Utopia Speculation

[taffimai]

I've been pondering the continuity issues raises by the clip we saw of "Utopia" and what we saw in "End of Days" and I have an idea ...

What if they're both accurate?

Everyone's been looking at the Utopia trailer as a huge problem, since the only thing that we know from End of Days is that Jack didn't go out through the tourist office. It certainly looked like the Doctor picked him up from the Hub, but Jack taking the invisible lift up to the Plass was certainly possible. And yet in Utopia he's clearly running to catch the Tardis on the Plass from that direction of the tourism office.

And that's not the only problem.

In Utopia Jack has a rucksack, but it definitely doesn't look like he had time to grab a bag in End of Days. Now it's not a hard sell that Jack always keeps a bag packed, just in case, but it doesn't seem likely that he's keep it in the middle of the hub, and it doesn't seem like there would have been time to grab it from anywhere else.

Finally, in End of Days Jack has just revived, he looked like hell and seemed weak. In Utopia he's all-out sprinting towards the Tardis. This isn't a huge issue, since we have lots of evidence of Jack pushing himself and doing what's needed, but it's a little strange.

So why assume that the two are mutally exclusive? What if Jack did get picked up by the Doctor in the Hub, a Doctor from a later point in his timeline who wanted to get Jack ready to face his younger self? It would resolve all the issues in continuity, since the Doctor would have dropped him off just out of site on the Plass, Jack could have packed a bag from his old room in the Tardis, and the Doctor would have given him some time to recover his strength. Plus, given the little we've seen of the Doctor in Utopia, I could see older-Doctor wanting to prepare Jack for the idiocy of his younger self.

Obviously it's a bit early to know if this works, but I thought it was interesting. What do you all think?

Comments

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

You know, I think a lot of writers aren't sure how to write physical TW-Jack h/c, because the healing thing hasn't really been discussed in canon. It actually annoys me quite a bit, because we don't have anything that would imply that Jack has accelerated healing but it's somehow become fanon.

We need a hurt-Jack campaign. *ponders*

[fandom-me.livejournal.com]

I hate the accelerated healing fanon thing so, so, much.

He got punched by Ianto and that wound lasted. He got shot and killed in End of Days and came back obviously hurt. When Abaddon killed him he looked like shit after he got up (but no more bullet holes, admittedly). He stands up, groaning after Cyberwoman. After he got killed on Satellite Five he was staggering.

Now, admittedly he had the bullet hole from being shot by Suzie kind of remarkably and magically heal in seconds, but this leads me to believe that the injury that kills him will get healed to keep him from staying dead - but only just. It also makes me think Suzie's the fluke, and honestly with a hole still in his brain he shouldn't have popped back up after that one.

There is nothing in the world that should keep TW_Jack from being hurt and staying hurt. Darn it.

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

The Suzie thing definitely works against us. I think the fact that he seems fine after he chnages his shirt at the beginning of Combat does too. But for god's sake, this is Jack. A few claw marks didn't stop him from chasing the damn thing down, why would you think he'd let it slow him down afterwards?

And? You should post this.

[fandom-me.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the claw marks I assumed got covered, not magically healed. The Suzie thing's the only real 'wha?' for me, and that's because he was seriously dead and he stood up while he was healing. I think, for me, the most likely explanation is his brain came on and the urgency of the situation took over.

I should post which where?

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

You should post the no-accelerated-healing rant. Either in your lj or on the torchwood community. Because it's brilliant.

(Also, after taking care of -- read: snogging -- Ianto, he was obviously still in pain when he rolled away.)

[fandom-me.livejournal.com]

...I will so totally post it to torch-wood. I'm a masochist that way. besides, discussion's good.

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

*cheers*

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

*butts in* I've always worked on the assumption that he recovers quickly from death (I love being able to write that), but minor injuries take an approximately normal amount of time to heal. So if he breaks his leg, he's out for the time a regular person would be, but if he breaks his neck, he's out for a short time and then recovers.

The recovering from dying seemed to get longer as the series went on - Suzie shooting him in the head took under a minute, Owen doing the same took a couple of minutes. So maybe it's got something to do with how healthy he is when he dies? He's not exactly on top form when Owen shoots him.

But yeah - regular cuts and bruises and stuff? I reckon they're the ones that stick around.

[fandom-me.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's about how I work. If it kills him, it heals. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

*butts in* I've always worked on the assumption that he recovers quickly from death (I love being able to write that), but minor injuries take an approximately normal amount of time to heal. So if he breaks his leg, he's out for the time a regular person would be, but if he breaks his neck, he's out for a short time and then recovers.

Yes, this is exactly right. :)