Reviews The series was met with critical acclaim.
Metacritic, an American review aggregator website, gives
Children of Earth a normalised rating of 80 out of 100 (based on a sample of 12 reviews), indicating "generally favourable reviews", with the highest score being a 91 from
Time and the lowest a 60 from
The New York Times. Daniel Martin ran a day-by-day review of the show on
The Guardian website
guardian.co.uk which culminated in a positive assessment of the mini-series as a whole: " ... what an incredible week. From its hideous Sex Alien vs Cyberwoman beginnings,
Torchwood has become a true treasure." He speculated on the programme's thematic implication that "as people realise their potential in this world, they die", and remarked: "If the same thing does happen to the series it would be awful. But God, it would be poetic." Ben Rawson-Jones of
Digital Spy gave a very favourable pre-review to the first three episodes of the serial. He particularly praised Davies' script for its "economical" and "seamless" re-establishment of the show's returning trio for new viewers whilst not alienating fans. The inter-weaving of the stories for "credible and appealing" supporting characters Rupesh, Clement and Lois was praised; as were the performances from Paul Copley and Liz May Brice. He did however feel that the second episode paled after the explosiveness of the first episode, on which they "failed to capitalise". Summing up the series, Rawson-Jones described
Children of Earth as "a powerful human drama, reliant not on special effects but incredible acting, direction and writing" that was a "massive success."
IGN writer Ahsan Haque gave the miniseries a rating of 9.5 out of 10, also awarding it their Editor's Choice Award. John Barrowman's performance was highly praised, saying that he handled "these gut-wrenching moments with poise, yet manages to give us just enough to know how much his choices are tearing him up inside. He might not be able to die physically, but emotionally, what Jack has to suffer and live with is a fate far worse than death." Also, Haque felt that the additions of Rhiannon and Johnny "supply a lot of the grounded humanizing moments that really help the story stay grounded to the human condition, and not turn into a mindless sci-fi action-fest." However, Haque pointed out the "slightly campy feel" as well as technobabble as faults. The review ended with: "Best. Torchwood. Ever. Really, we mean it!" Mike Hale of
The New York Times was more mixed in his review, noting that the mini-series pays tribute to the 1960 British sci-fi film
Village of the Damned, and sums up by saying "
Children of Earth is still good fun, if not good, exactly." Hale also mentioned the problem with maintaining a 5-hour mini-series over 5 nights, a sentiment echoed by
Los Angeles Times reviewer Robert Lloyd who felt that the format led to an inevitable lag in the middle. Not all reviews were positive. Jim Shelley of
The Daily Mirror gave the mini-series an unfavourable review, commenting that "
Torchwood is the modern-day ''
Blake's 7'': ludicrous plot, hammy acting, an adolescent penchant for 'Issues'. This week's plot was plagiarised from 50s sci-fi classic,
The Midwich Cuckoos. Contrary to its scheduling,
Torchwood always seems to me like
Dr Who lite." He went on to say that he felt a large part of the problem was with lead actor John Barrowman: "Unlike
David Tennant's Doctor, Barrowman's endless appearances on friendly drivel like ''
Tonight's the Night, The Kids Are All Right and Any Dream Will Do'', is so over-exposed, 'Captain Jack' is about as intriguing or alien as a
Weetabix and twice as irritating. Unlike Tennant, as an actor he is just not good enough."
Fan reaction The death of Ianto Jones in
Children of Earth triggered protests from fans of the show, including the "Save Ianto Jones" campaign, which collected more than £10,000 for the
Children in Need charity. Other fans resorted to abuse and threats, causing writer James Moran to fire off an angry missive in a blog post. Showrunner Russell T Davies made no apologies for the decision to kill off the character, saying, "I'm just delighted that the fans are so wrapped up in the character to have that reaction." Writer John Fay, in executing Davies' vision, noted that Ianto's death was a means for the viewer to see the price of Jack's immortality and seeing those he cares for die around him. Ianto's death led several fans to accuse the show's creators of subscribing to homophobic narrative conventions.
AfterElton, one of the websites critical of the decision, later published an opposing view that analysed the death in view of the character's earlier refusal to admit to his relationship, and claimed that, instead of being an expression of homophobia, the death was a sign that the
LGBT community was leaving behind its image of victimhood.
Awards In 2010,
Children of Earth won the
BAFTA Cymru award for best drama series, a
Saturn Award for
Best Television Presentation during the
36th Saturn Awards and a 2010 Celtic Media Festival Award for best drama series. It was also nominated for a
GLAAD Media Award by the
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation for
Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series during the
21st GLAAD Media Awards and for a
Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials, but the awards lost to
Prayers for Bobby and
The Pacific, respectively. Lead actress Eve Myles won the 'Best Actress" award in the
SFX Reader's awards poll, and was crowned best actress in the 11th annual Airlock Alpha Portal Awards. Myles was also nominated for a 2010
BAFTA Cymru Best Actress award, whilst
John Barrowman made the shortlist of the 2010
TV Choice Awards, where he was up against
Eleventh Doctor actor
Matt Smith. == References ==