Torchwood vs Dr Who
Apr. 7th, 2008 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmelinemaySo last night Mark and I settled in front of the iPlayer to see the last in the series of Torchwood and the first in the new series of Dr Who.
We decided to watch Torchwood first, following the logic that even if Dr Who is dreadful, it's bound to look better after Torchwood.
Rather obviously, there are likely to be spoilers beneath these cuts.
Dear god but this programme is awful. I'm honestly not sure I'd bother watching the next series, if it wasn't for the fact that OWEN IS DEAD. FINALLY. Dear god, but they took their time. We actually cheered when we realised he was finally going to bugger off. There may be a more deeply unlikeable main character that you're actually meant to like in a mainstream TV show, but if there is, I can't think of one. He's creepy, sarcastic and rude, and not even his backstory made me any more sympathetic to him. I don't think I've ever been so glad to see a regular character die.
The writers really need to learn that having the characters say lines that talk about them fancying each other doesn't mean that we'll believe it. There's been zero chemistry between Tosh and Owen from day one, and zero chemistry between Gwen and Jack from day one. Just having them SAY 'I love you' doesn't make it any more believable.
Mind you, Owen is dead, so that's a good thing. Boring Tosh too, so hopefully they'll get someone more interesting in for the next one. Shame Gwen didn't get the heave-ho too, then it could be just Jack and Ianto, running around saving the would like some incredibly gay crime fighting duo.
The plot. What the hell? So many inconsistencies, so many holes, loops, problems. Mark and I kept going 'Wait, how did they get there so fast when they were there and trapped before?' or 'Weren't there weevils in there? What happened to them?' or 'How the hell does THAT work?'
Leaving aside the issue of a black Torchwood operative in 1901 England (political correctness is more important to Torchwood than any sort of historical accuracy) so little about the episode made sense in any way, that we ended up just watching dumbly.
I, for one, am very disappointed that the climax of the show wasn't Jack digging his way out from his grave and turning out to be buried right underneath Torchwood. Not too disappointed though, because OWEN IS DEAD.
It really was pretty awful. But seeing as Owen is dead, I might watch the next series. Maybe. Just to see what it's like. As I said to someone the other day, I watch Torchwood for the same reason people watch car accidents. It's horrible, but you can't look away.
I was probably one of the only people rather looking forward to Catherine Tate's introduction as the new assistant. Yes, I like Rose, but was quite bored of her by the time she went, and I LOVED Martha, and was gutted she left, and like many other g33ks, was hoping for a return of Sally Sparrow from the episode 'Blink' as she'd make an awesome companion along with the video shop dude. It's been a long time since the Doctor had two companions, it's about time I think he travelled with a couple. Anyway, back to what the writers *actually* did.
They brought back a not hugely popular but highly entertaining character with the express purpose of there being NO SEXUAL CHEMISTRY WHATSOEVER. This should be easy, they manage it in Torchwood no problem. That's what I was looking forward to, finally a companion who isn't in love with the Dr, which makes good TV, sure, but it's really been done to death now. Of course, the same could have been achieved with Sally Sparrow and her fella, but we'll ignore that, because that's not what they decided...
Anyway, Catherine Tate. She made a lot of silly faces, didn't she? But the character was rather sweet, a bit Sarah-Jane-ish, when Sarah Jane came back and was a bit older. A few of the lines were a bit forced, but I think she did ok. I'm willing to give her a chance, at least.
She's no Martha - within 10 minutes of her first episode I'd already decided I liked her more than Rose. But she's no Ace either - she was FUCKING annoying. We shall see.
The Adipose were cute - I want one! If one weighs a pound, I think I could safely have 10-14 Adipose as pets and still be a sensible weight. I wonder what they eat?
I admit, I was hoping that one of these cute little things would turn around and roar and reveal HUGE TEETH.
There was slightly too much talking I felt, Tate was given a lot of dialogue to establish her character, as oppose to Martha who got to run around a lot and be hardcore and clever. There were at least two occasions where I found my attention wandering. She's a good comic actress, it will be interesting to see if she can pull off serious without all the mugging and occasional bit of cheese that crept in to the first episode.
Thankfully, it was much better than Torchwood.
Speaking of car crashes so awful you can't look away, today in the news The mother of schoolgirl Shannon Matthews has been arrested in connection with the alleged kidnap of her nine year old daughter.
That means than her step father, his sister, his uncle, and their mother have all now been arrested in connection with this, as well as Shannon's mother.
Step Father - arrested for possession of child porn
His uncle - arrested for suspected kidnap
Step Father's sister and mother - both arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and attempting to pervert the course of justice
Shannon's Mum - arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice
We decided to watch Torchwood first, following the logic that even if Dr Who is dreadful, it's bound to look better after Torchwood.
Rather obviously, there are likely to be spoilers beneath these cuts.
Dear god but this programme is awful. I'm honestly not sure I'd bother watching the next series, if it wasn't for the fact that OWEN IS DEAD. FINALLY. Dear god, but they took their time. We actually cheered when we realised he was finally going to bugger off. There may be a more deeply unlikeable main character that you're actually meant to like in a mainstream TV show, but if there is, I can't think of one. He's creepy, sarcastic and rude, and not even his backstory made me any more sympathetic to him. I don't think I've ever been so glad to see a regular character die.
The writers really need to learn that having the characters say lines that talk about them fancying each other doesn't mean that we'll believe it. There's been zero chemistry between Tosh and Owen from day one, and zero chemistry between Gwen and Jack from day one. Just having them SAY 'I love you' doesn't make it any more believable.
Mind you, Owen is dead, so that's a good thing. Boring Tosh too, so hopefully they'll get someone more interesting in for the next one. Shame Gwen didn't get the heave-ho too, then it could be just Jack and Ianto, running around saving the would like some incredibly gay crime fighting duo.
The plot. What the hell? So many inconsistencies, so many holes, loops, problems. Mark and I kept going 'Wait, how did they get there so fast when they were there and trapped before?' or 'Weren't there weevils in there? What happened to them?' or 'How the hell does THAT work?'
Leaving aside the issue of a black Torchwood operative in 1901 England (political correctness is more important to Torchwood than any sort of historical accuracy) so little about the episode made sense in any way, that we ended up just watching dumbly.
I, for one, am very disappointed that the climax of the show wasn't Jack digging his way out from his grave and turning out to be buried right underneath Torchwood. Not too disappointed though, because OWEN IS DEAD.
It really was pretty awful. But seeing as Owen is dead, I might watch the next series. Maybe. Just to see what it's like. As I said to someone the other day, I watch Torchwood for the same reason people watch car accidents. It's horrible, but you can't look away.
I was probably one of the only people rather looking forward to Catherine Tate's introduction as the new assistant. Yes, I like Rose, but was quite bored of her by the time she went, and I LOVED Martha, and was gutted she left, and like many other g33ks, was hoping for a return of Sally Sparrow from the episode 'Blink' as she'd make an awesome companion along with the video shop dude. It's been a long time since the Doctor had two companions, it's about time I think he travelled with a couple. Anyway, back to what the writers *actually* did.
They brought back a not hugely popular but highly entertaining character with the express purpose of there being NO SEXUAL CHEMISTRY WHATSOEVER. This should be easy, they manage it in Torchwood no problem. That's what I was looking forward to, finally a companion who isn't in love with the Dr, which makes good TV, sure, but it's really been done to death now. Of course, the same could have been achieved with Sally Sparrow and her fella, but we'll ignore that, because that's not what they decided...
Anyway, Catherine Tate. She made a lot of silly faces, didn't she? But the character was rather sweet, a bit Sarah-Jane-ish, when Sarah Jane came back and was a bit older. A few of the lines were a bit forced, but I think she did ok. I'm willing to give her a chance, at least.
She's no Martha - within 10 minutes of her first episode I'd already decided I liked her more than Rose. But she's no Ace either - she was FUCKING annoying. We shall see.
The Adipose were cute - I want one! If one weighs a pound, I think I could safely have 10-14 Adipose as pets and still be a sensible weight. I wonder what they eat?
I admit, I was hoping that one of these cute little things would turn around and roar and reveal HUGE TEETH.
There was slightly too much talking I felt, Tate was given a lot of dialogue to establish her character, as oppose to Martha who got to run around a lot and be hardcore and clever. There were at least two occasions where I found my attention wandering. She's a good comic actress, it will be interesting to see if she can pull off serious without all the mugging and occasional bit of cheese that crept in to the first episode.
Thankfully, it was much better than Torchwood.
Speaking of car crashes so awful you can't look away, today in the news The mother of schoolgirl Shannon Matthews has been arrested in connection with the alleged kidnap of her nine year old daughter.
That means than her step father, his sister, his uncle, and their mother have all now been arrested in connection with this, as well as Shannon's mother.
Step Father - arrested for possession of child porn
His uncle - arrested for suspected kidnap
Step Father's sister and mother - both arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and attempting to pervert the course of justice
Shannon's Mum - arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-07 11:37 am (UTC)The main thing that I didn't like was it was a TOTAL Angel/Connor rip off esp with the buried thing. However I did like it and this series was SO much better than season 1 so I have high hopes for season 3. There are many rumours spinning about over who will replace Tosh & Owen but who knows eh? Still love Jack tho ;)
Dr Who:
Loved it too. I'm not a CT fan and I haven't warmed to her like I did Martha (I loved her) but she's better than Rose (I found her too annoying). The bit through the windows was great fun and the adipose were super cute :) I think as an opening episode it was great, esp with the shock Rose bit at the end. Next weeks Roman one looks like it will be more like the Dr Who we know and love. And I do love him too.
Shannon:
What gets me is that they did that whole documentary for Channel 4 where they filmed them for weeks. How could they be so guilty and go on camera making out they are so innocent :( Poor girl no wonder she didn't want to see her mum.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-07 11:43 am (UTC)I thought it was a real stretch though, this whole Jack's brother devoting his life to hurting Jack thing. I didn't feel it was believable at all. The Spike being forced to do things for him thing was so clumsily handled too it made no sense at all.
They should have done more to set that up throughout the series I think, they had glimpses and ideas of it, but nothing really solid enough, IYSWIM.
Dr Who - the conversation though the windows was BRILLIANT! Probably the best moment.
I know what you mean about Rose, I liked her, but thought she was a bit one dimensional at times, and I think that Billie proved she's a great actor in the series and could have given her more depth than she did. Martha was really believable, I liked Martha a lot.
We shall see, with Donna - already I am finding myself saying 'Tate' rather than 'Donna', which isn't a good sign!
That poor, poor little girl. I hope she can stay with a foster family who will care for her the way kids ought to be cared for, and that the rest of the kids in that family will be looked after too. What a mess.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-07 12:11 pm (UTC)I bet Adipose eat lard... A plush toy release is inevitable, methinks.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-07 12:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-07 01:05 pm (UTC)Thats a betI'd like to take.
And the only person (otherthan the nanny) who died was due to donna.
The doctor and donna, scourge of the universe...killing people needless ly where ever they go.
But I think the biggest win of that episode BERNARD CRIBBINS!!..who wouldn't want Bernard as a grandad?!?
re: the shannon mathews bit
I believe I did comment way back when that first it the news that it was all a bit sus and that they were probably trying to pull off some kind of Canoe gue(hiding in house) while they tried to raise money like happened with Madeline mcann.
none of that felt right from the start
no subject
Date: 2008-04-07 01:08 pm (UTC)The doctor ensured that the Adipose got 10, 000 kids without 1 million people dying.
I'm sure a reasonable deal could be brokered with the adipose though, I'd happily give them 14 babies made out of my fat.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-07 01:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-07 01:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-07 01:41 pm (UTC)From what a number of the papers say, it looks like the charge might be something to do with her suspecting her husband/his uncle of something, but not said anything. Maybe she was in denial herself. It's all very sad, on top of the little girl basically saying she doesn't want to go home at all. It does look like she's better off in foster care.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-07 05:10 pm (UTC)and i have to say, one of my favorite things about donna is that it doesn't seem as if she's going to fall madly and one-sidedly in love with the doctor by episode three. how refreshing. :D because yeah, totally done to death, and it makes the companions kind of two-dimensional. i really like her, and her grandfather cracked me up.