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Torchwood series discussion AS I WATCH

2711 Views 37 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  mrdazzo7, 
mrdazzo7
I did this as I made my way through Chuck last summer and it worked out well. I love to discuss shows I'm watching and seeing as how I just started this series there's no way I'm gonna be able to wait until I've seen every episode to start joining the discussions (plus I'll forget everything by then)... I figured I'd use this thread to get my thoughts out as I go and people can chime in.

I am gonna put the current episode I'm up to in each of my posts so PLEASE don't refer to events beyond those points! I know it's annoying but I know absolutely nothing about this show so I'm going in spoiler free. Actually that's not true I watched about 15 mins of CoE#1 so I know which characters are gone by that point, but I have no idea when or how they exit so SHHHH.

As of now I'm up to Episode 6: "Countrycide" where they're lured into a desolate town full of people-eating psychos. Loving the show so far. This is my first foray into British TV and I have to say, I'm a fan. It's really not that differnent from us except in a lot of cases, it's actually a lot ballsier. Their take on sex and violence and bad language would probably have the US censors and the PTC working overtime, and to them it's just whatevs. The stories so far have been great... Even though at this point in the series a lot of its stand-alone, it doesn't feel formulaic.

The acting is awesome and the characters are fully invested in what's going on, and not just talking heads revealing information to each other as in a lot american "procedural" type episodes. The stuff that happens to them resonates because they go there with it. Gwen gets shot, she's not just "damn I'm shot", she's screaming and writhing in agony... They don't gloss over stuff. The storyline with Jianto and his girlfriend was extremely well done.

The accents are hard to understand but I guess that's par for the course. I was actually pleasantly surprised that the lead is American (for the most part)--mayeb it's ignorance but I didn't expect that all. Is it common over there for their shows to have American leads? I know he grew up over there but I mean in terms of his accent, which is 100%... Here it seems like 9 times out 10 if a series lead is foreign, they end up doing an accent to sound american. Either way I'm glad he doesn't have an accent because it's just one less thing to worry about. Gwens accent is ok but hard, and I think I've only understood like three of her boyfriend's lines.

Anyway, like I said if you want to dive in be my guest just please be mindful of where I'm at. It's risky but it worked out last time I did it.
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spikedavis
I really dislike Season One with a passion. S2 is a lot better and Children of Earth is a masterpiece.

That being said, I'm hoping you've watched Doctor Who before this, based on your British TV comment.
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danterner
I'm in. I just rewatched all of S1, S2, and COE a few months ago (my wife was watching for the first time), so the episodes are still pretty fresh in my mind. Countrycide was probably one of my least favorite episodes. The best part was the title of the episode, which is an awesome pun.
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mrdazzo7
danterner said:
I'm in. I just rewatched all of S1, S2, and COE a few months ago (my wife was watching for the first time), so the episodes are still pretty fresh in my mind. Countrycide was probably one of my least favorite episodes. The best part was the title of the episode, which is an awesome pun.
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I liked the ep but then again I haven't finished it yet so I can't judge it.

This all came about because of the commercials I saw for Miracle Day--if that hadn't existed this show wouldn't even be on my radar. I read a bit about on here and decided to watch CoE based on how awesome it appears to be on a universal level. I watched like 15/20 mins of it but realized I had no idea who the characters were or WTF Torchwood was so figured if i was gonna do it I'd do it from the start, so here I am.

Was hoping to be caught up by Miracle Day but that's not happening. I"ll have to save two or three eps before I can start tackling it (while hopefully avoiding spoilers).
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spikedavis
If you're just getting into the show, Captain Jack is a character from Doctor Who season "1" from 2005. If you watch it, you'll get quite a bit of info about his character that is not presented in Torchwood Season 1. I think the creators of the show just assumed everyone watched Doctor Who.
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tiassa
I thought the good thing about Countrycide was that (IIRC --I haven't watched the S1 &2 episodes since they were first broadcast), was that you were set up to think it was some bizarre alien abduction thing or that the rift was opening up out in the boonies as well, when the reality was just that much weirder.
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mrdazzo7
tiassa said:
I thought the good thing about Countrycide was that (IIRC --I haven't watched the S1 &2 episodes since they were first broadcast), was that you were set up to think it was some bizarre alien abduction thing or that the rift was opening up out in the boonies as well, when the reality was just that much weirder.
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Exactly-- I thought it was great episode because it was the team that was being terrorized and not just them on the outside trying to help someone else... The scenes w/ Jianto and Tosh were brutal and violent--they weren't just like "whatever", you got the sence that they were truly terrified. And I loved how the reveal that it was people doing it messed Gwen up big time.
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LoadStar
mrdazzo7 said:
The scenes w/ Jianto and Tosh
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Ianto. (It's more or less the Welsh version of the name "John," or probably more accurately, "Johnny" or "Jack" or similar. Ianto is a familiar form of Ifan, which is welsh for "John.")
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mrdazzo7
LoadStar said:
Ianto. (It's more or less the Welsh version of the name "John.")
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Thanks... It didn't sound like there was J but I thought I saw it spelled that way a few times and I was too lazy to look it up so I went with it. I like it better with J anyway...
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J
FTR, John Barrowman is Scottish, but moved to the US when he was young - not the other way around. If you hear him revert to a Scottish brogue (when he does interviews, etc.), it can be jarring if you're not expecting it. :)

He's lived in the UK & Wales for a long time, though - that's his permanent home.
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mrdazzo7
JoBeth66 said:
FTR, John Barrowman is Scottish, but moved to the US when he was young - not the other way around. If you hear him revert to a Scottish brogue (when he does interviews, etc.), it can be jarring if you're not expecting it. :)

He's lived in the UK & Wales for a long time, though - that's his permanent home.
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Yeah that's what I meant by "for the most part"... I looked him up on IMDB and saw he's lived in both regions, and since he speaks with a 100% american accent on the show, I would consider him an American lead (more american than the rest of the cast at least). The character seems to be from here anyway. At least he'll fit in when he comes for Miracle Day (the more I watch the series the more excited I am about the prospect of the team coming to the US).
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J
mrdazzo7 said:
Yeah that's what I meant by "for the most part"... I looked him up on IMDB and saw he's lived in both regions, and since he speaks with a 100% american accent on the show, I would consider him an American lead (more american than the rest of the cast at least). The character seems to be from here anyway. At least he'll fit in when he comes for Miracle Day (the more I watch the series the more excited I am about the prospect of the team coming to the US).
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Captain Jack is a bit of an anomoly. He was an RAF pilot in WWII, so he doesn't really 'come' from the US. (And as you watch more, you'll learn more about where the character comes from. :) )
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robojerk
JoBeth66 said:
Captain Jack is a bit of an anomoly. He was an RAF pilot in WWII, so he doesn't really 'come' from the US. (And as you watch more, you'll learn more about where the character comes from. :) )
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Actually he was posing as a RAF pilot in WWII. He stole the identity he goes by from an RAF pilot.

He actually was a con man. His bracelet allowed him to travel in time, he stole the bracelet off some time cop or something.

He died on a Doctor Who episode (before the Torchwood series), but Rose (the first of the 2005 Dr. Who companions) while possessed by the power of the Tardis (I forget what it's called) brought him back to life. Since then he's practically been an immortal as the Tardis did something unnatural to him.
He used his bracelet to go back in time to the city of Cardiff knowing that the Doctor would show up there eventually as there is/was a time rift there, but then his bracelet broke wouldn't do time travel anymore leaving him stranded.
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LoadStar
And wasn't the identity he stole an American serviceman on assignment to the RAF?
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robojerk
LoadStar said:
And wasn't the identity he stole an American serviceman on assignment to the RAF?
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Yes
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robojerk said:
Actually he was posing as a RAF pilot in WWII. He stole the identity he goes by from an RAF pilot.

He actually was a con man. His bracelet allowed him to travel in time, he stole the bracelet off some time cop or something.

He died on a Doctor Who episode (before the Torchwood series), but Rose (the first of the 2005 Dr. Who companions) while possessed by the power of the Tardis (I forget what it's called) brought him back to life. Since then he's practically been an immortal as the Tardis did something unnatural to him.
He used his bracelet to go back in time to the city of Cardiff knowing that the Doctor would show up there eventually as there is/was a time rift there, but then his bracelet broke wouldn't do time travel anymore leaving him stranded.
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I was trying to keep it as general as possible because the OP hasn't finished watching the show yet.

I've been a Whovian for 40 years - I know the genesis of the character and how he got to be where he is. :)
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robojerk
Since Torchwood is a spin off show, if the OP or anyonehas not watched DW then they will always likely be left in the dark about some of the background of who Jack is.
I tried my best to only have the background from the DW series.

I wonder in the new season of Torchwood, will they re-explain Jack's background?
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mrdazzo7 said:
The accents are hard to understand but I guess that's par for the course. I was actually pleasantly surprised that the lead is American (for the most part)--mayeb it's ignorance but I didn't expect that all. Is it common over there for their shows to have American leads?
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Captain Jack was intended to be just another character in Doctor Who. But the character became more popular than almost any other character on British television.

Because of the popularity of the character the actor received coverage in the media. And it turned out that people liked John Barrowman the person just as much as they liked Captain Jack the character.

John Barrowman is talented and had a high reputation in the London musical theatre.

In response to all this Torchwood was created around him.

If a Brit was asked to describe him most would use a lot of other adjectives before they came to American.
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robojerk
pgogborn said:
If a Brit was asked to describe him most would use a lot of other adjectives before they came to American.
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Multisexual for one? :D
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robojerk said:
Multisexual for one? :D
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Definitely :)
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