36 Days left and I am reminiscing. I am reminiscing about the first time I watched Torchwood, the first time I saw Jack (in Doctor Who) and the reason I got interested in the first place. You only have one first time and every time I have watched the show I've noticed new things and loved it even more. I am excited about watching it again with all of you (Countdown To Miracle Day Re-Watch - starting Monday June 6th), but tonight I want to look back.
For years, YEARS, friends have been telling me to watch Doctor Who (this is where the story starts, go with it). And for years, I have been resisting, because I tend to assume the worst of SciFi shows. It's not fair to lump them all together but growing up the only SciFi I saw I thought was super cheesy and down-right weird. So I resisted and I was content and I looked at my friends who were obsessed with this show and thought them silly. Then something changed.
I was browsing ONTD and I ran into a post about something everyone was talking about. It was about David Tennant's final episode of Doctor Who and it had a picture of David, a screen grab from the final episode, of him crying. You might not know this about me, but I am really into good man-crying. That's just as weird as it sounds, but I love it when a male actor can cry and just crush me. That one picture made me think, maybe I was missing out on something after all.
I swear this will end up on Torchwood but I have to get through the preamble. So after David Tennant's run ended, immediately after, I finally decided it would be an ok idea to check out Doctor Who. I got a subscription to Netflix and in 3 days of non-stop watching, I was caught up. You can all take a moment now to be impressed by how quick I got obsessed. And then there was Torchwood.
When I was watching Doctor Who for the first time I was talking with my friends about it, excited after each episode. I had one friend, an ex actually, who kept telling me to wait until I got to Jack. He said I would completely love Jack and he described him as Malcolm Reynolds meets Han Solo, two characters (and actors) I love a lot. So when I got to The Empty Child (Jack's first appearance) I was interested, but actually prepared to be let down. No way was Jack going to be as cool as Mal and Han!
Then I saw, Rose hanging from a barrage balloon, a man looking through binoculars and then he said "excellent bottom". I knew right away that had to be Jack, he had me interested with that first line (also the guy with him said it). I was warming up to him already and then we see his face. Now, all of you are assuming and many in fact had the experience of love at first sight with the gorgeous Mr. Barrowman, but actually that was my second thought on the reveal. My first thought was "Hey it's that hot Nazi from The Producers!" Keep in mind I was watching this in 2010, so while The Producers came after this episode it's came long before I saw it.
As you may have guessed I didn't know John Barrowman before, although I do recall a former co-worker going on about the greatness of the guy who played the blonde Nazi in The Producers. In fact I remember I wrote down his name to check him out and then never did. Stupid me, why don't I ever listen to my friends!? I could've been a BarrowFan since 2005. Oh well the past is past and I know better now. Torchwood, right, I'm getting there.
After I confessed to my friend that he was right and I was hooked on Jack he explained Torchwood to me. He said that it was a spin-off and it runs sort of along side Doctor Who. Like many new fans I inquired about the order in which I should watch Doctor Who and Torchwood. My friend said it doesn't really matter and I could just finish Doctor Who and then go on to Torchwood. And that's what I did. Once the 3rd day of my nothing but Doctor Who marathon was over I switched to Torchwood.
I had high hopes going in because I was so beyond sold on John Barrowman and anything having to do with Jack. I convinced myself and I still to this day say, even if Torchwood was the worst show ever I could enjoy watching it on mute and just looking at him. It's a fact. Don't deny you all feel the same. He is pretty. Of course Torchwood ended up being everything I wanted and more. Since I've seen it it's been tied as my favorite show ever (the other being Pushing Daisies). I remember thinking Jack is gorgeous wet and, whose that guy in the suit. Then of course I got to know the characters and learned there was a lot more to love about them then their looks.
I spent the whole series deciding if I loved Jack or Ianto more (and honestly the jury is still out). I got to love the push and pull with Tosh and Owen and really just adored Tosh. Tosh was everything, strong and beautiful and human, so human, what a lovely character. She was also incredibly smart and being the tech genius she was she reminded me of one of my favorite comic book characters, Barbara Gordon as Oracle. Did I just type 'one of my favorite'? No no, so sorry, I meant all time favorite ever. Unless you count the Torchwood comics and I really don't want to have to think about that. My point is, I loved Tosh. And I loved Owen even before we knew why he had all those hang-up. And I so related to Ianto. I felt everything he was going through and yea, I fell in love with Jack too, although I was already smitten by that point. And as much as I missed Jack the cad, I so adore the toned down, been through shit Jack we see in Torchwood. The series took a great character and made him even better.
1 1/2 days later and with little or no sleep I was through all 3 series. Everyone take a second to realize what that means. Have any of you ever watched all of Children of Earth straight through, in one sitting? It's the most emotionally damaging 5 hours of TV you will ever have seen. Now imagine being me a new viewer, on little sleep and every moment of loving Ianto is fresh in your mind. Now imagine the buckets of tears. You know, to be fair I am not really a crier. I feel, I have a heart I swear, but I hardly ever actually cry. And Ianto, poor poor Ianto AND MAN TEARS, Jack's lovely, agonizing man-tears, got me going. And it was the I'm too hurt to sob, trying to hold it off silent crying. Where you don't want to cry and that damned tear just falls down your cheek anyway.
After I recovered and reflected I decided that I was a Torchwood fan for life. And I of course then watched it over and over again. In that first month I must have watched it 4 or 5 times through with my friends I was trying to get into it. When i like something I make sure everyone knows it and agrees with me. I am a bit pushy that way.
You know, I was going to use that story as a build up to a topic I had in mind, but look what I did!? I think that topic will have to wait for another time, maybe tomorrow. I've just realized also that I didn't mention Gwen at all, I swear that wasn't intentional. It's not that I hate Gwen, it's that sometimes I just want to slap her. Sorry! No Gwen bashing! I've given it up, cut it out. And for all you who haven't heard this before I love Eve Myles, I think she's a brilliant actress, but Gwen sometimes, not my favorite. It's ok, just my opinion and I don't entirely dislike her. I like...her boots. She has a lot of good boots. And I like...her boyfriend, in fact I love Rhys. And I certainly can't blame her for wanting Jack, don't we all?
Ok I'm done, now that you know my sorted Torchwoodhistory what about yours? What got you interested? Where you resistant like me? Did you like it the first go? xx
<3Dana
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For years, YEARS, friends have been telling me to watch Doctor Who (this is where the story starts, go with it). And for years, I have been resisting, because I tend to assume the worst of SciFi shows. It's not fair to lump them all together but growing up the only SciFi I saw I thought was super cheesy and down-right weird. So I resisted and I was content and I looked at my friends who were obsessed with this show and thought them silly. Then something changed.
I was browsing ONTD and I ran into a post about something everyone was talking about. It was about David Tennant's final episode of Doctor Who and it had a picture of David, a screen grab from the final episode, of him crying. You might not know this about me, but I am really into good man-crying. That's just as weird as it sounds, but I love it when a male actor can cry and just crush me. That one picture made me think, maybe I was missing out on something after all.
I swear this will end up on Torchwood but I have to get through the preamble. So after David Tennant's run ended, immediately after, I finally decided it would be an ok idea to check out Doctor Who. I got a subscription to Netflix and in 3 days of non-stop watching, I was caught up. You can all take a moment now to be impressed by how quick I got obsessed. And then there was Torchwood.
When I was watching Doctor Who for the first time I was talking with my friends about it, excited after each episode. I had one friend, an ex actually, who kept telling me to wait until I got to Jack. He said I would completely love Jack and he described him as Malcolm Reynolds meets Han Solo, two characters (and actors) I love a lot. So when I got to The Empty Child (Jack's first appearance) I was interested, but actually prepared to be let down. No way was Jack going to be as cool as Mal and Han!
Then I saw, Rose hanging from a barrage balloon, a man looking through binoculars and then he said "excellent bottom". I knew right away that had to be Jack, he had me interested with that first line (also the guy with him said it). I was warming up to him already and then we see his face. Now, all of you are assuming and many in fact had the experience of love at first sight with the gorgeous Mr. Barrowman, but actually that was my second thought on the reveal. My first thought was "Hey it's that hot Nazi from The Producers!" Keep in mind I was watching this in 2010, so while The Producers came after this episode it's came long before I saw it.
As you may have guessed I didn't know John Barrowman before, although I do recall a former co-worker going on about the greatness of the guy who played the blonde Nazi in The Producers. In fact I remember I wrote down his name to check him out and then never did. Stupid me, why don't I ever listen to my friends!? I could've been a BarrowFan since 2005. Oh well the past is past and I know better now. Torchwood, right, I'm getting there.
After I confessed to my friend that he was right and I was hooked on Jack he explained Torchwood to me. He said that it was a spin-off and it runs sort of along side Doctor Who. Like many new fans I inquired about the order in which I should watch Doctor Who and Torchwood. My friend said it doesn't really matter and I could just finish Doctor Who and then go on to Torchwood. And that's what I did. Once the 3rd day of my nothing but Doctor Who marathon was over I switched to Torchwood.
I had high hopes going in because I was so beyond sold on John Barrowman and anything having to do with Jack. I convinced myself and I still to this day say, even if Torchwood was the worst show ever I could enjoy watching it on mute and just looking at him. It's a fact. Don't deny you all feel the same. He is pretty. Of course Torchwood ended up being everything I wanted and more. Since I've seen it it's been tied as my favorite show ever (the other being Pushing Daisies). I remember thinking Jack is gorgeous wet and, whose that guy in the suit. Then of course I got to know the characters and learned there was a lot more to love about them then their looks.
I spent the whole series deciding if I loved Jack or Ianto more (and honestly the jury is still out). I got to love the push and pull with Tosh and Owen and really just adored Tosh. Tosh was everything, strong and beautiful and human, so human, what a lovely character. She was also incredibly smart and being the tech genius she was she reminded me of one of my favorite comic book characters, Barbara Gordon as Oracle. Did I just type 'one of my favorite'? No no, so sorry, I meant all time favorite ever. Unless you count the Torchwood comics and I really don't want to have to think about that. My point is, I loved Tosh. And I loved Owen even before we knew why he had all those hang-up. And I so related to Ianto. I felt everything he was going through and yea, I fell in love with Jack too, although I was already smitten by that point. And as much as I missed Jack the cad, I so adore the toned down, been through shit Jack we see in Torchwood. The series took a great character and made him even better.
1 1/2 days later and with little or no sleep I was through all 3 series. Everyone take a second to realize what that means. Have any of you ever watched all of Children of Earth straight through, in one sitting? It's the most emotionally damaging 5 hours of TV you will ever have seen. Now imagine being me a new viewer, on little sleep and every moment of loving Ianto is fresh in your mind. Now imagine the buckets of tears. You know, to be fair I am not really a crier. I feel, I have a heart I swear, but I hardly ever actually cry. And Ianto, poor poor Ianto AND MAN TEARS, Jack's lovely, agonizing man-tears, got me going. And it was the I'm too hurt to sob, trying to hold it off silent crying. Where you don't want to cry and that damned tear just falls down your cheek anyway.
After I recovered and reflected I decided that I was a Torchwood fan for life. And I of course then watched it over and over again. In that first month I must have watched it 4 or 5 times through with my friends I was trying to get into it. When i like something I make sure everyone knows it and agrees with me. I am a bit pushy that way.
You know, I was going to use that story as a build up to a topic I had in mind, but look what I did!? I think that topic will have to wait for another time, maybe tomorrow. I've just realized also that I didn't mention Gwen at all, I swear that wasn't intentional. It's not that I hate Gwen, it's that sometimes I just want to slap her. Sorry! No Gwen bashing! I've given it up, cut it out. And for all you who haven't heard this before I love Eve Myles, I think she's a brilliant actress, but Gwen sometimes, not my favorite. It's ok, just my opinion and I don't entirely dislike her. I like...her boots. She has a lot of good boots. And I like...her boyfriend, in fact I love Rhys. And I certainly can't blame her for wanting Jack, don't we all?
Ok I'm done, now that you know my sorted Torchwoodhistory what about yours? What got you interested? Where you resistant like me? Did you like it the first go? xx
<3Dana
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