Product Description

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/16/2008 Run time: 585 minutes Rating: Nr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2228 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2008-09-16
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 628 minutes

Features

• Torchwood follows the adventures of a team of investigators, led by the enigmatic Captain Jack. Set in the UK in the present day, the team use scavenged alien technology in a very real world to solve crime; both alien and human. Separate from the government. Outside the police. Beyond the United Nations. Everyone who works for Torchwood is young, under 35. Some say that's because it's a new scienc

Amazon.com
The following are included in the second season of Torchwood: repeated bouts of unrequited love, homicidal ex-lovers, monsters from space and impending doom for major characters. Now, that's how a series' second season should play out! But what makes Russell T. (Doctor Who) Davies' sophomore set of adventure for Torchwood so engaging is that he bundles them together in a tight and cohesive package that remains dramatically involving while maintaining the proper level of science fiction adventure. John Barrowman's Captain Jack Harkness is back, having materialized in the final episode of Doctor Who's third series ("Last of the Time Lords"), and with him comes one of the show's most inventive characters: fellow Time Agent and former lover Captain John Hart, played by Buffy the Vampire Slayer's James Marsters. Hart wreaks considerable havoc in the series opener, "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," and returns several episodes later in "Fragments" to reveal Harkness' long lost brother Gray, who brings the series to a close in "Exit Wounds" with a horrific rash of violence that rends the Torchwood team permanently asunder. It's a finale that will leave fans agape by the final frame, but it's not the only stunner in the second season. "Reset" should also raise eyebrows with both the introduction of Doctor Who companion Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) in a three-episode arc, but also the shocking death and resurrection of a Torchwood member. Other highlights include "From Out of the Rain," which introduces one of the series' most intriguing villains, the Ghostmaker, and the alien "Adam," who throws the team into chaos with his power to suggest false memories. But the season's key storyline is the conflict between Jack, his brother Gray, and Captain Hart, which brings emotional heat and weight to the show's complex science and fantasy elements. Extras include all 13 episodes of Torchwood Declassified, the 10-minute companion series which explores elements of each episode, as well as "The Life and Deaths of Captain Jack Harkness," a 22-minute featurette (narrated by Freema Agyeman) about the character's immortal status that includes comments by Barrowman and Davies. Nine minutes of amusing outtakes and 18 minutes of deleted scenes bring this satisfying set to a close. --Paul Gaita

Customer Reviews

For its flaws, still unmissable
It's yet another season of "Torchwood", a "Doctor Who" for adults. Now in its 2nd season, we meet a team of professionals who battle aliens and try to protect us from all sorts of cosmic anomalies. Based in Cardiff - centrally located on a rift in time and space - "Torchwood" stands ready to do the job. With plenty of foul language and sexual...um...stuff, you never forget the seriousness of the situation, or the fact that the end of the world never means having to forego a good "snog".

"Torchwood" remains a pretty controversial show. Everything that made the 1st season both fun and frustrating are ramped up in S2.

But first, the ep.s themselves.
"Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang" (I wonder how many British shows have come and gone wishing to use that title.) Remember how S1 built up the anticipation to that same sex kiss in "Captain Jack Harkness"? Well, subtlety goes out the window in the first few minutes of the season opener, returning Jack from his adventure in the "Doctor Who" season 2 finale. Here, Jack introduces the team to his thrill-kill former colleague and not-so-former lover, Time-Agent Captain Jon Hart. What is Hart's agenda? And how much lip-lock will the team be forced to watch before Jack takes any action?

"Sleeper", an obvious idea nevertheless not given the treatment until now. The team must confront deep-cover terrorist insurgents from another planet. They look like ordinary people - husbands, wives, lovers, parents - but when the signal starts, they become indestructible agents of mass destruction.

"To the Last Man", a pretty good episode in which the team finds a breakdown in time barriers between the present and WWI era threaten the space-time continuum. Only an inhabitant of that period, sent back to his time from our own, can save the universe. Luckily, Torchwood has kept a WWI soldier on ice since 1918 for just such an occasion. TV shows (especially cop shows) are typically weak because they marginalize guest stars, but this ep. shows how Torchwood excels in integrating guest characters into its larger mythos.

"Meat". An episode that gives the vegans a chance (among many) to laugh at us carnivores. The team investigates a meatpacking operation profiting on the flesh of apparently alien source. The story itself is pretty thin, but as with many eps. the saving grace is the character interaction - chiefly involving Rhys, Gwen's annoying fiancée.

"Adam". Who's Adam? Nobody seems to think that Adam has been anything but a longtime and loyal teammate, so nobody seems to realize that he just insinuated himself into the group and their memories. At first helpful, the script reveals how darkly dangerous a man with memory-altering powers can be. A great episode that reveals more background on Capt. Jack and also informs how much they care about each other.

"Reset" what would sci-fi be without a dig at the medical establishment? This was actually a weak story punctuated by a great appearance from Alan Dale (known in the US for "Lost" and "Ugly Betty"), the debut in Torchwood of "Doctor Who" vet Martha Jones (which provides for much cheerily licentious dialog) and a thoroughly heartbreaking ending.

"Dead Man Walking" picks up where "Reset" left off. The facts of the story substantially nullifies the tragedy that ended "Reset" without damaging the other episode's dramatic payoff. (Can't say anything else w/o a substantial spoiler.) The episode is the midway to the conclusive "A Day in the Death". Again, spoilfree review guidelines prevent more specific description. Suffice it to say that this ep. is "Random Shoes" of the season, only better than that ep.

"Something Borrowed" has Gwen and Rhys finally tying the knot. Only, a late night duel-to-the-death with a shape-shifting alien carnivore leaves Gwen in a compromising position that threatens to ruin the wedding. Funny, scary and still very adult, this is easily one of the show's more entertaining eps.

"From Out of the Rain" has Cardiff menaced by "Night Travelers", performers of a ghostly circus that steals the breath of ordinary human beings. A decidedly creepy ep. with a disappointing payoff.

"Adrift" a horrible story. Gwen follows up on a large volume of missing-person cases possibly tied to The Rift. In bonding to many civilians in search of missing loved ones, Gwen's makes some pretty obvious and painful errors in judgment. Anybody who thought last season's episodes "Small Worlds" and "Out of Time" were pointless will probably feel the same way about "Adrift".

"Fragments" a great episode in which a crisis situation forces each of our heroes to separately delve into their past and recall how they joined Torchwood. Best part of the episode: Jack meets Torchwood's saucy Victorian era operatives. This ep. sets the stage for the season finale -"Exit Wounds". It's very difficult to discuss the finale w/o spoilers. Let's just say that it involves Captain Jon and Jack's lost brother, Gray, and basically ends with final heartbreak for the team. Unfortunately, it also follows too closely the 3rd season finale of Doctor Who, with the emotional confrontation between hero and villain.

WHAT'S WRONG W/TORCHWOOD?
Torchwood never fully becomes the adult version of Doctor Who. Too many ideas are developed without a payoff (the "Night Travellers" being an obvious example; the show eerily introduces them, then quickly discards them); also, the show falls into the trap of so quickly assuming its maturity based on sexual content & bad language, that it sometimes leaves fatally obvious signs of its lineage to "that other show", itself originally a kid's show. It takes more than a profusion of potty language and a healthy diet of "snogging", to elevate "Torchwood" to maturity - think of kids playing "dress-up" and you get the idea. The other flaw is in the premise, but it's a somewhat complicated flaw. Watching the show, it's hard to get past the idea that "Torchwood" is often more in need of help than capable of providing. Their position often makes them vulnerable to otherworldly threats - despite Captain Jack's weekly refrain, "Torchwood" is NOT ready.

WHAT IS IRRESISTIBLE
But that premise actually the show's saving grace - the vulnerability of Jack, Ianto, Owen, Tosh and (especially) Gwen is the biggest reason for the show's appeal. The script works in well just how close these guys get to getting offed on a weekly basis, trading witty and well-timed banter even as half the cosmos wants them dead.

For the sake of the Cosmos, our lawyers insist on the following disclaimer: absolutely no DVD extras were viewed in the writing of this review (sheesh - we know we're controversial, but 20 unhelpful votes!?)

A vast improvement over Season 1
I was disappointed by the writing and occasional overacting in Season 1 of Torchwood, but I was quite taken by the characters. I wasn't going to give Season 2 a go, but decided to take a chance hoping things would improve. They did. Drastically. The writing is much tighter and the depth of humanity in the series' characters are what kept me glued to nearly every episode. I've never seen a Dr. Who episode, but I found the Torchwood series very easy to follow without knowing much about it. I must confess a horrible crush on Ianto Jones, too. Can't wait for Season 3.

Better and more cohesive than season 1
Season 2 of Torchwood was a definite step-up from the first season. The show is better written and organized. The first season was a bit too messy in terms of ending and putting together the episodes. The episodes and stories of this season 2 make more sense and a clear and consistent mythology has emerged. Many questions have been answered and even more have come about. The show also makes more tie-ins with Doctor Who.

The first season was all over the place, stretching and sending each character into a million and one places. They were testing the waters and finding out who each character was and how far he or she would go. Now, the show has found its soul (corny I know...). Each episode of this season was darker and edgier as each explored an aspect of each of the characters and the interactions between them. Each character is more consitently written and the show itself shows more consistency.

We learn more about the creation of Torchwood and how Jack came to be where he is now. We also get Freema Agyeman reprising her role of Martha Jones for a 3-episode arch. She is such a good character!

The show is definitely better, definitely worth watching.