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Torchwood: Complete BBC Series 1 Box Set [2006]

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Directors: Brian Kelly, Colin Teague
Actors: John Barrowman, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori
Studio: 2 Entertain Video
Category: DVD

List Price: ~~Ł54.99~~
Buy New: Ł17.94
You Save: Ł37.05 (67%)

New (15) Used (1) from Ł17.94

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

31 reviews
Sales Rank: 54

Format: Box Set, Dolby, Pal
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Number Of Items: 7
Running Time: 630
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.5 x 1.5

EAN: 5014503225322
ASIN: B000VA3JFW

Theatrical Release Date: October 2006
Release Date: November 19, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships from U.S.A., to anywhere in the United Kingdom! Orders only take 7-10 days! We specialise in service to the U.K. and only ship airmail.

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.co.uk Review
While occasionally clumsy in the way it goes about things, the first season of Torchwood ultimately makes good on its promise to be a science fiction programme for an older market. So while it's spun out from the more family-friendly Doctor Who, it does carve out an edgy, entertaining niche for itself.

The programme follows the adventures of the Torchwood agency (who we met in far more prestigious form at the end of Doctor Who's second series), a small team led by John Barrowman's Captain Jack Harkness who investigate the extra terrestrial and the paranormal. And across the thirteen episodes of this maiden season, they have a lot to look into, from the likes of a sex-craved alien and cyberwoman, through to cannibalistic foes and strange, spooky fairies.

Admittedly, particularly in the early stages when Torchwood is finding its feet, there are a few missteps, and a little too much side-indulgence in exploring material that the more mainstream Doctor Who wouldn't allow. But it'd be to your folly to write Torchwood off: by the time it gallops into the second half of this first season, the quality is strong, the storylines are interesting, and the show proves to be a real winner.

Intertwining with the narrative of the main Doctor Who show, Torchwood nonetheless then works as an independent programme in its own right, replete with a strong cast of characters (led by the terrific Barrowman) and scripts that have more of an experimental edge to them. It's certainly one of the most interesting science fiction shows Britain has produced in the last decade or two, and there's much to enjoy again and again in this box set. --Jon Foster

Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Torchwood July 19, 2008
I've always prefered Torchwood to Dr who it has more realistic story lines and relationships, I've also found myself loving Ianto jones even after what he did in Cyberwoman. It's a great series I am looking forward to buying series 2 on dvd.

5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant DVD Worth Every Penny July 19, 2008
I purchased this on Wednesday 17th July and It Turned Up On Saturday. I would like to Thank Amazon For Quick Delivery. Torchwood is brilliant in several different ways. It is good that we can pick up different things that have happened in Doctor Who and that they are related to Torchwood. In my opinion Season 2 is better but as with most things they get improved.

5 out of 5 stars

a great spin-off...THE CAPTAIN JACK SHOW!!! July 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

i thought that this was a great debut series and much prefered it to Doctor Who(as only the first two seeries had aired)when it was on BBC3 for the first time,and series 2 maintained its pace...but this series had lots of originality and won TV awards here in the uk including best genre actor(JOHN BARROWMAN)best actress(EVE MYLES)and best drama.
now for the episodes-
Everything Chances-5/5-a great introduction to the show and it really lures you into what the characters are like...and it has a stable storyline for it to stick to,and my god it is a very dark and gritty show,fab performances all around.

Day One-5/5-a very raunchy episode of the show,and again very violent carrying on from where the previous episode finished.

Ghost in the Machine-5/5-a dark and brutal episode that gets viewers into the head of Gwen Cooper,and it is a very good storyline for her character.

Cyberwoman-4/5-weak in some places but nevertheless it is very enjoyable and there is action,but mainly a character driven episode that doesn't require the imagination whatsoever,what it is is what you get.

Small Worlds-5/5-a fantastic episode and very entertaining...and those faeries are horrific...certainly not for lil' kiddies.

Countrycide-5/5-a very eerie episode and very,very intense...who or what is killing the residents of a local village?it feels like a slasher flick...and is certainly more fun than the recent The Cottage.

Greeks Bearing Gifts-5+/5-finally we get a great Tosh episode that gets inside her character and the episode is still one of the shows best.

They Keep on Killing Suzie-5+/5-possibly out of the two series this is my all time favourite episode,basically because the acting,scenes and plot is just incredible and it not only gets us in the mind of mr Harkness it shows us just what he is capable of and how dark and gritty this show can be...without the use of CGI monsters but relies on character and witty dialogue to make it a triumphunt episode and why it stands out as being my favourite,the pace is plain intense that it really does push you to the edge of your seat...and i love that 45 minutes of great television has the power to do that.

Random Shoes-4.5/5-a light episode that by now we have understood what the characters are like we now are introduced to Eugene...and the episode is almost a direct focus on him and the viewer sees right through his eyes it isnt a perfect episode but it is still very good.

Out of Time-4/5-a character episode that doesnt require any monster nor does it need to it develops characters without the need of brutality or cgi monsters...it isnt anything like 'They keep on...' nor does it come close...but it is character driven which is what i love...it is nevertheless a good episode.

Combat-3/5-possibly the weakest episode of this series but it is still enjoyable...it focuses mainly on Owen and pushes the plotline on further for series 2.

I'm Captain Jack Harkness-5+/5-my second favourite episode of the show and well what can i say...its brilliant all the way through to the kiss and then it ends on a great cliffhanger of sorts,but this episode really shines and develops Capt.Jack as a character...god John Barrowman is a fabulous actor...the action is little and far between but it is a genuine classic episode and why the show had beaten its daddy (doctor who)series...series three of doctor who founds the shows feet...but this is the only time i have found a spin-off to be superior to its parent series and this episode shows off why it is.

End of Days-5+/5-a perfect finale that balances everything the show is about...with a great terrifying beastie for the team to face...the son of Satan...a perfect finale for the first series to bow out on...series 2 may be less effective but it is a great follow on and has James Marsters for 3 episodes,so make sure you purchase both of these series immediately!!!and then buy series 3 and 4 of Doctor Who which(in my opinion)bettered this show,nevertheless this first series beat dr who's first two series because of its power and its fabulous acting...luckily Doctor Who writers used this as a lesson and improved the parent series for its future seasons.
worth your time and a great spin-off,watch for John Barrowman.

3 out of 5 stars

Brilliant, inconsistent, entertaining July 3, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I came late and backwards to Torchwood; I watched the first episode before I'd ever watched any of the relaunch Doctor Who episodes. I quite liked it but mainly I wanted to watch what they'd done to Doctor Who. The revamped Who was so great that it kept me busy until I saw all of it, then I went back to watch Torchwood.

It's a great idea for a series but unfortunately, the writing remains very inconsistent. To my mind, the show is at its weakest when there's a lot of running around after scaly-skinned beasties, and at its best when it stops to think a bit. The series finale, for example, is a disaster - overblown, humourless and silly, it's redeemed only by some subtle acting, mostly from John Barrowman and Eve Myles. However, only a few episodes earlier there was the wonderful 'Out of Time' episode, a quiet and rather sad tale which began at a point where most shows would have ended the story and which dared to be about people rather than about monsters. Elsewhere, the grim farce of 'Countrycide' is a witty homage to slasher movies, just as 'Combat' is an unimaginative and unconvincing rip-off of 'Fight Club'. But there's a refreshingly 21st century openness about sexuality. Captain Jack will flirt with anything that exhibits sentience, and when he finally gets to have a big old snog (with a WW2 airman as chiselled as himself) it's a moment of old-school romance. Elsewhere, both Eve Myles and Naoko Mori's characters find themselves curiously aroused at different times by persons of the same sex. It's a long way from the chaste (but increasingly lovelorn) world of the Doctor.

The acting is as mixed as the writing. John Barrowman is effortlessly charming, but perhaps because his Doctor Who episodes were better written and better script-edited, he's a more convincing hero in Doctor Who than he is in this. Here, the writing sometimes fails him, so that when he's supposed to come across as a leader of men, he seems more like a louche playboy who is a bit exasperated by the whole situation. It's hard to tell whether Burn Gorman is a bad actor, or Owen Harper is a badly-written character, but I suspect it's a bit of both; in any case, the actor relies way too much on narrowing his eyes and trying to look well 'ard. Gareth David-Lloyd is quietly efficient as the support guy Ianto until he has to carry a whole episode - then he goes way over the top. For my money, the best male actor in the show is actually Kai Owen as Gwen's long-suffering but basically chipper boyfriend Rhys. He manages to suggest both ordinariness and a basic sense of his own worth and dignity, a tricky thing to pull off.

The women are on the whole better than the men. Eve Myles is both gorgeous and a really fine actor; Naoko Mori squeezes every drop out of the sometimes exposition-heavy role of Toshiko; it's a bit of a shame that Indira Varma was only used in two episodes, as Suzie was in some ways the most interesting character in the show, just as Varma is in some ways the best actress. (Her performance as the resurrected Suzie is truly chilling.)

My wife and I watched Torchwood over the course of a summer holiday, and we could never be sure in advance if an episode was going to be completely brilliant and original or merely an efficient but generic bit of forgettable sci-fi nonsense. Buy the box set at your peril; it's not as good as Doctor Who, but Doctor Who is (mostly) so very, very good these days that Torchwood still manages to be remarkably fine for a spin-off. Still, the show is frustratingly inconsistent. I do think they could have come up with a better series finale than a CGI demon stomping around Cardiff zapping people.

One last thing - kudos to the creators for setting this thing in Cardiff at all, and making the place seem fascinating, haunted and sexy.

5 out of 5 stars

torchood series 1 June 20, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

This is a brilliant series & so is series 2 anyone who likes doctor who would love this & any john barrowmam fan would love the character he plays "captain jack harkness"