This would be the second time I'd gotten into a fandom just because of vids.

[luciazephyr]

So, um. If someone would want to get into Torchwood after having watched zero of it thus far, what episodes should they definitely watch and is there anything they have to know?

'Cause the extent of my knowledge about it is this: The vids are awesome. Jack cannot act his way out of a paper bag. Ianto is the real star of the show. Gwen should not be cheating on her boyfriend. Tosh is hott and Owen is awesome (or Satan, depending on who you ask).

That... is all I know. Oh, and it takes place in Cardiff. That I know too. :D

Any advice, o' FList?

-Luce

Comments

[mylittleburden.livejournal.com]

your descriptions are spot on, of course.
do what i made my roommate do, watch them all.
we are going to start up again with adam on saturday and get through fragments by sunday. we started last satruday, watching 9 episodes then 5 then another few during the week.

[flakygoddess.livejournal.com]

Allow me to disagree with Ilyse. Your descriptions are cute caricatures, but that's about it.

You should start where everyone else should start - at the beginning. There's only 25 eps so far, and they're all totally worth it (well, except the one where Owen goes weevil-fighting, I think). I mean, we haven't even finished the second series yet, and they're half as long as American seasons. May as well begin at the beginning.

(Seriously, Ianto is a lovely puppy, but if he's the real star of the show, I will buy a hat and then eat it.)

[mylittleburden.livejournal.com]

well, except the one where Owen goes weevil-fighting, I think
when shana (the roommate who's watching with me, not allisa, of course) and i were watching, combat was the one episode we talked the entire way through. the rest there were points of conversations and squeeing, but this was just constant chatter, we were too bored.

[odannygirl7.livejournal.com]

True. They really should keep John B away from the 'srs actinz'. He's a musical stage actor...

Totally start at the beginning. Jack's a little... Mr Cranky Pants the first season, but is much more fun in the second season, so far. Ianto is adorable, but isn't featured much in the first half of S1. Owen is awesome. No matter what anyone says. Gwen is really annoying. The actress is very good though. Her BF, Rhys, is awesome. Compleat sweetheart. Tosh is hot. Yes. Very, very. ('specially when they show off her boobs and legs.) There are a few clunker eps. S1 Cyberwomen... but it's important to watch them.

Some of it won't make any sense. Mostly if you think about it a lot. Plot wise. Some of it's totally lol. Some of it's actually pretty sad. In a good way. Special FX are crap... it's like they blew all their budget on the movable Weevil mask.

And, as an added bonus, you can pretty much ship anyone with... anyone. Or anything.

Sorry. That was loooong comment. Happy watching!

[zooniverse.livejournal.com]

ok, for series one you should start with Everything Changes and Day One to get properly immersed in the world, then you can jump to Cyberwoman which proves that Ianto is made for more than just filing then Countrycide, Out of Time ,Greeks Bearing Gifts (aka Tosh's sapphic adventure), They Keep Killing Suzie then Captain Jack Harkness. Then skip and watch ALL of series two cause practically every episode is a highlight, and cause Owen vastly improves after Jim Robinson gets to him. Though you can probably miss out A Day in the Death cause it's one Owen!angst episode too many, though it does have Martha to counteract some of it.

Be aware that there are more plotholes in Torchwood than any other show in the world but, particularly series two, the sheer fun of the thing outweighs them.

And Ianto *owns* torchwood. FACT.

[emily-rona.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to agree with zooniverse there but if you really want to cut time then just go with, Everything Changes, Day One ( real must to get understand the start of the whole thing really) Cyberwoman ( Ianto enough said) Greeks Bearing Gifts ( Tosh) Captain Jack Harkness and as much as it pains me End of Days then head on to season two with Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, To the Last Man, Adam, Rest, Dead Man Walking, From out of the Rain ( Ianto-ish) then ( as of writing this the last episode has not been shown) Fragments. Season two is more fun to sit and watch even the bad ones in my book.

You might also want to re watch The Unquiet Dead and Boom Town to re-remind of the rift and the history of that so far. Although to be honest I suspect that it’s not a rift of time and space more a code word of the plot holes and things along those lines.

[lunaris1013.livejournal.com]

OMG TURCHWAD!!!!

Yes. You need to watch like, every single episode (there aren't that many)

But... Jack really can act most of the time, Ianto is sadly hardly more than a footnote through most of the first season, Gwen should not be banging Owen - she should be banging Jack, Tosh is hot albeit socially akward, and who Owen is depends entirely on the episode.

I also ♥ Ianto.

Why do I not have a Torchwood icon...?

[chi1013.livejournal.com]

i know I know, I said you'd get a guide to torchwood today.

Well... um.... *looks down* um, see, therewasschooland2projectsduetuesdayandatestonmondayand... so it's not done.

But I suggest watching all the eps cause, well, I'm one of those people that has to know what's going on and watch from the beginning. BUt I agree, you can prolly skip the owen fighting weevils one. I barely remember it. I dunno if I even watched it all.

The second season, everything kinda normalizes.... for torchwood.

[toperfection.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna have to go with the "watch all the ep's" camp, because..well, it's the way to do it. I've just spent a day watching all of them in order and I'm totally up to speed for the big S2 finale (which OMG, I cannot wait for..MOVE TIME, DAMMIT!)

I am one of those fans that thinks that a) Tosh is made of win and sex and should be happy for the love of Christ! and the Tommy thing was just mean, and b) that Owen is just, so wonderfully messed up, it's amazing to watch. On a side note, watch them all and get to "Fragments", that's S2 second to last ep and is IMO one of th best. It explains so much about loads
And of course c) Ianto and Jack have wonderful, wonderful games and naked hide and seek and just..guh Gareth-David Lloyd.

In conclusion, YAY FOR TORCHWOOD!

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

I also recommend watching the series from Everything Changes on. Partly because the second season builds on the first with things referring to almost every single episode, partly because because "Combat" - the Fight Club Weevil one - is an important part of Owen's charecter arc.

[aurora]

Torchwood!!

I agree with lots of folk here: watch it all. Each season is about 13 eps, so it'll go by in no time. Srsly, go watch!!

[labhaoise.livejournal.com]

YOU NEED TO SEE THE BIG GAY KISS BETWEEN JOHN BARROWMAN AND JAMES MARSTERS THAT MAKES MY HEART GO SQUEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

[heidi-wiggin.livejournal.com]

Your descriptions are spot on. I suggest watching the first few episodes, then skip to the Cyberwoman Ianto fest, then just skip to the second season.

It's a totally campy show, pure ridiculousness and fun, my roomies and I usually watch it with dinner and a bottle of wine. The wine makes it easier for us to ignore plot holes. I watch it for the fantastic Ianto one liners, Roomie watches it for Owen BAMF-ness. Other roomie watches for teh rampant ghey. :)

[make-a-move.livejournal.com]

I am also firmly in the 'watch every episode' camp. If you don't watch it all the way from the beginning, you won't get what Torchwood is about, or the sense of evolution in it or other such pompous, grand things which I can't put into words. So, yes. Watch it all! XD

[ahab99.livejournal.com]

Hee. Plenty of people have already piped up, but I want to echo that you probably should just watch them all - with the shorter British seasons it's barely the equivalent of one American season so far. John Barrowman isn't actually a terrible actor most of the time, but it's generally relatively obvious that he's a musical theatre actor rather than a tv actor. And if you like canonical homogayness, hooooooooo boy is this the fandom to be in! ;)

[fofomazuzu.livejournal.com]

The only episodes I have seen are Countrycide and Captain Jack Harkness. Captain Jack Harkness is the better of the two because a scene at the end made me a crazy person about wanting to love someone.

There's also the fact that there is no such thing as fanon when it comes to Torchwood. It's a Rule #34 generator to put it in fandom terms.