Torchwood.... (spoilers!)

[Kribu]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

What with the US TV definition of "one hour show" appearing to be 42-43 minutes, Torchwood would probably be chopped up quite badly anyway (as the episodes seem to be around 50 minutes).

I suppose the swearing might be a bigger problem than the graphicness, at least so far, as the more graphic bits could probably be cut out already due to time reasons.

Oh, and I also liked episode 3 a lot more than the first two. Not sure if the Cyberwoman stuff will be any good... depends on what they do with it, I suppose.

 

[crazyhorse]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

I was very impressed by the opening two,missed episode three because of the football and my video dying.Boys kissing boys,girls kissing girls,blood splurting as aliens bite people and a bit of realistic swearing would be the issues so far.

I'd fucking swear if I saw an alien

 

[crazyhorse]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

Very scary with the kid being the choosen one for dodgy aliens who murder anyone annoying the child.A bit more Captain Jack stuff as well,he has been about.

Sadly I missed the last 10 minutes so can someone please tell me if they got the kid back and did he kick there alien arses?

 

[Kribu]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

Sadly I missed the last 10 minutes so can someone please tell me if they got the kid back and did he kick there alien arses?

The fairies kicked everyone else's arses and the child went with them in the end. Lots of blood and gore and no one was happy.



I actually rather liked that episode (although I think Ghost Machine was stronger on the whole) but in general... I have a feeling someone at the Torchwood production office has mixed up "adult" with "adolescent", as the show has so far really come off as the cliché 15 year old boy's understanding of "adult" - swearing, shagging, cyberboobies, blood and gore.

Still, if one manages to switch brain off and remembers not to expect anything with any depth to it, it can offer some entertainment...

 

[darth_librarian]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

I am lapping it up, but am aware that the scope of the show is not as highbrow as one initally hoped.

It does seem a bit like X-files / Stargate with extra welsh folk and blood...

 

[crazyhorse]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

Looks like I just missed the last minute or so then.At least they never had some madcap last minute rescue.

I agree about the style but then again Dr.Who is very tongue in cheek.I'm beginning to quite like it.

On another note I hope that the BBC's British Sci-fi thing gets put on BBC 1 or 2 and doesn't stay on BBC 4.

 

[GaribaldisHair]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

With RTD's track record I am surprised people were expecting, or hoping for, Highbrow.

Personally, I like the fact that there isn't necessarily a happy ending (something I always enjoyed about B5), and the hints we keep getting about Jack's life - although they do need to start pulling those together at some point.

Looks like Ianto gets a little more to do next week, which is good - so far, apart from storing his cyber-girlfriend in the basement he has been relatively superfluous.

 

[Kribu]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

Has there actually been a happy ending to any of the episodes so far? I don't think so... and this is certainly a nice point.

And I certainly wasn't hoping for or expecting "highbrow"... but with all the hype about it being "adult", I was hoping for a bit more than the stuff of 15 year-old-fanboys' wet dreams. Thankfully, the non-Chibnall episodes have had less of that at least.

 

[jnk5y]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

For me the stories are ok and I also like the fact that there isn't always a happy ending but and this is a BIG but the acting is just horrible. The ex cop is ok but the rest I just can't stand. I think the guy who plays Jack can't carry a show if he has to be serious. He was great as the funny man sidekick/competitor to the Doctor but now when everything rests on him he seems to buckle.

Maybe he needs a whole season under his belt to get it right. I remember hating Garibaldi's acting on B5 at first

 

[Kribu]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

This is something I can agree with. I think Eve Myles (Gwen) and Burn Gorman (Owen) are the best actors of the lot... can't really say much about the actor that plays Toshiko as she hasn't really had to do much. But the guy that plays Ianto... he really should have just stayed a background ornament, really. Maybe there are some ways in which he can act, but he hasn't shown those talents yet.

And while I think John Barrowman is a decent actor, his range seems to be somewhat limited and he's no leading man. He has the looks, and can pull off the charming, cocky con-man character that Captain Jack was originally (perhaps even as a lead, if needs be), but he can't do dark serious brooding hero.

He hasn't really been helped by the scripts / writers so far either IMHO - he certainly needs to be given something to work with. He came off much better IMHO in the latest episode, where he was finally given a more rounded central role and a chance to actually do something (apart from just standing and brooding, or standing and shouting). But he definitely cannot carry a show as the central character if he's not given anything to do - I don't feel he has the sort of screen presence where it would be enough for him just to stand around in an authoritative way.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

Ianto is a woman's role - the secretary - played by a man. They do not know how to write it, the equivalent job in Charlie's Angels was made a comic character.

 

[Chilli]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

I wouldn't compare it with B5 Season 1 though. Though season 1 of B5 was not quite as "steady" yet as it was in later seasons, it did have some clue as to where it was trying to go and what it was trying to do. I don't get the feeling that Torchwood "knows" much of anything that it wants to do or be. Aside from snogging, bad language, and being "adult".

A more fitting "historical" optimistic comparison would be Star Trek: TNG in its first two seasons .. when it was a show that had some good actors, occasional decent writing, but just had NO CLUE what it was doing, and was simply painful to watch at many points.

It could, of course, also just remain rubbish and die as rubbish

I do hope Torchwood manages to become a better show eventually. It has been okay so far when anyone but the main writers of the show have been writing ..

 

[Chilli]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

Ianto is a woman's role - the secretary - played by a man. They do not know how to write it, the equivalent job in Charlie's Angels was made a comic character.

???

Ianto is a butler. A traditionally male role.

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

???

Ianto is a butler. A traditionally male role.

The character is not written or played as a butler but as a secretary.

 

[Chilli]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

At this point in time, I think I can summarise my view on this show in three letters.

"ZUH????????"

 

[crazyhorse]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

???

Ianto is a butler. A traditionally male role.

The character is not written or played as a butler but as a secretary.

A secretary was another traditional male role.Women where discouraged from doing anything requiring thought for a long time.

 

[Sindatur]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

???

Ianto is a butler. A traditionally male role.

The character is not written or played as a butler but as a secretary.

A secretary was another traditional male role.Women where discouraged from doing anything requiring thought for a long time.

Yea, but, Andrew's not stuck quite that far in the past

 

[admiraldave]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

I'm enjoying Torchwood, it's fun, there's Captain Jack and Ianto (BTW, between Ianto and Rhys, I've grown disturbingly fond of that soft Welsh accent) and the episodes are interesting.

I'm a little concerned about Gwen's intelligence, or lack thereof. I understand her desire to talk domestics with her coworkers, it's her way to normalize the freaky, weird alien stuff. But she knew in 1x02 that no one has much of a social life, 1x04 and 1x05 saw Ianto and Jack lose loved ones, and she did snog Owen ... so supposedly knowing all that, she still decides to play the "who'd you snog last?" game?

One thing I'd like to see more of is the fact that Torchwood is frequently in over their heads. The entire Torchwood prime directive is a lot like Inter Planetary Expeditions from B5 and a lot of similar stories of messing with technologies that one doesn't understand can be mined from there, which I find interesting.

 

[darth_librarian]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

The feeling I get from watching this is that compared to the Dr Who Torchwood 'A' lot, these guys are the 'B' team. They've got some talent, but not the experience, and make up for it with bravado. The A lot were on top of things, this lot are trying to float, even with Capitan Jack at the helm.

They also fragment easily in a crisis. The seemingly simple appointment of Gwen was a case in point. She is quite fit though.

I just wish all the 'sex' stuff was'nt so forced. I like a bit of decent rumpy pumpy, but in this it does seem a bit over the top.

 

[admiraldave]

Re: Torchwood.... (spoliers!)

Unfortunately, I haven't seen Torchwood A in action ... I'm only up to "Age of Steel" in Doctor Who here in Canada. So, yes, I'm a little spoiled on what's coming up in Who, but that was bound to happen.