I like Torchwood well enough — my heart belongs to the Doctor, of course — though the last season was a bit up and down. But I’m looking forward to the new series coming out: one story told over a giant five-night arc. And the trailer is now out!
Of course, hanging out with Naoko and Julie makes it easier to like the show… and I’ll have to post a pic I took of John Barrowman at Comic Con too. So much to do.
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Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
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February 5th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
“What kind of civil servants are you?” “Unappreciated ones.” Thank you, Ianto. Heh.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
There is a part of me that wishes that Torchwood would never have existed. This way, at least there would have been less overload of people in Doctor Who’s finale.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
I went to school with Julie Gardner
February 5th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I never got much into “Torchwood”. It’s ok and all, but… meh. Then again, much as I like the current series of “Doctor Who” I gotta say that’s been pretty up and down as well (farting aliens, anyone?).
That said, I’m going to the Gallifrey convention next week! The 6th Doctor, Peri, Jamie and Zoe will all be there! w00t!
February 5th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Wow, that looks like it’s going to be one heck of a roller-coaster. I’m quite looking forward to it. (And a bit of gratuitous Jack snogging, I couldn’t ask for more!
February 5th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Did anyone else notice Peter Capaldi in this trailer? He played the Roman stone merchant in the 4th season episode “The Fires of Pompeii”.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Looks amazing
!! Action and alien packed with the required dose of Jack and Ianto snogging, perfect 
February 5th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I honestly prefer Torchwood — the post-watershed approach makes it a little less goofy, I find. Plus Eve is a cutie. John’s not bad, either.
February 5th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
I love torchwood. I find the show to be more aimed for adults. Although I am fanatic about doctor who I can’t get over the Ianto Jack relationship. There just too cute together.
February 5th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
*one story told over a giant five-night arc*
What, you mean the way Doctor Who *used* to be?
February 5th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I’m reminded of Childhood’s End.
February 5th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
On a Doctor related note, Chris Eggleston is staring in the new G.I. Joe movie. he plays… the bad guy!!!
February 5th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Oh, yeah, great wots-his-name likes men and women. Would it be too much to have a female star who likes men and women?
February 5th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Hey, usually when we see people other-than-straight on TV they are female. The fact that this show and Battlestar Galactica have male characters who are bisexual (and actually get some instead of just saying they’re not straight), is pretty darn nifty! Heck, BSG even had a lesbian relationship. Me, I’m happy to see a bit of progress on this front.
All that said, Trek, in all its incarnations, should’ve had a gay or bi character long, long ago.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
I totally agree about Trek. They’ve danced around it a few times, but they’ve never actually done it.
February 5th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
There was that one episode of TNG where riker falls for an alien woman who is persecuted for being heterosexual. Does that count for something?
February 5th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Feh. I hated the first season of Torchwood. They started out with an excellent hook (the glove) and then.. did nothing with it and threw it in the trash. They pulled it out later and… threw it in the trash again. I found the whole show to be a constant disappointment, both for character and for ‘neat idea’ factor.
Bipedal: yes, Trek did deal with homosexuality by providing us with a believable inversion. It was tasteful, well-executed, and made the point. And was totally insufficient: yes, there should have been a gay character long ago.
February 5th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
So… I must admit I have never watched an episode of Doctor Who before. I’m thinking of remedying to this situation. How well as the old series aged? Is it worth starting with the first episodes from the 60’s?
February 5th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
The school was called Llangatwg.
February 5th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
If you’re willing to put up with production values that were low even for the time, but were made up for with great acting and writting, then start with An Unearthly Child, the first episode and now available on DVD. If you want something decidedly more modern, but frankly not as well-written, check out the first season of the new series. Both can be bought on Amazon.
February 5th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Oh, and let me guess, “Llangatwg” translates to “bad wolf”?
February 5th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
John Barrowman is a sexy man.
February 6th, 2009 at 1:04 am
The first season of Torchwood was definitely hit and miss. A third of the episodes were great, a third were mediocre, and a third were pure crap. But, the second season was brilliant. Every episode was good, and the last episode was pretty surprising. It looked like Martha and Mickey were joining the cast (based on the last ep of Dr.W) and that’ll be pretty cool.
I’ve seen a few instances of gay females on BSG (like in Razor) but I don’t recall seeing any gay male characters. Who are you referring to?
Apparently, Garek on DS9 was supposed to be gay (or bisexual) but I guess somebody put a stop to that. It’s kind of a shame too – Star Trek has broken so much new ground historically. The original series had Russian AND Japanese officers, a woman on the bridge, and a black woman at that! It even had the first bi-racial kiss on TV.
February 6th, 2009 at 5:47 am
Just what I need-WOOT! (I still have not seen the last episode of THE DOCTOR- oversight to be remedied tomorrow on BBCA)
Of course Beverly falls in love with a Trill in a male host and can’t adjust to the new female one. At that time the Trill were apparently hiding from everyone except Cisco…) But then again I’m not even the dumbest Trek fan
February 6th, 2009 at 6:46 am
Oi!!!
Completely O/T but relevant to the UK where Torchwood is made (see what I did there?)…Rumour and Mr Randi sez there will be an Amaz!ng Meeting in London in October…I am so there! Often read about these really cool things that you lot organise but never actually got to go to one being impoverished and living in a permanent ‘recession’ as a wage slave.
Can you PLEASE let us inquiring and sceptical (note the transatlantic spelling) UK readers of your blog from way back and buyers of your books (death from the skies coming to me soon from Amazon) where the Meeting is likely to be?
Me, I prefer The Sarah Jane adventures, only because my son was in it!
/proud dad
February 6th, 2009 at 6:57 am
Torchwood and (new)Who have both suffered from having to emperil and save the Earth (or The Whole Universe) on a weekly basis, as well as having to shoe-horn in a whole bunch of be-all-you-can-be/diversity empowerment stuff in lieu of character development at the same time (and I’m not referring to sexual politics specifically here, just the heavy handed way in which characters’ emotions are portrayed). Much of both series’ output has been over-contrived, melodramatic dross and because of that the producers are guilty of short-changing the public, no matter how popular the shows have been. Very encouraging to see that in this series a story might be allowed to grow, branch and resolve properly over several episodes so I’ll be tuning in (as we used to say), since, the above carping aside, I love this stuff.
Also, as to hanging with Naoko and Julie, I’m sure that’s cool. Hanging with Barrowman? Let me tell you, he really, really is that person (and way beyond great with kids).
February 6th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Well I like the idea of Torchwood – unfortunately I hated almost everything else about it. I don’t think the BBC really committed to making it a show for adults, so that all the swearing & violence & such just seemed tacked on at the last minute.
I’m all in favour of swearing & violence but if you can remove it & have the show still watchable (as they do with the pre-watershed edition) then it probably didn’t need to be there in the first place.
But I’m sure I’ll watch the new series. I’m so predictable sometimes
February 6th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Cool! I’m glad it’s coming back. (I got worried when they killed nearly everyone off!) Show I like are usually good, but don’t last long. I’ve learned that good shows sometimes have a rocky start, but if they survive the chopping block, they might be worth hanging on to.
I like the multigeneration approach taken with the spinoffs, but I haven’t gotten into the Sarah Jane adventures. The stories seemed a bit young for me. I’d like to get the kids hooked on that show to prepare them for when they are old enough for Doctor Who.
I grew up with BBC shows on PBS and that’s definitly something I’d like to pass along. I even had the girls singing “The Lumberjack Song” along with my iPod the other day. Their mom is the ‘cool’ one so I have to covertly infiltrate the ‘geek’ culture.
February 6th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Hey Chris! Star Trek did have a gay character…Sulu!! He was just…closeted.
February 6th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Various Star Trek writers wanted to do gay male characters in the show from time to time, all the way back to the first seasons of TNG, but it always got canned at the studio level. There’s not much they can do when the studio says “take it out, or you’re fired”. Course, nothing was stopping them from having a gay character on the later seasons of Voyager, or in any part of Enterprise. I always thought that Malcolm would have made a good gay guy:).
February 7th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Heh on the Sulu joke.
The only non-straight male character I’ve ever seen on American sci-fi would be Felix Gaeta on BSG and the last few episodes for him have been… not pretty. Plus the only time we got anything on his sexuality was in webisodes. One would think his boyfriend might have told him a thing or two during the recent events on the show, but apparently not, and now it seems unlikely we’ll ever have it addressed on the actual TV program itself.
February 7th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Actually, it means “the church of St Catwg” – bad wolf is something like ‘n ddrwg blaidd
February 8th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
“bad wolf” woulda been funnier.