Very mixed feelings about Torchwood here. I'm very glad I'm not a critic - if I was, I think I'd have to discard it as utter rubbish for now :D .. luckily, I'm no critic and can try to find good things about it. Though that for me is mostly trying to see things that might be okay with time.
The bad ..
* Firstly .. I feel a bit cheated, as RTD really shouldn't have to be this cheap. In his own words, from an interview ...
"I first had the idea for the series while I was working on Casanova three or four years ago, before Doctor Who was even mentioned," said Davies. "I'd been watching shows like Buffy and Angel, and I'd said to [Torchwood executive producer] Julie Gardner - 'why don't we make a series like that?'"
.. gee, nice US TV channel boss thinking there. "This stuff is great. I want one of those too!"
While I know that every piece of art back to the antique of course has its inspirations that come from here and there, and that nothing is truely original .. there is a difference between being inspired by something and trying to emulate something. I'm not sure I would say rip off, as RTD doesn't exactly make a secret of his admiration for Joss Whedon's work.
Trying to emulate *both* the feel of the show and plot lines - quite directly (doesn't help that I've seen the first half of season one of Angel three times --> know it by heart basically) - just feels cheap to me. None of the points is truely unique to Angel as a show, but the sheer mass of them .. eck, I'd rather watch respective Angel episodes for a fourth time.
* Jack - he just doesn't seem to work in this series. I'm not yet sure if it's that the writing hasn't suited him or that he just doesn't work as well with the cast as he did with Eccleston and Piper .. but he just doesn't fit in at all.
* "Adult themes" - no problem there in principle, but I think they've kind of mixed up "adult" with "things kids shouldn't know about" at times. The message that date rape is cool and fun wasn't a very adult way to deal with that topic IMHO. Just having "juicy" topics on the show doesn't automatically make it adult, it just makes it non-kid-friendly.
This especially bugged me in the second episode. It didn't help that the plot was quite directly picked off the second episode of Angel (yes, I know, other shows have done similar plots before Angel .. but having an alien parasite murdering people by sex in nightclubs as the centre of the second episode to show the edgyness of the series is a bit .. direct) - which unlike Torchwood actually managed to make its point through that episode, as they actually handled mature content in a mature way. So much of the episode to me just seemed like .. "loook! loooook here! edge!! edge!! We can do edgy stuff!!".
Some of it actually fit in the moment .. but when thinking about it afterwards, it did make me go .. "hey, wait a minute".
Like the whole "woa, two chicks kissing!" thingy. Okay .. adolescent as I am ;) .. it was the predictable reaction.
But hello? Professionals, guarding a killer that kills through sexual contact? Wouldn't one think that SOMEONE there over the age of 13 would .. like .. freak out a bit on side too?
I'm not sure about the security wanker :D .. it depends on what the narrative was meant to be. The way it seemed to me, he was *telling* them about this. Which just didn't make much sense to me. Though it's quite possible we were being treasured with this nice piece of information that the Torchwood crew wasn't treasured with :D
*cheap feel - I don't know what it is about the show, but something about it makes it all just feel awfully cheap. Like it was shot on the kind of film they make soap operas on or something. Really not sure. Definitely something that didn't bug me about the new (or old, for that matter) Doctor Who though.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 25 October 2006 09:35 (UTC).
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.
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Very mixed feelings about Torchwood here. I'm very glad I'm not a critic - if I was, I think I'd have to discard it as utter rubbish for now :D .. luckily, I'm no critic and can try to find good things about it. Though that for me is mostly trying to see things that might be okay with time.
The bad ..
* Firstly .. I feel a bit cheated, as RTD really shouldn't have to be this cheap. In his own words, from an interview ...
"I first had the idea for the series while I was working on Casanova three or four years ago, before Doctor Who was even mentioned," said Davies. "I'd been watching shows like Buffy and Angel, and I'd said to [Torchwood executive producer] Julie Gardner - 'why don't we make a series like that?'"
.. gee, nice US TV channel boss thinking there. "This stuff is great. I want one of those too!"
While I know that every piece of art back to the antique of course has its inspirations that come from here and there, and that nothing is truely original .. there is a difference between being inspired by something and trying to emulate something. I'm not sure I would say rip off, as RTD doesn't exactly make a secret of his admiration for Joss Whedon's work.
Trying to emulate *both* the feel of the show and plot lines - quite directly (doesn't help that I've seen the first half of season one of Angel three times --> know it by heart basically) - just feels cheap to me. None of the points is truely unique to Angel as a show, but the sheer mass of them .. eck, I'd rather watch respective Angel episodes for a fourth time.
* Jack - he just doesn't seem to work in this series. I'm not yet sure if it's that the writing hasn't suited him or that he just doesn't work as well with the cast as he did with Eccleston and Piper .. but he just doesn't fit in at all.
* "Adult themes" - no problem there in principle, but I think they've kind of mixed up "adult" with "things kids shouldn't know about" at times. The message that date rape is cool and fun wasn't a very adult way to deal with that topic IMHO. Just having "juicy" topics on the show doesn't automatically make it adult, it just makes it non-kid-friendly.
This especially bugged me in the second episode. It didn't help that the plot was quite directly picked off the second episode of Angel (yes, I know, other shows have done similar plots before Angel .. but having an alien parasite murdering people by sex in nightclubs as the centre of the second episode to show the edgyness of the series is a bit .. direct) - which unlike Torchwood actually managed to make its point through that episode, as they actually handled mature content in a mature way. So much of the episode to me just seemed like .. "loook! loooook here! edge!! edge!! We can do edgy stuff!!".
Some of it actually fit in the moment .. but when thinking about it afterwards, it did make me go .. "hey, wait a minute".
Like the whole "woa, two chicks kissing!" thingy. Okay .. adolescent as I am ;) .. it was the predictable reaction.
But hello? Professionals, guarding a killer that kills through sexual contact? Wouldn't one think that SOMEONE there over the age of 13 would .. like .. freak out a bit on side too?
I'm not sure about the security wanker :D .. it depends on what the narrative was meant to be. The way it seemed to me, he was *telling* them about this. Which just didn't make much sense to me. Though it's quite possible we were being treasured with this nice piece of information that the Torchwood crew wasn't treasured with :D
*cheap feel - I don't know what it is about the show, but something about it makes it all just feel awfully cheap. Like it was shot on the kind of film they make soap operas on or something. Really not sure. Definitely something that didn't bug me about the new (or old, for that matter) Doctor Who though.
*reply too long - bugger*