Torchwood:
Doctor Who, but Better!
According to
Captain Jack Harkness, the 21st Century is when everything changes. I don’t know if this is true (fictional characters are so sketchy!) but the show he is on, Torchwood, certainly makes some compelling arguments to that effect. Torchwood, a spin-off of the New Doctor Who, aired its first series last year on the BBC, and will be landing on United States television sets courtesy of BBC America starting tomorrow. I watched the series through torrenting several months ago, and was compelled by its darkness, its complex characters, its involved plots, and its unbelievably fantastic monsters. (Screw it! I was getting tired of the Daleks anyhow!)
For those of you who noticed the anagram, Torchwood was originally born as a code name for Doctor Who when the new series was being conceived. As time went on and things developed, Captain Jack (one of the show’s primary protagonists) made some guest appearances in the Christopher Eckleson season of Doctor Who, and began some plot seedlings for what later grow into Torchwood.
Torchwood is a super secret agency (beyond the law, beyond the government) that investigates alien life and paranormal-ness on earth. Rather than only having two main stars (such as is the case in Doctor Who) Torchwood features an ensemble cast, giving it the ability to have deeper character development and more in depth plots. The series begins with a police officer,
Gwen Cooper, happening upon the Torchwood gang’s practices and (through a series of events) gets convinced to join up and protect the world from alien threats. Sure, it sounds a bit X-Files-ish in description, but even in its first series the stories are far more imaginative than Chris Carter is in his wet dreams.
The upshot is that Torchwood takes place entirely on Earth. (In fairness, the new Doctor Who is pretty damn human-centric and most of its current episodes also occur on our planet as well, but it is by no means bound to it.) It has been recently brought to my attention that Doctor Who maintains a firmly anti-posthuman stance, and in fairness this is firmly upheld by Torchwood. After all, even in recent commercials Captain Jack passionately exclaims, “We need to protect ourselves from the future!” Sort of a sad stance for science fiction, but the stories are good so I’ll take it.
Another compelling aspect is the show’s treatment of sexuality. Without giving any major spoilers, a casual observer could easily note that each of the main characters (in some way or another) toys with bisexuality (or, in the very least, queerness) at some point in the season. This is portrayed unselfconsciously and (thankfully) without heavy-handedness or public-service-message stylings that one might get in American programming: 
the characters are able to toy with gender roles and sexuality without having a “Very Special Episode” or personal meltdowns. The overall message seems to be that (to some extent) being flexible with sexuality is very much integral to the human condition.
In any case, the show is far more compelling than most programming that occurs on American television, and if you don’t get BBC or BBC America, I highly recommend downloading the first season. After all, if everything changes in the 21st century you might as well be prepared.
For More:
Search torrents for Torchwood.
Torchwood on TV-Links
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
It must get better as the pilot was mediocre at best with an uninspiring plot and tepid acting.
I’ve now watched the second episode, and I have to say it was 100x better than the pilot. I’m stunned by the improvement in writing across the two episodes.