“First episode of ten”, I meant, sorry for the double post

I thought the episode was brilliant! Obviously it was quite slow paced but as its opening to a new audience in America I think they did quite well, introducing the characters again and highlighting the plot. Although RTD made it very good for new fans of the series as it explains quite a lot of the history, he didnt forget the British fans who have been there all along which I liked. The rest of the series looks great with lots of explosions and fighting which I think we’re all looking forward to. I never understand why people critise RTD, I think he’s a sensational writer!

How did that American dude manage to drive from Heathrow, across the country to the Severn Crossing, get to the toll bridge and reach rural Wales without being stopped for driving whilst talking on his mobile? Oh yes, that’s right, because annoyingly everyone could probably do that. Maybe it is steeped in reality after all.

Now that everyone has watched it, I’ll ask my most pressing question:
If Jack is a fixed point in time and space, HOW does someone or something have the power to reverse what Rose did with the Time Vortex? That’s some serious stuff!
(Yeah, I’m more preoccupied with this than with the reason no one can die. But Jack simply can’t stay mortal! haha)

@E.P that is something that has been niggling me (if niggling is a word}since watching and also who flagged up the word Torchwood at the time the’miracle’ started,got to be an enemy known to TW, hasnt it?

@e.p

The must worrying thought for me is that with this new format and a very powerful, authority figure in Rex then they may get rid of good old Captain Jack and now he is mortal they can do that – I very much hope they dont.

The stories are already forming in my head on how they could do it – Jack sacrificing himself for example

As for how/why it has happened – Im not sure if it is an enemy or an ally of Torchwood because with all of the documents being wiped out and destroyed that even reference them then it is just what they wanted – for no one to know about them. On the other hand, the force behind the wipe could just want all references gone so that they can destroy whats left of it.

As for how its connected to miracle day I have no idea, I dont get how it connects from a computer virus to everyone living forever

Whoever it is doing it, they are most definetly very very powerful – I mean they must have power over the time vortex or something similar – how else could they take away Jacks immortality???

It all depends on whether Jack is really the Face of Boe. If he is, if he died permanently, then that has a lot of repercussions. Specifically things like hinting the 10th Doctor about The Master.

It’s funny, though, the weird scenarios you can put together if you think about it long enough. For example, the Face of Boe is only a living head and on Miracle Day, they cut off the bomb guy’s head and he was still alive.

I’m sure it’s not connected though, just a thought, doesn’t explain how, if he is the Face of Boe, Jack’s head gets as big as the Face of Boe.

I cant see it being Torchwood without Jack,its a DW spin-off and he is the vital connection,i also cant see him being killed off!no ideas whoever/whatever has created this’miracle’but i can see in the end that when it is reversed as im sure it will be ,the people that were supposed to have died will die(possibly not Rex as he was fixed in surgery as the doc said)and Gwen will have a huge decision to make as her dad will be one of those,and that Jack will become immortal again

It was really good!! I bet Gwen’s daughter is thinking wow i have an epic mum! when Gwen got out that rocket

@JC
Interesting point about the head, although I agree- I can’t see how a lone human head evolves over millions of years to become the face of Boe

@cybergirl
I agree, we can’t end up with Torchwood being just Gwen, Rhys, and Anwen, no matter how much we like them. Besides, Barrowman keeps saying how much he would love to come back and make an appearance in Doctor Who. And even if they do want to end the series after this(I don’t know anything, just speculating) killing Jack is NOT the way to do it.
And I think you’re right- Gwen might have to make a decision about her father just like Jack had to about his grandson.
Blimey, RTD likes going for the impossible moral decisions, doesn’t he?

@JTudd1995
The wipe was Jack erasing all references to Torchwood in order to keep Gwen safe as he tells Esther

Well, I have to disagree with the majority of people on this forum. Sadly, though I gave the first episode my fullest open mind, I have to say I wasn’t impressed. And here’s why:

The acting from Mekhi Phifer was awful, and his dialogue was cringeworthy to say the least. Alexa Havins as Esther Drummond was interesting if for no other reason than her character resembled Gwen way back pre-Torchwood initiation in “Everything Changes/Day One”. She was all wide-eyed curiosity, and I could see how the audience could follow the mystery through her eyes. Bill Patton on the other hand played Oswald Danes as though he were drunk. The man is a fine actor but there was just something very odd about his performance. Perhaps this is how his character is supposed to be so I’ll hold judgement until I’ve caught more of his performance.

Rhys, Gwen and Jack were the same, thank goodness but therein lies the problem – everything else around them wasn’t. The American setting at the beginning just seemed wrong and, dare I say it, fake. Normally, and unsurprisingly, American studios “do” American situations well but the scenes I saw in the hospital and certainly with Rex Matheson seemed as though from rehearsals rather than actual takes. I liked Arlene Tur as surgeon Vera Juarez and though she would make a good Torchwood operative but sadly we know that isn’t going to be the longterm case.

Everything about the episode seemed flat. It was slow, plodding and for all the “fizz and fire” promised by the injection of American money and location, this, for me, was not Torchwood. It didn’t feel like Torchwood and in places was barely recognisable as such. I really wanted to be proved wrong that selling the majority of the production to Starz would produce an incredible show but sadly all I saw was one that could have come from any American network and which revolved around explosions and set pieces rather than plausible plot. Even the event of Miracle Day itself seemed lost within the need to blow buildings up or Phifer’s ludicrous and very cliched rendition of a CIA agent. All in all, the show tried but failed, and mainly because it is now too American as I knew it would be and has lost a lot of atmosphere in the trip across the pond.

As with the excellently atmosphere “Children of Earth” a few years ago, it does seem that restricted budgets seem to bring more creativity out in the writers and production staff of this show, relying more on building tension and characters within a limited time frame and environment because they simply don’t have the money to just blow everything up. For me, this is a sad day for Torchwood because, as in the show, Torchwood no longer exists.

Oh, and just in case you all think I was too harsh on the show, I will give it a few more episodes to see if it settles down. My “judgement” was not meant to be harsh.

On another note, I couldn’t help wondering whether the notion of Jack becoming mortal while everyone else gains Jack’s immortality has something to do with… well, Jack himself. Or certainly someone who knows Jack very well, and wants him dead. After all, what better way to kill an immortal being than to transfer his gift to leave him vunerable to people he knows he can’t kill. I almost wouldn’t put it past his daughter, Alice, to have found some way to reverse her father’s immortality so she can punish him for Steven’s death.

@TE

I thought it was the wipe of all the documents related to Torchwood that gave Jack enough of a reason for him to come back??

Im sure he says that somewhere throughout the episode