Wednesday, June 22, 2011

TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY - Some thoughts on the preview screening at the BFI


I went to the preview screening of the first episode “The New World” at the BFI in London yesterday. This is from last night at the airport when I waited for my flight back to France:


Okay, time to kill at the airport and I will start with some Miracle Day thoughts. They won’t be very coherent as I’m tired. lol First of all we were asked to not post spoilers. I personally think that there weren’t really big spoilers anyway because everything we’ve seen in this first episode was known or guessable if you followed the recent interviews, articles and trailers.

It was Torchwood and it was not. Felt strange in the beginning with all the new characters in the foreground and no Jack for a while but we still saw Gwen and Rhys and Andy, and they hadn’t changed a bit. And then Jack came in and he once again was the mysterious guy he was in the very first TW episode… for Esther and for the new viewers. Not for us of course, and there were several references to the past, funny and bittersweet ones (no, not Ianto!) which I won’t spoil here for you.

Rex had his first run-in with Wales (and Gwen!) and it was funny, really comical. (Especially when you - like me - have gone on this voyage before and taken a certain bridge. lol)

At lot of questions were asked and no answers given yet (though during the Q&A JB and RTD told us that they will all be answered during the series, and when it’s over in episode 10 we’ll know and understand everything). The first look into the Miracle as in people not dying shows already a bit the scope of the whole horror scenario that will certainly unfold.

All in all as different as it was to the former Torchwood series, I totally loved it, and the hour flew by so fast that we were shocked when it was already over. They then showed an extended trailer with scenes of what’s to come in the future but this was so fast-paced that it was a bit difficult to digest. But it all looked very exciting and I can’t wait to see the other 9 episodes. lol


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A Q&A with Russell T Davies, John Barrowman, Eve Myles and Bill Pullman followed the screening:

- The first thing John said immediately at the start without even being asked: “You’ll see me naked in this.” lol

- John was very very impressed to work especially with Bill Pullman but also with Ernie Hudson, Nana Visitor and John de Lancie etc. He used to watc
h them on TV, admired them and would never in his wildest dreams have thought to work with them one day and at Warner Bros. in Hollywood of all places.

- Bill Pullman didn’t even take two days and didn’t even finish reading his scripts before he told his agent to sign him up for MD. He was totally impressed by the quality of the story and Torchwood in general. He was afraid that crew and cast in Hollywood couldn’t do it justice but in the end everybody who worked on the show was up to the task and everything came nicely together.

- Eve and John said what they really like about the shows is that all characters are so human and nobody is perfect. That we fans can rely to them as they are all flawed. And still they become heros because they are thrown in the situation and just have to.

- RTD said that Jack and Gwen will definitely not get romantically involved. Their relationship is very deep and beyond that aspect. They are amazing friends and keep each other grounded and human. We’ll see more about it in MD and it won’t be that we expect.

- Jack and Oswald will have a very fascinating relationship when they finally meet. They are both child killers but for totally different reasons. They are both dark and recognise something of themselves in the other.

- John insisted that the show will stay true to its source and they have any intention to make it better for the fans, not let them down.

- John played a prank on Eve at the set. Waiting for her very early in the morning, crouching down hidden in her shower and jumping on and screeming at her when she arrived. Eve said she had never be frightened like that in her life and it almost led to a fallout with The Barrowman. lol






Photo and video by Cathy B., my friend and co-traveler