Meanwhile...
Jun. 13th, 2007 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lonelybritI am aware that the odd soul out there might not have seen all or any of Torchwood. And for no apparent reason I thought I might as well try and round up some of what we've learnt about Jack during Season One. So, ladies and gents, I present to you...
A Torchwood Guide to Captain Jack.
(1) New powers/skills.
Jack has picked up a certain new characteristic as a direct result of his time with the Doctor and Rose. He generally keeps it under his hat as, in his words, 'it tends to freak people out'. This new skill has been used to save his team/baffle the enemy/save the world more than once.
(2) Would the real Captain Jack Harkness please step forward.
Once upon a time an ex-time agent and conman found himself in London 1941, working undercover and in need of an identity fast. He took that of one Captain Jack Harkness.
The real Captain Jack Harkness was an American volunteer, flying with the RAF before the events of Pearl Harbour. He was considered a hero, killing 26 in the Battle of Britain and never losing a man. On 21st January 1941 he and his men went out on their last routine training exercise, only to be surprised by two formations of enemy planes. Captain Jack stayed behind to give his men time to escape. "He destroys three of the enemy. His men listen to his whoops of joy over the radio. Then it all goes quiet. He can't bail out because his whole plane is on fire but his men all make it back to safety."
The conman falsified the records to make it seem like Jack was still alive. Fast forward a couple of decades and according to official records:
(3) Loves loved (and lost).
To put it mildly, Captain Jack is not a happy man. It's uncertain as to how long or how often Jack has lived through the 20th/21st Century. He's certainly a lot less care-free and light than he was when Rose and the Doctor knew him. In Out of Time he meets John Ellis who is also trapped in a century not his own.
Since Jack left the Doctor, we've been shown two people for certain who he has fallen for.
i.) Estelle - "In London, at the Astoria ballroom, a few weeks before Christmas. She was 17 years old and she was beautiful. I loved her at first sight. But nothing lasted back then. Promises were always being broken."
As Jack put it, once upon a time they were inseparable and made a vow that they would be with each other till they died. But it was wartime. He (Captain Jack) was posted abroad and Estelle volunteered to work on the land. They lost contact and when they next met Estelle was an old woman and Jack hadn't aged a day. Jack pretended that he was Estelle's Jack's son and kept in touch with her that way. Eventually Estelle was killed during a Torchwood investigation, Jack arriving too late to save her.
ii.) Captain Jack Harkness - yes, our Jack is indeed cool enough to fall in love with himself. In Captain Jack Harkness, he and another Torchwood team member are trapped in Saturday 20th January 1941, at a Kiss The Boys Goodbye dance. There they meet the real Captain Jack Harkness. The TW employee is understandably a little perplexed that this Captain shares her boss's name, and when questioned Jack admits: It's not my name. It's his. I took his. But I didn't realise he was so hot...
It becomes clear that our Jack is more than a little smitten with his namesake. The two men bond but like all star-crossed romances, it's doomed. They part. Captain Jack is killed in battle the following day whilst our Jack returns to the present.
(4) Keep the home fires burning.
Of all the Torchwood team, Jack seems most emotionally invested in/connected with Gwen Cooper who's the newest recruitment and who, unlike most of the TW team, has a semi-decent personal life outside of work. Jack admits to her that Torchwood could be doing more to help people and in the series she is brought in as a way to put the heart back into the team.
In terms of pieces of tart of the side, there may or may not have been some offscreen goings on between Jack and Ianto Jones (the archivist/'teaboy' of the group). If you've noticed any sly comments about stopwatches since TW started, there is a reason for that.
And although, yes, Jack seems to care a great deal for his team and feel very responsible for their welfare, that has not stopped each and every employee betraying him at least once (and sometimes all at the same time), occasionally trying to kill him or at least cause bodily harm, and/or nearly bringing about the end of the world. Torchwood are one big happy family. Really.
When Jack leaves (to the sound of the TARDIS), Gwen's reaction is: "Something's taken him."
(5) Old scars.
When bonding with his namesake, Jack gave us pretty much the only tale from his life before the Time Agency or the Doctor. It's easiest just to let the boys tell the story.
Perhaps linked to this is another comment Jack makes to a captive he's about to 'persuade' to say where the rest of the Torchwood team are being held hostage. Apparently Jack had a bit of reputation in the Time Agency as the 'go-to guy' when they needed information extracted/someone tortured. He was good at his job.
The only other tale we've been given is that Jack was once in charge of 15 men on a troop train in Lahore, 1909. The train went into a tunnel and when it came out, all 15 men had suffocated on rose petals. Turns out they'd pissed off some fairies in a local village. Jack was obviously shaken by (still has nightmares about) the incident.
(6) Never doubted him, never will.
Jack is still waiting for the Doctor. He has his hand in a jar (the hand lopped off in the Christmas Invasion). In the finale all the team bar Jack are shown visions of people they love/trust in order to trick them into breaking the number one Torchwood rule of never meddling with the Rift. They are fooled and almost destroy the world, as you do. Once Jack has saved the day (again), he and Gwen share a few thoughts.
The series ends with a wind rushing through the Hub, Jack looking as though Christmas has come early, and the sound of the TARDIS starting to swell. By the time the rest of the Torchwood team arrive on the scene, the Hub's a bit off a mess and Captain Jack is nowhere to be seen.
A Torchwood Guide to Captain Jack.
(1) New powers/skills.
Jack has picked up a certain new characteristic as a direct result of his time with the Doctor and Rose. He generally keeps it under his hat as, in his words, 'it tends to freak people out'. This new skill has been used to save his team/baffle the enemy/save the world more than once.
From Everything Changes:
Jack: Something happened to me a while back, long story and far away... One day I'll find a Doctor, the right sort of Doctor and maybe he can explain it but until then- *shrugs*
(2) Would the real Captain Jack Harkness please step forward.
Once upon a time an ex-time agent and conman found himself in London 1941, working undercover and in need of an identity fast. He took that of one Captain Jack Harkness.
The real Captain Jack Harkness was an American volunteer, flying with the RAF before the events of Pearl Harbour. He was considered a hero, killing 26 in the Battle of Britain and never losing a man. On 21st January 1941 he and his men went out on their last routine training exercise, only to be surprised by two formations of enemy planes. Captain Jack stayed behind to give his men time to escape. "He destroys three of the enemy. His men listen to his whoops of joy over the radio. Then it all goes quiet. He can't bail out because his whole plane is on fire but his men all make it back to safety."
The conman falsified the records to make it seem like Jack was still alive. Fast forward a couple of decades and according to official records:
From Everything Changes:
Yvonne: The only Captain Jack Harkness on record was American... American Volunteer, Royal Air Force 133 Squadron. Except he disappeared, vanished off the records, presumed dead- 1941 at the height of the Blitz. On the morning of January the 21st, 1941, Captain Jack Harkness failed to report for duty. Never seen again until now.
(3) Loves loved (and lost).
To put it mildly, Captain Jack is not a happy man. It's uncertain as to how long or how often Jack has lived through the 20th/21st Century. He's certainly a lot less care-free and light than he was when Rose and the Doctor knew him. In Out of Time he meets John Ellis who is also trapped in a century not his own.
John: Who are you?
Jack: A man, like you, out of his time. Alone and scared.
John: How do you cope?
Jack: It's just bearable, it has to be. I don't have a choice.
Since Jack left the Doctor, we've been shown two people for certain who he has fallen for.
i.) Estelle - "In London, at the Astoria ballroom, a few weeks before Christmas. She was 17 years old and she was beautiful. I loved her at first sight. But nothing lasted back then. Promises were always being broken."
As Jack put it, once upon a time they were inseparable and made a vow that they would be with each other till they died. But it was wartime. He (Captain Jack) was posted abroad and Estelle volunteered to work on the land. They lost contact and when they next met Estelle was an old woman and Jack hadn't aged a day. Jack pretended that he was Estelle's Jack's son and kept in touch with her that way. Eventually Estelle was killed during a Torchwood investigation, Jack arriving too late to save her.
ii.) Captain Jack Harkness - yes, our Jack is indeed cool enough to fall in love with himself. In Captain Jack Harkness, he and another Torchwood team member are trapped in Saturday 20th January 1941, at a Kiss The Boys Goodbye dance. There they meet the real Captain Jack Harkness. The TW employee is understandably a little perplexed that this Captain shares her boss's name, and when questioned Jack admits: It's not my name. It's his. I took his. But I didn't realise he was so hot...
It becomes clear that our Jack is more than a little smitten with his namesake. The two men bond but like all star-crossed romances, it's doomed. They part. Captain Jack is killed in battle the following day whilst our Jack returns to the present.
(4) Keep the home fires burning.
Of all the Torchwood team, Jack seems most emotionally invested in/connected with Gwen Cooper who's the newest recruitment and who, unlike most of the TW team, has a semi-decent personal life outside of work. Jack admits to her that Torchwood could be doing more to help people and in the series she is brought in as a way to put the heart back into the team.
In terms of pieces of tart of the side, there may or may not have been some offscreen goings on between Jack and Ianto Jones (the archivist/'teaboy' of the group). If you've noticed any sly comments about stopwatches since TW started, there is a reason for that.
And although, yes, Jack seems to care a great deal for his team and feel very responsible for their welfare, that has not stopped each and every employee betraying him at least once (and sometimes all at the same time), occasionally trying to kill him or at least cause bodily harm, and/or nearly bringing about the end of the world. Torchwood are one big happy family. Really.
When Jack leaves (to the sound of the TARDIS), Gwen's reaction is: "Something's taken him."
(5) Old scars.
When bonding with his namesake, Jack gave us pretty much the only tale from his life before the Time Agency or the Doctor. It's easiest just to let the boys tell the story.
Jack: A Captain needs to explain the risks. Tell his men what to expect.
Real!Jack: So what do I do. Tell the men I saw a young boy get shot in the eyes mid-flight.
Jack: I understand.
Real!Jack: Do you? Did you hear him on the radio yelling for his Mom... All I can hear on the radio-
Jack: -is screams. I went to war when I was a boy. I was with my best friend. We got caught crossing the border over enemy lines. They torture him, not me, because he was weaker, they made me watch him die. Then they let me go.
Real!Jack: Who are they?
Jack: The worst possible creatures you can imagine. I persuaded him to join up, I said it would be an adventure. He hadn't lived.
Real!Jack Have any of us?
Perhaps linked to this is another comment Jack makes to a captive he's about to 'persuade' to say where the rest of the Torchwood team are being held hostage. Apparently Jack had a bit of reputation in the Time Agency as the 'go-to guy' when they needed information extracted/someone tortured. He was good at his job.
The only other tale we've been given is that Jack was once in charge of 15 men on a troop train in Lahore, 1909. The train went into a tunnel and when it came out, all 15 men had suffocated on rose petals. Turns out they'd pissed off some fairies in a local village. Jack was obviously shaken by (still has nightmares about) the incident.
(6) Never doubted him, never will.
Jack is still waiting for the Doctor. He has his hand in a jar (the hand lopped off in the Christmas Invasion). In the finale all the team bar Jack are shown visions of people they love/trust in order to trick them into breaking the number one Torchwood rule of never meddling with the Rift. They are fooled and almost destroy the world, as you do. Once Jack has saved the day (again), he and Gwen share a few thoughts.
From End of Days:
Gwen: What would have tempted you? What visions would have convinced you to open the Rift?
Jack: The right kind of Doctor.
The series ends with a wind rushing through the Hub, Jack looking as though Christmas has come early, and the sound of the TARDIS starting to swell. By the time the rest of the Torchwood team arrive on the scene, the Hub's a bit off a mess and Captain Jack is nowhere to be seen.
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-13 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-13 10:35 pm (UTC)Doctor Who starts soon too...should be awesome and I can't wait!!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 12:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 12:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 12:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 02:24 am (UTC)Sorry, this line confused me till I realized you meant that Jack pretended to Estelle that he was her Jack's son.
Great summary of the character!!!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 03:39 am (UTC)Have heard the same but don't care...I adore John Barrowman and can't wait for episode 12... ;)
no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 09:37 am (UTC)great guide. Lists are always good, and since Jack and Torchwood and Doctor Who are always seemingly complicated, this makes me very happy :D
But it's bad too. It's made me so excited for saturdays' doctor who that I think I'm going a bit crazy. So it's a bad thing in a good way. excited!!! XD
*bounces*
no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 12:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 07:14 pm (UTC)But on the other hand, WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! Can't wait for the ep to air =)
no subject
Date: 2007-06-14 07:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-15 08:38 am (UTC)Spose it just means I 'll have to spend more time on LJ getting my DW fix ;)
I am tooooo excited for this ep. I watched Torchwood just recently for the first time, so my squee-o-meter for the Jackness is incredibly high right now. I can't wait to see how he gets on with Martha! and new new Doctor!!
*excited*
no subject
Date: 2007-06-15 09:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-15 11:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 12:48 pm (UTC)Eeeep Jack's back tonight :)
no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 01:47 pm (UTC)may I friend?
no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 02:00 pm (UTC)Surely that's the day that Jack leaves with the Doctor in The Doctor Dances, not the day that RealJack dies? Jack was pretending to be Captain Jack in London for some time, as the other officers know him. Bound to be some sort of records.
BTW, which was the torture and hostage episode of TW? I've seen them all but I can't remember!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 02:09 pm (UTC)Torchwood was so inconsistent, it made me crazy. But when they got it right (which wasn't often), they really got it right.
Sadly I won't get to see "Utopia" until, like, the second week of July.* I'm going to stay spoiler-free but—yikes!—it's going to be a long wait.
* A friend here in Seattle "acquires" the episodes, and then shows them to a small group of us in sets of 2-3 episodes at a time, which nearly made my head explode when we saw "Human Nature/Family of Blood" and "Blink" all in one night. Anyway, like I said above, due to life stuff, our next gathering isn't until next month. It's going to be a looooong June.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 02:10 pm (UTC)Correct. The real Jack died earlier.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 02:11 pm (UTC)I don't know, maybe, possibly, it's a little bit important that Captain Jack Harkness is now immortal and cannot die. You think that might be something people who have missed Torchwood might need to know? ;-)
I know he died and was resurrected in "The Parting of the Ways" but, you know, immortality is an interesting side effect. :-)
no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 03:32 pm (UTC)Thanks for doing this.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 10:07 pm (UTC)unlucky to have missed it but didn't even know where to ask. This is so much better and broader than I could have asked for. I'd forgotten a lot of this stuff and so much of ties in. Thank you again, thank you! XDno subject
Date: 2007-06-16 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 11:59 pm (UTC)Glad this was of help!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 12:04 am (UTC)And the torture and hostage ep was Countrycide :)
no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 12:06 am (UTC)I have just seen Utopia, and to be honest the way the final three eps are shaping up, you will be better off being able to see them back to back. I am going to be in agony waiting for next week's ep now!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 12:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 12:09 am (UTC)What I wonder about is what immortal Jack did during the war -- he mentions he lived through it, implying he was involved, but he would have had to hide from his previous self...
Countrycide -- there's a reason why I forgot about that episode...
no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 12:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 12:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 12:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 02:28 am (UTC)You mean RTD and co might not have double-checked the dates being thrown away*gasp* No, say it ain't so! ;) Yeah, the timelines on TW and DW can make the brain hurt, well, they couldn't even get Rose's birthdate to stay the same. Ah well, who needs continuity.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 02:29 am (UTC)