Big Picture Big Sound

The Show

What do you get when you mix a Dr. Who spin-off with X-Files style, a hint of Buffy humor and heavy doses of sex and violence? You get the BBC's hit adult sci-fi drama Torchwood.  Sleeker, sexier and more glamorous than Dr. Who, Torchwood relies less on cheekiness and tacky special effects -- though those do pop up from time to time -- and more on character development and a flashy stylistic approach making it very different from what one might expect from a typical BBC sci-fi drama.

The series is anchored by main character Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) whom fans of the Dr. Who revival will remember as the rakish time agent from the 51st century. Captain Jack, through a series of events that happened during his appearance on Dr. Who has been rendered immortal and now leads a team of secret special operatives on 21st century Earth -- Torchwood, an agency that investigates suspected alien and paranormal phenomena. Because of a rift in time and space that runs through the city, the team is headquartered in Cardiff. Housed in a hidden underground dwelling that opens up into the city via an invisible lift, the Torchwood headquarters is a geek's dream come true -- full of tech gadgets, flashing touch screens and a giant translucent water tower at its heart.  

As the team battles alien incursions and other phenomena, they also deal with everyday issues, like complicated relationships with other humans, or with aliens, for that matter, and they struggle to cope with the secrecy and the violence they witness on a daily basis. These things separate Torchwood from Dr. Who, which remains squarely in the happy-ending safe for the kiddies realm. It even removes it from that other classic series to which it owes so much, The X-Files, for although The X-Files touched on some real-world issues, like Mulder's search for his abducted sister, the sexual element was missing. It took over a decade for Mulder and Scully to kiss, much less use some of the very adult language, which Torchwood deals in. But, the sex and gore is hardly overt in Torchwood. It is mostly implied; complicated and always with consequences, like the real world.

The series doesn't have a singular story arc, and in that sense it is very much like its companion Dr. Who; it feels more like the one-off episodes of The X-Files, but there are repercussions that carry over throughout the episodes and the central plot revolving around the rift comes into play in the season finale. Over the course of 13 episodes spread across 6 discs, there are episodes involving a gaseous-form sex alien who inhabits a human body and kills her victims at the moment of orgasm feeding off of the orgasmic energy, evil faeries who enlist the help of a little school girl to do their bidding, a Cyberwoman in the obligatory revealing sexy cyber-outfit, and of course time travel. The series' leading man, John Barrowman is charismatic, charming, and forceful when need be. His supporting cast does well in their respective roles helping the series feel more grounded than most other sci-fi shows and Torchwood's visual aesthetic gives it a modern, yet very much real world appeal. This is an excellent series full of great acting, great characters, great drama and, of course, classic science fiction. It's not to be missed by any fan of the genre.

The Picture

Torchwood is originally shot in high definition and appears on this Blu-ray set in a 1080i VC-1 encoding at ~20Mbps in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Using my display to do the deinterlacing since the Sony player I use (BDP-S350) does this improperly, the first thing I noticed is how Torchwood's picture quality is superior in every way to another BBC series that was recently released on BD, Robin Hood. Unlike Robin Hood, video noise on Torchwood is hardly an issue. There is some noise barely noticeable in dark areas of some scenes, but for the most part noise is subdued and the picture is pristine and clear.

Flesh tones are spot-on, never faltering and never displaying any red push. Contrast ratio is set perfectly, with a good level of brightness that never blows out or blooms and blacks are obsidian with a very good level of shadow detail in the show's omnipresent nighttime scenes.  The images are finely detailed; everything from the cloth of Captain Jack's army coat to the freckles and big, beautiful, olive green eyes of actress Eve Myles pop from the screen in a lifelike fashion. This is a brilliantly done release from BBC Video.

The Sound

Utilizing the infrequently used DTS-HD High Resolution codec for its English 5.1 mix, I would be inclined to give this somewhat lively and fairly ambient mix an almost perfect score. The dialogue is clear, the show's score is mixed discretely, spaciously and at a good balance into the five main channels, and sound effects are panned into different parts of the room quite nicely. The mix is most lively when the Torchwood team is in "the hub", and you can hear the sound of dripping water coming from the surrounds, or in the various scenes of stormy nights where rain fills all the channels.

The low frequencies aren't earth shaking, but there is a solid bottom and good use of the LFE. High frequencies are a little tweaked, particularly during the show's theme, but overall the mastering is easy on the ears. One would hardly be able to notice that this was a lossy encoded soundtrack, that's how good the DTS-HD HR sounds.

The problem is, that I was hearing some sort of digital distortion throughout discs one and four that was very distracting. Since it was only occurring on those two discs, I'm inclined to believe that it may be some sort of mastering or authoring error that could hopefully be corrected. In the meantime, however, I will have to mark this down because of it.

The Extras

At first glance it may seem like there is a good value of extras offered on this set; every disc is loaded with supplemental materials and fans of the series will certainly be happy to see more of their favorite cast members. There is an audio commentary for each episode, but there is no listing anywhere on the packaging or the menu for who is giving the commentary for which episode and the commentators sometimes do not introduce themselves clearly, but fans will be delighted to know that the show's cast members all appear. Sadly, most of the commentaries are typically dull and obtrusive. I won't bother to list them all below, since it would be too repetitive.

The problems with the video extras offered, is that they are highly repetitive, all focused on "making of" type featurettes, and one hundred percent standard definition. On every disc, they discuss the themes, characters, and making of each episode at least twice, often using some of the same interview and behind-the-scenes footage from one featurette to the next. It would have been best to just leave it out, in my opinion.

The extras offered on this release are:

Disc 1:

• Welcome to Torchwood Parts One & Two (1.78:1/standard definition) -- This featurette shows series Executive Producers Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner discussing the themes and tone of Torchwood. It also provides a quick look at the series' launch party in Cardiff.
• Torchwood on the Scene (1.78:1/standard definition) -- The first cast read-through of the premiere episode is shown and cast and producers discuss the first episode.
• Deleted Scenes -- (1.78:1/standard definition) -- Over 10 minutes of deleted scenes from various episodes play continuously. Many of the scenes are quick snippets that would really offer nothing to further the stories of their respective episodes. Unfortunately, no option is offered to select scenes on an individual basis.
• Torchwood Out of this World (1.78:1/standard definition):
  • Weevil -- The creature effects designer and prosthetics supervisor offer a glimpse into the creation and design of the show's "weevil" aliens, including the animatronic mask.
  • Sex gas -- The visual effects team show how they developed the effects for the gas-form sex alien from the series' second episode, "Day One".
• Torchwood Declassified:
  • Jack's Back -- This featurette offers a brief look at the character of Captain Jack Harkness, but it reuses much of the footage from the read-through in the previous Torchwood on the Scene featurette, and offers more repetitive discussion on the show's themes.
  • Bad Day at The Office -- Discussion of the character of Gwen and designing "the hub", which serves as the Torchwood headquarters in the series.

Disc 2:

• Torchwood out of this World (1.78:1/standard definition)
  • Ghost Machine -- The cast and producers recount the episode "Ghost Machine" and discuss its visual effects
  • Cyberwoman -- A Behind-the-scenes look at the designing of the Cyberwoman suit for the "CYBERWOMAN" episode.
  • Fairies -- The cast and producers discuss the evil fairies from the episode "Small Worlds" and the CGI and sound effects used in the episode.
• Torchwood Declassified (1.78:1/standard definition)
  • Living History -- Further discussion of the "Ghost in the Machine" episode.
  • Girl Trouble -- A discussion of the Ianto character in relation to the episode "CYBERWOMAN"
  • Away with Fairies -- More discussion of the "Small Worlds" episode

Disc 3:

• Torchwood: Sex, Violence, Blood and Gore (1.78:1/standard definition) -- The cast and producers talk about Torchwood's more adult themes.
• The Team and Their Troubles (1.78:1/standard definition)
  • Ianto & Evan -- An exploration of the emergence of the Ianto character as a more integral member of the Torchwood team in the "Countrycide" episode
  • Toshiko & Mary -- The cast and producers very proudly discuss the sexual relationship the Toshiko character has with a female alien in the episode entitled "Greeks Bearing Gifts"

Disc 4:

• Torchwood on the Road (1.78:1/standard definition) -- This featurette is all about the heavily customized black SUV that the team uses as transportation in the series. The producers discuss the difficulties of filming inside the SUV, particularly when it's moving, and how they set out to design an iconic car for the show. From the way the gush over it in this featurette, I'd say they were very happy with the outcome.
• Deleted Scenes (1.78:1/standard definition) -- 7 minutes of deleted scenes, again played continuously.
• The Team and Their Troubles (1.78:1/standard definition)
  • Owen & Suzie -- A discussion of the episode "They Keep Killing Suzie".
  • Gwen & Eugene -- The "Random Shoes" episode is explored.
• Torchwood Declassified
  • Beyond the Grave -- More discussion of " They Keep Killing Suzie"
  • Dead Man Walking -- More discussion of "Random Shoes"

Disc 5:

• The Captain's Log (1.78:1/standard definition) --  Actor John Barrowman's personal video diary of the last day of shooting is interspersed with interview footage of the cast and crew lavishing praise on Barrowman.
• Torchwood Moments in the Making (1.78:1/standard definition)
  • A Wing and A Prayer -- Behind-the-scenes featurette on the production of the episode "Out of Time"
  • Fight Night -- Examining the episode "Combat"
• Torchwood Declassified (1.78:1/standard definition)
  • Time Flies -- Further exposition on the episode "Out of Time"
  • Weevil -- More discussion on the weevils in the series and the episode "Combat"

Disc 6:

• Torchwood: On Time (1.78:1/standard definition)-- This featurette focuses on building and designing the look of the 1941 dancehall set for the episode "Captain Jack Harkness" in which Jack and Toshiko travel back in time to 1941.
• Deleted Scenes (1.78:1/standard definition) -- Just over 14 minutes of deleted scenes played continuously.
• Outtakes (1.78:1/standard definition) -- A blooper and gag reel from the filming of the series.
• Torchwood Moments in the Making (1.78:1/standard definition)
  • Officer and a Gentleman -- Exploring the themes and character development of Jack in the episode "Captain Jack Harkness"
  • Bombing the Base -- This featurette finds the cast and crew discussing the season finale, "End of Days".
• Torchwood Declassified (1.78:1/standard definition)
  • Blast from the Past -- Further discussion of the episode "Captain Jack Harkness".
  • To the End -- Further discussion of the season finale.

Where to Buy

• Torchwood: The Complete First Season on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Final Thoughts

The BBC has the makings of a cult classic sci-fi series in Torchwood. The quality of the production, the drama and depth of characters surpasses that of the series from which it was spun off, Dr. Who, in my humble opinion. This Blu-ray release does the series justice with a top-notch video transfer and quality audio mix. Whether you are just coming to this series or currently a fan, I recommend this release without hesitation.

Product Details

• Writers: Russell T. Davies
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Audio/Language: English DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1
  
• Subtitles: English SDH
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Region: ABC (All Regions)
  
• Number of discs: 6
• Rating: Not Rated
• Studio: BBC Warner
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: September 16, 2008
• Run Time: 637 minutes
• List Price: $99.98
• Extras:
  • Commentary on Every Episode
  • Torchwood Declassified
  • Outtakes
  • Deleted Scenes
  • The Captain's Log Video Diary
  • 5 Torchwood Out of This World Featurettes
  • 4 Torchwood: Then Team & Their Troubles Featurettes
  • Welcome to Torchwood
  • Torchwood on the Scene
  • Torchwood: On Time
  • Torchwood: Sex, Violence, Blood, & Gore
  • Torchwood: On The Road