Reactions to the Torchwood radio plays
Jul. 3rd, 2009 08:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snorkackcatcherBrief reactions to the three Torchwood radio episodes. Brits can download them as decent quality MP3s from http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/torchwood/download/.
General thoughts: these were pretty solid as radio plays. It wasn't at all hard to picture what was going on as you listened, and the acting was generally well up to spec. Gwen was perhaps the lead character overall, interestingly, not Jack. Ianto was pretty low-key until the third episode. Kudos to the BBC for making them downloadable (well, at least to British listeners, but I presume they must be resigned to them being posted on fan sites for a worldwide audience).
Asylum
A decent albeit low-key start -- although that was probably a good thing. A mystery to solve, and PC Andy shown as beginning to come within the Torchwood orbit a bit more. More a character piece than a plotty one, somewhat along the lines of Adrift. Given the mentions of society in 2069(?) and that Torchwood themselves had probably sent the half-alien girl back, it was intriguing to wonder if this might be setting something up for later on. Anyone else think that the man on the roof was/will be Jack himself? Some rather odd switches here with Andy going from sympathetic to hostile and back again very quickly.
Golden Age
Probably the weakest of the three, although that was maybe just due to almost inevitable dodginess. Mind you, one of the advantages of radio is that you can set scenes in a crowded Indian city merely by having the characters mention that they're in a crowded Indian city, without all the trouble and expense of actually going there for location filming! It was fairly obvious all along that the Duchess was going to turn out to be using some alien gizmo nefariously. (And was it just me who was reminded of Invasion of the Dinosaurs at the end there? Oh, okay then.)
I'm somewhat uneasy about the idea that Delhi is so crowded that hundreds or thousands of people can just disappear without anyone caring -- or at least, that this is more the case there than in other large cities around the globe. Nor can I see why 1924 was supposed to be such a significant date in the history of India that it necessitated bringing the alien artefacts back to Britain before it became independent. 1934, maybe. (Then again, there was a 'wtf?' line about 'Mr Churchill and his talk of independence', which suggests that historical plausibility might not have been the focus of scriptwriterly attention. Churchill was one of the strongest opponents of Dominion status for India.)
It was however interesting to see more about original Torchwood, having a presence in the Empire (totally logical given the premise of the organisation) and being just as ruthless as ever, with that playing into the Raj Golden Age ideas of the nutcases within the club.
The Dead Line
OK, fair's fair, I give up. I'll never take the piss out of w00by emo Janto stories again. They're canon now, FFS. Ianto's little speech at Jack's bedside was so much what you normally expect to see in fic it was quite a surprise in a regular show. You get the impression that the writers quite like to do fanservice. Yet another of Jack's old flames turning up, though?!
Still, this was much the tightest of the three in terms of plot, pacing, and indeed characterisation. The story moved along at a good clip as Gwen and Rhys gradually found out more and more, and it was pleasantly unclear what the alien virus actually was even after the finale. That can be very effective provided you get enough to show what it does while leaving much mysterious. (I'm thinking Midnight here, also the whole in-the-wires thing was reminiscent of The Idiot's Lantern.) There was some excellent interaction between Gwen and Rhys, with Gwen being tough and Rhys playing copper and them working together well as a team. A good one to finish with.
General thoughts: these were pretty solid as radio plays. It wasn't at all hard to picture what was going on as you listened, and the acting was generally well up to spec. Gwen was perhaps the lead character overall, interestingly, not Jack. Ianto was pretty low-key until the third episode. Kudos to the BBC for making them downloadable (well, at least to British listeners, but I presume they must be resigned to them being posted on fan sites for a worldwide audience).
Asylum
A decent albeit low-key start -- although that was probably a good thing. A mystery to solve, and PC Andy shown as beginning to come within the Torchwood orbit a bit more. More a character piece than a plotty one, somewhat along the lines of Adrift. Given the mentions of society in 2069(?) and that Torchwood themselves had probably sent the half-alien girl back, it was intriguing to wonder if this might be setting something up for later on. Anyone else think that the man on the roof was/will be Jack himself? Some rather odd switches here with Andy going from sympathetic to hostile and back again very quickly.
Golden Age
Probably the weakest of the three, although that was maybe just due to almost inevitable dodginess. Mind you, one of the advantages of radio is that you can set scenes in a crowded Indian city merely by having the characters mention that they're in a crowded Indian city, without all the trouble and expense of actually going there for location filming! It was fairly obvious all along that the Duchess was going to turn out to be using some alien gizmo nefariously. (And was it just me who was reminded of Invasion of the Dinosaurs at the end there? Oh, okay then.)
I'm somewhat uneasy about the idea that Delhi is so crowded that hundreds or thousands of people can just disappear without anyone caring -- or at least, that this is more the case there than in other large cities around the globe. Nor can I see why 1924 was supposed to be such a significant date in the history of India that it necessitated bringing the alien artefacts back to Britain before it became independent. 1934, maybe. (Then again, there was a 'wtf?' line about 'Mr Churchill and his talk of independence', which suggests that historical plausibility might not have been the focus of scriptwriterly attention. Churchill was one of the strongest opponents of Dominion status for India.)
It was however interesting to see more about original Torchwood, having a presence in the Empire (totally logical given the premise of the organisation) and being just as ruthless as ever, with that playing into the Raj Golden Age ideas of the nutcases within the club.
The Dead Line
OK, fair's fair, I give up. I'll never take the piss out of w00by emo Janto stories again. They're canon now, FFS. Ianto's little speech at Jack's bedside was so much what you normally expect to see in fic it was quite a surprise in a regular show. You get the impression that the writers quite like to do fanservice. Yet another of Jack's old flames turning up, though?!
Still, this was much the tightest of the three in terms of plot, pacing, and indeed characterisation. The story moved along at a good clip as Gwen and Rhys gradually found out more and more, and it was pleasantly unclear what the alien virus actually was even after the finale. That can be very effective provided you get enough to show what it does while leaving much mysterious. (I'm thinking Midnight here, also the whole in-the-wires thing was reminiscent of The Idiot's Lantern.) There was some excellent interaction between Gwen and Rhys, with Gwen being tough and Rhys playing copper and them working together well as a team. A good one to finish with.
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Date: 2009-07-04 03:52 pm (UTC)Yes, actually. That was my first thought as well. That the man calls himself Torchwood and perhaps also driftwood, was a nice comment on his situation if he did in fact say both. I could totally see Jack risking his life and reaching down through the roof for the little girl.
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Date: 2009-07-07 10:32 pm (UTC)