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TORCHWOOD Returns To BBC America, Now With James Marsters!! The Britishers Tell Us What Else To Expect!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
I am – Hercules!!
“Torchwood” – the “Doctor Who” spinoff from “Queer As Folk” creator Russell Davies that leeched away a lot of the ambiguity that attended the homosexuality in the “Doctor Who” universe – launches a second season tonight on BBC America.
BBC2 broadcast the premiere about a week and a half ago in Great Britain, and a number of our limey cousins gauge the quality of James “Spike Brainiac” Marsters’ much-anticipated guest-star performance!
“Kelvington” says “it’s one thing to play British on an American show, but to do it on a British show is something else entirely, and James Marsters does it very well”:
Torchwood 2.01
When we last left the Torchwood team there was the sound of the TARDIS and a missing Jack, when we rejoin the team, they appear on their own and Jack is nowhere in sight. The opening of the episode sets a great tone as the group have a car chace with a blowfish. Yes, you read that right, a blowfish, driving a rather nice ride I might add. I wish they would have called this episode “One Fish, Two Fish, Three Fish Blowfish, or How I learned to Pimp My aquarium”. But they didn’t.
The theme is slightly updated, the voice over is gone, the music is a little darker, and by the end of the teaser Jack is back and with just a slight mention of “The Doctor”, it now appears that very much like “Primeval” where there are rifts that open up and people and things, like blowfish man, and Spike just walk on through. As for Spike well he’s toting some Lara Croft type heat as he clears out a bar, it’s one thing to play British on an American show, but to do it on a British show is something else entirely, and James Marsters does it very well. With a very stupid nod to Star Wars, Captain Jack meets up with Captain John another time agent.
They engage in that whole “Moonlighting” slapping fighting foreplay thing as they tear up the bar, leaving the gang behind. The dialog has been punched up from last year, or it’s much tighter editing, I haven’t decided which. We find out there’s only seven time agents left in the Universe and that there are some radioactive devices in the city. So the two Captains are going to find them.
Captain Jack has been away long enough for Gwen to get engaged and become a real force in the team. Everyone breaks up into teams to find the devices, Gwen and Spike find the first one, and Spike lips locks Gwen with some “Poison Ivy” lip gloss that leaves her paralyzed and dying in a cargo tanker. Then he goes after the second one, and takes out Sato and Harper. That leaves Captain Jack and Ianto to find the last one.
One cool thing about HD and the way the show is shot this year, is some of the small details that can now be seen, one of the best examples is that the guns the team use, actually say “TORCHWOOD” on them, which isn’t very Doctor Who PC if you ask me, since the Doctor never likes to use a gun.
Of course once the devices are found it’s only half of the story, and if you are not a fan of heights or falling to your death occupies your dreams, this is probably not a good episode for you to get back into the series. It turns out it’s all about money and a thing, which in the end turns out to be a bomb. By the end of the show we suspect that Jack has a son and the trailer for the rest of the series shows us a bound Martha Jones (very nice), and more critters than you can shake a stick at, plus we haven’t seen the last of Spike.
A lot will be said and bitched about with the whole gay thing. First, get over it. Second, seriously get over it. There isn’t any gay porn here, there are just a few lip locks and some innuendo, too bad I wouldn’t mind seeing Gwen get her kit off. But so much has been made about the gay thing, Jack and Spike aren’t gay, they are just sexual, men, women, perhaps some canines thrown in for good measure but it’s just what they are. It’s handled well, it’s never icky, and it’s about time we all just grew up.
Overall the show is a lot slicker than last season, and the characters seem to have found their niches in the team, I don’t know if the confidence of being renewed or that the actors are just more comfortable in their parts, but “Torchwood” is getting better and I for one can’t wait to see the rest of the series.
Just my 2¢
“Palimpsest” calls Marsters character “half Adam Ant, half Han Solo, and huge amounts of fun”:
Episode title: "Kiss Kiss, Bang, Bang"
Writer: Chris Chibnall
Director: Ashley Way
Well, Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) is back on Earth, and back with the Torchwood crew. Their ongoing mission? To guard a rift in space-time that's handily opened in Cardiff city centre.
Harkness is dealing with the complicated interpersonal issues left over after the frankly hit-and-miss first season, as well as being mistrusted by the rest of the outfit, who begrudge him swanning off whenever guest-star duties on WHO demand it.
This week, the random plot generator coughs up the Buffyverse's own James Marsters as a rival Time Agent to Harkness, playing to the hilt as a bisexual space pirate. He's half Adam Ant, half Han Solo, and huge amounts of fun he is too. He's come to Earth after three mystery canisters of finest MacGuffin, and soon disrupts what little harmony exists between the Torchwood members, by alternately seducing and beating up, well, pretty much everyone.
Marsters is established as a recurring character by the ep's end, and we're promised something more of a season-long story arc and more revelations about Harkness than the strictly monster-of-the-week fare that was served up all too often last year. Yes, the show's still as camp as Christmas round at John Waters' house, but the good news is that there seems to be a greater control over the material this time round. The profanity and sexualised elements have been toned down a touch, and the action and banter ramped up.
The production values are excellent for the BBC (perhaps faint praise, but there you go), series lead writer Chris Chibnall's script is witty, and wisely tongue-in-cheek and character-focused, and the direction and lighting work well.
All in all, it bodes well for series two.
“Gabba-UK” says the Marsters character is “a man not to trusted, dangerous to know and fun to have around”:
Hi Herc,
The Doctor Who spinoff 'Torchwood' has just returned to our screen here in dear old Blighty and I thought I'd post my thoughts on it.
Main one was that it was very good.
That may dismay some of the regular Doctor Who fans, many of whom don't like Torchwood at all. I'm not one of them. Its nice to see a more grown up sci-fi show that likes to have a bit of fun with the genre. Yes, the bisexual inferences are still there, the fact that Capt Jack will bone anything with a pulse is alive and well but the somewhat tiresome and boring differences between the member of the team seem to have gone which is a major plus. And they have a pretty funny Star wars gag too.
The show starts with a rather good (for BBC budget at least) car chase with the Torchwood souped up Range Rover tearing up Cardiff after a Blowfish that's wired on coke and driving a Chrysler Crossfire. This is the first clue to how the show is going to progress.
Torchwood is no longer secret, the police and the public know about them and what they do. Hence the old lady muttering 'Bloody Torchwood' when they asked her for directions.
Jack returns with little explanation of where he's been only to find that the team have been getting on perfectly well without him. This brings some funny moments between him and Gwen who has become the leader in his absence.
Enter through the Time Rift.... James Marsters. Yes folks, Spike is in Wales.
He's renegade Time Agent Capt. John Hart, murderer, alcoholic, drug taking, thieving and former fuck buddy of Capt. Jack (told you the Bi stuff was still about).
He's a man not to trusted, dangerous to know and fun to have around.
.... so basically he's Spike.
Spinning them a tale, he needs their help to find three items that fell into the rift. I won't spoil the details but the ride was a lot of fun and it will undoubtedly be on Bit Torrent by now so you can watch it yourself.
The production values have improved, the show looks better, its much funnier (some of that was down to Marsters admittedly) and it seems to have found its feet. I know its just the first episode but I have high hopes for it.
The coming soon on Torchwood at the end was a montage of the episodes to come with some pretty fucked up looking shit on the way including more Spi..... sorry, Capt. John Hart and the return of Martha Jones and her incredible ass now that her time on the TARDIS has come to an end.
All in all I would give it a solid B+ all round.
“Yours Truly” says Marsters’s character is “Spike by any other name, but still smelling sweet and a very welcome injection of humour”:
My feelings about Torchwood are much like my feelings for The good doctor, when it works - it works delightfully well and when it doesn’t it’s a fucking embarrassment.
Season two did not kick off with the expected break from S1 tradition, all the hallmarks of the preceding season were on show including
· Every character being sexually attracted to and flirting with every other character (check!)
· The plot being driven by the weekly maguffin (check!)
In it’s favour was the introduction of James (Spike) Marsters as Captain John Sexybastard – the evil incestuous career twin to Captain Jack Smugbastard. In effect Spike by any other name, but still smelling sweet and a very welcome injection of humour into Torchwoods mostly miserable cast.
The wafer thin plot involves Capt’ Spike bringing his intergalactic treasure hunt to Capt’ jacks back yard (not his first visit to Jacks back yard - ho ho!) and a scenario of misunderstanding/fight/betrayal/fight/etc that cannot help but be crushingly familiar to anyone who’s ever read a comic or watched a crappy TV show in the last 40 years. This all finally resolves in a series of soap opera plot holes and exposition so crass that in any other show it would have you throwing the remote through the screen.
However: Torchwood still has some moments that do reach the level the show should be coasting along at, parts of the script really crackle and are genuinely funny (Masters I’m glad to report has not forgotten how to deliver a line for maximum comic effect) – the cast are all pitch perfect in their roles (Except for Gareth David Lloyd as Ianto Jones. Unless I’m supposed to hate his soggy face and wish he would be crushed by falling masonry every time he opens his mouth? In which case, great casting!) and Jack is still part exasperating part inspired. You can’t help but want Torchwood to be as good as it damn well should be, it has almost everything going for it – except consistent scripts. The world has to be full of people who could write a decent creepy sci-fi show: the BBC should hire some of them.
The show ends with some clips of the forthcoming season – and it does look like it holds promise. Then again the trailer for this years Doctor Who Christmas special looked like it would be exciting and it turned out to be the new doctors lowest moment, so only time will tell. (See what I did there?)
9 p.m. Saturday. BBC America.
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When we last left the Torchwood team there was the sound of the TARDIS and a missing Jack, when we rejoin the team, they appear on their own and Jack is nowhere in sight. The opening of the episode sets a great tone as the group have a car chace with a blowfish. Yes, you read that right, a blowfish, driving a rather nice ride I might add. I wish they would have called this episode “One Fish, Two Fish, Three Fish Blowfish, or How I learned to Pimp My aquarium”. But they didn’t.
The theme is slightly updated, the voice over is gone, the music is a little darker, and by the end of the teaser Jack is back and with just a slight mention of “The Doctor”, it now appears that very much like “Primeval” where there are rifts that open up and people and things, like blowfish man, and Spike just walk on through. As for Spike well he’s toting some Lara Croft type heat as he clears out a bar, it’s one thing to play British on an American show, but to do it on a British show is something else entirely, and James Marsters does it very well. With a very stupid nod to Star Wars, Captain Jack meets up with Captain John another time agent.
They engage in that whole “Moonlighting” slapping fighting foreplay thing as they tear up the bar, leaving the gang behind. The dialog has been punched up from last year, or it’s much tighter editing, I haven’t decided which. We find out there’s only seven time agents left in the Universe and that there are some radioactive devices in the city. So the two Captains are going to find them.
Captain Jack has been away long enough for Gwen to get engaged and become a real force in the team. Everyone breaks up into teams to find the devices, Gwen and Spike find the first one, and Spike lips locks Gwen with some “Poison Ivy” lip gloss that leaves her paralyzed and dying in a cargo tanker. Then he goes after the second one, and takes out Sato and Harper. That leaves Captain Jack and Ianto to find the last one.
One cool thing about HD and the way the show is shot this year, is some of the small details that can now be seen, one of the best examples is that the guns the team use, actually say “TORCHWOOD” on them, which isn’t very Doctor Who PC if you ask me, since the Doctor never likes to use a gun.
Of course once the devices are found it’s only half of the story, and if you are not a fan of heights or falling to your death occupies your dreams, this is probably not a good episode for you to get back into the series. It turns out it’s all about money and a thing, which in the end turns out to be a bomb. By the end of the show we suspect that Jack has a son and the trailer for the rest of the series shows us a bound Martha Jones (very nice), and more critters than you can shake a stick at, plus we haven’t seen the last of Spike.
A lot will be said and bitched about with the whole gay thing. First, get over it. Second, seriously get over it. There isn’t any gay porn here, there are just a few lip locks and some innuendo, too bad I wouldn’t mind seeing Gwen get her kit off. But so much has been made about the gay thing, Jack and Spike aren’t gay, they are just sexual, men, women, perhaps some canines thrown in for good measure but it’s just what they are. It’s handled well, it’s never icky, and it’s about time we all just grew up.
Overall the show is a lot slicker than last season, and the characters seem to have found their niches in the team, I don’t know if the confidence of being renewed or that the actors are just more comfortable in their parts, but “Torchwood” is getting better and I for one can’t wait to see the rest of the series.
Just my 2¢
Writer: Chris Chibnall
Director: Ashley Way
Well, Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) is back on Earth, and back with the Torchwood crew. Their ongoing mission? To guard a rift in space-time that's handily opened in Cardiff city centre.
Harkness is dealing with the complicated interpersonal issues left over after the frankly hit-and-miss first season, as well as being mistrusted by the rest of the outfit, who begrudge him swanning off whenever guest-star duties on WHO demand it.
This week, the random plot generator coughs up the Buffyverse's own James Marsters as a rival Time Agent to Harkness, playing to the hilt as a bisexual space pirate. He's half Adam Ant, half Han Solo, and huge amounts of fun he is too. He's come to Earth after three mystery canisters of finest MacGuffin, and soon disrupts what little harmony exists between the Torchwood members, by alternately seducing and beating up, well, pretty much everyone.
Marsters is established as a recurring character by the ep's end, and we're promised something more of a season-long story arc and more revelations about Harkness than the strictly monster-of-the-week fare that was served up all too often last year. Yes, the show's still as camp as Christmas round at John Waters' house, but the good news is that there seems to be a greater control over the material this time round. The profanity and sexualised elements have been toned down a touch, and the action and banter ramped up.
The production values are excellent for the BBC (perhaps faint praise, but there you go), series lead writer Chris Chibnall's script is witty, and wisely tongue-in-cheek and character-focused, and the direction and lighting work well.
All in all, it bodes well for series two.
The Doctor Who spinoff 'Torchwood' has just returned to our screen here in dear old Blighty and I thought I'd post my thoughts on it.
Main one was that it was very good.
That may dismay some of the regular Doctor Who fans, many of whom don't like Torchwood at all. I'm not one of them. Its nice to see a more grown up sci-fi show that likes to have a bit of fun with the genre. Yes, the bisexual inferences are still there, the fact that Capt Jack will bone anything with a pulse is alive and well but the somewhat tiresome and boring differences between the member of the team seem to have gone which is a major plus. And they have a pretty funny Star wars gag too.
The show starts with a rather good (for BBC budget at least) car chase with the Torchwood souped up Range Rover tearing up Cardiff after a Blowfish that's wired on coke and driving a Chrysler Crossfire. This is the first clue to how the show is going to progress.
Torchwood is no longer secret, the police and the public know about them and what they do. Hence the old lady muttering 'Bloody Torchwood' when they asked her for directions.
Jack returns with little explanation of where he's been only to find that the team have been getting on perfectly well without him. This brings some funny moments between him and Gwen who has become the leader in his absence.
Enter through the Time Rift.... James Marsters. Yes folks, Spike is in Wales.
He's renegade Time Agent Capt. John Hart, murderer, alcoholic, drug taking, thieving and former fuck buddy of Capt. Jack (told you the Bi stuff was still about).
He's a man not to trusted, dangerous to know and fun to have around.
.... so basically he's Spike.
Spinning them a tale, he needs their help to find three items that fell into the rift. I won't spoil the details but the ride was a lot of fun and it will undoubtedly be on Bit Torrent by now so you can watch it yourself.
The production values have improved, the show looks better, its much funnier (some of that was down to Marsters admittedly) and it seems to have found its feet. I know its just the first episode but I have high hopes for it.
The coming soon on Torchwood at the end was a montage of the episodes to come with some pretty fucked up looking shit on the way including more Spi..... sorry, Capt. John Hart and the return of Martha Jones and her incredible ass now that her time on the TARDIS has come to an end.
All in all I would give it a solid B+ all round.
Season two did not kick off with the expected break from S1 tradition, all the hallmarks of the preceding season were on show including
· Every character being sexually attracted to and flirting with every other character (check!)
· The plot being driven by the weekly maguffin (check!)
In it’s favour was the introduction of James (Spike) Marsters as Captain John Sexybastard – the evil incestuous career twin to Captain Jack Smugbastard. In effect Spike by any other name, but still smelling sweet and a very welcome injection of humour into Torchwoods mostly miserable cast.
The wafer thin plot involves Capt’ Spike bringing his intergalactic treasure hunt to Capt’ jacks back yard (not his first visit to Jacks back yard - ho ho!) and a scenario of misunderstanding/fight/betrayal/fight/etc that cannot help but be crushingly familiar to anyone who’s ever read a comic or watched a crappy TV show in the last 40 years. This all finally resolves in a series of soap opera plot holes and exposition so crass that in any other show it would have you throwing the remote through the screen.
However: Torchwood still has some moments that do reach the level the show should be coasting along at, parts of the script really crackle and are genuinely funny (Masters I’m glad to report has not forgotten how to deliver a line for maximum comic effect) – the cast are all pitch perfect in their roles (Except for Gareth David Lloyd as Ianto Jones. Unless I’m supposed to hate his soggy face and wish he would be crushed by falling masonry every time he opens his mouth? In which case, great casting!) and Jack is still part exasperating part inspired. You can’t help but want Torchwood to be as good as it damn well should be, it has almost everything going for it – except consistent scripts. The world has to be full of people who could write a decent creepy sci-fi show: the BBC should hire some of them.
The show ends with some clips of the forthcoming season – and it does look like it holds promise. Then again the trailer for this years Doctor Who Christmas special looked like it would be exciting and it turned out to be the new doctors lowest moment, so only time will tell. (See what I did there?)
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Come on, talkbackers---don't let me down!
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Good job lads, got this up sometime after episode 2 has aired!
But a much better series so far. Season one was mostly arse but I have enjoyed 2 out 2 this time round. The pan-sexuality is still there but not so awkwardly crowbarred in, this is the way it should be done! -
Having seen the first 2 episodes of the new season, the first thing I noticed is that they've thankfully lost a lot of the angst of the first season. The show has finally found its sense of humor. And they've started at least one, maybe two, story arcs for the season.
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I stopped watching season 1 halfway through because it was so horribly bad, and now I have to start watching again because Martha is showing up.. Do I have to sit through the whole first season, or just the last few episode for the "pivotal ending"?
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I liked torchwood first season, but I thought there was indeed too much bisexuality in it. I had LESS than no problem with a bisexual Jack Harkness. My problem is that everyone on the team is bisexual, which stretches credulity. It's like the "Bus jumps the open bridge" from SPEED and physics. Yes, I can accept the fantastic but dont insult my intelligence... Anyway, the solution for this is simple. Have Captain Jack provide the insight that bisexuality was something he looked for, or was a bias in, his torchwood recruitment. But seriously, having everyone including the REAL Captain Jack Harkness in WW2 turn out to be bi was just silly. And there's nothing remotely homophobic about pointing that out. What is DOUBLY silly is shielding Russell T. Davies from such criticism by accusing we critics of prejudice.
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The first episode was a bit hit and miss but the second episode was really good, nice story, great effects and plenty of drama.
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most Americans won't get it. but if you don't like reality retreads.
give torchwood a chance. its not all bad. and can be sorta fun. -
They should just screw the subtleties and actually just call him Spike. Give him the bleached blond hair, leather trenchcoat, the exact same character, who just happened to wonder into this other shows universe.
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boring,tired old crap
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crap.
This show suffers from some of the worst written characters I think I've seen in a long time on a television show. Why Harkness should feel at all bad for leaving those fucking idiots he works with blows my mind. Have the writers forgotten that their selfishness and piss poor "motivations" last season almost caused the end of the world? There is absolutely no character you can sympathize with. And if the point is that they're all bastards then fine. I get that. But they NEVER get their just desserts. The punch Jack in the face and are all, "so yeah I messed up fuck you, you never tell us about yourself." Siiiigh. Fuck em. And Fuck the writers strike for not being over so we'd have better tv on. And Fuck me for still watching this tripe. -
But I just don't care.
This whole series is a bit of a disappointment. The first few episodes of the first series were quite good, but it's become progressively dafter and dafter, with apparently no hope for a recovery.
The stories are ropey, the episode titles are stolen from Mr Davis' DVD collection and the whole gay-kissing thing is getting ridiculous.
I rather enjoyed queer as folk, and I'm in no way homophobic, but the fact that in every episode somebody feels the need to lock tongues with another memeber of their sex, despite NEVER showing any inclination towards homosexuality before is just ridiculous.
I don't know of any other sci-fi series which is so half arsed, pointless and badly written, and I watched an episode of Farscape.
Sorry for the rant, but yet again Russel T Davis has wasted another opportunity. -
Try watching Primeval. I'm only about half way through Torchwood S 1. (Weevil fight club) but the show has way more depth than Primeval which is a fun concept with lousy writing and cartoonish characters.
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I have no problem with Jack being "pansexual" or whatever.
But bad writing, bad scripting, and bad plotting bother me.
The idea that gay+sex+nudity = adult drama bothers me.
Russel Fucking Davies bothers me.
HE should grow the fuck up, and stop writing such childish drivel and trying to excuse it by saying it doesn't have to make sense, as it's only for kids. -
have the rank of Captain and the intials JH?
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Series 1 of Torchwood was horrible. Primeval has problems but at least it is entertaining and unlike Torchwood doesn't spend half of every episode moping about how serious and important their job is. Episode 1 of series 2 was a big improvement. I haven't gotten around to seeing episode 2 yet. Of all the Doctor Who shows Sarah Jane Adventures is by far the best. If Torchwood could be half as entertaining as that, I'll be happy.
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Drivel, and I say that as a lifelong Doctor Who fan. A terrible waste.
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All I can say is, if the fate of the world depends on this band of self centered, self important bunglers, then it's time to bend over and kiss our asses goodbye.
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Anyone know if it's available on DVD in Canada yet? The CBC has been showing eps but I'd prefer to watch it at my own pace/leisure.
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a large improvement so far. Give Ianto more airtime.
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In the first episode, Captain Jack and Ianto enter an office, with Jack telling Ianto that, to him, offices are exotic places because he never gets to spend time in them. Offices are sexy.
Captain Jack told Ianto that offices make him horny.
That level of absolute ridiculousness in the writing is what kills TORCHWOOD dead. Yes, it's all very pretty, saturated colours and that HD witchcraft and loads of swishy camera and dramatic music...
But it makes no fucking sense!
How many people did Jack crack onto in that episode? He's jealous because uber-slut Gwen has decided, in the time Jack went to the end of the world and got killed again by Sam Tyler, that she's reformed and will no longer fuck everything that moves. So Jack's upset, 'cos that includes him. Ianto's giving Jack the cold shoulder for walking away when Tennant's ride came calling at the end of season 1. So Jack's upset, 'cos Ianto won't fuck him. Then Jack gets upset 'cos Captain Spike may reveal too much about his past.
WHO GIVES A FUCK?!?!?
TORCHWOOD is an above top secret agency charged with saving the Earth regularly from alien invasion. They supposedly don't even answer to the government, and they are made up of the very best in their chosen fields. So why are they only fucking interested in sex every week? Any hole's a goal! It's all "waaah Ianto won't fuck me and Gwen's only going to fuck Rhys from now on and frankly no-one will fuck Owen because he looks like the Crazy Frog and that frigid bitch Tosh won't fuck me waaaaaah I AM CAPTAIN JACK THE WALKING COCK MAN AND WHY WON'T MY TEAM FUCK ME?!?!? WAAAHAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
If you want to know how an agency that saves the world from alien intervention REALLY should be, dust off your X-FILES boxsets and watch them again. In the X-FILES, if a UFO crashes and you're unlucky enough to be at the crash site, you'll get your ass riddled with lead and handed to you by the Blue Beret Retreival Team, who kill first and then don't ask any questions. If you turn up at the scene of a UFO crash in TORCHWOOD... all you have to worry about is which TW member gets to you first. Especially if it's Captain Jack. Especially if there's a dark corner.
It's all so sad, because SLEEPER - the 2nd episode of season 2 - I actually almost enjoyed. Till I noticed the resemblances of certain shots to certain movies. Alien dragging himself along the ground by one arm? THE TERMINATOR. Same alien laughing as he activates a bomb attached to him? PREDATOR. Blades that slide out of forearms? BARAKA from MORTAL KOMBAT. The entire concept of how a person who thinks they're human can possibly NOT know that they are an enemy sleeper agent undercover, waiting to be activated to destroy humanity? Well, hell, that's all three seasons of the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Which did it waaaaaaaaaaay better.
Why was SLEEPER one of the best TW eps so far? Less snogging, fucking, and/or embarrassing teen sex life angst from a bunch of 20/30somethings who really should know better. Scientists are NOT, on the whole, obsessed with sex. The kind of people who would be dealing with alien contact and such are NOT the kind of people you see on Channel 4's SKINS. TORCHWOOD has no fucking clue what it's meant to be, and THAT'S what's saddest: all this money, talent and effort thrown at it, and it's still the British equivalent of a gay BUCK ROGERS crossed with SCOOBY DOO. Fucking wasted.
I agree with some of you guys above: if you want to see the best of DOCTOR WHO's universe, watch the HUMAN NATURE / FAMILY OF BLOOD and BLINK episodes, then move along and watch THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES. Well plotted, well written, excellently acted and with decent production values - and no-one's obsessed with sticking bits of themselves into anyone else / any aliens / anything with a hole or protuberance. It's almost refreshing to see an RTD production that isn't totally obsessed with fucking, and it works.
TORCHWOOD could still work this season. But I doubt it. -
Admittedly, it's a bit shit. But it doesn't claim to be edgy, dark, adult sci-fi drama. It is what it is - a kid's dinosaur show. The only cast member taking it seriously is Dougie "I'm an ac-TOR!" Henshall, and there's enough eye candy in it for both sexes. It's stupid, it's hokey, but it IS fun.
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isn't as much fun as the first because the subject matter was a bit darker but it was just as good as the first. The whole sexuality thing is still there but, if you forgive the expression, not shoved down your throat as much. Marsters coming on board and from what i hear new writers makes me more confident about what's to come. And the above talker was right, whatever its faults, Torchwood is Shakespere compared to the awfulness that is Primevil. Seriously bit torrent it to see just how shite British Sci-Fi can get!!!
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Admittedly the little kid in me goes crazy for any dinosaur/sci fi but it wouldn't take much to make it a really cool show. I can put up with the goofy characters but when they roam a shopping mall leaving unconscious team mates lying around or walk unarmed when they know that a raptor is just around the corner....It's just shitty writing, and I thought that the reason the Brits only crank out 7 or 8 shows was to give a better level of quality.
Torchwood (and I'm only half way into season 1) has a bit more depth and doesn't leave me pissed off at the end of every episode. -
Fuck those Britisher fags with their gay faggy fag tv shows for fags.
What we need is a show about towelheads getting shot and buttfucked by marines. Erm, did I say buttfucked? Ah... erm.... -
I just got finished not watching the first season of Torchwood, and I'm a die-hard fan of Old and New Who. The 2nd one is already here, AND already on U.S. TV? Why are we getting near first run Torchwood and still waiting for the new Christmas special? BBC could make alot more money if Americans got their Who from TV rather than from Torrent.
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I especially love the convoluted plot element they devised to have Hannah Spearitt constantly running around her place in minimal underwear.
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The first episode was fantastic. There didn't need to be a good plot, it just needed to be a fun, action-packed setup episode with a great guest star, which it was! The Torchwood team have a much better dynamic this time around. They don't all hate each other like they did in season 1! Now it's more believable that they'd actually carry on working together. There are some GREAT episodes coming up in the season. One of them is meant to be the darkest thing ever.
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He's playing gay. I can see where there might be confusion....
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just adds to Capt. Jack's craziness. He's a gonzo Han Solo.
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Sorry for asking the obvious here, but where exactly is the pun in "inject"?
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I don't mind there being homosexuality in Who, i just wish he didn't have to make the Doctor snog everything that moves!
RTD is a big who fan, but he has a big streak of gay stereotype in him that has chickflicked the show a bit. -
I just got around to watching episode 2 of series 2 and it was much better than every episode of last season. Sure it was all taken from other series or films but at least they didn't spend the whole damn time moping about how hard their jobs are. They actually seemed to like their jobs at some points even if they have hard choices to make.
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So, if an American sends in a review of this show it doesn't matter what we say? Britons are a better judge of the series? Bullshit.
So, This past week Torchwood Series 2 Episode 2 entitled "Sleeper" aired on the BBC and was pretty damn good.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
The episode is used as an allegory for terrorism as the team discovers a sleeper unit living in Cardiff with plans to invade earth. This discovery comes when a woman and her boyfriend are robbed and in the course of the burglary the robbers are killed and critically injured. The woman comes out without a scratch and can't remember what happened. The team investigates and discovers her secret. During interrogation of the woman we see how far Jack is willing to go and how different he is from some of the other members of their team, in particular Gwen. While in their attempt to break through the false memories of the woman they inadvertently activate the cell but leave her "off the network". The woman gains control of the technology that is implanted in her and helps the team stop the cell from completing their mission. Which by the way is to nuke the crap out of the UK using their own nuclear warheads. In the end the woman can't live with the fact that she's not entirely human except for her memories and takes Gwen hostage forcing the team to kill her while she's still "human". The episode is good, better than all the reality garbage on TV today, but not as good as that first episode. I like learning about Capt. Jack and adding James Marsters as Capt. John is a fantastic way to explore that. Especially since he'll be back later in the season. That's right... James Marsters will be back on Torchwood later this season.
Of course even if I had submitted this review to AICN apparently I'm American so what I think of this show doesn't really mean as much as it would if I were a Briton.
...and for that I say BULLSHIT!! -
I ask this because "Sleeper", the second episode ripped both the effects and alien killing method straight from that movie! I think "Ian Stone" was a Brit movie so it wouldn't surprise me if it was the same prosthetics as used in the movie but I was shocked how obvious it was.By the way, I'm enjoying Torchwood a little bit more this time around. Not enough to actually watch it when it's on but enough to torrent it when I remember.
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Shut it Yank.:)
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The pansexuality is fine with me-- Desired, even. I mean, every other scifi show has the characters of opposite gender all snogging one another, so why shouldn't there be one that allows for a more open-minded view of the future? And that's where Jack's from- The far-off future where EVERYBODY is pansexual.
Hey, I know the people who don't like seeing men kissing each other will flee from this (but strangely, they never complain about Gwen kissing the girl in the first episode. I guess to homophobes, guy on guy is verboten, but girl on girl is still sexy.) -- but I like the show. I'm glad to see a show that treats the characters' sexuality like any other show, but without the heterosexual boundaries. Seriously-- the level of romance and sexuality is THE SAME as any other show. It's just that they don't stick to their own gender. If that's what bugs you about Torchwood (or you consider it "bad writing" to have a team of bisexuals... believe me, bisexuals tend to gravitate toward each other) then move on. Find something else. Stop complaining because a "gay" show is on television and go watch something in which manly men down pints of lager and slap each other on the back whilst making lurid gestures at women. Whatever it takes to maintain your oh-so-fragile masculine veneer.
For the rest of us, Torchwood stands as a show that's better than approximately 97% of the CRAP that's on American television. I'm a yank, but I'd sooner watch Torchwood and Doctor Who than bother with lame, boring shit like 30 Rock or the American version of The Office, which substitutes 'awkward' for "funny'.
It's alright guys. There's always great mediocre, cliche, purely hetero American scifi like Bionic Woman, Stargate Atlantis, and whatever drek SciFi channel happens to whip up this week. You'll be OK.
I just hope Starbuck doesn't realize she's a dyke... You might lose it if she goes 100% butch. -
I don't have any problem with the gay thing, but it is not really a gay thing at all. I have to say the way they portray the general sexuality of the characters seem to not exhibit sexual tension but rather sexual psychosis. One of the primary ways they view each other is as a sexual mate that they can shag one day and forget about it the next. They are all omnisexual sex addicts who need therapy. Which wouldn't be bad if they showed the consequences of treating everyone close to you as a fresh piece of meat. But they just hop back and forth with each other without showing the emotional consequences that would make the whole repartee believable. But I have to admit the whole Spike poodle line was pretty funny.
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Name five people he's kissed, willingly. You can't count Jack because that one was kind of snuck up on the Doctor-- He didn't initiate it and didn't return it, from my view. You can't count Rose, because that was to suck the TARDIS energy out of her before she died. So who, then?
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John Barrowman is a much better actor as flamboyant, cheeky Captain Jack than broody and secretive Captain Jack.
Gwen is still a fucking useless idiot now engaged to her fucking useless idiot boyfriend, Rhys.
Owen and Tosh attempt to start romantic chemistry and fail miserably.
James Marsters' character Captain John Hart is already more interesting to watch than all of the Torchwood team combined.
Still no explanation of why Captain Jack disappeared as the TARDIS engines sounded INSIDE the Hub in "End of Days" last season while he was also shown running OUTSIDE to jump on the outside of the TARDIS in "Utopia" in DOCTOR WHO Series 3.
Still no explanation why a supposedly covert agency has little blue Knight Rider lights on each side of their black SUV's windshield.
Mr. Finch (Anthony Head) from DOCTOR WHO's "School Reunion" episode needs to appear in an episode with Marster's Captain John Hart. I'm just sayin'...
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Torchwood is too gay? Well I guess seeing sexual attraction/sexuality being represented on TV & in movies that is completely different than your own would feel strange.
Imagine a world that shows only representations of male/male or female/female relationships.
Every movie, every TV show & even the commercials- all gay. Why even every love song on the bleedin' radio-gay! Every comic book Super Hero-gay!
Gee, now you may know (or can hopefully imagine) how it feels to be GAY in the "STRAIGHT" world.
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That Captain John was leading Torchwood instead of Captain Jack? I know I certainly did.
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Thank you, I needed the laugh. Still, I like Capt. Jack and think that adding Capt. Hart would be an awesome addition to Torchwood. Not as a leader but much the way that Spike was in Angel. That nagging son of a bitch who's just as good if not better, but not bogged down with all the bullshit of some grief he picked up in the past. Oh, and we need more of Toshi naked... I'm just sayin'.
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I know what you mean about Toshi! We definitely do need some more of her naked.
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How is it possible for an agency to be "above the government"? It just makes no fucking sense, particularly as they are repeatedly called in by the primeminister!!!
For God's sakes either somebody cancel this pile of shite or sack Russel T Davis.
In fact, if the BBC are now in the practice of hiring people involved with Buffy why don't they pay Whedon to come in and fix everything Davis has fucked up.
In fact, better idea, if the BBC wants a really stunning adult Sci-Fi franchise why don't they use the money they would be spending on Torchwood to buy the rights to show Firefly re-runs. It would attract far more viewers, and not be shit -
This season does seem much improved but the characters are still bland or unlikable and the whole thing mixes so many genres it doesn't succeed in any. My goodwill, carried over from Dr Who has run out. I really wanted to like it.
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The only people on Torchwood that actively seem to be bisexual are Captain Jack and Ianto (who, despite his cyberwoman girlfirned seems much more gay than bi to me.). While in the latest episode Owen does suggest that everyone have sex has he ever shown any itnerest in men? Gwen made out with a woman but wasn't she under the influence of an alien? The only time Toshiko has been with a woman was when the woman was some mind reading alien. I don't really think those count.
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...and it's not a great show by any means, but it is fun to watch. I didn't make it through a single episode of Torchwood last season, and I'm a big Doctor Who fan. Just bad writing -- it's like the writers are all 12-year-old boys who found the freedom to write about sex and violence for the first time. Both are so clumsily handled I sometimes wonder whether this really is a BBC program.
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Wow, why don't you mention "all the sex" when it's straight sex? The horny soldiers during the bombing of Cardiff? The only gay soldier was the original Capt. Jack- which is where our Captain got his name. What about all of the horny straight people in every episode- fucking in bathrooms etc. (Evey single Heroes Talkback devolves into a who is hotter hayden or Kristen Bell). And ALL men are horny constantly- gay, straight or bi. And as far as all of the Torchwood members being bi..... Once you have established Aliens on Earth, monsters running around- ghosts etc. I hardly think someones gender is going to be a huge issue. These people are highly educated and the reason most of society does not accept bisexuality is because of moral/religious attitudes. Every single human has been attracted to people of both genders at some point in their lives. Gay people have "straight" crushes, straight people have "gay" crushes. To deny that is delusional. Look at more "primitive" human societies and you will see that bisexuality is accepted as part of human nature.
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Jan 27, 2008 2:02:43 PM CST
Totchwood is utter shit. Primeval is fast becoming the true succ
by taxman2001
It's fast, it's fun and it's now becoming a bit dark with the introduction of the alternative reality and the mysterious Oliver Leek. Torchwood? More like Turtlehead.
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"Torchwood is utter shit. Primeval is fast becoming the true successor to Dr Who."
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I couldn't get beyond more than a few episodes last season, but I decided to give it another chance. Definitely showed signs of improvement, better pacing, characters a little more comfortable. But I totally agree that Spike would make a better team leader. John Barrowman is really just not a very good actor. Neither is the woman playing Tosh. Should've left both of them in the past last season.
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Tom Cruise looky-likey John Barrowman in charge. Torchwood is a group that fights alien conspiracies from its secret HQ. Scientology conspires to torch all opposition from its alien HQ. (Credit to Tony Sandy in Private Eye magazine for that gag.)
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Captain Jack on Doctor Who is a great character but when he is on Torchwood he is just kind of a prick. You would think that they would try to have some consistency between the characterization on the two shows...I can't wait until Martha shows up and is a sex craved depressed jerk.
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the gay stuff only bothers me in the context of being one element of the excess sexual content. as someone above said, this show tries to act adult by having sex, the worrying about it and the machinations surrounding it take over. like an adolescent. not an adult. the show is childish.
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I just wish, since this show is hypersexualized, they'd at least have decent looking girls on the show. Gwen and Tosh? Fugly.
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That's cool i watched the episode twice to see if that quote he said was in the first episode but it was'nt. The shows okay and so is primeval but I'd trade them for new journeyman episodes wtf is up with axing the show it's class!
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I think the problem might be Chris Chibnall, who seems to prefer writing Captain Jack as broody and secretive instead of the roguish charmer he is on DOCTOR WHO. That, or Jack works much better as a supporting character playing off others instead of as the lead.
Whatever it is, Captain Jack is returning for DOCTOR WHO Series Four so at least we'll get to see the likeable Jack one more time...
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Perhaps Jack is brooding and secretive on *Torchwood* because he's living in the 21st Century and has to be secretive from his team and the public about future events, whereas he can cut loose when he's traveling with The Doctor & Co. Food for thought.
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Will the new season be shown on BBC America? Or do we have to wait on this side of the pond?
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Did you even read the title to this article?
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awful , awful, awful shite. It actually makes me like Dr. Who a bit less.
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I am actually looking forward to the new seasons of LOST and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA more than DOCTOR WHO this year. Cheers for that, Russell the T.
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