We’ve watched two episodes now (“Everything Changes” and “Day One”) of the Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood. First impressions:
The Good
- The conceit of a “special operations” group, accountable (so far) to nobody, who investigate and deal with alien threats is not exactly ground-breaking, but it’s nicely done here.
- As is the fish-out-of-water, as a down-to-earth cop gets caught up in a black ops the-truth-is-out-there (and-we’re-covering-it-up) crypto-organization. (Boy, that’s a lot of hyphens.)
- A few nods to date to the parent series, but not obsessively/exploitatively so. Torchwood is enriched by having the Doctor Who background, but it’s not dependent on it.
- A few nods to the issues of personal exploitation of appropriated alien technology, and of personal morality in a “who watches the watchmen” sort of way.
- Nicely done aliens, from the excellent facial prosthetics on the “Weevils” to the succubus alien last night.
- Captain Jack Harkness has plenty of mystery about him, even for those of us who saw him in Doctor Who Series 1 (which presumably happened before this series). He’s also just a hoot.
- I’m also enjoying Gwen Cooper, aforesaid fish out of water. I like the fact that she’s neither passive nor uber-competent, and I really like the fact that she’s not a tall fashion model blonde.
- I still enjoy the fact that I’ve been there (Cardiff) and walked around all those places and took pictures of that waterfall-fountain by the stadium. It adds a frisson of fun.
The Bad
- Granted that the Torchwood Institute took something of a beating during the Dalek/Cybermen war, it still seems improbable that it’s largely (to date) just a group of five down in some industrial works under Cardiff. That may be addressed later, but for the moment it makes the show feel small.
- Under #1-2 above, they will need to make these two tropes even more fresh and meaningful, leveraging the characters and the situation, if they want to make the series something more than “just a cop show” (as Margie rightfully put it).
The Ugly
- Beyond Jack and Gwen (and, possibly majordomo Ianto), the cast — Gwen’s boyfriend, techie Toshiko, boor Owen — are so far largely ciphers. Yes, it’s only been two episodes. But, honestly, I know more about the person who didn’t make it out of Episode 1 than I do of the others. We need more character hooks, people! Chop-chop!
Grade so far: a solid B: good enough to keep in the DVR and look forward to, but with room for improvement (or disappointment if they don’t).
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Something to remember, when talking about Torchwood as a single, autonomous unit, is that it isn’t. I think this one is either Torchwood three or Torchwood five, as Torchwood one was in Scotland at Torchwood Castle, two was at Canary Wharf, I think three is in Glasgow, four has gone missing all together, which would make the Cardiff branch number five.
For those who love to fact-check, please reference the chat between Jack and Gwen just before he informs her that he’s put RetCon in her drink.
I like Torchwood a lot, so far. Not as much as Doctor Who, but it’s a nice side dish. The way my wife put it, though, is that it hasn’t yet reached the Who level of “Must.Not.Miss.”
I think it will get a lot more involved…considering how obsessive Jack is over The Doctor’s severed hand. He’s probably wanting to use it somehow to track down The Doctor and Rose after they stranded him on Satellite 5 (as far as he knows). He might even be pissed off at them from what I can tell.
I really like the choice for Gwen Cooper, too. The actress made a great impression as the maid that was sacrificed to stop the Gelth from coming through the same rift that Torchwood is sitting upon now. I wonder if they’ll play it up that she is somehow related to her?
I’m fairly certain that Torchwood is set after the conclusion of the current Doctor Who series. I’m not 100% sure, because I’ve kept away from spoilers, but pretty sure.
Miss Cranky — you are correct, and I recall the discussion. Thus my comment “it’s largely (to date) just a group of five down in some industrial works under Cardiff” (emphasis mine). Glasgow, as I recall, was a one-man operation (a very odd individual, I believe he was characterized as).
Regardless, that leaves two extant TW operations. Lacking an overarching authority to backfill them after the losses (mysterious and otherwise), it still seems like a vacuum.
There may well be (no spoilers needed) that there are both ramifications of and certainly revelations from this. But at the moment (a whole two episodes in) it feels strange and small.
Solonor — I believe there’s some spoiler info in your second paragraph for those of us watching the show for the first time. Either that, or I missed something “eek”worthy in there.
And that was the same actress as “The Unquiet Dead“? Eve Myles, excellent. That was a fun episode.
And while I’d associated the location with “Boom Town,” I’d forgotten what was supposed to be the same as the Gelth invasion site, the “Cardiff Rift“. Interesting.
From what is actually said on screen in Torchwood, it’s not long after the attack that destroyed Torchwood 2, which was the finale of Series 2 of Doctor Who.
On the “spoiler”…that’s just me assuming that it was the hand of The Doctor that fell when the Sycorax cut it off in the Christmas special. Whose else would it be? And why would Jack freak out about it so like he did?
And if you missed that it was on the same rift, you must have missed the reason Jack gave for the exact spot where the elevator came up and no one could see anyone there. He said it was because “a dimensionally transcendental chameleon circuit placed right on this spot… welded its perception properties to a spatio-temporal rift” (I cheated and looked up the exact quote). That’s spot the Tardis landed. 🙂
I hadn’t even thought of that. Certainly it’s something that Torchwood would have been in a position to acquire. And it would make sense that it was the Doctor’s …
… that said, aside from its odd presence and Jack freaking out, I don’t know we know enough to speculate any further.
And, yes, the events of the Dalek/Cybermen War are recent past in Torchwood, based on Ep. 1 dialog about how folks are willing to ignore stuff and about the other Torchwood locations. In theory, the “present” in Series 3 could be after the beginning of Torchwood (well, in theory, the “present” in any Doctor Who could be and likely is before and after any chronologically fixed point, but you know what I mean.)
An intersting note (possibly not for those who have watched the series, but no spoilers please): the first “modern” appearance of Torchwood (in the second Christmas special) certainly implies that it was affiliated with/linked to the British government, and that certainly was true in its founding (indeed, in its founding charter). The “current” organization seems to have gone quite independent. Likely some stories there, too.
Is Torchwood run by the same construction firm that brought us Babylon 1 through 4?
I will confess, I had the same though (“Torchwood 4 disappeared …”). Coincidence? Homage? We shall see …
(“We found this creature skulking around.” “Throw him in with the Weevils.” “Zathras does not want to be thrown in with the Weevils!”)
Maybe Torchwood Five is in the US 🙂