Dept. of Torchwood and Other Good Stuff

[kaffy_r]

Miracle Day 04, New Office Space, Old Found Stories

Although Friday was officially the last day of actual vacation (one I spent getting a extraordinarily mild case of heat exhaustion by driving in an un-airconditioned car at rush hour; long story, won't be told) today was actually the last day before I head back to work. Normally, after a week of vacation, I'm filled with regret at all the tasks I'd planned to complete that never got done. It's practically a tradition at Casakaffyr: plan to do too much, get nothing done, then obsess about inadequacy.

I may accidentally have acquired at least intermittent wisdom in my more or less old age, because I stopped worrying about what I might not get done about halfway through the week. Which was a good idea, since this was the week we'd decided to get the last of FB's stuff out of his former bedroom, and to turn it into our office, with the requisite moving of large, heavy bookcases and Too Much Stuff. That would be more than enough to send me into a blue funk normally, especially since FB wasn't able get his friend with the van to come and pick up the detritus. Still, we were able to move it all out into the hall, rent a carpet cleaner, and FB was able to come over and help BB move the two big bookcases. It's an altogether respectable start, and I'm willing to live with the piles of books and other stuff offloaded from the bookcases and the dining room office equipment, because sometime within the next week and half, we'll have everything moved.

(Since BB's desktop died the final death this week, and can't be revived without a new motherboard and processor, he'll have to live with my laptop, while I use the work Mac. Once we have a little more money in the bank, he'll buy the equipment, install it, and raise the 'puter, like Lazarus, from the dead. But that's hardly a glitch in the new office plan.)

While we were unpacking the office, I ran across a box of really old completed and incomplete original fiction I'd written a long time ago. How long ago? Some of it is more than 30 years old and written on typewriter. Typewriter. And a lot of it sucked. But some of it looks as if I might be able to salvage it, and I'm intrigued by the idea of doing so; I think I've improved considerably as a writer, thanks to age, experience and fanfic writing, and I'd like to match that ability up with some of the raw good ideas in my old stories, then strip away a lot of the frankly horrific execution in my first attempts. We'll see.

And finally? Torchwood: Miracle Day, E4. Woo-hoo! I haven't written anything about the season prior to now because I haven't been posting a lot, period, but I have really enjoyed it thus far. I know a lot of my f'list, who don't find it to be, well, Torchwood-like, and who have noted an Americanization of the ambiance. BB has mentioned the same thing. I'm therefore in a minority when I say it feels precisely the way Torchwood at its best has always felt to me, with a minimum of adjustment for American audiences.

• Bright rogue agents of sometimes ambiguous character who nonetheless work for the forces of goodness, but who do excruciatingly stupid things at times? Check.
• Moments of emotionally riveting personal interaction followed by anvilicious thematic writing and autorial and acting scenery-chewing of one type or another? Check.
• Remarkable concepts occasionally torpedoed by bad pacing and over- or under-writing? Double check (although RTD's fellow writers have helped a lot this time around.)

So ... yeah, same Torchwood. Which I love. And its strength as speculative fiction continues to impress me. The acting is strong to superlative (Eve Myles never fails to wow me, Mekhi Phifer and Alexa Havins are welcome revelations, Arlene Tur is great as Dr. Vera Juarez, and John Barrowman is still hitting Jack Harkness out of the park — better than ever, in fact.)

In a slightly less sercon vein, and as I posted to azriona 's journal (she has a wonderful theory about who's behind the villainy):

I love your theories (although cryptic Mister I-Used-to-be-Just-As-Creepy-on-Criminal-M

inds-When-I-Screwed-Over-Hotch was talking about something that happened "a long time ago," which might eliminate Alice from the running.) I have a theory. It could be Daleks bunnies ...

And I'm thinking that Rex has more strategic ability as a matter of course than Jack or Gwen. Give the latter two specific tactical things, and they're awesome (and Gwen looked fabulous in that suit!), but they always screw up when they think of the bigger picture. Which may be the reason I love them. At least Esther has the excuse of being a non-field agent newbie.

All affectionate quibbling aside, the acting continues to be top rate, the small personal interactions are fantastic, and RTD and his writing team have turned this into a great piece of speculative fiction; they've imagined at least one realistic response to what Miracle Day might spawn socially and politically.

Well, this has been long, and I need to get some sleep, but I'm glad I had the chance to finally post something resembling real thought. Goodnight America, and all the ships at sea folks.

Comments

[green-maia.livejournal.com]

It's practically a tradition at Casakaffyr: plan to do too much, get nothing done, then obsess about inadequacy.

Were we separated at birth? :)


I stopped worrying about what I might not get done about halfway through the week.

Yay!


Still, we were able to move it all out into the hall, rent a carpet cleaner, and FB was able to come over and help BB move the two big bookcases. It's an altogether respectable start

Go you!


But some of it looks as if I might be able to salvage it, and I'm intrigued by doing so

Oh, wonderful!


I am so glad you're enjoying Torchwood: Miracle Day! I am too, and I agree with everything you say.

Eve Myles is just amazing!

[kaffy_r]

Were we separated at birth?

Heh ... I find that my fandom friends and I often share personality traits that make me sure we are all blood relatives.

And I'm glad you are liking Miracle Day, and I'm also tickled that you're another Eve Myles fan!

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Dear Kid,

We made your room into a sewing room. You can't move back in.

Love,

Parents.

---

I've been there.

K.

[dr-whuh.livejournal.com]

Dear Kid,

We made your room into a dungeo library.

[kaffy_r]

When I told Andy what we planned to do with his room, shortly after he indicated he planned to move out, I ended the description with "But don't worry. If you have to come back, you'll always have one of our desks to sleep under."

The parade of emotions across his face as I said this was amusing. Or perhaps that's too cruel?

[viomisehunt.livejournal.com]

Wow! You're the first long time Torchwood fan I have talk to who is not tepid about the show so far. I do love Eve, though. I liked her posh, upswing, Power-suit Alexis Carrington act this week. And I was liking the Dead is Dead campaign but they killed it too quickly. But I think the final twenty minutes made up for a lot--that was the kind of Torchwood I was waiting for.

Moving is my way of cleaning ....Not exactly fit for Hoarders yet, but extreme makeover can come and make me so closets and cabinets any time they wish.

[kaffy_r]

I was liking the Dead is Dead campaign but they killed it too quickly.

I'm not certain that Dead is Dead is actually, well, dead. There are six more episodes to go, and RTD has definitely done twists like that before.

Since moving to the condo, which is much smaller than our last apartment, I've been forced to learn how to live with less. It's a hard lesson, though.

[penguin2.livejournal.com]

Catching up a bit - after collecting episodes for weeks, last night we finally dipped a toe in the water and watched the first episode. My DB, who was silent for the entire episode, said afterwards that that was easily the worst thing RTD had ever put his name to (and he's always had mixed feelings about RTD, claiming quite rightly that the man's greatest strength - rabid fanboyism - is also his greatest weakness, so that's saying a lot), that he wanted to leave the room within the first few minutes and 'it only got worse', and that he would not be watching even a moment more of it. For my own part, I found all of DB's criticisms (horrible incompetent fanfic-level writing, risibly stupid plot progress, etc.) absolutely true, but see, I didn't give a flying feck because it's Eve as Gwen and I could happily watch Eve-as-Gwen read a shopping list.

So I shan't inflict any more Miracle Day on DB, and in truth I probably won't bother my arse to watch it on my own. Well, maybe someday. Maybe.

[kaffy_r]

By all means, don't inflict it on your best beloved, but if you have time to see it for yourself, I'd say go for it. I found the acting in general to be of very good to excellent quality, I'm still intrigued by the whole premise, and actually pleased, from the speculative fiction side of things, at the amount of thought the writing team has given to the concept.

The pacing Sucks The Big Suck, which is sad. But Jack and Gwen are worth it, and so - surprisingly, frighteningly - is Oswald Danes. Pullman makes it impossible to take your eyes off the man.

[penguin2.livejournal.com]

There's a point, yes - come for the Myles, stay for the Pullman :-) I've always enjoyed his work, and Danes is a surprising role (surprising in that one would expect them to have hired the other Bill P as he's made a long career of being creepy and sleazy in front of a camera)...