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Torchwood: Children of Earth – In Defense of Davies and the format change

torchwood 300x175 Torchwood: Children of Earth In Defense of Davies and the format change

Something has really rather annoyed me. I’m an avid listener of a podcast called Slice of Sci-Fi, which is usually awesome. The most recent episode features a tirade against Russell T Davies following comments he made about Torchwood: Children of Earth Torchwood: Children of Earth In Defense of Davies and the format change being made for UK audiences, and the format was changed in order to keep the show fresh. Davies made a comment about the various US shows running for years on end with no changes, which the presenters (all American) then went on to rant about.

Right then. I have to side with Russell T Davies on this. Y’know, the man with decades of TV experience under his belt and the man who brought Doctor Who back and made it massive again, as well as creating and indeed the new series, Torchwood: Children of Earth Torchwood: Children of Earth In Defense of Davies and the format change. I think he knows what he’s talking about, guys. American shows DO drag on. They DO draw things out endlessly, and a 13 episode series (Doctor Who or the first 2 seasons of Torchwood), or a five part miniseries event are much more interesting than a huge drawn-out series due to the simple fact that they are not padded to anywhere near the same extent.

Take Heroes, LOST, Battlestar Galactica, for example. These things run way too long, which is why there are weak episodes, filler material and such a reliance on making things as complicated as possible to meet the running time. Without the padding, you’re left with a story that doesn’t get lost in its own twists.

As for the show being made for a British audience, what’s wrong with him saying that? Your shows are clearly aimed squarely at a US audience, despite the inclusion of characters from other countries,. They still tend to be very US-centric. Torchwood, aside from John Barrowman, has a British cast, takes place in Britain and involves very British themes, situations and characters.

What’s wrong with saying it is made for a British audience? We have a ton of shows on import that we enjoy, but we feel very little connection to. What’s so bad about us having a science fiction show for ourselves? Torchwood appeals to people all over the globe, but it *is* made for a UK audience. On a brighter note, Torchwood: Children of Earth Torchwood: Children of Earth In Defense of Davies and the format change is a fantastic example of what can be done with science fiction TV.

I still love your podcast though guys icon wink Torchwood: Children of Earth In Defense of Davies and the format change
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This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 11:28 am and is filed under Torchwood, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Torchwood: Children of Earth – In Defense of Davies and the format change”

  1. Audrey Says:
    July 13th, 2009 at 7:42 pm

    i’m a mother from texas, and my daughters and i LOVE watching british shows. of couse RTD would make his shows for UK audiences… it’s for UK tv. and i love the fact that he isn’t afraid to push buttons (hello.. naked captain jack).. it would put our so called “pushing the envelope” shows in line with saturday cartoons. if there will not be a series 4 of torchwood.. i’d be fine with that (unlike stupid primeval).. but i would love to see where RTD will take us next.

  2. Natalia Says:
    July 21st, 2009 at 5:33 am

    First of all John Barrowman is British (born in Glasgow,moved to America 9 year old,came back to England).
    RTD may be a TV genius but if there´s no fourth Torchwood season he´s gonna throw away a very juicy story.
    C´mon people all great stories have more than 3 seasons, and regardless american TV shows wich twist to much their stories, Torhwood has still got A LOT to tell us wit out becoming a boring draged on, padding story, so I think that the new five mini-series format is OK but only to refresh the series, not to end it, there´s still tons of secrets and stories to tell about Torchwood,without making it a classical drag on TV show,honestly I opine it´s still juicy enough for some more seasons…btw if RTD is such a genius, why did he kill Ianto??
    It´s senseless cos we were all willing to watch how the Jack/Ianto couple grew up as such,if RTD was smart he would bring back to life the teaboy.

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