Thursday, January 24, 2008

Hub Hubbub

The first ever issue of Titan's Torchwood: The Official Magazine is released today, and I've already got my sneaky hands on a copy! It's an interesting read, and nowhere near as terrible as I thought it was going to be (try reading the "Prison Break" or "Charmed" magazines, and you'll see what I mean when I say 'terrible'; although why you'd want to read a magazine based off of "Charmed" is anybody's guess!).

Here's a quick rundown of what to except from the magazine:

1: A news section - Phil Ford talks about BBCi's "Torchwood Mission" game, which he plotted and wrote; news on Torchwood's airing over in the big old US of A; John Barrowman's autobiography is previewed; and there's news regarding the series of Torchwood action figures that's due to be released by Getretro.co.uk midway through the year.

2: Episode previews - Helen Raynor talks "To the Last Man"; Catherine Tregenna discusses both "Meat" and "Adam"; and JC Wilsher drops hints about the return of Martha Jones in "Reset". Scroll down the page for more information from these previews.

3: On set exclusives - interviews with the cast and crew (including John Barrowman and James Marsters) on the set of "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"

4: Hub tour - a photographic tour of the Hub set, and a talk with its designer, Edward Thomas.

5: Interviews - Nikki Amuka-Bird and Dyfed Potter talk about their roles in "Sleeper".

6: Comic strip action - part one of a new Torchwood adventure, "The Legacy of Torchwood One", where the team meet Rupert Howarth, a former Torchwood employee who faked his own death following the battle of Canary Wharf.

7: Meet the team - an introduction to team Torchwood, with bios of Jack, Gwen, Owen, Tosh and Ianto.

8: Competitions - a chance to win the complete series one DVD boxset!

9: Creature feature - looking behind the scenes on how episode one's Blowfish alien was created.

10: Where's your head at? - a talk with Naoko Mori.

11: Production notes - written, this month, by Chris Chibnall, who lets us know about several trips he made out of his writing room.

12: Next issue - interviews with Eve Myles, Freema Agyeman and Alan Dale; behind the scenes at the Mill; Richard Stokes writes for the magazine; and part two of the comic - due on February 21st.

13: Adverts - as an added incentive you get lots of adverts for other Titan titles, including - deep breath - Lost Magazine, CSI Magazine, 24 Magazine, Heroes Magazine, Prison Break Magazine, oh, and Supernatural Magazine too. That's an awful lot of magazines...

Five things we learnt this issue...

1: The second volume of Telos' "Inside the Hub" series will be called "Something in the Darkness".

2: Chris Chibnall's idea for episode 12 of series two was intended to take place in episode 6, but got pushed back for some reason...

3: Al Murray has plans for his hand to appear in a scene set in a bar. Someday...

4: Naoko Mori has lots of nicknames - Nokes, Nokesy, Nookie Bear, No-No and Ninny. As long as it begins with 'N', anything goes!

5: Alan Dale's character in "Reset" is called Copley.

Here's a quick tease about some of the things we learn in the episode previews...

To the Last Man - "Tosh understands so much about the toys and technology that she's got in Torchwood, but she seems quite naive in terms of personal relationships. In a way she's almost childlike, so I wanted to write a story that would grow her up a little bit." Helen Raynor

Meat - "I wanted to do something that was a bit more of a runaround, with guns and aliens, before I totally cornered the girly writer market!" Catherine Tregenna

Adam - "The main thing that interested me was how much does memory define the person that you are? If Gwen met Rhys now, would they still like each other, or are all relationships based on familiarity?" Catherine Tregenna

Reset - "It's Martha who triggers the whole investigation, because she's been working for UNIT and she's spotted the link between the deaths that Torchwood hasn't" JC Wilsher

Torchwood: The Official Magazine issue 1 is 68 pages long, and costs £3.75. If you're any sort of fan, then I suggest you pick it up and give it a go. You'll be pleasently surprised.

Issue 2 is out Thursday 21st February.

6 comments:

Kyle said...

Does anyone know if this will be available in the States?

I know a couple of bookstores carry the Doctor Who mag (as well as a wealth of rotten ones, like Charmed...) so I'm holding out hope maybe I'll find a copy of Torchwood....

Anonymous said...

^ I'm wondering and hoping the same thing.

Kyle said...

I think I just answered my own question. According to the Titan website, the Torchwood mag goes on sale in the US *February 19th*

http://www.titanmagazines.com/app?service=external/Product&sp=l1140

We'll be a full month behind our pals in the UK, but ah well. At least it's being released.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the review. After the absolute rubbish the Stargate magazine from the same people is, I was a bit worried about them doing the Torchwood mag. Maybe they finally got themselves some professional writers instead of just using fans willing to work cheap...

Unknown said...

I'm glad the magazine is great. Other fan magazines I've read have really just made me disappointed in fandom. :(

Wingnut87 said...

I agree this is far better then some of their other efforts. Not as good as DWM but then that's had years of practice. I enjoyed the articles and liked the interview with Naoko.