to keep up with fandom as much as anything else. I guess I just hoped it would be a terrible show with one concept or character that would be enough to make me want to watch the rest. At the moment, that's Ianto, but he doesn't do very much. I'll probably watch the rest of the series anyway ;)

[missmomoko.livejournal.com]

True! I think with Torchwood the fandom is more fun actually and I watch because Ianto/Jack/Toshiko are all very pretty. It doesn't take much for me to enjoy a show. Sometimes it's the potential of a show that will make me stay for a show!

I like Ianto but mostly he's been rather wimpy but I always hope he gets more screen time to prove me wrong

[girlofprey.livejournal.com]

I've only seen up to Cyberwoman, but I don't know. I saw him pulling his half-Cyberman girlfriend out of a battle, taking her somewhere safe even though he knew he shouldn't, building stuff with Cybertech to keep her alive, and yelling at everyone for not noticing him even when it all goes wrong. And he of course WON MY HEART in the finale by shooting Owen. But like I say, I haven't seen the rest of the series, so I guess I can't judge. I wouldn't mind him suddenly turning out to be an ice-cold spy for the opposition, though.

[missmomoko.livejournal.com]

OOoh yes! ice cold spy would make sense. I mean it seems a little weird that he's sleeping around with Jack. Jack et al did kill Lisa! Surely there might be a little resentment in there somewhere.

[grapefruitzzz.livejournal.com]

Torchwood is so UP and DOwn and UP and DOwn, it's like they have no quality control whatsoever. Episode 6 "Countrycide" is one of the worst things ever, but the penultimate ep is rilly good, if you handwave the plot. If they were less arrogant and got a ruthless bitch of a script editor in it could be a brilliant series.

[girlofprey.livejournal.com]

I don't know. Sometimes I think the concept - a secret organisation dedicated to destroying/stealing alien tech for the "good of the nation" staffed by emotionally unstable techs who don't seem to care about the organisation or the public, some of whom go around killing and date-raping - isn't something anyone could make likeable. But maybe if they were shown to be halfway competant and the writing was good it would work better.

I don't know. One of the things I liked about Cyberwoman was the sense that they were all actually in danger - it made them a lot more likeable than the episodes where they're all just swanning around. As I say, I haven't seen the entire series yet. The penultimate episode had a lot of THINGS THAT DIDN'T MAKE SENSE in it, but it was better than the first couple of episodes.