And how does it affect your argument to know that actually, the plot of this five parter was a developed by a *writing team*? That, unusually, Euros Lynn (director of the whole five episodes) was present and involved in the planning meetings at which the storyline was "broken" (as they say in the biz), well before even a single line of script was written or, indeed, a single epsiode allocated to a particular writer for drafting?
To me this suggests that what we've been seeing as RTD's personal failing is actually part of the Upper Boat culture; that this is actually how they believe SF stories *should* be resolved. Or perhaps that they just don't think plot resolutions are nearly as important as emotional ones.
But yeah... That is Children of Earth's one seriously glaring flaw: The resolution is rushed and illogical. Even allowing for the reversibility question you raise, there's the problems of (a) how they happen to have the needed gear ready to hand and not to do more than 30 seconds work on it to adapt it to purpose; (b) how they know it's actually going to work (or are they just desparate enough to try it on the off chance?) and (c) how, after the fact, they know it *has* worked. They see one individual of the 456 destroyed (and then miraculously sucked away, complete with the nasty mess of "blood"(?) on the windows), and one boy die. The rest... Presumably, it's just a case of waiting to see what happens next? And as it turns out, vast armies of 456 *don't* turn up and wreak terrible vengeance. Or at least, they haven't yet...
Was the individual just a lone rogue drugs dealer, bluffing about having the power to wipe out the species? Or was he actually hooked into the 456s power stucture at a very high level? The mere fact that he could take control of the planet's children on mass, make them "stop", surely gives him the power to end the human race within the length of time we would normally call a generation...
So yeah, lots of unanswered questions. Some are maybe deliberately ananswered, to leave scope for future stories about the 456... But as ever I'm left with the feeling that these questions are unanswered because they weren't asked, because they simply aren't where the writing team's attention was focussed.
What's good - DAMN good - about Children of Earth is what they did focus their attention on: The first seriously meaty attempt in decades, frankly, to use an SF plot to unpick some of the scariest and most relevent questions of our time. To actually hook a mainstream audience effectively enough, for long enough, that they could spend an entire hour going through the logic, and the illogic, and the compassion and the dispassion and the horror, without said audience reaching for the remote and hopping to something fluffier and less demanding, and get the whole nation talking about it the next day.
As someone said, a lovesong to Quatermass, in more ways than one.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 03:21 pm (UTC)To me this suggests that what we've been seeing as RTD's personal failing is actually part of the Upper Boat culture; that this is actually how they believe SF stories *should* be resolved. Or perhaps that they just don't think plot resolutions are nearly as important as emotional ones.
But yeah... That is Children of Earth's one seriously glaring flaw: The resolution is rushed and illogical. Even allowing for the reversibility question you raise, there's the problems of (a) how they happen to have the needed gear ready to hand and not to do more than 30 seconds work on it to adapt it to purpose; (b) how they know it's actually going to work (or are they just desparate enough to try it on the off chance?) and (c) how, after the fact, they know it *has* worked. They see one individual of the 456 destroyed (and then miraculously sucked away, complete with the nasty mess of "blood"(?) on the windows), and one boy die. The rest... Presumably, it's just a case of waiting to see what happens next? And as it turns out, vast armies of 456 *don't* turn up and wreak terrible vengeance. Or at least, they haven't yet...
Was the individual just a lone rogue drugs dealer, bluffing about having the power to wipe out the species? Or was he actually hooked into the 456s power stucture at a very high level? The mere fact that he could take control of the planet's children on mass, make them "stop", surely gives him the power to end the human race within the length of time we would normally call a generation...
So yeah, lots of unanswered questions. Some are maybe deliberately ananswered, to leave scope for future stories about the 456... But as ever I'm left with the feeling that these questions are unanswered because they weren't asked, because they simply aren't where the writing team's attention was focussed.
What's good - DAMN good - about Children of Earth is what they did focus their attention on: The first seriously meaty attempt in decades, frankly, to use an SF plot to unpick some of the scariest and most relevent questions of our time. To actually hook a mainstream audience effectively enough, for long enough, that they could spend an entire hour going through the logic, and the illogic, and the compassion and the dispassion and the horror, without said audience reaching for the remote and hopping to something fluffier and less demanding, and get the whole nation talking about it the next day.
As someone said, a lovesong to Quatermass, in more ways than one.
"Enjoyed" is not the word. =:o\