The 11th Doctor

As I write this I am currently watching an episode of Doctor Who thanks to BBC America. Those that watched it, it’s the episode where Winston Churchill calls the Doctor for help during WWII. Or something along those lines. It’s not over yet (at the time of my writing this), so you don’t have to worry about too many spoilers. This is just my thoughts on the new Doctor.

See, my biggest problem is that I started watching Doctor Who when David Tennent was travelling with Donna Noble. So I got attached to the 10th Doctor! Plus Donna Noble was my favorite of his new companions, but that’s beside the point. I loved everything about the 10th Doctor. He always seemed like he had just taken a fistful of amphetamines and if he didn’t run everywhere and talk a million-words-a-minute he’d explode or something. It gave all his adventures that edge, because it seemed that if you didn’t run with him or your heart wasn’t racing just sitting and watching him run to save the world then you were going to miss something! So far Matt Smith is much calmer and, well… it loses a bit of that adrenaline rush I got addicted to when I first started watching.

Plus, I’m still adjusting and everything, but, the 11th Doctor… well, I think he’s a bit of a jerk. So far he’s made snap decisions about how much he likes his new companion, and he’s abandoned her to her own defenses in two different time frames. It seems a bit unfair to her. Don’t get me wrong, Amy Pond is quite capable of handling herself and she’s proven to be a quick learner, but she’s still learning about how he works and how things go on around him. They just don’t seem to be meshing together yet. Not like the 10th and Donna, who complimented each other perfectly. Even before she was Doctor Donna she was helping him make decisions.

I guess I’m still just adjusting to this new Doctor. Maybe it would help if I got one of these: http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/collectibles/d7d8/

Or maybe this one: http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/giftsunder20/8cff/

Instead I’ve got to save my money for Celebration V. Decisions, decisions…

Another thing that just occurred to me, not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, but these episodes seem VERY Star Wars homage-y. I mean, epic space battle to blow something up (that looked suspiciously like the second Death Star’s reactor core), and the obvious Star Wars line:  “Help us, Doctor. You’re our only hope.”

The episode is almost over, and I still can’t decide how I feel about Matt Smith as the Doctor. I will just have to watch again next week to see!

Too much tv

I watch too much tv. This is just a fact of a life, but I take comfort in the fact that this is a recent phenomenon. Up until I started college I had two shows that I watched when they aired on tv and those were Battlestar Galactica and Lost. I have been watching Lost since the second season, so that makes it my longest watched show on tv. Which is why it was be sorely missed when it’s over in… *sniffle* four weeks; which is, of course, not counting this week.

Anyway, back to how much tv I watch. Let me give you the run down; right now of the shows that I watch when they air my week goes like this:

Monday: 24 and Castle

Tuesday: NCIS, Lost, and V

Wednesday: Criminal Minds (assuming I get back from class in time) and Law and Order: SVU

Thursday: Flashforward and CSI

There are other shows that are currently filming and won’t return for a few months that I also watch when they air, assuming they don’t conflict with a show I like better: Burn Notice, White Collar, and Dollhouse before it ended.

Now, here’s the shows that I also watch but I catch online somehow whether it be the next day, in re-runs or after an entire season is over and it’s on Netflix:

House, CSI: NY, In Plain Sight, Doctor Who, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Law and Order, CSI: Miami and Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

Whew, I’m tired just listing all of them! Basically, my point is I watch a LOT of tv. Something should be done about the number of hours in a day, because it’s hard to keep up! And USA certainly doesn’t help with the number of good shows it suddenly seems to have. And CBS as well (when they actually AIR the shows on schedule: see previous whining). Oh, and there’s also ABC’s contribution. And Fox’s. Though both those stations are rapidly ditching some of their best shows. RIP Lost and 24.

Anyway, that’s about it for my tv watching. There’s a lot of it.

Torchwood: U.S.?

Before you continue reading: a quick spoiler warning. If you haven’t seen all of Torchwood and don’t want to know what happened, then don’t continue.

A few weeks ago I finished watching all the seasons of Torchwood, including the series “Children of Earth”. Now, I love Torchwood, arguably more than I love Doctor Who. But, why do I like Torchwood more? Well, it probably has something to do with the ensemble cast. There was Captain Jack, Gwen, Tosh, Owen, Ianto… Even Rhys. It made the show different from Doctor Who while keeping all the same features of it that make it so enjoyable, such as the humor and the storylines.

And then all of that was destroyed in less than 5 episodes. With the finale of season 2 and before “Children of Earth” was even finished, half of the cast was wiped out. Just like that. Gone were Owen and Tosh (well, technically Owen died earlier in season 2, but at least he was still around), and I figured I could deal with that. At least there was still Gwen and Ianto and, of course, Jack. And then “Children of Earth” came along. Suddenly Ianto was gone too and Jack magically decided he didn’t want to stay on Earth any longer. Now, of course we all know that if Torchwood comes back for season 4 then naturally Jack will come back as well, but, the question is: do we really want him back? Think about it for a moment, after his actions in “Children of Earth” is he really the sort of guy we want in charge of Torchwood? We were suddenly exposed to a very, very dark side of Jack; a side we knew existed but seemed to have vanished, or at least changed to a more compassionate version of himself. My main problem with Jack? He killed his grandson. It would have been totally different if someone else had pulled the switch that used the boy basically as a big antenna. Instead, Jack did it himself. Now, sure it could be argued that it took a strength of character to sacrifice his own flesh and blood for the greater good, but then there’s the other side to the argument. After that, how can Jack ever be trusted as the leader of the Torchwood team? If he sacrificed his own grandson, what would stop him from sacrificing Gwen’s baby? Or Gwen herself? Or Rhys- it’s well known they don’t always get along. In other words, who wants a leader who may very well get his own team killed, or kill them himself, if he thinks that it would serve a higher purpose.

On to Ianto. Poor, poor Ianto. His death made me more sad and angry than the deaths of Owen and Tosh combined. Mainly because I loved the relationship that he and Jack had. You would never see a relationship like that over here in the US, except maybe on HBO or Showtime. But aside from that, his death essentially killed the Torchwood team, because if he hadn’t died then I think Jack would have stuck around on Earth. Gwen, Ianto and Jack were, to me anyway, the core Torchwood team. Although it was sad to lose Owen and Tosh, it didn’t feel quite like the whole team died like it did when Ianto died. Maybe because his death tipped it so that suddenly more than half of the team was gone. (my psychology teacher mentioned something about that; it was something along the lines of a person has to have one good experience for every two or three bad ones) I’m just not sure the show can recover from such a massive cast change so quickly. And even if it does, I think it will be so different that I doubt I even want to watch season 4.

Now, according to an article that I found here, there were rumors of Torchwood coming to the US courtesy of Fox. Here’s what I have to say about that: I really really hope that Fox doesn’t get a hold of Torchwood. I love Captain Jack just the way he is, and Fox will absolutely change him because American audiences are not ready for a character like him. I doubt I will actually watch a fourth season of Torchwood because of the massive loss of characters between the finale of season 2 and Children of Earth. Losing Ianto pushed me over the edge, and I know for certain that if Fox really does get a new season of Torchwood I won’t watch. Fox killed Firefly and it is not a loyal network. They’ve been good to 24 and American Idol, but it is certainly not the place for Torchwood. The fans have put up with enough, sending Torchwood to Fox would push them over the edge.

Fortunately, thanks to a search that I did while writing this, I found this article. What a relief! Finally I can start sleeping soundly again at night. However, there is still the issue of whether or not Torchwood actually will come back, and just what’s in store for Gwen, Rhys and Jack if and when it does come back. I just hope Russel T. Davies doesn’t put the fans through more than what we’ve already had to deal with.