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US Torchwood cancelled for now

2

23skidoo

Admiral
Admiral
Fox, true to form, has cancelled the US version of Torchwood ... this time before a single episode was made!

http://gallifreynewsbase.blogspot.com/2010/04/american-torchwood-on-hold.html

RTD and Julie Gardner haven't given up hope yet. But I don't feel too chuffed. Torchwood should be made in Britain. If they insist on doing a US version, they need to do it for a cable network like Showtime or HBO. Or BBC America. Otherwise it'll be watered down. Forget the sex and Jack being pansexual and all that. Fox would have never allowed a storyline like Children of Earth, period.

Tidbits in this article:

The ideas was for a 13-episode serialized season, making it likely it might have been a continuation rather than a remake.

Jane Tranter has put the kibosh on the US Doctor Who rumors: one Doctor at a time, she says!

Alex
 
It's hard to imagine a "U.S. Doctor Who." I liked the Fox movie in 1996, but looking at bits and pieces of it recently it strikes me how many conventionalizations of story plotting and visual design were introduced in an apparent effort to make it suit presumed "American tastes (more properly, I think, the taste and comfort levels of TV network people)."

It might work in some limited respects if Davies or someone like Moffat from the British version were in real control of it...but Nah. I can easily imagine a Hollywood theatrical version of DW succeeding, but not a TV series.
 
Well I guess I get my news about the status of US Torchwood. I just hope that Russell and Julie focus and place their resources into writing and producing a fourth series of Torchwood which I'd much rather see.
 
yes with this idea now put to bed (and not in the way Jack likes it) lets see some movement on S4.
 
Whilst it's unfortunate for those who have lost work because of it, i'm not going to mourn the abandoning of a US version of Torchwood. I've thought it was a terrible idea ever since i first heard of it, and hopefully now they will start work on Series 4 rather than wasting time trying to break into the American market.
 
Oh dear, what a pity, never mind!

Terrible idea so glad about this, though I hope RTD gets the chance to write a show for the US market I hope it'll be non who related.
 
Perhaps someone like an HBO, Showtime or AMC will pick this idea up. Would love to see the Torchwood concept used on one of these networks. This would also allow RTD to do shorter seasons and push the limits with less censorship from network suits.
 
What's the point of Torchwood anyway? What is it about, really? I mean, I think it's about a small group of rogue operatives who investigate supernatural cases in the Doctor Who universe, and who live in Cardiff, but that's a rather vague foundation for a series, isn't it?

Without Wales and the Doctor Who connection, what is Torchwood? What does it bring to the table that Fringe and Supernatural don't?
 
The Mirrorball Man said:
Without Wales and the Doctor Who connection, what is Torchwood? What does it bring to the table that Fringe and Supernatural don't?
Click to expand...

Actually, while I'm not familiar with Supernatural, the moment I started watching Fringe I began cataloging its similarities to Torchwood. IMO Fox already did its American version of Torchwood -- and that's Fringe.

(Not saying it's a copy, but the show travels such a similar path that there had to be some influence from the earlier show.)

Dennis said:
It's hard to imagine a "U.S. Doctor Who." I liked the Fox movie in 1996, but looking at bits and pieces of it recently it strikes me how many conventionalizations of story plotting and visual design were introduced in an apparent effort to make it suit presumed "American tastes (more properly, I think, the taste and comfort levels of TV network people)."
Click to expand...

Even so, at least the film was part of the main series, and not a "start from scratch" remake. There's no guarantee a US Doctor Who, or a US Torchwood, would have any connection to the original franchise.

Kelso said:
I would have watched it.
Click to expand...

For me, only if it had been a direct continuation of the original series -- in other words, Season 4, only produced in the US. Had it been a remake or reimagining, I wouldn't have given it the time of day, even with John Barrowman in it. The only exception might be if they stole an idea from JJ Abram's Star Trek and added a line of dialogue suggesting it was an alternate timeline or universe. Then any changes could be rationalized.

Alex
 
23skidoo said:
Actually, while I'm not familiar with Supernatural, the moment I started watching Fringe I began cataloging its similarities to Torchwood. IMO Fox already did its American version of Torchwood -- and that's Fringe.

(Not saying it's a copy, but the show travels such a similar path that there had to be some influence from the earlier show.)
Click to expand...
There are similarities, but when all is said and done, it's much easier to state was Fringe is about: it's about a small FBI unit working with a bone fide mad scientist and its dealings with a shadowy corporation called Massive Dynamics and what may be a secret war between parallel dimensions.

Supernatural is about two brothers who travel across the country to hunt and kill evil urban legends creatures, and are involved in the war between Heaven and Hell.

What is Torchwood? A very small group of unaffiliated operatives who bump into random menaces and fight them? Is there more to it? I'm not saying it's not good or enjoyable, but what is the series' core concept?
 
I want a Fringe / Doctor Who / Torshwood crossover. I would love to see Walter Bishop and the Doctor discuss science while Jack hits on Olivia and Peter.
 
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