SPINNING JACK OFF

Woo Hoo for 'Doctor Who'!

It's spin-off time for the Time Lord of Gallifrey. BBC Television announced that 'Doctor Who' will spawn 'Torchwood' (which is an anagram; work it out!).

As described in the press release, its creator Russell T. Davies said that "'Torchwood' is a British sci-fi paranoid thriller, a cop show with a sense of humour. It's dark, wild, and sexy. It's 'The X-Files' meets 'This Life'. It's a stand-alone series for adult audiences which will have its own identity."

('This Life' was a series back in the early nineties about young lawyers in Bristol.)

The series will star John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, who appeared as one of the ninth Doctor's companions in the last five episodes of 'Doctor Who'. It will take place in modern day Cardiff, Wales, and revolve around a group of renegade investigators who call themselves 'Torchwood'.

It's not going to just spring forth with no prep work upon an unsuspecting audience. As great - no, as "fanTAStic" as Captain Jack is, I don't think he could have sold the concept cold. So with events established in the Christmas special and throughout the coming series of episodes for 'Doctor Who', we'll be introduced to the elements of the new show.

What won't be splained away is how Captain Jack has returned from the future of 200,100 AD., where he had been left behind on the Gamestation in the season finale. But I hope they will address eventually what happened to the two years of Jack's memories which were purloined by a mindswipe by his fellow Time Agents from the 51st Century.

I think Marcus Greel is somehow involved.......

Operating out of Cardiff as their base, the 'Torchwood' team has been charged by the British government with investigating human and alien crime (and the techno doodads that fall to Earth) before the FBI or the UN can get wind of it.

Yeah.... God forbid they should ever team up with 'The X-Files' or even UNIT - which was an integral part of the parental series!

'Torchwood' is being trumpeted as being sinister and psychological and "really keen to play with your head". But Davies promises that it will be very British and modern and real.

And Stuart Murphy, the Controller for BBC3 which will air the series, says that at the center of the drama are "warm human relationships and the overcoming of diversity".

Says Murphy, "The people have affairs with one another. There will be sex and swearing, I assume. I'm quite relaxed about that."

Yeah, especially with Mary Whitehouse conveniently dead of old age.....

Although it is spinning off from 'Doctor Who', no stories will directly cross over between the two projects. That's a bummer for me, of course of course, but if they're going to deal with alien technology that's fallen to Earth, perhaps we'll something along the lines of a Sontaran disruptor, that previously seen Cyberman helmet.... an Androgum dinner menu, for Chronotis' sake!

Speaking of that Cyberman helmet, the 'Doctor Who' episode "Dalek" took place in 2012. So they could also be competing with agents working for Henry Van Statten in procuring these alien artifacts. That wouldn't be a "direct" crossover......

All I want is for them to keep the inner history of 'Doctor Who' in mind when coming up with the alien stuff. One problem I had with 'Enterprise' was that they invented far too many alien races that were never seen before in the 'Star Trek' canon and it just made me wonder as a viewer why we never saw them again in the shows that took place after 'Enterprise'.

So... you folks know me. (I think......) That means there are some crossovers that I'd like to see for this new series.
First off, bring in Amanda Pays as Phoebe Green, the character she played in "Fire", an early episode of 'The X-Files'. (She's now a Scotland Yard inspector who once broke Mulder's heart while they were at Oxford.)

Secondly, every so often the Torchwood investigators should consult the files left behind by the late 'Colonel March of Scotland Yard'. As played by Boris Karloff in a syndicated series from 1954, this eye-patch wearing inspector also investigated crimes that were sometimes not of this world.

Since they obviously want to keep the flavor of the show British, and since Barrowman is playing a member of the Harkness family, and since Russell T. Davies scripted the bloody damned thing, Team Torchwood should revisit 'Century Falls'.

But if they did want to bring in somebody to help make a sale to American TV, work with Chris Carter and David Duchovny to bring Fox Mulder out of the shadows and back into the limelight. He'd definitely fit right in with this group.

('The Lone Gunmen' would have as well, except for being, well, you know... dead.)

There is one perfect crossover with a series currently on the air here in America. The 'Torchwood' team should ally themselves at some point with the 'Threshold' project.

And even if that never happens, it will surely be a Missing Link here at Inner Toob.... and more than likely the source of fanfic for both shows.

So that's my idea....

Although the above story will be quite exciting for fans of 'Doctor Who' and science fiction in general, and BIG news in the realm of TV crossovers, (and probably known by all those factions already), it's probably somewhat puzzling to the American viewing public at large.

That's because the new series of 'Doctor Who' was not picked up by the Sci-Fi Channel, which should have been its natural home. And BBC-America won't be showing it because its parent organization is still hoping to find an American TV network to shell out the big bucks for the series.

Let me tell ya, having seen the thirteen episodes myself (Never mind how!), all those concerned are ultra-maroons for not broadcasting it!

But what are ya gonna do? They are network suits after all, and you know what should happen to them.....

Cue the ducks.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

"I've been doing this since 1785."
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