Torchwood

[altariel]

So, Torchwood. Kind of... icky, wasn't it? I think I get the story might be about corruption now. But Gwen is a useless POV character (and I'll never forgive her for what she's doing to Barry Backstory; although I think Burn wotsisname is giving the best performance in the show). I think if I was about fifteen, I might think this was the best TV programme I had ever seen. As it is - well, it's better than Robin Hood. But nowhere near as good as Strictly Come Dancing.

Hey, though! They're showing Crown Court on Legal TV!

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I decided last week that I'd had enough of Torchwood. Horror just isn't a genre I go for and Jack lost his sense of humour somewhere, so there wasn't really enough left to induce me to download any more.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It's very thin on humour, which I'd thought would have been one of its strengths. I'll keep going till the end, of course - I'm still watching Robin Hood for some bizarre reason.

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I'm only watching it so I can write acidic redactions of each episode in the style of Movies in 15 Minutes, and post them to LJ. Apparently my summaries are the only thing keeping a couple of my f'list loyal to it as well...

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I still recommend episode 5, although you might not like the resolution nearly as much as I did. But, knowing your tastes, vilakins, I think I can confidently say that you should not watch episode 6, ever. It's exactly the kind of horror that would really turn you off.

(Me, I'm enjoying the series, but not as much as I'd expected to, so I'm still hoping it'll get better as it goes along.)

[communicator.livejournal.com]

I saw a recent episode of Torchwood last night - thought I'd give it a shot - it was about welsh cannibals? is that the one you saw? I thought it was like a show written and directed by intelligent teenagers who had seen some films and had a good imagination, but had never actually experienced real life.

I thought the best performance was by the doctor who was in Bleak House?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the one I saw, and I completely agree that it's a programme that smart teenagers would make (also what I think about Battlestar Galactica, although this seems to be a minority opinion).

The doctor who was in Bleak House is Burn Wotsisname, and it's by far the best performance - John Barrowman has been very disappointing. Mr A. reckins it's because he's doing theatre acting and projecting to the back.

[furius.livejournal.com]

Well, icky with the Gwen/Owen maybe, but I think the actual gore is pretty standard and not very gruesome. Is Gwen the POV character now though? She seems to be getting more emotionaaly distant from the average watcher than someone like Ianto or Tosh...

At 20, I think it's occasionally brilliant but always very funny. (The tractor rescue!)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The gore wasn't gruesome, but there was something slightly sordid about the whole thing. Maybe this was what they were aiming for.

My reading is that Gwen has been the POV character from the start: we entered Torchwood with her, she is the only one whose outside life we follow in any detail, and we are seeing her get further into the mire.

I was a bit bored by the time of the tractor rescue, but last night's had one laugh out loud moment, where Owen shouted out something like, "Only in the &£*%$ countryside!" Also, I love bad puns so I liked the title.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

PS Forgot to say - that icon rocks!

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I think if I was about fifteen, I might think this was the best TV programme I had ever seen.

So much for the gritty adult take, eh?

The trailer looked good, it's disappointing to see all these poor reviews. (Mind you, I don't mind a bit of ickiness, if, like nudity, it's all about The Integrity of the Story, and if they're finally getting into the corruption angle, good, but that's all so easily undermined if the characters are poor and things feel gratuitous.)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

More of a gritty adolescent take. Which is fine, I suppose, just not quite what I was hoping for.

I thought last night's was perfectly well executed, it just didn't float my boat. Owen's characterization and performance were actually very good. Everthing else - meh. Love your icon.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Well, I thought it was pretty boring, but then I nearly always find horror dull (I did start thinking, halfway through this, "Wasn't Ravenous quite entertaining?"). There seemed to be long stretches that consisted of nothing but the characters running round the village clutching their guns and wondering whether the Big Bad Something was round the corner; possibly something else happened, but I was reading a newspaper and just glancing up occasionally to see if there was any sign of plot until Burn Gorman started talking again.

Owen was the only interesting bit, though I'm puzzled. They spent two episodes establishing that he was a nasty bit of work, and last night he's got the Tarrant-style "We've got to rescue the rest of our team" role. So are we supposed to think he's been un-corrupted by meeting Gareth Thomas? Or by his feelings for Gwen? Or he's putting on a show to get Gwen into bed? Or that The Same Person Can Be Nasty and Nice Depending On The Circumstances?

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

I think the running-round-clutching-guns bit was an attempt at building suspense (required for horror to have any chance of working) and the Owen character change was simply a sloppy piece of writing.

I didn't see the very end of last night's - the scene where a naked Owen told a half-dressed Gwen "you can now" was just too vomit inducing. I don't suppose I missed much.

And I decided on seeing the first two episodes that they had done the sadly all too common thing of confusing "adult" with "smutty adolescent".

[manna]

Owen was the only interesting bit, though I'm puzzled. They spent two episodes establishing that he was a nasty bit of work, and last night he's got the Tarrant-style "We've got to rescue the rest of our team" role.

I don't think there's necessarily any conflict between being a nasty bit of work and being loyal to a group (see football hooligans, soldiers who commit atrocities, etc). Did we see Owen displaying a 'run away and abandon the rest' attitude before? As far as I can recall, he's always pretty much on side and ready to get into the action.

[raspberryfool.livejournal.com]

Egagds - i'd almost forgotten about Crown Court. I remember the theme tune too - it was staple school holiday fare on wet or cold days. I used to think it was a real trial until i was about seven when it dawned upon me that it couldn't be because there's no such place as Fulchester!. I never really liked it though - Rainbow was much more fun!

Today's version would be 'text 0898 xxx xxxx to decide the verdict. Texts cost £2.50 or more from a landline.'

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Fulchester turns up in Viz or something like that.

"Who should be sent down? You decide."

[gfk88.livejournal.com]

Torchwood - er, I think I may be a week behind so the following probably makes no sense. It's been a bit disappointing so far, I reckon - no character development, rubbish plots, and so on. I can dimly see, though, that maybe it has some sort of ambition about it. In the last one I saw, with those fairy thingies, Jack deliberately sacrifices the little girl for some alleged greater good AND you get to see the consequences. Now I reckon that doesn't happen very often on the telly - TV heroes are generally falling over each other to sacrifice themselves or someone they think deserves it.

Crown Court - fantastic ! I grew up on that, you know.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The fairy one was last week: I think it was the best one so far, although I do wish Estelle (the old woman) hadn't been killed purely for the purpose of Angsting Jack.

(BTW, the DVDs have arrived safe and sound, and I hope you had a chance to watch them.)

[aervir.livejournal.com]

I sort of made it through the pilot and was booored. And when I saw screenshots of Lisa the bikini-clad cyberwomen two weeks ago I deleted all the unwatched episodes from my hard-drive in a fit of rage.

This week's reaction posts to / summaries of the Welsh cannibal hillbillies don't really make me regret this decision. Hasn't anyone in Wales seen The Texas Chainsaw Massacre yet? Or at least a few X-Files episodes?

Actually, from what I've heard about it, Countrycide does remind me a bit of the X-Files stories Our Town and Home -- which I, aged 15, actually considered to be among the best things ever, so your observations re: Torchwood might be justified.

[gair.livejournal.com]

when I saw screenshots of Lisa the bikini-clad cyberwomen two weeks ago I deleted all the unwatched episodes from my hard-drive in a fit of rage.

If only I had done that. I may have to friend you on the strength of this alone.

[brendan-moody.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to wonder if the show is a contest to see how many different cliches they can fit into a 13-episode run. There was nothing here that you couldn't get in a B-grade horror movie, except possibly Gwen's "omg I have seen the face of eval!!" speech, which takes the character in exactly the opposite direction I might have hoped for. I was hoping Torchwood would develop a unique feel, much as Doctor Who has but of course very different; at this point I'd settle for any one feel, rather than an anthology of SF/F-horror types.

I think Burn Gorman is quite good, but I've been more pleased overall with Gareth David-Lloyd, who made the equally cliche-ridden "Cyberwoman" bearable; the rest of the cast is forgettable.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to wonder if the show is a contest to see how many different cliches they can fit into a 13-episode run.

I really hope not, but I'm kind of afraid it might be true. The thing is it's not done with any irony: the characters should be saying things like: "I can't believe we're in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre!" or "When does the Scooby Doo van turn up?"... but they don't. Which you can't quite get away with, post-Buffy.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

Having watched it tonight (was away for the weekend), my comment near the beginning of the episode was that this was a Famous Five story (Ianto is Timmy the dog, in case you were wondering). I didn't really see anything that changed my mind, and the PC Plod who was in on it, just confirmed my opinion, since the local constabulary always being useless in Famous Five stories.

And the ending with Gwen and Owen-the-date-rapist was urgh. Poor Rhys (Reece?) - he deserved better.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

this was a Famous Five story

My God, this is completely true. And, taking into account the next comment, it is indeed Five Go To Royston Vasey. Oh, how my head hurts!

Special Stuff

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

It seemed to me that Royston Vasey had decamped (in more than one sense of the word) to deepest Wales this week.

Re: Special Stuff

[altariel.livejournal.com]

There is a Swansea!

[sherlock1.livejournal.com]

Burn Gorman's a v. good actor, but seriously - would you go for him over Capt. Jack? I had a more disgusted look on my face during their hot'n'heavy tree passion than with any of the gruesome corpses.

Would you call two of your central characters such similar-looking names as Owen and Gwen?

Tosh is obviously meant to fancy Owen. As if. I can't stop seeing as her Saffy's best mate in Absolutely Fabulous. They nearly all act as if they're in an episode of Hollyoaks.

Still enjoyed the Welsh cannibals though. Creepy. Much creepier than aliens. That's where "Jeepers Creepers" went wrong, IMHO. Once you realised the baddie wasn't human, he wasn't nearly as scary. Agree with the posters about those two X-Files episodes being some of the best TV ever (Mulder's line - upon discovering that suspect X had produced suspect Y by having sex with his own mother - "you mean he could ground his brother when he stole his toys?"). Also like "Humbug", despite the comparative lack of inbreeding plotline.

Finally say the first four eps of Boston Legal. I love it. "Denny Crane." Is it just me, or is James Spader actually really sexy?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't go near Owen for a second, even with Jack so strangely subdued.

What did you think of this week's episode? I thought it was the strongest yet - the first time that the plot of the week and the characters seemed to be in alignment. Owen'n'Gwen become rapidly less and less attractive figures (if that was possibly with Owen).

Finally say the first four eps of Boston Legal. I love it. "Denny Crane."

I knew you'd like it, it's just brilliant.

Is it just me, or is James Spader actually really sexy?

He is sexy, but in such a way that you can't quite believe you're finding him sexy. IMHO. I can't stop watching him on-screen, even when Shatner is standing next to him and trying to steal the scene.