Raonaild

I have a few suggestions for the first post:

- Torchwood S1 starts in the US on BBC America on Sept. 8, 2007
- Torchwood S1 will be shown in Canada on the CBC starting in Oct. 2007
- Torchwood S1 DVDs for Region 1 should be available Jan. 8, 2008
- Torchwood S2 will premiere in the UK on BBC2 sometime in early 2008

Spike it up

Welcome Ellie and Jen!
I can't wait for this one. Only few months away.

MajandraCarlyle

I love Torchwood!!! Can I be added, please?

Fave character: Ianto (and Jack, of course)

Fave episode: Captain Jack Harkness and End of Days (The kiss! SQUEE!)

The Kender

Love the list in the first post

My fave episode is Captain Jack Harkness and characters are Jack and Ianto.

Spike it up

Hey Majandra and Kender!

Aw many Ianto fans.


karaokegal @ LJ transcribed Torchwood articles from TV Guide:

Roush Review by Matt Roush
TV’s Sexiest Alien Hunters

Over the years, I’ve somehow resisted the lure of the iconic British fantasy Doctor Who in all of it’s incarnations. So imagine my surprise to be hooked on Torchwood, a cheeky and often startlingly adult spin-off.

These are the provocative adventures of Torchwood, a supersecret team of dashing agents who specialize in containing alien threats. Think MI-5 in cahoots with The X-Files. Which makes sense given that their underground lair, which houses a pterodactyl in the rafters, is near a space-time rift where cosmic “driftwood” regularly washes up.

The newcomer to Torchwood is a police constable, Gwen (Eve Myles), who is regularly astonished by what she sees. Who wouldn’t be, if on your first day you unleashed an airborne alien sex addict that takes over bodies to feed off the energy from orgasms. “First contact with an alien, not quite what I expected,” Gwen muses.

This crew is as naughty and irreverent as it is ruthless and arrogant, trampling civil liberties as it chases alien intruders and tests scavenged technology. Gwen often acts as a conscience for the team, especially its mysteriously aloof leader Capt. Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), who is accused by one of the gang as being “the biggest monster of all.”

His backstory is a good one, as the only Jack Harkness on record vanished in the 1941 WWII blitz and the modern version claims to be immortal.

But the big mystery among Torchwood’s rank and file: Is Captain Jack gay? “Paramilitary is not the dress code of a straight man,” quips one of the team. I don’t recall gossip like this on the decks of the Enterprise.


Monster Masher
John Barrowman spins off Doctor Who as an alien hunter (with a twist!) in Torchwood.
By Benji Wilson

One day John Barrowman may come to resent the kids waiting outside his office door for a phote with their hero, Capt. Jack Harkness of the new sci-fi sizzler Torchwood. But not yet.

“I wanted to be an actor,” he says, sitting on the couch of his apartment overlooking the bay in Cardiff, Wales, where Torchwood is shot. “Celebrity has come with that, and I’m absolutely loving it. I love signing autographs!”

If anyone spotted Barrowman in America right now, he be as likely to get a catcall as an autograph request—he’s probably best known for playing a spoiled rich guy in Darren Star’s short-lived Central Park West. But if Torchwood has the same impact in the U.S. that it’s had overseas he may find himself signing autographs from Wales to Wisconsin.

Viewers first met Captain Jack, a time-traveling con artist from the 51st century in a five-episode arc on Doctor Who. He proved so popular that creator Russell T. Davies mixed up the letters of Doctor Who’s title to give him his own spin-off. Now refumed, Jack heads up Torchwood, an outside-the-law team of crimefighters who protect the from alien invasions. That may sound like any other sci-fi series, but Torchwood is a far edgier proposition. Though it works as a plot-driven romp with all manner of eye-popping creatures (from evil fairies to sexy fembots), it also deals with adult themes. And with the character of Captain Jack, Torchwood can lay claim to the 21st century’s first bisexual action hero.

“He’s go something for everyone,” Barrowman says. “Women think he’s sexy, some young people find his bisexuality is something they can relate to, and kids just want someone who’s cool. One little boy at an autograph signing said, ‘I don’t care if he likes boys—he’s still my hero.’ “

Barrowman, 40, is openly gay (he and his partner, British architect Scott Gill were joined in a civil commitment ceremony last year). He’s as outspoken about prejudice in the industry as you’d expect from someone who was passed over for the part of Will in Will & Grace--because the producers felt he was “too straight.”

“I know a lot of gay leading men in Hollywood,” he says. “I’m not one for outing people—they might have personal issues they need to overcome—but if they are not speaking up because they’re afraid it’s going to affect their careers, that pisses me off. Take the risk! I took that risk and the public rewarded me. I still play straight leading characters in theater, TV and film, so it doesn’t matter.”

Born in Scotland, Barrowman moved to Illinois with his family when he was 8. He went back to the U.K. as a college student to study Shakespeare, but soon found himself at an open-call audition. It led to a part in “Anything Goes” on the London’s West End, and he never looked back. He’s a seasoned stage star who’s appeared in everything from “Phantom of the Opera” to “Sunset Boulevard.” But it was his part in Doctor Who in 2005 that let to Torchwood and all that’s followed.

“I’d do Torchwood for the next five years, if they asked,” he says happily. “I wake up every morning. I shoot aliens, I save the world, and I get to be sexy and cheeky at the same time. A young boy is living his dreams as a man."

Camibra

I am at 24 minutes into episode 7 of Torchwood season 1 and I hear Jack talking the The Prime Minister of Great Britain on the phone - is that Harriet Jones or Harold Saxon I wonder? I take it that it's Harriet Jones because of the final scenes of season 29 of Doctor Who which included Jack.

Spike it up

Hm, I think it might actually be a third person. Because Harriet had to resign and Saxon still isn't elected (there are vote Saxon posters in Captain Jack Harkness).

Nad

Could I be added please?

Jack

Right now I'm going to say Small World, but I'm in the process of re-watching the whole season, so that might change later on.

Totally random reasons that just came to mind while watching the opening:
Because it's outside the government and beyond the police
Because they are arming the human race against the future
Because the 21st century is when everything changes and we gotta be ready

Spike it up

Hey Nad.

I love the reasons.

milestogo

Great reasons

It's funny to see that jack seems to be everyone's favourite character

Nad

Hey Cris & Jessica

Lots of familiar faces around

Glad you like my reasons, I'll see if I can come up with more as I re-watch the first season.

Well, what can I say? Jack is Not that I don't like the other characters (okay, Owen is not on my fave list), but Jack just stands out for me.

Anyone got the DVD's? I'm thinking about buying them at one point.

FrellingTralk

Apparently the whole series is coming out on DVD soon as a complete collection

Camibra

I just finished re-watching 'Combat' and I forgot how disturbing Owen was in the final scene of that episode!! It almost looked like he had facial prosthetics to pull off that face...

migamoo

To you have a cap of the look? I don't quite remember it.

Spike it up

Ashley try here.
I know. There was just something about him in that episode, with his death wish and that last scene with the Weevil that weirded me out.

Owen still didn't seem to be over Diane even in the finale. I wonder if that will continue in series two.