Once again, attempts are being made to translate a British TV show for an American audience, and this time the target is 'Torchwood'.
'Torchwood', an anagram of 'Doctor Who' for those not in the know, is a spin-off of that series intended for a more adult audience. It dealt with a group founded by Queen Victoria that works outside of the government to investigate - and if necessary, battle - alien visitations to the British Empire. There were at least four Torchwood hubs in the UK - the one in London was destroyed by the Dalek-Cybermen war on Canary Wharf; the Cardiff hub was the setting for the TV series and was destroyed in the first episode of the "Children Of Earth" mini-series; there's one in Glasgow which apparently is staffed by only one man; and then the fourth one which disappeared but which might be found someday. (Sounds like one of the space stations in 'Babylon 5'....)The one reason I'm feeling a little more confident of this project than for others that have been announced in the past (Looking at you, 'Coupling'!) is due to the script being written by the creator of the original series, Russell T. Davies.
(I was happy to see RTD take his death-grip off the controls of 'Doctor Who', but I also loved the pilot script for 'Torchwood', "Everything Changes".)
His producing partner from 'Doctor Who' is also on board, Julie Gardner, as well as Jane Tranter, who's the executive Vice President in charge of programming at BBC Worldwide Productions in the United States.
There's talk that John Barrowman might return as Captain Jack Harkness for this new series. But if not, hopefully RTD will create all new characters and not just rework the originals. The new show will have a more global aspect than the original, which focused on the "Rift activity" to be found in Cardiff.
BCnU!
US has a terrible track record of making US version of a really good British show...and they would definitely screw up an American "Doctor Who" and/or "Torchwood" (and I had no idea that Torchwood was anagram!!)
ReplyDeleteI am assuming based on this,that 'Children of Earth' was the last of "Torchwood"? Tragic. I loved this show, cried when Owen died (twice!) and lost it when Ianto was killed! But I guess even tho they could bring in new characters, it really wouldn't have been the same.
Well, Captain Jack did show up in the final moments of "The End Of Time", and it's conceivable that he could be back. And throughout the history of 'Torchwood' they made it clear that there was a high turnover rate in agents because of the dangerous nature of their business.
ReplyDeleteI once posted how I would love to see them bring in Richard Coyle's character of John Strange, defrocked priest and demon hunter, to join the crew. Maybe Mickey and Martha will eventually join them as well....
Oh! And thanks for checking out Inner Toob, Michael!
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