Torchwood preview screening

[jooles34]

I arrived at the BFI and was slightly soggy, but got my ticket and went to find my seat. At this point I was already very excited about the while thing but I won't deny that there was a sense of trepidation too. I love Torchwood; I really, really love Torchwood. I love what I term early Torchwood - seasons 1&2 - and what it has turned into. So if this was bad, the disappointment would be immense. 

But on my way to my seat I walked past John Barrowman and excitement levels shot up even more. It was suddenly all very real! 

Sat down, excitement levels continued to grow when Kai Owen and Tom Price joined the sold-out audience. They were followed shortly by John, Eve Miles, Russell T Davies, Julie Gardener and Bill Pullman. At this point my mind did something vaguely resembling this: OH MY FUCKING GOD IM IN THE SAME FUCKING ROOM AS BILL FUCKING PULLMAN!!!!!! 

Ahem. Anyway. A nice man from the BFI did a little bit and included all the housekeeping rules and introduced a big wig from BBC Cymru who's name and position I have forgotten because I’m rubbish. He mentioned Russell, Julie, John, Eve, Kai and Bill. At which point the audience started muttering about Tom, then shouting a bit (good naturedly) until he finally mentioned him and Tom stood and took a bow to rapturous applause. Awesome. 

And then the screening started. 

I promised no spoilers but I'll just say the following. It was frickin' awesome. I loved it. It was everything I hoped it would be. It was dark, it was sexy, Jack looks amazing and has a big gun, Gwen is bamfy as hell and cool with it, the new characters I liked (or appropriately disliked) immediately, it was funny as hell in some places, gruesome in others, the action sequences were bigger than we've seen before, and there were some delicious references to old Torchwood. And Rhys and Andy rocked, naturally. And I was ready to bounce of walls. And I will be bouncing for a while. JACK IS FUCKING BACK!!!!

It finished to huge applause from everyone and then we had a Q&A with John, Eve Russell and Bill. I won't talk much about it as a lot of the questions involved spoilers for the ep. But John and Eve were on form and there were a couple of moments where they got the giggles and just couldn't stop despite everything else going on. John was pretty well behaved - I think he must have been told to - but he managed to get a couple of jokes out. One was during a conversation about chickens and Eve told everyone that John didn't like chickens. His words were "no, but I do like co.... I have to stop now." He also fanboyed a bit which was joyous.

Russell proved to be very funny and quite a match for them. He has also clearly learnt from his mistakes as he was very complimentary about Torchwood fans, as were John and Eve. He was also asked if he would ever make Torchwood America and he was very honest. He said that he always wanted Torchwood to remain Welsh and keep its roots in Cardiff, but recognised that TV is fickle and that if the BBC dropped it, but an American channel said they wanted Torchwood America then he would probably do it. 

Bill didn't talk as much as the others, but maybe he is not as used to that sort of thing. One of his answers was quite darling though. He said that when he watched Torchwood and was impressed by the strength of the British actors that were in it. He said that he was worried that the producers would bring some Valley girl actress into the mix and it would reflect badly on American actors. From what we saw, that hasn't happened. 

He also said that his decision to take part was almost immediate. He read the first three scripts and loved it so much that he had to have the part. 

I know that many people will want to know what is was like without Ianto, so here we go. Well... to me when season 3 started I felt the loss of Owen and Tosh quite acutely because they were all in the Hub at the start, but they were in the Hub without Owen and Tosh, and that was hard. But this time because there is no Hub it's sort of easier to accept the loss of team members. At least, that’s the feeling after one episode. 

In short, to reiterate, I loved it. If the rest of the series carries on at this level I really will not be disappointed and I don't think too many other people will be either. I cannot wait for the series to start and am desperate to see what happens next and where the series goes. 

And John promised that we haven't seen anything yet.

Here are a couple of out of focus pictures. Click for bigger.

Comments

[emyrldlady.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I'm glad you liked it. I trust your judgement. A few tweets I've heard is that it's difficult to get used to the American actors.

[jooles34.livejournal.com]

I have to say I didn't find that a problem at all actually. Maybe I'm just easy, but I just fell into it.

[stargazer60.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the report!!! So can't wait!!!

[tw-31988.livejournal.com]

nice report, thank you...

i'm wondering though if there'll be a spoileriffic version of yor article for us the spoiler addicts?

:D

[shamazipan.livejournal.com]

I HATE YOU.
Also - I am excited beyond belief to have Jack back! You've no idea. Please don't let me trick you into telling me spoilers on Sunday. I'll act like I want to know but I don't. I want to know nothing!

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

What a great writeup! Thank you so much for telling us about it. \O/

I actually don't WANT any more spoilers for Torchwood. It's just a few weeks awayyyyyy! But it makes me happy and excited that you liked it. :D

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

*fangirls all over the fucking place, yo*

[cblade-007.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing. I'm one of those straddling the fence, I'm pretty sure I would love the old characters, but very iffy about the new ones. I fight change...hee!
But you've got great taste in shows, so I'm sure the first episode is as good as you say.

Love John's almost comment about chickens...hee!

[whuffle.livejournal.com]

*bounces excitedly*

[azn-jack-fiend.livejournal.com]

eeeeeeeeeeeee

Thank you so much!!!

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

So glad you liked! Also, how GORGEOUS is Eve Myles??

[teamharkness.livejournal.com]

Wonderful! Thank you for this!

[kelticbanshee]

Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it... :-)

[hab318princess.livejournal.com]

I was already excited about the new season... this has just added to it! Thanks :D

[evalentine99.livejournal.com]

i am soooo excited. Can't wait to see this. Thanks for the grea write up

[jedi-harkness.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this nice write-up! I'm so glad you had a great time! Can't wait to see the show!

[ravenja1170.livejournal.com]

ah, I soooo envy you! John, Eve, Kai, Tom!!! :) Thanks for this write up! Can we have a slightly spoilerific one over at TW-Gleeclub?? ;))))

Quoting you quoting RTD: "...and that if the BBC dropped it, but an American channel said they wanted Torchwood America then he would probably do it." --> I hope the BBC will not drop it! Do you in the UK finally have an airing date?

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Thank you for getting up my excitement even more - didn't think it could get any higher! I look forward to the old and the new stuff.
Greetings from Germany!
Astra

[lukadreaming.livejournal.com]

It sounds more awesome than a very awesome thing! I love Rhys and PC Andy!

[kausingkayn.livejournal.com]

This makes me feel so much better about the new season since you say it's awesome. I can't believe you were in the same room as all those awesome people! That's insane! I so wish I could do some of this stuff.
You definitely made me feel better, and now I'm starting to get a little excited!

[jaynedoll.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to it even more now. Glad you had a good time.

[iolo1234.livejournal.com]

I can't wait but it seems we'll get it on 14th July at 9 pm. I'm trying to stay away from spoilers other than those I know already. JACK is BACK - squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

[manikineko.livejournal.com]

Great report, thanks for writing that up! I was there too, first row at the very right and I love John for turning around to us when he was speaking, he's such a darling. I agree with you on Miracle Day being awesome (at least from what we've seen so far) and Mekhi Phifer sure has a massive comical potential ;-) My favourite moment must have been when Eve said how much she loved Six Feet Under and that she wanted all the cast members of that show in Torchwood <3 It was a great evening, even though I got lost on my way from Waterloo Station to the BFI (lol). Next time we should do a meet up with the fangirls :-)

[huskyfriends.livejournal.com]

I saw the Preview tonight!!! Got to see the first episode, can I flail with you?