Any Dr. Who or Torchwood fans?

[rabyoga]

Huge Torchwood fan here! Love, love, love Capt. Jack. Children of Earth really shook me up.. But great tv.

 

[cybrkitn]

I sure am. Fox is creating an American version of Torchwood.
http://www.seattlepi.com/tvguide/414411_tvgif19.html

I'm not sure how I feel about it. The fact that Julie Gardner and Russell Davies makes me feel a bit better, but I still don't think it's going to be great. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Very sad about David Tennant leaving, but I'm actually looking forward to Matt Smith.

Hopefully it will do better than the Americanized movie version of Doctor Who. The transition from Sylvester McCoy (the 7th Doctor) to the 8th Doctor wasn't that great and missed the mark IMO.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Yes, fan of both. However, I've been avoiding all related topics of discussion recently for fear of spoilers. Don't get BBC America anymore and have yet to pirate the most recent eps off the internet.

DH and I have recently come into possession of a bunch of old episode DVDs (Doctors one and three), so we'll be perusing those while I go through a morning period for ten. Sniff...

 

[dizluvah]

I love Torchwood - which is weird because I'm not really a sci-fi fan....

 

[bicker]

We were just talking about this in the TiVo Community Forum -- specifically about how so many people out there like certain "science fiction" presentations (films and television shows) but aren't science fiction fans. There is a strong contingent of hardcore SF fans who feel that the success of shows like Torchwood, and movies like Avatar, prove that there is sufficient interest in what they like to justify so much more provision of (again, specifically) what they like, when the message is really quite the opposite: What makes shows like Torchwood good isn't the science fiction aspect, but rather the rest of the program, the characters, the story, the challenges, the triumphs, the failures -- in short: the drama. The science fiction aspects are best used like set decorations, to provide color and richness. When they become the focus, the result has very little general interest.

 

[agnes!]

I'm reserving judgement that the US Torchwood will be any good, I just don't see how they'll fit it into the canon of previously-established storylines, time- lines and characters, maybe they'll slot it into the 'lost' Torchwood group that was mentioned a time or two? I don't think that it will work as a stand-alone version.

Actually, I feel completely different about Torchwood after CoE. What Davies did with Jack's grandson at the end was beyond the pale, Jack's mute acquiescence with the act (he didn't even explain it AT ALL to the kid, just plopped him up there. Why didn't he at least hold the child while they ran the machine? Jack wouldn't have died anyway...) made Jack into one of the most unattractive TV characters I've ever seen. YMMV.

agnes!

 

[bicker]

I'm reserving judgement that the US Torchwood will be any good, I just don't see how they'll fit it into the canon of previously-established storylines, time- lines and characters, maybe they'll slot it into the 'lost' Torchwood group that was mentioned a time or two? I don't think that it will work as a stand-alone version.

I think we can bank on there being no intention to fit the new program within existing canon. That kind of hamstringing of productions has been the cause of a good amount of mediocrity and failure to perform. Count on the effort to be a reboot. Whether that will be successful or not is, like all things, unknowable in advance.

Actually, I feel completely different about Torchwood after CoE. What Davies did with Jack's grandson at the end was beyond the pale, Jack's mute acquiescence with the act (he didn't even explain it AT ALL to the kid, just plopped him up there. Why didn't he at least hold the child while they ran the machine? Jack wouldn't have died anyway...) made Jack into one of the most unattractive TV characters I've ever seen. YMMV.

I don't think the intention is for Jack to be a hero, in the same vein as The Doctor (who, incidentally, especially in the last few episodes, was not very hero-like) except perhaps as a tragic hero. It isn't clear to me that Jack wouldn't have sacrificed himself, if he could -- and that's been true on other occasions I think -- but he couldn't in this case, and so he sacrificed something close to him, two things, really, if you think about it. This, in acknowledgment of the horrible decision he felt compelled to make, for the greater good, decades ago. This theme -- doing horrible things for the greater good -- is ripe with drama. How would each of us decide, if placed in Jack's predicament? Would we sacrifice (literally) the world, so as to avoid the hard choices?

Reminds me, in a way, of another tragic hero named Jack -- Jack Bauer. I think Captain Jack, though, is missing something that Jack Bauer has had -- the ability to project a deep love for others, in Bauer's case, his daughter, and now grandchild, and perhaps even some women in his life. He seems to better project true compassion and concern about others, while Captain Jack seems, at times, to be truly cold.

However, I don't think that that is the intent. Rather, I think that Barrowman is simply not as good of an actor as Sutherland. That way too much of the burden for making Captain Jack a (tragic) hero falls onto the writers, and that's simply too big of a job for any writer. It's a team effort, and as much as we appreciate Barrowman's ability to project a fun-loving spirit, I think he falters with regard to projecting deeper sentiments.

And that's where CoE fell short IMHO: Not the story, not with what happened, but rather with the actor's ability to convince us to love his character anyway. We viewers can choose to hate the show, or the character, as a result, but I prefer to fill in the gaps in Barrowman's performance and understand Captain Jack as the tragic hero that I believe he was intended, by the writers, to be.

 

[Poppinsme]

I'm a huge, huge (did I say big) fan of Torchwood and Dr. WHO!!!!!

Have followed the Doctor since the early 70s.
I have all the Jon Pertwee episodes on DVD/VHS.
And have all the Tom Baker episodes on DVD/VHS.
Just adore Tom Baker. Loved him in the Canterbury tales.
Also have the Sarah Jane and K9 series debut DVD. K9 and company.
And the new Sarah Jane series all on DVD.

Have of course all of the Torchwood DVDs.
Was very upset with them getting rid of Owen, Tosh and lanto.
For me it was getting so damn good and then they kill off the main characters and stop making Torchwood! WTH!

Well I'm a total adoring Sci Fi movie and TV viewing fanatic I guess.
Buffy.
XFiles.
Star Trek (All of them)
Firefly
Man from Uncle
Original Outer Limits

You get the picture.

My Avatar says it all.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

I admit to loving Owen, he was just this bad boy but with real soul (remember what happened in Adam?).

 

[Desiree]

I'm a huge, huge (did I say big) fan of Torchwood and Dr. WHO!!!!!

Have followed the Doctor since the early 70s.
I have all the Jon Pertwee episodes on DVD/VHS.
And have all the Tom Baker episodes on DVD/VHS.
Just adore Tom Baker. Loved him in the Canterbury tales.
Also have the Sarah Jane and K9 series debut DVD. K9 and company.
And the new Sarah Jane series all on DVD.

Have of course all of the Torchwood DVDs.
Was very upset with them getting rid of Owen, Tosh and lanto.
For me it was getting so damn good and then they kill off the main characters and stop making Torchwood! WTH!

Well I'm a total adoring Sci Fi movie and TV viewing fanatic I guess.
Buffy.
XFiles.
Star Trek (All of them)
Firefly
Man from Uncle
Original Outer Limits

You get the picture.

My Avatar says it all.

You are my kind of people! Buffy is still, hands down, the best tv show ever, imo!

 

[CourtasanSatine]

This is bugging me a tiny bit so I'm curious: I know Gwen and Ianto's accents are legit but what about Jack, Tosh and Owen?

 

[dollarmite]

I love Torchwood - which is weird because I'm not really a sci-fi fan....

I'm the same.

I only watch Torchwood because of John Barrowman/Captain Jack. I only watch Dr Who for the same reason. To be honest, I find most non Captain Jack Dr Who episodes rather boring.

I like TW as a show but if JB wasn't in it then it would just be another show that I'd watch when I could. (I certainly wouldn't watch the DVDs repeatedly as I do ). I am now also a Ianto/Gareth David Lloyd fan too. Can't STAND Gwen though, although the actress who plays her seems very nice in real life.

 

[MissDisney121]

I'm the same.

I only watch Torchwood because of John Barrowman/Captain Jack. I only watch Dr Who for the same reason. To be honest, I find most non Captain Jack Dr Who episodes rather boring.

I like TW as a show but if JB wasn't in it then it would just be another show that I'd watch when I could. (I certainly wouldn't watch the DVDs repeatedly as I do ). I am now also a Ianto/Gareth David Lloyd fan too. Can't STAND Gwen though, although the actress who plays her seems very nice in real life.

I love Ianto too. He is just such a great character. I was so sad with what happened to him in in CoE.

 

[Poppinsme]

I miss Torchwood.

 

[MissDisney121]

I miss Torchwood.

I miss it too. And that first picture is one sexy picture of John Barrowman. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Desiree]

I miss it too. And that first picture is one sexy picture of John Barrowman. Thanks for posting it.

I don't think that man can do un-sexy! I love just about every pic I've seen of him! Even my Captain Jack toy on my desk here at work is sexy! heh