Quitting Torchwood

[beccaelizabeth]

I have read more about the aired episodes of Torchwood that I have not watched yet.
And I just deleted it from my recorder box. All gone bye bye done.
... which, given the thing never actually would record it, may be mostly a symbolic gesture, but clearly it was trying to protect me, so I like it still.

I read a thing on AfterElton.com that crystalised my feeling this season has changed genres. It compared the first couple of seasons, which I liked, with the most recent, and said the first couple were about monsters and this one is about humans.

I watch science fiction and fantasy because humans already scare the crap out of me.
I'd rather watch monsters, and see them dealt with by the end of the episode.
If that's just not going to happen, I'm not going to watch.

A bunch of people will probably take this season more seriously than the ones with the rubber monsters.
*rude gesture* at that.
it's just a different genre.

If it's just about humans then it's just another CSI, about man's inhumanity to man, and there's plenty of that already. But thus far it's not even offering imaginary closure. It's gone right to the horror place, ghastly shock deaths in gory detail and horrible endings, doom and dark all the time. And I don't watch horror either. That episode every F&SF show does when it turns out to be secretly humans? I never rewatch those. And the Torchwood one nearly got me dumping the show at 1-06. So if this season is hanging out in the crime-thriller-horror end? No.

Add this to my general feeling of missing Jack even when he's right there on the screen and this season has nothing for me.

Comments

[anne_d]

What you said.

I haven't stopped recording them yet (free premium channel is hard to resist), but I also haven't got around to watching last week's episode. Any time I decide I'd rather go for a walk than sit and watch TV, that's got to say something about the TV.

On the other hand, F&SF about people can be done well; see Buffy or Firefly, for example. This Torchwood may be about people, but it isn't done well. It's trying to be shocking for the sake of shock, all doom all the time, and it doesn't work for me.

[sends hugs and chocolate]

[beccaelizabeth]

buffy had monsters and things defeated by the end of the episode/season. Firefly was set in the future in space. The things they did can't be achieved with current (magic or) tech. There's a distance, there's knowing it's not real and couldn't be.

Torchwood?
is doing a lot with could be, and has been, real.
just humans doing fucked up things.

not interested. know enough.

[anne_d]

Interesting point about the distancing. You're right, when you get down to it, Torchwood as it is now is just a cop show on a grand scale.

Also, I do not like child molestors, in any context, and it does bother me that TW has one becoming a messiah. Those writers really like to go for the worst possible scenario, don't they.

[beccaelizabeth]

going for the worst possible = RTD's idea of adult
*sigh*

[anne_d]

going for the worst possible = RTD's idea of adult
Well, it isn't mine.

[beccaelizabeth]

no.

[shahar-amar.livejournal.com]

You are a woman of more conviction than me. I will still aquire the next episodes, but I will carefully seek out reviews and discussions before I watch any more. Before last week I was just bored and occasionally annoyed, basically waiting for two minutes of Rhys per episode. But now? This time RTD went too far in his quest to be oh so daring and shocking. Urgh.

A bunch of people will probably take this season more seriously than the ones with the rubber monsters.
Of course they will, it's "realism" after all, which always beats camp and entertainment hands down. *snort* What they call realism, I call a snoozefest with occasional gore. Even CoE, despite all its flaws was at least fast paced and had stuff happening. This is just lamer than paint drying.

If it's just about humans then it's just another CSI, about man's inhumanity to man, and there's plenty of that already.</i< And even on CSI most episodes end with the bad guys caught and the city a bit safer at night due to the cleverness of some upstanding humans.

[fide-et-spe.livejournal.com]

Can I just say I love your line about missing Jack even when he's there on the screen, because that's exactly how I've felt as well. I didn't bother last week, and have just discovered that this show which has GDL in a guest spot is on Syfy in the UK at exactly the same time as MD. Which is kind of odd, but anyhow I'm now going to watch that instead!

[stlscape.livejournal.com]

You'll enjoy it a LOT more!

[chryssalys]

You will love the ep of Warehouse 13. I'd never seen the show before, and still adored it.

[analineblue.livejournal.com]

I found this via torchwood_three and just had to comment on that last line, because that is EXACTLY how I feel about Jack right now. ;__;

And while I'm not giving up on MD just yet, I can definitely understand your reasons and rationale for doing just that. *sighs*

♥

[chryssalys]

I am so with you on this (well, not totally, as I never did watch any eps of MD). I watch TV and read books to be taken away from the bad things that fill our world, or to see them defeated. Not to wallow in them.

Sadly, what they have turned TW into is just that, a pit of the depths of human nature.

[bk_forever]

My thoughts exactly - which is why I haven't bothered to watch. I want to be entertained, not sickened and disgusted.

[bk_forever]

I heard enough in spoilers to know in advance that Miracle Day was something I wanted no part of, so I haven't even been tempted to watch and the more I've heard, the more I've grieved for the loss of yet another sci fi show, one that because of its original premise, seemed to have limitless potential. Anything at all, good or bad, could have come through the the rift from past, present, future, other planets, even other dimensions yet all that potential was tossed aside in favour of a bleak, gloomy show with not a shred of hope for humanity. What a waste. Torchwood could have been groundbreaking, instead it's just sensationalism for the sake of it. There's more than enough violence and horror in real life, I don't need it in my entertainment too.