Torchwood 2
16/01/08 21:59 Filed in: Media
Okay so we have just had the first episode of the
second series of Torchwood. Has it
changed? Is it better?
On the evidence of the first episode, have things
changed from the...er rather weak first season?
Sadly the answer appears to be no so far. I do however hold out hope for the series. The team behind it are very good, they just haven't found there feet yet.
Sorry if you have no idea what I'm talking about a quick introduction maybe needed. Torchwood is basically a spin off series from the current revival of Doctor Who, and if you don't know what that is then...well this post is going to be lost on you.
This the reason that I still hold out hope for the series, the creative team behind Doctor Who have produced some fantastic TV and unlike the Doctor Who in earlier years, they have the full financial backing of the BBC.
So we have a talented team and a big budget, so why are things not really working?
Well in the first season part of the problem was that the this was always meant to be an adult program, it was broadcast well after the 9 o'clock watershed and so the writers could have sex and swearing and levels of violence that would just not be permitted in Doctor Who. It seemed to me that the writers took this and just ran with it. It seemed they where saying 'Yes, we can have sex swearing and violence, great lets do it. Oh and yes, we might have time for some plot and maybe even some character development, but that doesn't really matter, lets just get lots of sex on screen'. Okay maybe I'm overstating that just a bit, but not by much.
The first few episodes where, well just excuses for alien sex and violence. Okay the stories did start to get as things went along (Episode 5, Small worlds, Episode 9 Random Shoes and Episode 11 Captain Jack Harkness, stand out as the best of season 1).
Once the writers got the fact that they could show sex on screen, out of there systems and other problem became noticeable. The characters. With one exception, Captain Jack him self, they aren't the interesting. And even good old captain jack comes across as less interesting than he does in the Doctor Who stories he's been featured in.
Apparently in this season the writers are trying to get more character development in to the stories. Sadly all this seems to mean so far is that every body seems to want to sleep with some one else on the team. Mmmm, the sex is creeping back in again.
Maybe the addition of a new...er anti hero in the form of Captain John Hart might help things a bit, since he comes from Captain Jack's past and he knows lots of stuff about him, which is probably going to be let out a little at a time through the series. We also have the promise of a story arc running through the series, something to do with Captain John having found gray? Very mysterious. And of course we have Marher Jones crossing over from Doctor Who, so things are looking quite promising for the second season. Season openers tend to be quite weak stories any way, even buffy only managed 3 really good season openers in 7 seasons, so it's hard to do!
Oh and one last thing I've got to say, why on earth do they have to have a trailer for the next episode which shows so much of the plot, just before the titles roll?
Sadly the answer appears to be no so far. I do however hold out hope for the series. The team behind it are very good, they just haven't found there feet yet.
Sorry if you have no idea what I'm talking about a quick introduction maybe needed. Torchwood is basically a spin off series from the current revival of Doctor Who, and if you don't know what that is then...well this post is going to be lost on you.
This the reason that I still hold out hope for the series, the creative team behind Doctor Who have produced some fantastic TV and unlike the Doctor Who in earlier years, they have the full financial backing of the BBC.
So we have a talented team and a big budget, so why are things not really working?
Well in the first season part of the problem was that the this was always meant to be an adult program, it was broadcast well after the 9 o'clock watershed and so the writers could have sex and swearing and levels of violence that would just not be permitted in Doctor Who. It seemed to me that the writers took this and just ran with it. It seemed they where saying 'Yes, we can have sex swearing and violence, great lets do it. Oh and yes, we might have time for some plot and maybe even some character development, but that doesn't really matter, lets just get lots of sex on screen'. Okay maybe I'm overstating that just a bit, but not by much.
The first few episodes where, well just excuses for alien sex and violence. Okay the stories did start to get as things went along (Episode 5, Small worlds, Episode 9 Random Shoes and Episode 11 Captain Jack Harkness, stand out as the best of season 1).
Once the writers got the fact that they could show sex on screen, out of there systems and other problem became noticeable. The characters. With one exception, Captain Jack him self, they aren't the interesting. And even good old captain jack comes across as less interesting than he does in the Doctor Who stories he's been featured in.
Apparently in this season the writers are trying to get more character development in to the stories. Sadly all this seems to mean so far is that every body seems to want to sleep with some one else on the team. Mmmm, the sex is creeping back in again.
Maybe the addition of a new...er anti hero in the form of Captain John Hart might help things a bit, since he comes from Captain Jack's past and he knows lots of stuff about him, which is probably going to be let out a little at a time through the series. We also have the promise of a story arc running through the series, something to do with Captain John having found gray? Very mysterious. And of course we have Marher Jones crossing over from Doctor Who, so things are looking quite promising for the second season. Season openers tend to be quite weak stories any way, even buffy only managed 3 really good season openers in 7 seasons, so it's hard to do!
Oh and one last thing I've got to say, why on earth do they have to have a trailer for the next episode which shows so much of the plot, just before the titles roll?
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