SEASON ONE: EPISODE 1: “Everything Changes”
A brutal murder leads WPC Gwen Cooper to Torchwood, a journey that will change her life forever.
This is definitely Gwen Cooper’s episode, all the way. Essentially it’s the story of an ordinary police officer who accidently stumbles into the world of Torchwood, and by the end of the episode proves she has the right stuff to join the team. I watched this episode with an eye toward how well it stands on its own: quite nicely, I think. Although technically a spin-off of Doctor Who, I think of it as more of a “parallel” series, such as CBS’s various CSI shows. That is, they occupy the same universe and may occasionally cross over, but remain independent of each other.
That’s not to say the Doctor Who references aren’t there, merely that they’re not integral to the enjoyment of the show. For example, the Doctor’s hand (from “The Christmas Invasion”) is seen in the Torchwood headquarters, but it’s no more necessary to know the story behind it in order to follow the story at hand (no pun intended) than it is to know the history of a trophy seen in the background of the Batcave to enjoy a Batman story. The story differentiates four different versions of Torchwood, and unless I haven’t been paying close enough attention to Doctor Who (always a possibility), more than one of these versions have yet to be fully explained.
While still told from Gwen Cooper’s point of view, about midway through the first episode the spotlight of attention is thrown on Jack Harkness, a character with a mysterious two-year gap in his history which I look forward to seeing revealed. Gwen learns the secret of his longevity in this episode, but apparently his teammates remain unaware at this point. The next episode is titled “Day One,” which makes me glad “Everything Changes” isn’t listed as “episode zero.”
Perhaps I read too many comics books.
BIG FINISH AUDIOS:
ALIENS AMONG US - Part 1
1.1 Changes Everything - p14
1.2 Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy - p14
1.3 Orr - p14
1.3 Superiority Complex - p15
ALIENS AMONG US - Part 2
2.1 Love Rat - p15
2.2 A Kill to a View - p15
2.3 Zero Hour - p15
2.3 The Empty Hand - p15
ALIENS AMONG US - Part 3
3.1 Poker Face - p15
3.2 Tagged - p15
3.3 Escape Room - p15
3.3 Herald of the Dawn - p15
Replies
There are a few other oblique references to Doctor Who episodes, but they're just icing.
And for the record, I've never been to Glasgow. ;)
For most of the series, I found the members of Torchwood too unlikable. That works OK for a movie with a GREAT story...but as a TV series? Not so much.
The Baron said:
I'd forgotten that line until Jeff mentioned it ... but that's pretty much what I thought as well.
"Emotionally punishing" is a pretty good way to describe "Children of Earth." I thought it was riveting television, but I have no desire to ever re-watch it.
Steady on guys.
CoE just started last week in Australia and I am well-hooked. Watch out for spoilers. They are showing it over 5 weeks, but I can already see that it would work better over 5 nights. Its really intense.
RTD wrote it, and I'd have to praise him for it, but it might be interesting to track in Jeff's thread here which stories are from the pen of RTD, and which not. He handles Torchwood really well in CoE, so I'd be interested to see how much of the less liked elements of the early series are down to him.
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