TORCHWOOD Finale - spoilers

Shag · Jan 3, 2007

I don't know anything about the BBC.
Will the change to BBC2 change the tone at all? I just wondered if BBC3 maybe was allowed the language and mild nudity and maybe BBC2 isn't?

Any UK members here?

Hawklord · Jan 3, 2007

Shag said:
I don't know anything about the BBC.
Will the change to BBC2 change the tone at all? I just wondered if BBC3 maybe was allowed the language and mild nudity and maybe BBC2 isn't?

Any UK members here?

I wouldn't worry about it - all the last series was shown on BBC2 uncut as far as I am aware.

BBC3 which comissioned the 1st series is a digital-only channel - BBC2 is a national broadcast channel so it's a promotion for Torchwood. It might mean they're going to spend more money on it with a bit of luck.

cheers

WizarDru · Jan 5, 2007

Hawklord said:
btw did anyone spot the crossover - I missed it, apparently there were posters sayin VOTE SAXON on the walls outside the dancehall and someone refered to Mr Saxon in the Dr Who special. Do we have another Bad Wolf?

There was also "Bad Wolf" spray painted on the one staircase in the abandonded dance hall.

death tribble · Jan 17, 2007

I liked the touch at the end where it is Jack's inability to die that stops Abadon. But it is very different to Dr Who particularly in the context of sexual content.
And we know thanks to the penultimate episode a bit more about Jack.

I look forward to the new series.

orcmonk220 · Jan 17, 2007

Up until that final two episodes, I'd only seen the first and second ones, at which point it looks a bit dull. But, there was nothing on TV that night, and I though "What the hey, it's this or a DVD!"

It was very good. I liked the demon Abaddon's CGI work, and also the different ways the team was affected by the opening of the rift. Gwen's acting was particularly effective. Jack, the hero as ever, but there's one thing I never got throughout this whole series:

Where was the Doctor? Surely he should be dealing with this sort of thing?

WizarDru · Jan 17, 2007

orcmonk220 said:
Where was the Doctor? Surely he should be dealing with this sort of thing?

To quote Tiny Toon Adventures:
"It's a great big Universe,
and we're all really puny,
we're just tiny little specks,
about the size of Mickey Rooney,
It's big and black and inky,
and we are small and dinky,
It's a big Universe and we're not."

Or, to put it another way...one point that the current Doctor Who series tries to drive home is that the Doctor is very reactive, not proactive. And the episode in which we see Torchwood first formed, "Tooth and Claw", it's pretty clear that Queen Elizabeth openly resents the Doctor's 'Johnny come lately' approach to galactic defense. Torchwood is a direct response to the fact that the Doctor isn't always there. Sure, he fixes what he sees when he sees it, but the fact is that the Doctor is usually late to the party when it comes to stopping things before they get to Extinction Level Events.

And when you look at it, most of what Torchwood dealt with this year didn't really demand his attention, so much.

Specifically:

1. Alien who kills for Sex
2. Crazed human psycho-killers
3. Several humans who abuses alien technology for personal benefit
4. Non-human earth 'aliens' who kill to protect their territory
5. A bunch of humans are displaced in time

None of those are really anything other than small potatoes. So really, that leaves us with Abadon, the Rift itself,

one escaped convict alien and an escaped half-Cyberwoman.

Given the Doctor's history in addressing these problems before they become really, really ugly, it's not all that surprising he's nowhere to be found. Especially if you consider his track record at cleaning up his occasional mistakes. The Doctor tends to treat the illness, not prevent the disease.

sniffles · Jan 17, 2007

orcmonk220 said:
Where was the Doctor? Surely he should be dealing with this sort of thing?

And aside from the excellent reasons WizarDru gives, it's simply too expensive and difficult to have the Doctor show up on Torchwood all the time. The two series are being filmed back to back. Torchwood is also intended to be for a more mature audience than Doctor Who, and the producers don't want to bring the Doctor into that environment. So while there will very likely be a crossover of Captain Jack into Doctor Who, it's extremely unlikely that the Doctor will ever make an appearance on Torchwood (except for a certain "cameo" appearance

).

orcmonk220 · Jan 17, 2007

Good points. Merely seemed a little strange, though mostly I was referring to the Abaddon moment, but, then again, I can see why the want to keep him out of the action was there. Just a thought on the subject of Abaddon and the Doctor, and not meaning to derail the thread: Does the Doctor only have 12ish regenerations? I think I remember it referenced in one of the Peter Davidson ones, about a load of half-dead guys who wanted the Doctor to give them some of his regenerations. My memories a little hazy on the subject.

Mark Hope · Jan 17, 2007

orcmonk220 said:
Good points. Merely seemed a little strange, though mostly I was referring to the Abaddon moment, but, then again, I can see why the want to keep him out of the action was there. Just a thought on the subject of Abaddon and the Doctor, and not meaning to derail the thread: Does the Doctor only have 12ish regenerations? I think I remember it referenced in one of the Peter Davidson ones, about a load of half-dead guys who wanted the Doctor to give them some of his regenerations. My memories a little hazy on the subject.

12 regenerations, 13 lives. We're on life #10 now, so three more to go. Unless, of course, there is some jiggery-pokery in the offing. It wouldn't be the first time...

WizarDru · Jan 18, 2007

Mark Hope said:
12 regenerations, 13 lives. We're on life #10 now, so three more to go. Unless, of course, there is some jiggery-pokery in the offing. It wouldn't be the first time...

What he said. The Master had used up all of his regenerations a while ago...and has stolen bodies and used other nefarious plots to achieve his survival. He has quite the knack for avoiding death that exceeds even the Doctor's own. Now, it should also be pointed out that I doubt that anyone in 1963 or whenever the doctor originally mentioned how many lives he had that the show would be a going concern forty years and nine actors later....so you have to give them some leeway.