Torchwood anyone?

*looks round empty room*

What is it? (I could really just go look these things up, but I'm lazy )

As far as I know it's a Dr. Who spinoff centred around an organisation featured in the climatic end to one of the newer Dr. Who seasons featuring Captain Jack.

Yep, like Spyke said it's a spin-off to Dr Who: http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/

Like Dr Who it's filmed in Cardiff, but is actually set in Cardiff, not Cardiff posing as London (amognst other places) lol

The BBC said it's a 'more grown up' version of Doctor Who so its aired after 9pm. What they mean is that it contains lots of storylines which revolve around things they don't want to appear in Doctor Who itself (e.g. sex, violence, gay pairings, drugs etc)

Some of the episodes are a bit hit and miss (not always good) but it can be quite entertaining.

Okay so I really got into this only to have my heart broken a year after realising it's greatness.

I have accepted what happened in the third series unlike some of the fans, though I still stand by them in saying that it wasn't Torchwood at all. And my opinion of Russell T.Davies has changed completely from what it used to be now that his true self and arrogance has been shown in the third series' aftermath. I'll never watch anything newly produced that has his name tied to it, not even the last remaining episodes of Doctor Who featuring David Tennant, which include the Christmas ones with John Barrowman in.

So what happened, exactly? It sounds serious.

Oh, where to start? *takes deep breath*

Let's start with the third series' announcement were they cut it down from 13 episodes to just 5 episodes in order to tell one long story and another channel hop from BBC2 to BBC1.
So from this fans were disappointed by the number of episodes but excited by the show being considered as mainstream viewing. Not sure how TV works in the US but over here on the BBC channels, BBC3 is where they test out 'new shows' amongst repeats of old shows and documentaries. (back before digital TV when there was no BBC3, BBC2 used to be the test channel) If the show is then considered popular and worthwhile they make the leap to BBC2 which is were the 'not-quite-mainstream-considered' shows air, and again if they do well there they make their way onto BBC1 which is 'supposed to be' the best and most likely channel for people to watch.(?) Oh, and they're going to show the whole series on five consecutive nights. (WTF?)

Filming for the third series finished in November 2008 with an estimated air date (UK) of February/March 2009.
This was then put back to April. When April came they then said May. When May came they then said June. When June came the fans were more than fed up with being fobbed off time after time, and at about two weeks before it was due to air they revealed it would be July 6. But what annoyed UK fans the most was that BBCAmerica had their air-date announcement well over a month in advance before the BBC would even consider revealing it to the UK public.

Release of information/footage was kept to a bare minimum....
... within the UK! The series got its trailer unveiled at NYcomiccom to help promote it the the rapidly growing overseas fanbase. Okay, that was handled and accepted, but UK license payers were given a slap in the face when BBCAmerica ran multiple trailers and exclusive behind the scenes snippets in the months before it aired which were not shown over here, we had nothing!! (some people think this point is petty, but the BBC use our license money to make the shows so we should be entitled to something rather than nothing?! That's like paying for your groceries at a store and the clerk giving them to the person in the queue behind you)

The hype given by the BBC, Russell T.Davis and most of the cast (laughing as they blame it all on the donkeys to avoid revealing anything meaningful) is that this series would be one that fans wouldn't want to miss as it would satisfy all as it expands on character relationships and gives a more in-depth insight into them. So lots of good things to come then?

It aired.

It was Torchwood in the fact that it used the series' name and featured the characters, who at times were so 'out of character' that the majority of fanfics on the net would have been more believable. Even the style it was shot and sometimes the dialogue, no, just everything wasn't right about it.

Imagine Buffy the Vampire Slayer but cut your cast down to just Buffy, Xander, and one other person, whoever else you want, it doesn't really matter. Now pretend that the Hellmouth doesn't exsist, and while you're at it get rid of all vampires and any other demons that might be lurking about, they're not needed at all for this show. In fact we're not even going to stay in Sunnydale, lets go hang out near the Whitehouse and get involved in some political affairs. Uh-oh Buffy and Xander get into some danger that they otherwise would have avoided, all because the writers think that a character death is the only good drama there is. Yay, the heroine lives but the fan favourite dies a pointless death. Now Buffy puts an end to the political debate by killing the kid who didn't show up until the fourth season when the series had established itself. Remember the other person you chose to tag along for this story? Well they get a happy ending, everything is just peachy for them except they're sad to see Buffy take off, again, and live an emo life.

That was this latest series in a nutshell. A well loved programme altered to appeal to non-fans and draw in the viewing figures whilst ignoring the things that made it great in the first place. I won't argue, yes it was quite good viewing but it was not Torchwood.

So how did the rest of the fanbase take it? Heartbroken, divided and fighting amongst themselves.

Many fans are traumatised by the 'unnecessary' death of Ianto Jones, myself included (I cried for a solid half hour during and after the episode aired and still go teary eyed at the though of what happened) To a lot of people he was Torchwood (imagine Star Trek without Spock, it's just not the same) and I don't know what made Russell T.Davis and the BBC think it would be a good idea to kill him off. I don't feel his death to the same extend as some of the fans (I went through that phase when Take That split up) but I'm certainly not against what they are doing: http://www.saveiantojones.com/

Russell T.Davis has stated that he has no plans and will not bring Ianto back, and quite frankly I don't want him back. The Torchwood I fell in love with is now dead and to some extent ruined for me. But what has really left me feeling bitter about all of this is the way that Russell T.Davis replied in response to his heart broken fans as apparently, "anyone who was greatly upset by Ianto's death was only because they thought he was pretty"! WTF?!!! And he continued to say, "... they should go and watch Supernatural because those boys are extremely pretty." Yeah Russell, I've started watching this show since my mum lent me her DVDs and I can already see the superiority of it and it's got nothing to do with the way they look! The thing that topped it all for me was his attitude as he simply waved the idea of losing his fanbase to one side because, "... I'll continue to thrive without them." I ought to remember that it's a steep climb to fame and that the drop will happen a hell of a lot quicker for him to come back down.


(Hope my rambling made sense)

Yeesh, so he actually said what he said in your fanfic? That douche will definitely get what's coming to him.

My condolences on Torchwood, then. I've never followed a series that diverged from itself quite so violently and so suddenly, and it sounds awful. I was pretty pissed at the last couple of books of the Animorphs series, though, because she killed off a main character with a pointless death just for the sake of saying that someone was going to die in the final volume. Her explanation afterwards was that it was a war, so you can't expect everyone to live through it (even though they all had for 50+ books already), and she was tired of the series anyway and should have ended it a dozen books sooner. It's awful to be betrayed by a writer you trust and hear them talk like that about something you love...

By the way, I'm a big fan of Supernatural! I've been furiously watching the fourth season lately so I can be all caught up by the time the first episode of season five airs this fall. My friend Steph and I watched the entire series in a month, and I'm still enjoying it. (Steph has a thing for Dean, but I mostly like it for the dialogue )

Oh yeah, there's something I've been wondering about: what IS a typical TV season in the UK? I've always been puzzled that a Red Dwarf season is only six to eight episodes long, and about the same for Monty Python. A season in the US is much longer than that, like 20 or so depending. When does a season usually start and end?

I may not have gotten his words exactly spot on, but yeah, that's the kind of attitude RTD has.
Also forgot to mention that Ianto's death was on top of two other main character's deaths at the end of the second series, so he killed off 3 of his 5 main cast in the space of 5 episodes. And there was another important character who dies at the same time as well as the poor boy who gets sacrificed near the end, both of them are greatly over shadowed by Ianto's death.

I reckon that I'd be a bit gutted about the Animorphs series too if I was to read it. I'm all for deaths in these kind of things (heck, I write them in my fanfics) but only if it serves a real purpose to the plot. Like you said the characters survived 50+ books so why decide to change that all of a sudden? I guess that they both just got bored with the success they had and ended it to move on to other things.

I'm still on the first season (the Bugs episode was the last one that I watched) and I am liking it a lot. Dean has some brilliant one liners doesn't he? Please tell me that they only get better. I'm not sure if season four has aired over here. I don't watch a lot of TV nowadays, just DVDs of things people recommend. Don't think I'll continue watching it for another few weeks though as Darren is making me watch Heroes (almost finished the first season, 3 episodes left for that and then on to season 2)

As for seasons/series (they both mean the same here in the UK, I remember having an argument disagreement with Zene about this on the Yugioh World forum) I'm not entirely sure. I think it just depends on how much material/funds/time the TV company have. Did the new series of Red Dwarf get aired in the US? I can't remember if that was a two or three parter. Was entertaining though. Oh and on the subject of Red Dwarf, that is also one of the programmes that made a leap from BBC2 to BBC1 for the last two series I think(?) and just look how that went.

This is the site that I go to to watch Supernatural: http://supernatural-streaming.blogspot.com/
The series by season four is less one-shot investigations and more plot-heavy, but still good. I can't wait to find out where the end of season four will take them... I have to finish it before 8pm tonight, haha.

Yeah, the last couple of seasons of Red Dwarf were crap. I mean, getting rid of Rimmer? Whose bright idea was that? Although it did lead to one of my favorite Red Dwarf songs ever... tee hee. "Master of the wit and the repartee, his command of space directives is uncanny, how come he's such a genius? Don't ask me! He's Arnold, Arnold, Arnold Rimmer..." ^_^

Thankies for the link, I'll check out season four onwards once I've cleared the first three (still haven't gotten any further, only just finished Heroes) I don't mind plot heavy seasons at all. I just don't like it when everything that you fell in love with about the show is ignored in favour of trying to gain a wider audience.

I love the Rimmer song too.

In memory of Ianto:


And just because I love him: