Reviews Torchwood: Drive by Tony J Fyler

 

Tony’s lost in Cardiff. 

You can rely on writer David Llewellyn for a lot of things. Creating characters you want to spend time with? Check. Giving great story twists to ideas that would in other hands be fairly flat chunks of storytelling? Check. Delivering realistic, character-driven laughs? Double check and mate. 

One of his particular side niches in audio Torchwood though is drawing convincing Cardiff landscapes and characters, bringing the city into the drama in a way that on-screen Torchwood regularly tried to do. 

In Drive, he takes a badly injured Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori) on a tour of some of the less salubrious parts of Cardiff in a cab driven by a woman named Fawzia (Suzanne Packer), in search of a thief with an alien bit of gubbinry – a kind of teleporter which exacts a price every time you use it (not unlike a cab itself). 

There’s a level on which the plot becomes secondary to the chase in this story, but given that the chase foregrounds the talents of Naoko Mori and Suzanne Packer, you really don’t mind that at all. Because ultimately, that’s the heart and soul of the story – Tosh is very much an outsider in lots of areas of her life, not least in her work, but very much in Cardiff. She has, at this point in her life, yet to unbend to her environment. If she’s not overtly keeping Cardiff at bay, she certainly has yet to let it get under her skin, or to understand it.

That will have changed at least a little by the end of the very long night that makes up Drive, and mostly it will have changed by her being forced into communion and talk with Fawzia, a garrulous, pro-people cabbie who’s going gradually blind. 

There are plenty of movie precedents for the relationship they forge while Tosh hunts for the alien artefact and the thief who’s using it. But there’s something uniquely Torchwood about this version of the trope, because – without getting too sentimental about it – Cardiff has a very particular soul. It’s warm, and chatty, and nosy, with a touch of fatalism about its eagerness to find the funny in any situation. 

That’s not really something that gels with Tosh particularly well at first. Her history is such that the bubbly warmth of a full-on Cardiff personality like Fawzia’s can feel grating and intrusive. But over the course of a night which involves schlepping from one dodgy location to another in search of the gadget-grabber, both Fawzia and the fundamental nature of Cardiff’s personality gets under the skin of Torchwood’s most particular fish out of water.

Weirdly, there’s not a huge amount more to tell you without starting to compromise story threads and plot details. 

Certainly, there’s the intrigue of how a common-or-garden Cardiff thief gets hold of a gizmo that threatens not only himself, but the whole city and possibly much else besides. Certainly too, there’s the fact that it’s not just Tosh and Fawzia who are on his tail – and there’s a pleasing no-honour-among-thieves vibe in that sub-strand which pushes the drama along at a good but never over-frantic pace. 

It would be genuinely spoilerific to tell how the whole thing ultimately pans out, and you could argue, were you a cynical old bugger even compared to me, that the ending of the crisis with Chris the thief (Robert Wilfort) is a touch on the soppy side. But then, Cardiff is a touch on the soppy side, for all its sometimes hard-as-nails vibe, so for anyone who knows the city, the ending will feel more like a vindication, an act of natural justice, than something which deflates the drama of the preceding hour of not-exactly-cops and robbers chasing each other around the city. 

It probably helps, too, to understand something about South Wales vernacular and habits. In the Valleys (and in Cardiff), any driver of public transport, be it a bus or a cab, assumes the title of ‘Drive.’ If you thank them when they’ve dropped you off where you want to be – and you’d better, or every local will judge you – you acknowledge their skills and their position with a “Thanks, Drive” or even a “Cheers, Drive.” This is the unwritten law of South Welsh society. 

So while there’s the sense of an imperative about the title, “Drive” is not only a kind of shortened version of “Follow that car!” here. It’s almost a hat-tip of acknowledgement of taxi drivers everywhere. People who, as Tosh remarks, put themselves in positions of absolute uncertainty fifty times a day, not knowing who they’re picking up, or what dramas might come with them. 

When Fawzia picks up Tosh, there is blood, pain, drama, thievery, criminal danger, violence and a combination of alien technology and human skulduggery. But through it all, Fawzia and Tosh find themselves warming to one another. 

Will they hang out, go to each other’s birthday parties and the like after this? The obvious answer is no, but here’s the thing. 

Between David Llewellyn’s writing, a gooooorgeously likeable performance from Suzanne Packer, and a brisk but never breathless direction from Lisa Bowerman, you get the feeling that maybe – just maybe – they might. Certainly, Tosh has made more of a friend in Fawzia than she’s made in most other people in the city, and been taught to embrace its opportunities for interaction more. 

So, yes, just possibly. We can almost smell the spin-off from here: Fawzia – Time Drive. Certainly, if there were circumstances where everyone else had naffed off in the Torchwoodmobile and left Tosh behind, a reunion with Fawzia in audio would be entirely welcome, because the chemistry here is chef’s-kiss perfect. 

In Drive, David Llewellyn gives us another great slice of Torchwood, with a story that could be ordinary, but which is elevated by the central character-interplay between Tosh and Fawzia into something you’ll listen to again and again. 

You’ll listen not so much for the revelations of the plot, but simply for the joy of hearing these two people interact and warm towards each other, and the realism of Cardiff’s character and nature bubbling to the surface. As such, Drive hits harder on the re-listen front than its plot and premise seem to promise. More Tosh and Fawzia, any time you like, Big Finish. That’d be tidy.

Reviews Torchwood - Instant Karma by Tony J Fyler

Heads explode. Tony walks by, whistling…

Great science-fiction is frequently about asking the ‘What-if?’ questions of life, extrapolating from where we are and changing one thing, making one thing possible that isn’t, and seeing what kind of world you end up in.

Instant Karma sells itself openly on that premise – what if you could make all the annoying people pay for their tireless campaign of making the world worse? What if you could repay the inconsiderate git in the supermarket or bank with the bagful of penny pieces, make them hurt for their thoughtlessness. What if you could make the driver who cuts you up at a corner feel the impact of his behaviour, feel your anger as pain.

What if the anger of a protest could hurt, could even kill, the person being protested? If instead of a satirical blimp, you could make their heart explode, or their brain melt, or you could make them tell the truth? What if you could change things on that level?

Would you do it?

Sci-fi with philosophical underpinnings? Big tick, Big Finish. Big tick, David Llewelyn, James Goss and Jonathan Morris, who, somewhat unusually, deliver instant Karma as a triple-credit.

The story itself is anchored by Tosh (Naoko Mori), seemingly shortly after the Greeks Bearing Gifts TV episode, when she’s recently become aware of how her colleagues really feel about her, having briefly gained the ability to hear unguarded thoughts.

There are two other main players that make this a solid three-hander, Johnny Dixon as Simon (bus driver by day, self-help group guru by night), and Sara McGaughey as Janet, who loves him, whether or not he returns her affection.

The triple whammy writing team of David Llewellyn, James Goss and Jonathan Morris is unusual for Torchwood at Big Finish, but here it means that as well as the strong philosophical questions at the heart of the action, there’s a lot of solid character background given for Simon and Janet, which means we understand them as very different people, united however briefly in a moment of something potentially wonderful, potentially deadly. Simon in particular has a complicated, believable history that we learn as he tries to get to know Tosh better. Ultimately though, Instant Karma blends a couple of strong messages together in its storytelling. On the one hand, you can listen to it as a parable of how anger can make you powerful, but power can turn ordinary anger into a deadly force. And on the other, you can listen to it as a parable about not letting anger change who you fundamentally are – if, for instance, hurting people is wrong in one case, the wrongness or irritation-factor of the people doesn’t change the wrongness of inflicting pain. There are moments in Instant Karma when Simon and Janet are on the same side, and moments when the differences behind them, their needs, their self-soothing methods and the ways in which they process both the anger they have and the power it brings them show them to be very different people. And that, in the end, is what brings the conclusion its power, as each pathway has a destination-point, and ultimately, while Tosh may work for the super-duper secret organisation, it’s not she who decides the outcome of events in the story. If anything, it’s she who learns the lessons laid out for her by the examples of Simon and Janet, and, we can only assume, uses them to get over her sent of violation and outrage at knowing what everyone really thinks of her, to understand that processing anger in a healthy way is a mark of individual progress, individual conquest of the hot, powerful basic instinct to repay hurt with hurt.

Instant Karma’s a very impressive three-hander, with both Dixon and McGauchey delivering the drama, the realism, and the fundamental philosophical questions in persuasive and powerful ways, and Naoko Mori working well as the actual driver of questions and learner of lessons. Pick it up, and remember, if people are being annoying, that’s on them. How you respond to them…that’s on you.

Beyond The Hub Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again! by Kirsty Price

SPOILER ALERT!

1st August: Cinema Outing

As a deaf person, it is rare I am able to go to the cinema, to watch a movie. Imagine my happiness when the website I keep an eye on, told me there was a movie on at the cinema with subtitles.

Happy Girlie Alert!

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again certainly lived up to the hype, but my highlight came about 30/40 minutes into the film. The camera cut to Tokyo where one of the main characters was having a meeting. A Japanese woman started speaking, to seal the deal between companies. Took me three times and bear in mind I was reading the words, not looking at people’s faces, but who was this pretty Japanese lady, you may ask?

It was only Toshiko Sato, otherwise known as Naoko Mori!

Her part was only 10 minutes of screen time, but that was enough for me. Rest of the movie was really good, I do recommend it, I just don’t recommend Cher (sorry Cher fans). Overall it was a good film I enjoyed it, and I think you guys may enjoy it too.

The film opens up years before Donna goes to the island of Kalokairi, which is the name they use for the real island used in the film – Skopelos. In Greek, Kalokairi means "summer," so just about any Greek island could be called a "summer island."

It shows how Donna meets first Harry, then Bill and finally Sam. Every so often it cuts from that time to the present, telling the audience of Donna's life before Sophie came along. the other part of the story is years later, a few years after the first film of Mamma Mia and the character of Sophie is finishing the hotel up and ready for an opening party happening soon. As always you can never be too sure about the weather.

After having the party ruined by the weather, some people turned up surprising Sophie and together they made it a party to die for. As many of you may have seen in the trailer, Sophie finds out she's pregnant, and is a very happy lady, involving the three dads, Sky and the aunties.

Watching a film with subtitles is brilliant and very easy for me, helping me to understand what is happening in the movie. An example would be, someone says a joke, and the audience laughs at it. Normally I would be behind or would have to ask the person with me what the joke was. Subtitles make it so much easier for me to keep in time and laugh along with the rest of the audience.

I really enjoyed the movie, more than the first one, and cannot wait till next time I go to the cinema.

I would like to see Christopher Robin, staring Ewan McGregor and a few other people. including Peter Capaldi. I have my fingers crossed that it will be available and accessible to me as soon as it is released. Sometimes I have to wait longer than the hearing people, which is actually unfair. Some of my hearing friends saw Paddington Bear 2 the week it came out. I had to wait a few weeks before it was accessible.

Beyond the Hub Everest Film Review by DJ Forrest

There are many reasons as to why I watch a film these days and this was no exception. Naoko Mori was playing a main character, so it was well worth settling down for some quiet procrastination, and given that it was Winter, and although at this point, we didn’t have snow, it was a touch cold outside.

I’m actually glad it wasn’t snowing otherwise I may have been tempted to up the heating a touch.

Everest tells the story of the tragic events surrounding May 1996, when Rob Hall and Scott Fischer of rival commercial expeditions set off with their groups to climb Mount Everest. The going as you would expect was not without challenges and some pretty rough climbs, which saw many of the climbers suffering under extreme circumstances. Even the most experienced of climbers was pushed to the point of exhaustion and when climbing to a certain point were horrified to learn that oxygen canisters hadn’t been left with enough oxygen to survive the harsh weather system coming in.

All experienced climbers know the mountain well – you’d be a fool not to know that you have a small window available to you. If you can’t make it up in that time limit, then you have to concede that it isn’t going to happen. But there’s always one climber who has to reach the top, no matter what, sacrificing the lives of others for his own ends and it’s this moment that marks the start of the tragic events that unfold.

Naoko Mori plays veteran amateur climber Yasuko Namba who hopes to complete her final Seven Summits ascent. Tom Goodman-Hill plays Neal Beidleman, who reaches the summit and was one of the survivors on Fischer’s team, Mountain Madness.

Many climbers on their descent lost their lives to the mountain, and many of them are still on the mountain to this day.

If you are going to watch this film, make sure it’s a warm day outside, because the snowy scenery is even colder when there’s snow just outside your window.

It’s a stunning film, and if I hadn’t seen the green screen behind Jake Gyllenhaal in some images on my cover search, I’d have been convinced the actors were up a mountain freezing their bits off – obviously not on Everest but there’s plenty of smaller mountains to practice climbing up.

Excellent film, sad ending, but then, a lot of true films tend to be that way, don’t they?

Well worth watching. Available on Netflix.

Reviews Torchwood: Zone 10 by Tony J Fyler

Tony packs his Ugg boots.

Of all the Torchwood Three regulars, perhaps the one with the least explored personality and background is Toshiko Sato, she of the incredibly lateral mind and nimble fingers, most frequently seen keeping an eye on things from the Hub rather than strutting about the place with big guns and alien hardware.

Nevertheless, it would be a colossal mistake to underestimate Tosh, and she has a healthy handful of starring roles throughout the first two series of on-screen Torchwood, almost all of which show a different side to her nature.

Zone 10 takes Tosh out of Torchwood and Cardiff, and sends her to Russia on a field mission into the mysterious ‘Zone 10.’

(Pause for dramatic music).

Quite. What the hell is Zone 10, right?

Obviously, we’re not about to spoiler that for you, but David Llewellyn’s story does at least keep you guessing about what’s actually going on almost to the very end, delivering additional forward story-arc nuggets like shiny, glistening candies along the way. It also ties into some previous stories in the audio Torchwood range, including Uncanny Valley, while revealing juicy new details about The Committee, the alien Uber-Bad that’s been a frequent source of trouble for various Torchwooders since the beginning of Series 1. Without technically answering many of our questions about these alien ass-kickers and infiltrators, Zone 10 certainly gives us a new way of looking at them, and a new set of things to wonder about. There’s even a flashback vibe – which given that Tosh is still alive is actually a flashforward vibe – to Series 3, Children of Earth, which is quite enough to send a chill down the listener’s spine if the Siberian location doesn’t do it for you. Llewellyn’s script is also fairly intricately put together, with some neat ideas – in particular a weapon that The Committee has deployed, its effect and the way it’s described, is enough to boggle the brain in a pleasing way.

Naoko Mori, slipping back into Tosh’s shoes, is reliable as clockwork, and between Llewellyn’s read of the character and Mori’s performance, Zone 10 delivers a Tosh that’s perversely familiar because she does unexpected things and makes unexpected connections. It gives her a chance to really show what she’s made of, beyond Hub-based button-pushing, and it reminds us that she had to do a whole hell of a lot more than that to even get into Torchwood. Tosh on her own, without all the gun-wielding strutters and the other distractions of the Hub, is ingenious, intuitive, and never, ever stupid. She judges the truth based on inflection and calls people on it instantly when there just isn’t the time to be ‘Nice Tosh.’ She steals a Snowcat in the middle of Siberia, and she even, in this episode, gets the chance to pick up a gun herself. As you might expect, being Tosh – lateral, intuitive Tosh – she’s unnervingly good with it. It almost becomes just another device to her in the moment of its use. Devices do her bidding if she doesn’t think about them too hard. Interestingly, Pragmatic Tosh stays in control for much longer than you might expect, and Nice Tosh never particularly shouts her down. ‘I should feel guilty,’ she admits at one point, ‘but I don’t.’

The story, which kicks off with an uncrackable signal, broadcast for over forty years from the Russian wastelands until Tosh, working solo and without telling her Torchwood teammates, finally cracks it, has a heavy load of impossibility to carry, but Llewellyn’s a good writing technician, and he makes sure to dot the i’s and cross the t’s of the story logic before the end, bringing in secret Russian space programmes, unsavoury deals, a fair amount of double-crossing and a race – in this case literally – against time before the mystery of the cracked signal makes a final kind of sense. When it does, it delivers the satisfying ‘schlunk’ of the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle being slotted into place, even if the picture on the puzzle is of a whole lot of question-marks to ponder until the next time The Committee show their faces in the Torchwood audios.

Nevertheless, there’s one particular element of this story that might make it hard to listen to in a single sitting, even at just over an hour of running time.

We hate pinning the weight of listener disengagement on a single person, but there’s an accent choice from one particular actor in this audio that becomes distracting fairly quickly, the Russian-speaking-English dialogue seeming overblown and almost comical at times. ‘Vwhurt?’ is hard to listen to as ‘What?’ for instance, and as the hour goes by, the pronunciation seems to grow increasingly perverse – ‘Moscov,’ ‘Snovcat and many more - meaning it runs the risk of becoming the majority of what you’re listening to. You won’t miss any important story-details, because director Scott Handcock makes sure that despite the layers of the script, you only find out what’s going on in smallish bites, but the accent choice does take away from the listener’s ability to entirely lose themselves in the adventure, and leave them wishing for a more lightly-accented portrayal.

There’s an issue of backstory-infodumping early on too, the dialogue between Tosh and Maxim Ivanov feeling as though it’s there mostly for the listener’s benefit to get us into the scenario, but once Zone 10 itself gets thrown into the mix and the unlikely pairing set off in search of mystery, the whole thing becomes more fluid, like a blind date melting into friendliness over a shared love of Tetris.

Overall, Zone 10 is story-driven and delivers on that level, enriching our understanding of the mysteries of The Committee. It also delivers a welcome return for Toshiko, blending Nice Tosh and Pragmatic Tosh well, giving us moments of Geeky Tosh, dedicated to her work, and Sad Tosh, trying not to think about when she last saw her family, but also adding in Action Tosh the code-cracking, Snowcat-stealing, sharp-shooting badass into the mix, giving perhaps more rounding to the character than she ever got on TV. Naoko Mori seems, in the extras, to be up for adding additional stories to the Torchwood archive, and on the evidence of this initial outing, such stories would be a more than welcome addition – especially if Twitter speculation proves true and Eve Myles really has decided to put the character of Gwen Cooper behind her.

Just perhaps, next time, go a little lighter on the accents in supporting character roles, so that all the shades of Mori’s performance can be appreciated fully. 

Beyond The Hub Film Review: Everest by Jann Tarrant

A good while ago now Naoko Mori posted a couple of pics from location while she was filming for Everest.  We exchanged a couple of messages, which was awesome because I adore her and I love mountains..... I sent her a couple of pics from New Zealand.  Needless to say she was very excited to be there at 'Base-camp' and who wouldn't be.

So months later I knew I had to see this film.  Now I am not really into the whole 'True Story' thing, but to be honest no one could have made up a better tale of man against nature, heroism and sheer dumb stupidity.  It was a beautiful story, telling of an ill fated journey up to the world's highest point.  A cast was clearly chosen for their fitness as well ability to act in what must have been challenging conditions.  The stunt/climbing teams, well honestly magnificent. 

However the most important cast member has to be mountain itself.

I am not going to go into details about who did what, because truly I don't want to drown you with spoilers, if you haven't seen this, go, or rent the DVD, better still Blu-Ray and find the biggest TV you can.  What you will see will surprise you and delight you and humble you.

I had no idea that Base-camp became such a zoo in the very short yearly climbing window.  I could not believe the sums of money people paid to make that journey happen and finally I was astounded to see that people took it on, knowing that there was a good chance they were not capable of doing it.  I am reminded of man's hubris... and the word Titanic.

You will be on the edge of your seat.

One last thing, I saw this in 3D and for once this format came into its own.  You felt the distance and height in a way that completely took me aback.  If they had turned the air con to cold and cut the O2 supply by 50%, I could easily have been there.  The photography was stunning, for that alone it is worth seeing. My highest praise would have to go to the camera guys and the people who got their gear where it needed to be in order to film this.

So finally, the cast were natural, honest in their performances.  You couldn't say one was better than the other, but they were all really good and most importantly, believable. Obviously it was a real treat to see Naoko on the big screen playing Yasuka Namba.

I loved this film and will be buying the Blu Ray when it comes out.

5 Stars

Profiles Toshiko Sato

Torchwood Three Officer: Toshiko Sato

Born: 19^th September 1981

Origin: Japanese

Played by: Naoko Mori

Toshiko Sato first came to Torchwood’s attention five years ago, after she stole the plans for a Sonic Modulator device from the Lodmoor Research Facility, a division of the Ministry of Defence. Milton, a dark haired, bespectacled woman, who was holding her mother hostage, required it.  The initial plans were flawed but as Toshiko built the Sonic Modulator, she corrected the mistakes as she went.

After her arrest and gruelling punishment at the hands of UNIT, she was visited by Torchwood’s Captain Jack Harkness who admired her work on the Modulator and offered her the chance of a clean slate, if she worked for him.

With the alien tech that Torchwood Three scavenged over the years, Toshiko was able to cannibalise the tech for their own use. Such as, creating the Rift Manipulator and inventing the time lock that protected the Hub during the Dalek invasion, securing Ianto and Gwen in a bubble, which meant that the Daleks couldn’t enter, but equally, Gwen and Ianto couldn’t leave.

Toshiko’s love life was abysmal however, failing to catch the eye of the man of her dreams, Dr. Owen Harper, even after covering for him during the Slitheen invasion, Toshiko fell into doomed relationships, including Mary, an Arcateenian criminal, who gave her a pendant, enabling her to hear people’s thoughts and Tommy Brockless, a tragic soldier of the First World War who was suffering from shellshock but who had to return to 1918 to close the Rift, with the aid of the Rift Key.

When Owen was resurrected in order for people to say their last farewells, Toshiko confessed her true feelings to him. As Owen lost his cynicism, he and Toshiko had better conversations and even agreed to go on a date together, sadly this never happened.  As Gray, hell-bent on ruining his brother Jack’s life for good, entered the Hub and shot Toshiko, fatally wounding her. The valuable time she needed in order to assist Owen at Turnmill ultimately cost him his life.

Toshiko was given a traditional funeral service by Captain Jack Harkness, and is still to this day, sadly missed.

The Whoniverse Round-Up February 2015

February 2015

Naoko Mori – Midsomer Murders, XVII

Episode 4: Vintage Murder

The fizz goes out of a sparkling wine launch when the glasses are laced with poison.  Who is targeting the Midsomer Vinae Winery and what does the attack have to do with the death of a child in a hit-and-run accident?

In the 4^th and last episode of the new series, Naoko Mori plays the alcoholic wine critic Nadia Simons who leaves a scathing review on the Midsomer Vineyard, which then sees the wine guests collapse.  The new series starts Wednesday 28^th January 2015, with The Dagger club starting the series, followed by ‘Murder by Magic’, ‘The Ballad of Midsomer County’ and finally ‘A Vintage Murder’ completing the season. 

To view the trailer visit https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMidsomer

If anyone wants to write a review of ‘A Vintage Murder’ let us know by email: projecttorchwood@ymail.com

In other news: 

From Super Time Lord to Super Villain

David Tennant swaps his sonic and ID Police card to become super villain Zebediah Kilgrave for Marvel’s A.K.A. Jessica Jones, the 13 episode series premiering on Netflix soon. (I’ve saved it to My List already).

It seems to be the way these days that our favourite stars of Doctor Who & Torchwood are moving into the comic book genre.  With Barrowman swapping his Vortex Manipulator for bows in Arrow, it seems only natural I suppose that our intrepid Time Lord and Broadchurch copper should cross to the comic book world and play the role of The Purple Man.  Just one question – will he be wearing Spandex?

The Purple Man is an enemy of Jessica Jones and her husband Luke Cage.  He has the powers to release chemical pheromones onto his victims that can be inhaled or absorbed into their skin, which he uses to control them through verbal suggestions.  A bit like the power Tennant has over his fans.  Admit it girls, if he were to say anything to you in a seductive manner you’d be putty in his hands, am I right??

The Purple Man’s ability to recover and heal his body while in a death like state isn’t too different to that of the Time Lord’s either - if anything it’s like the regenerative state.  The Purple Man is a skilled manipulator with a high level intellect, which again would put him in the same category as another Time Lord we’re aware of, that of The Master. 

We’ve seen the best of Tennant’s good side, but I have to admit, I much prefer it when he’s playing the evil sociopath role such as Brendan Block, so it will be interesting to see how he comes over as the purple faced Marvel comic villain.  I for one cannot wait.

We’ll have more details of the release date when it’s in.

Hearts Asylum

Justin Walters is starring in a new online action drama and filming begins March/April this year.  Hearts Asylum is the brainchild of Chris Josty, who also appears in the film as the Mad Hatter.  To find out more, check out our interview with him and Justin here: http://projecttorchwood.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/interviews-interview-with-chris-josty.html and follow the links to find Hearts Asylum on Twitter & Facebook.

TORCHWOOD RETURNS TO AUDIO!!!

Yes, that’s right folks, Torchwood is to return in audio version.  With up to 3 or 4 new stories, one with full cast the others character based, it’s a return that’s long overdue.  The fans have mixed feelings regarding the audios return which you can read in The Coffee Shop.  http://projecttorchwood.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/the-coffee-shop-torchwood-returns-to.html

And finally,

John Barrowman is Magic

Since 11^th January (check date) John Barrowman has been posting up questions to the fans on Twitter and Facebook asking them to send him their favourite Whitney Houston, Carpenters and other songs by email.  To some of us this was intriguing and the reason for all the emails, well Barrowman is on Magic Radio, in his own segment every Sunday from 6pm – 8pm.  Check him out, sign up for the newsletters, tune into Magic Radio online, plug in the headphones and sit back and chill.

If you have a news story you want to share with us, email us at projecttorchwood@ymail.com or let us know via our social networking sites. 

News Happy Birthday Toshiko Sato 19th September 2014

19^th September 2014

On this day we will mark Toshiko’s birthday with a celebration of her life in Torchwood.  We’re holding another hashtag event in our #BringBackTorchwood campaign.

#ToshikoSatoDay

It’s a fitting tribute to the technical support of Torchwood Three.  Her knowledge of all quantum calculations, her quick responses at over-riding the Hub’s lock down with a sequence of key strokes on the keyboard membrane of her computer, allowing the team to save Gwen Cooper from the madness that was Suzie Costello.

So join with us, on this day, Friday 19^th September, to celebrate Toshiko’s life and loves on Twitter.  You can post your support on Facebook, on our Page if you do not have a Twitter account.  You can rally support from all Pages who honour Torchwood.  Call on your friends, call on your TORCHWOOD friends, supporters, cast and crew. 

Let’s hear it for TOSHIKO SATO.

It’s an all day event, join in when you can, and let’s get #ToshikoSatoDay and #BringBackTorchwood trending.

Remember to tell your friends to pledge their support of Torchwood by signing the petition hosted by @SaveTorchwood, to bring the series back.  We need as many names as possible.  Let’s make this happen people.

Expo & Cons Torchwood: Miracle Day by Antje Strauch

11.13. April 2014, Birmingham

One or two days before the “Miracle Day” Convention John Barrowman announced on his Twitter that he had unexpectedly a weekend off, and would be found at the Hollywood convention.

I guess that is in Hollywood.

I admit, it made me quite sad. I mean, technically I had known there was no chance he would be in Birmingham anyway, as he is one, in the US at the moment and two, shooting more “Arrow” but for me he still clearly was at the wrong convention.

But you know what? It was still great fun! I had two friends with me for whom it was the first time to see all those Torchwood stars, and it couldn’t have been a better introduction. A nice small familiar event, around 300 fans I think, and with Kai Owen, Gareth David-Lloyd, Naoko Mori, Dichen Lachman and of course Eve Myles, who had initiated the whole thing, on stage together, it was expected to be a blast.

We should have probably been warned about what was to come at Friday evening at the opening ceremony. 

Sean, head of Starfury events, tried to do a speech and introduce them but was interrupted by shenanigans going on backstage. 

You know, the screen they had put up to show what’s happening on stage to the people in the back rows, worked both ways. So we saw some shadowy figures, having fun with bananas or trying to pick Sean’s nose on the screen.

He was at a loss for words, and he admitted that was a first in the past 15 years of doing conventions. And he ended with the now famous “Thank God John Barrowman isn’t here!”

Well, in the end he was with us in spirit, as he got mentioned from those on stage quite a few times. Or at least his balls. But more about that later.

When Gareth was supposed to come to the stage, at first he was not visible, made only ghost-like noises and we should all help with making him visible again. We tried hard, and it worked, and out he came ;)

After the opening ceremony we went straight to the room in which the Meet and Greet with the stars for the owners of Gold tickets was supposed to happen. For once I was not the first of our group and only got told later that we did not choose our table ourselves, a guide asked how many we were and then placed us at a table in a way so that at each table a chair was kept free for the star that would join us later for a bit of small talk.

So just you know, nothing that happened after that was our fault. Not at all. We immediately hit off with the people on our table and had much fun with each other, we spent the whole weekend together and went for meals in the evening and everyone that heard us laughing was amazed to hear that two days ago we hadn’t even known each other. And we were a well-mixed group from several different countries and also mixed old con-experts and virgin newbies.

And there also was Giorgio. Surely many of you have met him, he was just there because he is friends with Dichen Lachman, who he had met at a con a few years ago. He had no idea what Torchwood was but I hope we were able to convince him that it was a show one absolutely must watch!

In the end, late in the evening, a lonely girl from the next table came over, saying how she liked us having fun, while apparently there had not been much interaction on her table, the others just left without even saying good-bye. How rude.

So, the stars at a con are one thing, but the most special thing is spending time with friends, meeting old friends again and new ones for the first time, which you then look forward to to meet again next year.

The downside is, that with all the stuff going on, you sometimes are going to one thing while others go to another, and you only meet in the hallway and in between “Hi!” and “I have to catch my panel!” there is not much time to talk, and you can’t split yourself in two. But then that’s what the hotel bar is for (I’m not one that likes to go to the parties, the music is not the kind I like, and it’s way too loud for me anyway. I’m getting old LOL)

So, back to the Meet and Greet. The first on our table was Kai. I have been to Meet and Greets before where the person sitting next to the star hogged all of his time alone and the others never got a word in, but this did not happen here. Kai asked everyone for his name, and where they were from, and if any of the Germans were from Bavaria… LOL (I should probably mention that apparently Bavaria had beaten Manchester in soccer a few days ago, but what do I know)

With Dichen we also talked about Germany because it turned out that even though she is from Australia, she has a German granddad! Which explains her last name Lachman, and we translated her that it means laughing man. She hadn’t known that yet.

I don’t actually remember much from our talks to Gareth and Naoko, but the reason for that is that Eve Myles was found more often ON the tables instead of AT them, and while standing there and having the full room’s attention, she announced that tomorrow there would be a screening of the episode “Contrycide” and they would do an audio commentary. And that we all should come in our pyjamas.

Several times ;)

In the end, it went like this:

Eve: “What are we going to do tomorrow?”

Fans: “A screening!”

Eve: “Of what?”

Fans: “Countrycide!”

Eve: “And what do you all wear?”

Fans: “Pyjamas!!!”

And so on. And right now I remember that Gareth had said this actually first at our table, that he would crash the screening and do a commentary. And he asked us for the time it would be on, and we gave it to him but later wondered how he would be able to do the autographs and screening at the same time. Thankfully it then got switched to an earlier time.

Eve spent way more than just the five minutes on each table, got gifts and chocolates and drinks everywhere and really had a blast. One girl had a self made resurrection glove, and of course Eve took this chance to resurrect Gareth. I couldn’t see it well because they were lying at the floor, but apparently she went for his special bits. Of course ;)

It was already past midnight when she came to us, we were the second to last table and the room had emptied considerably. Everyone was partying on in the other room but after Eve had left it was time for us to say good-night, as we had a full weekend ahead of us and well, a little bit of sleep would be nice.

That is me with the glove, but I did not make it:

On Saturday, there were the photo sessions in the morning. Then we were waiting what would happen next. While we did so, suddenly this guy – Ian – came to the stage and took a picture with Gwen, dressed as Gwen. He got quite a loud cheer for it! And he did look really good.

At noon, a new programme part had been included. The Torchwood episode “Countrycide” was shown, and the actors gave their running comments with it. And at least half the people in the room had shown up in their pyjamas, as requested by Eve.

  

If you remember the episode, it starts with the team driving in the SUV through the – well, countryside, and Owen comments on the smell. Then John aka Jack is shown on the wheel, and Gareth chanted “Gay – gay – gay – gay – gay…” Next we heard, was Owen’s “It’s disgusting.” I’m the last person to make any bad jokes about sexual orientation, but this was pretty funny as it was really right on the beat. And it got only worse from there. Sadly (or maybe luckily?) I didn’t understand some of the things they said ;) And I actually don’t remember much of the rest, except for that story about John and his hangover and that he said they should not film any close-ups of his face. Eve said he literally had just taken the sunglasses off (the scene where they go into the house).

They also informed us in every scene when John had been farting. I always wanted to know that ;)

In the middle of the whole thing Kai also called Owen Teale and asked us all to shout “Because it makes me happy, you … cheeky bastard” (can please someone fill in the missing words? Do you remember them?)

After that, the panels started in the afternoon. First up was Dichen Lachman. She had much to tell about her new movie “Lust for Love” which has been crowdfunded and she asked if any founders were in the audience, there were indeed some. And she was a producer as well as an actress and had to worry all the time whether to re-do a scene or leave it to not overstretch the budget.

  

They actually streamed the movie for us the other day, which was really nice and if was a funny little rom-com, about a guy who has no luck with the ladies and his friend (Dichen) who tells him different tricks and of course he ends up with her in the end. That was clear right from the beginning, but still there were some nice twists and great comedy.

Well into the panel someone asked if she could tell any stories from the Torchwood set. “Right, that’s what we are here for after all!” she replied. Even though she played an evil person in “Miracle Day”, the real Dichen was just lovely and cute. She said how much of a family they all were on set, and that she already knew a few of the crew from other projects and felt right at home. And she told the story about John scaring her (he seems to like that?) and she had a bottle of water which ended up all over him and they needed half an hour to get him dry again, and they laughed for ten minutes straight.

The next panel was with Naoko Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd. I have not written down all questions and answers, but a few memorable quotes. For example, if they were to rename “Torchwood”, what would it be? No hesitation: “John Barrowman’s balls”.

I also liked this sentence from Gareth: “I wanted to go in a hail of bullets but ended up with an alien fart.”

Naoko regretted that Tosh and Owen never got that lunch. They also were asked to give advice for themselves. Gareth: “Wear a gas suit!” Naoko: “Wear a bullet proof vest!”

The conversation came to the new Doctor Peter Capaldi and Gareth told a bit how wonderful it was working with him and Naoko looked at him: “He wasn’t in Torchwood?!?” Gareth replied: “You were dead.”

Turned out, she never had watched “Children of Earth” – and both of them never watched “Miracle Day” because, well, they weren’t in it ;) That became one of the running gags throughout the weekend.

Naoko not only didn’t know the later “Torchwood” seasons but also nothing about “Harry Potter” or “Game of Thrones”. She also told a funny story about when she was in “Doctor Who” for the first time. She got the script but didn’t speak English very well back then and looked up TARDIS in the dictionary. When she couldn’t find it, she actually called a friend to ask what it was. After she had spelled it out for him, he just hung up. Without an answer.

After those two it was time for Kai Owen and Eve Myles. They also had quite a few funny ideas what the show else could have been called:

“I’m really 69”

“The Teeth”

“The John Barrowman show”

“Pressure Pad”

“Tonight’s the night”

“4 hours of makeover”

Apparently they were prepared to go on like this for a while but we stopped there ;)

One question was also about if they ever stole anything from the set. Kai was adamant: “I never stole anything!” Eve: “Just my heart!” Awwwww!

Seeing the both of them sitting there, it felt really like an old couple! They work so well together and that is the reason why I am no Gwen/Jack shipper, sorry.

There was a moment where we talked about which dead people they would like to bring back to the show. For some reason or the other, Eve mentioned Anwen. Then they looked at each other and realized that she is not dead ;) Same happened when she was asked with which dead person she would like to spend an evening. That’s how the rumour that Kathy Burke was dead got out. Kai actually got out his phone and pretended to tweet about it LOL

There was also some very bad joke to the absolutely innocent question what Rhys' mother was doing nowadays. For some reason, Kai and Eve concluded that she was a prostitute – and selling Crispy Cremes. Make the connection yourself ;)

After they said that, Kai got his face into his hands and said: “Why do we say those things? At home we are not like that, but as soon as we are at a convention…”

In the evening we also got a costume contest but there were so many great costumes.  I always love costume contests. Fans can be so creative to make those things.

The first contestant was also the smallest: Gareth's daughter Lily as Alice in Wonderland:

Not surprisingly, she won the price for the best kid. She also was the only kid ;) Look at that proud Daddy's face:

A few Doctors

Ian as Gwen also took part. He won a prize and got a big smooch by Kai Owen

This was the best: Captain Jack and the alien sex gas. Not surprisingly, they won a prize and they also were the favourite of the audience

Tenth Doctor - he won a prize

In the break, when the jury decided who should be the winner, this little firl proved that she wants to be the new Eve Myles. She entertained the crowd with making all sorts of funny faces:

The Jury:

On Sunday, we went to get our autographs first thing in the morning. While waiting for the stars to arrive who were running a bit late, we chatted with one of the volunteers. He told us a fun story about another Starfury convention which was madness. As soon as he would stop walking just to catch his breath, a line would form behind him and then people would ask: “What are we queuing for?” – “Don’t know, I am just standing here!” LOL

When we finally were allowed into the room, as a nice extra we got a Torchwood poster which you could use to get signed. I always let the pictures I take with them signed though and got some funny comments about the poses.

Then it was time for the “Lust for Love” screening. Before and after Dichen talked a bit about the movie.

Poor girl was so cold, she was wearing her coat on stage.

Soon it was time for Kai Owen’s panel.

He had been given a solo panel but at the meet and greet Gareth had announced that he planned to crash it, and so Kai was only on stage alone for five minutes or so before Gareth arrived. The two guys together were also very funny. They all play so well off of each other, with one having a thought and the other finishing it. You’ll see soon what I mean.

Each had a beer in their hand – Kai in a glass, Gareth drank straight from the bottle – and after an Austrian girl had invited them to some famous beer festival in her hometown, there was a lot of beer talk. 

No matter what the question was, they would always return to it LOL So, someone would ask a question, and one of them would start to reply, but the other interrupted with: “…. is also a nice beer.” And then the other would agree and so on. It was hilarious.

They showed a bit of a video Kai and Eve had done for Sean. They were punching each other all the time, like a real stunt fight. Very good! You can see these scenes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFIM_35-Xr0

Several questions also were about what they would like to see in a Torchwood season 5. 

Naoko was sitting somewhere in the audience as well, and always cleared her throat very loudly since for some reason they forgot to mention Tosh while listing all the characteres they wanted to see back ;)

Later she also told us that she would love to play an evil twin of Tosh or maybe her from an alternate reality, anything to bring the character back. She also had enjoyed that one episode “Adam” where she played her a bit differently. So, “Tosh with cleavage”, that’s what she would like to play.

Kai and Gareth also dissed PC Andy a lot ;) Tom Price was not there so could not defend himself against all the accusations. I don’t remember anything specifically, but they told about all sorts of stuff they would do for the fans and then: “Tom Price would never do that.” LOL

And then there was the girl that thought it was a good idea to have Jack pregnant in the first episode of season 5. After all, in the pilot he mentioned that he once was, so it should be possible. 

Kai and Gareth liked the idea as well, and the next thing we saw was them acting out the scene. Kai sat onto the chairs with his legs wide open, and Gareth crouched under the chairs and then came out with a “Ta-daaa! Ianto has been reborn!” We roared with laughter.

Gareth’s comment? “I was born out of John Barrowman’s arse – it was an easy ride.”

Also about Torchwood in 50 years: “We’ll all look like the Face of Boe, except Barrowman, he’ll still look the same!” Who needs enemies when he has such friends? LOL

Later Naoko went onto stage as it was her time, and both guys got up and left through the door at the side. Poor Naoko looked after them: “Don’t leave me alone!”

  

But they probably had more important things to do. But before they left, Gareth told the audience to not ask Naoko any questions about Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Children of Earth, Miracle Day or the TARDIS. Then he was gone.

But in the end, Naoko on her own was lovely as well, and she has had some interesting projects recently, like the one about the Mount Everest.

Suddenly, you could hear a very posh voice ask: "In the fantasy adventure series Harry Potter which of the Hogwarts teachers would you be?"

Every head turned, and who was standing at the microphone? Gareth! LOL 

And he kept asking questions about Game of Thrones and Miracle Day and in the end complained that none of his questions had been answered and he wanted his money back.

He had waited in line like everyone else, I already had spotted him well before he reached the microphone:

                     Later he was also joined by Kai there:

Then Kai took pity on Naoko and joined her on stage. 

And he teased her all the time. 

When someone wanted to know what they would do if they had only 24 hours to live, Naoko said: “Punch Kai Owen!” and he replied that she would then die because of that LOL

In the end she got her wish though, and he presented his backside for her to punch, and she did but immediately apologized and asked if she had hurt him and he acted as if he was REALLY hurting and sat down onto the chair very carefully with a scrunched face LOL

Also, this funny guy from “Avenue Q” suddenly showed up and talked with Naoko and even sang a song:

Then this hour was also over, and technically it was now Eve’s and Gareth’s panel.

  

But Kai only shortly left the stage and then came back, and they all spotted Naoko down in the audience again and asked: “What are you doing down there? Come up!” and so we were treated to a panel with all four of them together on stage. 

To hell with the schedule. 

By now Sean just let them do whatever they wanted – as that’s what they did anyway LOL

So, if one of them is already funny, and two of them together almost unbearable, you can imagine what happens if that multiplies again. I have no idea how exactly it happened but somehow everyone had ended up with a beverage, and a sort of game started. One of them would say a sentence like “I have never been in a dark corner with John Barrowman’s balls” or “I have never been touched in places by John Barrowman’s and didn’t enjoy it” and then everyone for whom it was a lie had to drink. I can tell you, they drank a lot ;) It was really funny to see how sometimes all lifted the glasses at once.

Other important things we learnt in this hour was the most embarrassing thing that has happened to them. Kai Owen once got sick over someone, he really puked at him. Naoko said she was good at “tripping over nothing”.

Another question was with which TV series Torchwood could do a crossover. Some very good ideas there, like “X-files”, “Warehouse 13”, “Being Human”.

The PC Andy dissing continued as well. Apparently both Gareth and Naoko had no idea that he had been in “Miracle Day” ;) Whenever this last season was discussed by those that were actually in it, like Kai and Eve, Gareth and Naoko pretended to be bored:

Eve also told the story how they asked her if she could ride a bike and she said yes, never having ridden one. She learnt it in half an hour, telling them that she was not familiar with this very model and if they please could show it to her ;) Then she went and did that scene where she blows up the ovens.

Kai also was impressed by that scene from the first episode, at the beach, and he actually was proud that the beautiful Welsh coast would feature there so heavily. 

John was driving the car himself when they were chased by the helicopter, he did not let any stuntman do it. 

And it was so freezing cold that they had to kept checked for hypothermia actually. The famous scene when Gwen fires the rocket and says “Torchwood!” her lips were so frozen that only “Twwd” came out ;)

They also told the famous story from the pilot again, Eve and John alone in a hospital, being bored and somehow they ended up photographing his balls and then sent the picture down the tube mail. It ended up in the maternity ward. They actually sent it back with some words added, that it was a nice picture and “come visit us soon” ;)

To go to the Torchwood set they had to go through the TARDIS all the time. Nice way to work!

What would Eve do if one morning she woke up as a man? “Call John Barrowman!”

At one time Naoko sighed: “Now you see what I had to put up with all the time!” Poor girl LOL

I also have a quote I have no idea whom it belongs to, but could be Naoko as well: “If you are involved with a character in a TV show it means you get more lines.”

They also played the birth scene again, this time with Naoko as the midwife. Kai was calling for Eve to hold his hand, but she just stood at the side, shaking her head ;)

  

They also had given a lot of thoughts about how the series could come back. Apparently none of them is ready to let it go yet. Kai wants it to get back to Cardiff, and reassemble the Hub somehow. Loud cheers from us. And they want PC Andy to die and Jack sings “My Heart will go on” at his funeral ;)

And Kai had the idea that we all should write the first episode for season 5, and send the script in to his page. Next year they would try to get the whole gang together and they would read the best scripts on stage. If you want to participate, send your stories to webmaster@kaiowen.com 

Then it was time for the closing ceremony. Sean said that with other fandoms, as soon as they are off the air the fans go away but with “Torchwood”, even so many years later, the fandom is still strong.

One by one they came onto the stage again and gave us a last word of advice. Gareth’s was: “Don’t buy the Torchwood set props at online auctions. You have no idea what John Barrowman did to these. He humped everything.”

He also said: “You guys deserve more Torchwood!” And Kai added: “You want more, ask for more!” 

Well, this is the official petition about it. Go and sign it! 
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/danny-cohen-make-another-torchwood-series

Naoko promised that till next year she will read Harry Potter.

Oh, and as for this Hollywood convention? In the end, John was only there on Saturday, as he had unexpected work to prepare on Sunday. 

Which is interesting, as I guess I never pictured him to actually sit down and learn his lines. Which he surely does like every other actor. I probably expected him to just show up at the set and know them magically LOL

But no, he had to leave the con and go back home to do his homework. So, in the end, I think we got the better deal.

But I definitely look forward to next year and hopefully the complete team on stage together! I might die laughing then, but at least it will be a happy death.

To read the full report follow the links below 

http://dieastra.livejournal.com/97163.html