So this is where it all began. The first (proper) spin-off Doctor Who series sees the return of Captain Jack Harkness to our screens. Captain Jack was last seen being exterminated in The Parting of the Ways. The name Torchwood had obviously been mentioned in several episodes of David Tennant’s first series. The title of this story was quite apt. Everything Changes is quite like Rose in many ways. The story is seen from the point of view of PC Gwen Cooper who is trying to follow Captain Jack. There was another nod to Doctor Who where the base of Torchwood is located. In Boomtown back in 2005, the rift was coming from that weird structure thing in the bay.
The story has a lot to do, it has to introduce all the characters and also have a story that the regular characters are involved in. On both counts this story is a success. Apart from Captain Jack, all the characters are new and whilst their not all perfect none of them are totally ridiculous. Owen Harper (Burn Gorman) is the most irritating character, he is the young arrogant and cocky Doctor but it’s just overboard. Then there is Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori), I found the character to be interesting but lacking something which I cant put my finger on. It’s also worth noting that Naoko Mori played a Doctor in Aliens of London back in 2005 but there’s no mention of that here. I did think the best of the new characters was Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd). Remarkably it’s around the 20 minute mark before he makes an appearance yet his performance is very good. What I did find a shock was Indira Varma who plays Suzie Costello. It was made to look like she was a regular for the entire series but her character proves to be the baddie in this story and her death came as a true shock. Perhaps the shock that the series needed and what Russell T Davies intended. Varma played the role brilliantly and it’s a shame that she wasn’t in it for more because I think she would have been great.
The B-Plot is about a murder that the Torchwood crew is investigating at the very beginning of the episode. It takes a bit of a back seat for about 30 minutes or so before coming back for the last 20 minutes. I thought that it was a well handled part of the story and the identity of who did it came as a total shock to me. The reason why Suzie killed seemed slightly cold but that was more to do with Indira’s performance. She was slightly mad and bitter because of all the not exactly glamorous aliens that Torchwood encounter.
The language is quite strong. The show was trying to be different from Doctor Who and perhaps stand out as a drama in its own right. However even at this early stage when I first saw it I remember thinking that it wasn’t the right way to make it seems different. There was a surprising amount of gore. The bit where the Weevil bit into the porter’s neck and the blood spurted out was a shock. Also something that doesn’t quite work is all the sexual content in the story. What I did like were the Ariel shots of Cardiff. Both the day and night shots looked great especially the bit where Jack and Gwen are on top of the building. Very good.
This is a very good opening episode. Not totally perfect but when I originally watched this back in 2006 I turned off thinking that it was a good start but hopefully some things would improve or be cut out.
The story has a lot to do, it has to introduce all the characters and also have a story that the regular characters are involved in. On both counts this story is a success. Apart from Captain Jack, all the characters are new and whilst their not all perfect none of them are totally ridiculous. Owen Harper (Burn Gorman) is the most irritating character, he is the young arrogant and cocky Doctor but it’s just overboard. Then there is Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori), I found the character to be interesting but lacking something which I cant put my finger on. It’s also worth noting that Naoko Mori played a Doctor in Aliens of London back in 2005 but there’s no mention of that here. I did think the best of the new characters was Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd). Remarkably it’s around the 20 minute mark before he makes an appearance yet his performance is very good. What I did find a shock was Indira Varma who plays Suzie Costello. It was made to look like she was a regular for the entire series but her character proves to be the baddie in this story and her death came as a true shock. Perhaps the shock that the series needed and what Russell T Davies intended. Varma played the role brilliantly and it’s a shame that she wasn’t in it for more because I think she would have been great.
The B-Plot is about a murder that the Torchwood crew is investigating at the very beginning of the episode. It takes a bit of a back seat for about 30 minutes or so before coming back for the last 20 minutes. I thought that it was a well handled part of the story and the identity of who did it came as a total shock to me. The reason why Suzie killed seemed slightly cold but that was more to do with Indira’s performance. She was slightly mad and bitter because of all the not exactly glamorous aliens that Torchwood encounter.
The language is quite strong. The show was trying to be different from Doctor Who and perhaps stand out as a drama in its own right. However even at this early stage when I first saw it I remember thinking that it wasn’t the right way to make it seems different. There was a surprising amount of gore. The bit where the Weevil bit into the porter’s neck and the blood spurted out was a shock. Also something that doesn’t quite work is all the sexual content in the story. What I did like were the Ariel shots of Cardiff. Both the day and night shots looked great especially the bit where Jack and Gwen are on top of the building. Very good.
This is a very good opening episode. Not totally perfect but when I originally watched this back in 2006 I turned off thinking that it was a good start but hopefully some things would improve or be cut out.
No comments:
Post a Comment