Spinoffs that beat the original?

[Who_Trek]

Torchwood is very, very good. (And I haven't even seen CoE yet!). But Doctor Who was brilliant, is brilliant, and hopefully will continue to be brilliant for a long long time.

 

[DalekJim]

Torchwood: Children of Earth is clearly an outstanding piece of television that is up there with the best of Who.

Series 1 and 2 feels like an utterly different show, a mediocre Buffy/Angel clone at that.

 

[Mr Light]

Torchwood will never hold a candle to Doctor Who! Dr Who is magical fun. TW is just plain depressing.

 

[23skidoo]

I think Torchwood is a great show, and has been since the first episode (I know that appears to be a minority opinion), and Children of Earth I do consider to be the great Who franchise story ever. But taken as a whole I still have to put Doctor Who -- whether just considering the new series or the whole thing -- ahead of Torchwood.

That said, Torchwood has beaten DW a few times in some of the UK-based TV awards, mostly in things like acting categories. I also expect (almost demand) that CoE get the Hugo next year (unless The End of Time is absolutely mind-blowing; AMC's The Prisoner could also be a contender).

But I'd more consider Torchwood (and to a lesser extent Sarah Jane, though it has actually now produced more episodes than TW) to be examples of spinoffs that have held their own alongside the original. The CSI triplets and the L&O clones are other examples of this (though L&O has had a failure with that one spinoff with Bebe Newerth - to date the only Doctor Who spinoff that has been cancelled has been Totally Doctor Who, which barely counts).

Alex

 

[Sci]

The CSI triplets and the L&O clones are other examples of this (though L&O has had a failure with that one spinoff with Bebe Newerth - to date the only Doctor Who spinoff that has been cancelled has been Totally Doctor Who, which barely counts).

Totally Doctor Who wasn't so much a spin-off show as it was a promotional show.

 

[wamdue]

The CSI triplets and the L&O clones are other examples of this (though L&O has had a failure with that one spinoff with Bebe Newerth - to date the only Doctor Who spinoff that has been cancelled has been Totally Doctor Who, which barely counts).

Totally Doctor Who wasn't so much a spin-off show as it was a promotional show.

but it did give us "Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest", which is the only reason any watched Totally Doctor Who.