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Season 1 Torchwood

Combat

TorchwoodA series of deaths corresponding to Weevil attacks may be an indication that the rift is widening. Based on the evidence at hand, Jack thinks that Weevils are coming through the rift, being captured and then used as untraceable murder weapons. Even an attempt to use the one Weevil that Torchwood has in captivity fails, and so Owen is assigned to go undercover to find out more about a warehouse where the latest victim’s body was found. Posing as a businessman seeking warehouse space on the wharf, Owen meets Mark Lynch, an enigmatic but successful entrepreneur who complains that even wealth and power don’t satisfy him. He introduces Owen to a secret organization in which men who feel emasculated by modern life try to regain their manhood – by surviving a cage match with a captured Weevil. When Lynch discovers that there’s more to Owen than meets the eye, he decides that Owen will be the next gladiator.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Noel Clarke
directed by Andy Goddard
music by Murray Gold & Ben Foster

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoko Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Alex Hassell (Mark Lynch), Paul Kasey (Weevil), Alexandra Dunn (Barmaid), Matthew Raymond (Boyfriend), David Gyasi (Hospital Patient)

Notes: Writer and actor Noel Clarke, who was also behind the screenplay of the acclaimed (and somewhat controversial) film Kidulthood, is better known to Doctor Who fans in the role of Mickey Smith, Rose’s boyfriend during the first two seasons of that series’ revival. Elements of the story strongly resemble the novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, upon which the popular movie of the same name was based.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Torchwood

Captain Jack Harkness

TorchwoodReports of music from an abandoned dance hall get Jack’s attention; when he and Toshiko go to investigate, something strange happens and they slip through time to 1941. Jack quickly finds that he has to shield Toshiko from the locals’ suspicions of the Japanese at the height of World War II, and in the meantime, he’s introduced to a dashingly handsome American captain…named Jack Harkness. When Toshiko insists, Jack explains that this is the man whose identity he took after tumbling through time into Earth’s past. Worse yet, Jack is torn between falling for his namesake and trying to urge the real Captain Harkness to live his life to the fullest, for history records that tomorrow is the day he dies, heroically saving his men from a German ambush. Hovering about the dance hall at all times is Mr. Bilis Manger, the proprietor of the establishment – and curiously, Gwen sees him in the present day as well, completely untouched by the passage of time, and completely uncooperative in her search for evidence that could help to retrieve Jack and Toshiko. Owen has his own ideas on getting them back: open the temporal rift that runs through Cardiff.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Catherine Tregenna
directed by Ashley Way
music by Murray Gold & Ben Foster

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoko Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Matt Rippy (The Captain), Murray Melvin (Bilis Manger), Elen Rhys (Nancy), Nadine Beaton (Audrey), Gavin Brocker (George), Peter Sandys-Clark (Tim), Ciaran Joyce (Smiler), Melissa Moore (Singer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 1 Torchwood

End Of Days

TorchwoodThough he and Toshiko have returned safely to the present, Jack is furious with Owen for opening the rift, especially when people from throughout Earth’s history begin appearing, resulting in, among other things, a revival of the bubonic plague in the heart of Cardiff. Jack and Gwen go to pay Bilis Manger another visit, but he proves to be full of cryptic, less-than-helpful advice – until he shows Gwen a vision of what he claims is the future, in which she sees Rhys murdered. Gwen brings Rhys to the Torchwood Hub for his own safety, but another appearance by Bilis proves that no one is safe even there – and it is Bilis himself who fulfills the prophecy and kills Rhys just before vanishing again. One by one, the other members of Torchwood experience visions of long-lost loved ones, each urging them to open the rift again to save the world. Jack is the only one who doesn’t have an unsettling vision, but it’s already too late: the rest of his team is convinced that opening the rift will set things right, and Owen is willing to kill Jack to keep him from interfering. But when all hell breaks loose through the rift, who will save Torchwood – and the world – now?

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Chris Chibnall
directed by Ashley Way
music by Murray Gold & Ben Foster

Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoko Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Murray Melvin (Bilis), Tom Price (PC Andy), Caroline Chikezie (Lisa), Louise Delamere (Diane), Matthew Gravelle (Doctor), Noriko Aida (Toshiko’s Mother), Jamie Belton (Roman Soldier), Carrie Grace (Newsreader), Paul Kasey (Weevil), Rhian Wyn Jones (Religious Woman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Doctor Who New Series Season 03

Utopia

Doctor WhoThe Doctor once again brings the TARDIS to Cardiff to recharge the timeship’s engines with energy from the interdimensional rift that runs through the city. When he spots Captain Jack running toward the TARDIS at full speed, the Doctor tries to dematerialize the TARDIS – but Jack, eager to seek the Doctor’s help with his newfound immortality, leaps onto the time machine and clings to it as it tries to escape him. The TARDIS makes a rough landing on the eve of what could be the last night of humanity: the universe is collapsing, the stars and galaxies are dying, and the last remnants of humankind huddle in a rickety launch silo, awaiting their orders to board a rocket that will take them to a planet called Utopia. Trying to help ready the rocket, but making little headway, is the enigmatic Professor Yana, who seems to have a strange reaction to the Doctor and the TARDIS. A race called the Futurekind closes in on the last human settlement to feed, and Yana reveals that the rocket really won’t work at all. As the Doctor and Jack try to help, Martha notices that Professor Yana has a pocketwatch similar to one which once hid the Doctor’s personality and genetic information – a device of Time Lord design. But when the Doctor realizes that he isn’t the last Time Lord in the universe, he faces the horrifying revelation that only one other member of his race could’ve had the drive to survive the Time War…

Download this episodewritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by Graeme Harper
music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Sir Derek Jacobi (Professor Yana), Chipo Chung (Chantho), Rene Zagger (Padra), Neil Reidman (Lieutenant Atillo), Paul Marc Davies (Chieftan), Robert Forknall (Guard), John Bell (Creet), Deborah MacLaren (Kistane), Abigail Canton (Wiry Woman) and John Simm (The Master)

Notes: Both this colony and the isolated human colony seen in Frontios (1984) are said to be the last human colonies in existence in the universe, though the implication is that Utopia is set much, much further in the future, during the twilight of the universe itself. During Professor Yana’s moments of mental distress, sound clips of Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley as past incarnations of the Master can be heard; ironically, Sir Derek Jacobi played the part of the Master in a one-off animated Doctor Who story, Scream Of The Shalka, as well as starring in a well-received UtopiaDoctor Who: Unbound audio story, Deadline. Presumably, Jack’s chase after the TARDIS takes place immediately on the heels of his disappearance in the Torchwood episode End Of Days (and the Doctor remarks that the Cardiff rift has seen recent activity, possibly from the opening of the rift in that episode), although End Of Days strongly implies that the TARDIS materialized inside the Torchwood hub. (Maybe the scattered papers found by the rest of Jack’s team were an indication of how fast he ran outside…)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Doctor Who New Series Season 03

The Sound Of Drums

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, Martha and Jack are barely able to escape their fate in the year 100,000,000,000, returning to present-day Earth only when the Doctor is able to modify Jack’s teleportation device. But the England they return to is in the thrall of its new Prime Minister, the charismatic Harold Saxon – a man that the time travelers now realize is the Master’s new incarnation. The three are declared high-risk enemies of the state, and Martha’s family is rounded up and placed under arrest to bait her – and the Doctor – out into the open. Once in office, “Saxon” quietly kills off his entire Cabinet and then announces to the public that he will conduct first contact with an alien race in full public view. The newly elected American President flies to London to demand that Saxon’s alien encounter take place with a more international presence, to which Saxon only reluctantly agrees. The Doctor, Martha and Jack teleport aboard the airborne UNIT aircraft carrier Valiant, where first contact will take place with the Toclafane – a name that the Doctor remembers from Gallifreyan children’s stories, but not a name that he’s ever heard connected to an actual alien species. When the Toclafane appear, they assassinate the President on Saxon’s orders, and he then has the Doctor brought before him. Using a laser screwdriver modified with the anti-aging technology pioneered by Dr. Lazarus, the Master ages the Doctor by decades, and kills Jack (with the full knowledge that Jack will recover). Using Jack’s teleport, Martha teleports away from the Valiant as millions of Toclafane burst into the Earth’s atmosphere, murdering countless people on the ground. The reign of the Master has begun – and now Martha can count only on herself to bring it to an end.

Download this episodewritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by Colin Teague
music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), John Simm (The Master), Adjoa Andoh (Francine Jones), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Tish Jones), Travor Laird (Clive Jones), Reggie Yates (Leo Jones), Alexandra Moen (Lucy Saxon), Colin Stinton (President), Nichola McAuliffe (Vivien Rook), Nicholas Gecks (Albert Dumfries), Sharon Osbourne (herself), McFly (themselves), Ann Widdecombe (herself), Olivia Hill (BBC Newsreader), Lachele Carl (US Newsreader), Daniel Ming (Chinese Newsreader), Elize Du Toit (Sinister Woman), Zoe Thorne, Gerard Logan, Johnnie Lyne-Pirkis (Sphere voices)

Notes: For the first time in the new series, the Time Lords and their world are seen as the Doctor reminisces about Gallifrey. The description of Gallifrey having orange skies and silver leaves dates back to a verbal description given by the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan of her home planet in the first season of the original series – the 1964 six-parter The Sensorites – though this is really the first time that the show’s incumbent production team has gone out of its way to stick to that description. The flowing Time Lord ceremonial costume, first seen in 1976’s The Deadly Assassin, was originally created by then-costume designer James Acheson, and the design is largely adhered to here. Also seen is a black-and-white garment which was seen on the Time Lords in their first screen appearance, 1969’s The War Games. Here, there seems to be an implication that the black and white robes signify that the wearer is a novitiate or a Time Lord in training, which does not seem to have been the case in The War Games. The Master’s “origin story” here has never before been recounted in the television series; different versions of the Master’s origins – though perhaps not necessarily conflicting – can be found in the novel “The Dark Path” and the Big Finish audio story Master. The mention of Time Lord children being “taken from their families” may or may not conflict with the New Adventures novels’ continuity, which states that Gallifrey is a sterile planet whose children are “woven” on looms of genetic material; the families from which the children are taken could just as easily be the novels’ families comprised entirely of cousins. On the other hand, the novels’ Gallifrey-as-sterile backstory may already have been invalidated by the eighth Doctor’s memories of being on Gallifrey with his father (again, seen in the 1996 TV movie). The Time Lord practice of taking families from their children for training may or may not be an homage to a similar practice among the Psi Corps in Babylon 5, when humans with telepathic ability are detected at a young age.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Doctor Who New Series Season 03

The Last Of The Time Lords

Doctor WhoA year after the Master’s takeover of Earth, the aged Doctor remains his prisoner aboard the Valiant. After an escape attempt with the help of Martha’s family and Captain Jack, the Doctor is subjected to the Master’s aging process again, this time winding up as an emaciated, tiny figure unable to regenerate. Still, he promises that he has only one thing to say to his fellow Time Lord – one thing which the Master is not interested in hearing. As for Martha herself, she has spent a year walking the Earth, spreading the word of the Doctor’s heroics and planting instructions for an eventual uprising against the Master’s rule. With the help of other resistance fighters, Martha discovers the horrifying true nature of the Toclafane, but is eventually captured by the Master and sentenced to death. Even in the face of execution, Martha remains defiant, because she holds the secret to restoring the Doctor to his full power – and then some. But just how far will the Master go to torment his nemesis?

Download this episodewritten by Russell T. Davies
directed by Colin Teague
music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), John Simm (The Master), Adjoa Andoh (Francine Jones), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Tish Jones), Travor Laird (Clive Jones), Reggie Yates (Leo Jones), Alexandra Moen (Lucy Saxon), Tom Ellis (Thomas Milligan), Ellie Haddington (Professor Docherty), Tom Golding (Lad), Natasha Alexander (Woman), Zoe Thorne, Gerard Logan, Johnnie Lyne-Pirkis (Sphere voices)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

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Season 2 Torchwood

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

TorchwoodSome time after Captain Jack’s mysterious disappearance, Torchwood has continued to track down aliens and their artifacts as they seep through the interdimensional rift running through Cardiff. Gwen has assumed command, but she’s left at a bit of a loose end when Jack suddenly returns, and a new mystery conveniently prevents him from explaining where he’s been. That mystery arrives in the form of Captain John Hart, who introduces himself as a former time agent – like Jack – though no one’s quite sure what that means. He’s on Earth to seek Torchwood’s help, but Jack has grave misgivings about his former fellow con man’s mission. But when he picks up on how little Jack’s team know about him, Captain John takes the opportunity to stir their vague mistrust of their leader.

Season 2 Regular Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Burn Gorman (Owen Harper), Naoko Mori (Toshiko Sato), Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones)

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Chris Chibnall
directed by Ashley Way
music by Murray Gold

Guest Cast: Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), James Marsters (Captain John Hart), Menna Trussler (Old Woman), Paul Kasey (Blowfish), Crispin Layfield (Mugger), Nathan Ryan (Victim), Inika Leigh Wright (Hologram Woman), Sarah Whyte (Teenage Girl)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Torchwood

Sleeper

TorchwoodAn attempted robbery in urban Cardiff ends with one of the criminals dead with a vicious wound left by some kind of blade, and the other in a coma – and a traumatized couple who seem to know nothing about what happened. Torchwood takes over the investigation from the police, and their interest quickly homes in on Beth, one of the couple who was attacked. Her statements don’t seem to add up, but her reactions to being in Torchwood custody seem perfectly normal for a scared civilian. When Jack insists on scanning her with a mind probe, only then does Beth’s true nature emerge – she’s not human at all, but an alien sleeper agent in human form, gathering intelligence and preparing to clear the way for an invasion. When the probe is discontinued, Beth’s seemingly human personality reasserts itself, but her alien physiology makes it impossible to isolate her by something as mundane as stasis or cryogenic freezing. She escapes the Torchwood hub with Jack and Gwen on her trail, but massive explosions, brutal murders and other incidents in and around Cardiff reveal that Beth isn’t the only sleeper agent there. The entire cell has reverted to a single-minded drive to complete the mission – and begin the invasion ahead of schedule.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by James Moran
directed by Colin Teague
music by Ben Foster

Guest Cast: Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Beth), Dyfed Potter (Mike), Doug Rollins (David), Claire Cage (David’s Wife), Sean Carlson (Mr. Grainger), Victoria Pugh (Mrs. Grainger), Luke Rutherford (Burglar 1), Alex Harries (Burglar 2), Dominic Coleman (Police Officer), Paul Kasey (Weevil), William Hughes (Boy), Millie Philippart (Girl), Matthew Arwel Pegram (Driver), Derek Lea (Paramedic)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Torchwood

To The Last Man

Torchwood1918: A young soldier, trying to recover from shellshock experienced on the front in the war, is brought to a hospital in Cardiff – a hospital where the nurses claim to be seeing ghosts. Two people approach him, identifying themselves as members of Torchwood, and secure his immediate release, insisting that he come back to their base of operations with them.

2008: The soldier from 1918 is unfrozen and revived from suspended animation, as Torchwood’s modern-day counterparts try to figure out what connection he has to a series of disturbances in time, centered around the hospital from which he was taken. Toshiko is particularly taken with him, and is appalled to learn that the solution that will stitch the timelines back together in their natural order will require him to return to 1918 permanently. But worse, he won’t return only to be patched up and sent to the frontlines again – he’ll resume his shellshocked state and be executed by firing squad for “cowardice”. Knowing that this fate awaits him, can he muster the courage to return – or will Toshiko let him return – to his own time?

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Helen Raynor
directed by Andy Goddard
music by Ben Foster

Guest Cast: Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Anthony Lewis (Thomas), Roderic Culver (Gerald), Siobahn Hewlett (Harriet), Lizzie Rogan (Nurse), Ricky Fearon (Foreman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Torchwood

Meat

TorchwoodTorchwood responds to an accident involving a shipment of meat – from the packing plant where Rhys, Gwen’s fiance, works. The truck has wrecked, the driver is dead, and Jack and the team arrive to take a sample of the meat. Rhys has also gotten as call about the aaccident, and sees Gwen on the scene, assuming it’s part of her police work…but she later denies having been there. Owen identifies the meat, and as the team expected, it’s a creature that’s slipped through the rift. Suspicious, Rhys trails Gwen the next day, as she and the rest of her team converge on the slaughterhouse. But before he can confront her, he’s accosted by the men running the operation, and bluffs his way in…where he discovers that they’ve captured a huge, whale-like alien, still alive, which keeps growing and regenerating itself after meat is cut out of its body. Rhys tells Gwen about what he’s seen, and she brings him to the Hub, where it’s decided – very much against Gwen’s wishes – that Rhys is now Torchwood’s best chance to shut down the alien meat operation. Gwen feels that Rhys is taking on the assignment to impress her, trying to compete with her life of secrets and danger, but he temporarily joins the team anyway – even if this mission sends him to the abattoir.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Cahterine Tregenna
directed by Colin Teague
music by Ben Foster

Guest Cast: Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Colin Baxter (Policeman), Patti Clare (Ruth), Garry Lake (Vic), Gerard Carey (Greg), Matt Ryan (Dale)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Torchwood

Adam

TorchwoodRhys helps make Gwen just a little bit late for work, and when she arrives, there’s an unfamiliar face at Torchwood – a man named Adam who everyone else already seems to know. When he puts his hand on her shoulder, however, Gwen remembers him instantly – of course, it’s Adam, a longtime member of the Torchwood team. But when Gwen gets home, she suddenly can’t remember Rhys and thinks he’s an intruder (despite everyone else in Torchwood knowing who he is). Everyone confides in Adam, and more importantly, everyone’s got nothing but good memories of working with Adam. But by chance, Ianto encounters evidence that Adam isn’t a part of Torchwood and never has been – and when he confronts Adam with this discovery, Adam threatens to reveal Ianto’s dark secret.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Catherine Tregenna
directed by Andy Goddard
music by Ben Foster

Guest Cast: Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Bryan Dick (Adam), Demetri Goritsas (Jack’s Father), Lauren Ward (Jack’s Mother), Jack Montgomery (young Jack), Ethan Brooke (Gray), Rhys Myers (young Ethan), Paul Kasey (Weevil), Jo McLaren (Murdered Woman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Torchwood

Reset

TorchwoodA series of unexplained deaths attracts the attention of both Torchwood and UNIT, resulting in a rare collaboration. UNIT loans out its new medical officer, Dr. Martha Jones, to Torchwood – and the rest of Torchwood seems terribly surprised when Martha and Jack seem to go back a long way. But even more troubling is the evidence Martha finds during the autopsy of the latest victim – a needle mark in his eye, and a substance in his bloodstream that she thinks is erasing medical evidence. Another victim turns up, alive, but shortly before she dies, she tells Martha and Owen that she had previously had HIV, but that it was miraculously cured by a drug called Reset that she took as part of a clinical trial. When she dies, insects erupt from her open mouth, and then die just as suddenly. They turn out to be of alien origin, but the organization conducting human trials of Reset is keeping everything very hush-hush – and they’re aware of Torchwood’s investigation. Martha volunteers to pass herself off as a new clinical test subject, but even with Jack and his team backing her up, she may be in over her head – and getting her out of danger turns out to be a deadlier endeavour than usual.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by J.C. Wilsher
directed by Ashley Way
music by Ben Foster

Guest Cast: Freema Agyeman (Dr. Martha Jones), Alan Dale (Copley), Jacqueline Boatswain (Plummer), Jan Anderson (Marie), Rhodri Miles (Billy), Michael Sewell (Mike), John Samuel Worsey (Policeman)

Notes: The “mayfly”‘s method of incubating its larvae inside the human body have led some fans to draw the conclusion that the enormous insects are, or are related to, the Wirrn fought by the fourth Doctor in The Ark In Space, though there’s nothing in this episode to confirm that. Martha’s boyfriend is presumably Thomas Milligan, seen in Last Of The Time Lords. The Doctor apparently put in a good word for Martha after she left his company in that episode, leading to her UNIT recruitment.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Torchwood

Dead Man Walking

TorchwoodAs the team struggles to come to terms with Owen’s death after the Reset incident, Jack insists on using the other resurrection gauntlet – the opposite number of the one used by Suzie Costello – but unlike the first glove, it brings Owen back for two minutes – and then some. Even when Jack removes the glove, Owen is still walking around and talking, but he has no pulse. Martha determines that something is bringing about drastic changes to Owen’s biochemistry: he’s already only 40% human. What the other 60% is, no one knows – until Owen’s eyes change completely to black and he begins speaking in an alien language in a voice that isn’t his. Even the Weevils fear him. With time running out, and an alien presence apparently using him as its foothold on Earth, Owen comes up with an option that horrifies his teammates: having himself enbalmed while still alive to rob the presence of its host.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Matt Jones
directed by Andy Goddard
music by Ben Foster

Guest Cast: Freema Agyeman (Dr. Martha Jones), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Skye Bennett (Little Girl), Paul Kasey (Weevil), Joanna Griffiths (Nurse), Ben Walker (Jamie Burton), Lauren Phillips (Hen Night Girl), Golda Rosheuvel (Doctor), Janie Booth (Hospital Patient), Rhys Ap William (Police Officer)

Notes: The first resurrection gauntlet was last seen in the first season’s They Keep Killing Suzie, another instance in which it didn’t exactly behave as advertised.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Torchwood

A Day In The Death

TorchwoodHaving survived thus far, Owen is driven to the brink of insanity with the knowledge that he simply can’t die – but with his body hovering between life and complete death, he can’t eat, sleep or have sex either, which rules out most of his favorite activities. Relieved of his duties at Torchwood and replaced by Martha, Owen is reduced to making the coffee until an assignment arises that requires a way to get someone in past heat sensors. Since Owen’s body generates no heat, he’s perfect for the mission, but he also has to make sure not to take any physical damage since his body doesn’t heal either, which may make this a suicide mission – and this, too, may suit Owen just fine.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Joseph Lidster
directed by Andy Goddard
music by Ben Foster

Guest Cast: Freema Agyeman (Dr. Martha Jones), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Richard Briers (Parker), Christine Bottomley (Maggie), Louis Decosta Johnson (Farrington), Brett Allen (Taylor), Gil Kolirin (Webb)

Notes: Joseph Lidster got his start as a professional writer by sending in a spec script for Big Finish Productions’ Doctor Who audio adventures, which – after a few revisions – became 2003’s experimental and somewhat controversial story The Rapture. He’s become one of the most prolific and popular writers in the Big Finish stable, and has also written print fiction for official Doctor Who annuals and short story collections. A Day In The Death was his first professional TV script. Guest star Richard Briers appeared as the evil Chief Caretaker in Sylvester McCoy’s second story as the Doctor, Paradise Towers, in 1987; at least here he didn’t have to act next to any enormous neon eyeballs.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Season 2 Torchwood

Something Borrowed

TorchwoodThe day before Gwen’s wedding is typical Torchwood – a desperate chase to track down a shapeshifting alien vampire from the rift, followed by a bachelorette party. But as the big day dawns, Gwen has more than jitters or the strange bite on her arm to deal with: she awakens to find that she’s not just pregnant, but very pregnant – almost to full term. Despite the reactions of everyone around her, from Rhys to his parents to her own parents, Gwen is determined to go ahead with the wedding. Owen discovers that the baby isn’t Rhys’s – nor is it that of any other human. The male of this vampire species reproduces by infesting a host body through a bite, and the egg grows in that body until the vampire female arrives to harvest it and give birth. Immediately the hunt is on for the female vampire among Gwen’s wedding guests, but even if she can be found and dealt with, the wedding might be derailed just a little bit – and then there’s the small matter of the rest of the wedding party witnessing a hunt for an alien creature.

Order the DVDsDownload this episodewritten by Phil Ford
directed by Ashley Way
music by Ben Foster

Guest Cast: Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Nerys Hughes (Brenda), Sharon Morgan (Mary), William Thomas (Geraint), Robin Griffith (Barry), Collette Brown (Carrie), Danielle Henry (Megan), Ceri Ann Gregory (Trina), Jonathan Lewis Owen (Banana Boat), Morgan Hopkins (Mervyn), Valerie Murray (Registrar), Pethrow Gooden (Shop Assistant)

Notes: Nerys Hughes guest starred as Todd in the 1982 Doctor Who story Kinda alongside Peter Davison.

LogBook entry by Earl Green