Thursday, January 4, 2007

More TV




Well, I quite enjoyed bits of Torchwood last night. Apart from the pretend Godzilla style ending, which was weak.
Despite being a geek, and admiring the programme for its detail I reckon most of its missed the mark. Only by a bit. However, a bit makes all the difference.

Last night was typical, plenty of geek talk about time rifts, loads of angst and self interest from all the characters. An obvious bad guy, who everyone seems to miss, lots of will they/won't they infighting.

Then they can't resist bunging in some demon CGI whilst the evil bloke you've been worried about for an hour and a half is stood on the road spouting some weak devil worship sermon.

Ages ago these people did some work on some ad scripts for us. Apart from being brilliant explanations as to why we liked the ads we liked, the semiotic guys wrote about light, dark, and light/dark tones.

Light/dark for me was the reason one script worked. A truly nice situation painted over a dark world which starts to show through as it progresses. I suppose its the reason why 6 feet under and desperate housewives work, and I find most british sitcoms as funny as having my nostril hair pulled out.

Anyway, I reckon Torchwood could get the balance right if it kept the dark dark.

CGI demons isn't dark, its not even shadowed.

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