'Torchwood' writer Jane Espenson 'proud' of 'Miracle Day'
Published Apr 23 2012, 17:48 BST | By Morgan Jeffery
Torchwood writer Jane Espenson has defended the last run of episodes.The ten-part Miracle Day received a mixed reaction, with Espenson calling the show's fans "passionate".
© BBC Pictures
"I've never dealt with a more passionate group of fans, so they weighed in very loudly about this last season," she told The Hollywood Reporter.
"[The last season] was the only season I was involved in. I was very proud of what we did."
Espenson argued that the final episodes had turned out "amazingly well", but suggested that Miracle Day had failed to match the quality of 2009 mini-series Children of Earth.
"I don't think you can ever beat Children of Earth.... which was an absolute masterwork," she said.
"But I thought we did very well. I thought we did things with that show that are not normally seen on American television."
Torchwood star John Barrowman (Jack Harkness) claimed last year that the show was "in limbo", though Starz CEO Chris Albrecht later indicated that a revival of the sci-fi drama is still possible.
> Torchwood star Eve Myles: 'The fans deserve closure'
Watch the trailer for Torchwood: Miracle Day
There just wasn't enough to sustain 10 episodes and keep it interesting. One entire hour was spent sitting on an airplane getting them to the States. It put me to sleep. The show didn't start getting good until the final two or three episodes when things started wrapping up. Instead of one long, boring, ten-part story, I really would have prefered ten stand alone episodes (like the first two UK series...with maybe a connecting thread running between them) or five two-part stories. Ten hours on one 'Miracle Day' just didn't cut it.
April 26th 2012 at 5:35am
I think Jane Espenson wishes very much for things to be as great as she says and for audience' acceptance od MD' being as passionate. But being the fan of the show I can't agree. I think she deliberately deludes herself. There is nothing to be proud of. It was a poor idea even poorer executed that destroyed everything worthy from the classic Torchwood and Captain Jack. It's a shame, really.
April 25th 2012 at 5:34pm
Lindsay O'Day After House of the Death it would even be every easy to make this happen. Have Jack meeting the Doctor somehow, the Doctor is be tiny whiny little bit upset (majorly p!ssed because have you seen the petrol prices lately and a guy has to fuel up his Tardis somehow...) about the whole "Rift closing" business and Jack ends up telling him the whole story (insert a few flashbacks). The Doctor finds a way to reopen the Rift and realizes that not-ghost!Ianto (what ever he was, he was not like the other ghosts) just got rifted somewhere else and is not dead (again) at all. not-ghost!Ianto turns out to have some kind of ghosty immortality himself now and he and Jack sail off into the sunset (until the next time the Doctor needs jack or both of them again). Big happy ending. Stupid plot (why on Earth close the Rift???) fixed, Jack at least onto the way to getting fixed and hordes of fangirls on Moffats feet. Sounds perfect to me.
April 25th 2012 at 12:29am
"every reason Jack had to stick with it and on Earth was pretty much dead."
^ You're exactly right. Jack doesn't have anything else holding him to the earth, so he should go off to find the Doctor again. Gwen and Rhys can then be left alone in peace to raise their family. That's appropriate!
If Jack does go back to Who, I think the Doctor needs to realize just how broken Jack still is over losing Ianto and have an episode of trying to beat the odds and saving him. That would be brilliant and such a gift to fans.
April 25th 2012 at 12:20am
Elle Russo I think if we hadn't lost Tosh and Owen only episodes earlier then people would probably still miss Ianto very much, but it would have been a lot easier for them to move on WITH Torchwood not move on from the show. In the end I think CoE was just "overkill" and ITA with you it should have been the ending, because after it Torchwood and every reason Jack had to stick with it and on Earth was pretty much dead. They should have waited a bit and then returned Jack to Doctor Who with a better plot then :"Everything you loved and lived for is dead, destroyed or hates you? Ah.. the Doctor is here to help, go shag that Ianto 2.0 guy over there and everything will be buninies and candies again."
April 24th 2012 at 11:01pm