Torchwood News: New cover art and details for ‘Aliens Among Us’
By James Aggas
New cover, new stories and some major details about what’s to come! Here’s the latest news on the official audio continuation of Torchwood, ‘Aliens Among Us’!
Later this month, Torchwood will finally receive a full-cast continuation from Miracle Day with the new audio season, Aliens Among Us. Yesterday, Big Finish revealed more details about the first box set of the season, including a cover, a synopsis for each episode, and an interview with the producer, James Goss.
And a very revealing interview it is, too. If I’m honest, this interview has left me feeling much more excited for the series than anything else so far. You can read the interview, along with more details on each of the first four episodes, here on Big Finish’s official website. However, there are a few key quotes that stick out. Particularly regarding the involvement of the show’s creator, Russell T. Davies.
"Russell has managed to be the most enthusiastic back seat driver imaginable. When we started we had meetings with Titan so that their comic series will tie up with this new series (which it will). We told Russell our plans and he said: “This is all lovely, but how about…” It’s brilliant, as we’re able to email writers with a document about the series and they go “Wait – this document is written by Russell!”."
This especially has left me very excited. Not just because Big Finish are working together with Titan Comics to present a consistent vision of how the story continues. (The latter of which continues directly from the novel, Torchwood: Exodus Code.)
“Drive it off a cliff!”
But it’s how much Russell is specifically involved. He may not be the producer, but it’s great to hear that he’s continually adding in major ideas of how the series could continue. Being a fan of many films and TV series, in my experience, you continually hear how producers and writers try to hype up the original creator’s involvement. All the while, how much involvement there was would remain vague. Then you later find out that there was hardly any input from them at all. So it’s good to hear that Big Finish are making Russell’s role in this new season very clear.
Especially with the following quote. What James Goss has said here will either leave you very excited or very angry at the audio series. And it’ll be directly because of Russell that you’ll be feeling this way about it, too.
"Some of the thoughts that Russell had are things we would never dare do. Big Finish normally (rightly) has a custodial duty to the brands it licences – take them interesting, amazing places but, at the end of the day, return them to the garage without a scratch. With Aliens Among Us, Russell’s approach is “Drive it off a cliff! Bring them back, kill them off…” Some of the stuff to come is really shocking."
Wow. This was something I honestly wasn’t expecting.
Big Finish and major deaths
Here’s the thing about Big Finish. I adore the company and the stories they do. Overall, I think their Doctor Who stories are better and more consistently well written than the TV series. And sometimes, they do take risks and make bold choices. With their own original characters, they haven’t been afraid of killing them off.
However, with the characters created in the original TV series, killing them off has generally been a big no-no. Some companions might given more of a darker or bittersweet ending than on television.
John Barrowman, Eve Myles and Kai Owen return in the official audio continuation, Torchwood: ‘Aliens Among Us’. (Big Finish)
But generally, Big Finish have avoided doing anything as big as, say, kill off Susan. At the very least, I suspect it just makes it easier when reconciling with the TV series. It’s unsurprising that they weren’t planning to change anything as big as which characters from the TV series will be still alive by the end.
So hearing that Russell has actually pushed for some major deaths is definitely big news for this audio continuation. For one thing, it means that he at least is treating this as an official continuation of the original TV series. And honestly, with the exception of James Cameron, there’s nothing quite as exciting as knowing that a creator is treating someone else’s vision as official.
Authentic Torchwood
For another, well, it already feels closer to feeling authentic. From its very first episode, Torchwood wasn’t afraid of shocking the audience and shaking things up, and we’ve had some major deaths over the years. Hearing that we can expect the same from Aliens Among Us has left me feeling even more excited for this series than I already was.
Of course, not every fan is going to react the same way about this news. A number of fans are still upset that there’s no continuation on television. Knowing that major characters can be killed off will either leave them upset that something major won’t be broadcast on TV, or alternatively, dismiss the audios as “non-canon”.
While I can see both points of view, I’m still hugely excited about Torchwood: Aliens Among Us. Whatever happens in the new season, it’s still exciting that there’s any new Torchwood to talk about, regardless of format!
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