Torchwood Series One DVD Review
Written by Ian Cullen on February 1, 2008 – 12:27 am -
1 February 2008
“Torchwood. Separate from the government, outside the police, beyond the United Nations.”
Those were the opening words that created a great deal of excitement in October of 2006 when Torchwood first premiered to viewers in the UK on BBC – 3 and those same words opened up the world of Torchwood to viewers of BBC America during the summer of 2007, and now those very same words can be listened to again over and over across 12 of the 13 episodes featured on the new Region One DVD set.
Torchwood as many fans know is a spin off series from the popular British Science Fiction show ‘Doctor Who. Only whereas Doctor Who is aimed at a universal family audience, Torchwood is aimed at a more mature grown up audience.
Synopsis: From an underground base built on a rift in time and space, the team responds to any alien threat – a meteorite crash landing, sightings of extra terrestrial technology, an unusual autopsy report, the spread of a deadly alien virus…
Everyone who works for Torchwood is young, under 35. Some say because it’s a new science. Others say it’s because they die young.
Though the truth of the matter is working for Torchwood is often dangerous and this first season represents a trial by fire for Torchwoods newest recruit Gwen Cooper played by native Welsh Actress Eve Myles. Gwen is brought into the team in order to bring some humanity to the very alien and dangerous world of Torchwood, which is led by Captain Jack Harkness who was introduced to us during the first season of Doctor Who and played brilliantly by John Barrowman.
The unique thing about Torchwood is the fact that not only is it filmed entirely on location in Cardiff in South Wales, but it is also set in Cardiff. This is highly unusual for a British show, because by tradition most UK based television productions have always been set in and around England. This is great for Wales and tourism in Cardiff, which is a city in South Wales that has gone from strength to strength over recent years. It also introduces UK Viewers to a show where we hear more welsh accents than in your average UK Television production, which also makes the show somewhat of an unusual and fresh experience for its US Viewers.
Series Overview: The series Torchwood borrows from shows such as Buffy. In fact the series creator Russell T. Davies revealed that Buffy was his inspiration for this series, due to Buffy’s use of an ensemble cast and some of its daring storylines.
Torchwood also borrows plot lines from many movies within the Sci Fi Genre. Examples of this can be seen in episodes such as ‘Countrycide’ which borrows somewhat from the cult horror movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Countrycide to my mind is one the first seasons stronger outings, because it makes a departure from Torchwood investigating some sort of alien goings on, and it is somewhat of a surprise when the nemesis in Countrycide turns out to be a darker shade of humanity. Gwen’s role in Countrycide to me reflects what we the audience must feel, when she passionately asks why? What need is there for human beings living in a civilised society to feed on other human beings, why? What drives that sort of behaviour?
In fact strangely enough it is mostly the middle episodes of Torchwood, which prove to be the strongest in terms of story and character development. P.J Hammond’s episode ‘Small Worlds’ is a particular treat and a good example of fusing classic science fiction with fantasy and horror. In fact it is somewhat rare in Television and Film to see the darker side of Fairies, and Hammonds story really does bring a fresh perspective. We also learn a little more about Captain Jack in this episode.
Another highlight is the episode ‘They Keep Killing Suzie’ which brings back a familiar face from the pilot episode with somewhat gory results.
Though perhaps the best example of what Torchwood can do is the episode ‘Out Of Time’ which tells the story of three people who due to a freak accident involving the riff in time and space wind up having to learn with the help of Torchwood to live in the 21st century. This is perhaps one of the series most touching and controversial episodes. Which sees Captain Jack being put into the unenviable position of assisting someone with his suicide. Owen falls in love and winds up in an impossible relationship, and Gwen becomes a surrogate sister to a young woman whose 1950′s upbringing could be a danger to her in a modern and more cynical world. This is perhaps the most Sci Fi Light episode of Torchwoods first season, and to my mind is the best episode of the first season due to the fact that you can relate on some level to the people, which this story is about.
Torchwood throughout the first season was a bit uneven though the episode quality seemed to improve when the writing was more focused on the more humanistic aspects of encountering aliens. An example of this can be found in the episode ‘Greeks Bearing Gifts‘ when Toshiko who is perhaps the most in control member of Torchwood is put through the emotional ringer when she suddenly learns what her fellow team members think of her thanks to an alien device which allows her to hear peoples thoughts. By the end of this episode I really felt sorry for Tosh and wanted to reach into the TV and give the poor woman a hug.
One concern that I had when Torchwood came out was if it would actually sell to the US audience given that it has a very, very British sense of humour. Thankfully my concerns were ill founded because the US audience, which watches pretty, much enjoy the series for the same reasons that we do.
Extras: The DVD set is loaded with extras. First and foremost are the audio commentaries for every single episode of the series. Much of what is shared in these audio tracks is interesting information and in many ways educational to anyone who has an interest in television and film and how an episode is pieced together.
For example during the first season of Torchwood the BBC had some trouble with the High Definition Cameras they were using. These difficulties caused the production team to re-shoot much of the first block of filming for the series, and Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner point out some of the scenes in the pilot episode which needed to be reshow and they even point out scenes which were shot with the original cameras and compare them to the scenes shot later with different cameras.
In fact SciFi Pulse ran a story about the trouble that Torchwoods production team had with the cameras prior to the series even airing in 2006. So hearing these difficulties referenced in the audio commentary for me was quite exciting.
Other extras include all episodes of the series ‘Torchwood Declassified’ which is a series of short making of features which accompanied the shows original broadcast on BBC Television and featured interviews with cast, producers, writers and directors of the series.
An added extra is ‘The Captain’s Video Log Diary’ which gives you John Barrowman’s unique perspective about the inner workings of the series and the people he works with.
In fact this DVD set is loaded with extras and even includes outtakes from the series as well as deleted scenes, which have never been shown on Television.
Overall: This is a really well put together box set. The sound and picture quality is excellent and really does come into its own if you have good quality audio and visual equipment. Though even with the most basic of televisions you will still enjoy the viewing experience immensely.
The commentaries on each episode of this set are insightful, entertaining and educational.
If you love good quality British Science Fiction like Doctor Who, then you will no doubt enjoy Torchwood and this box set is well worth adding to any DVD Sci Fi fans collection.
Torchwood is available to buy now in most good audio and video outlets across the USA and Canada. If this review has piqued your interest you can purchase your copy of Torchwood here at the BBC America Shop.
Score: 9/10
Tags: cardiff, gwen, Jack Harkness, Torchwood, wales
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