New Torchwood starts July 8th on Starz network

Great news for those Torchwood fans who are able to get Starz network--- the new version of Torchwood is going to start July 8th.

Not that there's much left of Torchwood after they've gone and killed nearly everyone off including Myfanwy the pterodactyl. They've got Capt. Jack and Gwen and I suppose she's got Rhys around somewhere. But everything else including Cardiff is gone.

The new Torchwood will likely acquire some new fans. But how many of the old fans have not been scared off by all the carnage? For myself, I feel more than a bit betrayed by what was done previously. There is a kind of contract between a storyteller--- whether on television, in the movies, or in a book--- and the audience. We are invited to identify with the characters, take a wild ride with them, but we feel secure that the characters we've come to love will only be killed off very seldom, and that with very good reason.

In Torchwood, the killing of Tosh, Owen and Ianto weren't like the deaths in the climax of Harry Potter, which were very well foreshadowed and part of the plot. It was more like they had to do SOMETHING to make it more exciting and had run out of ideas, so, oh, let's kill someone who won't come back in ten minutes.

Worse, Torchwood never bothered to replace Tosh and Owen as members of the Torchwood crew--- so it's almost like they weren't really necessary if Torchwood could function without them. And Ianto also probably won't be replaced directly as the whole operation moves to America (for what reason? don't we have our own native alien-hunting agency, the Men in Black?)

I hate hate hate what they've done to Torchwood. I can't wait for July 8th to see the new episode. Not so much because I'll feel like I'm seeing a new Torchwood episode, it's just I'll be seeing what Capt. Jack and Gwen have been up to. That's all I want. (If they kill off Gwen or Rhys, however, I'm hiring a hit man.)