fajrdrako | Torchwood: 12 Oddities...

I've talked before about how I love the details of Torchwood, visually and conceptually. The list is almost endless: the baby TARDIS on Jack's desk, the circular diagrams on his office window that look Gallifreyan to me, the swirly blue lights and the intense red lights. There are so many things I can stare at> thinking "What is that?" without being sure whether I'm looking at a perfectly normal object, or something weird and alien. Part of the charm is that I do know the story behind some of the objects. The 1950s TV screens in Jack's office? They're from the Doctor Who episode "The Idiot's Lantern". The 3-D specs? "Doomsday". The yellow coral has been identified extra-textually by Russell T Davies. The Doctor's hand in the jar was explained rather fully in "Utopia", to Martha's disgust. It makes a person feel that what we see isn't just random decor or things thrown in for atmosphere and character, it's all part of a larger story fitting around the story we see. All part of the universe. And I love that.

There are all sorts of things even beyond these which make Torchwood visually odd, and I've listed my thirteen favourites. I'm hoping other people will speak up with more - I've only scrutinized some of the episodes. Here's my list:

1. The hole in Jack's wall.

This particular picture is from episode 1x01, Everything Changes, but the hole is visible in many episodes, below his clock and to the left. Gwen never got it fixed when she took over the office and renovated it for series 2. I can't help wondering what caused it - a blow? a mishap with an alien weapon? is there something behind the hole?

There are other holes in the walls in the Hub, for equally unexplained reasons. There's a big one by the stairs to the left of Jack's office, which we see most clearly in "Greeks Bearing Gifts":

It's still there in series 2, as well.

2. Owen wears Gwen's clothes. Not literally, but I did a bit of a double-take when looking at this picture from "Day One":

Because dark jeans, a red shirt, and a leather jacket are what Gwen characteristically wears:

Is she copying Owen?

3. What's on the floor?

I've always been confused by this scene from "Everything Changes", where we see the Hub (from Gwen's viewpoint) when Jack takes her for a ride on the Invisible Lift. It looks as if the stones from the fountain area are scattered around the floor - or something is. In series 2, it seems Gwen has made more effort to demarcate the walkways, and we see the perspective more clearly, first, when Jack was bringing Captain John into the Hub:

And then when Rhys got his visit:

Is this simply their idea of interior decoration?

4. In the episode "Meat", we get this view of Gwen, arguing with Rhys in their flat:

The amusing thing is the book on the shelf behind her, which you can't see very clearly unless you look closely:

The book right behind Gwen is My Year of Meat by Ruth L. Ozeki.

5. Suzie's ring. No, not on her finger. She wears a ring on a chain around her neck. We see it clearly in the scene in "Everything Changes" where she tries to shoot Gwen, but she's wearing it also from the beginning:

I don't know why she's wearing the ring, and she doesn't seem to have it in "They Keep Killing Suzie" - which probably simply means that she wasn't left in the cryochamber with it.

Besides being curious about the ring's story, it reminds me of the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings, which almost destroys Frodo with its evil. Are we sure Suzie was the victim of a nasty psycho death-glove? Might it have been her ring which corrupted her?

6. Bad Wolf, on the wall in the dance hall in "Captain Jack Harkness":

What I like best here - besides its delightful nod to Doctor Who continuity and the concepts of time travel and time paradoxes - is that it's so apropos for this episode. The phrase ties Jack to Rose, and he met Rose in 1941, the same year he and Toshiko return to. It also has implications of events in the future which influence events of the past - just as Jack is about to step unexpectedly into a touch of the past that will change his future, or at least, his present.

7. The feet in the trash bin in "Day One", behind Jack's left shoulder:

The feet are not explained, and don't need to be - they've nothing to do with this story as far as I can see. But they have such an odd, quirky charm, especially when Jack and Gwen don't so much as give them a casual glance. So... why were they there? Is this something like the Bad Wolf graffiti and the Doctor's hand, that we might recognize?

8. The ladder in Jack's office:

There's nothing strange about a ladder in the Torchwood Hub. It has levels here, there, and everywhere. We know about another ladder in Jack's office,leading down to the place he (sometimes) sleeps. But this one intrigues me. Where might it lead?

9. Owen's buttons. We know Owen is not just the King of the Weevils, he's King of the Geeks, and he has to wear buttons:

"I'm a mess", the one on the left says. Sometimes I really love Owen.

10. The Torchwood Dragon:

Simply gorgeous.

11. Rhys's jacket. Okay, not so much the jacket as the thing he hangs it on:

Rhys remains adorable.

12. High scores - from a game?

Hanging and lit on the left: High scores, with numbers crossed off. Notes not changed from Suzie's time? Left for nostalgia's sake? Or has no one bothered to change or move it? What were they playing?

Cross-posted to my livejournal, my Dreanwidth journal, and the torch_wood community. With thanks to the various people who provided screencaps for my perusal: