Torchwood

[Feena]

I thought the Doctor Who thread was getting a bit overcrowded with TW stuff which is a shame as S2 is only just starting in the US.

So welcome to the shiny new Torchwood Hub

Episode Titles and brief descriptions - spoilers!!!

[spoiler]EPISODE 1: 'Everything Changes' by Russell T Davies
When Torchwood arrives on the scene of a brutal murder, WPC Gwen Cooper's burning curiosity is challenged. Their attitude, their approach and their technology is at odds with everything she believes in. But investigating the investigators leads her into a dark, paranoid world she never imagined existed.

EPISODE 2: 'Day One' by Chris Chibnall
An alien addicted to sex is let loose on Cardiff's nightlife. Torchwood must track down the creature's new host and in doing so, confront a violent new form of love in the 21st century.

EPISODE 3: 'Ghost Machine' by Helen Raynor
Torchwood discovers a machine that allows them to view the ghosts that walk among us. Using it, prompts Owen to investigate an unsolved crime - one that could change all their futures.

EPISODE 4: 'The Trouble With Lisa' by Chris Chibnall
There's a dark secret in the basement of the Hub. Even Jack is unaware of it, but Ianto knows. And he'll go to any lengths, sacrifice anything and anyone, to protect what's down there.

EPISODE 5: 'Small Worlds' by Peter J. Hammond
Jasmine is a withdrawn but intelligent child whose new 'friends' exploit her suppressed anger, and while investigating this, Jack encounters elemental enemies from his past that are determined to harm those closest to him.

EPISODE 6: 'Countrycide' by Chris Chibnall
Upon entering an apparently deserted village in the Brecon Becons, the Torchwood team is separated. Finding his people are the prey in a savage game of cat and mouse Jack faces a team of ruthless hunters far more skilled in surviving outside the confines of the city than he.

EPISODE 7: 'Greeks Bearing Gifts' by Toby Whithouse
Tosh gains the ability to read the minds of those closest to her but as she becomes party to their darkest secrets, she realises not only is this is a powerful curse, but one impossible to break.

EPISODE 8: 'They Keep Killing' by Paul Tomalin & Dan McCulloch
Using alien technology to interrogate the victims of a serial killer, Gwen learns that the common link is dangerously close to home. And the resurrection device has a deadly secret of its own.

EPISODE 9: 'Invisible Eugene' by Jacquetta May
A hit-and-run victim, Eugene, was a bit of a nobody, and always convinced that aliens were coming to Earth, specifically to retrieve technology in his possession. Now Gwen finds herself drawn into his world and realises Eugene may still be helping her locate the 'aliens' - despite him being dead.

EPISODE 10: 'Combat' by Noel Clarke
The team discovers a ring who are kidnapping Weevils - wild alien creatures that have come through the Rift and are hiding on Earth - which leads Owen down a dark path to confront the future of his own existence.

EPISODE 11: 'Out of Time' by Cath Tregenna
A small passenger plane from the 1950's flies through the rift and lands in Cardiff 2006. Torchwood is drawn into strong personal relationships as they help the three temporal immigrants adapt to contemporary life.

EPISODE 12: 'Captain Jack Harkness' by Cath Tregenna
Transported back to the Blitz, Jack and Tosh find themselves facing a dark secret from Jack's past, one he hoped and believed had been buried for good.

EPISODE 13: 'Apocalypse' by Chris Chibnall
The Rift is violently fracturing further, and Jack realises that Torchwood is destined to be drawn into one vast battle that will leave nothing and no one at Torchwood unchanged...[/spoiler]

[BBOvenGuy]

EPISODE 10: 'Combat' by Noel Clarke

Mickey's a writer? I'm impressed.

[Feena]

EPISODE 10: 'Combat' by Noel Clarke

Mickey's a writer? I'm impressed.

Film as well as TV...

Kidulthood

[billy]

Episodes 11, 12 and 13 sound really good. Presumably the first season won't end on a cliffhanger because Jack will be appearing in Doctor Who next and they can't link the series too much. Can't have the little kiddies moaning to their parents about not being allowed to watch Torchwood. Like that's not gonna happen.

[Feena]

Another amazing trailer!!

[Feena]

Sunday Times article

I've covered up an episode spoiler

Who dares and wins

Doctor Who rekindled the sci-fi genre. Now Torchwood, its urban spin-off, is fanning the flames, says Sally Kinnes

To its creator, Russell T Davies, Torchwood is “an urban thriller with a sci-fi element”. To Chris Chibnall, one of its writers, it is “a dark, wild, sexy adult drama”. Either way, Torchwood is the latest series to break out of Doctor Who’s universe and land in its own dimension, which turns out to be somewhere beneath Cardiff. Having rescued Doctor Who from its 16-year oblivion, Davies has taken one of its characters (the sexy charmer Captain Jack Harkness), combined him with a long-standing idea for a science-fiction drama and created a Welsh thriller for adults.

Torchwood is an anagram of Doctor Who. “The two shows share DNA,” says Chibnall, “but Torchwood is a different animal. It’s about 21st-century life in the city. It tells us something about the nature of evil in our society, but it’s not about technobabble. You get more of an emotional hit. People really feel what is going on around them, and Harkness is a slightly more troubled character than the Doctor.”

Torchwood, as Harkness (John Barrowman) puts it in episode one, is an organisation that is “separate from the government, outside police jurisdiction and beyond the United Nations”. It catches aliens that pop up through the temporal rift that Cardiff doesn’t realise it is sitting on, then grabs their technology before someone else does. It is a bit like a secret but supercharged FBI with a penchant for pizzas.

Designed to be dark and funny, it features cybernised women, characters with names such as Ianto Jones and an earth so obviously polluted that Harkness can detect recycled oestrogen in the weather. “Contraceptives in the rain,” he says, tasting the rain drops. “Love this planet.”

Following the takeaway trail Torchwood has left behind it, PC Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) tracks down the unit. “She has exactly the same role as Rose in Doctor Who,” Davies says. “She is the ordinary person who stumbles into something extraordinary and finds herself their equal.”

When it began, Davies imagined Torchwood would be a crime show with added aliens. [spoiler]But as it developed, it morphed into something else, something best summed up, he says, by an episode in which a character gets a pendant that allows her to hear other people’s thoughts. “Imagine hearing what other people think of you. That was one of our purposes, to explore people, and when I saw that episode, I thought, ‘That’s what this show was invented for’,”

Davies explains. “All the cruelty of what best friends think of you, and the selfishness of people. But there are moments of nobility and grace. It’s very human. There are times when you feel uplifted and people strive to find something positive, and there are friendships that survive.”[/spoiler]

If science fiction is a way to say something about the world, what Davies wants to say is that there is a happy ending. “I think pessimism is easy. It’s very sixth-form to say the world is terrible and we’re all going to die. Though Torchwood is a much darker world than Doctor Who, it is all about optimism. I think, if you put people in terrible circumstances, some — not all, but some — will find a way out. I think that is the point of fiction, to be optimistic and to shape an ending. That’s why it exists in the first place.”

Certainly, Davies can feel optimistic about what the success of Doctor Who has done for sci-fi. Like a character in Torchwood who can revive the dead, he has rescued it from a kind of far-off planet inhabited by nobody but Trekkies. “There was a moment when everything changed, and I can tell you exactly when it was,” he says. “It was in 1990, when Star Trek: The Next Generation was scheduled at 6pm on BBC2. If they had run it at 8pm on BBC1, science fiction would never have fallen off the radar. The Next Generation ran for seven years, with 26 episodes a year. It wasn’t my favourite show — one of the problems was that they were members of the military — but it was a good, solid, enjoyable programme, and if it had been shown at peak time, it would have kept the sci-fi world alive.” Instead, it became a cult, a genre downgraded to the edges, rather as Pluto was recently booted out of the brotherhood of planets.

Now the genre has a new life force. ITV is making Primaeval, a multimillion-pound sci-fi series, Doctor Who has become the Christmas television highlight and Davies is making a second spin-off for CBBC, The Sarah Jane Adventures. “People are so snotty in television and say, ‘You’re not making a kids’ show, are you?’ Well, f*** off.”

As for setting Torchwood in Cardiff, Davies is on a personal mission to make Wales mainstream. “Torchwood is being made in Cardiff, and I think you should show where you are. I get fed up with seeing everything being made in London or Manchester and Welsh is one of the least heard accents on television. I want to make it as acceptable as Scottish or Irish, and setting it in Cardiff widens the whole voice of British television.” So, memo to all aliens: if you are thinking of coming to earth, Cardiff is where you will find your friends.

Captain Jack's back

John Barrowman was starring in Anything Goes in the West End when he got the offer of a Whovian’s dreams: would a performer best known for socking Cole Porter, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim across the footlights consider a shift to television sci-fi? “Since I was a kid, I’ve been a Doctor Who fan; it is so in my DNA, in my genes, that it’s not even funny,” was his immediate response.

And so it was that the square-jawed Barrowman landed the role of Captain Jack Harkness, first for a limited run on Doctor Who, alongside Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper, and now in a spin-off series of his own. “When I read the script, I said, ‘This is perfect.’ It’s a role I could really get my teeth into, because it’s a lot like me. I actually said to them, ‘Look, you would be making a little boy’s dream come true.’”

Barrowman is relating his enthusiasm over tea during a whistle-stop trip to London before returning to Cardiff, where Torchwood is filmed, for an early Sunday call. He grins as he notes what was necessary to play Jack, at least as the role was originally presented. “They said he was a time agent who was a matinée-idol type. And, you know, I’ve done many matinées,” he laughs, “and had a lot of idols.

“From a character who was only meant to be in five episodes, it’s turned out that I’m in my own series, plus I’m going back into Doctor Who as well. Jack is the only character who will go back and forth between the series, because the Doctor can’t.” How does Jack stack up in the Doctor Who world? “He’s a little more adult, because of his sexuality,” Barrowman says. “He’s from the 51st century, so he doesn’t label people. If he fancies it, he’ll go for it, whether human — male or female — or alien.”

He sounds rightly pleased to have triumphed over labels of his own, as a “musicals man”. In 1989, barely in his twenties, he ended up opposite Elaine Paige in a previous revival of Anything Goes, having been spotted at an open casting call in Glasgow, his home town. Since then, he’s done Sondheim on Broadway and in Washington DC, and Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard on both sides of the pond.

“TV people need to take the risk — musicals have some of the best actors and actresses, goddammit, they really do. When I hear people say ‘Do you want to do real acting?’, I want to punch them.”

But he sounds at ease doing small-screen work.

“I get driven to work, sit in make-up and get to go and fight aliens, fly a spaceship and shoot a couple of guns. I mean, what more can I ask for?”

A week today!!!!


One minute clip from Ep 1

[WebWarlock]

When does it start?

This is great.

Warlock

[Feena]

When does it start?

This is great.

Warlock

It's a double-bill this Sunday on BBC 3 (satellite channel), starting at 9 pm. Then the show is repeated the following Wednesday on BBC 2, the terrestrial channel.

I really can't believe how excited I am about this!!!

[WebWarlock]

I looks very cool. I can't wait. But I'll have to figure out a way to get it, my new firewall blocks all the FileShare programs I have..huh..read about.

Warlock

[Feena]

I imagine it will appear on YouTube reasonably quickly, but the quality won't be so great. It's been made in HD, I've seen some screencaps and they look amazing.

[BBOvenGuy]

I'm guessing it will show up on the USEnet and on BitTorrent fairly quickly, just as the Doctor Who episodes do. At least, that's what I'm counting on.

[Feena]

Four press screenings across the coutry tonight - Cardiff, London, Glasgow and Manchester.

Some reports put on OG

There's no doubt in my mind -- as a pilot for the series, this seriously does the business.

Gwen's introduction to the world of Torchwood is handled very well indeed, and we start to get a sense that Jack's team are far from being goody two-shoes (but again, this is handled very quickly and economically, without feeling laboured).

Just like 'Rose', it basically rockets along. There are some hilarious discussions relating back to 'Doomsday' & 'The Christmas Invasion', so lots for Who fans to love, but it'll work for a new audience too.

It's hard not to be spoilery, but here it goes...

I'd say about 75% of the differing trailers' content is from the first episode;
It's very dark. The humour's dark; The location filming is dark; Torchwood's ambiguous morality is dark;
The "adult language" doesn't feel out of place at all. If you've ever seen an "After Dark" special of Hollyoaks and been agog at how intentionally potty-mouthed the dialogue is, it's nothing like that... The four-letter words don't feel forced or out of place at all. There's very few that I recall anyway;
Murray Gold's music sounds like Pet Shop Boys scoring a Bond film. In a good way;
The effects don't seem as rough around the edges as on the past two seasons of Who. There's less apparent CGI anyway. The only time I "saw the join" was at the beginning with a zoom-in shot of the city (like at the start of 'Rose') and the screen seemed a bit pixellated;
The Welsh accents are quite... Welsh;
The plot of introducing Gwen (and the audience) to the Torchwood team is practically a MacGuffin. There's an actual whodunnit story buried beneath all the characterisation.

However good you think it'll be, multiply it by at least ten.

Was great. A lot better than I expected and I thought it was going to be good.
Favourite bit - Owen's use of one of the alien tech things on his night out.
Favourite line - Jack: "Who orders pizzas in the name of Torchwood?"
Owen: "Oh. That'll be me."
Very good. Almost filmic quality. Lots of aerial shots of Cardiff. Plot whizzes along.

Well I have to say that I really enjoyed it (the non-fan lady sitting behind me couldn't contain herself from blurting out 'wow! that's much better than Doctor Who' at the end - and in some ways it is.

It is very witty (and only occasionally silly), very contemporary, sexy, exciting, a little bit clever, a tiny bit cheesy (in a nice way), sometimes brutal and at the same time quite charming (must be the welshness I think).

I was just thinking, as I munched on my pizza, it's very difficult to put my finger on why, but this feels very unique, I suppose it's so long since we've had a mainstream adult sci-fi drama that it actually feels like a new genre. I think that Gwen is such a well written and well acted character that she really gives the show a realism that makes suspension of disbelief for some of the more fanciful elements a little bit easier. The spell was broken a couple of times, but overall I felt that I was being eased into something gradually, which will surely be true too for a mainstream audience - only on reflection did a few things seem silly, but there was so much there that was intelligently and cleverly written that I forgive and forget.

So - not being one for hyperbole I wouldn't say brilliant, excellent or fantastic – but I certainly would say bloody good - and a lot better than I expected too.

Have I mentioned how excited I am about this?!!!

[Feena]

1 hour 58 minutes to Torchwood!!!!

[BBOvenGuy]

Torchwood set a BBC3 ratings record with about 2.3 million viewers. That's also the largest UK audience ever for a non-sporting event on a digital channel.

(It's also roughly comparable to the audience Battlestar Galactica gets in the US.)

I've only seen the first episode so far - the second is waiting for me tonight. It was great to see Captain Jack again, although he and the Doctor are going to have a long-billowy-coat duel when they see each other next time. I loved the bit where they're all trying to look serious when Gwen walks in with the pizzas. The biggest surprise was the revelation that:

[spoiler]Captain Jack can't die.[/spoiler]

I'm sure that will be dealt with not only on Torchwood, but in the new season of Doctor Who as well.

Don't take this the wrong way, but watching Torchwood kept making me think of another show - Firefly. What I mean is that both shows are about the people who have to grub around on the dirty underside of the cosmos while others are off enjoying the splendor and wonder. And hey, Firefly could have been a really good show, if it had had someone trustworthy in charge instead of .

[werewolf123]

I get the feeling that Jack thinks that the bad wolf worked him over some way.
I like the second episode a little better then the first, and not just because of the hot girl on girl action , I thought it was better written.

[WebWarlock]

Don't take this the wrong way, but watching Torchwood kept making me think of another show - Firefly. What I mean is that both shows are about the people who have to grub around on the dirty underside of the cosmos while others are off enjoying the splendor and wonder. And hey, Firefly could have been a really good show, if it had had someone trustworthy in charge instead of .

No. You are right.

If someone else had been in charge it would have worked. I know this for a fact.

I used to watch Blake's 7.

Warlock

[billy]

It was great to see Captain Jack again, although he and the Doctor are going to have a long-billowy-coat duel when they see each other next time.

He seemed quite superhero-ish to me with his billowing coat,

Spoiler:

indestructibility and the power of his kiss (very apt for Jack).

Hopefully we'll find out about the connection, assuming there is one, between Gwen and Gwyneth from The Unquiet Dead this season.

[Feena]

It was fantastic!!! I loved the whole thing, much darker than DW but very funny. With all the blood, no guts so far, quite graphic sex, and swearing it's definately aimed at an older audience than DW! I think it's got great potential and Capt Jack is fab.

Quite a few references to DW, some more obvious than others, but nothing that would confuse a casual viewer. The way they've filmed Cardiff at night is very Angel-like.

I'll be watching it again on Wednesday night to record it.

Torchwood set a BBC3 ratings record with about 2.3 million viewers. That's also the largest UK audience ever for a non-sporting event on a digital channel.

(It's also roughly comparable to the audience Battlestar Galactica gets in the US.)I

It wasn't just great figures for a digital channel.

Last night's first episode of Torchwood was the third most watched show on any UK network in its timeslot, between 9pm and 9.50pm, beaten only by ITV1's Prime Suspect and Channel 4 movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Torchwood also tied for third place with BBC1 drama Wide Sargasso Sea on 2.4 million viewers.

A second instalment of the new BBC3 drama, shown back to back with the opening episode, attracted 2.3 million viewers from 9.50pm - an encouraging result, suggesting that Torchwood held most of its audience over nearly two hours.

[BBOvenGuy]

The Torchwood.TV blog has some spoilers from lead writer Chris Chibnall, as printed in SFX magazine:

[spoiler]"Episode One: It starts with a body. PC Gwen Cooper's at a crime scene: what she sees there will change her life forever. Russell doesn't mess about with this opening episode - you'll meet every regular cast member within four minutes of the start. Add in rain, helicopter shots and a Weevil. Director Brian Kelly has done a wonderful job."

"Episode Two: Probably our cheekiest episode: an alien the like of which you'd never get in Doctor Who! This episode features some stunning FX work by The Mill: from a meteorite swooshing through the Cardiff sky to the alien itself. And there's a lovely guest performance from Sara Gregory as Carys."

"Episode Three: A brilliant central idea from Helen Raynor, a cracking chase through the streets of Splott expertly marshalled by director Colin Teague and guest performances from John Normingham and Garteh Thomas. Helen gives us more Gwen and Jack action and a delve into the mind of Owen Harper. What more could you want?"

"Episode Four: By this point, you'll have got to know the rest of the team pretty well. But Ianto's still an enigma. This episode sheds a little light on that. It starts with a game of basketball in the Hub and descends into all sorts of mayhem."

"Episode Five: Typically creepy, typically British: disturbing events in the Cardiff suburbs prompt Torchwood to investigate. This also touches on aspects of Jack's past: can't say any more at this stage!"

"Episode Six: This looks like it's going to be a bit scary. Richard Stokes made the mistake of reading the first draft after midnight and has neverforgiven me. This has the pre-titles sequence I most enjoyed writing. Out in the Brecon Beacons, the team encounter horrors beyond their imagining..."

"Episode Seven: This episode centres on Toshiko and her place in the team. When she's given an alien artefact, Toshiko's calm, ordered world is thrown into chaos."

"Episode Eight: Another episode full of surprises, hopefully. Torchwood take drastic measures to track down a serial killer. I think it's fair to say there's no other show on British television that would do this story in this way. It's completely thrilling."

"Episode Nine: Jacquetta's episode is a bittersweet tale of a man called Eugene who's always been interested in Torchwood. So when he finds himself saddled with a unique problem, Eugene knows who to look for: Gwen Cooper."

"Episode Ten:A beautiful episode by Cath Tregenna: a masterclass of great writing and acting. Three great guest performances from Louise Delamere, Olvia Hallinan and Mark Lewis-Jones. This is heartbreaking stuff which particularly puts Jack and Owen through the emotional wringer."

"Episode Eleven: A rough, tough episode from the talent of Noel Clarke. This episode is a tour de force from Burn Gorman. And another chance to see the terrifying Weevils, as designed and bulit by Millennium FX."

"Episode Twelve: Lots to keep under wraps about this episode, but it's another lovely script from Cath Tregenna. The question at the heart of this episode: ho is Captain Jack Harkness?"

"Episode Thirteen: And even more secrets to keep in this episode!Chaos and death on a grand scale, that's all I'm saying. It's the end of the first series: so plenty of surprises in store."[/spoiler]

And remember, tonight's the BBC2 premiere! Well, actually it may have already happened by this point, since I'm 8 hours behind the UK...

[keme]

Thanks for the information on the remaining episodes. I'll have to wait to watch Torchwood the weekend after they're first shown (what a crappy time to show it ) so I've only just had the chance to watch the first couple of eps and I loved them. A much better start to Torchwood than new Doctor Who I thought and I liked all the little references to DW.



I'm not sure if this is really a spoiler since I've heard it's only on the Torchwood website and may not be mentioned on the programme.

[spoiler]Jack has been on Earth working for Torchwood in some capacity since the 1960s.[/spoiler]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/

Sorry I don't know exactly where it is on the website. I haven't been able to find it.

[Feena]

Thanks keme, I've not heard that before

Less than two hours until Episode 3!!

[Feena]

I think that was definately the best episode of the three so far. An dark involving tale with some good character moments, particularly for Gwen and Owen. Helen Raynor is writing for Doctor Who this year and if it's anything like this it'll be geat!

I want Jack to teach me to shoot!!!

[billy]

Another good episode and it was great to see Gareth Thomas again.

[keme]

I really enjoyed episode 3. Owen was more likeable and we got more information on Jack. The poor guy's not very happy.

It's good to see that Ianto's going to get more involved next ep since I'm not too sure what he actually does yet.

[BBOvenGuy]

The moral of the story for Episode #4 - Never underestimate your secretary, because secretaries really do run the world.

Unfortunately, I didn't care for the episode all that much. Too gorey for me in stretches. Plus:

[spoiler]I didn't like the whole concept of the Cyberwoman. Okay, I can accept the idea that some people the Cybermen were converting during the battle in London might have been left half-finished, but when have we ever seen a Cyberman wearing that kind of slinky revealing outfit, complete with... um, breast upgrades? We saw at least three Cybermen on Doctor Who that were "upgrades" of women, and they all looked exactly like the Cybermen who had been men. And what was the deal with Owen and Gwen suddenly making out while they were hiding?[/spoiler]

Still, every show has a dud or two in every season. If this was one of those, then the series is still in good shape. I just hope things are better next week.

[Feena]

Trailer posted by TaraLivesOn

Shorter trailer

Looks interesting! Jack-flashbacks

[NewRuthRising]

I adore this show. It's well written and well acted, plus it joins onto the rest of the Who universe very nicely.

Can't wait for next episode.

And on a more cave-man note: how hot is Eve Myles??

[Feena]

I really liked Small Worlds - nice and creepy

[spoiler]It was a good change to show that the good guys don't always win.[/spoiler]

[BBOvenGuy]

Spoiler:

It was a good change to show that the good guys don't always win.

I liked it, too. Best episode so far, I think.

Jack really made the only choice he could have made at the end. I would have done exactly the same thing.

But exactly how long has it been for him since we saw him brought back to life on the space station? Has he been on Earth since 1909? Or was that flashback from his days as a Time Agent?

[BBOvenGuy]

So is anyone else still watching this show?

I liked the latest episode, "Random Shoes." At first it reminded me too much of "Love & Monsters," which coincidentally just ran this past Friday on the SciFi Channel, but I liked how the story developed as Gwen investigated the case.

The Gwen/Owen thing seems to have run its course, too - thank heavens.