doctor who spin-off is quite good (or 'how i like to obssess about my favourite tv sci-fi show')

(the following post will remind anybody who manages to read it all the way through of what a really sad fucker i am in the very worst anorak kind of way)


we've just finished watching the second episode of the new bbc 3 sci-fi drama, 'torchwood', created by russell t davies, the writer of 'queer as folk' and the man who breathed new life into doctor who last year - it's the second doctor who spin-off, 1981's one-off episode, k-9 and company, being the first



the torchwood institute is first set up in 1879 at the behest of queen victoria at the end of 'tooth and claw', the werewolf episode of this year's season of doctor who - although the queen is saved by david tennant's doctor, she is not amused by his methods and asks for a secret organisation to be set up to guard against alien threats which she names torchwood, an anagram of doctor who - the organisation is referred to in the 'christmas invasion' regeneration episode of doctor who, when the prime minister, against the doctor's wishes, orders the destruction of a departing alien ship that has been holding london to ransom, using alien technology that, along with other alien artefacts, has come into the possession of torchwood over the 100 plus years since its inception

the london branch of torchwood, situated in canary wharf, is destroyed in the battle between the daleks and the cybermen in this year's doctor who season finale, leaving the only operational site, known as 'torchwood 3', in cardiff - torchwood 2 is an administration office in glasgow - the torchwood team is led by the pan-sexual time traveller played by john barrowman, captain jack harkness, who was the doctor's temporary companion for the last half of christopher eccleston's season, left behind by the doctor on a space station thousands of years in the future, presumed exterminated by the daleks but brought back to life by billie piper's character, rose when she absorbs a huge amount of energy from the time vortex inside the tardis - this causes a side-effect which makes jack indestructible - how he got from the space station to cardiff in 2007 will hopefully be revealed during the series' thirteen episodes - the torchwood site was set up in cardiff because of the space-time rift there, which the doctor and rose first experience in 'the unquiet dead', the charles dickens episode of doctor who last year, the rift being partially opened again in modern-day cardiff in a later episode, 'boom town'

the premise of the first episode of torchwood is similar to that of the first 'men in black' movie - a young police woman witnesses the activities of the torchwood team and is introduced to their organisation where she discovers that alien technology is being researched and used (and in some cases misused) by the team in order to investigate and combat alien threats - her mind is wiped of everything she has seen but after further contact with them, she eventually becomes part of the team



the second episode deals with an alien that feeds on energy given off during human orgasms and has to possess a female body in order to have sex with other humans until it is satiated


this series has got off to a promising start, providing a more adult view of the doctor who universe - it's funny and has the same qualities that have made the new doctor who so enjoyable to watch - it will be interesting to see if the character of, gwen, the police woman who is recruited to the team in the first episode is linked in any way to the character of gwyneth, the psychic servant girl who dies during the opening of the space-time rift in 'the unquiet dead' - both characters are played by the same actress

like i said at the beginning - am i a sad fucker or what?