Fully agree, it was a good format with great potential, and could have run for a lot longer.
In fact it was so good that ITV ripped it off with Primeval of course! ;-)
Both were made at the same time... despite claims Primeval started out nothing like Doctor Who or Torchwood... it admittedly went more that way as time went on. Gah, I miss Primeval.
I loved Torchwood for what it was. There were very bad episodes in there, but some absolute hits as well. Series 2's Adrift was amazing stuff, and I think the start of a bit of a renaissance for the show which lasted until the end of Children of Earth.
Miracle Day tried riding on the successful format of its predecessor and it failed. The show became exactly what it was trying not to be and frankly deserved cancellation after those ten abysmally written episodes - I haven't even bothered to buy it.
I wouldn't mind the show to come back in a Victorian setting - a period-sci-fi drama would be very different! You could even somehow bring in a cameo for Jack and 'Gwyneth' at a push, though I think it'd be better with original characters. Maybe even relocate it to Scotland, what with Edinburgh having its eerie underground streets and such Of course, all of this seems to be an indication the show is dead anyway, but I loved the idea all the same.
I still think it should return!! Miracle Day wasn't all bad, there were some great episodes! It seems a lot of people didn't even watch it, for one reason or another...
I say go for a co-production with Amazon (the new series of Ripper Street has been made this way).
I still think it should return!! Miracle Day wasn't all bad, there were some great episodes! It seems a lot of people didn't even watch it, for one reason or another...
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If I remember rightly I think the final BARB ratings for the first episode of MD were TW highest ever , but they went downhill from there.. Then the ratings picked up again for the last episode, as people turned in again expecting to see aliens (at last) and were confronted with THAT
Its a great shame in many ways because Children of Earth was SO good, and its viewing figures were amazing. Not quite 'event telly' in the way Broadchurch was, but it was a success critically and with viewers generally - six and a half million viewers for all five episodes.
Personally I think Miracle Day could have replicated that success if it had followed the same pattern - five episodes shown over five consecutive nights. There was a lot of great stuff in Miracle Day but it was simply too long.
So I'm actually quite sad about this. It would have been nice to see the show brought back for a last hurrah. But maybe the BBC think it is too closely linked with Doctor Who from 2005-2009 and is old hat now.
It would be nice to have a spin off show again though.
Its a great shame in many ways because Children of Earth was SO good, and its viewing figures were amazing. Not quite 'event telly' in the way Broadchurch was, but it was a success critically and with viewers generally - six and a half million viewers for all five episodes.
It was pretty impressive consistent results for a week-long event.
Not sure if it could be repeated - on one hand the gimmick effect is gone, on the other hand, online TV services are now releasing entire series in one go and allowing people to watch on their own schedule, perhaps that's the natural evolution of this sort of event.
Either way, I think Torchwood's willingness to re-invent itself is both laudable, and a hurdle to keeping viewers watching.
I loved the early Torchwood with all the crew killing monsters every week. Once they started killing off main characters I started to lose interest. I didn't like the direction the show was going.
Your right there. Maybe one but to kill off 3 out of your cast of 5 killed off the show for me. The death of lanto was totally unnecessary. The replacements in miracle day you just could not warm to or care about
Ianto's death was what did it for me too. I ceased caring about the show after that. I didn't like the Children of Earth format and never managed to summon sufficient interest to watch Miracle Day.
Pity if this is true. I wonder who the "top people" are who have decided this. I liked the first three seasons, but hated Miracle Day. If they had kept to a five programme format, left out the Americans and thought of a decent reason why this "MIRACLE" had happened then it might have worked. I still think Torchwood could come back in one shape or another and at the very least I hope to see Jack appear in Who at some point in the future. Sorry RTD but it looks like Miracle Day has killed your baby.
Definitely a miscommunication, I've just posted a link to the panel it came from on the Barrowman! thread. I don't think it had anything to do with the new DW series at all.
Having watched that link, I have to say that it's not clear where the quoted text came from, but it does look a bit like it was a reference to earlier Who series.
Until it has been confirmed that Torchwood has been axed, I will take what JB says with a pinch of salt.
To be fair, Barrowman probably wants it to go on more than most. I don't imagine him saying it unless there's an element of truth to it.
On the brighter side though, at least it won't be so difficult to bring the Captain Jack character back to Doctor Who at some stage if he's not obliged to appear in Torchwood instead. I wouldn't mind a two-part story next year that sees Jack and River appear together... the two big recurring characters that were never companions of newer Doctor Who. I'd love River to appear alongside a third Doctor, and for Jack to appear to mark the tenth anniversary of Doctor Who's return. The two would be brilliant together! Maybe a finale appearance in Series 9.
Aside from that though, I'm looking forward to new, new, new.
Both were made at the same time... despite claims Primeval started out nothing like Doctor Who or Torchwood... it admittedly went more that way as time went on. Gah, I miss Primeval.
Unfortunately the first episode of Primeval aired four months after the first episode of Torchwood, which to me made it look like a bit of a rip-off.
It may not have been intended to be, but the format was just too similar.
OK it was "anomalies" instead of a "rift" and it was creatures from the past that were coming through rather than alien artefacts, but the whole team setup was just too close.
I don't actually miss Primeval at all. Although it did have its good moments, it also had some of the worst acting I'd seen on TV for a very long time (in my opinion of course!)
I also found it hard to forgive them for just rebooting it from one series to the next and completely ignoring previous story lines which were still in progress, as if they'd never existed!
What was the reason behind the miracle, I don't think I finished watching the series
From wiki:
...the Blessing, a literal blood line that runs between these points [Shanghai and Buenos Aires] through the Earth, and that they [the Family] had sent a quantity of Jack's blood from his previous bloodletting into the Blessing, which "rewrote" his immortality across the rest of humanity as a defensive (sic) mechanism.
I loved every moment of Torchwood, apart from random shoes( the love and monsters of he series) and it is sad that it wont come back , but we have the legacy and who knows? Jack may appear in DW again in the future? how cool would he be with capaldi?
I loved the early Torchwood with all the crew killing monsters every week. Once they started killing off main characters I started to lose interest. I didn't like the direction the show was going.
I loved Torchwood in a way, especially it's "no-one is safe" mantra, probably borrowed from Joss in that even if you're a regular cast member, even if another regular cast member has recently died, don't think that raises the character shields and you're safe from now on
Miracle Day I thought was very brave, particularly in some of its choice of characters.
And the last 2 series had two of the most "alien" aliens we've ever seen on Television.
Whatever you want to criticise them for, not for the Whoniverse a human actor with a bit of plastic on its nose to denote "Alien!"
Bye bye Torchwood, thank you for making the Whoniverse that little bit richer and for giving us a slightly different perspective on it all
I loved Torchwood in a way, especially it's "no-one is safe" mantra, probably borrowed from Joss in that even if you're a regular cast member, even if another regular cast member has recently died, don't think that raises the character shields and you're safe from now on
While I hated Ianto's death, totally gut wrenching. I do respect the show for creating a genuinely dangerous world - unlike say Warehouse 13 which talks about it but only permanently killed one character over it's five seasons.
And quite frankly the only think left to happen on Torchwood was for Gwen to die and I don't think RTD wanted to write that scene so I'm not that surprised. That said I really hope they continue with Books and Audiobooks and stuff. In someways I think the show might be better suited to these where constraints of budget and censorship are much less.
I loved the entire series to be honest , I really enjoyed Children of the Earth , the concept was brilliant and the tension of each episode made it thrilling to watch.
However i do agree that Miracle Day felt entirely different the the previous seasons but it was still great viewing.
While I hated Ianto's death, totally gut wrenching. I do respect the show for creating a genuinely dangerous world - unlike say Warehouse 13 which talks about it but only permanently killed one character over it's five seasons.
I loved that the show was serious in its risk of killing characters - much the same as Blake's 7 was in its day. But Ianto felt like he was only half-way through his character arc, which was a shame. Plus, he always got the best lines.
Comments
Both were made at the same time... despite claims Primeval started out nothing like Doctor Who or Torchwood... it admittedly went more that way as time went on. Gah, I miss Primeval.
I loved Torchwood for what it was. There were very bad episodes in there, but some absolute hits as well. Series 2's Adrift was amazing stuff, and I think the start of a bit of a renaissance for the show which lasted until the end of Children of Earth.
Miracle Day tried riding on the successful format of its predecessor and it failed. The show became exactly what it was trying not to be and frankly deserved cancellation after those ten abysmally written episodes - I haven't even bothered to buy it.
I wouldn't mind the show to come back in a Victorian setting - a period-sci-fi drama would be very different! You could even somehow bring in a cameo for Jack and 'Gwyneth' at a push, though I think it'd be better with original characters. Maybe even relocate it to Scotland, what with Edinburgh having its eerie underground streets and such
I say go for a co-production with Amazon (the new series of Ripper Street has been made this way).
If I remember rightly I think the final BARB ratings for the first episode of MD were TW highest ever , but they went downhill from there.. Then the ratings picked up again for the last episode, as people turned in again expecting to see aliens (at last) and were confronted with THAT
Personally I think Miracle Day could have replicated that success if it had followed the same pattern - five episodes shown over five consecutive nights. There was a lot of great stuff in Miracle Day but it was simply too long.
So I'm actually quite sad about this. It would have been nice to see the show brought back for a last hurrah. But maybe the BBC think it is too closely linked with Doctor Who from 2005-2009 and is old hat now.
It would be nice to have a spin off show again though.
Not sure if it could be repeated - on one hand the gimmick effect is gone, on the other hand, online TV services are now releasing entire series in one go and allowing people to watch on their own schedule, perhaps that's the natural evolution of this sort of event.
Either way, I think Torchwood's willingness to re-invent itself is both laudable, and a hurdle to keeping viewers watching.
Seasons 1 and 2 had brief flashes of potential amidst a wave of utter garbage. Children of Earth is where they absolutely nailed it.
To be fair, Barrowman probably wants it to go on more than most. I don't imagine him saying it unless there's an element of truth to it.
On the brighter side though, at least it won't be so difficult to bring the Captain Jack character back to Doctor Who at some stage if he's not obliged to appear in Torchwood instead. I wouldn't mind a two-part story next year that sees Jack and River appear together... the two big recurring characters that were never companions of newer Doctor Who. I'd love River to appear alongside a third Doctor, and for Jack to appear to mark the tenth anniversary of Doctor Who's return. The two would be brilliant together! Maybe a finale appearance in Series 9.
Aside from that though, I'm looking forward to new, new, new.
It may not have been intended to be, but the format was just too similar.
OK it was "anomalies" instead of a "rift" and it was creatures from the past that were coming through rather than alien artefacts, but the whole team setup was just too close.
I don't actually miss Primeval at all. Although it did have its good moments, it also had some of the worst acting I'd seen on TV for a very long time (in my opinion of course!)
I also found it hard to forgive them for just rebooting it from one series to the next and completely ignoring previous story lines which were still in progress, as if they'd never existed!
From wiki:
There you go... Clear as mud!
Agree. It lost its way completely.
Miracle Day I thought was very brave, particularly in some of its choice of characters.
And the last 2 series had two of the most "alien" aliens we've ever seen on Television.
Whatever you want to criticise them for, not for the Whoniverse a human actor with a bit of plastic on its nose to denote "Alien!"
Bye bye Torchwood, thank you for making the Whoniverse that little bit richer and for giving us a slightly different perspective on it all
While I hated Ianto's death, totally gut wrenching. I do respect the show for creating a genuinely dangerous world - unlike say Warehouse 13 which talks about it but only permanently killed one character over it's five seasons.
And quite frankly the only think left to happen on Torchwood was for Gwen to die and I don't think RTD wanted to write that scene so I'm not that surprised. That said I really hope they continue with Books and Audiobooks and stuff. In someways I think the show might be better suited to these where constraints of budget and censorship are much less.
However i do agree that Miracle Day felt entirely different the the previous seasons but it was still great viewing.
Can I trade you DVDs? My Miracle Day is as nowhere near as good as yours.