Captain Jack

[Michael Hopcroft]

Although I haven't quite figured out how to, I'm thinking very seriously of doing a write-up of Captain Jack, the slightly unethical, occasionally outrageous, and generally very bizarre for the series ex-Time Agent from the recently-completed season of Doctor Who.

 

Captain Jack encounters the Doctor while he is in the process of running a scam during the Blitz. He's dragged an alien spacecraft from the future to London in 1941, to a spot where it is sure to be blown up by the Germans unless someone picks it up, and mistakes Rose for the Time Agent who is going to buy it from him. He also thinks Rose is extremely sexually attractive. And so, for that matter, si the Doctor!

 

As it turns out, Jack's scam has an unintended consequence that almost leads to utter catastrophe. But evicently he is forgiven sufficiently that he is admitted to the TARDIS, facing the Slitheen in 2005 and a really nasty enemy in the far future.

 

It turns out that one of the reasons he is so eager to rip off his former comrades is that there is a two-year chunk missing from his life and he suspects the Time Corps (or whatever his former agency is called -- it's never named) was responsible. This suggests that Humanity does eventually discover reliable time travel in the Doctor Who universe once the principal force hindering them has been removed.

 

One other ntoe about Captain jack is that he is utterly incredulous when told about the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver. He literally cannot believe that anyone with any sense would invent such a device!

[Curufea]

Re: Captain Jack

 

Also - he's polysexual (ala Captain Kirk, with bisexual thrown in) and a bit of a flirt. Has a high opinion of himself, but isn't arrogant - he is more likely to trust total strangers than even the Doctor. A bit Ace Rimmer-ish in fact, but less cheesy.

 

And, lest we forget, the token American on the show

 

Apparantly the culture he's from in the far future is intent on discovering new and interesting species to have sex with, as a hobby.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Captain Jack

 

And, lest we forget, the token American on the show .

The accent is probably part of his cover story in 1941 -- he was posing as an American volunteer pilot for the RAF. Since apparently he went to the Blitz often it was a cover he needed to keep up. Since Captain Jack's home time is at least three thousand years in the future it is highly doubtful that by the time he was born the United States of America would still exist in any form we would recognize -- or, for that matter, that anyone would still be speaking a remotely comprehensible version of English, accented or otherwise. Barring utter catastrophe there would still be scholars who can read English, but no spoken language can survive that long in everyday use. (For example, even if someone today had full classical training, he would speak latin with such an atrocious and incomprehensible accent that a Roman wouldn't understand more than one or two words out of thirty.)

 

Remember, a lot of what the audience perceives on Doctor Who is the result of the viewpoint characters being affected by things like the TARDIS's translator field. The Docotr has been aboard the TARIDIS so long that this field, which he referred to once as "a Time Lord gift", is still with him even when he is separated from the TARDIS for long periods. He comprehends the speech of innumerbale aliens -- since we see the Universe through his eyes and hear it through his ears, therefore so do we. Captain Jack almost certainly has easy access to something similar, possibly implanted into his body -- and he also has the same sort of "slightly psychic paper" that the Doctor uses.

[BigJackBrass]

Re: Captain Jack

 

And, lest we forget, the token American on the show

 

Hope it doesn't upset anyone to learn that he's played by a Scotsman.

 

Fans of the good Captain might like to know that he'll be back in Series 3 of Doctor Who.

[Curufea]

Re: Captain Jack

 

Excellent - I thought he might turn up, based on the reapparances of mother and ex-boyfriend throughout the first series.

 

Is he a Scot who has lived most of his life in the USA? Because he still kept the accent in interviews.

 

Wait a second, series 3?

[JTesla]

Re: Captain Jack

 

Hope it doesn't upset anyone to learn that he's played by a Scotsman.

 

Fans of the good Captain might like to know that he'll be back in Series 3 of Doctor Who.

 

Very good to know, I liked the character very much. However, like Curufea I now need more information!

[wcw43921]

Re: Captain Jack

 

Remember, a lot of what the audience perceives on Doctor Who is the result of the viewpoint characters being affected by things like the TARDIS's translator field. The Docotr has been aboard the TARIDIS so long that this field, which he referred to once as "a Time Lord gift", is still with him even when he is separated from the TARDIS for long periods. He comprehends the speech of innumerbale aliens -- since we see the Universe through his eyes and hear it through his ears, therefore so do we. Captain Jack almost certainly has easy access to something similar, possibly implanted into his body -- and he also has the same sort of "slightly psychic paper" that the Doctor uses.

 

 

So it's a function of the TARDIS, huh? I always thought that Time Lords were moderately telepathic--not enough to read minds outright, but enough to communicate with alien species they'd never met before. They pick up the surface thoughts as they're expressed verbally, and transmit their own surface thoughts, which are perceived by the recipient as verbal expression.

 

Or something like that.

 

The Time Lords possessing telepathy would also explain the Doctor's--and most especially the Master's--ability to hypnotize people instantly and take complete control of them. Real-life hypnosis doesn't work that way. (Does the new Doctor have that kind of ability?)

[BigJackBrass]

Re: Captain Jack

 

Excellent - I thought he might turn up, based on the reapparances of mother and ex-boyfriend throughout the first series.

 

Is he a Scot who has lived most of his life in the USA? Because he still kept the accent in interviews.

 

Wait a second, series 3?

 

Lived in the US from age eight, I believe, but now based in London. He can turn on the Scots accent when he wants to.

 

And yes - dancing in the streets! - series 3 is apparently confirmed.

[Curufea]

Re: Captain Jack

 

Excellent!

Hopefully with no using up of more Doctor lives

 

And Timelords do have some psychic powers - they can sense things, especially related to time manipulation. They don't get as affected by time changes, and are very resistant to any form of mind control.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Captain Jack

 

So it's a function of the TARDIS' date=' huh? I always thought that Time Lords were moderately telepathic--not enough to read minds outright, but enough to communicate with alien species they'd never met before. They pick up the surface thoughts as they're expressed verbally, and transmit their own surface thoughts, which are perceived by the recipient as verbal expression.[/quote']

It has been explained different ways at different points int he series. the TARDIS function is the most recent, and most plausible, explanation. It also gave a good opportunity to muck about with Rose's perception of herself.

 

The Time Lords possessing telepathy would also explain the Doctor's--and most especially the Master's--ability to hypnotize people instantly and take complete control of them. Real-life hypnosis doesn't work that way. (Does the new Doctor have that kind of ability?)

Typical Time Lords are only mildly telepathic. the Matser is a speical caser becasue he has deliberately developed his hypnotic powers to the level he has. However, they do have distinctive limitations 9won't work on the same person twice) and the Master himself has miscalculated what he would do with them ("I am the Matser, and you will obey me." "Yeah? Well, I'm Perpugilliam brown, and I can shout as loud as you can!")

 

There are rumors of some Master stories in Season 28 (the new one with David Tennant), and it has not been annoucned for sure that he will come back and who will play him (persistent rumors like Anthiony Michael head of Buffy fame to the role).

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Captain Jack

 

Lived in the US from age eight' date=' I believe, but now based in London. He can turn on the Scots accent when he wants to.[/quote']

And also quite experienced with kissing men, both on and off-screen. He has played a lot of gay characters, and is gay himself.

 

Jack's behavior has been explained as a development of the era in which he was raised, ion which humans are more sexually omnivorous. There is also a lot of xenosexualioty (attraction to aliens) in his native time. Apparently in the 51st Century nobody has a single exclusive orientation and there is no stigma whatever attached to a person taking any partner they want.

 

Nothing like this would have been even considered in any earlier incarnation of the series,l but given that executuvie producer Russel T. Davies' most famous pre-Doctor Who series is the original Queer as Folk it shouldn't come as a surprise.

[Curufea]

Re: Captain Jack

 

Two things-

 

1) They will have to revise the "every other Timelord is dead" if they bring the Master back. But then - he has already officially died at least once in the series - run through all his regenerations.

2) It's Stewart Head, not Michael More famous these days for Little Britain as the Prime Minister

 

Was Jack in Queer as Folk? I never watched it.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Captain Jack

 

Two things-

 

1) They will have to revise the "every other Timelord is dead" if they bring the Master back. But then - he has already officially died at least once in the series - run through all his regenerations.

They've retconned out of spots like that before. There were at least three different occasions over the course of the run in which the Daleks have been completely expunged from time and space, for example.

 

2) It's Stewart Head, not Michael More famous these days for Little Britain as the Prime Minister

I doubt that series has ever appeared in North America. Anthony Stewart Head (thanks for the correction) made an inedlible impression here as Giles, reluctant mentor to Buffy Summers. (He also got one of the best songs in the notorious musical episode, "Standing").

 

Was Jack in Queer as Folk? I never watched it.

I don't think so -- at least, I didn't see it on the actor's IMDB entry.

[ThothAmon]

Re: Captain Jack

 

Although Captain Jack struck me as an obvious queer-friendly character written in by Russel T Davies, I'd have to agree with the sentiment that he's a very good character. Mr Davies took some obvious liberties to make the recent series 'Gay Friendly' but they all worked well.

 

I was particularly impressed by Jack's ability to produce a hidden blaster pistol after being stripped naked by the robotic versions of Trinny and Susannah (two BBC non-celebs who host a UK-based lifestyle show, excellently parodied in Dr Who). That particular talent demands a writeup.

[Curufea]

Re: Captain Jack

 

I would like to add - he appeals as a character to us heteros, as well you know. I have several friends who know nothing about the actor, or Russel's previous work, they're also hetero, and they also like Captain Jack.

 

I'll let you read your PC stuff into it, as you will. But to me, I just think he's a good character.

[Haven Walkur]

The return of Doctor Who!!!

 

Where oh where is all this info on the new Doctor Who series coming from? And where is the series showing? As an expatriot Brit whose last view of the Doctor was the made-for-television movie in about -- uh -- 1995, I'd love to know when, where and how this new series got going.

 

And apparently it's already up to Season Two?

 

Good heavens, I had no idea...I haven't seen a single episode! I suppose that's one of the prices you pay for living in South Dakota, an under-populated state up in the north of the USA. But I'd have thought the Canadians would be broadcasting the series....

 

Somebody please tell me all about it.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Captain Jack

 

I don't think I could tell you precisely how I've seen the new series without getting some of my friends into a lot of potential trouble. But apparently people have been recording the peisodes and related items (such as the concurrent "behiond-the-scenes" series Doctor Who Confidential), transferring them into video files, and putting them on the Internet usign BitTorrent and similar applications. Sometimes the files are distributed as read-to-burn DVD filesets, making them playable on DVD players once transferred to a disk the player can read.

 

The BBS is not at all happy about this particular development, for the same reasons Japanese animation proiucers are upset at the fansubbers on the Internet.

 

For the record, the CBC did show the new series (I don't know if they edited it for Canadian sensibilities), but South Dakota is probabl;y not close enough to the border to catch a Canadian station or have it carried by a cable outlet. The BBS has had an amazing lack of success at finding an American cable channel willing to carry the series at an acceptable price -- the Sci-Fi Channel and BBC America (which is NOT a subsidary of the BBC) both refused it outright. And the BBC is refusing to go direct-to-DVD in the US, and will not release the new series to the DVD market here until it is broadcast in the United States.

 

Which means that American Doctor Who fans are back to doing what they did twenty years ago -- breaking the law to get their episodes.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Captain Jack

 

Captain Jack will get you high to night

And take you to your special island

Captain Jack will get you by tonight

Just a little bit and you'll be flyin'

 

Billy Joel

[Curufea]

Re: Captain Jack

 

It was broadcast in both the UK and Australia (and possibly other places). The DVDs are available for sale in the UK and in Australia.

You can buy and watch them now, or you can wait for the box set in November.

 

It's weird hearing about USA scifi folk coming across the trouble normally I have to deal with in getting anything scifi

[BigJackBrass]

Re: Captain Jack

 

I would like to add - he appeals as a character to us heteros, as well you know. I have several friends who know nothing about the actor, or Russel's previous work, they're also hetero, and they also like Captain Jack.

 

I'll let you read your PC stuff into it, as you will. But to me, I just think he's a good character.

 

My thoughts exactly. Jack fills the role of "action man" which is essential if the Doctor is to remain essentially non-violent. He's not the first character introduced for this purpose - think back to Harry or Steven or Jamie - but he's probably the best written so far. The problem with male companions (and I'm using that term in its original Doctor Who sense, for anyone reading further into the homoerotic subtext of recent events) is that they can overshadow the Doctor if they get to do all of the action scenes, yet appear generally useless if they do not. Russell Davies has specifically stated that Jack was needed as a "soldier," to tote a gun and not shy away from violence. The real trick has been to make him much more than simply the Doctor's action stand-in and to cast such an excellent and likeable actor who has been able to bring him to life.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Captain Jack

 

One of the best of these "action man" companions may have been one of the very frist set of companions -- Ian Chesterton, the history teacher at Coal Hill School who, in 1963, followed one of his students "home" and discovered the TARDIS in Foreman's junkyard. His relationship with the Doctor was testy to say the least, not least because the Doctor himself was arrogant, abrasive, patronizing and had an alarming tendency to withold vital infromation if that was what it took to get his way.

 

I remember a lot time ago there was an article in my local club's newsletter that was about the third serial, "Edge of Destruction", which took place entirely within the confines of the TARDIS with only the regular cast. The writer thought it was an exceptionally cheesy story, but when i watched it I was enthralled, mainly because it was a superb example of mutual suspcion and paranoia at work. The Doctor was convinced that Ian was trying to kill him, Ian was convinced the Doctor was trying to do the same to him, and all sorts of recriminations ensued.

[Curufea]

Re: Captain Jack

 

Cross posted from my thread on NGD-

 

Doctor Who Spinoff Series

 

From http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2005/10/17/25634.shtml

 

Captain Jack gets his own show.

 

Torchwood will debut on BBC Three late next year. Created by Russell T Davies it stars John Barrowman as Captain Jack.

 

"Torchwood will be a dark, clever, wild, sexy, British crime/sci-fi paranoid thriller cop show with a sense of humour - the X Files meets This Life," says Russell T Davies.

 

"It's a renegade bunch of investigators charged by the British government to find alien technology that has fallen to Earth," BBC Three controller Stuart Murphy told The Independent.

 

The show will be set in Cardiff, and will be 13 45-minute episodes, transmitting between series of Doctor Who. Confirmed writers include Sapphire and Steel creator PJ Hammond.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Captain Jack

 

"And what about me? I'm going to die in a dungeon! In Cardiff!"

 

The new series was shown at Orycon and Captain Jack has proven to be very popular. And a lot of people are looking forward to Torchwood next year.

 

I'll be interested to see how Captain Jack gets off Game Station, though.....

 

On another Doctor Who note, the first David Tennant episode, The Christmas Invasion, airs this month. the full season will be airing on November, the Cybermen will be making their return, and Elisabeth Sladen (legendary '70s companion Sarah Jane Smith) and K-9 will be making a guest appearance.

[Curufea]

Re: Captain Jack

 

*Drool*

 

Anyhow - AFAIK Jack was the only surviver on the Game Station. He was the only one we explicitly saw get ressurected. The Daleks killed the rest.

But then, they can retcon other survivors if they want the actors in it. I don't think they will though - because then Jack loses his uniqueness as a person out of their natural time.

[BigJackBrass]

Re: Captain Jack

 

And speaking of people out opf their natural time, or place at least, I just saw Billie Piper in a modernisation (and quite a decent one, actually) of "Much Ado About Nothing." Very entertaining, except that every time she was on screen I kept wondering when Jack and the Doctor were going to walk in.