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− | {{article
| + | #REDIRECT [[Torchwood returns for new season]] |
− | | publication = El Paso Times
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− | | date = 2008-01-22
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− | | language = English
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− | | categories = Torchwood
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− | LOS ANGELES -- Attention, fans of quick-witted, Brit-flavored sci-fi television: Capt. Jack is back.
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− | "He's still the same Jack but he's a little more lighthearted," says John Barrowman, who plays cheeky charmer Capt. Jack Harkness on "Torchwood," BBC America's flirty, fast-paced series.
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− | "He's resolved a lot of his issues," Barrowman says of his time-traveling, alien-hunting hero who wears World War II-era togs and cannot die. "He's got a new sparkle in his eye."
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− | Introduced in 2005 on the BBC series "Dr. Who," Jack is coy about his shadowy past as a Time Agent -- akin to an intergalactic CIA operative -- turned fast-talking con artist.
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− | In the second season of "Torchwood," premiering Saturday, Jack returns to the clandestine Torchwood agency in Cardiff, Wales, where he watches over an alien-spewing rift in space and time beneath the city streets.
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− | Together with his hip, young Torchwood team, Jack battles his old pal, the time-traveling psychopath Capt. John Hart (James Marsters of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer").
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− | As always, Torchwood operates outside the law and the British government. It stands tall against all manner of monsters, including a recurring cast of nasty, sewer-dwelling weevils.
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− | But Jack and crew still find time for office romance and ill-fated, inter-species love affairs -- of the sameand opposite-sex sorts.
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− | "Omnisexual is the science-fiction word we like to use," says Barrowman, who sounds very American, both on and off camera. Born in Scotland, he grew up in Illinois.
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− | "In the sci-fi setting we can talk about things that you probably couldn't talk about on a regular nighttime drama," the 40-year-old Barrowman says.
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− | "I think audiences just get Jack because he's honest," he says. "To finally see a character who doesn't care who he flirts with, I think is a bit refreshing."
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− | The ace Torchwood team also includes steely Dr. Owen Harper (Burn Gorman), techno-savvy Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori), office administrator Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd) and compassionate former cop Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), who is typically the conscience of the group.
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− | All of Jack's cohorts are just as hormonal as he is.
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− | "Yes, it is a science-fiction soap opera," says Myles, who is Welsh.
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− | Last season Gwen hopped into Owen's bed despite her devotion to her clueless live-in lover, Rhys (Kai Owen).
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− | "It was completely out of character for Gwen," Myles says. "But that's what good drama is all about. You don't want to spoon-feed a sci-fi audience. You want to challenge them. So none of these characters are safe."
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− | To executive producer Julie Gardner, "Torchwood" -- an anagram for "Doctor Who" -- is "warm science fiction."
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− | "It's the type of science fiction that has a proper kind of human grounding," Gardner says.
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− | For more information: BBC America, www.bbcamerica.com; John Barrowman, www.johnbarrowman.com.
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