Sarah Jane VS Torchwood

[dalekboy]

Everything that Torchwood got wrong and continued to get wrong for most of its first season, The Sarah Jane Adventures got right first time.

SJA is far and away the more enjoyable show to watch, the tone for what it wants to do is correct, the characters consistent, and most importantly, it left me wanting more.

Torchwood seemed rarely sure of what it wanted to be, and worst still, is written so that people act in ways that are out-of-character to forward the story, or more frequently, add an 'adult' feel with sex, violence or conflict. This made it kind of ordinary.

SJA feels written by adults who have a sense of fun and whimsy, who love what they are doing, and want you to love it too. It pulls out daggy ideas, knowing you will groan or laugh, and that you will enjoy them anyway. The emotional core of SJA works. And Sarah Jane herself is handled well. Wonderful, sad, and dotty in just the right way. She had a few moments that brought me close to tears.

Torchwood feels like it was written by teenagers revelling in being able to put in 'grown-up' things like sex. The problem is it feels shoe-horned in. The heart of Torchwood is a mess of confused, conflicting relationships meaning that no-one ends up being very likeable. And Captain Jack is not the man we loved in Doctor Who. Now that makes sense, given his situation, but means the character we most want to connect with we can't. He has some beautiful moments, but they are few and far between, and the actor himself seems uncomfortable with his part.

The adult show is often juvenile in its attemps to be 'adult,' whilst the kids show is the more mature. The best thing about Torchwood is it gave us a new script by P.J. Hamilton.

I won't buy Torchwood on DVD unless I see it cheap, really, really cheap. And then only for the link to DW, and for the Hammond story. If it has a writer's commentary for that episode, bonus.

I would buy the series of SJA unseen, based on the pilot alone.

Comments

[thinarthur.livejournal.com]

I suspect there's a lot of truth in that, esp as Torchwood is very difficult to slip convincingly into Oldtime Dr Who. That said, "The UNIT Show" would probably look similar to things like Stargate. What Danny says is pretty much true though it's worth remembering that if the same show had come out a decade earlier most people would have been pretty enthusiastic. Poor RTD, looks like fandom is starting to turn already, we'll have Dreamwatch articles in two years saying RTD must go!! I wonder if he'll listen to fandom opinions and revamp the show or just press on regardless?

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

Fandom was already going to turn no matter who made DW. There were people who hated the new series right from the start.

I just find Torchwood bloody ordinary. It's a low budget X-Files that works best when it's not trying to be X-Files.

I think the problem is that we've seen genuinely good shows that used some of the same ideas - Stargate, Supernatural, X-Files. And it has the habit of the characters acting out in insanely uncharacteristic ways to add drama. I can't mention any without massive spoilers though.

So here are some made up ones for DW.

We're talking the equivalent of Mickey starts beating the crap out of Rose in an episode, just so the Doctor can stop him and he can be all angsty. It's out of character, it doesn't work, and you end up hating Mickey. Or Rose starts shagging aliens for no good reason, and gets an STD. Her dealing with it would work, except that she did it doesn't make sense.

And the Torchwood people are meant to be smart.

[angriest.livejournal.com]

Was it Gareth Roberts or Mark Gatiss who invented the word "fanticipointment", that endless cycle of fans clamouring to see something and then condemning it once it arrives?

I've always found the criticisms of RTD's Doctor Who weird, because I haven't found the new series any better or worse than old Who - it's just essentially more of a series I love. Some faults have been rectified, and others have cropped up.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Russell leave after Season 4 though, and the fifth season get produced by someone like Mark Gatiss and be a lot darker and more scary.