“Of course, Bananas are far more interesting”

[meddow]

Again with the Torchwood watching.

Out of Time

Holy crap, that was actually good. Like, really good. The show is great when it’s got a good writer and focuses on mature human drama. Strangely enough, as screwed up as they are, the Torchwood crew are actually pretty likeable when they’re playing social workers to rift refugees.

Diane reminded me of Ace Rimmer, in spite of the fact I haven’t watched Red Dwarf in years. Can we have a crossover spin off of a spin off in which Diane and Ace Rimmer travels through the rift landing in mysterious places. It’d totally work.

Why do I always like the guest characters?

An the supermarket shopping scene – best Torchwood scene ever.

BTW – Did Tosh have like any lines in this episode?

And random factoid: Louise Delamere, who played Diane, once flatted with David Tennant and is now married to Stephen Mangan, who is my vote for Eleven (albeit, my vote for Eleven is whichever British actor I happen to be fangirling at any one moment).

Captain Jack Harkness

I felt it was not as good Out of Time, but still very good. The show should never let go of Catherine Tregenna.

This episode actually reminded me of why I liked Jack in the first place. Oh, and I adored real!Jack (again with me liking the guest star more than the characters) And Jack/Jack was just wonderful. And that kiss rivals Nine/Rose for best kiss in the Whoniverve. Actually, I think it beats it. I must go back to them and compare.

The manager/caretaker guy was creepy. Owen, after being vaguely likeable in Out of Time is back to being a dick. Ianto’s better when he’s just quietly snarking, though loved him taking charge and giving Gwen orders.

So I’ll admit, Torchwood can be actually watchable and well, good. Thing is, watching it is still something of a chore to me. I think there is a couple of reasons for this:

1. While I tend to like the guest stars, I just don’t particularly care about any of the main characters, and because I don’t care about the main characters, I don’t care about what happens to them next week.

2. It also doesn’t have the hope and childish joy of Doctor Who and SJA at the heart of it. I watch TV for a certain amount of escapism. It’s the same reason I loved The West Wing but not the Sopranos back in the day. Both quality shows, but at the end of the day, I want a bit of hope. I read the newspaper for reality.

3. Torchwood is a government funded operation and with five of them generally outnumbering the ‘treat’ they face. The reason, I think, the Doctor has always been such an enduring character is that he’s always a lone rebel outnumbered and out-resourced. They’ve captured that in SJA, but Torchwood’s the complete opposite. Torchwood are the kind of people the Doctor would be fighting against. In fact, he was, in AoG/Doomsday. So why are we rooting for them? What about the poor outnumbered alien with no resources and no friends?

But I shall slog on. Such is the Martha/lack of Doctor Who effect.

Comments

[jadeddiva.livejournal.com]

Martha was on Torchwood this week and proved once and for all that she was better than most everyone but Jack and Ianto. And maybe Tosh. So she was better than Owen and Gwen, but who isn't better than Gwen?

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Ah Gwen. So many characters go on about how Gwen is the best and you've got to wonder if they're watching the same show.

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

Hehe, love reading your thoughts.

Catherine Tregenna seems to write the more emotionally charged episodes of Torchwood - more focused on the characters rather than the action, which is sometimes a nice change.

And I didn't know Stephen Mangan was married to Louise Delamere. I knew he was married, but not to her. Another random fact: LD was also in The Chatterley Affair which David was in (for about five minutes).

Enjoy Season 2.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

I think I like the emotionally charged episodes best. That's what I had hoped for from an 'adult' spin-off of Doctor Who, something that would take the time and look at some of the emotional and moral issues in a more in-depth way than 'the Doctor is always (well, 99 per cent) right'

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

S2 seems to get into the swing of it a bit more... To the Last Man, especially. The writers have finally clicked that we don't neccessarily need blatantly "adult" storylines. Sometimes just a bit of actual realism and character development goes down a treat.