Highlander: the SciFi Movie Disaster commentary

Don't worry, it's short. I only saw the show as I passed by my supine Guy on the couch, and listened to his baffled comments on the movie flickering on the small screen (not so small screen) before him. He asked me what I knew of the production - I told him the little I knew, garnered from my flisters: it was written by the series writers. It was originally slated to be a theater released, downgraded to a direct to DVD release, and finally ended up bought by SciFi Channel.

There were many perplexed observations out of my Guy's mouth every time he saw me. He'd pause the DVR, blink in amazment, and start on rhetorical questions. Why were the characters misbehaving? Why didn't they get a better editor? What the hell was going on with the *script*?

Alas, there were no answers to those questions. He watched straight through to the ending (with judicious fast forwarding to the "good" bits) and shook his head, his expression horrified and bewildered, speechless for a few minutes. There was not much more to say about it.

It IS sad. We used to be, if not huge fans of the show, at least highly enthusiastic of its premise and its myriad story possiblities.

I'm glad I missed this Highlander movie. I had the BEST Highlander Movie Moment when I went to see Phantom of the Opera in the theater with a friend a few years ago. She leaned over to me when the Phantom and the Hero started swordfighting in the graveyard and whispered: "There can be only One!"   I still fall over laughing when I remember.

Torchwood: Gwen

I've already seen all of Torchwood's first season (don't ask me how, it's through technical wizardy of which I know nothing) in a few chunks.

At the time, I managed to stay neutral about Gwen, whom many or most fans I knew seemed to hate with the passion of a thousand suns. I've been mulling over my delayed reaction to the character, so I hope y'all don't mind me figuring out where my thoughts took a sharp left turn.

Gwen is an important character. She's important because she's the Newbie to the wowza world of Wonderland, as exemplified by Jack Harkness and his crew of alien tech hunters (and Doctor watchers). She's the one that I, as the viewer, am meant to see this Wonderland for what it is when the other characters take everything within their twisted world for granted. She's the Alice. 

But that's also Torchwood's flaw. In making Gwen be the Alice, the producers had to tone Jack, the headline character, down a tremendous amount. He's become the Chesire Cat, mostly grin with some tail flicking. But he's less in the viewer's face than he is on Dr Who. That's because Gwen is the main viewpoint on Torchwood. The writers couldn't afford to show us Torchwood through Jack's eyes because now, instead of the bad-boy he is on Dr Who, he has to fill the role now of Mysterious Leader who Engenders Powerful Loyalty and Mentorship to the Newbie. He's not the Newbie. He's already seen and experienced things that the viewer isn't supposed to know about.

So it was that my frustration level grew with every Torchwood episode that focused on Gwen. The writing of the show didn't allow for much shifting of viewpoint, except for occassional glimpses into one character or another's life. 

I don't expect all main characters to be pure as the driven snow: I enjoy complexity, and I enjoy mixed motivations, and bad choices and the payback from bad choices (and good choices, too). Gwen's character arc simply kept sinking lower, and lower, and lower with all the focus on her. It was as if it was all the writers could do to her: "Let's make this chick SUFFER! Let's make her screw up so bad, ALL the fans will despise her!"

I'm a huge lover of Redemption stories. Just adore them. But, aside from Gwen's devotion to Jack, there wasn't much else to recommend her. She made huge mistakes. She wasn't made to "pay" for them (at least, I don't remember any punishments). She is yet another woman character falling for the Bad Boy and shafting the Good Boy she lives with at every opportunity. She turned into a very unpleasant female cliche. Her angst and personal despair and mistakes should have earned her a place off the Torchwood team. Sure, they all screwed up. The producers made a point of that. But part of the problem with Gwen is that, as the main viewpoint character, she wasn't allowed to experience the full repercussions of her bad choices. Other people did. But not her.

Gwen brings to mind a few other characters in other SF shows: Wesley Crusher; Sam Carter; Will Robinson; all of them "Newbie" characters meant to help the viewer into the new Wonderlands they're experiencing. They aren't necessarily automatically Mary Sue characters, but often, that's what they turn into. I use Mary Sue to mean a Perfect Character with no flaws, or at least flaws that no other character on their shows rarely twigs to, because the writers can't afford to have their Alice Character seen as flawed.

How would I have "fixed" Torchwood? Kept Jack as a Cheshire Cat, certainly: a little mystery is fun. But make him the primary viewpoint. Have him relish (though HIS eyes) the newbie. Explain why he tolerates the other's mistakes. Have Gwen more in the background interacting with the others, but not have a speshul relationship with Capt. Jack: after all, that speshul connection was never fully explained. (it could be explained as a speshul Mary Sueness)

I"m hoping that with the second season of Torchwood that there will be some fixes on the show, adjustments in the scripts, and hopefully, less seen of Gwen. I don't mind if she's still there: but not as a main focus character.