this post has no point
Apr. 10th, 2011 02:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
orangerfulSo I've started watching Eureka and Torchwood (GOD BLESS NETFLIX INSTANT VIEW!) and I'm struck by how they are so similar in some places and then polar opposites in others...
Eureka is my breakfast show, because it's relatively light. It's a bit more complicated than Psych (which I just finished up on Instant View and <3 SO MUCH - but that's another post) but it has a good sense of humor and great characters.
Torchwood has become my dinner show - it's definitely the Angel to Doctor Who's Buffy, with darker themes and less of a chance of the good guys actually winning.
(I might have to rethink this whole eating-while-watching thing though, since both the last episode of Eureka and Torchwood I watched had people's body parts flying and then throwing up...YUM!)
Today I was comparing the two in my mind. For both shows, the character the audience is supposed to identify with - the character that brings us, the "normal" person, into the world of wierd - is a police officer. Sheriff Carter winds up in Eureka completely by accident but after helping to solve a crime in town, is asked to stay on as Sheriff. Gwen is also investigating a crime that leads her to cross paths with Torchwood's team and Jack sees her potential and asks her to become part of the group. Both of them bring their methodical police training to these groups who, up until now, have operated under their own set of rules. And, by applying their training to these weird situations, they manage to solve, or at least survive, the cases.
That similarity struck me as much as how they are completely opposite when it comes to their core theme of the show -- Eureka is about a town built on science. Extreme science, yes, but SCIENCE. It can be explained, it is about humans trying to manipulate the world around them and thinking they are so smart, but the science gets away from them. In the end, Carter usually saves the day by noticing the simple science or the humanity buried within the overly complicated equations. Because science is not good or evil, it's what people do with it that gives it a purpose.
Torchwood, on the other hand, is the paranormal, the extraterrestrial - MAGIC. They are assigned to protect Earth from attack. While they use science and computers to track monsters, it is always their knowledge of the "other worlds" that is the core of the show. What Gwen brings to the group is, again, humanity. While the others let Jack do what he sees fit, Gwen questions him and tries to understand the creatures and their motives.
Okay, this post makes no sense, but it just struck me how I just happen to start watching these two shows at the SAME TIME and they are both the same show and totally different. ...
oh whatever, it's Sunday, these are the DEEP THOUGHTS that plague my mind on the weekend!
Fine, I'm gonna go play DragonAge II now :-P
Eureka is my breakfast show, because it's relatively light. It's a bit more complicated than Psych (which I just finished up on Instant View and <3 SO MUCH - but that's another post) but it has a good sense of humor and great characters.
Torchwood has become my dinner show - it's definitely the Angel to Doctor Who's Buffy, with darker themes and less of a chance of the good guys actually winning.
(I might have to rethink this whole eating-while-watching thing though, since both the last episode of Eureka and Torchwood I watched had people's body parts flying and then throwing up...YUM!)
Today I was comparing the two in my mind. For both shows, the character the audience is supposed to identify with - the character that brings us, the "normal" person, into the world of wierd - is a police officer. Sheriff Carter winds up in Eureka completely by accident but after helping to solve a crime in town, is asked to stay on as Sheriff. Gwen is also investigating a crime that leads her to cross paths with Torchwood's team and Jack sees her potential and asks her to become part of the group. Both of them bring their methodical police training to these groups who, up until now, have operated under their own set of rules. And, by applying their training to these weird situations, they manage to solve, or at least survive, the cases.
That similarity struck me as much as how they are completely opposite when it comes to their core theme of the show -- Eureka is about a town built on science. Extreme science, yes, but SCIENCE. It can be explained, it is about humans trying to manipulate the world around them and thinking they are so smart, but the science gets away from them. In the end, Carter usually saves the day by noticing the simple science or the humanity buried within the overly complicated equations. Because science is not good or evil, it's what people do with it that gives it a purpose.
Torchwood, on the other hand, is the paranormal, the extraterrestrial - MAGIC. They are assigned to protect Earth from attack. While they use science and computers to track monsters, it is always their knowledge of the "other worlds" that is the core of the show. What Gwen brings to the group is, again, humanity. While the others let Jack do what he sees fit, Gwen questions him and tries to understand the creatures and their motives.
Okay, this post makes no sense, but it just struck me how I just happen to start watching these two shows at the SAME TIME and they are both the same show and totally different. ...
oh whatever, it's Sunday, these are the DEEP THOUGHTS that plague my mind on the weekend!
Fine, I'm gonna go play DragonAge II now :-P
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-10 06:56 pm (UTC)and they are both the same show and totally different.
I wonder that about a lot of the shows I watch and have come to the conclusion that it's because I watch a lot of things that are categorised in the same genre and that each genre has a lot of key elements that get dealt within the show, but it's how the show uses those key elements that makes them different.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-11 10:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-11 12:28 pm (UTC)I liked Torchwood, but I didn't like the 2nd season as much as I did the 1st and the 3rd. I do have a Gwen costume done, though (it's the crazy-turquoise jacket costume from "Countrycide"), I just need to put it on and get some pictures! XD I need to look for a wig, too--my hair isn't long enough for it yet.