Oh man, maybe I'll have to check this out.

Kaan | January 28, 21:18 CET

That'll do wonders for the story arc and character consistency, I'm sure. Great!

Is there any information on how all this came together? Was it like the BBC saying: 'Look we want to have something as good as BtVS this time?'

Caroline | January 28, 21:23 CET

RTD (the creator/show runner) is a massive Joss fan. I saw him quoting the Buffy musical at Comic-Con. They've got something like 6 of the Dollhouse crew for the LA shoot. I was at the Cardiff shoot at the weekend and the director there was a Tim Minear peep from Terriers. It's all pretty tight and awesome.

[ edited by gossi on 2011-01-28 21:31 ]

gossi | January 28, 21:26 CET

This is too cool. I leap into the Doctor Who world just 8 months ago, before I could have known any of this, and here I am finding RTD Torchwood updates on Whedonesque.

I think the next step is to have an official meeting of the minds between RTD and Joss! Have they done that yet? After Avengers, lets have a show written by the both of them. ;)

Although I do have to admit that RTD is a hell of a lot more unstable as a person than Joss seems to be.

VeryVeryCrowded | January 28, 21:45 CET

...How is RTD unstable?

Also, the exec producer of this was working with Joss on Ripper.

gossi | January 28, 21:47 CET

Good intel, Gossi (as usual). My level of anticipation was already high, but it just went to 11.

Tin Ear Tom | January 28, 22:01 CET

There's an interview at Assignment X Magazine with Russell T. Davies www.assignmentx.com (sorry, when I try to do the html thing here to make a working link, it just doesn't work for me) from the recent Television Critics Association press tour where he talks about the new season of "Torchwood." Like "Children of Earth," it is one continuous miniseries story, rather than standalone episodes.

Shapenew | January 28, 22:04 CET

I'm currently about a third into A Writer's Tale, gossi. It's not intended to be an insult to him-- it's just what seems to be the case. He writes to Benjamin about having bouts of depression on a pretty regular basis. It seems like it used to be worse, but I'm not thinking it would have changed that much since the book came out. So. That's what I mean. Joss doesn't seem to have the same sorts of troubles.

VeryVeryCrowded | January 28, 22:25 CET

And now I wish they'd cast ASH in this Torchwood series. ;-)

Caroline | January 28, 23:11 CET

I think Russell and Joss' writing styles are pretty different too...Joss seems to be all about getting the structure down first, whereas Russell, by his own admission, kind of makes it up as he goes along (I believe in A Writer's Tale he calls it 'writing in the present tense').

I gotta say, these differences really show....

Alex_Jamieson | January 29, 00:27 CET

VVC, Joss has his own issues, he talks about them from time to time (albeit usually in a sarkier tone), it's almost universal among TV writers really... he's never taken part in something as revealing as "Writer's Tale"... probably because he's never been asked! (It's a pretty unique product I think)

daylight | January 29, 01:01 CET

Dinosaurs was an incredibly funny show. Makes sense she wrote on it.

Xane | January 29, 03:54 CET

Oh, this gives me hope. So much hope.

RTD lost me as a fan when he disrespected fan opinions the way he did after CoE - yes, yes, the outcry over Ianto's death was HUGE, especially considering that it was more like collateral damage rather than moving the story-arc along, but really, there's a way to do things and there's a way to not do them, and he chose the way to not do them.

But, reading that Jane Espenson has written almost half? What you're hearing are Geeker-Squeals of joy.

[ edited by Avarice on 2011-01-29 09:08 ]

Avarice | January 29, 09:07 CET

What does "disrespected fan opinions" mean in this instance, exactly?

ETA: Never mind, I dug it up. I shrugged.

[ edited by The One True b!X on 2011-01-29 09:31 ]

The One True b!X | January 29, 09:16 CET

From Ianto fans maybe. I wasn't that particularly outraged neither were many of the Torchwood fans that I know online.

Simon | January 29, 09:27 CET

But back to re: Jane, does anyone know if she expected, going into the project, to be writing that much of it?

[ edited by The One True b!X on 2011-01-29 09:37 ]

The One True b!X | January 29, 09:37 CET

Sadly I will have to wait until the DVD comes out, Starz is not something I am going to pay for. Has anyone heard if we are going to be getting Capt John in this series?

rehabber | January 29, 14:08 CET

It might appear on Hulu? I think RTD said Capt John wouldn't be in this series. And I assume we would have heard from James Marsters' camp if he was.

Simon | January 29, 16:22 CET

RTD has stated definitively that Capt. John won't be in this story - not that he doesn't love JM, but just that what Capt. John brings to the story doesn't mesh with the particular arc of this miniseries.

Shapenew | January 29, 17:49 CET

It won't be on Hulu. It should, in theory, be on Netflix the way Spartacus is, because they have the Starz contract.

The One True b!X | January 29, 20:55 CET

Regarding Ianto dying, BBC Cardiff got something like 10 jars of coffee fans sent as part of the Save Ianto thing.

gossi | January 29, 21:13 CET

You don't have to commit to premium TV forever if you want to watch Torchwood. Call up your cable provider and tell them to add Starz the day before T:MD starts and tell them to cancel it the day after it ends. Give them the dates, of course. It's only 10 episodes. So you are paying for a little over 2 months. Maybe $30 in total. Of course, a free month trial and then 2 months of streaming only on Netflix will run you about $16.

I'm just saying it is not a ridiculously expensive proposition to get this show at a reasonable price in the US.

I stop and start my Starz and HBO subscriptions all the time depending on what they are airing. Right now I have Starz for Spartacus, but might cancel it when it's over if Camelot doesn't seem like my cup of tea then add it back when it's time for Torchwood. I canceled my HBO sub after True Blood ended and won't add it back until Game of Thrones starts in April.

I save a lot of money by only paying for the programming I want and not supporting programming that isn't for me. At least when it comes to premium subscription TV.

And, gossi, 10 people making the noise about Ianto sounds just about right.

[ edited by IrrationaliTV on 2011-01-29 23:17 ]

IrrationaliTV | January 29, 23:16 CET

I liked Ianto and wasn't spoiled, but I was far more upset about Jack's grandson.

And Joss fans getting upset because Jack's love interest died? That's like an average day in the Jossverse.

redeem147 | January 30, 02:46 CET