This evening, Friend 3 asked me which episode of this season of Torchwood would be the dud. She was voting for Wednesday, on the grounds that it's the middle. I disagreed - I've a soft spot for James Moran, as his twitter is so funny and enthusiasm for slaying so infectious. I think, if any, it'll be Friday that drops the ball. I don't trust Torchwood, not even this new Improved version, to be able to wrap this up with the same smoothness it's started. Plus, I anticipate there will be tears. But we'll see.
In any case, this is barely a season any more. It's a Classic series Doctor Who five-parter, making up a single story, but done properly. Since the revamped series started serving pacy 45 minute episodes, there has been many a complaint that the format rushes stories. Arguably true, but few Classic stories ever justify or take advantage of a film-length running time. Cut back the padding, and you're almost back to 45 minutes again. Torchwood is actually, for the first time in its life, teaching Doctor Who how to do something. How to do a multi-part story. We need to stop thinking of it as the same creature as its first to seasons. This is TW 2.0. I couldn't bear to hear The Dead Line this afternoon. I can't go back. Owen was my favourite team member, and I haven't missed him once since the week started. I can't help but think in terms of two different shows. If it is renewed, I hope they don't go back to monster-of-the-week-in-Cardiff. I hope they take the brilliant boost in quality and run with it to interesting places.
In a way, this week - sorry I keep doing that. In a way, today was a back step. The destruction of the Hub cut Torchwood loose from computer-bound "do a global scan" methods. Maybe Tuesday was so exciting because it went so far off what we expect of the show. While Hub 2 was a cute touch, I was disappointed that they felt the need to get the the entire team together in an in a room and have them tapping at software again, with someone making coffee. They even contrived to replace Captain Jack's greatcoat. It's not like it wasn't well handled, and perfectly at the service of the plot. But in a casual montage, they undid all that was interesting about Tuesday. A necessary move, but still a disappointingly lazy one.
Frobisher was the easy highlight of the episode, and I suspect, will ultimately prove the highlight of the week. Even though he's a shifty bastard, he obviously does have a very strong moral core, if a flexible and deeply buried one. When he gives Jack "my promise, my absolute promise" that his daughter will be OK, you do believe him, just as his "absolute guarentee" to the M- the 456 seems so solid. His admission that Jack is "a better man than me" is heartbreaking in its honesty. He's damn fantastic playing one man band against a box of dry-ice, even stealing scenes he's not in. I adored his nervous slump on exiting the Room.
They. Are. Here. What a bloody fantastic scene. The direction, the dialogue - I didn't make a single note, I was busy paying rapt attention. Typically, the alien menace wants to address the world, and when Frobisher stoically explains that's just not done, it replies "YES". What a fantastic moment of genre-bending. yet as the episode goes on, those accomodating "YES"s become increasingly sinister precicely because we do not expect it.
It's fascinating to see proper, peaceful first-contact done in a sci-fi show. I actually enjoyed watching them go through the whole process. I was particularly intrigued by the information they had pre-prepared on the planet for visiting aliens, and the insistance that this did not constitute a request for technology exchange. I was happy to find out what UNIT has been doing - being booted out of the way. In a way, Children of Earth is merely a grown up Pertwee story, with "twits from the Ministry" masterminded the whole operation. Terrifying twits, as it turns out. It's strange to think that the creepy corridors of power is a direct result of Christmas Invasion. When the Doctor claimed Harriet Jones lead England to a new era of prosperity, this was what he meant. The way she dealt with the Daleks of Journey's End, the way she handled the 456. I've a funny feeling this solid, dependable PM we elected to replace Saxon will not do half as well.
As for the rest, I loved Gwen's abuse of her police know-how, in breaking out Clem or teaching the team to steal. Clem Clem Clem, all wonderful. I love how childlike he is, even in his movements. I wonder if the smelling thing will be explained. I love Lois for refusing to wear the contacts. She does it eventually, she has to for the plot to continue. But I love the fact she stays adamant throughout that scene and does not give in. I am liking her more this week. Lois' excuse to join the first contact party was another demonstration of adult being done well, and I adored
the almost bitter admission "You're not the first". As was the sight of Ianto's sister babysitting the kids - of course the parents would still have to work. It's little sane touches like this which ground the fantastical elements in reality. I was happy to see Andy OK, and liked mini-Harkness' reaction to his mum pulling a knife.
Of the regulars, Ianto stood out, if only for that gorgeous scene with Jack. He asks about the explosion, but can't bear to go on to drowning in concrete. I loved Ianto's quiet "shit" when Jack admitted Ianto would simply grow old. And attempting to get Rhys out of the way, on the basis that "The world's always ending". Aw...his touchy reaction to "queer" was also well done, with Clem clearly marked as stuck as a 1960s child. I'm amused that the Torchwood team are still removing alien tech to liven up their nightlife despite the disasterous consequences earlier on.
The cliffhanger was the best sort of twist: obvious, in retrospect, and not shocking because you knew it all along. There could be no other way.
Someone on Behind the Sofa bet that the American-news-lafy would be back before the end of the week. A little disappointed that no real location filming seems to have been done in London, and very disappointed that this week contained the first gun-point-dramatic-standoff. Not that it was badly done, and again was in service to the plot, but I react to it automatically.
Finally, some wild speculation. Yesterday, I suggested that while a Doctor Who villain might still turn up, it's an unlikely and unecessary move. Children of Earth has been at its most clumsy when mentioning the mother-ship and is strong enough to stand virtually alone from it. Yes, I got happy at the phrase "fixed point in time and space", but it also felt weirdly out of place.
Usually, Torchwood bothers me because of the Doctor's absence. I've already rationalised where in the Whoniverse Blake's 7 can exist (during Frontier in Space, by way of Caves of Androzani). It even happens in Battlestar Galactica - I'm writing a silly crossover where the Doctor actually prevents the destruction of the colonies and creates harmony between Cylon and Human in the first few minutes of the series. The concept of him showing up here, all celery and cat-badges, defeating the 456 with a cricket ball and a grin, guilt-tripping Frobisher to death and sorting it so neatly that Friday becomes superflous - is so ridiculous I can't envisage it. In short, bringing back a Classic villain is fun to speculate on but pretty unlikely. Yesterday, I suggested maybe Tereleptils. And then today, Friend 4 found a theory so good that I've promised to buy her an icecream if it's correct.
The Macra? Hidden away in that swirly smoke, what we have seen could easily be the brown cracked claws. They breathe poison gas. And of every monster they could choose, the Macra are the ones fobbed off by time, starring only in The Macra Terror which was deleted in the 70s, and then brought back in a sympathy cameo for Gridlock. Friend 4 tells me they also had an enslaved empire in the original episode. Friends 4 and 2 then tried to prove this theory by working out the airdate of The Macra Terror, which sadly proved to be 1967 and not 1965.
All told, this was a quieter adventure than the previous two, but it needed to be. A breather before the onslaught finale, an exercise in needed exposition, and a showcase for some rightly slow, tense, wonderful scenes in which Peter Capaldi takes it in turns with a box of dry-ice to steal the scene. It my reaction is cooler, then it is because my standards for what I expect of this show have been irreversably raised. The shock value of the first two days has worn off. Let's see if they can keep up the quality as we trundle towards a climax...
Showing posts with label Torchwood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Torchwood. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
DAY TWO
Well frak me gently with a chainsaw.
What on earth was that? Can this be the same Torchwood that failed to make children + hospital scary; can it be the show whose chief villain blew up a city because his brother accidentally let go his hand. Can it be Torchwood at all, and still remain the most exciting television event of the year.
What on earth was that?
Dear reader, I apologise for my cynicism. I happily trade in the pleasure of a week's joyful bitching for a far superior pleasure - that of excitement, pure excitement and delight. I haven't felt this way since Utopia.
There's something dangerous about the one-a-day formula. Something that takes over your brain. I remember the first time I watched Inferno. Long since resigned that, however much I love his stories, Pertwee really cannot be enjoyed in one go, I took it slow. One a day, strictly, for one of the most brilliant weeks. I attribute my high praises partly to the excitement of daily immersion. They don't need cliffhangers or publicity - it's all in the episode. Take the moment the 456 declared WE ARE COMING TOMORROW. For the first time, one of those stop sequences sent a shiver up my spine, because tomorrow means tomorrow.
Torchwood has never lived up to its mission statement, until now. Doctor Who. For adults. This is Sontaran Strategm but gloriously real. This story could have been told in 45 minutes - the fact it isn't already puts it a cut above anything purporting to do invasion-Earth. They have the luxury of doing it properly, and as yet there hasn't been a single instant I'd cut as filler. This week, we had Jack's gloriously icky resurrection done in technicolour. After decades of alien life only being interested in the Hampshire countryside, people are actually asking: why do they speak English, and why have they only contacted Britain. It's a fair question and I'm looking forward to the answer - todays bet is that the 456 were fobbed off by 70s-80s UNIT somehow. It's still possible for them to pull a Doctor Who villain out of the bag for tomorrow, though I don't think they will. The final scene beside the gas chamber, preparing for the arrival, recalled Dying Days - and that's hardly low praise. For the first time, we are going to see meaningful first contact done intelligently. I particularly liked the suggestion that the gas was for "farting", a neat continuity reference to exactly the place Children of Earth rejects.
And yet it is still Torchwood. It's merely been...upgraded. It is still, at times, brilliantly daft - check out Ianto's forklift-rescue, or the focus on the fluppy wheels of the bullet-peppered car, or Rani-candidate's instruction to chain the corpse to the wall. Yet not, as usual, at the expense of thinking. I loved Gwen and Rhys escaping Wales by delivery van. A great use of established mythology. They also remembered they hadn't eaten - I love Rhys' request of Lois for cash. And it's still emotional and character driven. This is where Torchwood, indeed much modern telly, has always let me down - for character to work, it has to interact with plot. If one is slave to the other, things fall apart. I loved Gwen and Rhys' quick kiss on the run, and her admission made me cry for what I suspect will not be the last time this week. Ianto's double-edged "he pushed me too hard. He always did.", which instantly fills in an entire background for the family. Just as his brother-in-law, ranting at the bug about the government, tells us so much about him. Stereotyping perhaps, but I adored the hoodie attack, and I adored the moment Ianto goes back to get a lead on the stolen Torchwood van. I hope they keep the fact Rupesh was a baddie secret - so far, it's been a beautiful move.
Lois irritated me slightly less this week - sorry - part. She's still showing all the acting abilities of a Doctor Who companion. Watch her looking non-suspicious. "I'm a PA. It's what I do." recalled the best temp in Chiswick, and I don't know what Gwen is doing, offering her an insanely dangerous job as a reward, and one for which she cannot be qualified for. Odds that she'll live out the week? Low. Playing Morgus to her Krau-Timmon, Frobisher remains awesome, awesome, awesome. Comeuppance beckons before Friday, and I'm sure it will be marvellous. It's always nice to see PC Andy, but I hope he's OK. No doubt we'll find out within 48 hours or so.
We liked the sweet soldier at the military base, and the scene with the Ambulence crew pulling her away - a scene we've seen so many times - gloriously subverted. "Who are you working for?" "The NHS?" The children remain a real highlight, realistically non-plussed by the whole thing. "We. Want. A. Pony."
Finally, the whole thing has a coherent beauty the show has always lacked. With no mythos to guide it, as per Who, it's always wildly flailed in tone and content, with characters and science equally inconsistant. The direction is just marvellous, particularly that opening sequence with the music and sound fading in and out on Gwen, and the subdued ending with that strangely threatening breath. A few days ago, I asked if defection to Big Finish was the way to do Torchwood justice. I retract that statement: this the way to do Torchwood.
Oh, and they destroyed the Hub. They destroyed the Hub. No more Hub. The BBC's main set just got blown up, along with the Whoniverse's most iconic monument. Hub gone. And it's only the second episode. Maybe something nasty is gonna happen to the team before the end of the week, maybe they're not going to actually need that thing for another season because there won't be another season. If so, then this is the ultimate swansong - a thing of beauty. How could they top it? But it'd still be a shame because, suddenly, I care. It's no longer a thing I am enduring because the Doctor Who has gone away.
For a second time this week I ask: can they keep up the momentum? Maybe not, but right now the moon is full, and I'm listening to the Blade Runner soundtrack, and for the first time in my life, I bloody love Torchwood.
What on earth was that? Can this be the same Torchwood that failed to make children + hospital scary; can it be the show whose chief villain blew up a city because his brother accidentally let go his hand. Can it be Torchwood at all, and still remain the most exciting television event of the year.
What on earth was that?
Dear reader, I apologise for my cynicism. I happily trade in the pleasure of a week's joyful bitching for a far superior pleasure - that of excitement, pure excitement and delight. I haven't felt this way since Utopia.
There's something dangerous about the one-a-day formula. Something that takes over your brain. I remember the first time I watched Inferno. Long since resigned that, however much I love his stories, Pertwee really cannot be enjoyed in one go, I took it slow. One a day, strictly, for one of the most brilliant weeks. I attribute my high praises partly to the excitement of daily immersion. They don't need cliffhangers or publicity - it's all in the episode. Take the moment the 456 declared WE ARE COMING TOMORROW. For the first time, one of those stop sequences sent a shiver up my spine, because tomorrow means tomorrow.
Torchwood has never lived up to its mission statement, until now. Doctor Who. For adults. This is Sontaran Strategm but gloriously real. This story could have been told in 45 minutes - the fact it isn't already puts it a cut above anything purporting to do invasion-Earth. They have the luxury of doing it properly, and as yet there hasn't been a single instant I'd cut as filler. This week, we had Jack's gloriously icky resurrection done in technicolour. After decades of alien life only being interested in the Hampshire countryside, people are actually asking: why do they speak English, and why have they only contacted Britain. It's a fair question and I'm looking forward to the answer - todays bet is that the 456 were fobbed off by 70s-80s UNIT somehow. It's still possible for them to pull a Doctor Who villain out of the bag for tomorrow, though I don't think they will. The final scene beside the gas chamber, preparing for the arrival, recalled Dying Days - and that's hardly low praise. For the first time, we are going to see meaningful first contact done intelligently. I particularly liked the suggestion that the gas was for "farting", a neat continuity reference to exactly the place Children of Earth rejects.
And yet it is still Torchwood. It's merely been...upgraded. It is still, at times, brilliantly daft - check out Ianto's forklift-rescue, or the focus on the fluppy wheels of the bullet-peppered car, or Rani-candidate's instruction to chain the corpse to the wall. Yet not, as usual, at the expense of thinking. I loved Gwen and Rhys escaping Wales by delivery van. A great use of established mythology. They also remembered they hadn't eaten - I love Rhys' request of Lois for cash. And it's still emotional and character driven. This is where Torchwood, indeed much modern telly, has always let me down - for character to work, it has to interact with plot. If one is slave to the other, things fall apart. I loved Gwen and Rhys' quick kiss on the run, and her admission made me cry for what I suspect will not be the last time this week. Ianto's double-edged "he pushed me too hard. He always did.", which instantly fills in an entire background for the family. Just as his brother-in-law, ranting at the bug about the government, tells us so much about him. Stereotyping perhaps, but I adored the hoodie attack, and I adored the moment Ianto goes back to get a lead on the stolen Torchwood van. I hope they keep the fact Rupesh was a baddie secret - so far, it's been a beautiful move.
Lois irritated me slightly less this week - sorry - part. She's still showing all the acting abilities of a Doctor Who companion. Watch her looking non-suspicious. "I'm a PA. It's what I do." recalled the best temp in Chiswick, and I don't know what Gwen is doing, offering her an insanely dangerous job as a reward, and one for which she cannot be qualified for. Odds that she'll live out the week? Low. Playing Morgus to her Krau-Timmon, Frobisher remains awesome, awesome, awesome. Comeuppance beckons before Friday, and I'm sure it will be marvellous. It's always nice to see PC Andy, but I hope he's OK. No doubt we'll find out within 48 hours or so.
We liked the sweet soldier at the military base, and the scene with the Ambulence crew pulling her away - a scene we've seen so many times - gloriously subverted. "Who are you working for?" "The NHS?" The children remain a real highlight, realistically non-plussed by the whole thing. "We. Want. A. Pony."
Finally, the whole thing has a coherent beauty the show has always lacked. With no mythos to guide it, as per Who, it's always wildly flailed in tone and content, with characters and science equally inconsistant. The direction is just marvellous, particularly that opening sequence with the music and sound fading in and out on Gwen, and the subdued ending with that strangely threatening breath. A few days ago, I asked if defection to Big Finish was the way to do Torchwood justice. I retract that statement: this the way to do Torchwood.
Oh, and they destroyed the Hub. They destroyed the Hub. No more Hub. The BBC's main set just got blown up, along with the Whoniverse's most iconic monument. Hub gone. And it's only the second episode. Maybe something nasty is gonna happen to the team before the end of the week, maybe they're not going to actually need that thing for another season because there won't be another season. If so, then this is the ultimate swansong - a thing of beauty. How could they top it? But it'd still be a shame because, suddenly, I care. It's no longer a thing I am enduring because the Doctor Who has gone away.
For a second time this week I ask: can they keep up the momentum? Maybe not, but right now the moon is full, and I'm listening to the Blade Runner soundtrack, and for the first time in my life, I bloody love Torchwood.
DAY ONE
I can't promise I'm going to keep this up for a whole week, but here's my expanded version of my "list of notes" I made during the episode.
I'll start by telling you why I had a piece of paper. I invited all my friends to see the episode together, but for this to work I promised to keep my mouth shut for the whole episode, no matter how daft, because most of them really like it. As it turned out, the episode was disappointingly brilliant, and there is barely a bitchy comment on the list. Maybe because its the equivalent of the first five minutes of a regular episode, which normally even Torchwood can't screw up (on the other hand, there was Dead Man Walking...).
You have to wonder whether they can keep up this momentum for another four days. I do hope so, though, because last night's episode was a very exciting piece of television. It was brilliantly cinematic. It was well written, well acted. It was funny. In short, it wasn't rubbish. What a shame - I was so looking forward to taking the rip out of it for an entire week.
Nevermind, they've another four hours to screw up. For now, however, I'm just going to gush.
Well, it was rather good. Standout scenes included the hilariously deadpan double-act as Ianto and Jack went in to see their poor "neighbour". I loved the way they did the first stop, wonderfully edited and subtly creepy. The second one was probably better done, but suffered because of the wearing it had been given in the trailer.
The new characters were a mixed bag. If it was going in for a reality TV vibe - who's gonna be the new Torchwood recruit? - Team Traken would have have voted Rupesh. The twist-reveal was brilliantly done, as was his ensuing death, and we instantly forgave the slightly ham-fisted way he was set up as "the new member". We found Lois very irritating - or as we've been calling her, Jo Grant. She makes tea, she's pretty, she's going to be an appalling member of a government organisation. She bumbles in on Frobisher with all the finesse of the world's all time cutest-but-worst secret agent. It's also nice to see that the Home Office has a handy wikipedia file on Torchwood. ("You want information on extra-terrestrial threat? We have an app for that.")
I have the hugest soft spot for Peter Capaldi, and Frobisher was expectedly fantastic. I'm really looking forward to the inevitable crunch. I'm also still holding out for him to be a shape-shifting penguin. It's amusing to think the Doctor is also responsible for this new PM's appointment. I wonder how Harriet Jones would have handled this? Maybe this, and Journey's End was what he meant by "golden age" - only in her absence, things got screwed up.
As for the regulars, again all disappointingly good, disappointingly convincing in subtle scenes.
Jack wasn't bad once. The reveal of Alice's true identity, with that casual "dad", rival's the Master's bomb in Ultimate Foe. It's telling he described Martha's honeymoon as "on holiday"
I like the couple ribbing, particularly because it's only Ianto who seems to have a problem with it. No one else is being judgemental. Ianto always deserves hugs. And oh! The moment Gwen realises she's pregnant? It should have been mawkish - instead, it was beliveably adorable, and after three years with these mugs, I felt like a glowing relation.
Finally, they seem to be doing adult properly. It's the same world as Doctor Who - RTD claims he cut a Daleks reference, and I agree it would have been oddly inappropriate. It's the same world that has been repeatedly invaded, yet only here we can have the story of the suicide rates going up. It's good dark, instead of "lets have an exploding-orgasm-alien".
Other thoughts:
"I was talking like an alien! It was brilliant!"
I'm a sucker for building coherent continuities where there isn't one. Was the laser device seen twice in this episode the same thing as used by the Master in Mark of the Rani?
On similar lines, Aly tells me the "gizmo" is a perfectly normal piece of kit held by normal secret agents. Which is a pity, because I was kinda hoping it'd turn out to be Miss Foster's lost sonic pen.
UNIT is back as the United Nations, at least semi-officially. They drop it into some background dialogue.
Triple deadlocked! That's excessive!
The time difference in America! Brilliant observation. Reminds me of Goth Opera, when there's the 24 hour night in Britain. People are slightly less worried in Australia, where they experienced 24 hours of sunlight.
And I'm very, very excited to note that virtually every trailer scene came from this first episode. We're going off the roadmap, folks. 15 minutes until DAY TWO...
I'll start by telling you why I had a piece of paper. I invited all my friends to see the episode together, but for this to work I promised to keep my mouth shut for the whole episode, no matter how daft, because most of them really like it. As it turned out, the episode was disappointingly brilliant, and there is barely a bitchy comment on the list. Maybe because its the equivalent of the first five minutes of a regular episode, which normally even Torchwood can't screw up (on the other hand, there was Dead Man Walking...).
You have to wonder whether they can keep up this momentum for another four days. I do hope so, though, because last night's episode was a very exciting piece of television. It was brilliantly cinematic. It was well written, well acted. It was funny. In short, it wasn't rubbish. What a shame - I was so looking forward to taking the rip out of it for an entire week.
Nevermind, they've another four hours to screw up. For now, however, I'm just going to gush.
Well, it was rather good. Standout scenes included the hilariously deadpan double-act as Ianto and Jack went in to see their poor "neighbour". I loved the way they did the first stop, wonderfully edited and subtly creepy. The second one was probably better done, but suffered because of the wearing it had been given in the trailer.
The new characters were a mixed bag. If it was going in for a reality TV vibe - who's gonna be the new Torchwood recruit? - Team Traken would have have voted Rupesh. The twist-reveal was brilliantly done, as was his ensuing death, and we instantly forgave the slightly ham-fisted way he was set up as "the new member". We found Lois very irritating - or as we've been calling her, Jo Grant. She makes tea, she's pretty, she's going to be an appalling member of a government organisation. She bumbles in on Frobisher with all the finesse of the world's all time cutest-but-worst secret agent. It's also nice to see that the Home Office has a handy wikipedia file on Torchwood. ("You want information on extra-terrestrial threat? We have an app for that.")
I have the hugest soft spot for Peter Capaldi, and Frobisher was expectedly fantastic. I'm really looking forward to the inevitable crunch. I'm also still holding out for him to be a shape-shifting penguin. It's amusing to think the Doctor is also responsible for this new PM's appointment. I wonder how Harriet Jones would have handled this? Maybe this, and Journey's End was what he meant by "golden age" - only in her absence, things got screwed up.
As for the regulars, again all disappointingly good, disappointingly convincing in subtle scenes.
Jack wasn't bad once. The reveal of Alice's true identity, with that casual "dad", rival's the Master's bomb in Ultimate Foe. It's telling he described Martha's honeymoon as "on holiday"
I like the couple ribbing, particularly because it's only Ianto who seems to have a problem with it. No one else is being judgemental. Ianto always deserves hugs. And oh! The moment Gwen realises she's pregnant? It should have been mawkish - instead, it was beliveably adorable, and after three years with these mugs, I felt like a glowing relation.
Finally, they seem to be doing adult properly. It's the same world as Doctor Who - RTD claims he cut a Daleks reference, and I agree it would have been oddly inappropriate. It's the same world that has been repeatedly invaded, yet only here we can have the story of the suicide rates going up. It's good dark, instead of "lets have an exploding-orgasm-alien".
Other thoughts:
"I was talking like an alien! It was brilliant!"
I'm a sucker for building coherent continuities where there isn't one. Was the laser device seen twice in this episode the same thing as used by the Master in Mark of the Rani?
On similar lines, Aly tells me the "gizmo" is a perfectly normal piece of kit held by normal secret agents. Which is a pity, because I was kinda hoping it'd turn out to be Miss Foster's lost sonic pen.
UNIT is back as the United Nations, at least semi-officially. They drop it into some background dialogue.
Triple deadlocked! That's excessive!
The time difference in America! Brilliant observation. Reminds me of Goth Opera, when there's the 24 hour night in Britain. People are slightly less worried in Australia, where they experienced 24 hours of sunlight.
And I'm very, very excited to note that virtually every trailer scene came from this first episode. We're going off the roadmap, folks. 15 minutes until DAY TWO...
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Torchwood - Golden Age
Yesterday, I used my review of Asylum as a platform to bitch off at all the facets of Torturewood - sorry, Torchwood - that irritate me. I think that happy nostalgia I feel towards it is diminishing the closer I get to actually having to watch some.
So I'm happy to redress the balance by going on the opposite tangent for Golden Age. Because there are things I like about Torchwood, and possibly my favourite is Early, Steampunk Torchwood. If only they would take Fragments' Victorian Torchwood, or To the Last Man's 40s war-era, and build a show around them! I'd automatically be more sympathetic were the characters in corsets and cravats.
Torchwood India - brilliant! Obviously, Queen V. would have Torchwoods established all over the British Empire. It was instantly atmospheric, Ghostlight-y, and I loved all the period touches. The plot wasn't complicated, the villain instantly obvious, and like many a Torchwood episode, everything was resolved by merely standing around and chatting. But who cares? The sheer idea of it was wonderful. I also loved the supporting characters, and particularly the Duchess who was believeably nuts.
"Miss me?"
"Only just."
I wish they'd spinoff the spinoff to an older era...instead of ripping off Buffy-CSI, dump John Barrowman with an elephant gun, some adventuresses in hooped skirts and some fellows in pith-helments, arm them with retro-futuristic gear, all brass and pistons, and send them off to fight mid-century alien threats.
So I'm happy to redress the balance by going on the opposite tangent for Golden Age. Because there are things I like about Torchwood, and possibly my favourite is Early, Steampunk Torchwood. If only they would take Fragments' Victorian Torchwood, or To the Last Man's 40s war-era, and build a show around them! I'd automatically be more sympathetic were the characters in corsets and cravats.
Torchwood India - brilliant! Obviously, Queen V. would have Torchwoods established all over the British Empire. It was instantly atmospheric, Ghostlight-y, and I loved all the period touches. The plot wasn't complicated, the villain instantly obvious, and like many a Torchwood episode, everything was resolved by merely standing around and chatting. But who cares? The sheer idea of it was wonderful. I also loved the supporting characters, and particularly the Duchess who was believeably nuts.
"Miss me?"
"Only just."
I wish they'd spinoff the spinoff to an older era...instead of ripping off Buffy-CSI, dump John Barrowman with an elephant gun, some adventuresses in hooped skirts and some fellows in pith-helments, arm them with retro-futuristic gear, all brass and pistons, and send them off to fight mid-century alien threats.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Asylum - Torchwood
Disclaimer. I do not like Torchwood. Rather, I am immensely fond of Torchwood, while not really thinking it's very good. It has its moments - yet refuses to live up to the program I believe it can (and should) be.
Having said that, one of my favourite all-time bits of Torchwood of all time is previous radio play Lost Souls, so I was pretty excited about Asylum. I'll come to what I thought of it in a minute. But I wonder whether radio is Torchwood's natural home. I would have had no patience for this plot at all on telly, yet found it pretty entertainng. Maybe the calibre of the performances improves without being able to see them.
'Course, it still managed to do many of the things that irritates me about the show. Asylum, we are bashed over the head with, is about Racism and Immigration. Naturally, part of the point of sci-fi has always been to comment on current events through a fantastical medium, but it gets on my mandibles if not very very well done. This wasn't as heavy handed as it could have been, but still sufficient to make me curl an eyebrow.
It also contained a "Gun Pointing Scene", my least favourite TV trope of all time. Torchwood does it with an alarming regularity. Let's call it "If You're Gonna Shoot, Shoot Don't Talk". It requires one or more members of the cast standing around and pointing guns at one another. They're all declaiming HUGELY DRAMATIC MOVING DIALOGUE, usually while crying. It is very unusual anyone will actually get shot, and characters rarely remember their near brushes with death and bring them up afterwards - rendering this trope near useless. A variation is the Hero entering the room and pointing a Gun at the villain as an excuse for angst and drama (again, free of tension, because as soon as you get into this scenario the chance of actual death is 0.2%); another will involve characters who have never exhibited suicidal behavior daring the gun-pointing character "Go on, kill me! You haven't the guts!" e.t.c. and psyching them out of it. It's not just Torchwood - I hate it in Battlestar Galactica, in Doctor Who (with a single exception, but it's a very good one), in cinema (ignoring Reservoir Dogs)
Indeed, Asylum's problem was that it wasn't anything. It was a Normal Episode - a small story, perfectly told, but still small and still very unthreatening. Hard to find much to say about it at all. I really liked the idea of Torchwood setting up proper asylum policies - made them seem more like a responsible organisation. It's something I'd like them to explore properly (visions of the arrival lounge in Men In Black). Here, it was simply the coda - it arrived once the play was almost over.
Everything else? Everybody likes PC Andy, though I wonder why he is doing Gwen's job for the middle 10' of the play. There's no narrative reason she couldn't, and until that point Andy has been a source of nothing but slightly flabbergasted bigotry. I laughed at the Newport quip, having just met someone from Newport. I adored Freya's language - utterly convincing and very atmospheric. And I was kinda hoping the Doctor was the mysterious rescuer, for a moment there, though I was satisfied with the resolution they gave. But that spike by the river. Why is "big enough to let someone through" not big enough for an alarm? Isn't "someone" a pretty bad mistake?
Having lost my favours fairly early on, I'm not willing to give this series the benefit of the doubt I am with Doctor Who. Torchwood now needs to be truly exceptional to get a fair run from me, and this was merely good. This review isn't critical of the finished play, which was atmospheric and perfectly charming, than it's crushing lack of ambition.
Having said that, one of my favourite all-time bits of Torchwood of all time is previous radio play Lost Souls, so I was pretty excited about Asylum. I'll come to what I thought of it in a minute. But I wonder whether radio is Torchwood's natural home. I would have had no patience for this plot at all on telly, yet found it pretty entertainng. Maybe the calibre of the performances improves without being able to see them.
'Course, it still managed to do many of the things that irritates me about the show. Asylum, we are bashed over the head with, is about Racism and Immigration. Naturally, part of the point of sci-fi has always been to comment on current events through a fantastical medium, but it gets on my mandibles if not very very well done. This wasn't as heavy handed as it could have been, but still sufficient to make me curl an eyebrow.
It also contained a "Gun Pointing Scene", my least favourite TV trope of all time. Torchwood does it with an alarming regularity. Let's call it "If You're Gonna Shoot, Shoot Don't Talk". It requires one or more members of the cast standing around and pointing guns at one another. They're all declaiming HUGELY DRAMATIC MOVING DIALOGUE, usually while crying. It is very unusual anyone will actually get shot, and characters rarely remember their near brushes with death and bring them up afterwards - rendering this trope near useless. A variation is the Hero entering the room and pointing a Gun at the villain as an excuse for angst and drama (again, free of tension, because as soon as you get into this scenario the chance of actual death is 0.2%); another will involve characters who have never exhibited suicidal behavior daring the gun-pointing character "Go on, kill me! You haven't the guts!" e.t.c. and psyching them out of it. It's not just Torchwood - I hate it in Battlestar Galactica, in Doctor Who (with a single exception, but it's a very good one), in cinema (ignoring Reservoir Dogs)
Indeed, Asylum's problem was that it wasn't anything. It was a Normal Episode - a small story, perfectly told, but still small and still very unthreatening. Hard to find much to say about it at all. I really liked the idea of Torchwood setting up proper asylum policies - made them seem more like a responsible organisation. It's something I'd like them to explore properly (visions of the arrival lounge in Men In Black). Here, it was simply the coda - it arrived once the play was almost over.
Everything else? Everybody likes PC Andy, though I wonder why he is doing Gwen's job for the middle 10' of the play. There's no narrative reason she couldn't, and until that point Andy has been a source of nothing but slightly flabbergasted bigotry. I laughed at the Newport quip, having just met someone from Newport. I adored Freya's language - utterly convincing and very atmospheric. And I was kinda hoping the Doctor was the mysterious rescuer, for a moment there, though I was satisfied with the resolution they gave. But that spike by the river. Why is "big enough to let someone through" not big enough for an alarm? Isn't "someone" a pretty bad mistake?
Having lost my favours fairly early on, I'm not willing to give this series the benefit of the doubt I am with Doctor Who. Torchwood now needs to be truly exceptional to get a fair run from me, and this was merely good. This review isn't critical of the finished play, which was atmospheric and perfectly charming, than it's crushing lack of ambition.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Twilight Streets - review
Gary Russel is better known as the man who novelised the Doctor Who TV movie and made it all OK again, removing arbitrary resurrections, justifying kisses and doing the best possible job with the whole half-human-thing.
With Twilight Streets, he has again the opportunity to right an injustice. Bilis Manger – the best thing ever to happen to Torchwood – creepy, subtle, perfectly embodied the high-menace, low-key threat the show should be facing every week (see Small Worlds and Adam for more of that). One of those bad guys so well drawn, that you actually want him to be more powerful than the heroes. It was all going so well, until this enigma revealed he was actually in league with a vicious piece of CGI buried under Cardiff, probably ever since being rejected by HP Lovecraft. Suddenly, the world was in that convenient sort of peril that can be solved in within minutes, which has worked on Doctor Who since the 60s because it is still, at heart, made for kids; that convenient sort of peril what should nevereverever be used on Torchwood ever again. If your hero runs around the universe in a police box, saving the world with a recorder while wearing a stick of celery, then daft is relative. What’s the point of doing an “adult Doctor Who”, if you’re effectively going to repeat the same situations with a bit more realism, bizzarely making the whole thing more unrealistic? Torchwood is at its best when doing concepts which are at their very core too adult for the kid audience, not just retreading things its parent does as well or better, while upping the violence to justify the timeslot.
It was one of those fan-hating moments I’ve just erased from my mind. The last twenty minutes of End of Days did not happen. No one minute solution to the supposedly, world-threatening special effect. No nineteen minute sequence of sobmusic with Gwen sitting by Jack’s corpse. I’ve wiped it all the way back to when Bilis’ motives were unknown, and potentially terrifying.
His face was the reason the book got bought – that, and two friends who each contributed a pound to the shared embarrassment of buying it in public, so none of us could sneer later on. It would be impossible for Mr Russell to ignore End of Days entirely, as I choose to. Initially he addresses it quite well, by turning Bilis back into the enigma he was in Captain Jack Harkness – straightening his jacket, being unreadable and running circles around the Torchwood Team, smug sods. He’s especially effective when taking nonchronological revenge for things that haven’t happened yet.
What ultimately irritated me about Twilight Streets is far from dealing with my issues, it eventually makes the same mistake – the world’s going to end, the demons that be have chosen Cardiff – but everything will be ok if I pull THAT lever.
It's a good thing when a based-on-a-series novel manages to conjure the atmosphere of a show. But maybe not this show, not all the time. I could hear Owen’s voice in his writing, see Bilis sliding between eras, imagine the Hub as something older and more complex than it is ever allowed to be on the screen and get the full impact of the Torchwood trademark “I went through the archives and pulled up some files” scene by presenting the chaos of nonchronological evidence for us to read on our own. All worthy praise. The flipside of putting me into the TV so completely was when the CG lightshow came at the end, with Mr Russell gloriously charging into the same mistake made by his predecessor, all my anger at Potentially Great Characters Ruined By Apocalyptic Plotlines came rushing back.
Meanwhile, as a subplot, he shoehorns in one of my other least favourite fictional device – the Alternate Future. I’ve always seen this as an author exercise – I wonder what X would do in Y situation? There are more subtle ways to suggest these things about your characters than putting them through scenes which eventually won’t matter.
Now Bilis screwing with Torchwood on the basis of something that might happen strikes me as exactly the type of thing this meddler in time would get up to; I also like the suggestion that the team’s minor abusing of alien tech would escalate. But I don’t buy Future-Torchwood at all, especially not it successfully toppling the governments of the world. The revelation that it was “dark lights” inside the characters instead of the characters themselves makes the whole revenge thing unnecessary for him, and pointless for us as readers.
Thank goodness for the characters then! All are well drawn – while Owen gets nothing to do, as noted above, all his lines are uniquely his. I didn’t notice Tosh, but that’s probably more tellingly consistent with her TV characterisation than anything else. It’s an absolute must-read for fans of Ianto, especially fans of JackandIanto – though the Gwen set is also rewarded with more of those bizarre “sexual tension that’s come out of nowhere since the start of series 2” scenes. Jack and Gwen demonstrate all those tics that make them so unloveable on TV – while also seeming more likeable here than ever before. I’m not sure I’ve ever spent time so willingly in Jack’s company. It’s when they get together the magic really begins – the innuendos, the teasing, all perfectly caught. Suddenly, they seem like a team, instead of an inconsistent set of people who start every episode as friends and end as mortal enemies, before making up in time for next week.
I’ve always thought past-Torchwood a far more interesting concept than the sub-Buffy, sub-CSI, sub-Xfiles, sub-Doctor Who on Contemporary Earth we usually get. Those Victorians, proving psychotic bisexuals have always been their employees of choice. The pair from 1913. So I was also happy to see Torchwood 1940 given a runaround.
Its not that I don't like Torchwood. I have a great deal of affection for it, without the true fanlove which allows me to forgive DW anything eventually, even Grace Holloway. I know what I want from that show, and when it doesn't deliver, I'm happy to scream and pull it to shreds. What I want is what it promised – Doctor Who, but for adults – that is to say, adults, not adolescents. I want Adrift or Out of Time, not a sub-UNIT story of five people preventing an invasion, with a bit more shaggin’ and swearin’.
Final analysis: just like Captain Jack Harkness/End of Days, this is brilliant piece. Just switch your brain off when Bilis starts explaining things, because the mess made at the end is made all the more frustrating by seeing a great tale go to waste for a second time…
With Twilight Streets, he has again the opportunity to right an injustice. Bilis Manger – the best thing ever to happen to Torchwood – creepy, subtle, perfectly embodied the high-menace, low-key threat the show should be facing every week (see Small Worlds and Adam for more of that). One of those bad guys so well drawn, that you actually want him to be more powerful than the heroes. It was all going so well, until this enigma revealed he was actually in league with a vicious piece of CGI buried under Cardiff, probably ever since being rejected by HP Lovecraft. Suddenly, the world was in that convenient sort of peril that can be solved in within minutes, which has worked on Doctor Who since the 60s because it is still, at heart, made for kids; that convenient sort of peril what should nevereverever be used on Torchwood ever again. If your hero runs around the universe in a police box, saving the world with a recorder while wearing a stick of celery, then daft is relative. What’s the point of doing an “adult Doctor Who”, if you’re effectively going to repeat the same situations with a bit more realism, bizzarely making the whole thing more unrealistic? Torchwood is at its best when doing concepts which are at their very core too adult for the kid audience, not just retreading things its parent does as well or better, while upping the violence to justify the timeslot.
It was one of those fan-hating moments I’ve just erased from my mind. The last twenty minutes of End of Days did not happen. No one minute solution to the supposedly, world-threatening special effect. No nineteen minute sequence of sobmusic with Gwen sitting by Jack’s corpse. I’ve wiped it all the way back to when Bilis’ motives were unknown, and potentially terrifying.
His face was the reason the book got bought – that, and two friends who each contributed a pound to the shared embarrassment of buying it in public, so none of us could sneer later on. It would be impossible for Mr Russell to ignore End of Days entirely, as I choose to. Initially he addresses it quite well, by turning Bilis back into the enigma he was in Captain Jack Harkness – straightening his jacket, being unreadable and running circles around the Torchwood Team, smug sods. He’s especially effective when taking nonchronological revenge for things that haven’t happened yet.
What ultimately irritated me about Twilight Streets is far from dealing with my issues, it eventually makes the same mistake – the world’s going to end, the demons that be have chosen Cardiff – but everything will be ok if I pull THAT lever.
It's a good thing when a based-on-a-series novel manages to conjure the atmosphere of a show. But maybe not this show, not all the time. I could hear Owen’s voice in his writing, see Bilis sliding between eras, imagine the Hub as something older and more complex than it is ever allowed to be on the screen and get the full impact of the Torchwood trademark “I went through the archives and pulled up some files” scene by presenting the chaos of nonchronological evidence for us to read on our own. All worthy praise. The flipside of putting me into the TV so completely was when the CG lightshow came at the end, with Mr Russell gloriously charging into the same mistake made by his predecessor, all my anger at Potentially Great Characters Ruined By Apocalyptic Plotlines came rushing back.
Meanwhile, as a subplot, he shoehorns in one of my other least favourite fictional device – the Alternate Future. I’ve always seen this as an author exercise – I wonder what X would do in Y situation? There are more subtle ways to suggest these things about your characters than putting them through scenes which eventually won’t matter.
Now Bilis screwing with Torchwood on the basis of something that might happen strikes me as exactly the type of thing this meddler in time would get up to; I also like the suggestion that the team’s minor abusing of alien tech would escalate. But I don’t buy Future-Torchwood at all, especially not it successfully toppling the governments of the world. The revelation that it was “dark lights” inside the characters instead of the characters themselves makes the whole revenge thing unnecessary for him, and pointless for us as readers.
Thank goodness for the characters then! All are well drawn – while Owen gets nothing to do, as noted above, all his lines are uniquely his. I didn’t notice Tosh, but that’s probably more tellingly consistent with her TV characterisation than anything else. It’s an absolute must-read for fans of Ianto, especially fans of JackandIanto – though the Gwen set is also rewarded with more of those bizarre “sexual tension that’s come out of nowhere since the start of series 2” scenes. Jack and Gwen demonstrate all those tics that make them so unloveable on TV – while also seeming more likeable here than ever before. I’m not sure I’ve ever spent time so willingly in Jack’s company. It’s when they get together the magic really begins – the innuendos, the teasing, all perfectly caught. Suddenly, they seem like a team, instead of an inconsistent set of people who start every episode as friends and end as mortal enemies, before making up in time for next week.
I’ve always thought past-Torchwood a far more interesting concept than the sub-Buffy, sub-CSI, sub-Xfiles, sub-Doctor Who on Contemporary Earth we usually get. Those Victorians, proving psychotic bisexuals have always been their employees of choice. The pair from 1913. So I was also happy to see Torchwood 1940 given a runaround.
Its not that I don't like Torchwood. I have a great deal of affection for it, without the true fanlove which allows me to forgive DW anything eventually, even Grace Holloway. I know what I want from that show, and when it doesn't deliver, I'm happy to scream and pull it to shreds. What I want is what it promised – Doctor Who, but for adults – that is to say, adults, not adolescents. I want Adrift or Out of Time, not a sub-UNIT story of five people preventing an invasion, with a bit more shaggin’ and swearin’.
Final analysis: just like Captain Jack Harkness/End of Days, this is brilliant piece. Just switch your brain off when Bilis starts explaining things, because the mess made at the end is made all the more frustrating by seeing a great tale go to waste for a second time…
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