Skip to main content

TV on DVD: "Torchwood: Children of Earth"

Just four days after the end of Torchwood: Children of Earth here in the US, BBC Video is releasing the two-disc set for the epic mini-series from writers Russell T. Davies, John Fay, and James Moran.

While I've not only reviewed the mini-series in full (my advance review of the five-night event can be found here), I also wrote up each installment of the series' limited run (Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, and Day Five) and offered up a two-part interview with executive producer Julie Gardner (which can be found here and here).

Over the course of the five taut installments, Davies and Co. manage to break the alien fighting team in half, push the series' characters well beyond their breaking points, and bring us piece of a politically and socially-minded action-adventure-sci-fi television making that is absolutely extraordinary in its scope.

Make no mistake: this is an alien contact story unlike any other but the writers wisely craft a series that tells parallel plots: bringing the viewer both a street-level view of the crisis (via the families of our main characters) and inside Whitehall and Thames House. The result is an acute portrait of a world where morality is a nebulous term that is easily compromised and blood sacrifice demanded.

The two-disc box set for Torchwood: Children of Earth, available for purchase today, contains unedited versions of all five episodes of Children of Earth, along with a DVD-exclusive featurette entitled "Torchwood: Declassified," featuring interviews with the cast and crew of Torchwood.

All in all, viewers who enjoyed Torchwood: Children of Earth would be wise to pick up the box set. Despite its grim tone, the mini-series remains spellbinding, utterly original, and fantastically gripping, even on repeat viewing.

Torchwood: Children of Earth is available for purchase on DVD for a suggested retail price of $29.98. Or you can pick one up in the Televisionary store for just $14.49.

Comments

AskRachel said…
Thanks for all of your great coverage on this project. I can't believe all of the negative backlash it's getting. I found Children of Earth to be exhilarating and very compelling storytelling. I would definitely watch it again on DVD.

Popular posts from this blog

What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.

Pilot Inspektor: CBS' "Smith"

I may just have to change my original "What I'll Be Watching This Fall" post, as I sat down and finally watched CBS' new crime drama Smith this weekend. (What? It's taken me a long time to make my way through the stack of pilot DVDs.) While it's on following Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars on Tuesday nights (10 pm ET/PT, to be exact), I'm going to be sure to leave enough room on my TiVo to make sure that I catch this compelling, amoral drama. While one can't help but be impressed by what might just be the most marquee-friendly cast in primetime--Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Jonny Lee Miller, Amy Smart, Simon Baker, and Franky G all star and Shohreh Aghdashloo has a recurring role--the pilot's premise alone earned major points in my book: it's a crime drama from the point of view of the criminals, who engage in high-stakes heists. But don't be alarmed; it's nothing like NBC's short-lived Heist . Instead, think of it as The Italian