Torchwood Review

[agoodwinsmith]

Why does TV confuse Science Fiction with Horror?  The Space Channel is always playing the crappiest horror shit on Friday evenings.  Often times there isn't even a crumb of an SF pre-text; it is just an out-and-out gore fest.  I hate gore fests.

Torchwood is supposedly SF.  I watched the premier episode whenever it was, and basically went: "meh."  I didn't care about the characters, and the premise seemed uninspiring - but hey, other shows that I have grown to enjoy have started out similarly unengaging.  So, tonight being spectacularly pathetic in the TV zone, and the program before being the Rick Mercer Report, I stuck around for another Torchwood episode.

Meh.

It turned out to be the old chestnut of the supposed weird occurance turning out to be plain old garden variety human grossness instead of aliens.  They must have run short on their writing budget because the characters spent a lot of time (a LOT of time) running around in non-descript trees trying to escape the gore fest.

I think one of the problems with the Torchwood spinoff is that it comes from the Dr. Who Universe, which has a barn-door broad streak of what can only be called zaniness, or whackiness.  There is a lot of we-know-this-ain't-real-but-ain't-it-wild nudge-nudge about Dr. Who.  Expecting the Dr. Who audience to put the parental show's pattern aside is not smart, but hey, that's TV for you.  Torchwood takes itself too seriously, and thinks it is a serious drama.  Well, it you want to be a serious drama, you have to eschew the gore-fest for gore-fest's sake aesthetic.

Stupid horror maskerading as science fiction.

Comments

[cat63.livejournal.com]

That was probably one of the worst episodes of Torchwood to watch if you hadn't seen any others though - I hated that one too, and I like the series as a rule.

If you feel like giving it another chance, the next one ("Geeks Bearing Gifts") is considerably better, and the one after that better still. The last four episodes are probably the best of all.

But The Sarah Jane Adventures knocks Torchwood into a cocked hat IMO.

[agoodwinsmith.livejournal.com]

Um. I tried the next episode. I gave it up at the third commercial break. It's just not working for me. I don't like adulterous sex (she's living with someone; that's common-law here; that's adulterous), especially when you know it is going to lead to unpleasantness down the road. More kooky SF and less smutty soap opera, please. :)

[cat63.livejournal.com]

Fair enough then - if it's not to your taste then it isn't.

I must admit I don't like the plotline of Gwen sleeping with Owen either - not only because she's living with someone, but because Owen's a total git. I lost a lot of respect for Gwen's character when she started that.

[agoodwinsmith.livejournal.com]

Especially since when we first see him, he's only getting the girls because he's spritzing them with the alien love potion number nine (isn't that called the date rape drug?). So he's a slimy weazel, and I don't want the female character I'm trying to identify with to even look at him as anything other than a specimen. Eewww. :)

[cat63.livejournal.com]

Quite. I rather boggled at Jack's team building skills in that first episode - his team includes a rapist and a murderer, and then he recruits someone whose main talent seems to be getting other people killed. Good job, there Cap'n...

I'm looking forward to next season when Martha will be joining Torchwood for three episodes. I'm hoping she kicks Owens arse, figuratively and, with any luck, literally :-)