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meredith-dart
Reviews
Torchwood (2006)
Interesting & fun if you look past your expectations
In spite of many of the comments on this series, I have to say I enjoyed it. Yes, it's a little disjointed to begin with, and the characters are not yet settled, but that's to be expected from the first season.
To those who claim this is less "intelligent" than Doctor Who, I can't believe you've ever looked critically at Doctor Who, especially the first episodes from 1963 - it was also patchy and inconsistent to begin with, with more than a few "what the?!" moments.
This show, like any spin-off, does have certain constraints. Part of the fun was that, if a Doctor Who fan, we know more about Cap'n Jack than his crew. Which is precisely one of the issues explored in the first season - the Torchwood team know there is something strange about Jack, and there's something frankly unbelievable about the things they're forced to believe by the evidence of their own eyes, so it's not surprising that tensions run high. In fact, many of the plot points revolve around the fact that these people are seriously damaged in one way or another, which is why they've ended up in Torchwood.
The team, at the point Gwen comes along, has achieved a certain method of working which Gwen disrupts. They have each come to terms with themselves by, to a large extent, blocking out the world outside. Gwen is an agent of change by always bringing the focus back to people (still fresh enough out of police training to feel she's serving the public, and that it's important to do so). This releases the team to start feeling long-suppressed emotions again - and yes, being suppressed, the team members act like teenagers when forced to deal with them. I don't say it's excusable, and you wouldn't expect 5 out of 5 adults to be screwed up at the same time, but come on, people - this is TV! On TV, people actually DO the things the rest of us are busy trying not to think! As for Jack himself - to find out where he's coming from, you need to see the Doctor Who episodes that both introduce him and explain why he is the way he is. At the end of the series with Christopher Eccleston, Jack is brought back to life (without really knowing what happened) and abandoned by the Doctor at some point in the future. Obviously, he can't tell his 21st century team that he's from the future - or that he's apparently immortal; he trusts the Doctor but probably still feels betrayed at his abandonment; yet his entire outlook on life has been changed by the encounter with the Doctor, turning him from opportunistic conman to crusader.
So here Jack is, remaking Torchwood, still wondering exactly what he is now, possibly imagining that the team members he has chosen are self-reliant enough to get on with it in the way he has, possibly misjudging when to be all-knowing and mysterious and when to show some human fallibility, possibly trying to teach his team to think in 51st rather than 21st century terms. He is alone, partly from design and partly from circumstance, with his own baggage to deal with.
Throw into the mix the alien technology - the reason for Torchwood's existence - with its unknown effects on humans, and you get an unstable group. I think the point of the series is to explore the psychological side of the team itself as well as deal with the alien-of-the-week. This is certainly consistent with the Doctor Who franchise, as well as sf in general.
To those who complained that alien technology provided a quick fix all too often, it would be strange if a group collecting alien technology DIDN'T use it. Since this is a TV series, the technology has to be introduced gradually - this is not Men in Black where you only need to deal with 2 or 3 devices in the whole movie and can tie the package up with a neat little one-liner.
In all, I think it's a fun series with great promise; a second season should see the characters more familiar with us and each other; and there's enough flexibility and charisma there to provide something both slick and fun.
(And by the way, to those who wondered why Gwen couldn't handle a gun - in Britain, most police officers don't carry guns. And Gwen was a PC, not any kind of detective or special officer.)
The Hunting of the Snark (1987)
What a fantastic show!
We watched this concert version of the Hunting of the Snark on TV, and wish we had taped it. The music is very singable and the lyrics effortlessly capture the essence of the poem.
I remember it, 20 years later, as being a very colourful event and have been looking for a recording of it for a long time.
The haunting "Children of the Sky" sets the scene beautifully. The ensemble song "The Escapade" is full of puns and introduces each of the cast members. "The Pig Must Die" will resonate with anyone annoyed by bureaucracy! "A Delicate Combination" is musically very interesting, and nicely sets up the touching "Beaver's Lesson" of the poem. All in all, a fantastic show - I also can't believe it's never come out on DVD. I think it's time to start a petition!