One small part of The Oppressively Reality-Based Community

Wobbly Daleks...

2008-05-16T14:05:25Z

kalypso_v and I have been working our way through her new DVD of the Hartnell era story "The Dalek Invasion of Earth". I'd never seen it before, and I'm enjoying it rather a lot. It's very much 60s pacing and acting style, which takes a bit of getting used to if you're the right age to have imprinted on 70s era BBC, but once you get into it it's a good story.

And even wobbly 60s Daleks are scary. :-)

No, actually, it's because I prefer cock

2008-05-15T09:01:02Z

This week we have had not one but two romance blogs start talking about why there is so little f/f romance about. And in both cases, the usual thing has come up with some people claiming that the only conceivable reason why straight women won't read f/f is because they are terrified that they will like it and this will make them lesbians. Even after other women have posted to the thread that it's because guys turn them on and women don't, and thus f/f is *boring* if they're only reading it for the porn. Not repellent. Boring.

This... is annoying me. Because I'm one of the women who finds f/f boring if I'm only reading it for the porn. I'm Kinsey 0. I don't find women's bodies disgusting. I just don't find them a turn-on. So many books, so little time, and why would I want to waste time reading about women slapping their bits together when I could be spending it reading about men doing likewise?

And the theory that bi and lesbian women liking m/m is proof that we've all internalised hatred of women's bodies doesn't wash either. There are *other* reasons for women to find m/m more interesting to read than f/f, regardless of their personal sexual orientation, and for some it's all about the hurt/comfort and emo!porn. Women are allowed to express love and fear and other squidgy emotions, and men aren't. So it's fun to watch them being forced to open up and deal with those emotions. For many readers that's part of the point of the romance genre in the first place. M/m gives you double the man-angst for your money, while f/f gives you none. I'll point here at my Girls who like boys who do boys essay and its comment thread for a more detailed discussion of this and other reasons for the appeal of m/m.

Which isn't to say that I don't read f/f stories. I do. I've read some superb f/f fanfic, and published some of it in my zine series.[*] But what I'm reading there is generally not PlotWhatPlot. A lot of commercial f/f is PWP, or at least doesn't have any other story elements that are sufficiently interesting to me personally to make up for my lack of interest in the sex scenes. This isn't just because it's f/f -- I react the same way to m/f contemporary romance. I generally don't read either unless I have specific recommendations from people I trust, because prior experience suggests that it is far more likely to be a boring waste of my time or an active wallbanger than something I'll really enjoy.

Yes, some women do indeed read m/m but steer clear of f/f because they're homophobic, or because of internalised misogynism. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a liking for real phalluses is just a liking for cock.

[*] I'm not linking to examples because the very thing that makes them good reads for me means that they may not work for people not familiar with the fandom.

ETA: I'm using "porn" here in the fanfic/sf fannish sense, which doesn't have the derogatory connotations that it does in romance fandom. Given last week's explosions in the romance blogsphere about the word, I thought I'd better clarify.

Book review: Andy Lane -- Slow Decay (Torchwood)

2008-05-14T12:14:24Z

This is one of the trio of tie-in novels released for the first season of Torchwood, and is set early in that season, after Gwen's settled in but before Cyberwoman. Tie-in novels can disappoint, but this is a solid story that's well-written and that fits the Torchwood universe well; a dark tale about the things that come through the Rift and their misuse by the locals. It's actually better than the first couple of tv episodes, because the sex and violence is used to good effect in the story, rather than feeling as if it's tossed in just to see how far the show can go in a post-watershed slot.

There are two interweaving plots here. The main plot concerns an outbreak of killings involving cannibalism, and their link to a very dubious weight-loss clinic. The team's hunt for the solution is given added urgency when Gwen realises that Rhys has taken one of the clinic's pills. The minor plot concerns Tosh's research into a series of alien devices.

There's good exposition and world-building, and I think this book will work for someone who hasn't yet seen the show. The characterisation's not that deep, but it's not bad for an early tie-in where even an author who's a fan or involved with the show's production wouldn't have had much to go on, and it's accurate. With one exception there's not much reference to specific events in the tv series, and even the exception is blended in nicely as something that will be simply a character quirk to people who haven't seen the relevant episode.

The book focuses strongly on the relationship between Gwen and Rhys (and does so very nicely), but generally doesn't neglect the rest of the team. There are some decent bits for particular characters: Tosh gets a decent word count, even if she spends it being girl geek as usual; there's a good storyline for Owen where circumstances force him to interact with an attractive woman as a person, rather than just a shag. On the other hand, Ianto's barely mentioned; but when you do see him he's spending a lot of time lurking in the remote archives and discouraging other team members from wandering into them, which is appropriate for this point in his storyline, and he gets some good interaction with Tosh.

Physically, it's a hardcover with a perfect-bound book block, which is what you'd expect at this price point for a hardback. It's solidly constructed with no loose pages, and there's a good cover design which links in with the other two books in the set. Designer Lee Binding's done a nice job with stock art here.

Slow Decay is a good read for both the plot and the characterisation, and I expect I'll be re-reading it soon. Well worth the money.

at Play.com
at Powell's

Thinging Through Tuesday

2008-05-13T20:24:21Z

It's two years this week since I set up my LibraryThing account. The original motivation was to get an off-site catalogue of my books for insurance purposes, but it's become a lot more than that. The social networking side of it is *fun*. Amongst other things, I joined the Early Reviewers programme, which does pretty much what it says on the tin. Publishers supply review copies of books, programme members indicate which ones they'd be interested in, and the LibraryThing database is used to select good matches to review the book based on what people have in their catalogues. We get free books, and the publishers get reviews and word of mouth.

This week I did two things connected with LT. I posted my first review of a book I received through the Early Reviewers programme. And I set up a WordPress account to join a group blog, which meant I had a spare personal blog lying around as well. I decided that it would be a useful place to mirror my book and DVD reviews from my LiveJournal -- and then wandered over to the LibraryThing forums and found a thread suggesting that we set up a book blogging circle for the ER group. Serendipity...

So you'll find the new bookblog here: http://julesjones.wordpress.com/
I don't expect it to have anything that's not on my LJ, but it's another way to pick up my reviews, LT-related posts, and the occasional serious writing post. There's a section on the blogroll for the LibraryThing Early Reviewers blogcircle, and we're planning to do a regular LibraryThing group blogging exercise. The Boston Bibliophile is our host for Thinging Through Tuesday, and the first post is here.

Preliminary acceptance on L&M 2

2008-05-12T10:45:02Z

Just had a note from my editor saying that she likes the Lord and Master sequel. It still has to go to senior management for approval before I have a firm acceptance, so not absolutely guaranteed yet. No idea when it will be slotted into the publication schedule, of course, though I'd expect not for some months unless they have a slot they need to fill at short notice.

from the sublime to the ridiculous

2008-05-10T21:30:28Z

kalypso_v came round to watch Dr Who, which looked suspiciously as if it was the setup for yet another spinoff series in order to keep the Whoniverse production crew in work during the forthcoming Year Of Leading Men Working Elsewhere. But which was nevertheless good.

We followed it up with two episodes of Star Maidens, since I'd recently bought the DVD set. It's very, very 70s sf...

Book review: Albert Sanchez Pinol -- Pandora in the Congo

2008-05-10T13:06:04Z

We interrupt the Torchwood squee to bring you a book review I should have written nearly a month ago. :-) I snagged a book in the LibraryThing Early Reviewer programme, but was having some trouble writing a review that said enough about the book to let people know whether they'd enjoy it, without spoilering it to kingdom come. Finally got it done this morning, though I'm still not entirely happy with it.

Albert Sanchez Pinol -- Pandora in the Congo

I got this book as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewer programme, and probably wouldn't have picked it up if I'd simply seen it in the bookshop. But the description in the ER programme intrigued me, and I'm glad I read it.

It's a multi-layered pastiche and parody of the old pulp African adventure stories, with two interlocking stories set early in the twentieth century, narrated by one of the protagonists as an old man late in the twentieth century. As the novel opens the narrator, Tommy Thomson, is scraping a living as a young man by ghost writing pulp adventure stories. He's frustrated by the need to pander to the extreme racism and disregard for facts of the pulp market. He loses the ghost writing job, but is offered the chance to write a true African adventure story -- ghost-writing the story of a man who is awaiting trial for the murder of his two employers on a gold-hunting expedition in the Congo.

Tommy is drawn ever deeper into Marcus Garvey's story. It's very like the pulp adventures he's written before, but with one twist -- this time it's a tale of brutal and amoral English aristocrats abusing first the black Africans and then a strange race of underground people, white but not entirely human, with a low-class servant who is the flawed hero. This tale of derring-do is interwoven with the story of Tommy's own life over the course of the years he writes Garvey's story, interrupted by his service in the First World War. Tommy thinks of his own life as boring and humdrum, but it's an enchanting read with some fascinating secondary characters.

There are multiple levels of unreliable narration, so things aren't quite as they seem. Part of the game is deciding who is unreliable and how far, and the author plays fair in the end. In the meantime you get a cracking read, with a lot of homages to other works.

I enjoyed the book a great deal, but I did have some minor problems with it. There are a lot of anachronisms, a couple of which threw me out of the story (in particular, singing "God save the Queen" in court at a time when a King was on the throne). These felt like mistakes by the author rather than being deliberate. One of the signals that part of the story is unreliable simply doesn't work if you're used to reading science fiction or magic realism. If you're an sf fan, switch into mainstream reading protocols when you're reading this book. And be warned that there is some gruesome imagery which might be a bit much for some readers.

One particular point -- this is a translation of a novel written in Catalan. Translations vary a lot in quality and can sometimes feel stiff and lifeless, but this one is excellent. It flows very well and is a joy to read.

Enormous fun, and well worth the time.

Pubisher's website
Pandora In The Congo at amazon.uk
at Powells

Torchwood Declassified 1.04 -- Girl Trouble (Cyberwoman)

2008-05-10T09:26:21Z

The usual ten minutes of fluff about how wonderful the episode is. Since it's Ianto's episode, GDL gets a bit of screen time both on set and in casual clothes afterwards, which should please those who squee over him when he's looking scruffy. RTD had the idea for the story right from the start, as he wanted to follow up on what happened to the people caught in the invasion at Canary Wharf, so this episode as conceived as a direct sequel to the Who episode "Doomsday".

They talk about the pterodactyl a fair bit as it plays a major role in the episode, and at this point they don't seem to have an specific idea where the team got it from other than it's just one of the things that fell through the Rift. With this lot you never know what they're holding back, but I get the impression it wasn't specifically part of Ianto's backstory at this point. Which is interesting, because I've seen it used more than once in fanfic as Ianto's ticket into Torchwood Cardiff before it ever became canon.

Torchwood 1.04 -- Cyberwoman

2008-05-08T21:57:48Z

Jack really needs to look at his hiring policy and people management skills, doesn't he? First Suzie, now this.

The first time I saw this episode, my reaction was "What the *hell*..." even though I had some idea of what was coming. This was the first one that really justified the "Who for adults" label for me. It's gruesome and horrific, but I don't think it's gratuitous. This time the post-watershed content is there for a reason. It took some of the things that were only implied in the main series, and put them on screen up close and very, very personal, taking a hard look at what it meant for the people who had to deal with the aftermath of the Cyberman invasion.

Beautifully set up opening sequence, starting with Ianto fiddling with his tie and looking slightly nervous, then walking into the main Hub area but pausing behind the bars in front of the wheel door. It's framed to show him cut off and separate from the others, even before you see him being left out of the game and then left behind when the others go out together to socialise. You don't have to have seen the trailer to know that this is Ianto's episode, he's not part of the team any more, and the others are completely oblivious to his isolation and pretty much oblivious to him. Then the big reveal, and making it clear with a couple of lines and a beautiful kiss that what others see is a Cyberman, and what Ianto sees is the woman he loves. Before the opening credits, everything that this episode is about.

Of course, Ianto's problem is that Lisa is rather more Cyber-converted than he realises, and is intent on upgrading everyone she can get hold of, starting with the cybernetics scientist Ianto has smuggled into the Hub to help him get her off the life support system he cobbled together from a Cyber-conversion unit. Mayhem ensues, with Ianto trying to protect Lisa from the rest of Team Torchwood, and occasionally trying to protect them from her.

The episode manages to be sometimes silly, sometimes seriously scary, and completely mad throughout. It's the Whoniverse with the knob turned up to eleven and a tin of black paint tipped over it, and not ashamed of it. In amongst the nonsense there is some very good acting, and some lovely set pieces. And the angst, dear god, the angst...

Chibnall is a nasty bugger and twists the knife by making it clear that Ianto and Jack are *both* right. The conversion was never completed, and something of Lisa really is still there rather than being nothing more a front used by the Cyber personality to trick Ianto into helping it. But her mind is so badly damaged by the partial conversion that there is simply no way back for her. And Ianto is going to have to live with having caused the deaths of two people in trying to save her. Dr Tanizaki isn't entirely innocent, since he knew exactly what he was getting involved with, but the pizza delivery girl is another matter. Nice touch to make it clear that this isn't just a stranger but a regular caller who knows Ianto well enough for her to call out to him by name and go looking for him when she can't find him in the information office.

The episode didn't quite work for me the first time round, partly because it really did seem to come out of nowhere, and partly because I am a Kinsey 0 female and couldn't get past laughing at the blatant appeal to straight fanboys with the uber-dominatrix cyber-bikini. The blatant appeal to the fangirls with Jack's special kiss of life technique didn't quite make up for it. (And this time having missed out on "Day One" was a hinderance, as I didn't have the recent example of Jack transferring life energy, although I did know from context and predatrix's comments what was going on.) Plus I think the episode simply isn't going to work as well for someone who hasn't seen the relevant Doctor Who episodes about the Battle of Canary Wharf. Yes, Jack tells Gwen about it in episode 1, and Owen follows up here with more detail, but it's not going to have the same emotional impact. And there hasn't been much opportunity to get attached to Ianto before this episode, or learn anything about him other than he's quiet, looks good in a suit, and flirts gently back at Jack.

And it's full of plotholes...

In spite of which, the confrontation between Jack and Ianto when Jack works out who's responsible for a Cyberman in his basement worked for me, and not just because I'm a filthy-minded fangirl pervert who enjoys the sight of Ianto on his knees with his hands behind his head. Ianto is thoroughly in the wrong, and Jack has every reason to be pissed off with him. But Ianto's quite right when he lashes back in reply to the question of why he didn't tell them or ask for help. Lisa was wounded in the line of duty, but Torchwood would destroy her rather than try to help her. There's no right answer, and it's easy to feel sympathy for Ianto's act of love even while thinking he's a bloody idiot. Oh, and Jack? Bit hypocritical to rant at Ianto about hiding himself from them, coming as it does from a man whose subordinates can't even work out whether or not he's gay, let alone where he's from or what his real name is.

There is scenery-chewing, but if ever a script justified scenery-chewing it's this one. Ianto survived the horror of the battle of Canary Wharf, which would be enough to traumatise anyone. He dragged his half-converted girlfriend out of the ruins, and had to find a way to protect her. He's managed to smuggle her into Torchwood 3's basement and has spent the last few months trying to keep her alive, having to watch her suffer without being able to stop it, knowing that if he makes one slip she'll be killed by his colleagues. That's a lot of grief and fear he's been holding inside. No wonder that when that shell of smooth composure cracks, it cracks wide open. And during those months he's come to care about his new colleagues enough that he's torn by conflicting loyalties when Lisa threatens them.

The cyberbikini. Oh god. I'm conflicted on this one, because it was just such a blatant "sex sells" thing, and the costume was completely ridiculous considered from a practical perspective of what the preparatory work for fitting the cyber armour would be. It shatters suspension of disbelief. But on the other hand, it was *also* a very deliberate homage to a long line of sexy gynoids in science fiction, including a clear reference to Fritz Lang's Metropolis. So I flip between appreciating the references, and thinking, "oh, put your cocks away, boys." And having been brought up on the classic Cybermen's approach to conquest, I do like them going back to converting human bodies, rather than just scooping the brains out and installing them in a robot body.

Jack's utterly ruthless in this episode, even if Ianto does reach him with that jab about not caring enough to ask. It's clear that Jack is familiar not just with the parallel universe Cybermen, but the original Mondas Cybermen, and he'll do whatever it takes to stop them. He understands that Lisa was human once and feels pity for her, but that only makes him more determined to stop her before she can do the same to others as was done to her.

But why let Ianto return to Torchwood? That did seem a bit odd first time round, given Ianto's deception. I decided that Jack's big on loyalty, and doesn't like to let go of any of his people -- he tried to persuade Suzi to surrender in Everything Changes, rather than simply shooting her. Ianto's been an idiot, but for very specific reasons that aren't likely to happen again. And it's clear even this early that Torchwood damages people, and Jack is well aware of it, having recruited Gwen partly to give the team a normal perspective. Ianto's just the latest casualty, and may be salvageable; Jack had already made the decision to try to salvage him when he resuscitated him.

***

Watching the episode again after having seen two seasons is a very different experience, of course. There's been plenty of opportunity to get attached to Ianto, so it hurts to watch him going through this. And Fragments fleshes out the backstory. No wonder Ianto's so contemptuous of the suggestion that he should have asked the team for help. It's not just knowing what Torchwood's policy on alien threats is -- when he was asking Jack for a job, Jack made it quite clear that he didn't give a damn about the Canary Wharf survivors. From Jack's perspective he's got more than one good reason for that, but Ianto didn't know that. The episode works a lot better the second time round, daft costume and all.

And of course the DVD extras include the original final scene. As explained in the commentary, it was left out of the final cut because the director did such a stunning job with the scene where Jack and Gwen watch Ianto return to the hub that it became the obvious place to close the episode, rather than going on to the scripted final scene. But it's well worth watching.

Random comments:

Stunning acting from Burn Gorman when Owen sees the cyberunit and realises what's living in the basement.

It's never explicitly stated in the episode itself that Ianto worked at T1, though it's strongly implied (and the counselling transcript on the series 1 website says that Ianto and Lisa worked together and Ianto transferred to a branch office after head office closed).

Oh, he does seem to have a coffee machine now.

That book-reading device Tosh took home is a lockpick as well, it seems.

DVD commentary

Again, a lot of good discussion on writing and directing choices, and some interesting snippets of information, which I may put in a separate post.

The cyberwoman in the basement was always in RTD's plan for the series, from before he even started calling in writers to work with him. Gareth was told right at the beginning that he had a cyber-girlfriend who'd worked at T1, but didn't know any more details than that until he got the script a week before they started filming the episode.

They originally intended the episode to be later in the series, number 6 or 7, but with the way scripts came in, ended up using it earlier. Chibnall now thinks it would have been a brilliant episode 10, bringing in the connection to Doctor Who at a late stage. I'm inclined to agree with him, although I do wonder how much character development for Ianto they'd have fitted in beforehand if it had gone that way, given that they were deliberately keeping him as a quiet, reserved background character until he no longer had a reason to hide. On the other hand, at episode 6 he'd have had a bit more screen time before you see him cracked open.

The episode doesn't really work as the fourth episode of a new show, because you don't have enough reason to care about Ianto and Lisa. But it does work as a fragment of a longer piece, and I could chatter on at far greater length about why. There's a hell of a lot of characterisation and things implied that work a lot better when you have more of the long term story arc.

I've just seen a new reason to go to Redemption

2008-05-08T17:07:34Z

It's just been announced on the redemption_con LJ and mailing list that Paul Cornell will be a guest at Redemption 09. This makes me happy, because after Orbital he went on my list of good reasons to go to a panel. I'd heard him at a talk some of the Who writers gave as part of the Manchester science festival last year, and liked him then, and thought he was enormous fun at the two panels I saw him on at Orbital. Even if he does think DNA makes lovely plotdevicium...

wordage

2008-05-07T18:15:40Z

Thought I'd try getting in some work on the L&M short before tackling other stuff this afternoon. And just looked up to discover that it is dinnertime and I have written 1400 words and not done any of the other things I was going to do this afternoon...

Torchwood radio play for Radio 4's CERN day

2008-05-06T12:27:32Z

Just in case I'm not the last person to have heard about this, it seems that there will be a radio episode of Torchwood broadcast on Radio 4 in June or July as part of the station's CERN day. More details at Outpost Gallifrey and Broadcast, and Play has the CD for pre-order.

inane Torchwood wibble

2008-05-05T22:14:46Z

Gossip in someone's con report suggests that we will not be getting director/producer/writer commentaries on the series 2 boxed set. I am displeased, because I've been really enjoying those on the series 1 boxset and was looking forward to getting them on series 2.

I was muttering about Jones/Jones making me think unaccustomed thoughts about het fanfic. kalypso_v had to be reminded who one Jones was, but once reminded of Ianto's surname put forward a worryingly plausible theory on the Jones boy's parentage. I don't *need* plot bunnies when I'm in a complete state of paralysis about writing in an open canon, thank you.

Torchwood Declassified 1.03 -- Living History (Ghost Machine)

2008-05-05T11:31:55Z

As usual, not really a lot in this, but worth watching once.

The first half has several people discussing Owen and what this episode does to show you more of his character.

Helen Raynor talks about using Cardiff as a setting, and the way it feels real in the series.

Then they talk about filming the chase scene where Owen spots Bernie and chases him through the gardens. This bit's a lot of fun and worth watching.

Torchwood 1.03 -- Ghost Machine

2008-05-05T09:17:26Z

I'm somewhat biased about this episode, what with being a hardcore fan of Gareth Thomas, who plays the older Ed Morgan. Nevertheless, here are my thoughts on watching it again on DVD.

The third episode, but the first to show the team at work after Gwen has had a chance to settle in. As a team they're starting to gel, and outside the story the cast is clearly starting to gel as a team as well -- this is significantly more polished than Day One was. It's still very much the Jack-n-Gwen show, but this episode also focuses strongly on Owen.

No monsters this week, simply a piece of alien technology that is neither good nor bad in itself. The ghost machine of the title is a device that allows its user to see events of the past that created strong emotions in the people that experienced them, and to feel those emotions. Gwen's initial vision induced by the device is sad, but has a reasonably happy ending when they research the boy she saw. But Owen's is far more traumatic, as the machine forces him to watch a young woman being raped some forty years earlier. The team discover that the woman was murdered, and the killer never found. Owen knows who the killer is, but as Jack points out to him, he has no evidence that would stand up in court.

The story pushes Owen hard. He's been a Jack-the-lad, cavalier about consent himself. Now he's forced to confront where that road ultimately leads, and doesn't like it. When I first saw this episode I thought that this was a deliberate piece of story arc. Alas, I've seen too much in the last week about the show's production team repeatedly denying that the scene in "Everything Changes" had anything to do with date rape. But I'm sticking with my personal canon that Owen's extreme reaction is partly self-disgust. Either way, it opens up Owen's character a little more and shows that there's a good deal of compassion under that cynical shell.

So two interweaving cases -- finding out more about the device, and Owen's private quest for justice/vengeance for the murdered girl. As it turns out, it isn't just the past that the device can access, and the team have to grapple with questions about whether the future can be changed.

There's some good material in this episode about the issues the team have to deal with because they are handling technology that can't be publicly revealed, and the moral responsibility they have for their actions, both deliberate and accidental. And it doesn't go for an easy answer in the end. Still shades of grey, which is how I like it.

I really like the way that when Owen and Jack disarm Morgan, you can't be sure whether or not Owen will give in to the urge to kill Morgan. It could believably go either way, with the way the character has been written and played. And Owen is still a self-centred git at the end of the episode, focusing on himself rather than on Gwen. He's one of the good guys, but that doesn't mean he's a nice person.

Random comments:

Owen is downright sinister when he goes to confront the old man Ed Morgan about his past. The scene is beautifully played by both actors.

Now it's Gwen's turn to take alien tech home to play with, clearly unauthorised even if we don't see Jack giving explicit orders to leave it in the base. And what she does with it is use it to see happy past moments with Rhys. As with the scenes in Everything Changes, it's used to show something about the character's personality and what's important to her.

And of course, it's Torchwood so there's porn... The gun porn scene felt slightly out of place and thus gratuitous to me the first time I saw this episode, but it makes sense now that I've seen Day One. Gwen was a beat bobby and has never handled a gun, as the team found out in Day One. So now Jack takes her to the Hub's shooting range to teach her how to use a gun safely. It's well played to show the difference between the characters -- Jack's long familiarity and comfort with handling guns, and Gwen so unfamiliar she makes utterly basic mistakes. (A note for Americans -- in the UK uniformed police don't normally carry guns, handguns weren't common even before the ban on private handguns in 1997, and it isn't unusual for uniformed police to have no experience of using guns.)

It's also extremely hot, with the UST between Jack and Gwen here being a lot more believable to me than in some other scenes. And a bit slimy, given the boss-underling relationship and the fact that Gwen is in a steady relationship with Rhys. On the other hand, while Jack is clearly enjoying the close contact, he doesn't make an overt pass, which is of a pattern with his behaviour before and after this episode. Jack is the galaxy's champion flirt, but he generally leaves it up to the other party to take it further than flirting.

Food porn, as well. First the coffee and doughnuts scene, which is used for a little bit of characterisation -- different eating styles, from Jack stuffing his mouth full of doughnut and talking around it, to Ianto eating very daintily. Then Owen offering around his bag of four pasties for a pound, again with nice characterisation from it. And right at the end, Ianto pouring whisky and offering it around to people. (ETA: Well, spirits of some kind.)

Ianto is almost non-existent in this episode. Yes, in hindsight they were playing him as very self-effacing before the big reveal next episode, but there are some scenes in the Hub where you could wonder why he's gone home for the night when there's something big going on. (And I did notice this the first time I saw the episode, *before* I got the Jack/Ianto obsession.) Though he does get a couple of good lines, and GDL does that dry sense of humour very well.

At what point did the teaboy get his fancy coffee machine to play with, or was it awaiting repair? Because at the moment they seem to be getting their coffee from Starbucks, even if the tea is served in Hub mugs.

Jack tells Gwen that he doesn't sleep. Presumably that's "doesn't need to sleep", since he's shown asleep in other episodes. But another little indicator that he's no longer standard issue human.

The episode's grim in places, but there are also some very funny moments. The chase scene is hilarious.

DVD Commentary -- Colin Teague (director), Helen Raynor (writer), and Burn Gorman (Owen)

Again, a good solid discussion of how and why they made various choices in writing and filming the episode. Since it's a different group of people, you get a slightly different discussion; e.g. director likes to talk about the way the cameras are used to give the right feel, with long shots, zooming, using hand-held for the flashback sequences etc.

Burn -- "the rain machines are the seventh cast member"

The actor playing the young Ed Morgan was on his first job out of drama school.

Burn says that after Episodes 1 & 2 Owen needs this so you know what's underneath the surface, as Owen's otherwise an unsympathetic character.

The shooting range scene was added at a relatively late stage, specifically to make it possible to show Gwen using a gun in later episodes if necessary, after she'd been established in Day One as being untrained. Some interesting discussion around this. They mention that it was filmed at a real shooting range in an old tunnel that just happened to look like part of the Hub.

They mention Blake's 7 when Gareth first appears, but they *also* mention Morgan's Boy, and the director goes a bit fanboy over that for a few seconds. :-)

So overall -- the show has settled down into its long term pattern after the introductory episodes, with a reworking of the idea that ghosts are recorded emotions. Mostly decent script and some solid acting work, giving a lot more depth to Owen. One I'll be happy to watch again even without my fangirl reason for doing so.

Torchwood series 1 boxset -- special features disc 1

2008-05-04T21:48:10Z

The boxset has plenty of additional material to give people a reason to buy it, including mini-documentaries and a collection of deleted scenes. A lot of it's only worth watching once, but it's more than space-filler, and some of the deleted scenes are well worth having.

"Welcome to Torchwood"

Copy of the introductory "Torchwood declassified" shown as an introduction before the series kicked off. Also included in the full set of Declassifieds on Disk 7.

"Torchwood on the scene"

Fifteen minute documentary about making episode 1. Opens with film of the first full read-through, which has some changes to what was eventually broadcast. Intercut with scenes from the broadcast version. Also has some nice shots of John Barrowman, for those who like seeing him a) slipping in and out of character, b) bare arms, c) looking cuter in reading glasses than any man has a right to.

Discussion of the design and lighting choices for the Hub set, and the problems involved in filming when you have to fit cameras, crew and cast into an unfamiliar space.

"Torchwood out of this world"

"Weevil"
"Sex gas"

Five minute documentary for each of the first two episodes about the episode's monster, its function in the episode, and how the special effects team created it. A lot of this overlaps with the Declassifieds.

"Deleted scenes"

Selection of deleted scenes from the first four episodes. These are worth watching, as there's some nice additional material in them. They were mostly cut from the broadcast version of the episode for pacing or story reasons, but do add more depth to the episode if you watch them later. And there's a very good one for Ianto fans from the end of Cyberwoman.

Episode 1

Sc1
Original opening scene, with Gwen and Jack standing on the roof, Gwen talking to Jack about normal life, which would have then cut to the start of the episode as broadcast to show it as a flashback.

Sc2 Pre
Brief shot of someone running, then the knife used in the killings, then the runner being stabbed.

Sc16 Alternate doctor
Original version of the scene where Gwen is having her head injury examined in the hospital. In the episode commentary they mention having to re-shoot after they noticed that the set dressers had used clear plastic for the curtains around the bed.

Sc36 Beginning
First few lines of the scene where Jack and Gwen come back from the cells after Jack has shown Gwen the Weevil.

Sc40 Alternate Pub
Original version of the scene in the bar where Jack explains Torchwood to Gwen before retconning her. They reshot this scene because they'd had a problem with the first set of high definition camera kit which was giving a very brown-hued picture. When they reshot they did it in a different bar with a completely different ambience. This one's in an old-fashioned pub, with Jack and Gwen at a table rather than at the bar. Has the full scene with some lines not in the broadcast version about Jack needing to keep hydrated in case he needs to travel.

Episode 2

Sc8
Interior of the Information Office. Gwen arrives for work through the public door, Ianto says "Nice to see you again, Miss", Gwen says, "Thanks. Are they...?" Jack, Tosh and Owen arrive through the door from the tunnel, and Jack asks, "Ready?" -- Jack's deliberately striking a pose.

Sc56
Carys hunts down the first boy she kissed, who kissed someone else afterwards, and offers to show him what she's like now. They have sex in a car, with the alien killing him on orgasm. Mentioned in the commentary as one of the scenes cut to control pacing and emotional tone.

Episode 3

Sc13
Extra bits from the opening scene of the broadcast episode. The team are tracking someone (Bernie) carrying alien tech, but lose him. Tosh is at base monitoring the signal and the CCTV network. Gwen spots a pickpocket and runs after him, and Tosh confirms that the pickpocket is the man they're chasing.

Ep3 Deleted scene additional Sc62
Discussion in the conference room about what the device does.

Episode 4

Sc5
Team minus Ianto walking across the Plass, talking casually about socialising together after work. Longer version of the scene in the episode.

Sc103
Epilogue scene with Ianto (still showing bruised/cut face) working at his computer in the tourist information office. Tosh comes in from outside with a tray of Starbucks cups, gives him one and says, "Got you a coffee." Ianto says "Right," and Tosh says "Nobody ever gets you a coffee." As Tosh leaves she turns back to ask "Doing anything nice... for the weekend ?", trying to be sympathetic but only making things worse. Ianto abruptly gets up and opens the door to the secret passage, telling Tosh, "Go on through." Ianto holds it together until after Tosh has gone, then can't quite hold in the grief. *Lots* of subtext in this one, and some nice acting. I can see why they'd cut it from the broadcast version, but it's well worth watching.

Clangers mugs, and other goodies

2008-05-04T11:14:40Z

I know we are not friends with Play.com at the moment, but they are having a 3 for 12 quid sale which includes a number of items of fannish interest, highlights being all the Torchwood novels and some of the New Who ones, a variety of cult mugs including Zippy from Rainbow, the Clangers and several different Dangermouse designs, an amazing range of Doctor Who tat^Wproducts, and quite a few DVDs.

Oh, and Captain Kirk and the Orion slave girl Mini Mates, about which I have no comment...

Torchwood Declassified 1.02 -- Bad day at the office (Day One)

2008-05-04T10:55:16Z

This one focuses on Gwen, as is fitting given the episode. EM and JB talk about the interaction between Jack and Gwen in the first episode, and point out that Jack is actually testing her as a potential candidate for Torchwood throughout that episode, after seeing her reaction when she's spying on them in the first scene. Discussion from the production team, EM and JB about the second episode testing Gwen on the job, showing her waht the ramifications of the job are, and showing the viewers that Gwen is up to this.

RTD and Chibnall talk about why the sex monster.

Discussion of the design and backstory of the Hub, with footage of it being built, plus tour of the set. (Useful for people who want to check some of the set details, though you'll need the pause button).

Some mildly interesting insight into the first two episodes, and some useful reference material on the Hub set.

Torchwood 1.02 -- "Day One"

2008-05-03T22:16:37Z

Long, long wibble about the episode "Day One" and its accompanying DVD commentary...

Day One

Imagine the "first day of a new job" from hell. Then ramp it up and add in a murder case where the murderer is an alien gas-based lifeform that feeds on orgasmic energy -- and you're the one who let it loose to take over an innocent girl...

Gwen's first day at Torchwood starts badly and gets worse. Owen's reminding her at every opportunity that she's the new girl, people don't take her seriously, and then she makes a mistake that leads to several deaths. Cue lots of sex and violence, though not quite as much sex as the trailers would have you believe. The episode's badly flawed (for reasons not entirely the fault of the production team, a lot of it's just second episode teething problems), but there's a potentially good story in there about the horror of possession.

They really were pushing boundaries with this one, and it damages the episode. I'm all for the sex scenes when they're doing something constructive in the episode, or even honest fanservice, but this really did feel like "what can we get away with now we're doing a post-watershed show?" -- for the very good reason that this is exactly what they were doing, as they talk about in the commentary track. Which I wouldn't have minded so much if it hadn't been nothing but the standard gratuitous porn-for-straight-men that you can find all over the other post-watershed shows. You weren't doing anything genuinely new and boundary-pushing here, guys.

Looking at it a second time through, much of the problem with the sex scenes was the same problem as everything else -- it's the second episode, it was the one that was shot first, and things haven't quite gelled yet. The writers, cast and crew are still feeling their way to what the show's about. The sex scenes actually are doing something for the story, but because they were in "tee hee, what can we get away with?" mode, you don't see that under all the "tits out for the lads" nonsense. I think the same basic script made later in the series would have been a lot less silly.

It leads to odd glitches; yes, Owen and Jack's reactions in enjoying the free lesbian show in the cells are very believable and very funny, save for the minor detail that they already know that sex with this alien-possessed woman is fatal. It broke suspension of disbelief for me that they spent so long leering in those circumstances.

On the other hand, I'm going to be a hypocrite and say, nekkid handcuffed Owen, yay! Though that's partly for the pleasure of seeing Owen humiliated after being such a pig to Gwen. Burn Gorman's portrayal of pissed-off Owen in that scene is a superb piece of acting.

Leading to... Um, yes, Owen's a bit of a tit in this episode, isn't he? There's unlikeable, and then there's this, which coming on top of the date rape scene in Everything Changes is egging the pudding a little too much. I didn't mind Owen too much first time through, but I rather think that this is only because I didn't see this episode first time through. It also unbalances the episode a bit, because While Gwen comes in for some snark from the others, you could see as that as the plausible reaction of a tightly-knit group to an intruder, while Owen is just so far over the top it's easy to miss that.

There are also plotholes galore. The one that really jarred on me is when they take Carys back to her father. What does her father know about the events of the last few hours, and why haven't they been retconned?

In spite of which, there are some nice bits that I really liked in this. They don't even all involve Ianto. The bits with Rhys at the start and end work really well, showing a loving relationship. The relationship between Gwen and Andy, and I'm so glad they've hung on to Andy as an occasional returning character. And the scene where Carys runs into Ianto's reception area with Jack in hot pursuit, and Ianto asks "Need any attacking done, sir?" -- Ianto looks scarily gleeful at the prospect of physical action.

And then there's the Chinese takeaway scene.

It's a nice scene in its own right, showing a bit more about the team and their lack of knowledge about Jack. But it's also interesting in light of later episodes. They must have had Cyberwoman already in mind at this point, i.e. Ianto's backstory of being from Torchwood 1. So it's likely here that Ianto would know *something* about Jack, simply from having had access to Torchwood 1 files and/or office gossip. That suggests to me that his speculation about Jack being a CIA agent is deliberate misdirection, perhaps part of his deliberately not drawing attention to himself or reminding people of where he came from and why. (Or could be just Chibnell not thinking things through, of course...)

As for the discussion of whether Jack is gay -- well, Tosh nails it, from the perspective of viewers who've seen Jack in action in Doctor Who, except that Jack is pretty broad minded about "gorgeous". And Ianto's "I don't care" is rather interesting even without the hindsight of Fragments, given the public flirting in the first episode. Not "I don't know" but "I don't care." It reads to me as closing off the discussion, whether because he genuinely *doesn't* care, because he doesn't want to care, or because he doesn't want the discussion to get into other people's love lives. And with Cyberwoman coming up, that last seems rather likely. Looking at it in the context of Fragments, whether or not you think Ianto ended up making good on that implied offer to Jack, he's very much dissembling in that scene, on more than one level.

Though this is the one scene that doesn't quite work in conjunction with Fragments. Fragments explains why the Cardiff group know so little about Jack, but the timescale given in Fragments for Tosh and Owen doesn't feel right for the way they talk about Jack in this scene. This feels more as if they've known him for a few months, when according to Fragments they've known him for three and two years. We discussed this a bit in the comments thread after my initial brief post about the episode.

Oh, and while the sex scenes in this episode didn't do anything for me, not being my taste in porn, I was unreasonably enchanted by the sight of Ianto eating Chinese with a napkin neatly tucked in under his chin, looking terribly, terribly young.

DVD commentary -- writer and co-producer Chris Chibnall, producer Richard Stokes, and actress Eve Myles (Gwen).

Another meaty discussion of the episode and how it was made, with some more general gossip tossed in. It's interesting partly because the episode is flawed and Chibnall freely admits it, discussing with the benefit of hindsight after completing series 1 the mistakes he made, how he fixed some of them at the time, and how he might change things if he was doing the episode again.

As such it's a lesson in how you construct an episode, and the adjustments you might make during rehearsal and filming, expecially when first feeling your way through creating a new show. For writers it's well worth worth listening to just for this discussion of craft.

This episode was mostly filmed first, so shows the flaws of first filmed episode. This is of course why it was filmed first, to give the cast and crew time to get used to things and put in a polished performance on the opening episode. Some of the material was re-shot later in the filming block for various reasons (including problems with the camera kit, mentioned in the commentary for Everything Changes), and they were also able to do some re-recording of dialogue after filming. Some filmed dialogue was cut during editing to tighten the pace, and other scenes were written at the last minute (sometimes during the filming block) to fill in rough spots as they noticed them. A few of the things mentioned:

1 and 2 both were lighter hearted in script, but had some of the banter cut or changed in editing and additional dialogue recording, so the tone of each episode isn't as clear as later episodes would be.

They dropped in the scene where Gwen asks the team what they do to switch off at a late stage during filming to give the team a human side to counterpoint Carys.

The scene where they work on tracking Carys and the first victim back form the club had a lot of banter about Ianto's coffee, which was cut because it took away the drama of the scene.

The Chinese takeaway scene was added after the first read through, but some banter lines about what dishes Ianto's brought for each person were cut, including Ianto and Jack bantering, "And you've got pork balls, sir," "You're never going to get tired of that joke, are you?"

The rat jam scene was added because they hadn't had a scene focusing on Owen.

Chibnall says that he made the team look a bit stupid in the scene where Carys steals the case with the Doctor's hand and is chased by the team, and would do it differently now.

And a story from Eve about the cast staying at Torchwood House filming Countrycide, and JB knocked on her door one night, wearing *ironed* TRansformer pyjamas.

So, flawed episode that's still worth watching at least once, with some good bits that tie in to the long term story arc; and an interesting DVD commentary that's a short course in how to construct an episode.

More erotica market deadlines

2008-05-03T19:39:24Z

15th May

Bought and paid for
fiction about sex for money
5-15k, or collections within that range
all orientations
split of 40% of net
reprints considered
email subs
http://www.erotica-readers.com/ERA/G/Bought_And_Paid_For.htm

Plane sex: Mile high erotica
2-4k
all orientations
$50 plus 2 copies
reprints considered
email subs
http://www.erotica-readers.com/ERA/G/Plane_Sex.htm

May 20

Best Gay Romance
to 6k
reprints considered
email subs
http://www.erotica-readers.com/ERA/G/Best_Gay_Romance_09.htm

Where to request reviews of sf

2008-05-03T10:19:04Z

Snagged from the Broad Universe mailing list -- Anne Wilkes is putting together a database of places to request reviews of your sf:

http://wilkes.zftp.com/ReviewPlaces.html

writing grumbles

2008-05-02T17:50:02Z

I wrote a page or so today on the "no, we are not joining the Mile High Club even if it *is* your 30th birthday" L&M short, and will probably end up deleting it. Mostly because I can't decide whether it's more plausible for Steven to just go for first class to begin with, or to book business class on the assumption that he gets upgraded half the time and first isn't sufficiently better to warrant paying twice the price. Plus thinking that the setup page will probably give people the wrong idea about where the story's going. So possibly a net word count of zero for the day. On the other hand, at least I wrote 500 words or so, after a month or so of nothing.

Torchwood books help wanted

2008-05-02T16:47:36Z

Sometime in the last week I've read something about one of the Torchwood books including a bit about Ianto's first week at Torchwood 1, working with the archivist. And now that I'm doing a book order I can't remember which one. agentxpdble, I know you've read a couple of them recently...

ETA: It's Trace Memory. Suggested by phoenix_born, confirmed with a bit of googling which turned up a good review.

Scalzi talks about self-publishing, so I do as well

2008-05-02T09:06:44Z

Scalzi has a good post up about going with a publisher versus self-publishing. One of the things he addresses is the idea that self-publishing is good because you get to keep 100% of the money. As he explains in very clear fashion, this is simply not true. There are costs involved in putting out a professional product and getting it sold to the public at large, and if you're the publisher, you'll be paying them.

This is a conversation I get to have every so often. I'm epublished, and a lot of people think that epublishing must have very low costs because you don't have to pay to print, store and ship physical copies. Thus, the suggestion goes, I should self-publish and get 100% of the cover price instead of 35%.

Well, no. Because the cost of creating and handling the physical item is a relatively small fraction of the cost of bringing that book to market. Good cover art costs money. Good editing costs money. These and other things are necessary if you want people to look at the first book, and then to buy more books. Running a commercial website costs money as well.

And then there's something that you can't measure in cold hard cash, but that is vitally important -- reputation. My publisher has a good reputation in its own little niche. Readers know that they can try a new author, and have a decent chance of getting a book they'll enjoy. A book that has had someone other than the author's friends look at it and say, "Yes, this is competently written," and then work on it with the author to make it even better. That's why I can put out my next book through them and reasonably expect it to sell a thousand or so copies over the course of the initial two year contract, without having to spend large amounts of my own time and money trying to get people to look at the book.

A thousand copies doesn't sound much by the standards of the mass market paperback market, but it is still well above the average sales for a self-published book (around 75-150 copies for print books from the major POD vanity presses, by their own publicly stated figures on titles and total copies). Maybe I could do better than average, especially as I have an established fanbase now. But really, I'd rather take my 35% on 1000 copies and let my publisher do the hard work of publishing it. I've *done* my stint at being a publisher, back in my zine days, and while I got a lot of enjoyment out of it I'd rather spend my time writing. If I feel the urge to scratch that itch again, it'll be on a project that doesn't fit the commercial needs of my publisher.

Erotica markets closing today

2008-04-30T14:54:18Z

Just doing a quick run through the market listings at Erotica Readers & Writers, checking for the ones with close deadlines that I might want to submit to. There are a couple with deadlines of April 30 or May 1st and email submissions, so if you want to submit to them, do it *today*.

Best Women's Erotica
female authors only, must include female characters, 2500-4500 words
http://www.erotica-readers.com/ERA/G/Best_Women_09.htm

Best sex writing
non-fiction
reprints only
$100
http://www.erotica-readers.com/ERA/G/Best_Sex_Writing_09.htm