So, RTD's "Doctor Who" spin-off show. UNIT get thrust into the middle of a tense diplomatic situation between humanity and the newly-reemerged Homo Aqua (formerly the Sea Devils).
I mostly enjoyed this, and thought in particular that it had three and a half really good episodes out of five. Sadly, the episode and a half that weren't good were pretty awful, and they were also the last episode and a half of the show. Endings are hard, I guess.
I should note at this point that the material I enjoyed I enjoyed despite some glaring flaws - RTD persists in writing an agenda with a show wrapped around it (rather than a show with an agenda), and frankly it's all very predictable. Plus, he does just love his "every phone in the world does something at the same time" thing, which is frankly just daft.
But the central conceit is good, the characters are well drawn, the effects are surprisingly great, and it is genuinely thought-provoking. Good stuff.
And then it all goes horribly wrong: our hero and his Homo Aqua counterpart suddenly turn into a doomed Romeo & Juliet forbidden love, all the various factions start running around shouting at each other even where that makes no sense... and then we get to a climax that is incredibly troubling. I don't think the show meant to be pro-genocide, but that was the impression I got.
So, do I recommend it? Sadly, not really. Given a better ending, yeah, it would have been good. As it is, it just doesn't work for me.
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