What I like about Torchwood

[sqbr]

**Disclaimer: ramble written while sick and bored**

So I've been sick recently (and again today! Again!!) and thus watching a bunch of dvds. I'm 2/3 way through Torchwood season 1 and despite the fact that it's frequently terrible am for the most part really enjoying it.

Having just watched a bunch of Dr Who (I'm near the end of Season 2) I decided to think about the difference (apart from Dr Who having better acting etc and significantly less sex) and I think I've figured it out: the doctor himself. He's so smug in his "I am smarter and older and cooler than this entire planet" thing.

While Torchwood still has the "Investigating alien stuff because it's cool (and when appropriate saving the world)" vibe, but is a just a bunch of humans. (Captain Jack is admittedly a bit borderline)

Thinking about other tv shows about people fighting/investigating the supernatural:
While I really like shows like Buffy and Angel, there's still that "chosen ones/supernatural beings save the rather pathetic normals" vibe, I think this is why I always identified most with Xander and Gunn.
Even though "Supernatural" is about two humans who just happen to know a lot about the supernatural, they still come across as very separated from normal life, and there isn't that ensemble cast to create interesting soap opera character interactions and arcs.

I've always liked X-men and Batman more than the other superheroes for similar reasons (I think all the "group of regular humans team up to fight crime" stories I encountered were more about the fighting than the soap opera, so no fun) . And the "Muggles are silly and redundant" vibe in Harry Potter always bugged me.

Oh, and I should mention that yes, I do also like Torchwood for it's obvious appeals, ie Captain Jack and the cheerfully blase attitude to same-sex snogging etc. But that wouldn't have been enough to sell me on it on their own.

And now I think I shall go to sleep.

Comments

[kadeton.livejournal.com]

I hate the fact that Jack's one supernatural power so rarely affects his behaviour. Despite the fact that he has died thousands of times and suggests on several occasions that he would actually prefer to permanently die, he still acts as if he's afraid of dying most of the time. Even in situations where it would be much easier, quicker or safer for others to use a possibly or definitely lethal solution to a problem, he usually doesn't. I think the writers missed a great opportunity for some creative problem-solving.

However, I think that basically any show that deals with supernatural threats will have to have good guys with some sort of supernatural advantage over normal people to put them in the same ballpark as the threats they face. Even in Supernatural, doesn't one of them have psychic visions or some similar dumb plot-exposition device? At the very least, humans need arcane or esoteric knowledge (and weaponry) to fight supernatural beings, otherwise the supernatural wouldn't be very threatening.

The best example I can think of in terms of relatively 'normal' people combating a supernatural threat is Ultraviolet.

[alias_sqbr]

See, exactly, he's effectively just some guy except when the writers remember he isn't :)

You do need an advantage (in this case the collected alien knowledge of a century or so), but from the looks of things pretty much anyone can quickly get up to speed enough to be useful, it's still to some extent just a job (albeit one of those incredibly dangerous jobs people tend to do until they die)

Yes, Ultraviolet, I knew there as one! That show is made of awesome, and is exactly what I'm talking about.