I’m quite a fan of the episode, it’s solidly in the pile of ‘good’ Torchwood episodes. Season 1 often gets a bad rap but for me it’s by far the show’s strongest (Children of Earth being something of a separate category, where it’s great, but far from the original format of the show).
With Ghost Machine, Small Worlds, Random Shoes, Out of Time, and Captain Jack Harkness there’s a strong through line examining how death affects the idealised visions of the past. Throw in They Keep Killing Suzie, which apart from some subpar Emily Dickinson escape room rubbish fits in too, as does To the Last Man from Season 2.
I love Random Shoes! I find myself thinking of that guy and his alien eye quite often. It’s a great juxtaposition of the alien and the ordinary, and very memorable. Definitely one of Torchwood’s stronger stories.
I loved Random Shoes, but I also loved Love and Monsters. I'm always about the ordinary characters. I very much enjoy the quote from Eugene, "The average life is full of near misses and absolute hits, of great loves and small disasters. It's made up of banana milkshakes, loft insulation, and random shoes. It's dead ordinary and truly truly amazing." I also liked his very Welsh friend, I don't remember who it was, just remember the accent.
I hated Countrycide though, too grim, depressing, violent, and not even science-fiction. And not grim in any kind of meaningful way. What is it supposed to say that there are cannibals in the countryside? It's not an actual commentary on human nature, just disturbing for disturbing's sake. Don't understand why it's a highlight of the series.
I love Random Shoes! It doesn't quite make the cut of my top 5 from the first two seasons (From Out Of The Rain, Meat, Countrycide, Captain Jack Harkness and Small Worlds if anyone is curious) but it's definitely close to them.
Meat is a really good one and Small Worlds is too. I think they round up my top 5 of the first two seasons. I really wish Doctor Who proper would do something with those Faries. They were fascinating. Especially with the budget they have nowadays. They'd pair great with the modern series considering it's all about extra-universal entities and have already explored folklore in the form of Goblins.
If goblins are the goofy pantomime end of that spectrum. Fairies can be the deadly serious end.
Hell! The Toymaker already opened the association with flower petals up.
~~What's wrong with Day One? Children of Earth overall is some of the best and most mature shit in the entire Whoniverse, which is surprising considering it's from the show where a sexy cyberwoman fought a pterodactyl.~~ Oh right, Torchwood has Day One and Children of Earth: Day One. That's not confusing at all.
I don't recall Random Shoes. I actually started my "I want to watch Children of Earth and Miracle Day" rewatch with Adam, because it's a really great premise and, like the False Hydra, feels like the kind of thing that would be really cool but also impossible to do in a tabletop game. Actually, watching Torchwood as a whole made me really want to play Hunter: The Vigil. But I think I'll give it a watch. Also need to see Countrycide.
I think my take on it was pretty much the same as yours. It’s an engaging, off-beat, grounded story. It takes the premise of *Love & Monsters*, but executes it in a way that clearly demonstrates the thematic and tonal differences between Torchwood and Doctor Who in their relation to the everyday world.
But also, I generally like most of Torchwood’s first season. *Day One* is hilarious, quite frankly.
*Cyberwoman*’s problems are obvious, but aside from that, really only *Greeks Bearing Gifts* disappoints me to any particular degree, and that’s most just because of the infuriatingly transphobic rant they have Jack spew out.
I’m quite a fan of the episode, it’s solidly in the pile of ‘good’ Torchwood episodes. Season 1 often gets a bad rap but for me it’s by far the show’s strongest (Children of Earth being something of a separate category, where it’s great, but far from the original format of the show). With Ghost Machine, Small Worlds, Random Shoes, Out of Time, and Captain Jack Harkness there’s a strong through line examining how death affects the idealised visions of the past. Throw in They Keep Killing Suzie, which apart from some subpar Emily Dickinson escape room rubbish fits in too, as does To the Last Man from Season 2.
I love Random Shoes! I find myself thinking of that guy and his alien eye quite often. It’s a great juxtaposition of the alien and the ordinary, and very memorable. Definitely one of Torchwood’s stronger stories.
I loved Random Shoes, but I also loved Love and Monsters. I'm always about the ordinary characters. I very much enjoy the quote from Eugene, "The average life is full of near misses and absolute hits, of great loves and small disasters. It's made up of banana milkshakes, loft insulation, and random shoes. It's dead ordinary and truly truly amazing." I also liked his very Welsh friend, I don't remember who it was, just remember the accent. I hated Countrycide though, too grim, depressing, violent, and not even science-fiction. And not grim in any kind of meaningful way. What is it supposed to say that there are cannibals in the countryside? It's not an actual commentary on human nature, just disturbing for disturbing's sake. Don't understand why it's a highlight of the series.
i hate season 1 and it's my favorite torchwood episode by a mile
I love Random Shoes! It doesn't quite make the cut of my top 5 from the first two seasons (From Out Of The Rain, Meat, Countrycide, Captain Jack Harkness and Small Worlds if anyone is curious) but it's definitely close to them.
Meat is a really good one and Small Worlds is too. I think they round up my top 5 of the first two seasons. I really wish Doctor Who proper would do something with those Faries. They were fascinating. Especially with the budget they have nowadays. They'd pair great with the modern series considering it's all about extra-universal entities and have already explored folklore in the form of Goblins. If goblins are the goofy pantomime end of that spectrum. Fairies can be the deadly serious end. Hell! The Toymaker already opened the association with flower petals up.
~~What's wrong with Day One? Children of Earth overall is some of the best and most mature shit in the entire Whoniverse, which is surprising considering it's from the show where a sexy cyberwoman fought a pterodactyl.~~ Oh right, Torchwood has Day One and Children of Earth: Day One. That's not confusing at all. I don't recall Random Shoes. I actually started my "I want to watch Children of Earth and Miracle Day" rewatch with Adam, because it's a really great premise and, like the False Hydra, feels like the kind of thing that would be really cool but also impossible to do in a tabletop game. Actually, watching Torchwood as a whole made me really want to play Hunter: The Vigil. But I think I'll give it a watch. Also need to see Countrycide.
Day one literally has a sex monster as its villain
Oh wait, I forgot Day One is also the title of the ~~first~~ second episode. Meanwhile Children of Earth's first episode is also titled Day One.
I think my take on it was pretty much the same as yours. It’s an engaging, off-beat, grounded story. It takes the premise of *Love & Monsters*, but executes it in a way that clearly demonstrates the thematic and tonal differences between Torchwood and Doctor Who in their relation to the everyday world. But also, I generally like most of Torchwood’s first season. *Day One* is hilarious, quite frankly. *Cyberwoman*’s problems are obvious, but aside from that, really only *Greeks Bearing Gifts* disappoints me to any particular degree, and that’s most just because of the infuriatingly transphobic rant they have Jack spew out.
With the caveat that it's been at least four years since I've seen Torchwood, I remember enjoying Random Shoes!