TW Series 4 Announced - no American reboot, but it's going to be 'bigger and bolder than ever'

[a_silver_story]

Torchwood series 4 Announced


According to the quote in the article, it's going to be 'bigger and bolder than ever' (what? again? Bigger and bolder than ever ... again? FFS! 'bigger and bolder' doesn't exactly translate well. Look at Jurassic Park II and the TRex in San Diego! May have been bigger ... certainly wasn't 'better'.)

Thankfully not an American reboot (thank Christ they dropped that idea), but it will be a ten episode, three-way production between BBC Cyrmu, BBC Worldwide and American network Starz with RTD, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter in charge. Instead of being based in Cardiff, it's going to be all over the place in 'international locations'.

Just what the Torchwood fans wanted. Definitely. Without a doubt. I mean, one of the things we LOVED about CoE was that it wasn't in Cardiff, right?


Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why can't they just FUCKING. STAY. IN. CARDIFF? And WTF? Gwen's still in Torchwood? Does she lose her baby somehow? Surely Gwen isn't so irresponsible (okay - she's had her moments, but when it comes to kids, parents generally have some form of clarity) as to continue work for Torchwood with a dependent child? I mean ... it's not like she KNOWS RTD will NEVER EVER kill her ....

Maybe she'll just be wandering around in the background like Donna did in the End of Time, with no discernible or real reason for being there other than LOOK AT THE POPULAR ACTRESS! LOOK! WE DIDN'T FORGET HER AFTER WE BALLSED UP HER STORYLINE!

And JACK - sending Jack off-planet at the end of CoE always confused me. Cuz ... there was no way they weren't gonna bring him back. What a waste of my screen time.


JACK: I'm going. I can't ever return here. This planet is a graveyard to me.

[an appropriate amount of plot happens (though probably not very much, really)]

JACK: IMMA BACK, AND IT'S GONNA BE BIGGA AND BETTA THAN EVARRRRR!




Maybe series four will be Jack taking Rhys, Gwen and Baby around all the places he visited on his six months travelling after torturing his grandson to death.


Despite my instantly negative reaction, I will have to give it a go. There is the teeniest, tiniest smidgen of chance that it might actually be worth the time and effort. My biggest drawbacks are a) WTF NOT IN CARDIFF? WHY WHY WHY??? WHAT ABOUT THE RIFT?

REMEMBER THE RIFT???????

and b) RTD is writing again. Could he at least have a beta this time? Please? Maybe a continuation whiteboard to go with his new, shiny, US office?

Cuz ... srsly ... USA can keep him.



EDIT: As iantogodeo pointed out, there's no mention of Kai Owen or Tom Price. Maybe Rhys and Andy ran away together with Gwen's baby, and that's why it's vaguely sane for Gwen to still be with Torchwood. Rhys + Andy= Rhandy. CSI: Cardiff could still happen.

Comments

[griza.livejournal.com]

I am really in two minds about this.

Positive: JB!, Captain Jack is back and same goes for Torchwood.

Negative: RTD, how they are getting Jack back on earth as he wasn't exactly in a happy mood when he left, if they skip over CoE and the way the characters were, Alonso - back or not back, why the international destinations as it could go horribly wrong, they have to find new team mates and the chance of the new characters are some you can relate to is slim and the main problem RTD.*

Belated happy birthday! Without internet since Thursday but now you got it!



*RTD needs to refine his writing and stop using the same methods again and again.

[green-lemon-pie.livejournal.com]

Yanno what I say about Torchwood S4? LOLYOUFUCKINGFAILGODIENOWPLS.

[a-silver-story.livejournal.com]

Hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I just spat out my strong alcoholic beverage XD

[iantogodeo.livejournal.com]

They haven't mentioned Kai Owen or Tom Price. I'm scared! I can't lose them too after Ianto, Tosh and Owen.

[a-silver-story.livejournal.com]

Omg good point - I'll add that to the entry.

[applesaucetraum.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly excited about seeing what they do with it.
Bit iffy about the "not being in Cardiff" thing...
Meh. Hope they don't fudge it all up.

If they're going all over the world, then I would love to see Jack walking down a beach wearing an Aloha shirt and matching shorts instead of his usual attire...

[a-silver-story.livejournal.com]

I just don't think they should change the premise of an established show. If it's not in Cardiff, they're not guarding the Rift, therefore it's not Torchwood.

I'll watch the first episode to see how it goes, but I haven't got high hopes, to be honest. As a fan of the first two series, my viewership doesn't really matter to TBTB anymore anyway. They stopped making my show in 2007.

[mercury-pheonix.livejournal.com]

You realise I'm currently in my own little world giving a big FUCK YOU ARSEHOLES! to the whole Torchwood universe. Seriously. It can go hang for all I care, I have my fanfiction. It won't be Torchwood, Torchwood died a painful death when COE was broadcast, so they may as well just call it Excalibur and be done with it.

Have I mentioned that A Level revision is KICKING ME IN THE ARSE and that news of the "bigger and bolder" (i.e. more death, more angst, more realism, less aliens, go fuck yourself slash fans etc.) has REALLY put me in a bad mood.

And did I also mentioned that I'm never watching it again? I won't relate to any of the characters (why should, when they are metaphorical cannon fodder?) so what is the point?

Hello denial!!

[mercury-pheonix.livejournal.com]

SAVE ME FROM MY A LEVEL REVISION, SILVER!!!

[angelkitty101.livejournal.com]

I wish I could get excited, I really, really do, but all I feel is 'Oh joy. How super'

Totally flat

Even the thought of Unexpected!John isn't helping, and the thought of Alonso really doesn't impress me at all.

I feel terribly 'meh' about it all.

[bettathnbarbie.livejournal.com]

Re the thought of Alonso: Russell Tovey wasn't in the press release and he's a big enough name that maybe it would have been if he were going to be a regular on the show?

I'm thinking they'll maybe go for "love interest of the week" ala Captain Kirk, or Gwack... Given that it's RTD, and that Kai's name wasn't on the initial cast list either, I'm thinking Gwack. I suspect what will bring Jack back to earth is hearing of Rhys's horrible death-by-alien and wanting to comfort Gwen. (Please let me be wrong!)

[rosy5000.livejournal.com]

I feel so "MEH" about this that I don't even want to think about it. I'll probably check out the first episode, but it would take a miracle for me to like it. Even with John back. I may have started watching Torchwood because of John and Captain Jack, but Ianto very quickly won me over and took top spot.

Eeep! If there is no Rhys or Andy, that just makes it soooo much worse. :(

[arixtotle.livejournal.com]

I'm still gonna give it ago. I happen to love the character of Captain Jack Harkness so I'll end up watching for him and to stare at John Barrowman's hotness. XD

About it being a worldwide thing, I don't actually have a problem with that. Yes the television series was about Torchwood in Cardiff but Torchwood as an organization was in more then one place. There were four Torchwood offices, only three of which we know their locations. That is if Torchwood India isn't Torchwood 4 and is actually seen as canon. The only problem I'll have if it's out of the UK is if they're based somewhere else because Torchwood is supposed to be for Queen and Country so if they're based somewhere else then that doesn't apply anymore. Now if they go on loan to other countries because UNIT can't fix anything then that would be alright with me.

About Gwen, it doesn't say if she's actually on the Torchwood team now does it? For all we know she shows up every once and a while or she stays in home base in the UK and doesn't run all over the world. If she does run all over the world I will groan and shake my head but I'll also remember her character. She's one strong willed woman and if she wants to stay with Torchwood even with a baby she wouldn't let anyone stop her. Not even Jack or Rhys.

Next RTD, there is one thing I've realized about him and his writing. He is a fantastic character writer but he's not that good at plot. I love the characters he's created and how they are portrayed by the actors and the writing. He just kind of fails with plot sometimes.

Lastly, I still hold faint hope that they'll bring back Ianto. If they were going to they'd never say it in any press release or anything so I still hold hope.

tl;dr
I'll watch it for Captain Jack Harkness.
It could work with it being worldwide if Torchwood is 'loaned' to other countries.
Gwen could show up and not be a field agent.
RTD is a good character writer but not so good with plot.
I still hold hope in Ianto's resurrection.

[a-silver-story.livejournal.com]

RTD is a good character writer but not so good with plot.


THIS.

This is what pisses me off most about RTD. He IS brilliant at human dynamics and writing dialogue.

He cannot write science fiction plots.

He can't.

We've had the same DW finale for every single one of his seasons, just with different characters. You look at the failure of some of his plot lines ... and you just think ... this guy wrote BBC3's Casanova. I LOVED Casanova. I have it on DVD, and if anyone says anything bad about it, I will beat them with it.

But dear god - that man should not have been head writer of a science fiction show. Science fiction should be primarily escapism, not REALLY REALLY REALLY REAL DRAMAZ. It should - that's why science fiction exists: escapism from the absolute SHIT of real life. I'm not saying that nothing bad should ever happen, that there should be no drama or anything, but there has to be a balance, and the scale, for this genre, as it is not plausible in any other (hence so many people loving it for fantasist and escapist qualities) should tip toward escapism: that there is hope for something better.

And whether Gwen is determined to be in Torchwood or not, it doesn't change the fact that she shouldn't be.

I don't see Torchwood working worldwide. I really just can't. It's not meant to be a big, massive, international operation. It was always that tiny team of renegades in the outpost in Cardiff. That's what gave the show it's character. Giving a show and new premise and a new character part way through it's run is a very bad idea. Why not just pitch a new show rather than destroying the old one?


The only way I can be certain my viewership of TW4 would be regular (I WILL watch the first episode) is if Ianto returns. I don't know if I could just watch it for Jack, because Jack would be ... well ... he'd just carry on without a mention of Ianto, and I'm not sure I could comfortably watch that.

[celstaredflower.livejournal.com]

Reading this...made my heart sink. I'll not be watching. I'll be reading. I'll be reading what people have to say about this....*insert appropriate words here because I can't think of what to say*. If you see it...and it is Gwacky wacky...can you at least put "It's not worth it" and the spoilers in a cut so my poor little heart doesn't have to witness the grossness?

[iceshade.livejournal.com]

You don't know how much this post made my day, because my entire flist is filled with yay-ness over this, and it's nice to see I'm not the only one nauseatingly overjoyed.

I'm also going to give the first ep or two a try, and even though I don't think they are going to bring Ianto back, I don't want them to completely ignore the fact that Jack did leave and he did suffer losses. And it's true, without the underlying crack (as in funny, not the Moff!Crack) it's not really Torchwood

[kiraclara.livejournal.com]

I read the article and was "Wait your waiting for money from the US?" Okay I understand= recession. Everybody has to cut back on a few things.
I'm still mourning the loss of a great television character, so I don't know if I will watch the new series. I can't believe it's already been a year since CoE. (denial!)I hoping they bring Ianto back. HOPE is on my knees praying.
It's a little weird that they will move the show around the world. I mean for all we know the rift covers the entire world, but who's guarding Cardiff. Hope these new characters are worth it.
Still mad at RTD killing three MAJOR characters within a four or five episode span.

[a-silver-story.livejournal.com]

The Rift is through the middle of Cardiff, and the only time it's ever reached outside of it is when it was splintering at the end of S1. Compared to the globe, the Rift isn't that big - hence the tiny outpost in Cardiff.

And even if the new characters are worth it, I'd be too busy wondering when they're going to die suddenly to get attached to them :(

[deathbymutation.livejournal.com]

Well it makes sense for it not just to be in Cardiff. The main character/focus was/is Jack and the last thing he said was he was never coming back. After such a long time in that city and all that death, why would he immediately go back.

I'm thinking he starts of a bit after we left Jack and he's been traveling. Slowly along the way he starts recruiting, or hell just making friends. And near the end of the season Jack says something like "It's time to go home." and BAM he's back in Cardiff.

I kind of always pictured Jack hitchhiking onto a ship and finding it terrorized by something or someone and along the way he meets a survivor who decides to tag along after they destroy whatever is on the ship and then he keeps collecting people along the way.

I think it all ends back in Cardiff but then again I could be wrong.

Sorry for any spelling mistakes, I've been awake a total of 10 minutes. Great news to wake up to though!

[a-silver-story.livejournal.com]

I sincerely doubt this would be the case. First of all, if it was following Jack, it would be off-planet, rather than in 'several international locations'. And why confirm Eve, unless they were planning on interspersing Jack's story with scenes from Gwen's struggle into motherhood while also guarding the severely volatile and from 2009-10-ignored Rift-spillage.

There's no sense in it not being in Cardiff. Torchwood is in Cardiff. That is the point and essence of the show. It doesn't need to be anything or anywhere else. The Rift is in Cardiff. Torchwood guards the Rift. Torchwood is in Cardiff.

If they want a show set somewhere else, make a new one rather than ruining ours.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I'm sensing a Mission Impossible reboot with aliens. That way Jack and/or Gwen can go investigate aliens all over the world (and the actors can get some comped trips to places like.uh..Dubai).

If RTD is involved + Gwen and Jack there will be Gwack and I so won't be watching.

Much like Owen and Tosh's deaths there will be a 10 second tribute to Ianto and Rhys (who tragically fell under a bus). Maybe Gwen can tap her fingernails on two pictures this time. Baby will be with her Mom or some such so no problem there. Leaving Gwen pretty much a swinging single once again.

[zsazsa4168.livejournal.com]

RTD creates decent but deeply disappointing, confusing, aggravating stories. He aspires to be cutting edge but works in such a juvenile and ham-fisted way that what results is even more carnage than "keeping it real" can justify. His disdain for his characters at times is surpassed only by his complete and utter fuck you attitude to people who bother to appreciate his work, his fans.

And I want to watch why?

[magicmalcolm.livejournal.com]

Ehh...I hate to say that I can't bring myself to care about this development...

But, really, I can't. I'm going to be one of those irritating people who insist that Torchwood only had two series no matter how much people say otherwise. Well, at least until I start writing Fix-It-Fic.

I'll wait and see what other actors might be appearing before jumping straight to a DO NOT WATCH conclusion, because John Barrowman alone isn't enough of a draw for me. The characters I watched the show for are gone, and I have no reason to try caring about anybody new because they'll probably get offed too.

Really, it's hard to be optimistic after the dreary, depressing, abandon-all-hope-ye-who-watch-this-mini-series that was CoE.

[(Anonymous)]

First of all, thanks for posting this. I actually KNEW I would end up earing about the fourth season first on you lj. I just knew you would be this great.
(and that's why I'm here every day, not because the mind blowing smutness plus wonderfull plot. gett it now?) rsrsrrrs
Okay, and now I must say I understand everything about your sadness over the new show, but I just think we should give it a small try. I know it's kind of hard to thrust RTD right now, with all the pain we have been through (god, I hope you guys can understand my sh!t english), but hell, he did created every one we once loved, even if we had to loose than.
I do believe someone very smart in here have sad something about here being wonderfull at carachters and sucking in plots.
I don't think Torchwood can ever come back to what it was. but please people, we have been writing and reading and watching videos an reprises of this for over a year, we still love it, we can hide it! we can, of course, be angry about how CoE was. But I still think its John, and it's sci-fi, and it's the rift (hopefully), and it's Torchwood. We're in the fandom.
okay, if it's a totally deformed Torchwood, I can't say I'll watch it. If it's Gwack, can't watch it. Rhy's dead, can't watch it. But hopefully, they'll try to make up with the fans.
I know I'm playing the devil's lawyer here, but hey, people, hope it's the last thing that dies (not sure if this is a saying outside Brazil) and maybe, just maybe, they'll bring Ianto back. and maybe they'll make our time worth it.
And after all that, I can only say I was waiting for that piece of news for a long time, so I have to be happy.
SOWWY THE HUGE COMMENT. sowwy my bad grammar.
Love you, silver! brazilian kisses

[shelbynm.livejournal.com]

I will be suprised if it is going to be any good.
By the way the USA does not want he either. At least I sure as hell don't

[delennbr.livejournal.com]

I promised myself after Coe to NEVER watch a thing rtd writes... it's better for my sanity, so Torchwood is over for me... maybe if Ianto return I might give it a chance, but the fear to see him dying in a very stupid way AGAIN is bigger.
And I don't want a Torchwood around the world! I'm with you, it has to be in Cardiff!!!!!!!!
And I realy don't know what to expect of the show.. Jack is broken, Gwen will never die and has a baby, and all the good ones are already dead.
I really can't watch it all again to like a new character and discovering that he will have the most stupid death rtd can think of.

[blucougar.livejournal.com]

I know I'm a fool, but I live in hope that the network will come to its senses, sack RTD, employ Steve Moffat in his place and kill off Gwen once and for all.
I will watch a new series for John Barrowman, but if it's just going to be The Gwen Cooper Hour with Captain Jack as a token background extra, I'll just go back to pretending Torchwood finished with series 2.
And now I really am not going to Armageddon in Melbourne this year. Eve Myles will be there, and I may get myself arrested for what I'm likely to say to her.

[mercury-pheonix.livejournal.com]

You mean you don't do the pretending thing already? *grins*. I took a plane trip over to Da Nile last year and I'm having a rocking good time!

Another link with more specific info

[bettathnbarbie.livejournal.com]

More info at this link: http://weblogs.variety.com/on_the_air/2010/06/torchwood.html

Highlights:

Davies said the upcoming season of "Torchwood" involves a global crisis, "but always being handled with a lot of wit and a lot of truth and a lot of darkness...The coming season will contain a story arc that comes to full completion at season's end. It will pick up after "Children of Earth" left off, but in a fashion that doesn't require new viewers to have knowledge of previous episodes, he said. ...

In addition to John Barrowman's Capt. Jack Harkness and Eve Myles' Gwen Cooper (pictured above), there will be two other series regulars and a host of recurring characters.

And finally, for those of us worried that he'd keep killing off main characters, it doesn't sound good:

As evidenced by the tumult of "Children of Earth," "Torchwood" isn't exactly a show afraid of confrontation and change, and above all, that's what Davies hopes will continue forward.

Re: Another link with more specific info

[a-silver-story.livejournal.com]

They want viewers, not fans.

Fuck you, RTD.

FUCK. YOU.

[fancieflights.livejournal.com]

I have such mixed feelings about this. I mean, I dislike Gwen and they tried bigger and better and we got COE...

HOWEVER, I found info about season 4 originally through Tom Price's twitter (@pricetom). He sounded rather excited about it. "What a lot of lovely comments - thanks guys. I am v excited aboutTW4, which should be a hint as to what's to come. Happy days."

This gives me hope we'll at least have a bit of PC Andy. No idea about Kai Owen though :(

[jantoforever21.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you. I mean, where is the 'Torchwood' in 'world-wide'? And what's the point of bringing in new characters but keeping Gwen? She has a family now! It's just not Torchwood anymore... not without Ianto, Tosh, Owen or the Hub. It really would've been nice to have that be the end of the show (well, that's my second choice, following the one where no one died at all.

RTD makes me very angry -- I mean, I *did* have a couple of benefits from watching COE (the greatest one being that it changed my views on homosexuality completely (before COE, I didn't really know who Ianto was, since I'd only seen a couple episodes nearly half a year ago, so I went back and watched each episode)). But still, RTD should just listen to "the fans"( I resent from saying "his" because anyone who wants the old TW back probably isn't one).

[bettathnbarbie.livejournal.com]

It's interesting to me that CoE apparently changed your views on homosexuality. Was it in a positive direction? Was it CoE itself that caused the change, or what you saw in the old episodes?

I ask because I thought CoE changed Torchwood from being GLBT-positive to ... well, I thought it took a 180 degree turn. I can give you some examples if you want, but I'm more interested in hearing about how it affected you. (I'm happy to switch to PM if you want, too.)

[kamiandcat.livejournal.com]

The weird thing is, I find the news that Cardiff is a goner even worse then the "Jack, Gwen and new people".

Yes I want Ianto back and I'll keep fighting for that no matter what, but I slowly get the feeling that Ianto/GDL is the only thing that still connects me with Torchwood.

I like JB, I really do, but he's not enough to make me watch when everything else in this show will remind me of what he lost (and I'm not only talking about Ianto here).

And Gwen with her baby and a ray gun is just stupid and too much soap opera for me.

Nope, the only thing that would get me interested is if we'll get Ianto back.

[i-own-ianto.livejournal.com]

Argh!
WTF!
You killed it already RTD, this is what folk call closing the door after the horse has bolted!
Is dead! Ok? dead!
Although if you make jack, Rhys and andy have hot man shagginz...
Gwen isn't an idiot (just sometimes annoyingly insensitive), surely she wouldn't...maybe she gave the baby to Alice, wouldn't suprise me
*glares* hmpf

x

[mercury-pheonix.livejournal.com]

Alice Who?

I jest, but this will be the general scheme of things, if previous series are to go by.

"Oh yeah, there was a dude who I apparently loved and whose death forced me to kill my grandson or some shizzle like that, but I mourned off screen and now I'm fine!£

[xrai-namere.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how to feel about this.

Torchwood outside Cardiff *could* work, if they weren't an international organisation but some kind of consulting agency instead, going around helping other organisations. Though does "for Queen and Country" apply to Torchwood 3?
But it would suck. Torchwood without Cardiff simply wouldn't be Torchwood.
As for the Rift... maybe it packed up and left after the train wreck that was CoE.

Gwen still being in Torchwood would make more sense if there were a few years between S4 and CoE. Her kid would be more independent allowing her to travel and Rhys could be a stay at home dad.
But since "It will pick up after 'Children of Earth' left off", I guess we can say goodbye to that.
And Jack being in it would make no sense if it continues right after CoE. Unless he does some time travelling or whatever, there's no way he's going to come back so soon after everything that happened in CoE.

I feel that there's no point in hoping that Ianto will be coming back but I do hopewishbeg that there'll be at least an episode in which he (or even Tosh or Owen) appear in flashbacks, related to something such as archival retrieval or just anything! (One of the reasons I hate CoE is that it was like Tosh and Owen never existed - until Jack mentioned them at the very, very end).

Gah. >:(

[a-silver-story.livejournal.com]

Don't forget teh Soooper Awesum Tribute to Tosh and Owen in day One as well ... y'know ... when we saw them for two seconds on an old photograph and Gwen tapped and said 'good morning!'. Cuz ... y'know ... that definitely paid their characters the respect and reverence that they deserved, that total of four seconds mentioned over 5 hours of footage.