Sorry Pirates of the Caribbean fans--as much as I love Jack Sparrow, I am actually referring to Captain Jack Harkness from Russell T. Davies' reimagined Dr. Who and original spin-off Torchwood.
The story goes like this:
In my avid consumption of Stargate Atlantis fan fiction (it's like crack, people) I came across multiple stories that were crossovers with Torchwood and featured my beloved captain. Now I am a fool for crossovers in my fan fiction, and even if I've never seen the show that's crossing over, I'll read the story if the premise sounds interesting enough. This is how I managed to get sucked into the awesomeness that is Farscape and Battlestar Galactica (well, only partly for BSG), and will probably lead to me getting completely sucked into Babylon 5 when I finally get around to checking out the series on DVD. So I read the SGA/Torchwood crossover stories and was completely intrigued by Captain Jack. So I thought to myself I would check out this show Torchwood and see if it had any potential.
Well, turns out, the show was in its first season over in Britain at the time--which meant not airing anywhere in the US. So okay, I could probably have found the episodes online somewhere, but I am too lazy to do that, and there are usually legal implications and all that. Plus I found some info on a news site that BBC America (one of the best cable channels ever) was planning to air the show the following season. Woohoo! So...just a little patience and I could find out what this was all about.
In the meantime, since Torchwood was a Dr. Who spin-off series, and since Jack Harkness was the character that they were carrying over to the new show, I figured it might be time to give Dr. Who a try.
I'll confess, I had never seen any of the previous incarnations of the show. All I really knew about Dr. Who was that at one point while Davies was working on getting the new version up and running Eddie Izzard was being considered for the role of the new Doctor (which, I have to agree with my husband, now that I have a point of reference, totally wouldn't have worked, as much as I love Izzard). I also knew that the fans of Dr. Who got really super persnickety when Stargate SG-1 got lauded (and put in the Guinness Book of World Records, I believe) for being the longest running sci-fi series. Who fans threw a fit about this, because the good Doctor has been around in one form or another since the sixties. Here's the thing--the show, much like the Doctor himself, comes and goes. The award for SG-1 was for longest consecutively running sci-fi tv show. It had at that point been on air for ten seasons straight. The Doctor's never done that. Okay, sorry, that's still a bit of a quibble for me. Where was I? Oh, right...okay...so I was a neophyte into the world of Dr. Who.
I decided to give it a whirl when the new(ish) third season aired on Sci Fi Channel back in July. I think it took maybe an episode and a half and I was hooked. So I went and ordered the first two seasons on DVD so I could get caught up. As of right now I have seen all of season 3 and all of season 1. Season 2 is next up on my DVD watching list.
As it happens, I finished up watching season one right around the weekend Torchwood finally aired on BBC America. So I did actually manage to see the introduction of Captain Jack on the parent series and get some back story on him before I saw the first episode of Torchwood. (Which by the way, is every bit as awesome as I thought it would be--despite the weirder than weird episode about a cyberwoman.)
So who is Captain Jack Harkness? Well, as portrayed wonderfully by John Barrowman, he is a former "time agent" from fiftieth century Earth. He is human but due to an encounter with a Tardis-enhanced Rose Tyler, he can no longer die. (For those as new to the Doctor as I once was, the Tardis is Dr. Who's time-traveling ship and Rose was his companion for the first two seasons.) After getting stuck on Earth in the far past, he must actually live through the next few centuries until he can find the Doctor again (after he has met the Doctor in his original timeline, of course) and get his time-traveling device repaired. One of the things he does with this time is to reinstate the institute of Torchwood, which is a group dedicated to tracking alien contact on Earth and protecting the human populace from aliens and alien technology. It's pretty nifty.
Anyhoo, I seem to have totally wandered off from what I had originally planned to post. My apologies. It's been one of those days where my brain just refuses to stay on track. Long story short, this is my favorite new character on television. I can't wait to see where his story goes. He popped back up at the end of Dr. Who season three (to set the scene for airing Torchwood, I'm sure, given how skewed the airing in the US is when compared to the original airing schedules). I very much enjoy that he can carry his own show but also integrate so smoothly with the characters on Dr. Who.
So, there you go. I'm pretty sure I have stopped making sense, so I'm not going to torment you any more. I will close with my answers to a survey that my mom posted on her blog last week. I've been meaning to put mine up and now I'm finally getting around to it.
1. What time is it?
9:35 p.m.
2. What's your family nickname?
I remember once I was Kitten and I think
3. What are you most afraid of?
Hm…I don’t know how to answer this without getting terribly existential.
4. What is the most recent movie that you have seen in a theater?
3:10 to
5. Place of birth…
6. Favorite food
tacos or Chinese food
7. What's your natural hair color?
brown
8. Ever been to
nope
9. Ever been skinny dipping
not so much
10. Love someone so much it made you cry
very much so
11. Been in a car accident
yes, when I drove that darn Saturn it was a magnet for accidents
12. Croutons or bacon bits
can’t I have both?
13. Favorite day of the week
Tuesday (new DVD day!)
14. Favorite restaurant
Chili’s or P.F. Chang’s—it’s a toss up
15. Favorite Flower
daffodil
16. Favorite sport to watch
hockey
17. Favorite drink
tea (hot)
18. Favorite ice cream
chocolate-chip cookie dough
19. Warner Brothers/Disney
I’m a Disney brat
20. Ever been on a ship?
I don’t think I’ve ever been in anything that qualifies as more than a boat
21. What color is your bedroom carpet?
beige
22. How many times did you fail your driver's test?
3—go on, mock me, I dare you (explains a lot, huh?)
23. Before this one, which blog did you look at last?
Jane Espenson’s (television screenwriter)
24. What do you do when you are bored
watch DVDS, read, crochet, torment the cat, call my friends…
25. Bedtime?
Usually between 9:30 and 10 on weeknights—Friday and Saturday all bets are usually off though
26. Who will post this on their blog?
I really couldn’t tell you
27. Who won’t?
Also, no idea
28. Who is the person that you are most curious to see their responses?
I’ll be curious just to see if anyone else picks this up
29. Favorite TV shows
Stargate Atlantis, Torchwood, Bones, it goes on and on really…
30. Last person you went to dinner with
my hubby, yay for date night!
31. Smokes or Drinks
I have been known to enjoy the occasional margarita
32. What is your favorite color
green
33. How many tattoos do you have
five
34. How many pets do you have
two cats and a husband
35. Which came first, the chicken or the egg
again with the existential—I still maintain that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has an excellent answer to this question if you choose to look for it
36. What do you want to do before you die?
I would really like to a) complete a story and b) get it published
37. Have you ever been to
honeymoon in
38. Have you been to countries outside the
I spent a random few hours in
39. How many people read your blog?
I’m going to say maybe 2.5?
40. Time this survey ended
9:51 p.m.
That's all I've got. Have a good one kiddos!
TTFN,
C
(Almost forgot!)
Recent acquisitions: Degrassi High the complete series
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