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.

[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]

Hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I just spat out my strong alcoholic beverage XD

[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...

[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!!!

[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.

[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.

[angelkitty101.livejournal.com]

Not Silver, but willing to save!

When do the exams finish? How many have you got left?

[a-silver-story.livejournal.com]

I sent you a PMMMM XD

[applesaucetraum.livejournal.com]

I agree and that was one of the reasons I was all "WTF???" when I heard the rumours about the American version.

Ah, that is understandable and I probably won't expect too much either.

I only started Torchwood in like January,so I wasn't really part of the "original viership" anyway and it's just become a big squidge of all three series for me... If that makes any sense...

[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. :(

[iceshade.livejournal.com]

Apparently Tom Price was tweeting about it though... (don't have/follow twitter so this is all word-of-lj)

[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]

Ahhn no it does make sense - I've come to fandoms part way through, as it were, before.

But from the POV of most 'original viewers', there is a VAST difference and a VAST gap between series 2 and CoE. It's hugely, hugely different, and not what we were watching Torchwood for.

[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!)

[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

[iceshade.livejournal.com]

omg, I made my own post about it (in my lj) but it bears saying again: if they kill off Rhys and have Gwen get with Jack I'm done immediately.

[bettathnbarbie.livejournal.com]

Ditto.

[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.

[a-silver-story.livejournal.com]

SECONDED SO HARD.

[angelkitty101.livejournal.com]

I am really, really hoping that we are all wrong here. Gwack is so forced anyway! And it will really put me off. I've no problem with het, just when it's blugeoned into us with a sledgehammer!

And I love Kai! And Tom!