Due to it's current limited broadcast range this may be off limited interest to non-UK viewers, but last night (Sun 22) saw the start of the new Doctor Who spin-off series, Torchwood, starring John Barrowman as Capt. Jack Harkness, former DW companion, now head of Torchwood Cardiff.
Promoted as an 'adult' sf/crime series, the new show very much follows the template set down by the revamped 2005 DW series, with the opening episode (by Russell T. Davies) setting Eve Myles' PC Gwen Cooper up as a 'Rose Tyler' like character through whose eyes the audience will see the show. Starting off very much like a standard police drama like The Bill, things gradually get curiouser and curiouser with the arrival of Capt. Jack and the Torchwood team. Oblique references to the parent show are present but not too obtrusive.
Whereas the second episode of DW showed off the future time-travel part of the show's modus operandi to new viewers, so TW Ep. 2 highlights the sex side of the show. A gaesous alien parasite crash-lands on Earth and accidently released into the atmosphere by Gwen proceeds to possess a woman who then goes off on a shagging spree resulting in the deaths of her sexual partners. Torchwood have to hunt her down before she kills again.
Based on these two episodes the series is very enjoyable and looks very promising. Lots of great interaction between the main cast members both at work and off-duty. Some might argue that the show tries too hard to be adult in the same way that comic's approach to being 'not for kids' frequently only meant extra lashings of sex and violence. But TW is too much fun for that to be a genuine complaint imo. 11 more episodes to go and Sunday evenings look like they're going to be worth staying in for.
Promoted as an 'adult' sf/crime series, the new show very much follows the template set down by the revamped 2005 DW series, with the opening episode (by Russell T. Davies) setting Eve Myles' PC Gwen Cooper up as a 'Rose Tyler' like character through whose eyes the audience will see the show. Starting off very much like a standard police drama like The Bill, things gradually get curiouser and curiouser with the arrival of Capt. Jack and the Torchwood team. Oblique references to the parent show are present but not too obtrusive.
Whereas the second episode of DW showed off the future time-travel part of the show's modus operandi to new viewers, so TW Ep. 2 highlights the sex side of the show. A gaesous alien parasite crash-lands on Earth and accidently released into the atmosphere by Gwen proceeds to possess a woman who then goes off on a shagging spree resulting in the deaths of her sexual partners. Torchwood have to hunt her down before she kills again.
Based on these two episodes the series is very enjoyable and looks very promising. Lots of great interaction between the main cast members both at work and off-duty. Some might argue that the show tries too hard to be adult in the same way that comic's approach to being 'not for kids' frequently only meant extra lashings of sex and violence. But TW is too much fun for that to be a genuine complaint imo. 11 more episodes to go and Sunday evenings look like they're going to be worth staying in for.
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