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aviv_b_artworkThis follows on from a post I put up last night: http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/59394.html
about the brilliant, simply brilliant interview of RTD in After Elton found here:
http://www.afterelton.com/people/2010/08/russell-t-davies-julie-gardner-torchwood-the-new-world?page=0,2
Just a few more items worth noting
On the international nature of the show:
AE: Readers, people commenting about the storyline. I just said, "I don't know. We'll find out." You've been talking about a global storyline. Is it going to have a James Bond feel, zipping around the world to different locations?
RTD: Well, modern James Bond, like Daniel Craig's James Bond, yes, a bit of that feel, that sort of modern punching from one country to another.
JG: He's a great James Bond.
RTD: I think the great thing is that the story takes them there. Sometimes these things are just international for the sake of it. They just cut to Peru and someone is saying something exotic with a parrot in the background. This story will move from country to country with a purpose. The locations are really important, you feel like you're there, and it's got something to say about the society in each place.
JG: And this is a co-production between the BBC and Starz, so it genuinely works with the UK setting and the American locations we're going to use.
Oh - such exotic locations - the UK and the US. What next, Canada? And you can always count on Rusty for the Lulz. No Rusty, you would never, ever, film in an exotic location because, well, the weather sucks in Cardiff and its so much nicer in...hmm...let me think...Dubai, perhaps?
On the importance of canon:
From http://airlockalpha.com/node/7710/torchwood-becomes-legend-in-new-world.html
"We definitely have a really big story to tell," executive producer Julie Gardner said. Gardner was a key part of the past three "Torchwood" seasons, and left "Doctor Who" with Davies following David Tennant's finale specials. "It's absolutely rebooted to welcome a new audience."
Although Gardner talked about a reboot, sources re-assure Airlock Alpha that canon will remain intact, and that the fourth season is indeed a continuation of the events in the previous three seasons. Gardner's choice of the word "reboot" is more about how the story is told, and less about the story itself.
BWAAHAHAHAHA! They can't even keep their own bullshit straight. Yeah, canon will be as respected in S4 as it was in CoE. Which is to say: NOT AL ALL.
And the piece de resistance:
AE: What do you think coming to America is going to bring to Torchwood?
RTD:I haven't thought about it. Just having a Welshman around in the writers' room is hilarious. If you say "tomahto," I say "tomato." There is a bit of that. But it's a bigger horizon than Torchwood 3. It's important to remember that Jack's American. That's why it's such an easy fit. We tend to talk about Jack as if he's a British character, but for a new audience, they'll see an American man talking in an American accent.
Uh Rusty, last time I checked Jack was from the BOESHANE PENINSULA!
Rusty, I may be a stupid Amerkin so please, please show me on a map where that is? I think maybe near Cleveland? My cousin Murray lives in Canton, maybe he knows Jack?
The man doesn't even know the basics of his story's canon. The man is so stupid, my head just exploded. Seriously.
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Date: 2010-08-13 04:04 am (UTC)Aviv, I can help you with your question: Uh Rusty, last time I checked Jack was from the BOESHANE PENINSULA! Rusty, I may be a stupid Amerkin so please, please show me on a map where that is?
It's the new name for DETROIT.
See the skyline: http://media.sfx.co.uk/files/2010/07/torchwood_350.jpg?
The thing is, Detroit had a kind of "rust belt" reputation, so to entice people into moving to it, they renamed it. And by the time they did that, with global warming and rising water levels and all, Lake Huron had joined with Lake Erie, making even that part of the Michigan "mitten" a peninsula. You see? Silly Amerkin!
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Date: 2010-08-13 12:49 pm (UTC)More like RTD's on the Mary Jane Chronic-les.
Date: 2010-08-13 02:25 pm (UTC)Re: More like RTD's on the Mary Jane Chronic-les.
Date: 2010-08-13 03:26 pm (UTC)Oh Rusty, just think of what could have happened. Ianto already knows metric, we know he drinks (OK, well GDL anyway,and Molsen's isn't half bad) and yeah, Detroit could have had an awesome rugby team! And magic sparkly cars.
Will Gwen give us this? No, I don't think so.
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Date: 2010-08-13 03:27 pm (UTC);)
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Date: 2010-08-13 03:35 pm (UTC)Well why not blame Canada? Those socialists up north have national health care and gay marriage (since 1995).
Who the hell do they think they are?
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Date: 2010-08-14 11:50 pm (UTC)[info]bettathnbarbie
2010-08-12 11:04 pm (local) (link) Track This
Here's one of the scarier exchanges from a writing perspective, I think:
AE: What do you think coming to America is going to bring to Torchwood?
RTD:I haven't thought about it.
He hasn't thought about it? He runs the show. Writes the series arc. Writes some scripts. Edits the rest... He is supposed to think about it!
Oh, duh! It just occurred to me...He doesn't know what coming to America will bring to Torchwood BECAUSE HE'S NOT WRITING TORCHWOOD ANYMORE.
::rolls eyes at self:: Sometimes I'm SO slow on the uptake. /sarcasm
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Date: 2010-08-15 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 02:13 pm (UTC)respectedrejected in S4 as it was in CoE.Fixed that for you ;) Every time I read an interview with him I always try to figure out what he really means instead of what he said. I can't wait until his new American fans figure out that RTD loves to reject reality and substitute his own. Because he seems to really be trying to sell Rhys/Gwen in series 4 I'll be shocked, shock I tell you! when Rhys ends up dead.
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Date: 2010-08-13 03:28 pm (UTC)Want to bet that Rhys gets a send-off with a lot more dignity than Ianto? Me neither.
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Date: 2010-08-13 03:56 pm (UTC)Nah. Even the Space Whale got a send-off with more dignity than Ianto. When I first heard that the pedo character was going to be named Jones I thought, 'Great another dig at Ianto', but than I remembered RTD reuses surnames as about as much as he reuses plot ideas. I'm sure his dig at Ianto will be much more blatant than that, but not so blatant that it confuses his new fans; then he'd have to explain who Ianto was and that would be continuity and we can't have that.
I wouldn't be surprised if Jack tells one of his funny, sexy stories and it involves 'some guy' in a suit. RTD of course will probably find it hysterical. Turning Ianto into nothing more than Jack's part-time shag would be just so funny *Ianto style eye roll*
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Date: 2010-08-13 04:00 pm (UTC)The only thing I thought of was to have Gwen mention something about Ianto and have Jack go 'Who?'
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Date: 2010-08-13 04:26 pm (UTC)What can I say, it just came to me while I was watching Ianto's 'I'm much more than [a tea boy/Jack's part time shag]' scene in Captain Jack Harkness. I get the feeling that RTD will twist the knife one more time and it would be just like him to do it in the most painful way to the fans and degrading way to the character as possible. Let's face it when it comes to Ianto RTD seems to really hate that character and his fans. Not that he sees it that way, I'm sure. He did seem to think that people were only upset that Ianto dies because Jack and Ianto didn't have more sex on screen and that we only liked Ianto because Gareth was pretty. Talk about just not getting it.
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Date: 2010-08-13 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 06:16 pm (UTC)True. I always got the feeling that to him Ianto really was nothing more than tea-boy/Jack's love interest/an obstacle between Jack and Gwen so he could write Resolved Sexual Tension between them. I think that's why the Ianto backlash from CoE took him by surprise; He didn't care about Ianto so he thought no one would. I feel kind of sorry for whichever character becomes more popular than Gwen in series 4.
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Date: 2010-08-13 03:53 pm (UTC)This made me crack up! Because you know whenif it happens there are going to be fans going "OMG, I can't believe he killed Rhys!!!" Yeah. We never saw that one coming. (Bangs head against wall repeatedly).
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Date: 2010-08-13 04:05 pm (UTC)Makes sense, cause then his death will be the motivation for Gwen to go out and kick some bad guy ass - sooo original.
Maybe we should start calling RTD 'Rusty Re-tread.'
Hmmm, could be a song or a Haiku in there somewhere.
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Date: 2010-08-13 04:23 pm (UTC)If that happens I probably will join you in the head banging. RTD may be a lot of things, but an original writer he is not.
It kind of sad that so many people still take what he says at face value. Have those people never heard of unreliable narrators (or in this case unreliable creators)?
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Date: 2010-08-13 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 05:43 pm (UTC)Toooow-ood. /w\
Date: 2010-08-14 10:23 am (UTC)Rusty the Retread
thinks he will be king shit of
Hollywood. He's half-right.
~~~~
Meh, Let's try a limerick. :/
There once was a writer from Swansea
Who called critics very "poncy".
Will his jaw drop
if Gwenwood's a flop,
and he gets a kick in the pants seam?
Re: Toooow-ood. /w\
Date: 2010-08-14 12:33 pm (UTC)There once was a writer from Swansea
Who called critics very "poncy".
Will his jaw drop
if Gwenwood's a flop,
and he gets a kick in the pants seam...Allonz-y?
(I think you are my secret sister - cause great demented minds think alike).
Re: Toooow-ood. /w\
Date: 2010-08-14 12:44 pm (UTC)Re: Toooow-ood. /w\
Date: 2010-08-14 12:54 pm (UTC)For me, that's the main reason CoE failed to move me- especially ep 4 & 5. It was like watching a badly done cartoon....totally two dimensional in feel. All ZAP! and POW! and no depth. The only character that had any 3 dimensional qualities was Gwen.
Everyone else was like a flat cartoon. But then, I'd be insulting cartoonists, wouldn't I.
Re: Toooow-ood. /w\
Date: 2010-08-14 01:05 pm (UTC)It's funny you should say that because in an interview he gave (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/robertcolvile/9445447/Russell_T_Davies_Doctor_Who_interview_full_transcript/) several years ago he said:
You’ve got to be merciless. People will say ‘You love your characters’. But nobody loves their characters that much. If you really write, and you love them, you are the God of them and you can kill them with the click of a finger. It’s joyous to do so.
That really tells me all I need to know. By that logic Gwen should be dead, but like he also said in another interview, 'you don't rape Snow White'. The fact that TW is serious drama for the other characters, but for Gwen it's a fairy tale speaks volumes.
'Everyone else was like a flat cartoon. But then, I'd be insulting cartoonists, wouldn't I.'
Maybe just a bit.
Re: Toooow-ood. /w\
Date: 2010-08-15 01:29 am (UTC)I don't think there's a greater honor for a writer than to be told that something you wrote (particularly a character injury or death) made a reader cry. That means you've done your job well.
That probably explains why I was completely dry-eyed during the big Ianto death scene and the Steven scene as well (which was just plain repulsive).
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Date: 2010-08-15 01:54 pm (UTC)Every time someone tries to justify Russell making very rude comments by saying 'he was just joking, get over it' all I can think is, 'No, I'm pretty sure he wasn't'.
'That probably explains why I was completely dry-eyed during the big Ianto death scene and the Steven scene as well (which was just plain repulsive).'
Me too. Ianto's death I saw coming from a mile away (I felt really bad for Gareth being out of work, but that was about it) and I've give Gareth most of the credit for creating Ianto, and the fact that Steven was little more than a prop and his death was used for shock value just added to the DO NOT WANT of him being a child that was killed. If that's RTD's idea of drama, I'll have to pass.
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Date: 2010-08-13 11:20 pm (UTC)I've given up on this. It'll only change in the next interview, so why waste my time?
Continuity, RTD? I do not think this word means what you think it means.
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Date: 2010-08-14 12:44 pm (UTC)To him I'm sure it means 'make stuff up as I go because people will love whatever I do'. To the rest of us, not so much.
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Date: 2010-08-13 03:24 pm (UTC)Yeah, you got that right! The amount of contradictions that all these new articles hold is mindboggling. It's just slightly above gibberish. And none of the "Gwen is great, RTD is great, Ianto had to die, can't wait for S4" people seem to have noticed... (or care). It makes my head spin around. :/
My motto for dealing with RTD is this: When you read an interiew and think he can't possibly outdo himself after this one -- he will. If you think he's done so much damage to the show it couldn't possibly get worse -- he'll find a way.
I *love* your tags, btw. ;)
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Date: 2010-08-13 03:29 pm (UTC)Word!
I love my tags too! I probably put in more time on my tags than Rusty does on his scripts.
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Date: 2010-08-13 03:50 pm (UTC)Tell me about it. I always thought 'people are drinking the Russel cool-aide' was just a figure of speech. They must have spiked that cool-aide with A LOT of retcon.
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Date: 2010-08-13 04:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 04:46 pm (UTC)Uh Rusty, last time I checked Jack was from the BOESHANE PENINSULA!
sorry, i know this has bee npointed out but i wanted to join in the ranting too:P as someone said, jack is not american, hes boeshane peninusula-un (?)in fact, he's probably more british than 'american' i mean he lived in cardiff for what? 130 odd years? that's got to count for something not to mention the fact that he has had british lovers you know, that's probably going to rub off on him
no captain jack harkness from the ep 'captain jack harkness' was american so maybe rtd got confused? or maybe its cos john barrowman moved to america when he was eight so he's confusing the two?
anyway, why is new viewers seeing an american talk in an american accent such a big deal anyway? that's like saying gdl is welsh and we'll hear him speaking in a welsh accent! shock horror! or maybe rtd just wants to cut all ties with the 'british' jack and his 'british' past and lovers *cough* ianto *cough*
agree about the joke about shagging ianto; i can see it now or maybe someone - maybe gwen brings jack a coffee and jack says 'no thanks, it reminds me of a lover i'd rather forget'- okay, maybe that's a little harsh but still but in making jack make jokes against ianto, rtd will make viewers not like jack *epiphany* so they all like gwen who is still deeply upset about her best friend's death:(
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Date: 2010-08-13 05:41 pm (UTC)I'm not sure where Rusty stands on Jack. I think he knows he needs Jack to get a decent audience, but I'm not sure how far he's willing to go to make Gwen the shining star.
But I gotta tell you, as a die-hard Captain Jack fan, I DESPISED him by the end of Episode 5 of CoE. He was careless, clueless, and cowardly IMHO. I felt like S1 & S2 were 'this is Captain Jack' and CoE was 'this is Captain Jack on drugs.'
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Date: 2010-08-13 06:13 pm (UTC)that's definitely possible. also, if all the other actors are american/using american accents, it'll make her stand out more so more people will appreciate her brilliance whereas when it was set in wales, there was ianto with another welsh accent, and they were surrounded by people with welsh accents (rhys, andy etc) so owen, tosh and jack were the ones who stood out more.
But I gotta tell you, as a die-hard Captain Jack fan, I DESPISED him by the end of Episode 5 of CoE. He was careless, clueless, and cowardly IMHO.
i wouldnt go quite that far but i do agree he was written to be more colder towards ianto especially and maybe that was down to rtd wanting to show how brilliant gwen was? however, i am mature enough to know everyone has differnt opinions and i respect that unlike some people (rtd) :P
however, i do agree jack was a lot better in s1 and 2 as there was so much more life to him and rtd for whatever reason wrote him badly in s3 so that he came across that way:( i just hope that in 'keeping with canon' they write him like the s1 and 2 jack that we all knew and loved as opposed to the colder jack in s3:(
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Date: 2010-08-13 09:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 10:35 pm (UTC)Did you see the latest on AE - his interviwer is sooo confused why RTD was such a big meanie. But he's going to be watching of course. There's a link at AGA.
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Date: 2010-08-14 10:02 am (UTC)RTD seems like an idiot to me. Why is he still working? As for JG, she seems to have no opinions of her own at all. Also, RTD's idea of humor makes me want to throw up----
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Date: 2010-08-14 12:41 pm (UTC)Then someone pointed out that the clinical definition of NPD also fit Rusty to a T.
I just can't fathom how people wouldn't find him absolutely exhausting to work with. The constant need for ego stroking (that is apparently Julie's job), the constant reassurance, the occasional need to pull him back (which Julie does at one point).
Good thing I'm not his handler - I would have slapped him silly and then dragged him to a good therapist years ago.
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Date: 2010-08-14 11:56 pm (UTC)Apparently it does. So I'm not only American, I'm Scottish, and French, and sometimes Italian and Spanish, because I can speak with those accents. *headdesk*
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Date: 2010-08-15 01:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-15 02:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-27 10:53 pm (UTC)Now I have to pretend both the previous and current Who directors are dead. (I like Moffat's writing okay, but otherwise...)
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Date: 2010-08-27 11:15 pm (UTC)And I feel the same way about TW. CoE clearly wasn't TW. If I had watched it strictly as a political miniseries, Day 1-3 were pretty good. But the contrived deaths of Ianto and Stephen ruined it. And the destruction of Captain Jack was pitiful. The characters were all AU compared to S1 & S2. He basically used the TW name to tell a completely different story in a completely different universe with different characters who happened to have the same names and appearances as S1 & S2..
Now we have a US series with the CIA fighting bad guys in the govt. Aliens? Sci fi? Don't see it anywhere. So this is yet again another new series.
Hey Rusty can write and produce anything he wants. But to call it TW is a travesty IMO.
I actually hope its not as bad as it sounds. Otherwise a lot of nice people are going to be wasting 10 hours of time watching CSI/
And I feel the same way about TW. CoE clearly wasn't TW. If I had watched it strictly as a political miniseries, Day 1-3 were pretty good. But the contrived deaths of Ianto and Stephen ruined it. And the destruction of Captain Jack was pitiful. The characters were all AU compared to S1 & S2. He basically used the TW name to tell a completely different story in a completely different universe with different characters who happened to have the same names and appearances as S1 & S2..
Now we have a US series with the CIA fighting bad guys in the govt. Aliens? Sci fi? Don't see it anywhere. So this is yet again another new series.
Hey Rusty can write and produce anything he wants. But to call it TW is a travesty IMO.
I actually hope its not as bad as it sounds. Otherwise a lot of nice people are going to be wasting 10 hours of time watching CSI/<s?Cardiff</i>Los Angeles
But what do I know, I'm just a hysterical woman!
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Date: 2010-08-27 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-27 11:19 pm (UTC)I actually hope its not as bad as it sounds. Otherwise a lot of nice people are going to be wasting 10 hours of time watching CSI/X-files
CardiffLos Angeles.