This was my first time at a roundtable, which (for those of you who don’t know) is exactly what it sounds like. Essentially, a bunch of writers from different outlets sit around and fire off questions at the “talent”. Eventually this turns into a discussion where they spend less time answering specific questions and more time talking about their experiences and views on their job. This roundtable in particular was even more daunting as it was not only the first time any of these people being interviewed had been to Comic-Con, but it was the first big showing of Doctor Who and Torchwood at Comic-Con at all. Add to that the fact that both series had just finished their most recent seasons and it left us with not a whole lot to talk about…or so it seemed.
(Spoiler Alert: if you haven’t watched season 2 of torchwood or season 4 of doctor who go and do it before reading these articles lest ye be spoiled.)
First up was Julie Gardner, executive producer of both series and Naoko Mori, who plays the character of Toshiko Sato, to talk about Torchwood. It was a little strange to see Naoko show up, as her character had been killed off in the season finale. In fact, as I opened up the round of questioning with the eloquently put (sic), “What’s up with Torchwood? Tell us about season 3,” Julie Gardner’s first words were to reiterate that Tosh (and Owen) were dead. In fact she opened the Torchwood panel the following day in the same way. All the reporters at the table, as well as Julie and Naoko, talked about how the finale really made us cry. Especially Tosh’s video message to her team at the end. Interestingly enough, the tears shed by Naoko’s co-stars during that scene were real as they were not prepared for that message to play beforehand. It caught them totally unaware.
Naoko then told us a story about how one woman expressed her sincere grief by tackling her in a mall somewhere in Playa Del Rey. Despite the assault and much crying from cast, crew, and fans alike, both Naoko and Gardner seemed very pleased with the choice of Tosh’s death and the way it was handled. Gardner made a great point about how it had been established that members of Torchwood die young and there was no way they could all face such mortal dangers day in and day out without eventually losing someone.
At one point early on someone had been thought to be Gwen’s boyfriend Rhys, but the production team changed their tune when they realized that someone on the team had to have a life outside of the Hub.
Garnder then gave us the status of Torchwood Series 3. Shooting would begin the last week of August, the season would be 5 episodes long and air on BBC1 in the span of one week. (At the Torchwood panel the following day, Gardner would go on to announce that they had just signed a deal with BBC America to bring series 3 of the show to the US within a few months of it’s airing on BBC1).
Russel T. Davies was not allowed to attend Comic-con as he was shackled to his computer writing the first and last episodes of the new series. James Moran, who wrote the Season 2 Torchwood episode “Sleeper” and Doctor Who Series 4’s “The Fires of Pompeii”, would also be writing along with John Faye, who has written for Coronation Street as well as Robin Hood.
The production team were looking forward to the format change because not only was it put in place to transition the show to BBC1 for the first time, but they are looking at next year’s episodes as must-see events. In fact, this idea of “event TV” seemed to be this year’s buzz word at Upper Boat as later on during his interview Steven Moffat used the same term.
It seems that after two huge finales from both shows they wanted to make next year as special as possible before returning to the standard series format. Of course Gardner was tightlipped about any plot details but what she did say was that Torchwood would be up against a ticking clock and under the most pressure they had ever been under – especially with their depleted numbers.
As for casting she continued to tease. Someone at the table asked about the new characters coming to Torchwood and her response was “I don’t know what two characters you mean because it’s not that straight forward.” The group continued to press of course by referring to Mickey and Martha’s departure with Jack at the end of the Doctor Who finale and Garnder simply responded, “We like to tease.”
And now for something very geeky…ever the pro, Gardner managed to keep slipping in bits of trivia for us. Regarding the “space pig” reference during Tosh and Owen’s final moments, there are script editors whose job it is to watch for just these bits of continuity when they can fit. Also there are no calendars in Doctor Who and Torchwood and one of the reasons is that during season 1 of Doctor Who we lost a year when Rose was brought home 12 months after she left instead of 12 hours. Finally she revealed her love for the outcome of Captain Jack being the Face of Boe with the following anecdote. Apparently everyone read the script to “Last of the Timelords” before John Barrowman and they were harassing him for days to see if he had read it yet, so much so that it became a comedy routine. Julie was bothering him, Russel was bothering him, and David (like the fanboy he is) was bothering him incessantly until finally Naoko heard John screaming from his trailer! Everyone knew he had read it at that point and he ran around the Torchwood and Doctor Who sets (The Hub is right next to the Tardis interior) yelling “I’m the Face of Boe!”
Lastly of course we asked what was next for these two lovely ladies. It was announced recently that Julie Gardner had been promoted to Controller of Commissioning for BBC Drama – putting her in charge of greenlighting all dramatic TV shows on the Beeb. She’ll be staying on with Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures until the end of 2009; as well as keeping her position as head of BBC Wales.
Naoko’s plans, on the other hand, are a lot less solid. After several years of “work work work” she is taking a much needed break and enjoying some time off. She has been spending lots of time in Southern California and when she’s not out on auditions for her inevitable big Hollywood break. For now, though, you can probably find her in a taqueria chowing down on some Mexican food.
Check back later for part 2 of the roundtables where Steven Moffat is in the hotseat. He makes fun of fans (including himself) and of course tells us absolutely nothing about the future of Doctor Who.