I feel a little behind the eight-ball writing a review of Torchwood, the new BBC science fiction spin-off from Russell T Davies' successfully resurrected Dr Who. I mean, half you lot have already downloaded it, right?
I must admit after watching the opening episode, that I was thrown. It didn't dazzle me with special effects or provoke me with subversive humour. But its hero is Captain Jack Harkness, dammit, the dashing, bisexual rogue from the 51st Century who was introduced in Dr Who in 2005! If anyone is going to rescue me from overdoses of routine American drama, I expect it to be Captain Jack, played by out gay actor John Barrowman.
My naughty friends have told me to stick with it for the first few episodes. But they've also told me it's somewhat inconsistent. Apparently we're in for some ripping episodes, as well as our share of disappointments, which makes the somewhat flawed opening episode seemingly the perfect summation of the entire series.
Barrowman's Harkness is striking in every way, a perfect matinee-idol hero. But his Torchwood team of covert agents, working to protect the world from alien incursions, lack personality. Doubtless this will come. As an audience device, the local cop (Eve Myles) who stumbles upon their activities, is suitably inquisitive and more grounded than Billie Piper's Dr Who companion, Rose Tyler. So far at least, she also lacks Piper's charisma.
Torchwood promises a mature approach to sci-fi storytelling, with adult themes and language normally excised from the genre. The media kit says Captain Jack is 'ambivalent to sexual boundaries' (bisexuals take note: you now have a new catchphrase). Concerningly, the TEN press failed to detail writer Russell T. Davies' Queer as Folk achievements, or any info on John Barrowman that might indicate he is openly gay and married to his life partner. Could the network be ambivalent too?
The difficulty for TEN will be in communicating to the audience that this isn't Supernatural, Smallville or Men in Black. It isn't even Dr Who, which the ABC is about to re-launch. Interrupted by ads, I'm not convinced TEN's audience will have the patience for a show that's possibly more at home following The Bill or Life on Mars. Their mass exodus from the brilliant, noir-ish remake of Battlestar Galactica still pains me.
Hopefully they, like me, have the patience for the goodies that are bound to follow in Torchwood.
Torchwood premieres 9:40pm Monday on TEN (already amended from 9:30pm).
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