Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22464 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-12-26
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English, Greek
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 250 minutes

Synopsis
Torchwood follows the adventures of a team of investigators led by the enigmatic Captain Jack. Set in present-day Britain, the team use scavenged alien technology in a very real world to solve crime - both alien and human. Separate from the government; outside the law; beyond the United Nations. Everyone who works for Torchwood is under 35. Some say that's because it's a new science. Others say it's because they all die young....

Customer Reviews

very much like marmite - and i love marmite
You are either going love or hate Torchwood -it's just one of those programmes. I personally love it, but can see where people have problems with it.

It is certainly not conventional, in the Si-Fi sense, and sometimes leaves a little, well a lot, to be desired on the scripting side, but I am willing to give it a chance. I can see that Russell T. Davies was so in love with this project that he has gone overboard, from the surreal , to ridiculous; but why should that be a problem?

The acting is good, with John Barrowman, Eve Myles, and Burn Gorman being the best, and I personally feel that Mr Davies' most amazing achievement is making Cardiff look like Las Vegas.

This programme isn't setting out to change the world, it is a little bit of sex-fuelled fun on a Sunday night, which doen't happen very often in my house.

I hope I am right in predicting that this programme will get better as it goes along, as many programmes have in the past. Don't forget that Coronation Street was slated by reviewers and critics alike for the first six weeks, and has now become a national institution.

Getting better with each episode
Like many other fans of dr Who, I wondered just how good (or bad) Torchwood would actually be. The first episode was anything but poor, however, it had the not so easy task of setting the scene for the rest of the series, and that it successfully did. The first episode sees the introduction of Gwen into the Torchwood team of Owen, Toshiko, Ianto, and Suzie. Heading the team is the enigmatic Captain Jack, again played by John Barrowman who reprises his role from the first series of Dr Who.
Gwen finds out that Torchwood's role is to investigate any signs of Alien activity on Earth and that researching such activity is anything but boring....

Since then we have had a sex crazed alien entity wreaking havoc in downtown Cardiff... Then a piece of alien hardware which shows ghostly scenes from the past which have a very deep impact on those who possess it. Following that is a story concerning a partly constructed cyberwoman who survived the Cyber/Dalek war at the end of the last episode of the second series of Dr Who, and who now wants to start upgrading humans again...
However, in my opinion the best episode so far is the most recent as of the date of writing, and that is titled 'Small Worlds.'
Here we see the team investigating the sightings of 'Faeries'.... However, they turn out to be anything but nice and in fact are ancient, malevolent, and powerful beings that bitterly resents the encroachment of mankind on their territory. Into this mix come an ostracised and bullied little girl and an elderly lady who turns out to be a former lover of Captain Jack. This episode packs an emotional wallop too reminiscent of fine episodes from Dr Who such as The Girl In The Fireplace and Father's Day.

Also as the show has progressed, viewers are finding out more about the personal lives of Captain Jack and his team. Each episode so far seems to have given an insight into a different individual, including Captain Jack, and in doing so is increasing the interest level of the viewer in this team of people. Being more adult orientated means that there is a quota of sex and gore, not on show in Dr Who eg the graphic depiction of a Cyberman upgrade having gone wrong.... However, it is not gratuitous and works well with what is happening on screen.

I give the series as a whole four stars so far but tonight's episode 'Small Worlds' is a five star winner, no doubt about it. Therefore, I am no looking forward to the rest of the series and the entire series dvd which will be released later. This is turning out to be a really good Sci Fi series, and shows that UK tv really can produce the goods when it puts its mind to it.

Entertaining but an opportunity wasted
Torchwood is the first spin-off series of Doctor Who and it was meant to be a more adult show than that of its parent, it is just unfortunate that it come across as more adolescent than adult. This fact does not really distract from the enjoyment of the series however and of the five episodes that this DVD set contains only one is truly bad.

The series starts with Everything Changes which is your basic introductory episode, explaining who everyone is and setting things up for the remainder of the series.

Episode two is about a sex crazed alien, which is something of a Sci-fi cliché these days and has been done better by both the Outer Limits and The X Files but is entertaining none the less.

Ghost Machine, the third episode on the DVD is far better than the previous two and shows a lot of promise for what the series could achieve in the future.

Episode four, Cyberwoman, is unfortunately a terrible episode and is the one most critics of the show point too as an example of how bad it is. While it is true that the episode is quite dire and could have been a hell of a lot better, it has been my experience that many Sci-fi shows have their share of equally bad episodes during their first run and you need to look beyond these to see the true worth of the show.

The final episode in this set is Small Worlds which is my personal favourite of the entire series. This episode is great, with a nice mixture of suspense and tenderness, and has a good twist to the end.

Generally this first Torchwood set does not show the series at its best and there are some much better episodes further down the line. I feel this is an okay start but it could have been so much better if it had some consistent writing and slightly better CGI.