Sunday, March 16, 2008

Saturday. I slept in the morning. I made random lists around noon; that usually makes me feel better; yeah - I do know I'm derranged. In the evening, Mark & I went to Borders, Hollywood Video, Blockbuster (to see if Ben was working), Krogers, and Little Caesars. When ate when we got home, and watched Batman Beyond. Then I took a nap, while Mark watched "I Am Legend". I woke up when Mark was putting that back in my room, and I watched "Enchanted" which was ok.

Before leaving with Mark, I called Michael to make sure he was feeling better, as he was feeling ill last night...and he was feeling better and we talked for just a few minutes, as I was getting ready to go. But I felt like we were getting on better than Friday night. Friday night Michael was in need of some attention, and not happy to hear that I couldn't give it to him, as I was seeing to myself, and I explained why, and he didn't seem to get it...which isn't his fault per say...but he was kind of a dick about it, though I knew this was because he was stressed out and tired, and apparently feverish. I said goodbye, as any further conversation would have led to me being a dick in return, and I got back to him on Saturday to make sure all was well. And now that we're all caught up, I signed on to yahoo messenger and after I said goodbye Friday night he said something rather sarcastic (which arrived on my screen when I signed on)...and now I'm pissed again. Whatever. I could go on. But I just don't feel like wasting my energy on something so pointless. Get over it. Move on. That's what I say. ;-0)

I may watch "I Am Legend" today. Not sure.

   posted by Bald Jason at 04:21 AM
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- Random Doctor Who List 01 -

Returning Characters & Species in Season 30 of the Whoniverse:

01 Gwen Cooper
02 Owen Harper
03 Toshiko Sato
04 Ianto Jones
05 Captain Jack Harkness
06 PC Andy
07 Rhys Williams
08 The Weevils
09 Sarah Jane Smith
10 Butterfly People of Arcateen V
11 K9
12 The Slitheen
13 The 10th Doctor
14 Donna Noble
15 Geoff Noble
16 Sylvia Noble
17 Wilfred Mott
18 Martha Jones
19 The Ood
20 The Sontarans
21 The Graske
22 Rose Tyler
23 Mickey Smith
24 Jackie Tyler
25 The Daleks
26 Davros (rumored)

We also see photographs and references to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Harry Sullivan, The Cybermen, Martha Jones's family, Harold Saxon/The Master and Margaret Blaine (aka Blon Fel-Fotch Pasameer-Day Slitheen). :-0)

   posted by Bald Jason at 05:01 AM
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I did sleep, though not as much as I'd have liked. I had cool dreams though. Part of it was a recurring dream I've had about this strange fortress in some trees where I used to play as a kid. The rest involved me and my cousin Michael Curtis, falling to a rebellion at a secret headquarters with Chris 'Box' Taylor, Mike Shank, & Faith (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer); all of us striving to save the Harry Potter characters in the non-existant, new book. I remember thinking that Mollie was talking about reading the books again, and here I was inside of one. lol

I read Michael's blog. Apparently he's feeling sick again. That sucks. I hope he's gonna be ok.

I forgot to mention that yesterday, out of nowhere, Mark decided he was going to buy my groceries for me. It was this random act of kindness, that may never be explained. But I took half the money I saved from that, and reordered the 3rd Season of Battlestar Galactica on DVD. I'd ordered it previously, but then cancelled it, as I'd hoped we'd get it at work, only I know that we didn't now, and I really want to see the dvd versions of the webisodes (which should come in a lot better on the discs), plus there were some sound / speed issues in the first few episodes I had of that season...but mostly I want it for the new extended cut of "Unfinished Business", which is already my favorite episode of that season - 25 minutes of new footage there!

I need to order some new D9's. I probably should have ordered those instead, but I'll look to see how their priced at the moment. And decide from there.

I'm aching for new Torchwood / Doctor Who. We should have new episodes almost every week through the beginning of July. I'm very excited about the final 3 Torchwood episodes; they sound more appealing to me than the previous episodes, most of which were good (though I really disliked the last one). And it will be so good to see Donna again on Who. I think she'll liven things up a great deal.

The new K9 series might be starting in July, though that's yet to be confirmed. I'm gonna try to get that as well, so I can see if there's any potential for an eventual Who crossover, despite the leagle mess they've created for themselves. It will probably be stupid, but there's always hope...I think. lol

My room is a mess again. How do I do that so quickly? lol

   posted by Bald Jason at 03:32 PM
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   Tuesday, March 18, 2008

I worked Sunday night, which was really hectic, though it calmed down towards the end of the night, and I helped this nice lady find some fun movies, which cheered me right up. I do love helping people find good movies ;-0)

After work, I intended to go right to bed. I just couldn't sleep though. I tried. I layed in the dark...and I was really tired, but nothing was happening. Blah. I got up and updated some stuff, and I played a game, and I rewatched 'The Prince of Tides'; which also cheered me up. I finally fell asleep after Mark left for work in the morning. I slept most of the day.

Monday night I talked to Michael briefly lon the phone, then went to Necto. I danced with Chrstine and Bobby. I met John (who I complimented months ago), but it turns out he's just 20 years old. I'm such an old man. lol. I had much good clean dancing fun. :-0) After the bar I talked on the phone with Michael, but let him go to take a shower. I thought I'd fall asleep, as I was now physically exhausted...but again I couldn't sleep. I worked on some online stuff, and again went to sleep around the time Mark went to work...sleeping for just 3 hours before getting up for work.

I was a little late. Mark had to be dropped off as he's having this open house at work... He got a ride home so I could leave work ontime to sleep...and here I am again not sleeping. I don't know what's wrong with me, sleepwise lately...but I need to get some sleep or my stomach will be really unhappy later. Blah.

   posted by Bald Jason at 06:36 PM
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   Wednesday, March 19, 2008

I did get to sleep eventually, after the last entry. When I woke, I called my friend Carrie, who had left me a message in response to one I'd left her after work. We hadn't talked in months and it was good to chat with her. She was a Battlestar Galactica fan before I was, but hasn't seen Season 3, the webisodes that take place between Season 2 & Season 3, and never even heard of Razor, as she watches the series on DVD. I told her she could borrow Season 3 from me, and that I'd purchase Razor so she could watch that as well. The webisodes are included on the Season 3 set, so she'll be all caught up soon.

When I went online to order Razor, I randomly clicked on the Season 2 link on my website and found they had dropped the price for the 2 Season 2 releases from over $40 a piece down to $25 each! I ordered the 2nd half of Season 2, and the Razor movie. I later decided to go back and order part 1 of Season 2, as I didn't know if this was a sale or something, and I didn't want to miss out... Only they'd already changed upped the price back to the outragious normal going price on both halves of the season, so while I was bummed that I'd missed out on the one half, I was also really happy that I hadn't hesitated on the other. They should arrive here either Friday or Monday I think.

I watched some Battlestar last night actually. I rewatched Razor which I liked even more the 2nd time. I watched an episode from Season 2. And it's just odd watching the older episodes, knowing what is revealed at the end of Season 3 (no spoilers here - it's just...strange). But it's fun too. :-0)

I went to be around 10am. I slept until 4pm. It was really nice. I feel really rested. When I got up, I went to the door and picked up the packages which I knew were probably there (Battlestar Season 3, and some D9 discs). I called Mollie and left her a bunch of messages. She hasn't returned any of my calls in...like a week, which is starting to freak me out. I then read online that instead of getting 1 episode of Torchwood this week, 2 days later than I'm used to, I'm actually getting 2 new episodes this week; 1 tonight, and another on Friday. Tonight's episode looks way cool, but Friday's episode is the one I've been most excited to see since the season began! Way cool. Now it's possible that the finale will air a week from Friday, but if it doesn't, it will definitely air 2 weeks from Friday (the same night that Season 4 of Battlestar begins). With Doctor Who starting 1 to 8 days later! :-0)

So...I need to clean my room. And Eat. And Michael might come over later. I haven't seen him in at least a week I think; possibly longer. He was sick and I was crazy, so things have been hectic lately. I can't see him this weekend as he's going out of town. Oh well. Maybe we'll watch some Firefly. Maybe I'll get him started on Battlestar... Maybe we'll just have a lot of talking. I don't know. We'll see. lol. ;-0)

Oh. And I don't know if I mentioned this before, but the long gestating Battlestar Galactica prequel tele-movie "Caprica" has finally been green lit and is expected to go into production this Spring. It could very well be a stand alone flick, but it's also set up as a possible pilot to a series set 50 years before Battlestar Galactica. Same Universe, but a completely different take on it - all character based, with less fighting. I love the fighting and all, but this other thing sounds way cool. :-0)

Ooh. And there will apparently be new webisodes coming our way as well, starting in mid-April. :-)

Ok. I'm gonna go now.

   posted by Bald Jason at 06:39 PM
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   Thursday, March 20, 2008

I broke up with Michael.

I miss him already.

There was this amazing episode of Torchwood on tonight, and I wanted to call him after seeing it and talk about it with him, but I told him I'd give him space and time for him to think. I still want to be his friend so badly... ugh. This is exactly what I've been dreading.

I like everything we had and did together. I just want that translated into a friendship. Is that terrible? I hope he's ok.

   posted by Bald Jason at 02:38 AM
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I'm chatting with Michael on gay.com - not sure if it's going well or not. He says I'm not bothering him. Am I being selfish, talking to him like this? I don't know. I've never been in this situation before. There should be a book or something.

He told me he had written a poem for me earlier this week. He posted it in his latest journal entry. It made me smile, and feel wretched all at once. Because he's suffering and it's my fault. But my feelings for him haven't changed at all. I just want to be his friend. And not in a vapid kind of way. I really do mean it. Ugh.

   posted by Bald Jason at 05:25 AM
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So...geeky stuff.

Torchwood airs again tomorrow night.
Then we have 14 days with nothing new.
There's a slight possability that this
is wrong, but I don't think so. :-0(

Good news though. The finale airs on
Friday April 4th, which I knew...
But it's now been confirmed that

DOCTOR WHO BEGINS Saturday April 5th! :-)

Yay. :-0)

   posted by Bald Jason at 04:29 PM
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So I'm officially depressed.

This 13 day stretch, beginning with March 18th is usuall a rough patch for me, but I've gotten good at distracting myself from anything troublesome.

Only now I may have lost Michael forever. I probably haven't. We'll probably be friends. But how long will it take before that happens? It sucks.

I should work on my room. That's my big project now. The one that allows me to unwind and vent and exhaust myself until I feel nothing... This is maybe why there has been no poetry this year. My room consumes all that I'd write about, and makes it a different shade of art.

So I figured I'd go to Borders to get these books I was looking at a few weeks ago, when Michael & I were there. We stopped in and it was really late (nearly 11pm) and I just didn't have enough time to look through the selection that I wanted to see. Well, tonight I made sure that I had plenty of time, getting there about a quarter to 10, which would give me at least an hour to browse. Only they've now started closing at 10pm (since this last Monday apparently) and as soon as I walked up to the section I wanted to explore they announced that the store would be closing in 12 minutes!?! I asked this woman that worked there about and she she smilingly told me about the new hours... and a tear actually fell from my eye. And it took all the strength I had to not throw the heavy book in my hand at her perky wrinled face.

Oh. And we got this new color printer, which is way cool, but we don't have the paper I need to print up the pictures I was going to distract myself with. And I usually have a shake at night - it's this little treat I allow myself - and I don't have the icecream I need. And all these little things are just accenting the fact that Michael is gone, and all these hospital children memoris are flying through my brain...and I'm sort of a mess at the moment.

Things with my mother have never been wonderful, but they're so fucked up right now, and I don't even know how to fix that. And my little sister, who used to be cool has someone transformed into this bitch monster who lives to insult and rip into me behind my back! Family wise...relationship wise...in all kinds of 'wise'...I'm not. And it's starting to get to me.

And I can't talk to Mollie about it because the people at Sprint screwed us all over. And people wonder why she's my best friend... It's not that they can't see that she's wonderful, or why I like her, but what they maybe don't see is how when I'm at my worst, she makes me laugh. She tells me some horrible story about her job or how she hurt her leg while chatting on the internet...and I realize I'm not hurting all alone...and everything is ok.

In the car, on the way home, I was haunted by the cutting voice. That little voice that said that a razor would feel really good about now. Not to kill. Just to distract. I haven't really heard that voice in years. If it was there, then it was just so low as to be unrecognizable. I thought I'd killed it, buried it, and left it to rot. Oh well. Zombies all around then.

   posted by Bald Jason at 10:28 PM
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   Friday, March 21, 2008

I'm so tired.

I can't sleep. I've got acid issues, which are only going to get worse. Blah.

But I'm not depressed at the moment; just exhausted.

I read some more of my Trek book, which I hadn't done in at least a week. I've got 40 pages left.

We have ants. I'm cleaning my room, to help stave them off I suppose. Don't know if that will help really. It's not like my room is that bad. Oh well. I'm so looking forward to sleeping tonight.

Oh. And of course I'm looking forward to seeing Torchwood, though honestly, I'm too tired to be excited about it. Once I sleep that will change, I'm sure.

   posted by Bald Jason at 09:26 AM
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   Saturday, March 22, 2008

I slept for about an hour before work. Before the sleeping I read some more of my Trek book. I have 30 pages left now. After waking, I talked to Mark on the phone, with every intention of snoozing a bit longer, but I didn't want to make us late, so I got up to eat and shave, which took longer than I expected, but my stomach which had been feeling kind of iffy wasn't giving me any trouble, which was a nice surprise :-0)

I was about a half hour late, but I worked 2 hours over...and I had such a blast! I know that sounds crazy, but my stomach wasn't bothering me as I expected it too, and I was working with DJ & Bryan and John, and Pat and Laura... And I was doing really well on sales, which isn't always the case, and it was just a lot of fun. Or at least my sleep deprived brain thought so. And just before I left with Mark, Nathan Ackerman stopped in, and I got two big hugs from him, which was great; I miss him so much! I miss him and Bobby (who's coming back) and Matt & Heidi & Andrea & Linda & Candace, and Lee and...almost everyone I've ever worked with at Hollywood I suppose. :-0( But seeing Nate was great. :-0)

When I got to work there was barely any snow left. I even wore my shoes instead of my boots. But...while working there was a blizzard. There were lots of reports of terrible car accidents. And we were all in this little bubble of fun.

DJ got in a bit of trouble for being wickedly rude (with common sense remarks) to a couple, which was so beyond cool. And DJ's been watching Doctor Who and was set to start watching "Army of Ghosts"; Part I of the 3 part finale to Season 2 - which ripped out my heart and then fed it to me. I'm so excited to see what he thinks.

On my break I watched a bunch of deleted scenes from Season 3 and I'm so bummed that they weren't in the episodes; some of them were really juicey. Some of them were really big, and obviously cut for time...it was kind of like seeing a whole series of lost episodes. Very cool. Mark and I watched the extended cut of "Unfinished Business" Wednesday night, which I loved. Mark felt that the aired version was a superior cut, and while I do agree that the cut that was aired was fantastic, I find it hard to walk away from so much new character material. I'd compare it to "The Fellowship of the Ring" and the differences between that film's theatrical cut and the extended cut. I actually prefer the theatrical cut - I think it's a much more emotional film. Yet I find it impossible to watch that cut of the film, even though I own it, because the scenes they put back in are really great. I didn't have that problem with the other films in the trilogy, because I feel that for those 2 films, the extended cuts are extemely better films than those released in theaters. Hmmm.

Mark stopped at Meijer on his way to get me to get ant traps (which turned out to be the wrong type), photo paper for the new printer (which I don't think is hooked up yet) and some ice cream for me. He also stopped to get gas. He wanted to get Little Caesars after work, but I ended up not getting anything, because even though I was feeling great (aside from a slightly scratchy throat), I didn't want to risk upsetting my sleep deprived stomach with pizza.

When we got home I searched online for the new (and penultimate Season 2) Torchwood episode...but couldn't find anything. I did however manage to stumble into some spoilers that I could have put together for myself, but was trying to avoid none-the-less, which means I've got to rework my episode order a bit, which is to be expected with the end of season episodes of both Torchwood and Who - I just know now that some changes need to be made. I'll know more when I see the finale on April 4th, and then get into the Doctor Who episodes (starting April 5th).

I kept searching on & off for the episode. I had my shake and it helped my throat feel better. I hope I'm not coming down with something. I napped, but was woken by text message from Michael saying that his trip up-state sucks beyond the telling of it. I smiled, though it woke me up, because Michael was communicating with me. I slept some more and dreamt I was hanging out with the Buffy cast (a recurring dream for me, though in real life I don't have any real desire to know them personally), and I introduced Michael to Sarah Michelle Gellar. It was nice. I had to leave though, and drive my little sister home. She was being a bitch again. She had these huge headphones on (which made it impossible for us to communicate) and then her music was so loud that it actually drowned out mine. It sucked. Later I dreamed I in the former Sludge Club, now known as the Red Room at Necto, which is always much larger in my dreams. I was there meeting my new Step-Mom, who's husband had only recently found out he was my father. She seemed like she wanted to connect to me, but then got shit-faced and I left. A lot of my co-workers were there too; I remember passing Pat & John as I left...and woke up.

Mark was getting ready for bed. He confirmed that if I got the new Torchwood episode he wanted me to wake him. Not 5 minutes after him getting to bed it was posted. He said cool and went to sleep. I'll wake him when it's done (it's got 1 minute to go).

It's done. I'm gonna transfer it downstairs so we can watch it there, or actually, maybe we should just watch it in here.

Later.

   posted by Bald Jason at 01:28 AM
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The Torchwood episode was brilliant. Mark was unhappy with some of the production values, but the character & series continuity was so right, and explained so many different bits that I couldn't fault any of that. There was one tiny continuity flub, but really it was only the suggestion of one. There wasn't any evidence I could see to confirm it, which suits me fine! All season long I've been both looking forward to and dreading this episode, because I suspected that they might have a hard time reconciling so many different elements from the past, but they solved a lot of shit. Mollie & I have discussed the 2 stories that Jack has told (to Toshiko & The Doctor) about how & why he joined Torchwood, and the stories seemed to contradict each other and we figured he lied to one of them...only he didn't; they're both true - which rocks! I'm uber-geeked about the finale, which airs in just under 2 weeks now. Erg. :-0) I can't wait for Mollie to see these episodes; I was thinking it had lost it's way just 2 episodes ago, only to be blown out of the water by the most recent installments - and the finale looks like it's going to be a bumpy ride!!! :-0)

   posted by Bald Jason at 02:37 AM
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I went back and checked some things online and then checked bits of the episode. There is a flaw in the episode, which might not be a flaw - they're notorious on Torchwood for giving us bits of information at a time, and there are so many ways they could explain this bit that it just doesn't bother me, because they got so much of it very right!

The other thing that struck me is that some of the references to time, seem to suggest that this season of Torchwood is spread over a rather large period of time. There are 13 episodes this season. Episodes 1-3 all take place in early June, but the recent episode seems like it would have to take place around April 2009? Or maybe I'm screwing up my math? I've not had a lot of sleep, and I'm not good with numbers on a regular day. Either way, I need to think this out... And I need to work out how the season plays out some more. But these kinds of puzzles are fun for me. :-0)

   posted by Bald Jason at 03:34 AM
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I wanted to write something about the new Torchwood episode, that's a lot more detailed and spoiler filled - which means if Mollie is reading this - then just stop now. lol. That goes for anyone else who hasn't seen the episode. Just skip this. Because I want to talk about all the amazing stuff that was revealed here. Got that?

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Ok. Here we go. The episode in question is called "Fragments" it's the 12th episode of Torchwood's 2nd Season. It's the 25th episode of Torchwood overall. And at this point I'm thinking it's episode 092 of the New Whoniverse episodes (beginning with 'Rose' as episode 001); episode 33 of Whoniverse Season 4 (that's taking the 4th Season of Doctor Who, the 1st of The Sarah Jane Adventures & the 2nd of Torchwood, combining them, and placing them in an order that supports continuity), and by my current reckoning...makes it episode number 795 of all Doctor Whoniverse episodes (starting with "The Empty Child" back in 1963).

The episode serves as part 1 of at least 2 episodes, as it leads us into the finale that will air Friday, April 4th in the UK; the day before Doctor Who Season 4 begins. The story (though we don't know this until the end) is about the return of Captain John Hart, last seen in the season premiere "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang". He's really not happy about being rejected by Jack in the previous episode and is back for his revenge. He sets a trap for the Torchwood team by leading them into a deserted bulding, loaded with bombs that simulate rift stuff and alien lifesigns - the perfect bait for the Torchwood team. John knows he can't kill Jack, but he's hoping to kill those that Jack loves (more than him) and this is just the start of his plan. The team enter the building (minus Gwen who's late getting up - and is being driven to the site by Rhys), split up and find the bombs just before they go off. The episode is then split up into section in which we see each member of the team facing down their death or possible grusome damage with them remembering how they came to be a part of Torchwood...while Gwen & Rhys dig through the rubble to find them. This is a neat twist, as we don't need to see any of Gwen's Torchwood history - we've already seen all of it. :-0)

Jack dies in the bombing, but we know he's going to come back because we know how Jack will one day die for real in "Gridlock"). His flashback section apparently starts in 1908 (or nearly so), no date is given, though it's revealed through dialogue that Jack will wait 100 years before he finally meets the Doctor again (which he does in February 2008). This section is great fun, with Jack at his best and lots of fun continuity relating to Doctor Who episodes like "Tooth and Claw" & "The Parting of the Ways"; episodes of Who that should be required viewing for Torchwood fans. The Torchwood women that recruit Jack are sexy and scary. You get to see an early construction scene of the Hub. You learn why Jack joined Torchwood, and why he stayed. This actually makes sense given what he told Tosh in "Captain Jack Harkness" & what he told the Doctor in "Utopia" / "The Sound of Drums". Very cool. We also learn that including the death he resurrects from at the start of the 1908 section, that Jack will die 1,392 times between 1908 & his 2009 death in the bombing. And that figure doesn't even cover all his deaths since he became immortal. When we encounter Jack in 1908, he's been living on Earth for 39 years (he's explained that he arrived in 1869), and we know about some of his early deaths from his dialogue with the Doctor in "Utopia".

Later we see a flashback of New Year's Eve 1999. What struck me first about this story is that this is the same time frame as part of "Doctor Who: The Movie", and I was thinking...somewhere close by (relatively speaking), the 8th Doctor is running around! Yay! :-0) Beyond that we learn in this section how Jack came to possess Torchwood 3, and where that line about everything changing in the 21st Century came from - which I alwasy thought was odd, but now has this amazing feeling about it. Wow. Nicely done.

However...in the background we see the hand in the jar. If it's meant to be the same hand in jar from the first season of Torchwood, then they seem to have the Doctor's hand nearly 7 years before his hand is severed. But we never saw Torchwood recover the hand, so there is plenty of room for them to explain that away - because it doesn't really contradict anything that we've seen on screen. If we'd seen Torchwood recover the hand during "The Christmas Invasion" or there had been some reference to same, then this would be a huge plot-hole. As it is, it just raises some interesting questions. Or not. It's possible that the hand in the jar is not the Doctor's but something else, which is replaced with the Doctor's at a later date (presumable after Christmas 2006). Anyways - this possible plothole is just that at this point, and not the flaw that it could have been, which makes it not bother me at all. In fact, it makes me hungry for a story explaining the hand in the jar in 1999 (and later shown again in 2005). :-0)

Jack is found by Gwen and Rhys, dead. He revives, much to the shock of Rhys, and they get Jack out, and begin searching for the others. We move on to Tosh's history. Tosh's backstory wasn't as fun as Jack's. Back in 2004, she's being blackmailed for high tech designs that she has access to (in the government think tank mentioned in "Greeks Bearing Gifts" I assumed), by some people who are holding her mother hostage. She gives them what they want, but then the operation is shut down by UNIT. Tosh is held, and will apparently be held forever. Until Jack comes along, and sees how brilliant she is, he recruits her to Torchwood, with the stipulation that she won't be able to see her mother again, but that she'll be able to send her postcards and things. This is cool because it explains why the appearance of Tosh's mom (who is apparently alive) is such a revelation to Tosh during "End of Days". Very cool. I was hoping for a bit of something relating to her appearance on Doctor Who, but this doesn't confirm that anymore than her background from "Greeks Bearing Gifts" did, unless I missed something. It was cool however, that Tosh's background here meshed so well with what we knew about her from before; all the dates line up - if the current year is 2009 - which later is confirmed. In the present Toshiko is saved. She has a broken arm and some bruised ribs.

We move on to Ianto in the rubble, who hears Jack calling for him and it flashes back to 21 months before, which by my reckonging places it in June 2007, which makes perfect sense, since this is apparently February 2009. And Ianto's story takes place just after "Doomsday" which also takes place in June 2007. And given what we know that Ianto is taking care of (Cyberwoman Lisa), it makes sense that he'd try to get into the other branch of Torchwood as quicly as possible. We also learn here that Jack cut off all ties with the other Torchwood, which also supports what Jack had told the Doctor. And this section also explains where our beloved pet dinosaur came from, and also hints at the Jack / Ianto chemestry to come. Last year I rewatched "Cyberwoman" and I was struck by the little hints that seemed to imply that Jack & Ianto were already involved in some way at that point, well, this episode supports that theory. Now I don't think they were fucking at that point...but they were obviously attracted to each other, and I think they had some intense feelings for each other by that point. Everytime I see "Cyberwoman" and Ianto says: "Haven't you ever loved anyone Jack?" - it just sounds like he's asking if Jack loves him, and it's heartbreaking. This episode just strenthens those scenes in my mind. This scene also references that Owen, Tosh & Suzie are part of the team at this point in time, with what I think might be a veiled reference to them concerning the GLOVE; or about how they might be about to find it. The team lineup, which is about to include Ianto, makes sense, as that's the lineup for the team when Gwen stumbles on to it later that year. In the present, Ianto is saved, and has his shoulder relocated by Jack, and they continue to search for Owen.

Owen's backstory takes place in 2005. He was a doctor, engaged to be married to a woman he loved deeply. Medically she's falling apart and he feels helpless. His fiance dies, and it comes to light that she was killed by an alien parasite of some kind. Jack recruits him to Torchwood. This is a good backstory for Owen, as it explains why he's cut himself off from everyone; what made him cynical about relationships, and made him into a whore - and explained his reactions to Diane. This is just lovely work. This works very well.

Also in Owen's section - in the present, he's stuck in the rubble. We know he can't die, because he's already dead, but we also know he can't heal, and this is played out in terrifying suggestion, as a broken window is getting closer and closer to falling directly down on his face, which he'd survive, but only to walk around looking like a movie style zombie! Really disturbing stuff, but only through suggestion, which was brilliant. He's evenutually saved by Gwen, who risks being impaled herself to save him from a fate worse than what he's already enduring.

As the team regroups, they find the SUV is gone, and Jack gets another hologram message from John, explaining the trap and hoping that some of the team has died. John says he'll rip Jack's world apart and that maybe then he'll want to spend some time with John. He reveals that he has Jack's brother Gray. And everything is set up for the finale. Nice Work.

Now I'm left wondering about the origins of the hand. I'm left wondering how the finale will end. I'm wondering if Jack's crossover to Doctor Who will be set up in that episode. I'm wondering about how Rose, Mickey, Jackie, Sarah Jane, Martha & Captain Jack are all recruited in the finale of Doctor Who that's coming up, and how that will all fit together in my list of episodes....that's just the way my geeky brain works. :-)

   posted by Bald Jason at 06:59 PM
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