Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Torchwood


I can't believe I'm the only one who watched Torchwood: Children of Earth. (I never vote on my own polls as I'm interested in what others think and don't want to influence)

For those who chose the "Torch who???" option on my poll - Torchwood is BBC SciFi series that is a spinoff of Doctor Who. In fact, the word "Torchwood" is an anagram of "Doctor Who". Torchwood is quite a bit more edgy than Doctor Who and is geared towards an adult audience.

The premise being that Torchwood is a secret organization, outside of the government and beyond the police, that deals with extraterrestrials on earth. It is led by Captain Jack Harkness - who was first seen on a couple of Doctor Who episodes. Captain Jack is human - but from the 51st century. He is omnisexual, meaning he is sexually attracted to human, alien, men, woman, whatever. Throughout the 3 seasons of Torchwood, Captain Jack has had a love interest in another member of the team, Ianto Jones (pronounced YAN-toe) who functions as the team's administrator, often charged with covering up their covert activities. There has been an undercurrent of sexual tension between them throughout the series. Those brits just aren't as hung up on these sorts of romances as us americans are.

Personally, I am a Doctor Who fan from way back. I have autographed photo's from several of the actors who played Doctor Who that I got at Doctor Who conventions - just so you see where I'm coming from.

But, even if you're not into Doctor Who - I think Torchwood can stand on its own. My wife isn't as into Doctor Who as I am - but she loves Torchwood. Yes, we watch it together - and she doesn't even flinch on those hot man-on-man kissing scenes :)

Torchwood: Children of Earth was season 3 of Torchwood played as a 5-part miniseries. It is intense. It deals with ethical delimna for which there is no good answer. It left me crying - tears were literally running down my cheek.

It is being released on DVD and Blu-ray today, July 28th. Get it, netflix it, watch it, and then tell me you didn't cry.

Update 08/05/09 - results of the poll

5 comments:

Unknown said...

FYI

When I voted in the poll I had seen previews for Torchwood and was going to start watching it, but there was not a vote for it.....

I am now caught up to day 5! LOVE IT!

I was watching with my brother (who Im not out to) and he said during one of the episodes..... wait, their gay? HAHAHA

Philip said...

Now that I know about the couple I am going to rent Torchwood...

El Genio said...

I have season 1 in my Netflix queue, so I'll get around to it eventually. Right now I'm busy with the just released season 2 of Pushing Daisies.

Crisco said...

I watched most of it last week. It was awesome. My wife didn't like the kissing scenes, the child abduction scenes, or much of the story at all, but it was awesome. One day I'll have to rent seasons 1 and 2! We do love Dr. Who. Just saw "Planet of the Dead" on Sunday. David Tennant has been an awesome doctor, but not sure about the new, young guy who's been selected for next season.

A Gay Mormon Boy said...

This really is an amazing series that goes overlooked. Overseas this summer, I showed a few people the trailer for Children of Earth. They assumed it was a movie and delighted to know that it was actually a series.

As for Doctor Who, I can't stand to miss it. I loved it as a kid for the stories (a nice mixture of Shakespeare and SciFi) and realized in my mid-twenties that I'd been crushing on David Tennant for a while. I do think there's hope for this new doctor, but he sure has a lot to live up to.