Children Of Earth: What if it were a Doctor Who story?

[Coco Pops]

Was that title a play on the movie "Children Of Men?" I keep wondering that.

But here lies my question. I know Torchwood is geared to a different audience, the episodes being more adult and such, but when I watched the first series the "more adult" stuff just seemed to revolve around sex and smut.

Anyway I digress... I'm wondering if the COE story had been a Doctor Who story would it have been written any differently, and would the Doctor have been able to save the day?

Just wondering what opinions, thoughts you guys might have.

COE isn't available in Australia yet either on TV or DVD stupid TV networks and licensing stuff. w*nk**s

[Ashizuri]

Considering how clever the Doctor is, and that the solution to defeating the 456 was a simple "reverse the polarity" situation, I imagine the Doctor would have saved the day quite early on. Take out Stephen's death and rework Day 5 into something less bleak and hopeless and it could have been a Who story. Really, the only thing that made it a little too dark for Who was Stephen's end and the fact that the good guys didn't win, the bad guys lost. I mean, CoE was just a darker retelling of the Christmas Invasion.

Interestingly enough, my biggest issue with CoE was that, as a part of the much larger whoniverse, stories that take place on a global scale only work (IMO) if all the character's are working together, like in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End. The entire time I was waiting for Sarah Jane to show up, because you can bet that when her pint size protege's all stopped and started speaking in unison she'd have whipped out her sonic-lipstick and her alien detecting watch and helped team Torchwood save the day. *shrugs*

[Dakota Bob]

If Children of Earth was a DW story, the amount of complaints the BBC would get would make them cancel the show, a story that dark for a show that has a large audience of younguns would not end well.

[Coco Pops]

If Children of Earth was a DW story, the amount of complaints the BBC would get would make them cancel the show, a story that dark for a show that has a large audience of younguns would not end well.

Actually DW has a higher death toll then Torchwood.. I think COE would fit in there with some tweaking.

[DigiFluid]

Actually DW has a higher death toll then Torchwood.. I think COE would fit in there with some tweaking.

That's because Doctor Who has about 30 seasons on Torchwood

[Zarius]

COTE has nothing on the infamous hand-crushing scene in Attack of the Cybermen...except maybe that little nose-bleed at the end

[Coco Pops]

That's because Doctor Who has about 30 seasons on Torchwood

Even the last 4 series of the New Doctor Who combined have a higer death toll then Torchwood. In "rose" for example there must have been hundreds of dead folk in that shopping mall when the dummies came to life.

[Coco Pops]

Also how would the Doctor have dealt with the aliens of COE?

[Pitry]

the problem with taking CoE and reworking it for Doctor who would have been exactly that - the Doctor HAS to save the day. Otherwise he's not the Doctor.

It could have been used as a great platform to show the Doctor's character as failing, as someone who is less than a hero.... but then you can;t do that and keep Doctor Who the same show. I mean, they have no problem whatsoever showing the Doctor is imperfect, but that's different to actually failing. And the Doctor's mistakes effect the whole universe, but on a different scale than what we see on Torchwood - when he fails big time, it's never shown on a personal level. I think this is the main reason we can never see more thn memories or glimpses of the Time War - the war IS Doctor Who's Children of Earth - and it would be very difficult to keep on making Doctor Who if its shown.

[Coco Pops]

the problem with taking CoE and reworking it for Doctor who would have been exactly that - the Doctor HAS to save the day. Otherwise he's not the Doctor.

It could have been used as a great platform to show the Doctor's character as failing, as someone who is less than a hero.... but then you can;t do that and keep Doctor Who the same show. I mean, they have no problem whatsoever showing the Doctor is imperfect, but that's different to actually failing. And the Doctor's mistakes effect the whole universe, but on a different scale than what we see on Torchwood - when he fails big time, it's never shown on a personal level. I think this is the main reason we can never see more thn memories or glimpses of the Time War - the war IS Doctor Who's Children of Earth - and it would be very difficult to keep on making Doctor Who if its shown.

I like your thinking.

But on the other hand I like the idea of flaws. Making Dr.Who unbeatable and that he has to win all the time just keeps the Doctor in the realms of the impossible. He'd be a far more realistic character if there were a few failures. There are times when he can't save everyone but the sad stuff happens off screen as you say.

And I'd love it if they showed the time war and what happened that made it such a bad war and how far it had spread across the universe. Even the Gelf knew about the war in series 1 as did the Nestene... I don't think it was all the Doctor's fault you cant blame the failuure of the Time Lords to win on his shoulders alone. But I'd like to see that on screen.

[Ashizuri]

the problem with taking CoE and reworking it for Doctor who would have been exactly that - the Doctor HAS to save the day. Otherwise he's not the Doctor.

I always thought, that while the Doctor always saves the day, he always loses as well. I mean, you can't look at Doomsday or Journey's End and say that the Doctor 100% won, not with the way things ended. Children of Earth was very similar, in that in the end the day was saved, but the good guys can't really count it as a win.

I think the main difference between the Doctor and Team Torchwood, particularly in CoE, was the Torchwood was completely removed from the main story and action for most of CoE, they were passive witnesses to the event whereas the Doctor, usually even when he seems like he has nothing left to fight for, would have fought to the death.

So I think, in making this a Doctor Who episode(s), they would have made the Doctor fight, because that's what he does, so even when he didn't 100% win he still would have been a hero.

[Coco Pops]

I always thought, that while the Doctor always saves the day, he always loses as well. I mean, you can't look at Doomsday or Journey's End and say that the Doctor 100% won, not with the way things ended. Children of Earth was very similar, in that in the end the day was saved, but the good guys can't really count it as a win.

I think the main difference between the Doctor and Team Torchwood, particularly in CoE, was the Torchwood was completely removed from the main story and action for most of CoE, they were passive witnesses to the event whereas the Doctor, usually even when he seems like he has nothing left to fight for, would have fought to the death.

So I think, in making this a Doctor Who episode(s), they would have made the Doctor fight, because that's what he does, so even when he didn't 100% win he still would have been a hero.

And the Doctor would have found a way to have a face to face with the aliens and given them a chance to retreat.. He always gives the bad guy a chance...

Clone Doctor would have just found a way to get ride of them.

[Ashizuri]

And the Doctor would have found a way to have a face to face with the aliens and given them a chance to retreat.. He always gives the bad guy a chance...

Clone Doctor would have just found a way to get ride of them.

Exactly. The Doctor would have found a way, he 's one of the most proactive characters that has ever been created. He would not have sat around in an old warehouse and watched the action through some nifty contact lenses and then cried "there's nothing we can do" when the bad guys put him in his place. IMO, CoE made team Torchwood look a bit silly and incompentent, though the three of them looked exceptionally lovely while being mostly useless.

[Coco Pops]

Exactly. The Doctor would have found a way, he 's one of the most proactive characters that has ever been created. He would not have sat around in an old warehouse and watched the action through some nifty contact lenses and then cried "there's nothing we can do" when the bad guys put him in his place. IMO, CoE made team Torchwood look a bit silly and incompentent, though the three of them looked exceptionally lovely while being mostly useless.

Actually you raise a good point. Was there any way the aliens could have been defeated?

[Ashizuri]

Actually you raise a good point. Was there any way the aliens could have been defeated?

Well, Jack did defeat them in the end, and I'm relatively sure that, considering it only took him a few minutes in Day 5 to figure out how to do it, if the government had just asked for Torchwood's help in the beginning instead of blowing them up, they could have found a way to reverse the polarity radio waves without having to sacrifice a child.

I personally didn't think they aliens were very well thought out. I mean, they can control children through their DNA/blood, can kill humans almost instantly, and have beaming/teleportation capabilities as well as a keen knowledge of Earth's time zones and children's play time and yet they had to ask us for children? It always kind of confused me as to why they didn't just gather a load of kids together and beam them up.

I know it probably seems like I'm completely trashing on CoE, but I really did like bits of it.