November 13, 2006

• [Torchwood discussion] I've only seen four episodes so far and, sad to say, I'm not liking it as much as Dr. Who. Barrowman's deliveries are flat and his perpetual smile is a bit too fake. The Harkness character is just all around weird. Not mysterious and quirky like the Doctor, but like a psycho who really wants to be your friend. I think he worked better as the hypercompetent sidekick from Dr. Who than as a manager; we rarely see him in a body hugging shirt doing manly stuff like fixing things with grunts and psychobabble. Don't see what Gwen sees in him. Speaking of whom, Gwen gets on my nerves. She's a good actor, but her character and backstory are lame. Her lover has really no purpose in the story except to be an annoyance. The two main Torchwood lackeys are not polished actors. The one chick that got chucked to make room for Gwen was a better actor than the one they left in. The butler fellow is fairly solid, though. Episode 4 gave him a chance to shine, but otherwise he has been too muted. The stories have been a mixed bag also. Episodes 1 and 4 were good, but 2 and 3 were rubbish. Sorry, emotions-as-energy is not a good good sci fi trove. The plots are also a bit too predictable. What made Dr. Who great was the sometimes utter randomness of the stories (brilliant example was that season 2 episode with the spaceship with portals to Madame de Pompadour). No episode yet (except the pilot, perhaps) has had great pacing. I hope the show improves.
• The Cyberwoman episode was dreadful. The woman playing title role was awful - just running an estuary accent through a vocoder does not make it scary. And her costume! If she was a partially converted Cyberperson, the metal parts should have been grafted on, dug in etc. Instead, she looked like she was wearing silver wellies (with heels! we rewound to confirm this) a silver helmet, and Milla Jovovich's costume from the Fifth Element (sprayed silver of course). When she tried to convert (upgrade, whatever) the Japanese businessman, she made a right mess of him. She should have looked like that. Then, when she was marching around in the base (too many episides set in the base btw - money's worth from the set?) they tried to do some scary monster-chase stuff, but it came out all clumsy, with the hand through the window, suddenly appearing in the door etc. You can't get away with saying, "It's ironic, they're playing with conventions" because to do that you've got to do it well. And the script made me cringe several times. Bloke - "What was the last thing you remember?" Me - "o god don't say 'Pain' that would be so crap" Cyberwoman - "Pain" Me - *faints dead away* If Torchwood is supposed to be the adult partner of Doctor Who, then the scripts, effects, stories and acting should be up to scratch. They're not. Dropping the word 'fuck' into the script and playing with bi- and homosexual tensions does not transform a kids show into a quality drama. Just look at 'Hudson Hawk'. This sounds like a real slagging off, but I need to get it off my chest, because I was disappointed. p.s. AND if they want to be discreet, they shouldn't have a black Range Rover with those annoying blue lights, they should have a battered white delivery van. Ubiquitous and anonymous. Gwen never would have noticed it.
• Not many active Wholigans left on this filter, it appears.
• I'm a bg Who fan, but I haven't checked out Torchwood yet. I've been having some technical difficulties in, er, shall we say, acquiring the episodes. Nudge Nudge. What I've heard so far has been a mixed bag. And given what I perceived as a sharp decline in quality in the second half of the last season of Who, I'm not as pumped about it as I might have been.
• Yeah, Torchwood's not on the TV here and I don't know if I want to bother downloading the episodes given the poor reviews I've read.
• same.
• AND if they want to be discreet, they shouldn't have a black Range Rover with those annoying blue lights, they should have a battered white delivery van. Ubiquitous and anonymous. Gwen never would have noticed it. But Torchwood doesn't want to be discreet. They want to bust into any given situation and take over without interference. They want to look impressive.
• It's alright, and I keep watching because it's new and shiny and everyone else I know is watching it and I don't want to be the one left out of the joke, you know? But it's really not all that. I'm still pissed about the Cyber-female-thing a week later (FUCK OFF, SHOW) and the backstory's all a jumble and they don't seem very competent, do they? And I love Barrowman but he's not suited for this, Gwen's not much yet, Toshiko is completely undeveloped, and I like Owen best despite the fact he date raped those people in the first episode - just because having a bastard around's slightly more interesting than anything else they've given us. Ooh, I like Gwen's boyfriend, does that count? I keep feeling like it has to come together, and the latest episode did have flashbacks to Captain Jack in WWI and stuff which, sigh, keeps me watching. But it's not going anywhere, and I'd rather keep catching up with old skool Who. As muteboy said, it comes off far more adolescent than adult to me, and DW has plenty of interesting, thought-provoking themes for my taste, without gratuitous swearing and sex (wtf was with the second episode? Gag).
• I like that everybody who died in the first four episodes died as a direct result of the actions of Torchwood. It was like The X-Files and Scratchy Show.
• It's still better than anything else on TV that isn't Dr Who. Or BSG. And I want to find out who Captain Jack is, so I'm sticking with it. Also, this week's episode was good.
• I always knew the fair folk were not to be trusted.
• It was certainly better than #2 or #3, but I thought it was still a bit lazy. I saw the "father" twist coming almost the second after Estelle mentioned it. The dream flashback in the beginning was just silly: Jack dreams of something that conveniently provides a backdrop to the episode? Also why exactly did they kill Estelle? Because she was Jack's friend? Why did they wait this long to do it? Besides, I find it strange that the fairies killed Jack's squadron, but left him intact. I hope they do start getting into what Rose really did to him. Where does his invincibility end? I would also like to know how he got back to the present time from Satellite 5.
• Is Captain Jack also known as Captain Scarlet? #4 was better, but Torchwood didn't really do much good again. The fairies took the child and they will come back later for another one. And there ain't a damn thing we can do. Nice Lovecraftian theme. Maybe the fairies didn't kill Jack because they recognised a -ahem- kindred spirit? I'm sticking with it too. My expectations have been adjusted, and it's still entertaining. Downloaders - it is worth it! I've noticed a couple of abusive father-figures in DW (in the 1952 TV face-removing episode) and Torchwood #4. Thoughts?
• OK, I'm now thinking the series should be retitled "Torchwood Fucks Up Again". How will they screw up the situation next week? Tune in! I'm still watching though.
• The last episode I saw was the one where Toshiko beds the foxy alien chick, which I thought was good. Oh, and "They Keep Killing Susie" which I also liked. I'm not in love with Torchwood, but it keeps me interested, and it seems to be gelling. Given a long enough run, it'll hit its stride eventually.
• I liked the people from the past episode - it resolved more realistically than episodes of that genre have in other series. But don't get me started on some of the filler stuff Battlestar Galactica has been pumping out.
• I'm waiting patiently for Torchwood to appear on this side of the Atlantic. Then I can stop hating it vicariously through the Brits, and start hating it for myself. (Downloading it? That's just wrong! Besides, I can't do it at work. And I only have dial-up at home.)
• Torchwood, episode 10 script
• > the filler stuff Battlestar Galactica has been pumping out. galacial plot progress.
• Owen = Avon?