Torchwood and time travel...

[fajrdrako]

I was musing over Captain Jack's time travel capabilities. Do we have any reason to think he can't travel in time whenever he wishes?

Put another way: do we know anything about the time-travel methods of the Time Agents?

Jack did not lose his capacity for time travel when he left the Time Agency, since he was still dashing off to times/places like "London 1941" and "Pompeii Volcano Day" whenever he wished. It was not done with the technology of his Chula ship, which was a more recent acquisition. If it was done with his wrist-band technology, he still has that, just as he still has the mechanism to scan for alien tech.

We don't see him using his time-travel techniques in the Doctor Who episodes "Boomtown", "Bad Wolf", or "The Parting of the Ways", but he doesn't need to - he's where he wants to be, and he has the TARDIS to travel in. If he can still travel in time and/or space with Time Agent methods, it explains how he got off the game station - and that the Doctor knew he could leave.

I'd been thinking that the hand was the only thing Jack still had of the Doctor's, but I think now I was wrong. He must still have his TARDIS key, which he had in his pocket at the end of "The Parting of the Ways".


[cross-posted to galactic_conman and torch_wood]

Comments

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

when he was in his ship with the bomb end he expected to die he didn't use any inherent timetravel capabillities of himself or of the ship. So I guess he can only travel if he happens to find a mode of transport. Just like all of us. Put us in the Tardis with someone who can operate it and you can timetravel. See numerous companions of the Doctor. It is not something your body or mind needs specific capacity for.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hmm, good point. But then how did he get to 1941, or Pompeii, or wherever he wanted to go?

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

I assume the Chula space ship he was in had that capacity, but it was blown up with the bomb - remember, only Jack walked into the Tardis and got told by Rose to shut the door. So exit ship.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, that ship is gone. But it wasn't specifically a Time Agency ship, so I had concluded that it in itself was not necessary for the mechanics of time travel. Moreover, since he seemed to have acquired the ship in a con (or an outright theft), I concluded that he got the Chula ship after his days as a Time Agent, when he was already pulling cons on the unsuspecting. But then, his victims were Time Agents, so perhaps he'd targeted a Chula Time Agent - ?

I think the complications are making me dizzy!

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

I think a very crucial factor in figuring this out is "how common is time travel in the dr Who universe"

If it would be very common we could assume Jack just sort of hops a ride whenever he fancies. Then, the Chula ship could be one of many he has used in his long carreer as a con. If it is rather rare than we need more explanation.
Unfortunately, the canon is very obtuse about this.In 1 audio series (Gallifrey) there are several timetraveling races and also several more who aim to acquire that capabillity.

I actually go for the: born on Earth, married Estelle, got involved with some timetraveler during the war, recruited to time traveling agent, as far as what I I hear read/saw for timetravel you need either a ship, a portal (can manifest itself as a road) a ring (well 2 actually, Bernice and her ex husband both have one) or extreme temporal powers (the son of Bernice had those for a while) or one of these surfboards the Slytheen major wanted to use in combination with the Rift. A portal is the only one with 2 fixed points, the rest are flexible. My impression that the very special powers of Bernice son are extremely rare and not available to Jack (he was also half human). I assume that Jack used the rift in someway to get back from the satelite to earth.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I think a very crucial factor in figuring this out is "how common is time travel in the dr Who universe"

Yes, and that's hard to judge. I don't think it can be very common, but that begs the issue with regard to scale and scope.

we could assume Jack just sort of hops a ride whenever he fancies

If anyone could charm a ride from anyone else, Jack could. And we saw him hop a ride on the TARDIS - though it wasn't actually a deliberate act, the Doctor nabbed him before he was blown up.

I don't have anything like the familiarity with canon that you do but in "The Stone Rose", there was a girl with time-travelling capabilities - her father had invented a time machine. I'd say time travellers are somewhere between 'rare' and 'unusual'.

You chronology regarding Jack sounds plausible. I hope we learn more!

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

just downloaden and starting watching some sundaymorning show with food and bable and John Barrowman as guest. He said about the difference between a time agent and a time lor: time lords are born into it (they are citizens of Gallifrey but he didn't mention that because I guess he didn't want to make it too complicated) and time agents are trained by the time lords. Time lords have their own Tardis and time agents don't they just have to find their own mode of transport.
That quite fits with my impression. Though their are more ways of traveling than by Tardis. (it is definitely canon that there are more Tardisses around, at least the one of the Master)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

just downloaden and starting watching some sundaymorning show with food and bable and John Barrowman as guest.

So did I! I get a kick out of thinking that you and I were doing the same thing just now, sitting in our respective homes (with an ocean between us) watching a morning cooking show, of all things, from the UK. I never watch cooking shows! But there I was, all for the sake of cute and funny John Barrowman, watching a cooking show and enjoying it.

Isn't the Master dead and gone? With the Time War?

I did like what he said about Time Lords and Time Agents.

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

Isn't the Master dead and gone? With the Time War?

Remember the by your so despised Dr Who movie? the Doctor had to bring the ashes of the Master to Gallifrey according to his last wishes. And then the Master took over a few people in an attempt to grasp the Doctors remaining lives and his Tardis. He ended up defeated trown into the eye of the Tardis (just wondering, won't the Tardis run a risk of getting corrupted, being the dustbin where all these baddies get dropped in?)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hmm. But the Time War happened after that, didn't it? Was the Master kept safe in a kind of TARDIS-induced stasis in the Eye? I was thinking he died with all the other Time Lords. But now I think of it, there's no guarantee... if a zillion Daleks could stay alive in the Genesis Ark in the void, then maybe the Master is still hanging out in the Eye, sort of like the Phantom Zone at DC comics. Interesting idea.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

But if it's just a time-travel device and not also a tranporter, it wouldn't help him much to travel in time at that point. He'd just be left in space to die, I think. That's why the TARDIS is so great -- it travels in time and in space.