Future Not So Bright For ‘Torchwood’ | Airlock Alpha

Starz remains mum on whether it will be a part of the show’s future

by MICHAEL HINMAN, posted Oct-31-2011 Source: Digital Spy

Kelsey Grammer was just two episodes in on his series “Boss” when Starz excitedly hit the start button for a second season. But when it comes with “Torchwood,” all that can be heard from the premium cable channel is silence.

And fans of the “Doctor Who” spinoff might not be able to expect more than that.

“I don’t know if there will be more,” Executive ProducerJulie Gardner recently told Digital Spy. “The things about there being more or not — you look at ‘Torchwood’ and it’s always had such a labyrinthine history.”

“Torchwood” premiered in 2006 on BBC Three, and earned a second season that moved it to BBC Two. For the third season, however, BBC opted to dispense with a full season, and instead do a five-episode miniseries that aired on consecutive nights on BBC One to critical acclaim in 2009.

The series then went dark for a couple of years while BBC looked for an American producing partner. The Fox network was first onboard, but then bailed on the project before Starz stepped in to produce 10 episodes.

via Future Not So Bright For ‘Torchwood’ | Airlock Alpha.

I am not surprised to hear this news. I as well as many other fans of Torchwood where left wondering – WTF. After watching Series 3 – Children of Earth, which is amazing, how could Torchwood top itself? Apparently, Series 4 could barely scratch the surface of what made the series great in the first place let alone surpass the high bar they set themselves on Children of Earth. I believe the American-izing of this BBC show was the first mistake. I know that the story premise needed to have a global perspective but in doing so, it lost the very essence of what make Torchwood fun to watch. The old Torchwood crew of Jack and Gwen had the old chemistry but it was not enough to gel the newest members Rex and Esther into the fold. I miss the old gang: Suzie, Ianto, Owen and Toshiko.

‘Torchwood’ gets new title: ‘The New World’ (via Erth Station One)

I need to get crackin’ on re-watching Torchwood for my podcast. I am extremely happy with the news of the continuation of this great series from across the pond.

Question: What do Torchwood fans came themselves? Star Trek has Trekkies/Trekkers. Is Torchies/Torchers correct for Torchwood?

News sources at the Television Critics Association (TCA) Press Tour are reporting that the forthcoming fourth series of Torchwood will carry the title Torchwood: The New World. A post from The Hollywood Reporter gives details of the series’ new characters and quotes from Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner, Read the Story Here. … Read More

via Erth Station One

Captain Jack to the U.S.

The latest news about Captain Jack Harkness possibly coming to the U.S. might come to fruition. However, there is a chance that the character itself may change its sexual orientation. I, for one, disagree with this possible change if Fox does go ahead with this US version of Torchwood.

Over on my fan page on Facebook, I’ve posted a discussion thread. I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter.

Torchwood Series 3: Day Five Episode Review

SPOILERS!…………………Ianto is dead, and whilst Alice and her son Steven are released,Jack and Lois are arrested and Rhys gives up the tape of the cabinet meeting. U.N. colonel Oduya discovers that the 456 aliens are attached to the Scots children,using them as life-support machines. The P.M. appears on television, announcing that next day all British children will be inoculated, the cover for their abduction and delivery to the aliens. Frobisher’s children are to be included,so he kills himself and his family. Gwen and Rhys return to Wales, hiding Ianto’s nephews and nieces and their friends as the military abduct lower class kids from the streets. Alice persuades Ms. Johnson to release Jack,who communes with the aliens,using Steven as a supersonic transmitter, which wipes them out,though,sadly Steven dies too from the pressure. Frobisher’s devoted secretary, Miss Spears, visits Lois in jail and finds out about the lenses, which she uses to secure Lois’s release and blackmail the P.M.to resign. Jack, guilt-ridden that he needed to kill his grandson to save the other children, gives Gwen and Rhys his best wishes, disbanding Torchwood and returning to time travel.

Source: IMDB

This has been one hell of a ride for just 5 episodes for Torchwood. What Dr. Who achieved in throwing in the kitchen sink in Series 4, Torchwood has reached the same level but in darkness. A fair comparison is Dr.Who is Buffy and Torchwood is Angel. Torchwood has reached areas way above and beyond Dr.Who could ever reach to date. I am in awe that with just 3 main characters, Torchwood has been surpassed their previous 2 series and most scifi series in my book.

If there is a negative comment about this episode if how Frobisher’s final actions outranked Jack using his own grandson Steven to save the planet. Throughout Children of Earth, Frobisher has showed himself to be tragic character who believed in what was right for this country and for his own family. One could only wish we could have saved him or had given him just a glimmer of hope even if you despised everything he did. No one deserves to do what he did in the end. As with Jack’s grandson Steven there was not enough emotional scenes between them to strike some type of emotional reactionon Frobisher’s level. I did not feel any connection Jack had with Steven and barely with his daughter Alice.

Having said all this, Jack’s decision to leave at the end may have been very selfish but very real. My life used to be in NY and there was a moment where I realized there was nothing for me and the world I used to know had moved on. The woman I was seeing had said that running away was not the answer which was almost exactly what Gwen said to Jack six months later. I truly understood Jack’s pain and his motivation to leave. However, is the end of Torchwood and no further appearance of Jack back on Earth? The answer I believe is no.

With Gwen left behind the Rift still remains. I don’t believe she would stay still and forget her Torchwood duties. I strongly believe Gwen would start up Torchwood again with or without Jack. As for Jack, he will come back. As to when, who knows but something will draw him back once more. I know that I miss NY. I am thankful to be reconnected to certain people in my past even if it has been more than 20 years. Jack will be in a similar position where he too will miss Earth and Gwen. This may be a long time from now but I feel Jack will be back one day.

Keep your eyes and ears open for at least 4 Torchwood podcasts. Due to some setback, I’ve been delayed to produce them. The first podcast will be a pre-Torchwood on key episodes to watch on Dr.Who on the Captain Jack character. The remaining podcast will focus on each of the series including Children of Earth. You don’t want to miss this.

Torchwood Series 3: Day Four Episode Review

Jack is forced to confess how he helped broker a deal in 1965 when the 456 aliens offered an antidote against a deadly universal flu virus in exchange for twelve children who would ‘live forever.’ Clem and the team watch via Lois’s laptop as the aliens tell Frobisher they will ‘wipe out the human species’ if their request is not met, and a camera reveals the apparently zombic Scots victims, said by the aliens to be unharmed. Frobisher rejects Jack’s offer of help in return for Alice and her son’s release. He attends a Cabinet meeting which agrees that the Cabinet’s children will be spared and that lower-class kids should be sacrificed instead.This is recorded by Lois and sent to safety with Rhys,giving Ianto and Jack leverage to talk to the aliens but the latter’s’ response is to unleash a virus which kills dozens, including Clem and,seemingly, Ianto. The government feels forced to capitulate.

Source: IMDB

Now we get to the very heart of the Children of Earth story. I want to say that Jack’s admission to this unspeakable act was on some level understandable and yet not forgivable. Yes, the small sacrifice of the 12 children in exchange of an antidote to the flu virus might have sound great on paper when you think about the numbers 12 versus millions saved. Even the government in this episodes even refers to the term Unit instead of using the word children. This leads them to believe that by devaluing the human term that we could all live with acceptable losses. This type of justification sickens me and to some point Ianto’s feelings does turn as he is conflicted over Jack. The image of the child with some type  alien breathing apparatus was truly horrific as me being a parent. Jack is a good man but committed the wrong action but what else has he done as Ianto pointed out just barely scratching the surface.

Moving forward, Jack has to make amends and the confrontation he has with the 456 is brilliant. We have Torchwood back in action and leading a counter-force against the alien threat. Jack spouts his philosophy about how an injury to one is an injury to all. Ianto counters with enough of the philosophy that the 456 will not get a single child. Jack quietly comments to Ianto how much he likes the philosophy. This little bit of humor really brightens up the moment even when death is on the line.  However, I was just hoping against all hope that Ianto and everyone else in the Thames House would have survived the killing from the 456.

Just when things could not get any bleaker, there is still another episode that will you an emotional wreck.  What has surprised me more about this series is how its driven by the characters in reaction to this story. This series has the monster of the week but does not rely heavily on the creature to drive the conflict. 456 is the catalyst but the real conflict is between the government officials, the Torchwood team and everyone involved. For a short lived 5 show story arc, this is a seriously condensed full season which delivers more bang for the buck rather than a dragged out season which have 18-24 shows. This series has marked themselves in my book as one of the must see scifi series before we all die. Not to be morbid but you get the point.

Talkshoe Instructions for Live Torchwood Podcast

UPDATE: TONIGHT SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELLED. DON’T WORRY WE WILL STILL DO A TORCHWOOD PODCAST!

On July10 @ 8:00pm Eastern, join me and others to discuss our thoughts and passsions about Torchwood. Follow some instructions and rules of conduct and you join in on the fun.

1. Call from any phone from anywhere: +1 724-444-7444. Enter Call ID 22510, and then join the call as a guest by pressing 1#. Best slightly before 8pm.
2. On your computer, click on this link http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/22510 to get into the chat room
3. If you followed everything correctly, then your computer screen will look similiar to the image below. Your name will appear on the right side of the panel and you have an area to enter text for the chat room which is the last box on the bottom.

Rules of Conduct

1. No swearing. Try to follow this  as this saves me time from editing. If you abuse the this rule, then I will block you from the call and/or chat room.
2. We can have SPOILERS. I will have warning at the beginning of the podcast. Feel free to speak your heart out on any topic.
3. Don’t interrupt others. We may have many guests and I want to hear everyones ideas and opinions. Everyone is free to like what they like. However, feel free to challenge what is being said. Make good arguements.

If you unable to join us, please feel free to email me your thoughts and comments about Torchwood as a whole or any parts in between; whatever you like to: monsterscifishow@gmail.com.

Please include your name and where you are from so I can read it during the show.

Doctor Who, Torchwood Set for U.S. Return – Today’s News: Our Take | TVGuide.com

While all the news I’ve posted have been about The Doctor, I have finally found out some information about Torchwood. While I know this season will only be 5 episodes, I’m not sure how well the show will run with three principle characters: Captain Jack, Gwen, and Ianto. But from the video below, I think that I would be more than happy to accept any Torchwood even without Owen and Tosh.

As reported by TV Guide:

The Doctor will see you now — or, more specifically, in a few weeks.

BBC America has acquired the Stateside rights to five Doctor Whospecials that mark the end of both Russell T. Davies‘ stint as show-runner and David Tennant‘s run as the titular time-traveler. Producer Steven Moffat and actor Matt Smith will succeed Davies and Tennant starting with Season 5.

“The Next Doctor,” aka the series’ Christmas special, will air on BBCA June 27, says Variety, while the next outing, “Planet of the Dead,” will debut sometime in July. Dates for “The Waters of Mars” and the two other specials have not been set, though all are expected to air by early 2010.

more about “Doctor Who, Torchwood Set for U.S. Re…“, posted with vodpod

Doctor Who Minimates « The Daily P.O.P.

Doctor Who Minimates « The Daily P.O.P.

I am so getting this for myself but I want my Rose Tyler minimate. Where is she???

Torchwood Season Two starts on Jan 16 « Show Me SciFi

Torchwood Season Two starts on Jan 16 « Show Me SciFi

I am still way behind on this series post dead vcr but I’m eager to catch up.

Torchwood – “Everything Changes” episode review

Having seen a marathon run of the first season of Dr. Who (Eccleston) about a week ago on BBC America, I was really drawn to the character of Captain Jack Harkness. In addition, the endless promos of Torchwood, I really got my interested to check out this spinoff series. The question that has bugged me and not was answered in the first show was how did you get back to our time?

The Bad

With any new series, there are certain setup in the premise and to establish who the characters are in a short amount of time. What kind of ticked me off was how the character of Suzie Costello was killed off in the first episode. For being the 2nd in command, there was no sense of loss as if to say, oh well – she was just another redshirt. For starters, the actress is Indira Varma who I know remember seeing in the movie Kama Sutra back in 1996. In addition, I looked her up on IMDB.COM and saw that see was in the miniseries Rome on HBO which I really need to see. (I need to add her to my list) But seriously, if you are going to off a character and make us at least care to make the story work. Whether we agree or not, give the audience some time to understand the character’s motivation and grieve along with Jack as he puts her corpse in to the morgue.

The other detail that bothered me was how Jack to Gwen that no one takes home any of the alien devices they collected home. Yet just about every single team member takes something from the home office. How are we to trust Jack is a leader of his team when his team members are disobeying his orders? Perhaps this will have a later consequence the writers will come up with? We shall see.

The other problem I had was how Captain Jack was describing to Gwen how there were several other Torchwoods. This is where my uber-geekness comes out. Jack tells that Torchwood 1 was destroyed in a battle, Torchwood 2 was manned by a strange tall man, Torchwood 3 was his station in Cadiff, and Torchwood 4 disappeared without a trace. This reeked with the explaination gave on the history of the Babylon project:

Babylon 5 is the fifth Babylon space station, a modified version of an O’Neill Cylinder. Three predecessors, the original Babylon station, Babylon 2 and Babylon 3 were all sabotaged and destroyed before their completion. The fourth station, Babylon 4, vanished twenty-four hours after it became fully operational (“Babylon Squared” and “War Without End”). Babylon 5 is substantially smaller than the previous stations, due to budget constraints after the failure of its predecessors. The station is set in the Epsilon Eridani star system, orbiting the third planet, Epsilon Eridani III (frequently referred to as “Epsilon III” in the series). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5

While the speech was not verbatim, the delivery was way too similiar. Call me a nit-picker but this was a rip off from one series to serve another. I could just hear Jack say, “Torchwood is our last best hope,” aaarrrggghhh.

The Good

Overall, the setup of the premise and characters, while rushed, still managed to be quite entertaining. Unlike the premiere of Flash Gordon on the Scifi Channel, this show was watchable and enjoyable. To sum up the show, I thought it was a great mix of X-Files meets Men in Black premise. The weevil creature effects were incredible and very realistic in its facial movements. I am eager to see them again.

The Captain Jack character is very much a whimsical personality much like Dr.Who expect with the bi-sexual overtones. I was surprised how much Jack was toned down but he still managed to get the point across by commenting on how well Ianto Jones looked in a suit. Ianto shot back to whole possible sexual harrassment issue in the workplace.

While cool tech toys often steal the story or make for a clever plot device, I am very curious about the backstory of each one. The knight’s glove that Suzie wore to bring back to the dead was way cool; very Witchblade-ish. Where did the glove come from? Who will now wear the glove? What things will we see on coming episodes?

Overall, the first show is not an A but a solid B+ in my book. Here’s a question I pose to you, could someone start to watching the series without watching Dr. Who season 1? I am in praise of the BBC America channel for giving me a reason to get excited about seeing quality scifi shows.