Maybe. Although, isn’t that the hidden entrance to the Torchwood headquarters…?
“Torchwood: If it’s moving, we’re totally having sex with it”
Breaking News
Oprah Quitting TV Show In 2011
Ghost In Cardiff?
March 27th, 2009
18 Comments
I can’t believe how much I hated Torchwood. I hate it almost as much as I love that you’ve gone back to your older layout.
Torchwood is maybe an acquired taste. I like some elements of it, but hate the randomness of the sexytime.
Torchwood is on of my all-time favorite shows. The series 2 finale was so awesome, it’s hard to put into words. It’s the best handling of A Death of a Major Character that I’ve ever seen.
Too bad the 5 episode 3rd series will be its last (on television at least, it’ll become a radio play after that).
Oh really? I didn’t know that. Who else will employ overactor John Barrowman? And I like the guy, but he’d give Shatner a run for the money.
Barrowman’s never off the TV in the UK. Andrew Lloyd Webber has him as a judge on a show finding characters on musicals (”Any dream will do” for Joseph and “I’d do anything” for Oliver and Nancy). He does pantomime (a distinctly British thing, but Steve Gutenberg did it last season) every Christmas in my home city. I met him whilst buying preents with my sister. Good looking guy, and even though he looked wiped out (6 days a week for panto, and it’s physical too), he still posed for a photo and made my sister go all gooey inside.
Ah, cool. Pantomime is big in Jamaica too.
to me sarah jane was the acquired taste not torchwood.
to me sarah jane was the acquired taste not torchwood.
Based on my slight exposure to that show after the Dr. Who season finale I can’t see my self ever watching that.
Barrowman DID overact, but it fit right into the vibe of the show. Torchwood is an HOMAGE to sci-fi with very subtle hints of satire. It did basically ever sci-fi cliche in the books with a little British (Welsh?) twist.
They did the “team member betrays team but with good intentions” show. They did the “find and stop the alien before it kills again”. They did the “man in his wrong time” show. They did the “spooky village on the outskirts of town” show. They did the “I’m dead and noone can see or hear me” show. Hell, they even threw in the “giant monster stomps all over a major city” show.
But what made the show was of course, the Torchwood team. Each member so distinct that you can accurately predict their responses to a given situation. And of course you had the requisite “everyone on the team has slept with at least one other member” thing that Oliver seems to dislike (remember, Jack has experienced CENTURIES of life. He’s beyond “hetero or homo?”).
I simply loved it. And the fact that it’s uncensored (I never understood how Americans curse so much but demands that it’s NOT on their television shows. We’re such warped people).
Can’t wait for series two on blu-ray.
it is very campy.
The Brits have, in my opinion, a far different sense of camp than the Americans. Just when you think it’s not “serious” sci-fi, a perfectly nice character gets killed out of the blue.
“The Brits have, in my opinion, a far different sense of camp than the Americans. Just when you think it’s not “serious” sci-fi, a perfectly nice character gets killed out of the blue.”
Torchwood would NEVER be made in America. We just think and act differently. Torchwood is the way it is BECAUSE it’s British.
Part of the reason Torchwood wouldnt be made in the US is that more often than not our shows are EITHER OR. Either its Scifi or its Sexy. Torchwood mixes scifi with tons of sexytime. And as a Torchwood fan I would also say it does so too often to “shock” versus tell a good story. It’s used kind of like a crutch whereas because of how its designed, Doctor Who doesnt use that crutch.
Oliver, I find it odd that you tend to focus on the sex. It’s the last thing I notice. It’s part of the characters. The only time it was used to shock was when Gwen walked in on Jack and Llanto in his office. But they even made that cool when Jack said “what took you so long? You could’ve joined us.” Or something to that effect.
But sex wasn’t some major part of the show. They’re adults. They have sex like most adults. I didn’t think it took away from the show at all.
And what I mean about we think and act differently is that American’s first ‘problem solver’ is thoughtless violence. Torchwood in America would be an action show. Shows like Fringe try to pull back on the action and the X-Files achieved it. But our reaction to things are a lot more visceral.
That British sensiblity is what makes Torchwood different. They were keen on figuring out what was going on before pulling out the guns. And then only reluctantly. The most gung-ho out of them all was Jack…the American..
Their reluctance to kill made the violence that WAS on the show have that much more impact. You knew killing wasn’t their first option. But again, it was getting to know those characters that made the show so fun. Each member was so awesome, but Toshiko was by FAR my favorite. I really related to her.
My favorite character was Owen.
Even as a zombie(weird) he was the man.
But sex wasn’t some major part of the show.
Are you kidding me? The show treats sex like a teenage boy – frequently and without subtlety. No matter what the show tries to say OMG WE’RE TOTALLY DOING SOMETHING SEXUALLY WEIRD NOW. Its distracting.
I am not alone in noticing this.
Remember when Red Dwarf was going to be remade for the USA, they wanted the dead hologram guy not to be dead, they wanted the cat not to be so stupid, they wanted Lister not to be such a slob, they wanted to work a girl into it. Grant and Naylor did this for themselves, and the last 2 series were piss-poor.
Everyone knows that Torchood is an anagram, right?
As to Pantomime, I saw Oliver Samuels do his a good few years ago. Hil-frickin’-larious.