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ladyofastolatSince everyone else either has already done so, or will do so soon, here are my thoughts on Torchwood.
I never watched Doctor Who when I was young. I’ve more or less enjoyed the two new series, even though David Tennant makes me want to slap the silly grin off his face. But Captain Jack…! He was my Favourite Thing in the Doctor Who episodes I’d seen, so I was really looking forward to Torchwood.
I mostly liked it, I think. I didn’t end up bouncing up and down with excitement, but it has promise. It’s a standard storytelling method, of course, but I liked the way we were introduced to Torchwood through the eyes of an outsider. I liked Gwen. As many people know, I don’t normally take to female characters, but I liked her and sympathised with her, although I hope her “you should start caring about people more” thing doesn’t get tiresome.
Captain Jack seemed a bit less Captain Jacky than I remembered – a bit flat. Maybe I’ve inflated him in my memories, since I’ve not rewatched his Doctor Who episodes for a long time. Or maybe this is deliberate. The Radio Times went on about how he’s been changed by his experiences, and is now darker. Still, I think I might prefer him as a cocky rogue. And when he posed on that rooftop… How silly. Silly… but oh so cool.
The second episode I found rather annoying, though. To me, it was shouting out, “Look! We’re post-watershed! We’re grown-up!” It felt like an X-Files plot dreamed up by a sniggering fourteen year old boy. I suppose it was also designed to set up a “Gwen is the one with a conscious who cares, and will gradually teach her new colleagues the meaning of compassion” scenario. The monster/alien thing was also riddled with plot holes, or so Pellinor keeps telling me. I was very tired by that point, and less able to concentrate on trivial little things like plot, as opposed to character interaction and prettiness. (We watched both episodes with a half hour time delay, due to Pellinor coming in late from LARPing, so didn’t finish until quite late.)
The other characters have potential, too. Personally, I’m most intrigued by the poor little man who does nothing but make tea all the time. I’m sure there are all sorts of secrets and hidden passions underneath that suit of his.
Now I'm off to tell stories about apes and gorillas.
I never watched Doctor Who when I was young. I’ve more or less enjoyed the two new series, even though David Tennant makes me want to slap the silly grin off his face. But Captain Jack…! He was my Favourite Thing in the Doctor Who episodes I’d seen, so I was really looking forward to Torchwood.
I mostly liked it, I think. I didn’t end up bouncing up and down with excitement, but it has promise. It’s a standard storytelling method, of course, but I liked the way we were introduced to Torchwood through the eyes of an outsider. I liked Gwen. As many people know, I don’t normally take to female characters, but I liked her and sympathised with her, although I hope her “you should start caring about people more” thing doesn’t get tiresome.
Captain Jack seemed a bit less Captain Jacky than I remembered – a bit flat. Maybe I’ve inflated him in my memories, since I’ve not rewatched his Doctor Who episodes for a long time. Or maybe this is deliberate. The Radio Times went on about how he’s been changed by his experiences, and is now darker. Still, I think I might prefer him as a cocky rogue. And when he posed on that rooftop… How silly. Silly… but oh so cool.
The second episode I found rather annoying, though. To me, it was shouting out, “Look! We’re post-watershed! We’re grown-up!” It felt like an X-Files plot dreamed up by a sniggering fourteen year old boy. I suppose it was also designed to set up a “Gwen is the one with a conscious who cares, and will gradually teach her new colleagues the meaning of compassion” scenario. The monster/alien thing was also riddled with plot holes, or so Pellinor keeps telling me. I was very tired by that point, and less able to concentrate on trivial little things like plot, as opposed to character interaction and prettiness. (We watched both episodes with a half hour time delay, due to Pellinor coming in late from LARPing, so didn’t finish until quite late.)
The other characters have potential, too. Personally, I’m most intrigued by the poor little man who does nothing but make tea all the time. I’m sure there are all sorts of secrets and hidden passions underneath that suit of his.
Now I'm off to tell stories about apes and gorillas.
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Date: 2006-10-23 09:04 am (UTC)The plot holes thing is just that they didn't actually do anything in the second episode.
- Gwen felt all guilty about letting the alien out, but given that it came to Earth specially for the sex I can't imagine that it would have sat in that rock forever if she hadn't.
- The alien ate about a dozen people in a row in the clinic, then died of starvation - how exactly did it expect to survive, then, if eating as fast it possibly could (OK, about ten seconds between meals as it went from room to room) isn't fast enough?
- Given that it died about five seconds after getting out of the girl's body, the alien would have died anyway even if they hadn't been in the clinic.
Overall, the Torchwood team simply watched as an alien landed, ate a few people, and died of plot-devitis. Well done, chaps, thank heavens you were there.
The alien wasn't much better. Quite apart from having a metabolism that precluded any chance of survival, it chose that girl because of where she worked then didn't actually go there for two days. "Food, I need fooood, there's the fridge, I think I'll ignore it for a while". WTF?
Anyway, that was all rather too negative. I think it was quite a fun program, and would happily pass an hour watching it while knitting, but it does have big flaws.
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Date: 2006-10-23 10:01 am (UTC)When they were looking for the alien's next target after the ex got his, someone asked "why her?": they followed through from "she's a temp" to "she's working *there*", and concluded that was why her.
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Date: 2006-10-23 04:56 pm (UTC)