Wat is er mis met Torchwood?
Bart Van Hemelen
(Voor de niet-ingewijden: Torchwood is een spin-off van Dr Who, die
momenteel op BBC 3 en BBC 2 loopt.)
Een lange maar excellente post van een blog --
http://feelinglistless.blogspot.com/ .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The mistake was in creating an adult spin-off from a family show that
has largely made the show an exercise in justifying its timeslot. At
its inception, the production team explained that it would allow them
to tell stories that they couldn't in the Saturday night family slot.
This has certainly been obvious in the episodes already broadcast which
in no particular order have featured suicide, nymphomania, rape,
murder, pedophilia, cannibalism, necromancy, swearing and
metro-sexuality. The execution of these elements has been very
gratuitous, which isn't necessarily to be criticized in and of itself.
Except this has largely meant that the content of the stories seems to
be governed by the need to include these elements rather than logical
plotting, and indeed in an episode like Small Worlds the scary but
benign opening to the story is rejected for something darker with the
death of an apparently important character being almost entirely
arbitrary. Did Jack's old flame really need to die with all of the
other mayhem that was happening around them?
There is a willful (and bizarre) ignoring (or ignorance) of the need
for standard genre storytelling, of following classical narrative
techniques. Film writer Thomas Sobchack indicates that 'in the genre
film the plot is fixed, the characters defined and the ending
satisfyingly predictable' and this is just as, if not more important in
genre television, of which Torchwood is an example, as the viewer gets
their weekly fix of variations on the theme. In all cop shows its an
investigation - who broke the law and why. In The X-Files it's
discovering the cause of some strange phenomena and in Buffy as with
all superhero shows it's the ongoing attempt to destroy evil. Without A
Trace is about the race to find the missing person. In Star Trek it's
more often than not the Enterprise or whatever ship has mission to
carry out before the episode is up - in Voyager that might be finding
some metal to build a new shuttlecraft etc. In Quantum Leap, Sam has to
put right what once went wrong before he can leap. It's simply not
possible to define Torchwood in these terms, especially since it even
ignores the opening speech that Jack gives before each episode.
In all of these shows the goal that is clearly defined the beginning of
each episode is satisfyingly resolved by the end, the equilibrium
maintained unless its purposefully left open as part of an ongoing
story arc. In Torchwood, the initial goal, which usually involves the
investigation of an alien something police procedural style is more
often than not resolved in the opening first ten minutes of the episode
and then a secondary goal is usually created because of the motivations
or mistakes of someone within the crew. Although it's possible to
suggest that this is the format it doesn't simply doesn't satisfy
because predominantly the secondary goal is far less interesting than
the proposed original. In Ghost Machine the alien dongle's power is
explained in the opening ten minutes as is the initial mystery of who
is in Gwen's vision and the secondary goals of where is came from and
Owen wanting to avenge the rapist are not strong enough to carry the
rest of the episode. Cyberwoman and Greeks Bearing Gifts are entirely
based upon the premise that someone within Torchwood hasn't been
entirely honest and in all three the climax boils down to the results
of one of the team deciding to admit that something dodgy has been
going on.
This narrative uncertainty is carried over to the treatment of
character. One of the key elements of any drama is narrative agency -
in other words which character's point of view is being followed within
the story and on a more particular level each scene. In genre
television, narrative agency is held by one of the main characters, or
a particular character if that's all that's in the room. In The West
Wing tonight, towards the end, there was a scene when Leo was finding
out from the staff how bad a day its actually been. All of the close
ups are with him as he looks out into the room at people who are
essentially much smaller than him. So the audience is viewing the scene
through his eyes and that continues as he goes into the Oval Office to
have an argument with the President who again is usually shown well
into the frame. It's a very subtle thing, but it has to do with acting,
shot angles, editing and music and the director deciding who is most
important in a scene and the message.
In Torchwood, narrative agency is often all over the place and too
often is 'conferred' on the guest star. In Greeks Baring Gifts, which
let's not forget is Tosh's first showcase, in nearly every scene she
shares with Mary, it's the alien whose in charge - it's all about her
reactions to Tosh and her manipulation of the situation. The problem is
that it makes Tosh look weak and we never know what she is thinking -
the episode is about Mary getting into Torchwood when it should be
about Tosh trying to discover who this woman is. But Tosh hardly ever
has agency anywhere in the episode - at the very end, it's all about
Jack's leadership skills not Tosh trying to work out what do next. When
she crunches the necklace it's about Jack willing (and so therefore us)
willing her to make the correct decision. Random Shoes was really only
about the guest star with Torchwood becoming guest stars in their own
series.
On other occasions, there are scenes and episodes in which no one seems
to have agency so the audience doesn't know what to think. Countrycide
has a morass of these scenes; look at the moment when Gwen is sewing up
Owen's wound. Who is that scene about? It should be about Gwen saving
Owen and the consequences of that but the camera angles don't favour
anyone and the performances don't reflect anything that has happened in
the episode up until that point. This makes the characters a largely
unsympathetic group and unapproachable curbing a lot of the
entertainment. It's like watching Big Brother's live feed before the
editors have taken a day's footage and created a narrative.
Can these problems be resolved? Of course they can. The show just needs
a much clearer vision, the Torchwood team needs to be far more
goal-orientated and a more clearly defined episode structure. Each
episode needs to state the mission or goal of the ensuing drama. It
doesn't need something as strict as a diary entry from Captain Jack
(for example) but it should have at least a scene in which all the
characters pertinent to the story are together and the point is made.
Spooks does this all the time and it gives the ensuing story clarity -
and whatever the goal is should be the point of the ensuing drama, the
closing moments of the episode resolving whatever this is, with
secondary goals being additions rather than substitutions. Possibly,
the best episode of the series Day One does exactly this.
Above all Torchwood needs an injection of realism. Often, the attitude
to logical time is haphazard at best and sometimes its tricky to tell
exactly the real world duration of an episode. It's not clear exactly
how long Tosh and Mary spent together in Greeks Bearing Gifts and the
flub in They Keep Killing Suzie when Owen says driving along in pitch
darkness that they have minutes to save Gwen and moments later to be
greeted with a climax in pure daylight is unforgivable. Although that's
just careless, the probably solution to narrative problems might be to
rain in the team and have a Jim Phelpsian figure sending them out on
the missions underscoring the importance of what they're doing. It
might even be an idea to make them more clearly answerable to the
government - that would put a stop to all the pissing about in The Hub
with basketball games - give them quotas and reports to consider.
The so-called run of the mill stories in most shows allow the premise
benders to really shine. Arguably every episode of Torchwood breaks a
premise that hasn't been too clearly defined which makes the series
incredibly difficult to watch. Some might call this a brave experiment,
but how can the audience will a return to a status quo if it isn't
entirely clear what that status quo actually is? All of the show's
other problems, such as characterization are a knock on effect from
this and would be largely resolved if classical storytelling techniques
were being followed. If the characters are allowed to actually save the
day without being the cause of the crisis in the first place, our
empathy with them will improve too.
The answer to the second question is -- yes. Definitely. In future
years we'll discover how much day to day time Russell T Davies spent on
Torchwood along with Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Is he,
as I suspect, only actually the showrunner on one of them? Its worth
keeping in mind that Joss Whedon managed Buffy season seven, Angel
season four and Firefly altogether in the same year and arguably the
first two were a renaissance for their respective shows and the last is
still a television classic. But he cleverly had the right creative
teams put together whom he trusted with some of the nuts and bolts but
he was also, somehow, able to keep his own creative vision for all
three. Listen to the audio commentaries and its apparent that the
majority of his energy was with Firefly, but he still managed to pen
the final episode of Buffy. Frankly the man is a creative machine and
anyone in those circumstances who can turn out a great piece of
television - period - like the Firefly episode Objects in Space
deserves respect.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
BVH
Giovanni Wassen
> (Voor de niet-ingewijden: Torchwood is een spin-off van Dr Who, die
> momenteel op BBC 3 en BBC 2 loopt.)
>
> Een lange maar excellente post van een blog --
> http://feelinglistless.blogspot.com/ .
Het is en blijft een kwestie van smaak, ik vat Torchwood ook niet zo
maar het zit de schrijver van dat stuk nogal dwars schijnbaar. Ik zou
er niet zo'n lang stuk aan wijden. Vreemd genoeg heeft de beste
man/vrouw in kwestie wel alle afleveringen zitten kijken, maar als hij
het echt helemaal niets vindt moet hij gewoon stoppen met kijken. Zelf
twijfel ik ook iedere week, maar het zit me niet zo dwars dat ik het
allemaal in detail aan mezelf wil uitleggen.
--
Gio
Mari
>
> (Voor de niet-ingewijden: Torchwood is een spin-off van Dr Who, die
> momenteel op BBC 3 en BBC 2 loopt.)
>
> Een lange maar excellente post van een blog --
> http://feelinglistless.blogspot.com/ .
Meh, sorry hoor, maar ik ga zo'n lap tekst niet lezen als het niet jouw
argumenten bevat.
Groetjes
Mari
--
"Don't you wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence?
There's one marked 'Brightness,' but it doesn't work."
Gallagher
Giovanni Wassen
> metro-sexuality.
Dus! In Torchwood lopen mannen rond die vrouwelijke trekjes hebben maar
toch gewoon heteroseksueel zijn? Grappig, was me nog niet opgevallen.
Biseksualiteit echter...
--
Gio
Peter Kleiweg
> Bart Van Hemelen schreef:
>
> >
> > (Voor de niet-ingewijden: Torchwood is een spin-off van Dr Who, die
> > momenteel op BBC 3 en BBC 2 loopt.)
> >
> > Een lange maar excellente post van een blog --
> > http://feelinglistless.blogspot.com/ .
>
> Meh, sorry hoor, maar ik ga zo'n lap tekst niet lezen als het niet jouw
> argumenten bevat.
Ik vind je aanbidding van Bart Van Hemelen overdreven. Er zijn
echt nog wel meer mensen die iets interessants te vertellen
hebben.
--
Peter leest : Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher ; The Seven Basic Plots
http://www.let.rug.nl/~kleiweg/leeslog/
Wietze
wrote:
Ik ben na 2 afleveringen ook gestopt met kijken en ik heb geen idee waarom
dat was. Ik heb afleveringen 3 en 4 nog wel gedownload, maar die staan nog
steeds op mijn bureaublad en ik heb nooit zin om te gaan kijken. Vraag me
niet hoe het kan, maar het staat me gewoon tegen om Torchwood te gaan
kijken. Raar hè? Ik snap het zelf ook niet...
Grace and peace,
--
Wietze
___________________________________________________________________
"The world, all of history has been moving toward, is upon us!" - Saviour
Machine
Wouter Valentijn
> On Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:13:06 +0100, Giovanni Wassen
> <ext...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>> (Voor de niet-ingewijden: Torchwood is een spin-off van Dr Who, die
>>> momenteel op BBC 3 en BBC 2 loopt.)
>>>
>>> Een lange maar excellente post van een blog --
>>> http://feelinglistless.blogspot.com/ .
>>
>> Het is en blijft een kwestie van smaak, ik vat Torchwood ook niet zo
>> maar het zit de schrijver van dat stuk nogal dwars schijnbaar. Ik zou
>> er niet zo'n lang stuk aan wijden. Vreemd genoeg heeft de beste
>> man/vrouw in kwestie wel alle afleveringen zitten kijken, maar als
>> hij het echt helemaal niets vindt moet hij gewoon stoppen met
>> kijken. Zelf twijfel ik ook iedere week, maar het zit me niet zo
>> dwars dat ik het allemaal in detail aan mezelf wil uitleggen.
>
> Ik ben na 2 afleveringen ook gestopt met kijken en ik heb geen idee
> waarom dat was. Ik heb afleveringen 3 en 4 nog wel gedownload, maar
> die staan nog steeds op mijn bureaublad en ik heb nooit zin om te
> gaan kijken. Vraag me niet hoe het kan, maar het staat me gewoon
> niet...
>
Je bent niet de enige.
Ik ben ook afgehaakt na twee afleveringen. Het greep me gewoon niet. Min of
meer had ik mezelf voorgenomen misschien er wat meer uit te proberen, maar
o.a. uit tijdgebrek ben ik daar niet eens meer aan begonnen en heb ik het
gewoon maar laten schieten.
Er moet bij dit soort dingen altijd wel een vonk overschieten en die vonk
kwam gewoon niet.
--
Wouter Valentijn
www.wouter.cc
www.nksf.nl
http://www.nksf.scifics.com/Nom20062007.html
www.zeppodunsel.nl
liam=mail
"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
Order given by David Farragut at the Battle of Mobile Bay
Andrea!
> (Voor de niet-ingewijden: Torchwood is een spin-off van Dr Who, die
> momenteel op BBC 3 en BBC 2 loopt.)
Ten eerste is er natuurlijk niks mis met Torchwood. :) De kijkcijfers zijn
prima, de waardering ligt ook hoog, en blijkbaar is er dus een fors publiek
dat een tweede seizoen rechtvaardigt.
> There is a willful (and bizarre) ignoring (or ignorance) of the need
> for standard genre storytelling, of following classical narrative
> techniques. Film writer Thomas Sobchack indicates that 'in the genre
> film the plot is fixed, the characters defined and the ending
> satisfyingly predictable' and this is just as, if not more important
> in genre television, of which Torchwood is an example, as the viewer
> gets their weekly fix of variations on the theme.
Grappig dat de schrijver exact aan kan geven wat er zo anders is aan TW,
maar vervolgens meteen vindt dat dat 'probleem' opgelost moet worden.
<knip>
It's like watching Big Brother's
> live feed before the editors have taken a day's footage and created a
> narrative.
Yep. Maar ik vind dat geen probleem. Het is soms inderdaad net een soort
reality-tv-serie, waarbij dingen 'zomaar' gebeuren en niet alles een
betekenis of een reden heeft.
--
Andrea!
Bart Van Hemelen
Andrea! wrote:
> > (Voor de niet-ingewijden: Torchwood is een spin-off van Dr Who, die
> > momenteel op BBC 3 en BBC 2 loopt.)
>
> Ten eerste is er natuurlijk niks mis met Torchwood. :) De kijkcijfers zijn
> prima,
De enige die ik heb gezien spreken van "meest bekeken niet-sport
uitzending op de digitale zenders". En als het geen kijkers zou trekken
na die "shove it down their throats"-campagne van de BBC, dat zou pas
erg zijn. Ik kijk allesbehalve vaak BBC tegenwoordig, en toch stoot ik
bijna altijd op een promo. En tot voor kort leek Barrowman echt overal
in te zitten. Je zou denken dat een serie die nu al een maandje of twee
loopt voldoende bekend zou moeten zijn bij het publiek, en dat die
promotionele push dus wel eens mag vermidneren.
> Grappig dat de schrijver exact aan kan geven wat er zo anders is aan TW,
> maar vervolgens meteen vindt dat dat 'probleem' opgelost moet worden.
Ik zie plenty programmeur die dingen "anders" doen, maar da's meestal
niet beter hoor, gewoon een gevolg van zelfoverschatting.
Zo wijst de auteur er o.a. op dat de serie zich zelfs niet houdt aan de
premisse die in de voice-over aan het begin vermeldt: da's niet dingen
anders doen, da's klungelwerk.
--
BVH
Mari
> Mari schreef op de 13e dag van de wintermaand van het jaar 2006:
>
>> Bart Van Hemelen schreef:
>>
>> >
>> > (Voor de niet-ingewijden: Torchwood is een spin-off van Dr Who, die
>> > momenteel op BBC 3 en BBC 2 loopt.)
>> >
>> > Een lange maar excellente post van een blog --
>> > http://feelinglistless.blogspot.com/ .
>>
>> Meh, sorry hoor, maar ik ga zo'n lap tekst niet lezen als het niet
>> jouw argumenten bevat.
>
> Ik vind je aanbidding van Bart Van Hemelen overdreven. Er zijn
> echt nog wel meer mensen die iets interessants te vertellen
> hebben.
Sorry Peter, ik zal je foto direct uitprinten en ter aanbidding in de
kerstboom hangen.
feeling...@btopenworld.com
Well I would stop watching it if I wasn't a glutton for punishment and
it wasn't a Doctor Who spin-off -- I don't watch a *lot* of television
live and although it might not be reflected in the article there are
some things I do like about it. Last week's episode 'Combat' was good.
I mean if you really want to know what I think, I've been reviewing
the episodes weekly here.
http://tachyontv.typepad.com/waiting_for_christopher/stuart_ian_burns/
CAREFUL OF SPOILERS THOUGH FOR EPISODES YOU HAVEN'T SEEN!
To answer the other person who asked why I would write something so
long for something I so evidently dislike, I was answering a direct
question for something I was running on my blog through December which
I was inaccurately describing as a Review of 2006 when it was obviously
something far deeper ...
Thanks for reading.
Stuart.
(http://feelinglistless.blogspot.com)
PS Incidentally I have no Dutch but I used BabelFish so apologese if I
misunderstood anyone's comments!