Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Torchwood: "Department X"


Department X is a two-and-a-half hour Torchwood audio book narrated by Kai Owen. The story involves the organization going undercover to infiltrate a Cardiff department store where a spate of disappearances have recently taken place. Although the story itself is fairly routine action- and plot-wise, there are a couple of interesting concepts introduced: one is Firestone Bank, a long-time (secret) rival to Torchwood which collects alien artifacts and sells them abroad for a profit (I would like to see some recurring villains); the second is the Department of Curiosities, Torchwood's "longest unsolved case" which comes to a resolution in Department X. Otherwise, there's nothing particularly notable about this story, which could easily have been adapted to be a Doctor Who or Sarah Jane Adventures story--in other words, the writer didn't take advantage of the idea that Torchwood is supposed to be the "dark and edgy" corner of the Whoniverse.

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