Torchwood
While occasionally clumsy in the way it goes about things, the first season of Torchwood ultimately makes good on its promise to be a science fiction programme for an older market. So while it's spun out from the more family-friendly Doctor Who, it does carve out an edgy, entertaining niche for itself.
The programme follows the adventures of the Torchwood agency (who we met in far more prestigious form at the end of Doctor Who's second series), a small team led by John Barrowman's Captain Jack Harkness who investigate the extra terrestrial and the paranormal. And across the thirteen episodes of this maiden season, they have a lot to look into, from the likes of a sex-craved alien and cyberwoman, through to cannibalistic foes and strange, spooky fairies.
Admittedly, particularly in the early stages when Torchwood is finding its feet, there are a few missteps, and a little too much side-indulgence in exploring material that the more mainstream Doctor Who wouldn't allow. But it'd be to your folly to write Torchwood off: by the time it gallops into the second half of this first season, the quality is strong, the storylines are interesting, and the show proves to be a real winner.
Intertwining with the narrative of the main Doctor Who show, Torchwood nonetheless then works as an independent programme in its own right, replete with a strong cast of characters (led by the terrific Barrowman) and scripts that have more of an experimental edge to them. It's certainly one of the most interesting science fiction shows Britain has produced in the last decade or two, and there's much to enjoy again and again in this box set. --Jon Foster
Police Constable Gwen Cooper comes across the mysterious organization known as Torchwood. While investigating their world, she finds technology and methods she never imagined.
Torchwood must stop a sex addicted alien as it leaves a trail of gruesome deaths in its wake.
After Gwen Cooper recovers an alien device from Sean Harris, the device seemingly takes her back in time to the 1940s where she sees a young boy, alone on a railway platform. Soon after, Owen has a similar experience only this time he is under a bridge in the early 1960s where a young woman is raped and murdered. They trace both the boy and the murderer and learn that the boy was well taken care of. As for the murderer, the case remains unsolved, something that outrages Owen.
There's a dark secret in the basement of the Hub. Even Jack is unaware of it, but Ianto knows. And he'll go to any lengths, sacrifice anything and anyone, to protect what's down there.
Jasmine is a withdrawn but intelligent child whose new 'friends' exploit her suppressed anger, and while investigating this, Jack encounters elemental enemies from his past that are determined to harm those closest to him.
In the countryside north of Cardiff, the Torchwood team investigates the disappearance of 17 people in the last few months. No bodies have been found and the police haven't a clue as to what may have happened to them. They set up camp in a field but when their SUV is stolen and then parked in a small village just a few miles away, they realize they're being lured into a trap. In the village, they find the remains of several inhabitants - stripped of flesh and organs - and one terrified survivor who promptly shoots Gwen with a shotgun. With Ianto and Tosh taken prisoner, they all soon come to realize that people are being hunted.
The team is asked to analyze a recently discovered 18th century corpse with a hole in its chest. Meanwhile, a mysterious charismatic woman seduces Tosh and gives her an alien pendant that allows its wearer to read other people's minds.
Torchwood is called into a murder investigation when a suburban couple are found in their beds with their throats slit and TORCHWOOD written on the wall in their blood. Gwen convinces them to use the gauntlet to reanimate the victims to see if they can get the identity of the killer. They have little success but when they learn that their former colleague Suzie Costello had a connection to the victims, they decide to revive her. Normally, the dead can only be revived for a minute or two at most but in Suzie's case, she seems to have been reanimated permanently. When they learn that she is drawing her life force from a member of the Torchwood team, the others have to find a way to stop her.
The invisible spirit of a hit-and-run victim tries to convince Gwen to locate the 'alien' who might have been responsible for his death.
When a passenger plane from 1953 arrives in Cardiff in 2007 due to the Rift, the Torchwood team try to help three temporal immigrants adapt a new life in the city.
The team discovers a ring who are kidnapping Weevils - wild alien creatures that have come through the Rift and are hiding on Earth - which leads Owen down a dark path to confront the future of his own existence.
Jack and Tosh investigate when there are reports of music coming out of nowhere in an abandoned dance hall. While in the building, a temporal rift sends them back to 1941, but they soon realize they can't get back to their own time. At least not without Tosh sending those in the present day the necessary equations to make it happen. While at the dance hall, Jack runs into someone he knows, an American RAF pilot by the name of Jack Harkness. In the present day, Owen, Ianto, and Gwen are working to get them back. Owen wants to open the rift and try to get Diane Holmes back as well, but opening the rift could destroy the city. The dance hall manager, Bilis Manger, seems to have little trouble going back and forth in time, however.
The Rift is splintering - strange phenomena like UFOs and ancient soldiers are falling through time into various places around the world. These events resemble those in the prophecy of the arrival of Abaddon, the Great Devourer, who will lead the world into shadow and bring about the End of Days...
|
Burn Gorman | Owen Harper |
|
John Barrowman | Captain Jack Harkness |
|
Naoko Mori | Toshiko Sato |
|
Eve Myles | Gwen Cooper |
|
Gareth David-Lloyd | Ianto Jones |
|
Kai Owen | Rhys Williams |
|
Paul Kasey | Weevil |
|
Louise Delamere | Diane Holmes |
|
Tom Price | P.C. Andy |
|
Indira Varma | Suzie Costello |
|
Caroline Chikezie | Lisa |
|
Murray Melvin | Bilis |
|
Jazz Dhiman | Mr. Bond |
|
Roger Ashton-Griffiths | Mr Garrett |
|
Togo Igawa | Dr Tanizaki |
|
Mark Lewis Jones | John Ellis |
|
David Gyasi | Hospital Patient |
|
Chris Wilson | Tunnel Victim |
|
Owen Teale | Ewan Sherman |
|
Robert Barton | Martin |
|
Roger Barclay | Goodson |
|
Matt Rippy | The Captain |
|
Alex Hassell | Mark Lynch |
|
Ravin J. Ganatra | Neil |
|
Badi Uzzaman | Suzie's Father |
| Packaging | Custom Case |
|---|---|
| Nr Discs | 7 |
| Screen Ratios | Widescreen (16:9) |
| Audio Tracks | Dolby Digital 5.1 [English] |
| Subtitles | English (Closed Captioned) |
| Distributor | 2 Entertain Video |
| Layers | Single side, Dual layer |
| Edition Release Date | Nov 19, 2007 |
| Regions | Region 2 |