Torchwood on Points of View

[galadriel1010]

I thought this might be of interest, to see what people are saying about it on the BBC Points of View message board.

5 threads on Torchwood, summarised
Responses have ranged from 'dreadful' to 'must-watch TV'. Lots of complaints about the length of the trailer and the spoilers it contained, far, far more about the Americanisation. Some commenters thought that the English and Welsh mocking was out of line because it seemed to be for the American audience rather than self-deprecating as it has been in the past. Quite a few complaints about various plot holes and lazy writing. The general response seems to be OK or below.

One interesting thread was complaining that the Welsh accents ruined it. That poster got shouted down as an idiot pretty quickly, though.

This quote I have to share: "Sometimes I think RTD is actually just a highly smug collections of sponges that wears glasses."

Comments

[kelticbanshee]

I pretty much agree with those summarised points. And that quote made me laugh out loud... Good thing I was on my way out of the office...

[bk_forever]

That's a bit insulting - to sponges! lol!

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

I agree, them's fighting words...

[beesandbrews.livejournal.com]

LOL

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I think both sides are right. If you wanted 'old' TW or even CoE TW, this isn't it. If you like American style mystery/action shows this is it.

One of the problems I'm seeing is whether some of the over the top stuff is done for laughs or is supposed to be serious. Take Gwen with the baby in one hand/gun in the other. I have a feeling that RTD was trying to recapture some of the 'camp' from earlier seasons, but that's not clear to a lot of viewers new and old.

As for the Welsh accents, honestly, there were times when you couldn't understand Gwen. That was never the case before. No problem with Andy or Rhys apparently. I don't know if she was told to use a heavier accent, but I can see why people might be complaining.

[backrose-17.livejournal.com]

I love that quote, now I can't get that picture out of my head.

[fide-et-spe.livejournal.com]

Ooh I must check it out. I might complain about the Beeb showing an American show in prime time on BBC1.

I think it's always worth doing POV because they are supposed to respond. Of course the ratings are what will matter.

[lone-star-woman.livejournal.com]

From what I read on the Doctor Who News World, the first episode got 4.8 million viewers. I don't know if that's good or bad, but it is well below the figures for CoE. In the U.S., it did as well as Camelot, which was cancelled, and ratings tend to dip after the first episode of a new show.

[fide-et-spe.livejournal.com]

Yes I saw the ratings as well, it's not that great. I was looking at some other figures for that week, and Law and Order UK got over a million more viewers. Also I read that a million people turned off during the programme. That really isn't good.

Interesting that Camelot was cancelled, because the production people for TW have announced that tax break for the next series, but presumably the next series won't be made if the ratings are that bad.

[welsh-scotsman.livejournal.com]

that's interesting about the accents ;) i also wondered if gwen sounded more 'welsh' than she was or if it's just cos i hadn't heard her for a while, and honestly, i found bill pullman's character very hard to understand when he was talking to that guard guy - it was as if he were mumbling his lines and i had to focus really hard to understand so maybe it works both ways.

i also found the english/welsh mocking to be slightly out of line but i can see where they were coming from so am choosing to take it as humourous. after all, to be fair in c of e, gwen said about jabs and visas and so on when going into england so maybe it was the same thing.

also, i think the trailer was made that long to fit the bbc? maybe the american channel had a lot of adverts breaks? i dont know but that could be a reason. i dont know if america got that long a trailer ;)

[caladria.livejournal.com]

Paedophiles. They all talk all mumbly and creepy. That's why they're so easy to spo.. oh wait.

[caladria.livejournal.com]

Some of the Welsh mocking was good! The bridge! He had to pay for it! Although that was far more American-inna-foreign place.

It was just a bit... boring. I mean, CoE was edge-of-seat and this is a bit more longrunning.

(oh, the trailer though. How could anyone not complain about it? They could have practically shown the next ep in that gap.)

[angelkitty101.livejournal.com]

I love that comment so much I may get it on a t-shirt!