BtVS vs. Torchwood
Dec. 1st, 2006 07:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mllelaurelI just rewatched "Earshot," and sadly, what this leads me to is giving "Greeks Bearing Gifts" a lot less credit than I initially had. Sure, Torchwood writers in general seem awfully keen on 'paying homage' to Joss's work, but Whithouse took large chunks of plot and theme wholesale out of Jane Espenson's original.
Which only makes clearer the sad fact that Espenson did it better.
Torchwood: Toshiko overhears a businessman thinking of killing his ex wife and stops him.
BtVS: Buffy overhears a lunchlady planning to kill the students and stops her.
T: Toshiko overhears Ianto's depressed thoughts. (I actually have another problem with that bit - It's perfectly valid to assume that Ianto's still depressed over Lisa's death, but the 'thoughts' Tosh overhears can only be described as 'emo'. Speaking from experience, real depressed people do not think in anything like those terms.)
B: Thinking that he's the planned killer she's looking for, Buffy stops Jonathan from committing suicide. With this action comes the realization that everyone in high school is in great emotional pain, and that's why they ignore the pain of others. No such emotional insight is reached in "GBG."
T: Toshiko is unable to read Jack's thoughts, presumably due to his resurrected status.
B: Buffy is unable to read Angel's thoughts due to his being a vampire. "It's like the mirror; the thoughts are there but they don't reflect."
T: Toshiko stumbles on Gwen and Owen's affair. (She needed telepathy to know? I thought they were being pretty obvious.)
B: Buffy accidentally learns about the time Giles and Joyce slept together. (Not obvious in the least, and gah! Poor Buffy!)
There are differences, sure. No one like Mary appears in "Earshot," for instance. However, she reminds me strongly of Darla, not to mention manages to rip off Turlough's backstory wholesale (admittedly, his wasn't a fabrication). When you put them all together, the 'homages' stop being homages and become plaigiarism instead.
One could argue that you run the risk just by having a telepathy episode; a story which carries with it its own tropes. I counter that with plenty of other series that have done it, in a fashion altogether different from the one presented here: Babylon 5 and X-men, just to name two.
In conclusion, "Greeks Bearing Gifts" is not a bad episode, in that it didn't make me hit pause and storm out, or offend me morally and aesthetically [1], but the clear - and clearly inferior to the original - ripoff is a serious mark in the episode's disfavor. From the guy who wrote the wonderful "School Reunion," this is a heartbreaking disappointment.
[1] - Yes, these are now my official requirements and expectations for Torchwood. Yes, that's very sad.
Which only makes clearer the sad fact that Espenson did it better.
Torchwood: Toshiko overhears a businessman thinking of killing his ex wife and stops him.
BtVS: Buffy overhears a lunchlady planning to kill the students and stops her.
T: Toshiko overhears Ianto's depressed thoughts. (I actually have another problem with that bit - It's perfectly valid to assume that Ianto's still depressed over Lisa's death, but the 'thoughts' Tosh overhears can only be described as 'emo'. Speaking from experience, real depressed people do not think in anything like those terms.)
B: Thinking that he's the planned killer she's looking for, Buffy stops Jonathan from committing suicide. With this action comes the realization that everyone in high school is in great emotional pain, and that's why they ignore the pain of others. No such emotional insight is reached in "GBG."
T: Toshiko is unable to read Jack's thoughts, presumably due to his resurrected status.
B: Buffy is unable to read Angel's thoughts due to his being a vampire. "It's like the mirror; the thoughts are there but they don't reflect."
T: Toshiko stumbles on Gwen and Owen's affair. (She needed telepathy to know? I thought they were being pretty obvious.)
B: Buffy accidentally learns about the time Giles and Joyce slept together. (Not obvious in the least, and gah! Poor Buffy!)
There are differences, sure. No one like Mary appears in "Earshot," for instance. However, she reminds me strongly of Darla, not to mention manages to rip off Turlough's backstory wholesale (admittedly, his wasn't a fabrication). When you put them all together, the 'homages' stop being homages and become plaigiarism instead.
One could argue that you run the risk just by having a telepathy episode; a story which carries with it its own tropes. I counter that with plenty of other series that have done it, in a fashion altogether different from the one presented here: Babylon 5 and X-men, just to name two.
In conclusion, "Greeks Bearing Gifts" is not a bad episode, in that it didn't make me hit pause and storm out, or offend me morally and aesthetically [1], but the clear - and clearly inferior to the original - ripoff is a serious mark in the episode's disfavor. From the guy who wrote the wonderful "School Reunion," this is a heartbreaking disappointment.
[1] - Yes, these are now my official requirements and expectations for Torchwood. Yes, that's very sad.
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-04 01:08 am (UTC)I don't think he's exactly "channeling Jack" in those interviews. There's one I read this morning- I can find the link if you like, it was off somewhere here on LJ- where he said there's 90% of him in Jack and 90% of Jack in him, "and who wouldn't want 90% of Jack Harkness in you?" so I think, despite him being a terrific actor, he and this character have quite a bit in common and that's what's coming out (no pun intended-really!) in interviews.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-04 01:14 am (UTC)I can see that, too. My love for JB just keeps growing and growing.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-04 03:05 am (UTC)The Doctor Who thing is kind of my point- there, he was the new one we needed to get to know; in Torchwood we supposedly already know Jack, so they're focusing on the other characters.
Ah well- off to find a torrent of tonight's ep...
no subject
Date: 2006-12-04 03:47 am (UTC)