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The Torchwood Kids: an Examiner exclusive interview
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Often when a fiction series leads the way in popularity there is a strong fandom following closely behind. At times within such a vast fandom there are individuals or groups with impressive talents who make the admirable effort to show their appreciation for the series and its characters, which they enjoy. One such fan group, 'The Torchwood Kids,' is a very impressively talented bunch. They are five young women – Caitlin Kagawa, Amy Hirschman, Salina Conlan, Jessica Montague, and Alexandra "Alix" Yu - who make their own professional-quality costumes to wear at science fiction conventions, which they regularly attend. As the group's name states, the girls are enthusiasts of the BBC drama Torchwood, the Doctor Who spin-off series created in 2006 by exiting show-runner Russell T Davies.
Here is a brief roll-call for the fan-team: Caitlin, or Catie, portrays team leader Captain Jack Harkness, a former Time Agent and con man from the 51st Century; Amy acts as the heart of the group in the role of Gwen Cooper, a WPC-turned-recruit to the Torchwood team; Salina (Lina to her friends) echoes the stylish and late-lamented Ianto Jones, recently killed in the summer mini-series event Children of Earth; while Jessica keeps alive the memory of twice-deceased Owen Harper, the team's resident physician; and Alexandra memorializes the also-lost Toshiko Sato, who performed the team's main technical and mechanical duties.
On 20 November, 2009, this Examiner, Chris McKeon, connected with the entire Torchwood Kids team over Skype for an exclusive interview to ask about their group, their costuming talents, their love for Torchwood and Doctor Who, their thoughts on the upcoming end of the so-called ‘RTD era’ of the Doctor Who universe, and the end of David Tennant’s reign as the Tenth Doctor. I conducted the interview in a round-robin style, with a question asked to the whole group and each member responding in turn. What follows is a record of the exchange. I should note beforehand that to preserve the spirit of the group, I spoke to each girl by the name of their respective characters. I will also note that Salina Conlan could only participate in the interview through written response, so her answers are direct transcriptions of her typing.
Chris: Well, here we are in the remains of the Hub. I want to start off by thanking you all for agreeing to speak with me. I think the best place to start then is asking you all about yourselves, who you are, where you come from, and your education and costuming background. Let’s start with you, Jack, and then go in the order we discussed.
Jack: Well, my name’s Caitlin. I’m a college student and I graduate next semester with majors in Theatre and Performance Studies and costume design. I hope to go on to grad school and I love cosplay.
Chris: For those who might not know, can you explain briefly what the word “cosplay” means?
Jack: Sure, it comes from Japanese popular culture and is a combination of the words “costume” and “play”. People often show up at science fiction, comic book, or anime conventions dressed as a particular character. I love conventions and I know a lot of people in that world.
Gwen: Ok, my name is Amy, and I moved out to L.A. about four-and-a-half years ago. I was introduced to world of Doctor Who and Torchwood by my friend Josh. I work for a Japanese newspaper company as an Advertising Assistant. My hobbies are writing, costuming, reading lots of books, and travel. I do a lot of fan activities, in fact life outside of work is usually fandom related: conventions, costumes, events – a big event where I volunteered recently was a live Halloween sing-along of “Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog”. Living in L.A. there are a lot of exciting entertainment options that you'd be hard-pressed to find elsewhere in the country. I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in Film Studies and Japanese Language.
Chris: Do you have any specific films or directors you enjoy from your studies?
Gwen: There’s Akira Kurosawa, we all know of him. And I really enjoyed “Kagi” or “The Key” by Kon Ichikawa.
Ianto: I’m Salina. I'm a film major at Cal State Long Beach, and I'm 25 years old. Born and raised in Long Beach California. I am working towards being a writer and director. In terms of fandom, I enjoy conventions and involvement with online fan communities. Fanfic/fan art projects are my favorite hobbies- followed by hanging out with my friends. Which I haven't done much of lately thanks to school.
Owen: I’m Jessica, and in real life I’m working to become a pre-school teacher. I love movies, especially horror films, and I love the film Geeks. I’m a fan of comics, but not sewing. I don’t sew, but I love being with people and being in character, because it lets me be a prat [laughs].
Tosh: I’m Alix. I work for a bio-tech company supporting wireless devices (PDA's - oh the comparisons). I graduated from Pepperdine University with a BA in Humanities with an emphasis in Renaissance/Reformation. I love film and singing.
Chris: I’m happy to know you all a little better. Now, let’s talk about being fans of Doctor Who and Torchwood. How long have you been fans of the series, how did you first discover them, and, of course, how did you all meet to become the Torchwood Kids?
Jack: Our meeting was kind of staggered. I’ve known Salina for a long time, and I got into Doctor Who around middle to end of the 2nd series. When they announced Torchwood as a series, I sat down to watch it and really connected with Jack's character. My friend Rebecca was the one who introduced me to the character, and I was immediately on board, madly in love with everything. Salina wasn’t far behind, and we met the others through various random circumstances.
Gwen: One day in early 2007 I decided to go with a friend to the monthly meeting of the Time Meddlers, an offshoot of the L.A. Science Fiction Society. While they were showing the Doctor Who episode called “The Runaway Bride”, a group of girls around my age came in. We started talking and we just got on instantly - I mean it was like destiny meeting Emily, Rebecca, and Lina that day. We had dinner together afterward and they got Catie on the phone and told her, “We’ve found our Gwen.”
Jack: Yeah, I remember that. I was in my second year of college. We were trying to put the group together and at first I was skeptical of finding a Gwen, but then I got that call and there was this instant connection. When I actually met Amy at the Anime LA 2007 convention, it was just like the series: I pretty much took one look and said “Gwen with me,” and we jumped out of the car and ran off.
Gwen: Yeah, and ironically I have never been back to Time Meddlers since. I might again one day though.
Ianto: I was along for the ride with all these guys. Their stories are my story, but I will say, Caitlin and I started a massive writing project on LiveJournal and we knew we needed the team. It wasn't going to be enough to have some RP people. We wanted a group that passionately loved and related to the character they were choosing, like Caitlin and I felt about Jack and Ianto. We were picky and hesitant, but it paid off because it's such a wonderful experience to have all of us be on the same page about it. We had everyone (plus Suzie) and our first costumes by the very first Torchwood panel that happened at Comic Con and that really was what launched what has been an amazing journey that I wouldn't wish to share with any other group of people than these guys.
Owen: Well, I’m the youngest of the group, and before we met I worked at Barnes & Noble. That's where I met Rebecca and Lina. Gallifrey 2007 was my first convention, and I thought I was a dork. But then I thought, “Hey maybe I can be your Owen.”
Jack: You were giving yourself mental auditions.
Owen: Yeah, and then at the Anime Expo I did my costume, and suddenly it was the Team.
Tosh: I got into the series long before through other friends, and then I met these guys through friends and roommates. I actually was not Tosh for a year, because there were two earlier girls who were Tosh.
Chris: May I ask who were the earlier Tosh's?
Tosh: One was a girl named Danielle, who left because she could not allow that Tosh could love a woman, and I hate to say it but I can’t remember who the other one was.
Jack: Yeah, I was very, very, very picky, in talking to the rest of team, to find out who fit with each person. I was chosen as the leader, and then we became legitimately close as friends and it all worked because we just clicked. It was all just kind of magic. But I guess we haven’t discussed too much about how I got to like Doctor Who. Well, when the series first started I was, if this makes any sense, between fandoms. I’ve always had one or two primary fandoms in life, and during the summer after my senior year of high school, my friend Rebecca brought the Series One DVD over to show me. She started off by telling me about Captain Jack and said what an amazing character he was and how I’d totally love him, but she forced me to see the whole series before Jack's episodes-- "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances." And she was right; I really connected with Jack. Now I know this sounds so cliché, how you never forget your first Doctor, but I loved Christopher Eccleston and I felt so betrayed and bewildered after Parting of the Ways. I was crushed he wasn’t coming back and I actually resented David Tennant for a while until I could see Tennant channeling him in "New Earth."
Chris: Yes, I can understand that. I have heard some people comment in conversations I’ve had how they feel New Earth feels like a Christopher Eccleston story, even down to Tennant’s dialogue.
Jack: Exactly. Like I said, I’ve taken classes in performance theory and because of that I tend to watch with two sets of eyes: as a fan and also as an analyst of all forms of performance.
Gwen: My first episode of Doctor Who was “Tooth and Claw” at my friend Marsia's Sci-Fi night. So my first Doctor was David Tennant and my initial thoughts were, “Ooo he's good...(and foxy). This show is fun and I want to see more!” Later my friend Josh told me about how New Who started off with Christopher Eccleston and I ended up watching all of Series One all the way through “Doomsday”, where I got caught up. Now before this I hadn’t had a big fandom in my life since The X-Files. In fact I didn’t even watch its last two seasons, and so Doctor Who filled that void with a new sense of adventure. I am very happy to have discovered it and it keeps surprising me, even as I watch some of the “classic” series episodes.
Ianto: Rebecca, our Rose, was watching the new series and thought that Caitlin and I really needed to see it. I saw it; fell in love with it and the 9th Doctor- who is my Doctor til the end of time. I have that costume, and I love running around in that character almost as much as I've grown to love playing Ianto. Because I became the person who played the Doctor in cosplay and roleplay I didn't want to get heavily involved in Torchwood and pick a character from that to play with, but by “Cyberwoman” I couldn't help myself. I related so strongly to Ianto it was nearly like the character picked me instead of me picking the character.
Owen: I’m not a sci-fi fan, but more like a closet Buffy fan. When I was in high school I was one of those kids who sits in the back wearing a trench coat and glares at people. Later on, I saw all these David Tennant icons on LiveJournal, and I remembered him as Barty Crouch Jr. from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. So I looked up quotes on IMDB and I thought the stuff on Doctor Who looked cool. Later I watched the episode “Rose”, and I really liked the whole speech about the world turning, although I was a bit nervous about the aliens. But I really enjoyed it and I became obsessed with David Tennant's version of the Doctor, although I was a bit sad over the loss of Christopher Eccleston in the role. I also watched Casanova and Blackpool to get to know Tennant’s acting better.
Tosh: My intro to Doctor Who was while I was at Pepperdine. I loved Christopher Eccleston – I thought he was awesome and amazing. And the fandom and cosplay, well, I never knew there was a whole world of this out there. Believe it or not I was skeptical about Torchwood at first, but I soon loved it and the fantastic characters. I felt I could relate to Tosh – we both love technology - and then I met the other people in the group.
How the group relates to their characters, which episodes of Doctor Who and Torchwood are their favorites, their reactions to Children of Earth, their thoughts on the end of the RTD era, and then feelings on the departure of David Tennant as the Doctor will appear in the next article as the Torchwood Kids interview continues...
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