Torchwood – The Monthly Adventures

#002. Fall to Earth ~ 10/10

◆ An Introduction

A pilot episode is always going to be rough around the edges, but the follow-up often proves to be a lot more successful. Ianto Jones is going for a space flight… followed by a space crash!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

The SkyPuncher is the first private spaceflight. But Ephraim Salt's visionary project has gone horribly wrong – the ship is falling out of the sky and there seems no way to stop it. Ianto Jones thought the flight would be sabotaged.

The only problem is… he's on board.

◆ Ianto Jones

Gareth David-Lloyd is one of my favourite performers from Torchwood, and someone who constantly manages to wow me. Very happy to report that he kicked off his BigFinish journey in style.

Ianto tries to call for help, but ends up calling Jubilee Pizzas instead; that’s not great when you’re on a crashing spaceship! He prefers the term “sky butler” to air steward. Gwen told him that flying is two moments of terror and hours of boredom… right now, it’s just terror for him. Ianto claims to be a spy, but he’s definitely no James Bond: his life is actually very dull. He works for a secret organisation, but he’s just the coffee boy. The whole reason he went aboard the SkyPuncher was to try and impress his co-workers.

◆ Story Recap

Ianto Jones has infiltrated the maiden voyage of the first private space flight. He’s disguised himself as an air steward and hopes to find some information on the Committee. What he didn’t count on was that the Committee had sabotaged the flight: everyone barn Ianto has been poisoned and the SkyPuncher is on a collision course. The only person who can help him… is a call-centre worker from Turkey attempting to sell him insurance!

◆ Insurance for a Prehistoric Beast

The idea that Ianto has to keep purchasing insurance – just to keep Zeynep on the line to help him stop SkyPuncher crashing – is utter genius, and quite funny too. He even purchases pet insurance for Myfanwy, the Torchwood pterodactyl! Gareth David-Lloyd and Lisa Zahra clearly have great on-air chemistry, and it makes these scenes all the more entertaining.

◆ Sound Design

Neil Gardner has done a fantastic job on ‘Fall to Earth’.

Alarms blare as the SkyPuncher goes haywire and starts losing altitude. The ship’s control panel fizzes before going dead. An insane billionaire attempts to batter down the door of his own spaceship’s cockpit. Hearing Ianto get put on hold whilst the SkyPuncher begins crashing back to Earth had me wetting myself with laughter.

◆ Music

Blair Mowat scores are usually very repetitive, but that’s surprisingly not the case here. I loved the melody that played once Ianto ascended above the atmosphere; really soft and beautiful.

◆ Conclusion

“I’m on a spaceship and I’m falling out of the sky!”

A haywire spaceship is being used by the Committee to ram into a satellite, before crashing it into a call-centre in Turkey. All three of these things happen to be owned by the same billionaire.

James Goss hit a home run with ‘Fall to Earth’. The whole episode is a ploy to ruin the reputation of an influential man, but it’s packed to bursting with comedic moments. The interplay between Ianto and Zeynep had me cackling throughout. Now, would you like some pet insurance… actually, maybes space insurance would be more useful!

Torchwood Monthly Range #2:
--- "Fall to Earth" by James Goss

There is no other character in Torchwood-3 that is more underutilised than Ianto Jones; one of the most likable and most interesting members of the cast that, even with such little focus on him, is so very layered and easily one of the most interesting characters. And yet, the only episode centric to his character that we got was Cyberwoman, which wasn't exactly a fantastic piece of television. So, when Big Finish took up the title and began to make audios, it was only so long until we got a Ianto episode (two stories, in fact).

Ephraim Salt's SkyPuncher project was making headlines worldwide: the first commercial space flight, open to every celebrity in Britain who had money to burn. Unfortunately, somebody sabotaged the ship, everyone on board is dead and it's falling out of the sky. Ianto knew something was going to happen on SkyPuncher, and that's why he got on it. With only a telemarketer called Zeynep to help him, Ianto must stop the SkyPuncher in its path before it crashes down miles below.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Fall to Earth is just an hour of being in the worst situation imaginable. Stuck on a plane falling from space with no way to stop it is bad enough but then you have to deal with a telemarketer. Both Ianto and his caller - Zeynep - are brilliantly written by Goss, which is good considering they're the only two characters in it. Zeynep did take a while to grow on me but by the end, she had become such an interesting and compelling character, all in the space of an hour. Ianto himself is as great as always and seeing him suddenly on a dangerous field mission following his day job of serving coffee and not much else was great, watching as he panicked and struggled to keep his cool. The mystery of the story is also really brilliant, finding out how much The Committee had influenced the SkyPuncher crash and what they're planning to do with it is fascinating to see unfold and it continues the story from The Conspiracy well, with references to Jack's disappearance. Gareth David-Lloyd and Lisa Zahra both put in utterly flawless performances here, from the panicked and out of his depth Ianto to the trying to keep cool and professional Zeynep, both actors make the conversations between the two as entertaining as they are.

My main complaint comes in the form of the resolutions in the story; the main mystery is trying to work out what happened to the passengers and the reveal I found to be underwhelming - they're alive, just drugged. It makes narrative sense but I just wished for a more interesting idea than that. I also feel the end, with Zeynep avoiding the crashing ship by throwing the bluetooth headset SkyPuncher latched onto into a quarry felt too close to a Deus ex Machina and slightly cheapened the rather emotional previous ten or so minutes.

Fall to Earth is an incredibly entertaining bottle episode that feels like the true start to the Torchwood Monthly Range, The Conspiracy only being the pilot. Two great characters and tense as all hell writing makes a story that only stumbles slightly trying to wrap up plot threads.

9/10

Pros:
+ Excellent use of Ianto, one of my favourite Torchwood members
+ Zeynep is a very interesting character with a lot of heart behind her
+ Goss keeps the palpable tension of the story going throughout the whole thing
+ The tie into The Conspiracy and the Committee storyline were great
+ Incredibly emotional towards the end, with flawless dialogue between Ianto and Zeynep

Cons:
- Struggles a bit resolving its plot threads
- The reveal to what exactly was going on and why was pretty underwhelming
- The happy ending felt forced and could've been done better.

Top 5 Best Torchwood Monthly Range Stories:
5.
4.
3.
2. #1 - The Conspiracy by David Llewellyn
1. #2 - Fall to Earth by James Goss

Top 5 Worst Torchwood Monthly Range Stories:
5.
4.
3.
2. #2 - Fall to Earth by James Goss
1. #1 - The Conspiracy by David Llewellyn