Thanks for the complement, I do love Torchwood, and The Doctor. In her defense, I think it only fair to mention, that the reason for Gwen's poor firearm handling skills is the training session with Captain Jack. It is clear from that scene that the pistol he was really concerned about was not the one in her hands.
"that the reason for Gwen's poor firearm handling skills is the training session with Captain Jack."
That whole sequence made me positively cringe! Some of the sloppiest, most dangerous gun handling I've seen in a long time.
If Al Matthews had been there (or any experienced gun user, especially a drill sergeant) there would have been blood.
"So, uh, we have things where everyone's instinct is to automatically put their fingers on the trigger. Well they stopped doing that on the set with me, because I don't have it. I really don't have it. It's an instinct. That's the way I was trained, thank you very much America. Uh, that's how I was trained because you put your finger when you're talking or you're waving your weapon around, I'm gonna jam it down your throat. I gotta do that."
We grudingly finished a couple seasons of Torchwood only becasue we really like Dr. Who and Captain Jack was a fine character there.
My wife and I both noticed this kind of gun handling issues at the same time and it just killed it for us. The faux pas just start piling up after that. Super crack group of investigators? Uh, how's that again?
I am not ashamed to admit this: I am completely in love with Eve Myles. I really don't care that she doesn't know how to handle fire arms. She is seriously stunning.
Torchwood Series 3 was quite intense...seen it yet?
I'll be very interested in your thoughts on Series 3. In addition to being very dark, the ethical-moral-political implications raised in it were terribly thought provoking.
Interesting timing... I was recently musing over how bad the firearms handling is in most British shows I've seen.
The worst by far is Suburban Shootout, but I've seen less than stellar gun stuff in Torchwood and Primeval, too.
One of my huge pet peeves in shows and movies is seeing people go into a dangerous situation with guns drawn where they might need to shoot at any moment, they find the bad guy, THEN they put a round in the chamber. I've even seen shows where they cock the same gun three or four times where they could not have fired or unloaded in between.
Movie armorers really ought to file the hold open latches off. With all the gratuitous slide racking most scripts call for, (and the implied litter of perfectly good rounds) an oopsie like this is innevitable.
Gunnies would get a kick out of it if the hero, being out of ammo, started crawling around on the ground gathering all the loose rounds. ;)
Another thing they might consider. . . I KNOW they like to only load enough rounds in the weapon for the shots called for in the script for safety reasons. How about loading a dummy FIRST, so when you've shot your ScriptGod(tm) approved round count, the slide DOESN'T lock back? The Foley guy can cover up any unwanted CLICK! when the actor trips teh sear one last time, just like they insert unnecessary an CLICK! on Glocks (I guess to represent taking the safety off and/or cocking the hammer. . . I want a Glock that sounds like a Colt Peacemaker when I get ready to fire! :-P )
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JS-Kit/Echo comments for article at http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/2010/06/bad-gun-handling.html (18 comments)
Tentative mapping of comments to original article, corrections solicited.
Nice "teacup" weak hand grip too.
Yeah, Breda complained about that as well.
What can you do? They're Brits.
HA! The Mrs loves Torchwood, so I will point this out.
But what struck me from watching it was that the needed the American to do the actual shooting. Probably a high level of accuracy there.
Yeah, I wrote something about that a while back . . .
Thanks for the complement, I do love Torchwood, and The Doctor. In her defense, I think it only fair to mention, that the reason for Gwen's poor firearm handling skills is the training session with Captain Jack. It is clear from that scene that the pistol he was really concerned about was not the one in her hands.
"that the reason for Gwen's poor firearm handling skills is the training session with Captain Jack."
That whole sequence made me positively cringe! Some of the sloppiest, most dangerous gun handling I've seen in a long time.
If Al Matthews had been there (or any experienced gun user, especially a drill sergeant) there would have been blood.
"So, uh, we have things where everyone's instinct is to automatically put their fingers on the trigger. Well they stopped doing that on the set with me, because I don't have it. I really don't have it. It's an instinct. That's the way I was trained, thank you very much America. Uh, that's how I was trained because you put your finger when you're talking or you're waving your weapon around, I'm gonna jam it down your throat. I gotta do that."
Aaaaaand we get another penis-substitute joke! :-D
We grudingly finished a couple seasons of Torchwood only becasue we really like Dr. Who and Captain Jack was a fine character there.
My wife and I both noticed this kind of gun handling issues at the same time and it just killed it for us. The faux pas just start piling up after that. Super crack group of investigators? Uh, how's that again?
I am not ashamed to admit this: I am completely in love with Eve Myles. I really don't care that she doesn't know how to handle fire arms. She is seriously stunning.
Torchwood Series 3 was quite intense...seen it yet?
Just started season 2. That image is from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the season opener.
I'll be very interested in your thoughts on Series 3. In addition to being very dark, the ethical-moral-political implications raised in it were terribly thought provoking.
I have often noticed that when a character shoots a semi-auto pistol, the slide locks back after three rounds, regardless of the surrounding action.
Interesting timing... I was recently musing over how bad the firearms handling is in most British shows I've seen.
The worst by far is Suburban Shootout, but I've seen less than stellar gun stuff in Torchwood and Primeval, too.
One of my huge pet peeves in shows and movies is seeing people go into a dangerous situation with guns drawn where they might need to shoot at any moment, they find the bad guy, THEN they put a round in the chamber. I've even seen shows where they cock the same gun three or four times where they could not have fired or unloaded in between.
Idiocy.
It's not intentional, I'm sure. Hell, knowing those who do films, I'm positive.
But I have heard of people in shooting situations where they were moving racking their guns empty, without really noticing. :)
I've been meaning to get hold of Series 7: The Contenders; have to watch the firearms handling in it when I do.
Movie armorers really ought to file the hold open latches off. With all the gratuitous slide racking most scripts call for, (and the implied litter of perfectly good rounds) an oopsie like this is innevitable.
Gunnies would get a kick out of it if the hero, being out of ammo, started crawling around on the ground gathering all the loose rounds. ;)
Another thing they might consider. . . I KNOW they like to only load enough rounds in the weapon for the shots called for in the script for safety reasons. How about loading a dummy FIRST, so when you've shot your ScriptGod(tm) approved round count, the slide DOESN'T lock back? The Foley guy can cover up any unwanted CLICK! when the actor trips teh sear one last time, just like they insert unnecessary an CLICK! on Glocks (I guess to represent taking the safety off and/or cocking the hammer. . . I want a Glock that sounds like a Colt Peacemaker when I get ready to fire! :-P )
Note: All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost; references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>