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by Elliotte Rusty Harold.
Original Post: Children of Star Trek
Feed Title: Mokka mit Schlag
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Children of Earth just finished on BBC America last night, and despite having to get up at 5:15 A.M. this morning for a marsh census, I couldn’t avoid staying up to watch it. Wow. Russell T. Davies surpassed himself and reached new levels of creepiness with this one.
Sadly it was marred by an ending that would have embarrassed a Star Trek TNG writer. Torchwood might as well have saved the day by reversing the polarity on the deflector shields. It was that bad. I can think of at least five preferable and more plausible endings: (Light spoilers follow)
The Ultimate Creepy Ending
The aliens win. The government hands over the children as promised.
I actually thought this might happen since Episode 5 left so little time to resolve the story. Sadly, Davies just reversed polarity on the deflector shields instead. :-(
The Independence Day Ending
Torchwood hands over some children but first infects them with a virus that kills the aliens. This would have fit well with the general theme of choosing between awful and even more awful alternatives that underlay the whole miniseries. It’s closest to the ending they actually did, but would have been at least somewhat more plausible if it had been set up right, and somewhat more time had been devoted to it.
The Good Star Trek Ending
A Star Trek: Best of Both Worlds variant could have somehow used Clement’s connection to the 456 to reveal a weakness Torchwood could exploit. As is, he just proved to be a colossal red herring with no real purpose in the story at all.
The Hollywood Blockbuster Ending
Episode 5 goes in a completely different direction with Torchwood somehow invading and destroying the enemy ships with lots of ray guns and big space battles.
The Turning the Tables Ending
More in keeping with the theme of the series (and on a much cheaper special effects budget) Torchwood takes advantage of the aliens’ addiction to manipulate them. Once you know someone’s a drug addict, you can make them do just about anything. No reason to think aliens are any different aside from their drug of choice.
No Deus ex Machinae Please
I suspect the bottom line is that Davies just wrote himself into a corner; and had too little time and too few pages left to resolve the conflict between the 456 and Torchwood. After all, the real focus of the episode was on the conflict between Torchwood and the government. Nonetheless a little more prior thought could have told pretty much the same story with a much more satisfying ending. Instead, it was more like a great murder mystery until the author introduces a new character on the second-to-last page and reveals this never before mentioned individual as the culprit. Davies can do better.
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