As of today, we’ll be through three of the five episodes of Torchwood: Children of Earth. What does everyone think? How does it relate to some of the readings we’ve been doing?
2 thoughts on “Open thread on Torchwood”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Admittedly, I’m not a big fan of sci-fi television shows so for all I know this is the norm, but I was shocked to see how much “sit-com” oriented humor is injected into each episode of Torchwood, from the banter between Harkness and Jones to the relationship of Gwen and her husband. Having read the article on Torchwood before watching the show, I knew a good portion of the show’s focus was the sexual nature of each character. However, also knowing that the show was science-fiction oriented, usually a serious genre, I assumed the “sexuality portion of the show would be more dramatic than comedic. Torchwood is the first show that gave me a direct example of how viewers construct shows around schema’s in their head. I expected Torchwood, being a science-fiction show about the invasion of earth, to be very serious in nature with brief moments of comic relief. Yet, the show contains many elements found in situation comedies while retaining it’s sci-fi base.
P.S. I really like the show. Perfect blend of ridiculousness (Harkness being saved from his cement prison by a stolen forklift and a cliff) and realism (political talks between the aliens and the humans.)
I have to admit, I’m not the biggest fan of Annie Hall. I think because everyone made it out to be this amazing film that my expectations may have been too high (hence my reluctance to engage in the thread about it). I guess I have no choice but to comment on Torchwood.
A quick note to Andrew Silver–the realism of political talks between aliens and humans? Hahaha! Okay, Andrew…
I have been known to enjoy sci-fi every now and again, but Torchwood is compelling on a different level. The fact that the show is based London, allows for a bit of a disconnect, a change of culture or what have you, which in a way helps me to be more engaged with it, more attune to the differences.
For some reason, the entirety of Torchwood so far has not struck me as drama… like Andrew said, there is a lot of comedy. I don’t know if the show intends to be as badly comedic as it comes across, but that is definitely how I am perceiving it. It’s hard to classify or stereotype any of the characters because we only seem to know facts about them–their personalities don’t necessarily shine through (except that maybe Gwen is a very gun-ho and resourceful female and Lois is shy and insecure at times, but can be persuaded to be daring).
The way that things are revealed during the show is primarily through dialogue as well as through some flashback (to the last time that the aliens came). This is one of the methods that Bordwell talks about as to how plot and story are constructed.