★★★★★ 0/5

First Review: Torchwood.

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I feel a little behind the eight-ball writing a review of Torchwood, the new BBC science fiction spin-off from Russell T Davies’ successfully resurrected Dr Who. I mean, half you lot have already downloaded it, right?

I must admit after watching the opening episode, that I was thrown. It didn’t dazzle me with special effects or provoke me with subversive humour. But its hero is Captain Jack Harkness, dammit, the dashing, bisexual rogue from the 51st Century who was introduced in Dr Who in 2005! If anyone is going to rescue me from overdoses of routine American drama, I expect it to be Captain Jack, played by out gay actor John Barrowman.

My naughty friends have told me to stick with it for the first few episodes. But they’ve also told me it’s somewhat inconsistent. Apparently we’re in for some ripping episodes, as well as our share of disappointments, which makes the somewhat flawed opening episode seemingly the perfect summation of the entire series.

Barrowman’s Harkness is striking in every way, a perfect matinee-idol hero. But his Torchwood team of covert agents, working to protect the world from alien incursions, lack personality. Doubtless this will come. As an audience device, the local cop (Eve Myles) who stumbles upon their activities, is suitably inquisitive and more grounded than Billie Piper’s Dr Who companion, Rose Tyler. So far at least, she also lacks Piper’s charisma.

Torchwood promises a mature approach to sci-fi storytelling, with adult themes and language normally excised from the genre. The media kit says Captain Jack is ‘ambivalent to sexual boundaries’ (bisexuals take note: you now have a new catchphrase). Concerningly, the TEN press failed to detail writer Russell T. Davies’ Queer as Folk achievements, or any info on John Barrowman that might indicate he is openly gay and married to his life partner. Could the network be ambivalent too?

The difficulty for TEN will be in communicating to the audience that this isn’t Supernatural, Smallville or Men in Black. It isn’t even Dr Who, which the ABC is about to re-launch. Interrupted by ads, I’m not convinced TEN’s audience will have the patience for a show that’s possibly more at home following The Bill or Life on Mars. Their mass exodus from the brilliant, noir-ish remake of Battlestar Galactica still pains me.

Hopefully they, like me, have the patience for the goodies that are bound to follow in Torchwood.

Torchwood premieres 9:40pm Monday on TEN (already amended from 9:30pm).

15 Responses

  1. Now why is it that those who hate it are “anonymous” ? Interesting! Still I HATE all those US crime shows and medical shows that supposedly rate really well … don’t like any of them!
    Torchwood gets better … episode 4 rocks and the final two are brilliant (except for the monster).
    Jack!

  3. Seriously,

    This series is fucking shite, they really put some wank on TV these days! Absoloute bollox wouldnt reccomend it to anyone, channel ten can go fuck themselves im sick of watching old eps of the simpsons, fuck them. Would rather watch the crap on SBS and fuck BB to im sick of that shit.

  4. I received a very nice email from the ABC when I enquired about their passing on Torchwood which basically said they would have like it but couldn’t afford it, which with their current budget isn’t hard to believe. I’m just glad they can at least afford to keep on with Doctor Who.

  5. The main hurdle for Torchwood in the ratings battle is the same one that saw the Battlestar Galactica audience depart for the instant gratification of Bit Torrent. The audience that both shows are likely to appeal too are the very people most likely to have the knowledge and hardware not to wait for Autralia’s tardy network programmers. The expression “a day late and a dollar short” comes to mind…

  6. TORCHWOOD … tonight’s the big night … I am very scared that it will not rate as well as hoped … I really hope this time I am wrong! The promotion has been excellent.

    Interestingly, Captain Jack made his return to Doctor Who yesterday in the UK … he is in a much better mood in that show and we finally get some answers about him that we never get in Torchwood …
    It will also be slightly odd because the last episode of Torchwood has a link to that episode of Doctor Who “Utopia” and it will be shown here a couple weeks AFTER Utopia is show here on ABC … odd, but by no means a problem. It is a truly amazing episode of Doctor Who which also has a tie in with Life On Mars (which featured a Doctor Who comment this week also.) How wonderfully twisted!
    Hope everyone enjoys the ride!
    Jack!

  8. Unlike jericho, The BBC have already greenlit a second season of the show. Whether this means it stays onair in Australia is another matter entirely. Let’s hope the year they’ve had off makes the second season much much better. To me, series one was meant for an adult audience and moments of it made me felt like I was watching a teenager’s show. I think the reason that the ABC passed on it had to do with money, basically. Does anyone know if they’re showing this on the HD channel as well? They made it in HD format because it has less effects than who. Another question – what will happen with the eventual DVD set? The ABC usually get all of the BBC DVD releases, how is that going to work when they’re not airing it?

  9. Well I for one haven’t downloaded and am looking forward to watching it the old-fashioned way. I just hope it doesn’t go the way of Smallville, Jericho etc….

  10. The ABC and Foxtel passed on it for one reason – its rubbish! My money’s on it not lasting 3 weeks before 10 yank it off air or into a 3.00am timeslot.

  12. I loved S1 of torchwood, but my concern is that it’s very “british” and I don’t think the general public at large will be happy with it unless they are scifi fans.

    You do have to give it a few eps before it gets good, but I reckon most people will switch off after the first two, and channel 10 will react by shunting it off to 1am if they don’t “rest” it all together before giving it a chance to build up an audience.

    It doesn’t help I think that they are promoting it to be like a US show, I think that will only lead to disappointment from viewers.

    I agree with your comments that its an ABC show. I was kind of bewildered that it was on TEN instead of ABC when the news first broke. Was the ABC not interested or did TEN beat them to it? It would have been great to have it air after Life on Mars or Dr Who when it returns.

  13. It will be really interesting to see how this show goes – I really want it to do well but competition seems fierce these days.

    I really wanted them to launce with a double episode like they did in the uk.

    It takes a few episodes to really get into it and establish things I found.

  14. …Well you’re right about the downloading part! We finished watching it a few weeks ago and really loved it! Yeah, it does have it’s ups and downs and sometimes it feels as though they’ve shoe-horned in a gay/bi reference or scene just for the sake of it, but otherwise it’s a fine show and I hope it does really well here!

  15. Firstly, Channel 10 … STOP F***ING WITH THE TIME SLOT … already you are stuffing up it’s chances of success … FOOLS!

    Now, I am sure that Season 2 of Torchwood will be excellent, because they were very rushed with this first Season and did not give themselves enough time to have a sustained level of high quality … still I loved it overall and will defintely buy the DVD Box Set!

    Captain Jack is adorable, but much more angry than when he was in Doctor Who … he does seem to stabilise by the last two episodes (which are brilliant) and I can’t wait to see him return to Doctor Who in the UK next week!!!! I love the sexual tension between him and Ianto … and Gwen is an excellent character and performance.

    Stick with it … it will be worth it!!!!

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