Torchwood

Torchwood is a science fiction TV series created by Russell T. Davies. It is a spin-off of the BBC series Doctor Who and is intended for a more adult audience. 
It aired for three series/seasons beginning in 2006 on the BBChttp://www.epguides.com/torchwood/. A 10-episode fourth series, created in collaboration with the US premium channel Starz, was aired starting in summer 2011BBC Press Release: International partnership secures new series of Torchwood, 2010 June 07.. There have also been some BBC radio plays, and spin-off books etc.
==The Show's Premise==
Starring the character of Captain Jack Harkness (played by John Barrowman), Torchwood is set in Cardiff, Wales, where a branch of the fictional Torchwood Institute is charged with keeping the world safe from alien threats which come through a rift in time and space.
It begins with Gwen Cooper, then a police constable, investigating a supposed special ops unit which seems to conduct its operations with unusual secrecy and advanced technology. When she tracks Torchwood back to the Hub (their base), Jack hires her, and she serves as the primary viewpoint character in the first few episodes. The other main characters in the first two seasons are computer specialist Toshiko Sato, Dr. Owen Harper, and receptionist Ianto Jones.
===Particular Appeal to Fans===
Torchwood is unusual for a television show in that, though strongly based in the conventions of the sci-fi/horror genres, it features characters of diverse sexualities. Unlike, for example, Queer as Folk, which is about queer people being queer, Torchwood is about people who fight aliens and who happen to be queer. (Or not, as the case may be.) The result is a show that appeals to people who like science fiction adventure, but delivers on the subtext that other shows merely hint at. Furthermore, the themes dealing with relationships and the emotional effects of a high-stress working environment are incorporated into plot development with sometimes operatic intensity.
Although it was originally conceived to be more realistic and "gritty" than its parent show, Torchwood also employs sci-fi cheese and homoerotic fanservice. (The actors engage in much playful fanservice as wellNaughty pics of the "Torchwood" crew's convention makeout session - 21 Oct 2008..)
The show is sometimes described as "fangirl crack" for any or all of the above reasons.
However, like in Russell T. Davies' Doctor Who, the line between comedy and tragedy is often a blurry one Russell T. Davies, Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale, pp 158-159: I believe passionately that Comedy and Tragedy exist alongside each other. No way they are diametric opposites; they're right next to each other and they overlap in a thousand different ways. and Torchwood does indeed have a consistent bleak, rather existentialist streak dealing with themes like love, death, loss, and the meaning of life (or lack thereof).
Fanfic (or other fan activities) which focus on Jack during the period of his travels with the Doctor may be of interest to some Who fans who do not follow Torchwood. Conversely, not all Torchwood fans will watch the Doctor Who episodes featuring Jack or have an interest in fan fiction about that period of Jack's life. As a result, folksonomy-oriented sites like Delicious did not group this subgenre of fanfic as efficiently as they do fanfic that focuses on Jack's time at Torchwood.
==Fandom History==
See History of Torchwood Fandom.
==Controversies==
Torchwood fandom has a reputation for wank and craziness, but to people who are actually in the fandom, it may not seem unusually so. The usual tension concerning rival OTPs occurs among Torchwood fans, but other subjects which can garner pages of meta include:
* Misogyny, the affection some fans have for Owen despite the "rapespray" scene, and the intense hatred some fans have for Gwen. At least one LiveJournal community is dedicated to Gwen-bashing.
* The third series is a five-part mini-series titled Children of Earth which aired over one week in July 2009 on BBC1. The series received good ratings,Article on Broadcastnow, accessed 27 October 2009. but also received criticism from fans due to changes and for killing off a major beloved character. Some fans have said that Children of Earth was "not Torchwood" or that it removed things they loved about the series. Some have accused it of being "homophobic" in part for its treatment of the major canon relationship Jack/Ianto. Fix-it fanfic became very popular following series three. A fan campaign to bring back the killed character began almost immediately.
==Characters==
* Jack Harkness
* Ianto Jones
* Gwen Cooper
* Toshiko Sato
* Owen Harper
* Martha Jones
* Rhys Williams
* Andy Davidson
==Pairings and More==
Fans enjoy shipping/slashing the characters of Torchwood in all combinations, but the canon slash pairing of Jack/Ianto may be the most popular. The other canonical relationship that was featured in both series one and two is the het pairing Gwen/Rhys, which is well-liked but not as frequently featured in fanfic.
Canon--and hence the overall creative fannish output--includes a Gwen/Owen affair, as well as Jack/Gwen UST, and a lot of will-they-won't-they Tosh/Owen.
The time-traveling, omnisexual, immortal Captain Jack is also alleged to be a little black dress - a character who can be convincingly paired with anyone, even in unlikely crossovers.
Vintage Military LJ comm and Hi, I'm Captain Jack Harkness inspired the creation of the omnijaxual LJ comm.
Fanworks about open relationships, polyamory, and various threesomes and moresomes are also common.
Pairing smushnames: Janto, Gwack.
===Genres===
It can be difficult to assess the gen/het/slash content of a fanwork that includes Torchwood characters, so the fans tend to label their work by pairing and sexual explicitness. Genfic in Torchwood fandom may sometimes be more romantic than would be conventionally labeled "gen" in another fandom. Stories which are about friendship or adventure are likely to be labeled "teamfic".
===Themes and Cross-Connections===
Torchwood inspires some of its fans to become interested in:
* Doctor Who
* British military history, esp. WWI & WWII, and costuming
* Time travel stories
* Mortality vs. immortality
Other fandoms which involve these themes can inspire crossovers, including:
* Highlander
* Supernatural
* Stargate: Atlantis
* Doctor Who
* Sarah Jane Adventures
* Sharpe
* Mary Renault's The Charioteer
Crossovers are also sometimes inspired by actor casting, such as:
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer - BTVS's character Spike is played by James Marsters, who was in Torchwood as Jack's ex-partner Captain John Hart.
==Fanworks==
Torchwood fans create in a variety of media, including vids, fic, hand-drawn and computer art, meta, cosplay, fandom RPG communities, podfic, and music.
===Fanfiction===
Written before series 1 aired:
* Planned Obsolescence
* Terms of Employment - gen, Jack Harkness and PM Harriet Jones.
Post series 3:
* Full Disclosure-Ianto Jones Lives au
Other notable stories:
* Shades of Ianto
* Sic Transit Tempus
* Stuck in Traffic at the Magic Roundabout
* They Grip the Ground - adorable early teamfic.
* A Matter of Time - Jack/Ianto.
* I Had No Idea I Had Been Travelling - Jack/Ianto.
* Kingdom of Air - the one with the excellent mountain-climbing details.
* Que Sera, Samsara
* Get Loved, Make More, Try to Stay Alive - Jack/Ianto.
* Moving In - Jack/Ianto pre-canon, but written post-Fragments; picks up the implications of that episode's flashback scenes.
* Trying to Communicate - gen, lolarious.
AU stories:
* Torchwood Angels-Charlies angels au
* Going Up, Going Home-Ianto Jones Lives
* Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose-Sentient hub computer
Fix it fics:
* Cardiff, 1965 (wish you were here)-Time travel fix it fic
* Ten Years and One Too Many Days-Children of Earth Fix-It fic
Dark fics:
* Recursively Defined-Dark!Jack
Crossover fics:
* Bedroom Hymns-Jack/Castiel
===Vids===
* Papa Don't Preach
* The Sex Has Made Me Stupid by CailenBraern.
* Banned from Argo.
* Affirmation by butterfly.
* What We Had
* Handlebars
* Thousand Suns
* Wonder Boy
*Torchwood: He Likes Boys
Post-CoE:
* All The Pretty Little Horses - hollywoodgrrl
* The Railway House - greensilver
===Fanart===
For some Jack/Ianto fanart by Suzan Lovett, see 
===Fanzines===
*The Circle
*The Lost Year
*Make a Wish
*Tourist Trap (xover with NCIS)
*The Hub
=== Podfic ===
* Trying to Communicate (podfic) by waldorph
==Challenges==
* Torchwood Big Bang
* Torchwood Classic Big Bang
==Meta/Further Reading==
* Still Got That Stopwatch: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, a Shipper's Manifesto by Roxie (2007)
* A Primer for Reading Torchwood Fanfic: A Primer for Reading Torchwood Fanfic (when you haven't seen a single episode of the show); archive link page 1, page 2 by cupidsbow (January 11, 2009)
==External Resources==
===Where to find fanwork recommendations===
* torchwood_house - the staff's recommendations reflect a variety of tastes and interests. Most recs are for fic, but they also rec meta, vids, etc.
===Archives===
* fanworks at AO3
** Doctor Who & Related Fandoms fanworks at AO3
* torchwood podfics at Audiofic Archive
===Other===
* Torchwood Transcripts
* Torchwood Newbieguide on LJ
* crack_van Torchwood intro.
* Sam's Torchwood intro.archived. posted 2008-06-17
* TARDIS Index File - a Doctor Who and spin-offs wiki, including Torchwood
** Torchwood entry
* Torchwood entry on Wikipedia
* Torchwood entry on TVTropes - links to many of the fictional tropes which are exemplified in show canon.
* Torchwood (Yahoo Group)
==References==
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