TV: Fight or Flight in Torchwood and Battlestar Galactica
(spoilers for Torchwood Day 4, Children of Earth)
This is the first major sci-fi event I’ve undertaken since the end of Battlestar Galactica. Doctor Who one-offs just don’t count.
In last night’s episode, Torchwood got dark. I knew it would get dark.
But in thinking about the impossible decision, I’m reminded of the greatness of Battlestar Galactica.
Sometimes I wonder … if fantastic things like this ever happened, could I ever think about them in realistic terms? Or have I been tainted and influenced by too many books, TV shows, and movies?
I mean… the answer is You Fight, right? You fight.
If you give up, then humanity becomes something else. Living in bondage is not the way humans are meant to live.
I think most people watching were appalled at the dealings around the government table and rooting for Jack and Torchwood to step in and do their thing.
But BSG offered another thought. When Roslin, right at the beginning in the mini-series, told Adama that they can’t stay and fight to the end. They lost. They got beat.
The thing to do now is run—and to live—for as long as it is possible to do so.
I remember freezing at the amazing truth of it.
To live is to have hope. To live is to have a future. To live is to have a chance down the road.
I was all for Adama’s fight to the last until I knew that Roslin was also right.
And that’s why Battlestar Galactica is a cut above.
In this Torchwood Day 4 episode, I think the quick acquiescence of the government automatically places the audience against them.
I’m sure there are plenty of scenes on the editing room floor, but we have to talk about the final version as we saw it.
They gave up out of cowardice and self-preservation. As long as they were safe for the immediate future, they were able to send others to their deaths.
Russell T. Davis could have made the choice, as it was presented, even more impossible if just a little more time was dedicated to the very real option of surrendering with courage—of choosing survival because it makes sense.
Heck, the Doctor even did that.
In Battlestar, multiple sides were simultaneously right and convincingly valid.
Last night, I didn’t even question my support of Torchwood as they unfurled their plan of defiance.
Kudos to the production team for making things go terribly wrong but … do we, the audience, think Torchwood made the wrong decision? Do we fault them for their choice?
I don’t think so.
And so, while the characters may have to struggle with their impossible choices, we at home are still left safe and confident in the team (now down to two).
I just don’t think Battlestar would have let us off with such little cost. BSG would have challenged me. I wouldn’t have been safe.