Torchwood: Why I love it...

[fajrdrako]

Over on torch_wood, stavvers started a thread called "Why I love Torchwood". I've been meaning to write something like this....

1. The big reason: I love Torchwood because of Captain Jack Harkness. I like heroes. I like larger-than-life heroes. I like heroes who risk their lives over and over for the causes or people they believe in - and in this case, actually die over and over for these people and causes. I like bisexual heroes. I like time-travelling heroes. I like heroes with a dash of mystery and tragedy and pain and guilt in their past, especially when they are on an epic scale. I have just recently discovered that certain arcane mystical properties do not go amiss either. Add the greatcoat and braces, the sense of humour, the anecdotes, and the stance on belltowers. Add the fact that he loves one of my other favourite heroes on television, the Doctor. Add that he is original, unusual, and surprises me regularly. Add that he is a total mushbucket who cries over his friends and lovers. And add - most of all - that he is one of the most loving and compassionate heroes I have ever come across in action-adventure - no, scrap that, he is one of the most compassionate heroes I have come across in any genre.
   
   Yup, I'm a Torchwood fan because of Captain Jack.
   
   
2. ...I like the variety of plots. You don't know from one week to the next what theme or even genre you will be watching.
   
   
3. ...The characters convince me of their reality.
   
   
4. ...They have a pterodactyl.
   
   
5. ...The show does not take it for granted that people are heterosexual. More important, we see people feeling love of many types.
   
   
6. ...I like the show's sense of humour.
   
   
7. ...I like the show's unusual philosophies: reality is reality, but it isn't always seen in predictable or conventional ways.
   
   
8. ...The episode "Captain Jack Harkness" is one of the best romances I've seen on television, ever.
   
   
9. ...Ianto likes Tintin.
   
   
10. ...Minor and peripheral characters, like PC Andy, Rhys, Detective Swanson, and the Pizza Girl have so much personality.

I'm sure there are other reasons I love the show that I'm forgetting to mention. #1 is an absolute; the rest is subject to variation or addition. Let me think about it.

Comments

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

(12:22 AM) Hi there yet again, in something resembling real time! You snuck a new post on, as I was busy reading the other ones and swooning to your delicious little story.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked the story. I don't remember exactly when I went to bed - I think I turned the computer off at 12:07.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I think I turned the computer off at 12:07.

Which is pretty amazing, for you. Early, for me!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Considering that I have been sleeping probably three times as much as you do each day - !

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

But only about three or four hours more than I'd like to.

Today, I slept from 3 AM to, maybe, noon; then till 5:30 PM. And it felt great. I just gave the day away to it.

I'm curious: have you seen a pattern to the times that you are sleeping? Is it just "lots, and whenever it can happen," or is it: after I eat, after I exert myself, right about then when the pain pill takes full effect... or is it, my body knows it needs X amount in every 24 hours, and it's going to get it one way or the other...?

My bet is that it's all paced out, rather evenly. At least, I hope so, for your sake! That would be a little easier, no?

But I bet it all feels good, and the dreams may be nice, too.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

The pattern to when I fall asleep is "whenever I'm not at the computer or talking to someone". It probably is pretty much spaced out evenly. And yes, all that sleep is comfy, though also kind of frustrating.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

comfy, though also kind of frustrating.

I'm wondering, do you feel time passing or is it just, "well. there goes another chunk of hours past me"?

And, is this in response to your body's own urges, or do the pain pills have that much stuff in them that they might be bringing it on?

(I guess we can see why they say: Do not operate heavy machinery.)

(So, um, careful with that walker, lady! And keep close tabs on how you handle the remote.)

I do like the part where you said that you woke up without pain, the one time. Have more of those times.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I feel the time passing.

I think the pain pills are keeping me relaxed, but I think I'd be this sleepy either way. When they wear off I don't feel any livelier. Yet.

I guess we can see why they say: Do not operate heavy machinery.

No. I wouldn't want to even lift heavy machinery right now. Or look at it. Lifing my leg from time to time is heavy enough!

yes, "without pain" is a really nice thing.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

This is truly an incredible experience you are having, you must admit.

No. I wouldn't want to even lift heavy machinery right now. Or look at it. Lifing my leg from time to time is heavy enough!

I can imagine. that cast looked massively thick. I trust it's been serving its purpose of holding everything precisely in place, no?

Has the pain begun to change in nature, then? I hope it now is not so sharp and intense, and is only "there." But I still feel for you. Sending absent healing by the hour!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

The pain comes and goes, and really isn't too bad. This is good. This is quite a contrast to a few days ago. I hope it continues to heal at this speed - this apparent speed.

that cast looked massively thick.

Not so thick - the perspective of the photo was misleading. But it's heavy. The cast itself really just encases the back part of my leg. The front part is all just tensor bandages wrapped around the whole thing.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

The pain comes and goes....

It sounds to me as if you are consciously urging along the healing. Interesting.

The front part is all just tensor bandages wrapped around the whole thing.

Oh! Oh. I see why so cautious about doing anything to further hurt the area. Well, you won't do that. Things will be fine.

Gad, that must be so unwieldy.

At the movie, I saw the trailer for Iron Man. What a gas! They seem to have gotten it right! You will sooooooo love it. (but no way could this Tony Stark get his armor to fit inside a briefcase!)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm really looking forward to Iron Man, mostly because the trailer is so good. I was never really much on an Iron Man fan except in the David Michelinie days - remember Bethany Cabe? I had a crush on her! - but I've really been enjoying the recent stories that have him as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Yes, of course I've always liked S.H.I.E.L.D.)

no way could this Tony Stark get his armor to fit inside a briefcase!)

I'm sure it can dissolve itself into unstable molecules and fit into a thimble. This is Tony Stark we're talking about - if he can't do something himself, he can ask his good friend Reed Richards!

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Your first trip out to a movie might be to see Iron Man...? One of the first, anyway. What do you think? So say we all!

It just looked so wack. Especially that last bit, where Iron Man ducks the shots fired at him from a tank, then turns and fires a rocket at the tank off his forearm mount, and then casually turns and starts to walk away even before the thing explodes... all the while they play the bass-guitar riff of Ozzy Osbourne's song "Iron Man" in the background. So wack. (Um, that's a hip-hop term that means... very cool.)

I've never really read Iron Man, but I've always liked the character. I think I mostly read comics that I could see myself stepping into, and Iron Man didn't have enough supporting characters for me to find a spot for myself. (I commend you for your crush, by the way. Good taste, there.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Wack is a new word to me - in that sense - how do you hear hip-hop terms? Do people use them on a regular basis in Pennsylvania? I barely know what hip-hop is (not sure I do), and certainly don't ever hear anything about it!

I agree that Iron Man never had interesting supporting characters - what there were, I never really got to know and certainly didn't care about, except briefly in that Bethany Cabe era. But Tony Stark himself was always interesting, and not always your standard-issue hero. Not always even sympathetic, but unsympathetic in interesting ways.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Well, hip-hop culture is used a lot in television, both in shows and on commercials, as they all think it's some sort of universal youth language [g]. True, the young people are conversant in it -- it isn't just music, it's also fashion and a dialect, and I think urban graffiti is a key part of its art aspects. I know the term from just picking up something said a few times in clear context -- also, I'd recommend you look into the recent movie Step Up 2 [the Street], which is set in Baltimore and is totally hip-hop. I loved it and I don't know much of the hip-hop world at all; it basically worked on showing how genuine and interconnected all we human beings are, whether Latino or Anglo or Black or Mixed!

I think hip-hop must be a very American thing. Hm.

Remember the era when they made Tony Stark an alcoholic? Iron Man caught my attention then, for a little while. Interesting journey they put him on, there.

I loved the trailer for how the armor evolves, as he clearly gets better at what he's doing, and also apparently gets more of a convicion about doing it. When he's hovering in the air trying out his palm and foot jets -- whoa! It looked so wonderfully real.

So... do you think you might end up being up for going out to see Iron Man when it comes out? Just asking. No pressure. xo

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

hip-hop culture is used a lot in television, both in shows and on commercials,

Dear girl - how do you ever find time to watch television? Oh - right, at your father's place. He has a regular TV. I get it!

As far as I know, hip-hop doesn't appear on TV here, though it might in some places.

Yes, I think hip-hop is probably very American, though I do see it as a type of music in our music stores, usually and I am wondering what it is.

Remember the era when they made Tony Stark an alcoholic? Iron Man caught my attention then

I think that is the David Michellinie era I was talking about.

When he's hovering in the air trying out his palm and foot jets -- whoa! It looked so wonderfully real.

Wasn't that amazing? I liked the way it looked like Rocketeer.

I don't know when Iron Man is coming out and I don't know when I want to venture out of doors again. (Like never, at the moment, but I know I have to go out next Friday, to an appointment with the Doctor.)

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Hee. Well, I don't need to actually watch tv myself to know what's on it...! It's rather predictable, no?

Hip-hop is a conundrum to me. It truly is a youth subculture, now. It's only slightly connected to the other movements of rap and "gangsta," both of which are more heavily tied into commercial music. Hip-hop is sorta like the hippie movement was in the late Sixties: something everyone can get in on, everyone welcome. Just be young. Or, in the best cases (as in Step Up 2 the Street), anyone at all, age and ethnicity not a factor. It's fascinating.

You will be going outside next Friday, to the doctor? That would be, April 18? That's the day I'll be setting out to King of Prussia to attend the state postal workers convention. I will think soothing thoughts for you to give you as kind a journey as could be possible! (And here I was hoping that you would not have to go outside again until all the snow and ice had completely melted... drat.) You'll be fine. I suppose you can go ahead and consider this one of the things that you have to be brave about and confront. You can do it. It'll be fine. And then, it'll be behind you!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't need to actually watch tv myself to know what's on it...! It's rather predictable, no?

Is it? I mean, I don't watch, but I don't know about hip-hop being on it. There seem to be an awful lot of home improvement shows.

I do sort of look forward to seeing the Doctor because then I'll get more of a prognosis about The Foot.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I have a comfortable feeling that the news will be good. You are eating right, resting properly, and doing everything right... and it all just feels good, to me, from here. I hope the trip and visit go well for you. I know it must be frightening to think about going outside again. And, um, exhausting to contemplate all the actual steps (so to speak) in order to actually get there. Which will probably wipe you out, alas. So be extra-good to yourself that night after you've been there and back again!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

You are eating right

I'm certainly doing my best - with no appetite at all. My lunch is still sitting on my table... I'll eat is in a few minutes.

resting properly

And frequently, if not constantly!

But it's all a little better every day.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about the no appetite thing. That's normal. Your entire physical reality has taken a drastic and unexpected jar, and when your appetite does come back as usual, you will know that you are quite far along the path to regained health again.

It's all a little better every day.

Ah, good. That you can tell this is so -- that says that you are not only truly improving at a wonderful pace, but that you are in excellent contact with yourself. Gad, I sound so rah-rah! Sorry. I just mean -- it's good to hear that you are not feeling stagnated (uh, apart from the 18+ hours of sleep a day) and are feeling the changes as they occur. It's so very good to hear this. And it will continue! rah.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Your 1. could speak of Lymond, too, for almost all the points -- you already know that!

Hm, why do I like Torchwood?

Captain Jack Harkness is original, and utterly heroic, and flawed, and deeply emotional, and smart, and ... all of that. And there are damned few shows available that will even attempt to draw such an exquisite character, much less get one almost perfectly right.

The camaraderie. The realness of the characters -- for instance, we saw Suzie only two episodes, but she remains as strong a presence for me as does Toshiko (ai). The connectedness among the characters, and their grounding in the "outside" world... as in, Det. Swanson saying, "These people dies because of you," and Jack scowling at the ground because he knew she was right.

The lack of compulsory heterosexuality, as you said. How incredibly refreshing--! I feel free when I watch this show. As free as I feel when I am hanging out with a bunch of theatre people.

Yeah, the pterodactyl!

The true science-fictiony nature of the show itself. Utterly great.

You caught Ianto reading Tintin? Or did he just make a reference to it? That is so cool.

One of the best things about Torchwood: the fact that you introduced me to it, and that we still share it. At a distance, currently, but... still. Thank you.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Captain Jack Harkness is original, and utterly heroic, and flawed, and deeply emotional, and smart, and ... all of that

Yes, all of that, and in the right ways. Not just all those charactersistics (some archetypical, some unique) but put together in the right way.

The camaraderie.

Definitely! And not an easy or superficial camaraderie, either, but a kind that's earned though the characters getting to know each other and being in bad (and good) situations together.

as in, Det. Swanson saying, "These people dies because of you," and Jack scowling at the ground because he knew she was right.

Or at least partly right.

The lack of compulsory heterosexuality, as you said. How incredibly refreshing--!

Isn't it amazing? It isn't even that some characters are straight and some are gay - other shows do that - it's that sexuality itself isn't so easily classified. Perfect.

I feel free when I watch this show. As free as I feel when I am hanging out with a bunch of theatre people.

Well said.

You caught Ianto reading Tintin? Or did he just make a reference to it?

There's a reference to it in... um... "A Day in the Death". Owen does not like Tintin and tells Ianto that Tintin was shagging the dog. Ianto looks horrified that Owen could say such a thing. (But, well, it's Owen.) Later on, they give Owen a Tintin t-shirt.

And: you're welcome.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Definitely! And not an easy or superficial camaraderie, either, but a kind that's earned though the characters getting to know each other and being in bad (and good) situations together.

Remember, in "Cyberwoman," when Ianto walks in on the others playing basketball in the Hub? They are rowdy and in sync and they come to some sort of game-conclusion according to the bent-in-place rules they are using, and they walk out to go get food... and Jack shoves the basketball into Ianto's hands as they all walk past him. He could just as well be a shelf affixed to the wall, for all the notice they give him.

This is camaraderie [sorry -- rude loud talking in the room behind me; this isn't flowing] this is camaraderie used unwittingly as a knife that hurts in the deepest way a human being can be hurt: exclusion without thought for the other person's feelings.

I was hurt to watch that scene the first time I saw it, and now, I make sure I'm in the other room at the start of that episode, when I play the DVDs. It hurts too much. Which is only to say: Russell T. Davies got it absolutely, exactly right.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Russell T. Davies gets a lot of things right. Now Ianto is the heart and soul of the team in a lot of ways - they're all very fond of him, not just Jack.

And remember back in "Cyberwoman", it wasn't just that the others were excluding Ianto, it was that he was deliberately excluding himself so he could tend to Lisa. He didn't dare befriend or trust them because he already felt terrible about betraying them.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

And remember back in "Cyberwoman", it wasn't just that the others were excluding Ianto, it was that he was deliberately excluding himself

This is true. It could be, he initially took the job of "front man" just so he'd have access to the Hub, and he'd been caring for Lisa from day one on the job; that entire time, he stayed on the edges of their world, keeping to himself but feeling like an outsider, at the same time that he felt increasingly horrible for betraying these people with his secret in the sub-basement.

One of the most inspired bits of television I've seen in my life would be the things that Toshiko overheard from Ianto's mind, in "Greeks Bearing Gifts." I loved the horrified compassion on her face as she turned to him as she was overhearing it, and all he did was smile wanly at her and ask if she'd like a cup of Jack's industrial-strength coffee -- keeping up his external semblance of normal so that he wouldn't fall completely apart with the agony of it all. wow, what a scene.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It could be, he initially took the job of "front man" just so he'd have access to the Hub, and he'd been caring for Lisa from day one on the job; that entire time, he stayed on the edges of their world, keeping to himself but feeling like an outsider,

Yes, exactly. In "Fragments" we see how Jack came to hire him. He helped Jack subdue a Weevil in the park, and explained he'd been at Torchwood One, and asked Jack for a job. Jack turned him down, said he wanted nothing to do with Torchwood One - so Ianto turned up at the Torchwood front door the next day with coffee for him. It's a wonderful story-within-a-story, and the producers said they composed it like a segment of romantic comedy. Jack goes on refusing to hire Ianto, Ianto goes on stalking Jack (and flirting with him) and then - Jack hires Ianto after Ianto finds the pterodactyl.

But we know Ianto wants the job just for the facilities to hide and help Lisa.

Yes, the Ianto scene in "Greeks Bearing Gifts" was wonderful. I love the way Ianto's grief over Lisa doesn't just go away, and it takes him a long time to come to terms with it all. In "Adam" Ianto said his life lost all meaning until Jack brought meaning back into his life. I love that.

The characterization in this show is just so very good.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Ianto found the pterodactyl?! O, cool! (Just that there is another story with the pterodactyl is, in itself, incredibly wondrful.)

I love your description of the "bit of romantic comedy" which concludes with Ianto being hired for Jack's Torchwood. The further story-within-a-story would of course be that the man playing Jack is so intimately familiar with how romantic comedy should go [g]. So sweet.

Grief takes the time that it takes, yes... long ago, I had a fool with letters after his name tell me that I should be done with grieving within about 18 months of the specific event I'd brought up; just today, I had an incredibly wise and rational person tell me that grief takes the path that it takes, and it is different with each person and with each incident. Soothing ointment on that long-ago unkind cut, at last... and, yes, even after all this time, it did make a difference to me.

I digress. I feel for Ianto. He may be the Torchwood member I am most like. (I want to be Det. Swanson, but....)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I want to be Detective Swanson, too. I'm not sure there's any one of them I wouldn't want to be. The one I identify with most, of course, is Jack, but all of them are wonderful in their way, and Ianto - whom I've always liked but who has never been a big favourite - just gets better all the time.

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

I totally agree on point #1: I love that Jack proves that you don't have to be an emotionless heterosexual piece of brawn to be a masculine hero. However, if I was making my own list I'd probably put Ianto at #1-- but if I start waxing poetic about him, I'll be here all day. :)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Nothign wrong with waxing poetic about Ianto! He's lovely. It took me a long time to actually come to love him, or his relationship with Jack, but I've always liked him, and I totally love the way his character has developed.