Torchwood (TV Series) Small Worlds (2006) User Reviews

One of the highlights from Series one.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 23 January 2023]

Withdrawn schoolgirl Jasmine is convinced nothing can harm her, befriended by the fairies at the bottom of the garden, fairies that Jack's friend Estelle can also see.

I have always considered Small worlds to be one of the best episodes from Series one, it's very nicely paced, it's interesting, and I love the idea of the fairies having a twisted side. When something so sweet and innocent, like fairies it taken and twisted, and made into something so bleak, that gives you something to ponder.

I loved Estelle's story, it gave us more of an insight into Jack as well, beautifully portrayed by Eve Pearce, a shame they didn't expand o her character a little more. I always think of her as The Blackmailer in Poirot, Madame Giselle.

With Russell T Davies now back at the helm of Dr Who, I wonder if he'll consider bringing it back, it really did offer up something a little different, maybe even with new cast members.

8/10.

Interesting

[abs_is_back · 6/10 · 13 October 2007]

A previous reviewer didn't like this one because it was not alien based or time travel based. I disagree. One, even though Jack stated that the fairies were of earth, that didn't make them any less alien to ME (alien, as in foreign, something I'm not familiar with). And certainly there was talk about retrieving the Chosen Ones through Time. Who knows what myths and legends of our history and pre-history might be alien life-forms, or earth-based life-forms we haven't met and classified yet? I thought it was an intriguing thought. Revealing a little more of Jack's history was great. The only complaint I have is that BBC America is showing and RESHOWING Torchwood episodes to the point of nausea - today's showing was the 6th one I counted. I appreciate them showing them more than once - I missed Dr Who The Girl In The Fireplace first showing. But half a dozen times and I start to lose interest when I see the Torchwood logo until I check and see which one it is.

All around, though, good episode. I have one question though, who did the fairy voices? Besides Jasmine's altered one?

Love this show

[luvbugu1 · 8/10 · 8 July 2018]

This episode made me realize what a great actor captain Jack is. As Malcom Merlin he is so hateable and yet....... I love captain Jack!

One of my favourite episodes thus far

[LaFeeChartreuse · 9/10 · 2 July 2008]

I really liked this episode, for a variety of different reasons, though I should probably qualify that by mentioning that I am (a) very interested in fairy folklore, and (b) not a stickler for maintaining a hard and fast division between science fiction and fantasy.

And it's because of the former that I found some of the other comments unintentionally amusing. Anyone who finds the idea of fairies killing people far-fetched clearly doesn't have much knowledge of traditional fairy lore - the cutesy butterfly-winged depictions most people think of when they hear the term "fairy" now are actually pretty historically recent, dating back no further than the Victorian era. Most of the older legends about fairies are a lot darker and more disturbing, and yes, they frequently do have a body count.

I actually found a lot of elements in this episode to be satisfyingly consistent with traditional folklore - the way they were depicted as capricious and amoral, childlike and dangerous at the same time, the connection with special places that have to be respected, the child-stealing aspect, the connection with nature and the elements, and their tendency to take violent revenge on people who offend them.

But what I think I found most surprising and pleasing about the treatment of the fairies in this episode was that they didn't take the easy and obvious way out and have them turn out to be really aliens. I get so tired of that with Doctor Who - surprise, werewolves are really aliens! Surprise, witches are really aliens! Surprise, angels are really aliens! Surprise, Satan is really an alien! After a while it's not much of a surprise, you know? But they didn't do that here - they didn't exactly take the "OMG fairies are real!" approach but they didn't try to rationalize them away, either. In the ends they were a sort of elemental force that can't really be explained or defined... or controlled.

And that was the other thing that was both surprising and satisfying - that there was no technological quick-fix solution. In the end there was no choice but to let them do what they do, and have what they wanted, because no matter how big a box of toys you have, there are some things in this world that can't be dealt with that way.

One of the best episodes so far

[ninja_na · 10/10 · 6 April 2008]

I'm not a fan of the Doctor Who series that Torchwood is spun off, but I love Torchwood so far. I've only seen season 1 as of this posting, but this is looking to be my favourite episode. Quite creepy, and thought provoking for a television show: especially the ending. Definitely worth a viewing. I've read a few critiques that complain about there being a supernatural element in a sci fi show, but I disagree. The subject matter is only marginally mythical, dealt with fairly scientifically. All the acting is above par, and the characters are largely easy to identify with. Even the lead character's tough decision to make is believable and doesn't reach the predictable conclusion that most shows would have written in.

True Grit

[PhilipGHarris · 9/10 · 17 November 2006]

Torchwood has slowly been getting better but finally an episode that grits its teeth and gives you it all.

Slowly episode by episode the shows writers have understood the concept of what can be done with a more adult license. After the risible episode 2 (we're an adult show lets have sex) the quality has show by show has increased dramatically. This helped by an excellent script by P J Hammond (harking back to his Saphire and Steele Days).

Ignoring the main concept (the rift) of the show Hammond takes us on a dark journey into those days where nothing goes right and when you question your friends motives. There are elements of this episode that are genuinely creepy and Hammond finds ways to injure Captain Jack mentally where he cannot be injured physically.

Production values are also high for a TV show with a limited budget and I hope that other writers attain to the level Hammond sets here.

The series finally seems to have stopped walking and started to run.

Supernatural ScFi

[zebedee-6 · 24 November 2006]

I liked this episode. Science fiction is in part about open mindedness. We cant always explain the world around us, when we can we call it science, when we cant we call it supernatural, but these are merely two branches of the same studies, one explained the other not. In this episode, Jack finds the idea of fairies hard to swallow, but that is when he does not know what he is facing. Even when he does know, he applies a partly supernatural explanation to events beyond his understandings. I like this show because it has hi-lighted peoples limitations both in knowledge and emotionally. Unlike Dr Who, where the Doctor is able to explain away things to the viewing public, Torchwood has to contend with the limits of human knowledge, even with Jacks assistance (and longevity). This is not a limit on the show but allows us to see how we ourselves cope with events around us that we cannot explain. Why do loved ones die when we ourselves do not, why do our children not understand us, and why do we not understand them. And, why we don't always feel good about ourselves or others even if they do things for the right reasons or the greater good - our limitations make us think only of the consequences to us and those immediately around us. Jacks actions at the end with the girl and her mother challenge us - should we like the team think badly of him, or should we thank him - would our opinion differ if we were directly involved? Sorry to spout on. I like that this show makes me think outside the box a bit.

Only barely worth watching

[sarastro7 · 5/10 · 24 November 2006]

The fifth Torchwood episode, Small Worlds, bored me. With Doctor Who (and spin-offs), I want sci-fi. Not supernatural silliness. It annoys me a great deal that almost half the episodes are some kind of ghost stories. I think it's undermining the show's sci-fi status, and I don't even think it's honoring the style of the older Doctor Who serials. They tended to alternate between sci-fi stories and historical time-travel adventures. Not all this supernatural fluff. I don't like it, and I found this episode hard to sit through.

I did like one thing, though: the use of a couple of Celtic folk tunes. During the wind-storm on the playground, wasn't that the Lord of the Dance theme? And the lyrics from Stolen Child that finished the episode ("The world's more full of weeping than she can understand") - that was a nice touch.

Still, an average episode at best. 5 out of 10.

Fairies and monsters

[sinceverona · 28 August 2009]

Through the forest in the dark Estelle with her camera manages to take pictures of fairies. But as soon as she walks away the shining fairies turn into big thin creatures. The next morning Jasmine waits for her mothers partner Roy to pick her up from school,but he is late. A man in the car follows Jasmine when she decides to walk home alone. On the road he stops in front of her, but when he grabs her and try to push her into his car he gets attacked by something powerful that he can't see. When he jumps back in his car and escapes, Jasmine safely unharmed returns home. Jack Harknesss and Gwen come to Estelle's lecture about fairies. He introduces her to Gwen as a former lover of his father who met her during second world war. Gwen get's suspicious about his relationship with Estelle when Estelle says to her that she never saw Jack and his father together. I must admit that the Fairies looked better when they just glowed in the dark. While I can understand why they were so protective of Jasmine, killing everyone who in any way stand in her path for me it was extreme. Also their thin narrow faces with sharp teeth made them look more like monsters than fairies. The way little Jasmine always smiled during and after fairies attacked someone was a way to creepy. However it was nice to see that even Jack Harknesss had nightmares and also that he had loved deeply in the past. The ending was very sad. The whole episode was a bit melancholic.

How do you run Torchwood with zero curiosity?

[Jack_C_ · 4/10 · 10 July 2022]

Other than immortal Capt Jack, Torchwood is supposedly staffed by some of the smartest people in Earth. Yet, nary a question is asked of the oldest and most powerful beings on Earth.

The whole episode is cliche after cliche. The writers got lazy.

This episode nearly gave me an aneurysm

[thomasgouldsbrough · 1/10 · 17 March 2022]

I can safely say that this is one of the worst episodes of a TV series that I've ever seen. It follows an incredibly generic, supernatural stories, with possibly the most boring villains imaginable. Ianto, despite being a major character, gets about 1 line of dialogue, along with Owen, who's the 3rd biggest character. The CGI was so bad, that it was genuinely uncomfortable. The most prominent part, was probably the scene where they killed Roy, and fought with Jack. It was laughable.

The child actors were god awful. Jasmine wasn't great, but she certainly weren't the worst. The worst were without a doubt the two girls that kept bullying Jasmine. In one of the worst scenes I've ever witnessed, they confront Jasmine because she reported them for bullying, despite the fact that she clear didn't report her, and come out with the worst dialogue imaginable. They confront Jasmine, by stating "well maybe you need a good kicking. Get those teeth of yours kicked in". What young female child talks like that? It's so unbelievably stupid. They then proceed to "beat her up", which consists of one kick, before the shots awkwardly repeats itself. What then proceeds, is an incredibly weird segment, where the space aliens use a storm to attack the bullies, and Jasmine smiles dementedly all the way through. What then follows is a confusing segment, where the majority of the kids are fleeing for safety, and yet some are running into the wind. The teacher then comes rushing towards the bullies..........to hug them? What a useless teacher. The scene was frustrating to watch, just because of how utterly lazy the writing was.

Jasmine was such an incredibly confusing character. I could never tell if we were meant to feel sorry for her, because she's this sweet, innocent girl, or if she's a villain, who relishes in inflicting pain upon others. If she's meant to be this sweet innocent girl, who's a victim of her parents neglect, then it was very badly written, as we never connected with Jasmine, or felt her pain. She just seems to be this strange child, who's perfectly happy in her own space alien world. As a result of her badly written character arc, it's impossible to feel any emotions when she decides to join the space alien's world. The world is now a much better place without her, as she killed Rob, and ruined a children's playground, all while relishing the destruction.

Another aspect of the episode that was a real shame, was that it tried to present Jasmine's demise as the worst part of the story, when it reality the worst part of this story was the fact that in one day, Lynn loses her boyfriend, and her only daughter. This is probably the worst fate that's happened to any Torchwood character so far, and it's completely glossed over. Even Ianto had more screen time reacting to Lisa's death, when in reality she was so far gone that it didn't even matter. It just felt insulting, and badly written.

I could go on and on about how badly written this episode is, but for the point of being concise, I'll conclude. Small Worlds is a complete disaster of a Torchwood episode. The characters have little direction, the plot is so boring that it can put an insomniac to sleep, and the CGI is so bad that it's genuinely comparable to Birdemic.