New stuff about the team on the Torchwood site

[beccaelizabeth]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/ has content.
Including summaries about the team.

Jack gets talked up as usual, though how his origins can still be mysterious when we've learned so much I'm going to be interested to see.
Ianto as uncanny-but-underappreciated is fair enough.
Toshiko the tech expert, bland but accurate.

But...

Owen and Gwen?

"his commitment to his duty has never been doubted." - except for that one time when he got fired and shot the boss. Oh, and the time he wasn't answering his phone because he got dumped and then he went off and nearly got himself killed. And that time when he stole alien tech from work to get laid. And any time he's handing in his expenses.

But mostly, Gwen:
"Her ability to co-ordinate activity has led to her being recognised as the team's deputy leader."
You what?
Her ability to freeze up in a crisis and ask why everyone's looking at her and say she doesn't know what she's doing?
I mean, yes, some of that was at the beginning of the season, and a year of experience would count, but some of that was pretty damn consistent. Freezing when Tosh was a hostage, for instance. And she's *never* been the coordinating force. Tosh has, Jack has, even Ianto has except Owen yelled at him about it, and Owen thought he was the boss, but Gwen *never* did that on screen. She's wandered off on her own and nearly got run over while retrieving alien tech, but she hasn't coordinated the team.

So if that's accurate, it's a ton of development happened off screen.

Mind you, the writers were saying stuff about how they assumed the audience would take it as read that the team liked each other and liked their jobs and suchlike, and have made assorted similar comments that lead me to believe we're not watching the same show, so *shrugs*.

Eve Myles is clearly second, but Gwen is clearly *not*. Newbie. Ianto is better qualified. And I'm not saying that because I like Ianto, I'm saying *even* Ianto is better qualified, as far as we've seen.

... maybe it just means everyone wanted to kill Owen and O wouldn't listen to I and T wasn't assertive enough and that left Gwen the boss by default. I could live with that.


also the org.uk redirects back to the bbc.co.uk/torchwood
... good thing I saved the lot to my computer then.
... at least I hope I did. Should have. Tried to. Haven't checked all the files though...


PS: Website FAQ, actually useful! Also, has info on how to get jobs. Well, it points you at the BBC jobs website, which is a site more useful than the Doctor Who FAQ, which just says 'no'.

Comments

[sparklebutch.livejournal.com]

....And Torchwood in French!

[beccaelizabeth]

oh *dear*

would you like a disc full of downloads? I can burn some off the computer.

[sparklebutch.livejournal.com]

No, thank you... I have too much on my tiny little French plate just right now. *growl*

Might take you up on that at a later stage. *gives cookie of appreciation*

[beccaelizabeth]

*sends larger plate*?
*sends cookies to cover it*
:)

[laligin.livejournal.com]

also the org.uk redirects back to the bbc.co.uk/torchwood
... good thing I saved the lot to my computer then.

Which version? The blue swirly high-tech version?

The .html suffix still works, by the way. :)

[beccaelizabeth]

.html is saved
if there's a way to save the swirly one I don't know it.
but there's mostly, kinda, the same content.

[laligin.livejournal.com]

Mostly - apart from a few little differences. Lines in IM conversations got missed out one way or another, and Tosh either downloaded all of Mills and Boon or all of Tintin, depending which you read...

What about everything that was on the old bbc.co.uk/torchwood bit? I'm already in a flaily panic without my Hub Tour for reference... ^_^'

[beccaelizabeth]

again, far as I knew, mostly unsaveable. I think I've got a video of the hub tour. yup, 3.8Mb. Now if I only knew how to send it...
I also have some maps up here and omphalos did some other maps with pictures.

[laligin.livejournal.com]

Shiny shiny. I mostly have a pretty decent mental map of the Hub (I'm that obsessed...) and I do now have the DVDs to refer to, but for double/triple checking purposes those will be most useful. (*adds this post to memories* ;) Thanke.)

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

Can't recommend that website of Omphalos's enough, hope it will be updated to incorporate the Season 2 redecorating. Have a another link to it... http://www.fwolfling.com/porto/guides/hub/

[stlscape.livejournal.com]

"Her ability to co-ordinate activity has led to her being recognised as the team's deputy leader."

You should really issue a warning before you let people come upon that statement all unsuspecting-like. It could be a serious health hazard to some.

I would love to know what show they've been watching, because *I* certainly haven't seen anything approaching Gwen + coordination in the first series. (Well, other than her obtaining Retcon for use on Rhys *before* her "confession" to him - but even then she screwed up the timing - and getting a bus ticket to London for Emma *before* Emma got on the bus. Those instances clearly required forethought and planning.) But prioritizing team activities and then re-prioritizing on the fly as situations change? Hmmmm...unless they think freezing up in a crisis is an indicator of calmness and self-collection? Pffffft! I could believe Gwen's actions in series one a lot easier if she'd been a sheltered twenty-year-old secretary - with what I saw on the screen, I had trouble believing that Gwen would have actually made it through police training, much less had a few years experience as a policewoman.


Ah, well, maybe we'll see the progression in series two. (Although with the positioning of the characters in the last scene in series one, my thoughts were that the team would let Gwen think she was in command just to keep her feeling important (so she'd stay out of their hair), and they'd keep doing their jobs as they normally did, with Ianto actually being the one prioritizing everything.)

[beccaelizabeth]

*nods*
*quite a lot*

Series two they reckon they've fixed it so what they meant is what we get. Heh. Believe it when I see it.

[gene-lee.livejournal.com]

I think Countrycide did number on the "skills" Gwen brings as a former police officer. Not only did that episode have her and Owen handling a crime scene with no gloves, but she casually walked around with a gun hanging out of her back pocket. I would've laughed if it discharged.

And Owen... nothing says loyalty like a fresh bullet to the head. Although I was much more satisfied with his obvious remorse.

I think life is imitating art and the writers are trying to perform a retcon on viewers. I can see their logic: have it up on their webpage now for new fans to get familiar with and if they eventually watch the first season, those discrepencies won't really matter at that point. It's all dogma. :)

[beccaelizabeth]

The gun pocket thing is so *facepalm*. Plus teh walking into each other's shot. You'd think TV people could figure it out just by imagining the guns is cameras, but no, they have Gwen waggle her gun and get Owen to walk in front of her. Eeesh.

Remorse is all well and good, but it's more reassuring if one thinks he isn't going to do it again, and agrees on which parts were the bad idea. Little details like that.

I suspect they're just going to have stuff change off screen and say it all happened between seasons. It would be the most annoying way.

[gene-lee.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That's become my biggest pet peeve in shows nowadays. BSG is repeat offender of that. The whole expositioning off-screen is fine when you have some context for it, but without it or if what you present goes against it, it really does serve to annoy.

I mean why not have the whole development of Gwen getting her bearings and gradually finding a leadership place on the team be a part of an ongoing characterization or storyline for her. That would definitely recoup her in the eyes of viewers who didn't connect with her.

I say this because they hammed it up with the constant "heart of the team" nonsense, and they'll probably ham this new element too, if they don't show where or how she grows.