Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, streaming, Trailer, TV, YouTube | Tagged: bbc, bleeding cool, cable, Eve Myles, gareth david-lloyd, john barrowman, kai owen, science fiction, streaming, television, torchwood, torchwood children of earth, tv, uk

Torchwood: Children of Earth Supercut: As Shockingly Relevant As Ever

Doctor Who may be getting more attention with its supercuts, but Torchwood has been getting its fair share of supercuts on its official YouTube Channel as well. Now it's time for Torchwood: Children of Earth, the best, darkest season of the show to get the supercut treatment. And it still speaks to what's happening now.

Children of Earth was a major (British) television event in 2009. It burned with political anger in its Science Fiction allegory about the indifference the government shows towards people when things get bad. This is a recurring theme in Russell T. Davies' work that continued throughout his run on Doctor Who and also carried over to his most recent miniseries Years and Years. And he was willing to blow up the hugely popular show that he created, Torchwood, to pursue that theme. A government selfishly sacrificing children for its own survival and profit is surprisingly relevant to what's happening right now. Torchwood: Children of Earth was not a full season, but a 5-part miniseries. It also blew up the show and felt like a finale.

Torchwood: Children of Earth Was A Story About Heroes Failing

In this supercut version, you can see all the foreshadowing. Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd) meeting his family at the start pretty much signals he's going to die later on. Torchwood headquarters gets blown up. Peter Capaldi's searing performance as the civil servant who's a good soldier doing his duty only to be betrayed horribly by his government masters and his tragic end. The plot charts Torchwood's failure one step after another, especially when the government tries to destroy them before they can do anything.

Captain Jack's (John Barrowman) continuing tragedy of immortality that curses him to outlive everyone he loves, and the carelessness of being immortal. Gwen (Eve Myles) becoming more of a badass than ever. Her husband Rhy's (Kai Owen) ongoing jealousy at her attachment to Jack. Jack trying to be like The Doctor by confronting enemies without a plan and failing, which gets Ianto killed. The horror of the aliens' real agenda for taking Earth's children. Jack sacrificing his own grandson to save the world and losing ties with his family forever. The end of Torchwood as we know it.

Whatever team has been putting these edits together deserves an award for picking the biggest and most important moments from the show. The miniseries was a huge hit in the UK but many fans hated it for killing off Ianto. It also seemed to kill off the show but Davies ended up running Torchwood: Miracle Day which the BBC co-produced with US cable network Starz two years later. That series was hugely flawed and ended up becoming the final season of the show, but more because Davies had to take time off to care for his partner, who underwent a serious medical condition. Fans live in hope that Torchwood or at least Captain Jack will return.

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