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Torchwood Season 3 Episode 1

Children of Earth: Day One

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Aired Wednesday 9:00 PM Jul 06, 2009 on BBC Two

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9.3

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 7/6/09

There is a mysterious signal reaching out to large groups of helpless children. When the Torchwood team gets involved, they inadvertently place themselves in mortal danger.

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Fan Episode Reviews (14)

Great Start to Series 3

9.0

By NormanSFletcher, Jun 05, 2013

The 3 main charachters from Torchwood are back. Many interesting storylines are opened up, the children from the 60's possibly sacrificed, the Government's knowledge of an Alien plot "456" and some Black Ops group attempting to close Torchwood down. All as a backdrop to some Alien manipulation of the "Children of Earth". Can't wait for the next episode!

(A couple of things I could have done without, that don't seem to add to the plot, the joyriders and the kiss, but perhaps they will have significance later?)moreless
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torchwood is back!

9.0

By alexjones555, Sep 06, 2011

after a very long wait, torchwood is finally back on our screens, albeit for only a 5 episode story arc.

This episode gets the story off to a good start. A lot of the episode moved rather slowly, although this is to be expected from the first episode as it serves mainly as set-up. There were some good bits though, all those children saying "we are coming" was pretty freaky, and the end of the episode ends on a pretty good cliffhanger, though it's unlikely that jack is gonna die. One of my main complaints is the bit about Gwen being pregnant, i really hope this doesn't dominate the plot line, i don't want torchwood to turn into a soap opera. all in all this episode shows a lot of promise, time will tell whether the rest of the story can deliver on that promise.moreless
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The survivors of the Torchwood team work to solve the mystery of children stopping around the world, and then chanting 'We are coming' in a sinister alien voice. But as with any Torchwood adventure, this is only the beginning...moreless

9.5

By Razza1090, Sep 06, 2011

It's clear from the word 'go' that the series has been revamped. It seems more polished (not to say that that's a criticism of the previous series). Although it's not quite as edgy as the previous two series (the documentary-style cinematography is gone completely), it certainly seems more cinematic.

I'm sure fans will be wondering how the absence of Owen and Toshiko affects the show. It's notable, but doesn't harm the episode in any way. There's a brief homage to them in the opening moments when Gwen tends to a photograph of the pair: it's nice to know they haven't been forgotten.

Although some may say that this episode seemed too 'soapy', it serves to show us a new side to characters we thought we knew so well. Jack has a daughter and a grandson, and Ianto has a nephew. The scene in which Ianto reveals his relationship with Jack to his sister is particularly well handled.

As for the cliffhanger, it's certainly way up there with the best out of any Doctor Who, Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures episode. The sudden events in the final moments set your pulse racing and leave you exhausted. The odds are stacked against our heroes, and it seems that events can only get worse. (Trust me, they will!)

Ultimately, this is a treat for fans of the series (as long as they welcome change) and a great vehicle for recruiting new viewers. The move to BBC1 has affected the production values, but it's neither better nor worse. It's simply terrific as always.

Will I be watching tomorrow? Yes I will.moreless
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First hour of genuinely gripping television i've seen in a while.

10

By jedsocrazy, Sep 07, 2010

Wow. What a great start to the new series. I was really suprised. I don't know why my expectations were so low for this season of torchwood, i've always enjoyed the previous seasons, but tonights opener really drew me in. I know i said so above, but i haven't been this gripped by an hour of television in a while and thats really saying something. I've been waiting for the new series of torchwood and eagerly tracking its progress and production for over a year now and i gotta say, it was really worth the wait.

If anything, this episode is better than anything thats come before it. Torchwood really stepped itself up a gear and if it continues this kind of quality throughout the four hours yet to come, then i'm in four a whole week of quality television. The show seems to of taken on an almost movie like quality. The stakes are greater, the characters are miles out of their comfort zone and the scale of the plot has become a hell of a lot more epic. There are a few twists and turns in the plot that i won't spoil, but really wish i could discuss as they kind of took my by surprise, which is saying something. The acting was fantastic all round and if anything the lead characters have become even more compelling and likeable than in previous series, if thats possible. It may just be that a whole series is easier to produce when it runs at five hours instead of thirteen or it may be that russell t davies has stepped up and taken a more active role in the shows production than he has in previous years. Either way i cannot wait for tomorrow nights broadcast and after this review i might just go back and rewatch tonights episode. This is what television should be and come to think of it, it's what torchwood had the potential to be all along. I'm not saying it was a bad show before. Far from it, i thinks its one of the best british shows to come out in recent years. But it's finally become what it could have been all along. A gripping and epic drama with the primetime timeslot it deserves.moreless
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The story starts back in 1969,

10

By milliemoney, Sep 07, 2010

in Scotland with a bunch of children On a bus, The bus stops and they see this white light the children get of the bus and start Walking to the light all except for one he gets scared and runs away it then starts One morning in this time and now in 20009 when a spate of traffic accidents caused by children coming to a sudden standstill alerts Torchwood to strange goings-on-and becomes clear that, at 8.40 GMT, every child in the world came to a temporary stop.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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John Barrowman	Captain Jack Harkness
Eve Myles	Gwen Cooper
Gareth David-Lloyd	Ianto Jones

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Peter Capaldi	John Frobisher	Guest Star
Paul Copley	Clement McDonald	Guest Star
Nicholas Farrell	Brian Green	Guest Star
Kai Owen	Rhys Williams	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (3)
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- When Lois Habiba was reading The Torchwood Charter, we can read that the charter was set by Queen Victoria in 1879. In front of the queen's name, there is an abbreviation of "HRH", which means "Her Royal Highness". However, Queen Victoria was coronated in 1838, thus she was the monarch at that time, and abbreviation of "HM – Her Majesty" should have been written instead. "HRH" is associated only with the members of the royal family besides queens and kings.
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- Shooting goof - at approximately 17 minutes, 43 seconds into the episode, all the children start a wide open-mouthed scream, but the boy seen clearly in the scene at around 18 minutes, 12 seconds (with an adult in shot) isn't in this pose.
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- Shooting goof - at approximately 17.30 into the episode (the second time the children are completely paralyzed), the camera pans through a schoolyard filled with children wearing blue sweaters, and then a schoolyard with children wearing red blazers and red ties. In that shot, the blond child on the extreme right (supposedly paralyzed) is looking directly at the camera as it pans by him, then shifts his gaze to straight ahead as he realizes the camera is pointing at him.
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QUOTES (8)
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- Colonel Oduya: As far as we can tell, at 8:40 this morning, every single child in the world... stopped.
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- Gwen: Who's back?
  Jack: What's he doing?
  Ianto: Waiting, just like you said. He's been there 20 minutes.
  Jack: Persistent.
  Ianto: Good sign.
  Jack: Dogmatic.
  Ianto: Always a plus.
  Gwen: Oh, Christ, never work with a couple, you two talk like twins!
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- Rupesh: My first case, my first death, was a suicide. Do you know why she did it? 'Cause she had written all these letters. She'd been a Christian all her life, and then alien life appears. She wrote this bit, she said, "it's like science has won".
  Gwen: Lost her faith.
  Rupesh: More than that. She said she saw her place in the universe, and it was tiny. She died because she thought she was nothing.
  Gwen: I went through that, even now I get terrified. But at the same time, it is brilliant. And beautiful. And completely bloody magic. It's bigger, you know. It's like, it's like the whole wide world is bigger. My life is bigger.
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- Rupesh: What's in there?
  Gwen: Big science-fiction superbase. Honestly! See you.
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- Clement McDonald: What's that thing?
  Gwen: The technical name is a gizmo.
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- Rupesh: (Referring to Jack) He was dead.
  Johnson: Now he's dead again. And we'll keep killing him till he's ready.
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- Alice: (To Captain Jack) Yeah. I just can't stand it, Dad. I look older than you do and it's never going to stop. I get older and older and you stay the same. One day you're going to be standing at my funeral, looking just like you did when you were standing at Mum's. No wonder she was so furious. You make us feel old.
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- Gwen: (Driving whilst on hands-free phone) Oh my God, Severn Bridge. I'm going in to England, farewell forever.
  Rhys: (Continuing joke) Good luck, have you got currency?
  Gwen: Yes, and I've had my injections. See ya.
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NOTES (2)
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- Injoke: The "For Sale" sign at the house Rhys is thinking of buying lists the names of two real estate agents: Frost and Lynch. Mark Frost and David Lynch are two television writers, directors, and producers who have worked together on several television series, including Twin Peaks. This is the same agency that Torchwood investigated in the episode "Combat".
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- International Air Dates:
  United States: July 20, 2009
  Germany: September 16, 2009 on RTL II
  Sweden: February 18, 2010 on TV4
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Gwen Cooper says the infamous line "what's occurring?" to a character in an early sequence of the episode. This line is said by main character Nessa Jenkins (Ruth Jones) in the BBC sitcom, Gavin & Stacey.
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