Friday, August 6, 2010

"Gal" Friday! Naoko Mori


I've only recently discovered the excellent BBC Wales program,Torchwood and thanks to the miracle of Netflix, I finished watching all three seasons in less than two weeks. I'm hooked and I highly recommend this terrific sci-fi television series!

Naoko Mori is a British actress who is best known for her roles as Sarah (Saffron's 'odd' friend) in Absolutely Fabulous and Toshiko Sato in Doctor Who and Torchwood. In 2005, Mori had a small role as "Dr. Sato" in the Doctor Who episode "Aliens of London". This was the fourth episode of the first season of the revived show. Producer Russell T Davies took note of her performance and later decided to bring her character back as a regular in the first two seasons of the Doctor Who spin-off series,Torchwood. Mori's character, Toshiko Sato, was killed in "Exit Wounds", the final episode of Torchwood’s second season, but she has not ruled out the possibility of returning to the show at a later date (if you ever get a chance to see the show, you'll know that this might be within the realm of possibility).

Mori also portrayed Yoko Ono in the BBC Four production "Lennon Naked", which aired in the UK during June 2010. The film reunited her with Christopher Eccleston, who played John Lennon, and opposite whom she played Toshiko Sato in the Doctor Who episode "Aliens of London".

She's cute, she's sexy and she has also earned popularity as an iconic "tech-geek" hero. That's enough to secure her a spot in the Catacombs alongside fellow Torchwood actor, Eve Myles (last Week's "Gal" Friday inductee).

3 comments:

Doug Gray said...

I watched the show on BBC America, and was hooked right away. I actually liked it before I ever watched an episode of Doctor Who, new or old. I really liked Tosh, and was sorry to see her go. But as you say, it's not impossible for the character to return in a series that centers on alien tech and time travel.

on a side note, the most recent series of Dr Who (with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan) has made me a fan, finally.

Chuck Wells said...

Doug, I've never understood the appeal of Doctor Who as a character, however David Tennant's version of the "Doctor" finally made me a fan. I also have to give credit to Russell Davies as a topnotch showrunner for much of that.

The loss of Mori's "Toshiko" was a real tearjerker for me, she played her final moments extraordinarily well. When she told Owen that he was breaking her heart, well, I admit that I lost it. Fans of this show already know that nobody is safe within the series, and they constantly make hard choices with their characters actions AND then follow through with the ramifications of those actions in the series. It's just great stuff and no current American series can really touch it!

Doug Gray said...

Of course, Tosh and Owen were my favorite characters, so I was in a foul mood at the end of season 2, as you could well imagine! You're right about the fact that no character is safe, maybe they do that to contrast the immortality of Captain Jack? That said, nothing better happen to Gwen anytime soon!

The only other show I remember throwing out unexpected plot turns and sticking with them was Farscape. Especially when they created a duplicate of the main character in one episode, and kept the extra guy around for an entire season, each with their own storyline! A great show, with a cool finale.