Torchwood Ep. 1x02: Day One [Spoilers]

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 2006-10-26 03:53pm

NecronLord wrote:
Big Orange wrote:And while Daleks and Cybermen is not good news for any business, I doubt the Torchwood Institute at London would be permanently out of action after last season's final (despite the need for decorating and staff hiring).
Except for all we know they were all converted by cybermen or shot down like dogs by the Cult of Skaro.

Torchwood London was a huge place with hundreds of staff, I don't think the double invasion got them all and the Cyber conversion process took place in a small room, so it would take a long time to convert all the prisoners. And apart from "interrogating" one Torchwood scientist, the Daleks were not really shooting at the Torchwood personnel and were concentrating on the Cybermen, due to them being a slightly bigger annoyance.

I'm not saying that the Torchwood Institute's London division did not suffer 30-40% casualties, but the operation seemed salvageable and they could rebuild and re-staff the place (although the Torchwood Institute could be similar to the Grail organisation from the Preacher series - the Grail organisation did not rebuild their world HQ, Masada, after it was destroyed and their private army was greatly whittled down during the loss of Masada).

Post by **NecronLord** » 2006-10-26 05:50pm

Big Orange wrote: Torchwood London was a huge place with hundreds of staff,

We don't see hundreds of staff, we get an impression of a hundred or two, though. And it was invaded by not less than twenty nine cybermen.

I don't think the double invasion got them all and the Cyber conversion process took place in a small room,

Several, and we see people being shoved in there before Jackie et al get there. We see the rest of the staff being rounded up, lab coated people being shoved around by cybermen, weapons being collected, and so on, in the storage bay... which was later deserted... humm, I wonder what happened to them? And later on, there's no signs of life in the rest of the building as the Doctor, his entourage, and the Preachers are running around.

so it would take a long time to convert all the prisoners.

Why? It appears to take about five to thirty seconds per person. For one hundred people, that's about fifty minutes max, assuming one conversion chamber...

And apart from "interrogating" one Torchwood scientist, the Daleks were not really shooting at the Torchwood personnel

Incorrect. Torchwood personnel shot at them, and they killed several on-screen, what's more, it appears Sec left the other three behind there to finish off the cybermen and Torchwood guards. And even then, if the daleks ran across any mooks like Harper or Toshiko in the corridors offscreen, what do you think they'd do? "Neither did we need him alive!"

Which is something that gets me with the rendition of Torchwood Cardiff, too, there's a digital set extension to give it extra floors and whatnot, but there only appear to be about five people there... That's a little hard to believe, unless the cybermen attacked Torchwood Cardiff too, or some such. I'd like to see some extras - Torchwood Troopers, as in Doomsday, would be neat, for example.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-10-26 05:59pm

It looks to me like the operation is in it's infancy. People still steal from the office, much of the staff seems to be insane or clueless, etc etc. Certainly Jack only seems to have been in charge for a short time, but I don't see the array of competent, driven professionals backed up by a private military we got at Canary Wharf.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2006-10-26 06:00pm

Perhaps Torchwood Cardiff was totally wiped out by Cybermen, too. Makes sense...

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-10-26 06:04pm

The use of the left over "chameleon" protection" and the lift up to that location suggests that Jacks tenure is very recent, as he knows certain things about the area that no one else would, it does seem odd that he would be in charge at Torchwood cardiff after appearing out of no where (seemingly) . That Torchwood cardiff got wiped out as well would make sense in the sense of the Cybermen killing off all opposition.

I can see some more spin off's ala CSI. Torchwood Glasgow, Torchwood Manchester etc

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-10-26 06:04pm

It'd certainly explain the differences in staff. The Cybermen would of course have known about parallel-T3, so they could have killed them all. With their staff decimated and budget fucked by having to repair a skyscraper and cover up hundreds of deaths, it becomes more plausible that a cosmic hobo and what appear to be college graduates could be put in charge of such a sensitive operation.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-10-26 06:07pm

Stark wrote:It'd certainly explain the differences in staff. The Cybermen would of course have known about parallel-T3, so they could have killed them all. With their staff decimated and budget fucked by having to repair a skyscraper and cover up hundreds of deaths, it becomes more plausible that a cosmic hobo and what appear to be college graduates could be put in charge of such a sensitive operation.

It could even be that Jack new about Torchwood from the future and took over the official cardiff operation unofficially to try and make more like the historic exploratory group we saw in Doctor Who.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-10-26 06:12pm

Seriously, that's thousands or hundreds of thousands of years in the future: I don't think Jack has to do much for that. By 2012 Torchwood is fully public, for example.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-10-26 06:15pm

Stark wrote:Seriously, that's thousands or hundreds of thousands of years in the future: I don't think Jack has to do much for that. By 2012 Torchwood is fully public, for example.

2012?

Did i miss a reference to Torchwood in Fear Her?

What i meant though was that Torchwood in Doomsday were utter twats. Not like the guys in the hell episode who's name i can't remember right now.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-10-26 06:17pm

Yeah, but again that's Torchwood at 100 years old, and Torchwood at 10,400 years old or something. Jack doesn't have to do shit.

And yeah, the Olympic Commentators mention Torchwood in an offhand manner: clearly it's not secret anymore.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2006-10-26 06:17pm

Something hit me about the Torchwood entry that Jack mentions in the premiere. He mentioned it being caused by a chameleon circuit, I took this to mean that it's TARDIS related.

Does this mean that there's spots like this wherever the Doctor has gone?

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-10-26 06:18pm

Gandalf wrote:Something hit me about the Torchwood entry that Jack mentions in the premiere. He mentioned it being caused by a chameleon circuit, I took this to mean that it's TARDIS related.

Does this mean that there's spots like this wherever the Doctor has gone?

I figured it was a side effect to be sat on top of a rip in space.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-10-26 06:20pm

I imagine it's only there because of the rift-related badness from Boomtown. The TARDIS was right in the middle of that.

PS, the guys in Satan Pit were explorers. In the TARDISode for that episode, you see much more Torchwood-like people arranging the mission for the benefit of the Empire. It's possible not much has changed at high levels.

bilateralrope · Post by **bilateralrope** » 2006-10-26 06:44pm

Stark wrote:I imagine it's only there because of the rift-related badness from Boomtown. The TARDIS was right in the middle of that.

Wasn't the TARDIS sitting exactly where the perception filter is ?

We really tell if it was the rift interacting with the chameleon circuit, or just the chameleon circuit on its own unless we see if the same effect happens elsewhere (unless Jack said so when he mentioned it, but I can't recall exactly what he said). But I'm thinking the rift had something to do with it.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-10-26 06:48pm

Jack clearly doesn't know why it's there. It's exactly where the TARDIS sat as it was fueling from the rift and being struck by Bad Special Effects. It seems obvious why the effect remains.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-10-26 06:52pm

Stark wrote:Jack clearly doesn't know why it's there. It's exactly where the TARDIS sat as it was fueling from the rift and being struck by Bad Special Effects. It seems obvious why the effect remains.

The impression i got was that he knew exactly why, but he was being purposefully vague about it. Just like every other time he mentions the doctor.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-10-26 06:54pm

Oh I figured he was making shit up.

Obviously he knows why it's there - he was in the TARDIS during the events - but I got the impression he doesn't really understand how it happened. He's not above using it, though.

How did all four of them fit on the lift at the same time?

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-10-26 06:57pm

Stark wrote:Oh I figured he was making shit up. Obviously he knows why it's there - he was in the TARDIS during the events - but I got the impression he doesn't really understand how it happened. He's not above using it, though.

How did all four of them fit on the lift at the same time?

Actually thinking about it you're right. He doesn't know how it's there, but he knows why.. if that makes sense. I don't blame him, after all, he's a soldier not a scientist.

and finally, they squeezed in reaall tight.

Enigma · Post by **Enigma** » 2006-10-28 02:18pm

Lord Woodlouse wrote:
Enigma wrote:Will this show show up anywhere besides the U.K.?
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation are partners for the series, so they'll probably start airing it before it finishes. It'll probably be marketed internationally just like Doctor Who was.

As for the adultness of it all, well, I think the language was all fairly realistic. It was not totally overboard and I speak among friends with that kind of language easily enough. That being said RTD has said he purposefully dropped an F bomb at the very begining of the series so any parents sitting down to watch the show with their kids would know to stop watching it or get their kids out of the room.

The only potentially overboard bit was the sex-addicted alien, and that episode was not written by RTD (he only wrote the first ep, and that's all he's writing. The main writer appears to be Chris Chibnall).

Well I hope they show it here on the CBC. Unfortunately it'll probably be next year by the time they air it. The first season of the new Doctor Who was aired around the same time it was aired in the U.K. but the second season only started on Oct 9 a full season after it was broadcasted in the U.S.!

Lord Woodlouse · Post by **Lord Woodlouse** » 2006-10-29 07:27am

Enigma wrote:
Lord Woodlouse wrote:
Enigma wrote:Will this show show up anywhere besides the U.K.?
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation are partners for the series, so they'll probably start airing it before it finishes. It'll probably be marketed internationally just like Doctor Who was.

As for the adultness of it all, well, I think the language was all fairly realistic. It was not totally overboard and I speak among friends with that kind of language easily enough. That being said RTD has said he purposefully dropped an F bomb at the very begining of the series so any parents sitting down to watch the show with their kids would know to stop watching it or get their kids out of the room.

The only potentially overboard bit was the sex-addicted alien, and that episode was not written by RTD (he only wrote the first ep, and that's all he's writing. The main writer appears to be Chris Chibnall).
Well I hope they show it here on the CBC. Unfortunately it'll probably be next year by the time they air it. The first season of the new Doctor Who was aired around the same time it was aired in the U.K. but the second season only started on Oct 9 a full season after it was broadcasted in the U.S.!

I suspect that's CBC's own scheduling at work, since CBC is a partner for both shows I think you likely have rights to show it pretty soon.