Torchwood Sucks
- Thread starter Freakness
- Start date
Yep, me I'm afraid. As big a fan of Who as I am (and that includes all of the RTD era) I've never been able to find much good to say about Torchwood. The first season suffered from unlikeable characters and juvenile writing that wanted to be Angel without coming close to that show's level, and while Season Two was a bit of an improvement the cast were still lacking and the episodes sub par. It's not a patch on its parent show.
Don't usually stumble in to this forum, but this topic caught my eye from the main page and couldn't resist. 
And basically, I agree with you. But then, you can always just do what I did and....just turn it off.
I still watch Doctor Who on DVD (although I'm not sure how I feel about a new Doctor - I just ADORE David Tennant way too much for my own good - got really attached to him)...but I stopped watching Torchwood about 3/4 of the way through season 2.
The characters don't interest me in the slightest, and I just don't think it had all that much to do with Who any longer. And a couple of the actors were REALLY quite annoying. So all that together finally made me turn it off.
The above got posted while I was typing my post...and this really hits the nail on the head for me. I couldn't exactly put my finger on it until now, but this is it. Torchwood felt exactly like a poorly written Angel Wannabe.
Thanks for posting this, Piper. This dissatisfaction with something other than the actual quality of the show it itself had been nagging at me for some time...but when I read this, the light went on. They were trying to be Angel of the aliens....only without the Joss Weadon snappy dialogue, the brooding and fabulously conflicted central character, and the super-strong cast.
And basically, I agree with you. But then, you can always just do what I did and....just turn it off.
I still watch Doctor Who on DVD (although I'm not sure how I feel about a new Doctor - I just ADORE David Tennant way too much for my own good - got really attached to him)...but I stopped watching Torchwood about 3/4 of the way through season 2.
The characters don't interest me in the slightest, and I just don't think it had all that much to do with Who any longer. And a couple of the actors were REALLY quite annoying. So all that together finally made me turn it off.
The above got posted while I was typing my post...and this really hits the nail on the head for me. I couldn't exactly put my finger on it until now, but this is it. Torchwood felt exactly like a poorly written Angel Wannabe.
Thanks for posting this, Piper. This dissatisfaction with something other than the actual quality of the show it itself had been nagging at me for some time...but when I read this, the light went on. They were trying to be Angel of the aliens....only without the Joss Weadon snappy dialogue, the brooding and fabulously conflicted central character, and the super-strong cast.
I understand the show got better after the first season, but I haven't been motivated to watch it again. Torchwood came across as 12 year old boy's idea of an edgy show. Doctor Who is much more adult than Torchwood. Hell, SJA is more adult than Torchwood on a good day.
The first season was abysmal and almost painful to watch.
The second season was certainly a vast improvement, but it still wasn't all that good.
The third looks to be total rubbish.
It has it's problems, but I enjoy it.
I was looking forward to it when it was first coming out, but was immensly disappointed. I really disliked owen and tosh and ianto was dull as dishwater in the first series, the sexual interraction between the characters was forced and there was no chemistry at all. I'll watch the third 'series'/weeklong event but I'm not expecting anything amazing.
I really like Torchwood, but I'm also really tired of the producer's agenda of having everyone in the universe become omni-sexual and willing to shag anything with either an orifice or a projecting naughty bit (whichever is appropriate to the character's plumbing).
Real people do NOT work that way.
Real people do NOT work that way.
isn't this trolling?
S1 of Torchwood sucked, S2, where the writers/actors/producers and everyone else associated with the show relaxed--and where the writers patently got more time to polish the scripts, S2 was quite enjoyable. No way is it adult and no way is it in Who's league, but it's diverting enough.
Bait me.
Torchwood, like lots of TV shows, is uneven, and series one is quite dark compared to series two (more relaxed and comedic) but it is not a bad show.
Try series 2 and the end of series 1 from episode 7 on (except episode 11 "Combat" - at least I don't care for it).
There is, I find, a great diversity of stories and tones in series 1. Episode 1x09 "Random Shoes" stands out as different in form, too, with a voice over. (And it is a Captain Jack lite episode.)
I can't advise best episodes to anyone, it's each to their own.
But my faves are 1x07 "Greeks Bearing Gifts", 1x12 "Captain Jack Harkness", 2x03 "To the Last Man" (Gotta love the Moby song "One Of These Mornings"), 2x04 "Meat", 2x13 "Fragments"... I guess. If I have to pick favourites.
Most romantic ones would be, perhaps 1x07 "Greeks Bearing Gifts", 1x10 "Out of Time", 1x12 "Captain Jack Harkness", 2x03 "To the Last Man"
The darkest (not worst) episodes are in my opinion 1x03 "Ghost Machine", 1x04 "Cyberwoman", perhaps 1x05 "Small Worlds", 1x06 "Countrycide" (darkest of all), perhaps 1x08 "They Keep Killing Suzie", perhaps 1x11 "Combat", perhaps 1x13 "End of Days"; 2x11 "Adrift", 2x13 "Exit Wounds".
The most boring would be, I think, 1x09 "Random Shoes", 2x02 "Sleeper", perhaps 2x08 "A Day In The Death" for lack of action, 2x10 "From Out Of The Rain".
And the most gothic (not in a good way) would be 1x13 "End of Days" (Not a bad episode but I can't get over the balrog-like gigantic death monster towards the end), 2x07 "Dead Man Walking" (We got it, it's DEATH!
)
Of course you could argue that the whole show is sci fi neo-gothic. Does that make it better?
Torchwood, like lots of TV shows, is uneven, and series one is quite dark compared to series two (more relaxed and comedic) but it is not a bad show.
Try series 2 and the end of series 1 from episode 7 on (except episode 11 "Combat" - at least I don't care for it).
There is, I find, a great diversity of stories and tones in series 1. Episode 1x09 "Random Shoes" stands out as different in form, too, with a voice over. (And it is a Captain Jack lite episode.)
I can't advise best episodes to anyone, it's each to their own.
But my faves are 1x07 "Greeks Bearing Gifts", 1x12 "Captain Jack Harkness", 2x03 "To the Last Man" (Gotta love the Moby song "One Of These Mornings"), 2x04 "Meat", 2x13 "Fragments"... I guess. If I have to pick favourites.
Most romantic ones would be, perhaps 1x07 "Greeks Bearing Gifts", 1x10 "Out of Time", 1x12 "Captain Jack Harkness", 2x03 "To the Last Man"
The darkest (not worst) episodes are in my opinion 1x03 "Ghost Machine", 1x04 "Cyberwoman", perhaps 1x05 "Small Worlds", 1x06 "Countrycide" (darkest of all), perhaps 1x08 "They Keep Killing Suzie", perhaps 1x11 "Combat", perhaps 1x13 "End of Days"; 2x11 "Adrift", 2x13 "Exit Wounds".
The most boring would be, I think, 1x09 "Random Shoes", 2x02 "Sleeper", perhaps 2x08 "A Day In The Death" for lack of action, 2x10 "From Out Of The Rain".
And the most gothic (not in a good way) would be 1x13 "End of Days" (Not a bad episode but I can't get over the balrog-like gigantic death monster towards the end), 2x07 "Dead Man Walking" (We got it, it's DEATH!
)Of course you could argue that the whole show is sci fi neo-gothic. Does that make it better?
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Not as long as it sparks intelligent conversation.
I've only seen the first season of Torchwood, and I think it had some decent episodes, but overall I just thought it was weird. It tried too hard to have adult themes, but it just came across as over the top.
After watching season 1, I would have agreed with you. But Hubby liked it, so we stuck with it and I think season 2 was much better. Yes, it had one or two "stinker" episodes, but on the whole, I found I liked it. It's not great, but it's OK, and better than a lot of the other crap that's out there.
By the end of season 2, I was actually rather enjoying it.
By the end of season 2, I was actually rather enjoying it.
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