Customer Reviews
Mediocre Blu Ray Quality - By: Mr. Rian Mcmullan, 15 Jan 2010 
Quality as good as the DVD version. Very grainy, very "flickery".
Not worth the Blu Ray. Just get the DVD instead.
A Muddled Mix of Crass and Juvenile Writing - By: S. Porter, 28 Jun 2009 Fans of Doctor Who & Jack Harkness were probably as excited as I was when Torchwood was first announced, & I was among the many who tuned in to see it. Sadly, the series doesn't entirely live up to its promise as an 'adult' addition to the Doctor Who franchise. The cast themselves are interesting, however the characters they portray are an almost abhorrant mixture of the grotesque & dysfuntional & it's very difficult to believe in them as a team. That's not say the series isn't without merit. Although at times the series feels mired by mediocrity & poor judgement, there are some glimpses of its true potential, & particularly towards the end of its run there are some genuinely enjoyable episodes to see. So while it may not be perfect, perseverence will pay off, & in HD, it looks so much better.
Far too unsavoury and dysfunctional - By: W. Beckett, 21 Apr 2009 
So let's go adult with Sci-fi eh? The problem is, Torchwood went too far over the top. F letter words seem to jar & sit uncomfortable within the context of the show, & injections of crass horror didn't gel easily into the mix either... And I'm not being puritanical here, just didn't think the intentions were well executed. Adults themes just done for the sake of it as tack-on's without reallly adding or saying anything.
However, my biggest problem with the show, has always been the characters. None of them are reallly likable. And they alll seem like such an unsavory dysfunctional bunch with screwed up private lives - that you couldn't possibly believe that they could save themselves, let alone save the Earth or the universe! So, I just about stuck out the first series, but ultmately was left with a very dis-satisfied bad taste in my mouth. It was always just so dour, angst-ridden, bleak & grim. No levity & no pointers to the more positive aspects of human nature to at least balance the drama & occasionallly lift it out of it's basement doldrums. I say a bit of sunlight would've helped. So nah, sorry - but I'm not keen on 'Eastender' slagging match style Science Fiction with a stream of expletives thrown in. I like to be entertained, not skirt with clinical depression! Needless to say, I didn't even bother with the second series!
Nice, funny, sometimes trashy, but mostly in a good way - By: Christian Klass, 17 Feb 2009 
I've enjoyed watching the first season of Torchwood - I seem to enjoy most of BBCs series & can hardly wait for the second season of Torchwood. This show has nice characters, though one of the female main characters in the show quickly got on my nerves. I like the mixture of sexual tension, gruesome enemys, death & love, & comedy elements. Some of the effects are a bit too trashy, but mostly they are okay.
Much better than you probably remember. - By: G. Thomas, 07 Nov 2008 
It's odd but I sometimes feel like I'm the only person who thought Season 2 of Torchwood was a big disappointment. It was an often shameful dilution of something reallly original & quite remarkable
I've just re-watched this Season 1 boxset (blu-ray version) & it reallly is truly astounding with only a couple of weak stories.
Episodes like "They keep killing Suzie", "Random Shoes" & "Out of Time" are still some of the best TV drama I've seen for years & perhaps will ever see again but I could wax-lyrical about aspects of most episodes to be honest.
This series is beautifully & intelligently scripted with uniformly excellent performances throughout.
Grim & unrelenting at times but remarkably honest & totallly unafraid to explore real themes that lesser dramas don't seem to have the courage or emotional intelligence to tackle. Such candour is a breath of fresh air in an increasingly stale & cotton-wool-packaged TV world.
Sadly Season 2 lost most of the ground Torchwood gained with Season 1 which makes this alll the more special.
The HD picture quality is obviously consistently high & utterly, absolutely, astonishing at times. The extras are comprehensive & include alll the "Declassifieds" plus short features & deleted scenes for every episode. There is also a basic but effective use of the pop-up menu system which is always nice to see.
I once again found myself moved to tears by several episodes & awestruck at the sheer level of honest insight into the human condition.
Which leaves me wondering.......why does Season 1 get such bad press?
Even the dullard's, oft-trotted-out complaint about too much sex & swearing reallly doesn't hold water; it's nowhere near as overt or gratuitous as these people suggest or possibly remember. I suggest that it was in fact alll mindless bandwagon jumping by those who didn't know what to make of the series. Torchwood impudently dared to be different & attempted to actuallly challlenge them as more than just passive viewers. That never goes down well with some people especiallly a somewhat traditional, set-in-their-ways, TV Sci-Fi audience.
Give it another look.
This is cutting-edge, high-definition, pre-season2-dumbing-down, truly-adult entertainment, written for thinking grown-ups who can handle real themes but still like a bit of sci-fi on the side.
