Torchwood Review
A first-hand review of Torchwood, the popular new series on BBC Three.
This review looks at the darker side of the universe in which Doctor Who makes his travels. No time travel, and no leaving the scene of the crime in a blue box at the end of every episode.
This show is action packed and fast paced, there is no doubt. It is set shortly after the cyberman invasion of earth and the destruction of the Torchwood London offices. We learn that there were several autonomous offices set up all over the world to capture alien technology and repel alien invasions. Captain Jack is in charge of one such office, set in the city of Cardiff in Wales. A suspicious policewoman uncovers the organisation, and we follow her exploits as she joins its ranks and goes about her daily business.
It is a much murkier show than Doctor Who, and comparisons have been made about the difference between Star Trek Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, but Torchwood is a bit darker than Deep Space Nine ever was. Murder is a commonplace thing, and the very first scene featuring an alien has a rather gruesome death in it.
The darker side of life in the slums is fairly accurately portrayed, but is a little disturbing. There’s no doubt that you do not want your kids watching this program. It contains scenes of a sexual nature in ways that aren’t that far from a criminal offense, and the line of decency is crossed over on several occasions. Hopefully this was just an “attention getter” episode, and not typical of the series as a whole, because the basic premise is very good.
As can be expected from any new venture, the actors aren’t entirely sure how they should be playing their parts, and as a result tend to overdo them slightly. The members of Torchwood seem very shallow and one-dimensional, which may be intentional, but leads you to think that it’s not going to be much of a show. Hopefully, the characters will develop a lot further and pad out a bit as the show progresses.
Even Captain Jack, with his appearances on Doctor Who, is a bit wooden and shallow, although his mysterious nature works in his favour, since we don’t know a lot about the illusive Captain Jack.
The show is about the right length, despite the first episode being mostly character and world introduction, with enough breaks from action packed running around to keep the show from seeming frantic, which is a problem with some shorter shows. It could probably stand being a bit longer, and no doubt the writers will use the classic “To be continued..” to have a particularly involved plot.
Meanwhile, many mysteries remain. How did Captain Jack get back from the future after he was abandoned by the Doctor and Rose at the end of Season One of Doctor Who? Was his amazing ability caused by Rose as the Bad Wolf, or was that incident only one event in a long chain which began much earlier? And why did he go to such studied pains to draw our attention to that hand in the glass jar?
We shall just have to wait and see.
Liked it
Torchwood is bad, really bad. Pity too, I was looking forward to it.
This weeks Torchwood was more like a 70’s hammer horror movie than a piece of 21st Cent. sci-fi. Even down to the “twist” with the policeman being part of the conspiracy. Jeeze this show is SUCH a disappointment. The only half decent episode was the one with the half cyberman/half girlfriend.
Sould it be AXED??? You have to agree with BobbyG on the previous blog. At present the benchmark is BattleStar Galactica well written, well acted etc. If the BEEB are looking for Adult, Gritty, post watershed maybe Russel T. Davies should have watched C4’s Ultraviolet now that was great UK sci-fi. You have to watch it cause it’s that bad.
Not so bad in my opinion. Yes, Battlestar Galactica or Ultraviolet is different, in some respects they are better, in others not. Every new titles on the field should be different. RTD created Torchwood – and Torchwood should be Torchwood and not an Ultraviolet clone, whatsoever.
I think Torchwood is a better show than Doctor Who. Just have a little patience; it gets better.
I agree with Blacksmithking. It is a good show, and does not follow a feel good formula.
Its good that the show is not all london based. Its good to have regional accents, its good that not all the story lines have a happy ending, its good that they do not have the answers to everything and they get things wrong.
It pains me to agree that Torchwood is a huge, stinking disappointment. It is hard to believe that the same talent that produces Doctor Who also creates this mess. Overall there are far too many plot holes, inconsistent performances, wholly un-likeable characters and it asks not only that you suspend your disbelief but lower your IQ to accept it’s premise. This last episode was bed, bath and beyond awful.
It is as if the writers are purposely trying to get the show canceled.
I am very glad Doctor Who will be back on soon. Torchwood is deadwood.
I thought Torchwood was some of the worst television I’ve ever had the misfortune of viewing.
although i found the series reasonably good if not weird, i dont know how they are gonna fill the second series up. i think they have covered almost everything in the first series. i thought it was just a one off.
Wow, you guys are pretty harsh on this show, I for one love it. I can see where you would give bad reviews near the first few episodes of the show but doesn’t every new show start off with the actors not quite sure about their characters yet and as you put it are “Wooden”? I for one do not want to see this show canceled it’s one of the better shows on (I also like the newer Doctor Who), I haven’t been this into a show since The X-Files (to which I was a big fan/geek of).
You can’t deniy the brilliance of series 2, thats all I can say.
sorry deny, nat said it was spelt wrong
didn’t watch series one and i’m not planning to because i think it would completely destroy my opinions of the charecters, especially Owen, and i don’t want that
i love series 2 and am getting it on DVD as soon as i can. the last episode just broke my heart
Torchwood is PATHETIC. the special effects, costumes, the terrible american accent, the scripting. it all sucks. It is an embarrasment to the country. Axe this trash.
“terrible american accent”?
That’s his natural american accent and a normal american accent. Sorry if you don’t like how Americans talk, but that has nothing to do with the show. John Barrowman always talks like that.