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Torch of hope
allen_who
Posts: 2,819 Forum Member
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John barrowman is lining up a meeting with chris chibnall awt bringin torchwood back. He believes moffat has been blocking it. Interesting development..
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allen_who
Posts: 2,819
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It will certainly get interesting when we hear from the people who ran / would run Torchwood instead of the lead.
Is this from the latest DWM interview? SM isn't mentioned at all. but John does say "When I come back (to the UK) in October, I'm going to try to take Chris Chibnall out to dinner-because if Chris decided that he wanted to do Torchwood, or give us his blessing, that would be fantastic. Chris was a great supporter of Torchwood, and was our major writer for two series...so who knows?"
I like the bloke. I like his enthusiasm. I know people who bumped into him when he was living in Cardiff and had only nice things to say about him, but it's a bit of a squeamish read in places, I personally found. He's talking about more series and his ultimate dream is a Torchwood Movie, then he can hand it over to the next generation; and then he does the 'third person' bit;
"I will say this though...for anyone who has to fill the shoes of John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, it will be a difficult pair to fill!" (I mean, good luck to the lad and maybe it was tongue in cheek, but....still, he's not lacking in self belief!)
eta Feel like I've just kicked a puppy! Nowt wrong with enthusiastic self-confidence, really...I'm just a dour Welshie, obviously!
Also, I never believe anything Moffat says.
He is right, Torchwood was RTD's creation...
Yes, I know. So why is Barrowman thinking of wooing Chibnall?
My reading is this - Barrowman has tried to organise a meeting with Moffat and been rebuffed and that's why he's mad at Moffat.
Moffat is being disingenuous saying he has no influence re bringing back Torchwood. He didn't want to do it, so he's saying this. I daresay if he'd wanted to write for it, he'd have been pitching it strongly and the BBC may have given it a glance. (Thank God he didn't. We don't need any more Moffat, thanks).
I doubt if it would be revived anyway. I doubt anyone except Barrowman wants to. I hope Chibnall concentrates on DW and makes that worth watching again before he thinks of any spin offs.
Agreed, Barrowman really needs to let it go and accept that the show is done. Hopefully Class turns out to be the spinoff we all want.
Personally I think Moffat is being straight here. Bottom line: It's RTD's show. John mentions in the interview that he had a conference call with Julie Gardner who was "very upfront with me. I appreciated that. I listened to what she had to say. Although we've argued on many occasions...I like the fact that we can argue and still talk afterwards." (I surmise that meant it wasn't happening.) He also mentions that he has e-mailed Russell, but doesn't say what the response was!
I genuinely think all this has got absolutely nothing to do with Moffat and that if Russell and Julie aren't 'on board' for whatever reason, *especially* Russell obviously, it just ain't going to happen.
eta Chibbers was heavily involved in Torchwood, so I can see why Barrowman might think a meeting *could* be helpful. Moffat's involvement in Torchwood has been zero.
As far as I'm aware Moffat also has little to do with Class and it only came about because the writer wanted to do it so I don't see why Moffat would have to have his greasy paws all over Torchwood for it to return.
If the BBC genuinely want it back, they will either try and get RTD to come back to it or find someone suitable.
Also does Barrowman even know if Chibnall wants to run both Torchwood and Doctor Who at the same time? What if he doesn't?
I'd like Torchwood to come back too but I can't help thinking that Barrowman is overestimating his own sense of importance with the way he's going about this.
Because he doesn't know any better? Perhaps he tried to persuade RTD and failed? It seems obvious to me that RTD is the person who Barrowman should be trying to persuade to bring it back. Barrowman's pushing at the wrong door.
As I've repeatedly said, only with RTD on board would a Torchwood revival be a credible proposition to the powers that be. It's RTD's place to push for this, if he wants to. Not Barrowman's. SM has no interest either way. RTD (at least for the moment) has no interest in reviving Torchwood, hence Barrowman's travails.
It perfectly credible that SM has no interest in reviving Torchwood (after all he's not exactly short of work what with DW and Sherlock, and we've know that to - apparently - have previously caused scheduling problems).
But "lack of interest" doesn't mean he's been actively blocking it either. Why would SM block it? It's no skin off his nose as long as he's not being asked to run it.
I think your comments regarding SM being disingenuous are rather unfair.
It's just part of Moff's heterosexual agenda ;-)
I can't answer for anyone else. I don't like him much and I don't think he's very truthful. You may disagree, but that's my opinion gleaned after all the stuff he's said which turned out to be rubbish.
Also I don't want him writing anything else for the DW universe because I mostly dislike what he has written in the past.
This is my opinion. It's hard to come on here and talk about DW without stating it. As soon as he stops writing for DW I'll stop "bashing" him because I'll never give him a moment's thought again.
I think many people think more highly of him than he warrants, and tend to hero worship him a bit. I can't think why, but it's up to them.
Whether that has happened, or whether the idea of bringing it back has ever even been realistic enough to get to the stage of consulting Moffat in the first place (as in having RTD agree to be on board) is anyone's guess.
My point is just that, while RTD is the only real person who can revive it, I certainly believe Moffat is one of the people who could have had the power to block it in the past few years, in theory at least.
I'd like to see Torchwood back (as long as it's series 1-3 Torchwood of course) but i'd agree it would seem to need RTD's talents to bring it back successfully.
Barrowman said in the interview that RTD was "like a God" to me, btw. Think that made me cringe more than the referring to himself in the third person stuff! (Still like the bloke, though.)
eta And I like RTD. Good lad! Just don't think he's the messiah;.but he is possibly a very naughty... etc
Good luck, Chibbers!
..and to his future worshippers.
A concept that had been so good ending forever with that overblown rubbish would be a travesty.
Let's have at least another single tight story over five days like Children of Earth, and I will be left with happy memories that the series went out with a bang and not a whimper, and yes, let's see River Song in it, why not? All things are possible in science fantasy. She and Captain Jack would be awesome on screen together with the right script, and there's the big "if" of course......
I don't hero worship SM (or anyone) one little bit. He's said things in the past for the publicity hype part of his job as showrunner that were exaggerations. It was hype, that's all. He's said things that were necessary to protect the show. He's quite intentionally said things that he knew would be misinterpreted for the same reason. That is all. People ought to know that, listen very carefully to what he says, and adjust their reactions accordingly. I'm struggling to think of a quote that was a downright lie. Unfortunately, it's become an empty sound bite to simply say "Moffat lies", and to me is just part of the anti Moffat paranoia and hysteria that some around here display. To simply say "Moffat lies" is a huge over simplification.
All that is quite separate from the question of the quality of his stories (selected as showrunner) and the tone of the show of late. I've had issues with those myself, but rarely with the stories he himself written.
I don't think it's been missed too badly, if I'm honest.
I'm not bothered enough to think of any outright lies - maybe that DW was going to be all over the TV in the anniversary year, and it wasn't. As for the stuff he's written, that's merely a matter of taste.
Anyway, if people don't have any problems with him, his opinions or his writing, that's fine for them. What is annoying is that any time anyone makes a comment on here that is less than complimentary to Moffat, there is a remark about "Moffat bashing" as if posters better only say nice things or shut up.
I'm a bit fed up of shutting up, tbh.