Torchwood - Series 1 Box Set [Blu-ray] [Region Free]

It's odd but I sometimes feel like I'm the only person who thought Season 2 of Torchwood was a big disappointment. It was an often shameful dilution of something really original and quite remarkable

I've just re-watched this Season 1 boxset (blu-ray version) and it really is truly astounding with only a couple of weak stories.
Episodes like "They keep killing Suzie", "Random Shoes" and "Out of Time" are still some of the best TV drama I've seen for years and perhaps will ever see again but I could wax-lyrical about aspects of most episodes to be honest.
This series is beautifully and intelligently scripted with uniformly excellent performances throughout.

Grim and unrelenting at times but remarkably honest and totally unafraid to explore real themes that lesser dramas don't seem to have the courage or emotional intelligence to tackle. Such candour is a breath of fresh air in an increasingly stale and cotton-wool-packaged TV world.
Sadly Season 2 lost most of the ground Torchwood gained with Season 1 which makes this all the more special.

The HD picture quality is obviously consistently high and utterly, absolutely, astonishing at times. The extras are comprehensive and include all the "Declassifieds" plus short features and deleted scenes for every episode. There is also a basic but effective use of the pop-up menu system which is always nice to see.

I once again found myself moved to tears by several episodes and awestruck at the sheer level of honest insight into the human condition.
Which leaves me wondering.......why does Season 1 get such bad press?
Even the dullard's, oft-trotted-out complaint about too much sex and swearing really doesn't hold water; it's nowhere near as overt or gratuitous as these people suggest or possibly remember. I suggest that it was in fact all mindless bandwagon jumping by those who didn't know what to make of the series. Torchwood impudently dared to be different and attempted to actually challenge them as more than just passive viewers. That never goes down well with some people especially a somewhat traditional, set-in-their-ways, TV Sci-Fi audience.

Give it another look.
This is cutting-edge, high-definition, pre-season2-dumbing-down, truly-adult entertainment, written for thinking grown-ups who can handle real themes but still like a bit of sci-fi on the side.

The greatest thing about the new-Who series is that it focused on an aspect of Doctor Who that had never really been addressed before, the worlds that the Doctor leaves behind him, the influence he has on the world and how he changes it for the better, or for the worse. Examples of this include the new series episodes: Bad Wolf, Love and Monsters, Blink, Army of Ghosts and (to a lesser extent) the Year Five Billion trilogy. It makes us look back on what might of become of some of the characters from the earlier stories in the franchise, like the humans in 'Dalek Invasion of the Earth'. In the case of Torchwood we get to see the things that lurked in the shadows of Kaldor city, or that were just out of site when Nerva mad a full orbit. Specifically we see the world that the Doctor created when he offended the wrong monarch and dropped off the right, brilliant toothed action hero.

The world of Torchwood is one when we get to see what the camera pans away from in the regular Doctor Who series, mixed with a terriffic cast of actors that have you believing every second of the programme. John Barrowman in particular is a firecracker in a great coat, with a flawless charm and a hilariously liberal attitude. You can't help but love him. That came out wrong...

The magnificent casting, coupled with a no-holds-barred sexual tangent make for great viewing and really treat the long-term Who fans with getting to see things that they'd always wished Leela would do when they were fifteen...

Despite these strong sexy and violent elements in the programme, it doesn't stop it from providing heartfelt storylines like Out of Time and Random Shoes. Nor do you lose out with psychological thrillers like Small Worlds, in which you feel the whole fabric of your world shaken just a bit...

All in all, Torchwood makes for excellent television viewing. The first series is a tribute the phenomenal effort of Russel T. Davies in the ongoing New-Who franchise. As always, can wait for more.

I've enjoyed watching the first season of Torchwood - I seem to enjoy most of BBCs series and can hardly wait for the second season of Torchwood. This show has nice characters, though one of the female main characters in the show quickly got on my nerves. I like the mixture of sexual tension, gruesome enemys, death and love, and comedy elements. Some of the effects are a bit too trashy, but mostly they are okay.