If it's Alien, It's Ours - A Torchwood One Thread

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Torchwood One is a Big Finish series focusing on Torchwood One during the early 2000s while Yvonne was at it’s head (as seen in Amy of Ghosts/Doomsday), and Ianto was still working there. It also features new original character Tommy Pierce. Each set in the range contains three ~60 minute stories, usually all linked together, leading into each other, taking place just after the last, or being thematically related.

So far there’s been five releases

  • Before the Fall
  • Machines
  • Latter Days
  • Nightmares
  • I Hate Mondays

There’s also been a few stories from the Main Range that take place in this era and focusing on this branch of Torchwood

  • One Rule
  • Tube Strike
  • Disco (not technically in this era but Ianto is travelling from this era)
  • Inseperable (not released at time of writing)

So as always, a few questions to get things going:

Have you listened to any of the sets? Which is your favourite?
Have you listened to any of the main range stories? Which is your favourite?
What do you feel about exploring this ‘era’ of Torchwood before it’s fall which we’ve already seen on screen?
Do you have anything you’d like to see from this era that’s not been explored? (e.g. I’d love a story focusing on Lisa)
With WOTAN appearing in one of the sets, are there any other Doctor Who monsters you’d like to see make the jump to a Torchwood story, be it TW1, main range, or something else?

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Thank you for making this thread and the Soho one, but I have many more thoughts on TW1 than I do on Soho so this might be lengthy, I’m so sorry–

Literally the best range ever devised by Whoniverse writers. I routinely worship my collection of Torchwood One stories. As I’ve mentioned before, I used to watch Army of Ghosts/Doomsday on repeat as a kid, in my bedroom, because the concept intrigued me so much. And then being told the Torchwood show was nothing like Torchwood in DW, by my parents, was such a killer.

I think Locker 15 and The Law Machines were both misses for me (both focused too heavily on the plot, hard to visualize) but everything else is literally perfect and without fault. And the ending of Locker 15 is…fun :grin:

I would include ‘Art Decadence’ and ‘Double’, just as they are part of TW1 history (if I’m remembering correctly, they are TW1, pls correct me if I’m wrong). And they were both great imo.

Tommy and Ianto’s dynamic as well as the portrayal of Yvonne are both just stellar. They’re so interesting to me as they all represent a different part of the morality scale. Ianto, morally white. Yvonne, morally black. And Tommy, the morally grey. But ofc, they all serve the same Duty.

I also adore the religious undertones, in the most recent one where Yvonne mentions only following “the word of God”, :weary:. How Ianto has a “golden aura” (possibly relating to religious undertones), on the cover of ‘Fall to Earth’, the clouds arranged like angel wings, the most recent audio where he’s offering his hand, as an opportunity towards salvation. Then ‘In The Shadows’, with him dabbling with religion and beliefs in an afterlife despite his undead/immortal co-workers. And then all this being (most likely) because of his upbringing by Torchwood One. With this contrasting to how they call Yvonne “Her Majesty” (with the Crown being the closest to God), or “The Devil”/ “666”. I can go on, there are so many little hints that I love. And then how this opposes the TW3 more pessimistic view of death, being more atheistic.

Ofc, I’m not saying that TW3 is inferior for having a more atheistic approach, but I think would rather it be more akin to Moffat’s portrayal than RTD’s portrayal of what the afterlife is. So, it’s more like I just disagree with RTD’s pessimistic approach to death that’s so prevalent in TW3. And it was so REFRESHING to start the TW1 audios which are much more spiritual. Just listen to the end of Disco, as dark as the audio is, that moment is more optimistic about what comes after-life than the eternal blackness depicted in the show.

And YESS, more Lisa would be amazing, but I’m also fine with her never returning because the characters in the range are already so great.

I’d also go on to say why I love how psychotic Yvonne is, and just how evil she can be, but that’d be a bit dark and I don’t want to go overboard with my complete defence of her character. But I will say, the only reason why TW1 fell was not a fault of her’s, but of the Doctor’s. And the fact TW1 had prior knowledge of the recession, austerity, while I obviously disagree with British imperialism, I do love the TW1 (global) realism stance in regards to foreign affairs, and alien affairs. They were completely justified in using the Sunglider (big laser weapon) against the Sycorax. :triumph::triumph:. And it also kind of reminds me of the 3-Body Problem “Dark Forest” theory. (Brought up the recession because the ghost-shift aim was the generation of a free energy source).

Is there any way to “heart” a thread, cuz I’d “heart” this one to angrily and passionately defend this range as being the literal best-thing-ever from the non-believers (jk, obvs).

If any Torchwood branch came back in the show, I’d hope it’d be a newly formed TW1. I’d hope they wouldn’t make them out to be fascists or anything, which I fear they kinda would, but if done correctly I’d love to see the rivalries they’d have with UNIT. And at least TW1 don’t hire literal children. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Tldr: you might regret making this post. Cuz this range is my obsession :grin::grin:

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They are, but so is Torchwood Soho (Art Decadance is before Soho as well)

I personally separate Pre-Season 1 Torchwood into:

  1. Pre-Torchwood (anything before Tooth and Claw, mostly other Victoria stories or small moments from Jack or John’s time travels)
  2. The Victorian Era (Tooth and Claw → Victoria’s Death)
  3. Post-Victoria (Victoria’s Death → '50s)
  4. The Norton Era (Norton’s origin time in Ghost Mission['53] → Norton’s origin time in Flight 405['57])
  5. The Post Norton Era ('60s → '80s)
  6. The Yvonne Era (1996 → Doomsday)

I think one thing I personally really like about Torchwood is the way they deal with death in that RTD1 world. Yes there’s an end, but that just makes every moment we have before it so much more precious. I think the show can often focus on the bleakness of the lack of future, but the audios do a great job of getting that balance right, the ending of The Hope comes to mind for me.

It’s also interesting to compare RTD1’s view of death to RTD2’s, but I think that’s a topic for a different thread.

Also speaking of death in Torchwood, I’m reminded of how much I like The Rockery.

this is basically what I’m doing for my Torchwood D&D campaign, though granted it’s coming back closer to TW3 than TW1 at it’s prime

To be fair, I feel if they were still around, Yvonne would absolutely’ve tried getting to Morris first.

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Idk about the Morris point :smile:, even Kieran’s boyfriend was a bit too young for her, and he was 19.

I would like to say as well, I prefer the TW1 Yvonne to the TSC Yvonne (though she is fun too). And what a shame TSC Yvonne never says anything reminiscent about “For the Republic” instead of “For Queen and Country”. Ofc her stances could’ve changed in the 10 year gap, but I’dve appreciated the nuance, especially after the Middlesbrough audio.

I’d like to think Soho is still around when 1 is moved to Canary Wharf. As a more TW3 small team-esque version for city affairs rather than more globally. In the next audio (based on the latest Vortex magazine) there might be hints to how Yvonne transitioned to the new building and her rise to being leader too which sounds interesting.

And unrelated to anything, I headcanon in the Doctor’s “Golden Age” where he didn’t interfere with Harriet Jones or Torchwood, that Yvonne (and Tommy) would’ve basically raised Ianto into being the next Director. He handled himself so well in Ex Machina, without realizing anyone else was missing. Compared to Gwen in ‘We All Go Through’ who pretty much notices immediately that people have gone missing. Even more symbolic if you imagine him wearing the coat as well as the Captain’s hat. This could be reaching but I don’t think it is personally.

And yeah, the Rockery was fantastic, I didn’t expect to cry but I did

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This is a series I’d be interested in listening to.

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Again, I have a bunch of these but still haven’t listened to them.

THERE’S TOO MUCH CONTENT!!!

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quite honestly i love this range, and soho, and series 5-7 (my faves out of all torchwood media). i think the worldbuilding big finish have done with just torchwood as a whole has been nothing short of incredible. i think about the fans who beg for series 4 and all talk about the tv lot but to me torchwood is yvonne, its tommy, its norton, its tyler and orr! i love this universe. i wouldn’t be opposed to a celebration of torchwood next year having characters meet that haven’t met before, say norton and yvonne with colchester for example.

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Forgot to mention this here, but I finished Machines the other day.
9 to 5

Poor Ianto :(. The story as a whole was a bit of a step down from Blind Summit, but that’s really to be expected, and it was still a really strong showing from an area of the Whoniverse which seldom disappoints. Once again, Poor Ianto.

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Most Ianto stories leave me going

“Poor Ianto =(” too :smile:

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Trying to avoid spoilers, so I will come back and read above after I’m done with TW1.

Listened to The Law Machines today. It wasn’t my favourite, a bit too much action and the whole thing felt like a self-own, I see Yvonne as being way cleverer than accidentally unleashing WOTAN on the UK.

And hearing Daniel Anthony in this and he wasn’t Clyde annoyed me - I know he’s done other Big Finish work before SJA but now that his voice is so clearly attached to that show, it was weird to have him here as a villain.

I see that all the other episodes are rated higher, so looking forward to that!

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Law Machines is one I really really dislike…and I watched the War Machines the other day and thought that was pretty “meh” too. Probably hit more at the time.

Blind Summit is my favourite of this one, but 9-5 is solid too

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I’d say maybe you should listen to House of The Dead, especially for stories like Blind Summit (noticed you haven’t logged it on your account.)

It’s free on YouTube lol, but it might be helpful (being the least spoilery as possible).

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Oh…

I am trying to do them all in order but kinda skipped over those older ones. Didn’t know it was important.

I’ll listen to it :blush:

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I mean, it’s not vital, but it is for later TW1 stories…in a way.

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12 posts were merged into an existing topic: Everything Changes - A Torchwood Thread

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Been meaning to post this (a 3D poster of Army of Ghosts/Doomsday DvD cover) picture I’ve had on my bedroom wall since I was a kid… Because I watched the episode repeatedly :smile:

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I listened to Blind Summit last night and that was fantastic! Really excited for the rest of this set, they are really good!

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I finished Latter Days with The Rockery today, and wow that was superb. Really touching. I wrote a review!

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The Rockery is absolutely the highlight of TW1 for me

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The thing is, (spoilers for The Story Continues: Episode 8 onwards):

Because I’ve been mixing up the sets I got mixed up and thought this was Pete’s World Yvonne, so the whole way through I was thinking “oh she’s trying to make a connection with her Mum in this universe, perhaps her relationship is different in the other universe, that’s sad and actually really sweet”.

So when they started talking about Ghosts and I suddenly realised this is the original Yvonne, and she’s about to die, that really hit hard :sob:

Now I want an audio like the one I described above lol. Don’t tell me if that already exists :joy:

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