cowgrl_fic

The following is my summary of the Torchwood panel at Gally-23 (last week in Los Angeles)

Here are photos of the folks on stage (in two pics)

Left to right: moderator whose name I don't remember who does the same thing at the Hub conventions (obviously at Gally to make me feel at home!); John Delancie; Daniele Favilli

Left to right: writers John Shiban, Jane Espenson, Doris Egan

And now to see if I can make sense of my scribbled notes from this panel. (I have absolute mush for a memory so if it's not written down, it's gone.)

Jane Espenson tried to bring Doris Egan on board and at first Doris wasn't interested. She'd assumed Miracle Day would be an American remake on Fox, with a whole new cast. But when she found out some of the original actors would be in it she reconsidered.

Both Jane and Doris are big fans of CoE.
John Shiban was originally a Who fan only, was not at all familiar with Torchwood, now he's a big fan of the show.

Daniele had seen a little TW but stopped watching after being cast so his character would be more "virgin". (His word. Much merriment ensued. Being around Captain Jack, his character didn't stay a virgin for long! John Delancie said something along the lines of loving how someone can reclaim virginity.)

John Delancie, didn't know TW before. Wasn't impressed by Series 1, liked CoE. He likes the "tongue in cheek" tone of the writing for this show.

Daniele told the story about his eye problem (very familiar to me since he told it at Hub7, about how they had to work the broken blood vessel in his eye into the script in a hurry).

The writers talked about the creative process saying the UK method of writing/collaboration gives the writers more freedom to create, but there's subsequently more rewriting. The US method is more of a team collaboration, mapping out story lines in advance. Whereas Russell only gave guidelines.

Someone asked Daniele -- in Italian -- the usual question. "What is it like to kiss John Barrowman?" LOL Daniele's answer: "He's got great lips."

John Delancie came into the show late, and he says neither the director or John could quite explain to him what was going on, plot-wise. (That's ok, it made no sense to us either. Oops, sorry, editorializing. :-) )

Someone asked John Delancie about his being on My Little Pony and much hilarity ensued about Bronies. There are YouTube vids out there, apparently, if you want to know what was said. I didn't write it down.

Someone asked if Rex being made immortal was a set-up for a US spin-off series. Jane said no, it was just something they could follow up on (or not) if another series gets made. She says according to RTD Rex's immortality was "the last gift of the rift". (I'm assuming she meant the giant vagina, not the Rift as we knew it on Torchwood.)

Doris Egan said Rex's immortality was something the writers didn't plan (this was pure RTD apparently.) she said it was a surprise to her.

Doris Egan has written quite a bit for the series House, has doctors to consult on that show for accuracy, and consulted with one for Miracle Day, for scientific credibility. That doctor was the person who coined the term "Miracle Day."

All three writers like writing stand-alone episodes. Jane was glad she got to write Episode 7, which was basically a stand-alone. Doris enjoys writing dramatic scenes, doesn't care quite so much if it's single-episode or part of a longer story. John Shiban wrote for the X-Files and liked writing standalones for that series.

Daniele would have liked more about his character, and others (Jane probably) mentioned there was quite a bit cut for time (as there always is for a television show.)

Doris Egan loved the Angelo episode and would have loved 4 episodes of that story. "We could make a series!" Of course Daniele agreed. (Me, too!)

Jane loved the Welsh stuff. Used the word 'exotic'.

And there's more but it's hard for me to understand my own scribbles so I will end here.