Torchwood satisfied my craving for Doctor Who-like TV during the dry spell between seasons of Doctor Who. As always, I am disappointed that Captain Jack Harkness is so much more serious and authoritative as a star than he is as a flippant companion. The last few episodes were rather disappointing -- I felt that the writers wasted a Gwen's wedding (a big life event!) on a rather predictable shape-shifting alien story. And then "From Out of the Rain" didn't even mention the Rift or aliens at all! I don't want just a weird, dark police show, I want science fiction! In the season finale, Jack lived through two thousand years of dying, buried alive -- and came out of it speaking fine, not deranged or troubled. By comparison, his yearlong series of deaths in the finale of Doctor Who season 3 -- which left him subdued and reflective -- is nothing! On the other hand, the series had many of those classic double-take Captain Jack lines. So I still like it.
Doctor Who - It is true that the Doctor is always fighting people who basically want to turn humans into zombies (so summarizeth Mur Lafferty). But just seeing him walk down the street in the season 4 opener was exciting! That crazy hair! That optimistic attitude! The awkwardness at the end of the episode (does he ever talk straight about romance?) was a nice finishing touch. And the sight of Rose! -- how is she back? How many narrative opportunities are opened! O glee!
BSG - The titles have changed! Here's how I picture that executive meeting:
Ex1: "We've been getting some flak recently from the ardent fans--"The Kara-Thrace-trust issue was inevitable, and so predictable that I wonder why they bothered shooting it. Based on nearly identical situations in the past three seasons, we know that she'll (1) have a very strong conviction that (2) nobody else believes, to the points of (3) calling her a traitor/cylon. Then (4) someone with power will trust her and (5) give her the means to pursue her conviction, resulting in (6) a dramatic reveal that she was right, after all. Then (7) she will be restored to her usual place in the cockpit, after some muted congratulations/apologies.
Ex2: "They take issue with everything!"
Ex1: "-- also the not-so-ardent fans, the channel-surfers, and even people who have never seen the show."
Ex2: "Why?"
Ex1: "Well, at the beginning of every show we have this long opening sequence, building up to the fact that the cylons have a plan."
Ex2: "... ?"
Ex1: "They don't."
Ex2: "Really?"
Balthar, too, is back to his usual business of being thrown out of a position of power and elevated to a new one. With lots of loose women in the mix.
The only new element in this season's plot mix is that four new characters know (in secret) that they are cylons. This will be interesting, as we've never had that before...
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