YATN; Into the Silence
Nov. 8th, 2009 01:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grassangelI could swear that the title of this book is also the name of a song that I had. Except it’s not.
Anyway, it’s from the first shiny new batch of novelisations set after season two. (I don’t think they’re going to do post-CoE, mostly because… these look to be tiring enough, what would it be like with an even more reduced cast?) And… I think I already see a pattern. Jack is Jack and tries to solve everything on his own, because he doesn’t want his precious people™ to die. Gwen is ~helpful~, or at least tries to be. And Ianto is left being the person everything happens to. No. Seriously. In Almost Perfect he was the one body-swapped and in all the other ones, it appears as if he’s the one who falls sick/is in a coma/picked on because he’s still, somehow, the teaboy.
I’d almost forgive this if, you know, everyone got vaguely decent attention and characterisation paid to them, like the other novelisations did. The authors loved Owen and sometimes Jack and the stories would be based around them and would be so much better for it.
Except this book and Almost Perfect try to concentrate on all three of them at once and T3 ends up having all the charisma and interest of a slug. The story itself is affected too, which is the really horrible bit. They kind of bumble along in a Simpsons’-like manner, the beginning only marginally related to the end.
Anyway, going back to the pattern. Ianto, of course, gets treated according to this pattern. Well, perhaps not quite as woobieish as falling sick, but Gwen does volunteer him to sing and put himself in the line of danger. Because, as everyone knows, all Welsh are good singers. *can only name two off the top of her head, which is not any great number* Although, earlier, he does admit to having done some singing before.
BUT Gwen does that weird trying to be helpful but just ends up being awkward and I never thought I’d see that characterisation of her outside of fanfic.
I’ve already mentioned the horrible characterisation, haven’t I?
I do have to admit though, all the sequences where Ianto does sing makes me smile and snigger. I know the not eating dairy (or having red wine or coffee) and the Italian terms because of all my friends who are musically inclined and sing.
But there are funny things, like the above and Gwen having to swot up in the wake of Owen and Tosh’s deaths: looking at the autopsy bay anatomy chart, working with Tosh’s pop-ups when she needs to set a rift pattern alert. A few melancholy moments too, but mostly fun ones like the pop-ups and notes, imagining Tosh over her shoulder and talking about how Tosh’s favourite member of the team was probably her precious computer.
And there are a few innuendo moments, especially when they’re talking about narrowing down alien species and it trails on to how the human body is inflexible but has it’s moments. Which then leads to Jack going on about enjoying the female and male forms and Gwen saying how most people pick one and stick with it which then leads to a “Day One’ reference.
The entire reason I put up with the bad characterisation is, of course, because there’s inevitably something OT3-y. Like after Jack’s stayed up all night figuring out which alien they’re dealing with and Ianto and Gwen crowd around him around the computer to see what he’s come up with, So there is horrible mangling because Gwen apparently still has a thing for Jack and a little bit jealous of Ianto, but hey, I take what I can get.
Later on, both Ianto and Gwen stay up late to analyse data from the attack and refine the search program. It’s very cute. It’s even cuter when she explains what they figured out to Jack and they’re both so proud and they’re like little kids trying to impress daddy, which is so very true. And cute.
THEN, when Cutler, the one-shot character, has been retconned, they get to deposit him back home. Both of them. Not just Gwen, not just Ianto, Gwen and Ianto. They get promised drinks by Jack though, which is fun too, especially when he orders a beer and a diet vodka coke and you just wonder which drink is for who. (I’m very tempted by the idea that the beer is for Gwen. Very. Except she’s probably the only who would get diet coke.Because non-Zero stuff tastes like crap and I’d hope that both the boys had better taste than that.)
Luckily, Gwen and Rhys’ relationship doesn’t suffer from the all-round bad characterisation, because there’s a really cute scene where a call from Torchwood interrupts their morning. (And there’s a current event reference with Rhys going on about the recession and how they should save water and have a shower together.)
I do like it when they reference real life stuff or other TV shows. Even though I don’t watch Taggart or Morse… I do know they’re cop shows.
The bad characterisation extends to the one-shot character as well. He defends one of the victims when another police officer calls them a ‘faggot’. I’m not supposed to become attached to these one shot characters dammit!
Although I’m not sure if that qualifies as bad characterisation. Cutler is likeable and funny (he gives Jack an idea, which he is rewarded with by a kiss which leads to him threatening Jack with a knee to the groin) and so much more so than the actual team.
THIS IS AN ISSUE.
Also of issue is the end.
The ending the alien gets is too cute. A bit weird, but cute. (I mean, it’s an autistic alien who merges with an autistic human child so that neither of them is lonely/isolated anymore.) You see the problem?
But the book adverts in the back for upcoming novelisations and info books is fun. One of the Victorian members has been unfrozen and everyone has to follow the 1901 edition of the Torchwood handbook. I’m hoping this means Gwen in a dress.
There’s also a short story collection ‘Consequences’ which looks really interesting. It’s not so much about Torchwood, but, as you may guess, the consequences of their actions. I so, so, so want to read/get that.
Anyway, it’s from the first shiny new batch of novelisations set after season two. (I don’t think they’re going to do post-CoE, mostly because… these look to be tiring enough, what would it be like with an even more reduced cast?) And… I think I already see a pattern. Jack is Jack and tries to solve everything on his own, because he doesn’t want his precious people™ to die. Gwen is ~helpful~, or at least tries to be. And Ianto is left being the person everything happens to. No. Seriously. In Almost Perfect he was the one body-swapped and in all the other ones, it appears as if he’s the one who falls sick/is in a coma/picked on because he’s still, somehow, the teaboy.
I’d almost forgive this if, you know, everyone got vaguely decent attention and characterisation paid to them, like the other novelisations did. The authors loved Owen and sometimes Jack and the stories would be based around them and would be so much better for it.
Except this book and Almost Perfect try to concentrate on all three of them at once and T3 ends up having all the charisma and interest of a slug. The story itself is affected too, which is the really horrible bit. They kind of bumble along in a Simpsons’-like manner, the beginning only marginally related to the end.
Anyway, going back to the pattern. Ianto, of course, gets treated according to this pattern. Well, perhaps not quite as woobieish as falling sick, but Gwen does volunteer him to sing and put himself in the line of danger. Because, as everyone knows, all Welsh are good singers. *can only name two off the top of her head, which is not any great number* Although, earlier, he does admit to having done some singing before.
BUT Gwen does that weird trying to be helpful but just ends up being awkward and I never thought I’d see that characterisation of her outside of fanfic.
I’ve already mentioned the horrible characterisation, haven’t I?
I do have to admit though, all the sequences where Ianto does sing makes me smile and snigger. I know the not eating dairy (or having red wine or coffee) and the Italian terms because of all my friends who are musically inclined and sing.
But there are funny things, like the above and Gwen having to swot up in the wake of Owen and Tosh’s deaths: looking at the autopsy bay anatomy chart, working with Tosh’s pop-ups when she needs to set a rift pattern alert. A few melancholy moments too, but mostly fun ones like the pop-ups and notes, imagining Tosh over her shoulder and talking about how Tosh’s favourite member of the team was probably her precious computer.
And there are a few innuendo moments, especially when they’re talking about narrowing down alien species and it trails on to how the human body is inflexible but has it’s moments. Which then leads to Jack going on about enjoying the female and male forms and Gwen saying how most people pick one and stick with it which then leads to a “Day One’ reference.
The entire reason I put up with the bad characterisation is, of course, because there’s inevitably something OT3-y. Like after Jack’s stayed up all night figuring out which alien they’re dealing with and Ianto and Gwen crowd around him around the computer to see what he’s come up with, So there is horrible mangling because Gwen apparently still has a thing for Jack and a little bit jealous of Ianto, but hey, I take what I can get.
Later on, both Ianto and Gwen stay up late to analyse data from the attack and refine the search program. It’s very cute. It’s even cuter when she explains what they figured out to Jack and they’re both so proud and they’re like little kids trying to impress daddy, which is so very true. And cute.
THEN, when Cutler, the one-shot character, has been retconned, they get to deposit him back home. Both of them. Not just Gwen, not just Ianto, Gwen and Ianto. They get promised drinks by Jack though, which is fun too, especially when he orders a beer and a diet vodka coke and you just wonder which drink is for who. (I’m very tempted by the idea that the beer is for Gwen. Very. Except she’s probably the only who would get diet coke.
Luckily, Gwen and Rhys’ relationship doesn’t suffer from the all-round bad characterisation, because there’s a really cute scene where a call from Torchwood interrupts their morning. (And there’s a current event reference with Rhys going on about the recession and how they should save water and have a shower together.)
I do like it when they reference real life stuff or other TV shows. Even though I don’t watch Taggart or Morse… I do know they’re cop shows.
The bad characterisation extends to the one-shot character as well. He defends one of the victims when another police officer calls them a ‘faggot’. I’m not supposed to become attached to these one shot characters dammit!
Although I’m not sure if that qualifies as bad characterisation. Cutler is likeable and funny (he gives Jack an idea, which he is rewarded with by a kiss which leads to him threatening Jack with a knee to the groin) and so much more so than the actual team.
THIS IS AN ISSUE.
Also of issue is the end.
The ending the alien gets is too cute. A bit weird, but cute. (I mean, it’s an autistic alien who merges with an autistic human child so that neither of them is lonely/isolated anymore.) You see the problem?
But the book adverts in the back for upcoming novelisations and info books is fun. One of the Victorian members has been unfrozen and everyone has to follow the 1901 edition of the Torchwood handbook. I’m hoping this means Gwen in a dress.
There’s also a short story collection ‘Consequences’ which looks really interesting. It’s not so much about Torchwood, but, as you may guess, the consequences of their actions. I so, so, so want to read/get that.
