This spin-off from the recent Doctor Who reboot has been more enjoyable than I expected. I was already hooked when it starred Captain Jack, a short-lived but memorable Companion. The easiest way to describe it would be to just call it a British version of The X-Files that sucks less. All too often I felt the American counterpart pulled punches albeit a common complaint of my nation’s television and movies. Plus there’s a ton of legal mumbo preventing cross-pollination.
For example:
UK with Doctor Who and Torchwood: They both fight the Cybermen, Daleks and Sontarans. Join forces with UNIT.
US with say Star Trek‘s DS9 and Voyager: Borg seem to only exist and/or threaten the latter show, in the former, it’s as if they never existed. Plus these shows gradually fell into the lazy trap of becoming Matlock in Space.
Torchwood‘s first season was really good and I liked how its finale dovetailed into the last three episodes of Doctor Who‘s third season (I’m not sure what the real number would be because it had a gap in the Eighties before being cancelled indefinitely through the Nineties). I’m in the thick of the second, then on to the third which is the Children of Earth thing. Netflix streaming rocks for having all this on hand in a moment’s notice. Glad to know the BBC appears more willing to roll with the changes than America’s networks who keep demanding a way to insert ads.
The “scoop” is here courtesy of The Guardian. With the US-based Starz helping, the remaining characters will have a budget to travel to locales outside of Wales. I’m very grateful there will be no American version. Knowing my luck it would be on Fox. The BBC should know to never trust Murdoch with their property. Fox’s movie starring Paul McGann as the Doctor, Eric Roberts as the Master and Vancouver (the common background for X-Files) as San Francisco…P-U!
You made our day! Wes and I love Torchwood! I guess Borrowman’s stint on Desperate Housewives must be over. He will always be Captain Jack.