Another thought about "Torchwood: Border Princes"...

[fajrdrako]

I was thinking about James in Torchwood: Border Princes, and was thinking how familiar certain aspects of his story seemed. Couldn't quite grasp what I was trying to remember. It particularly concerned his departure/death.

Then it came to me: the Doctor Who episodes episode "The Family of Blood". James did exactly what the Doctor did, and vice versa. James didn't want to become himself again - whatever his "self" was as a Border Prince - because the only life and consciousness he could remember was that of James Mayer. Just as John Smith didn't want to become the Doctor again, because for him it was like a death - all he could remember being was John Smith, the human.

And like the Doctor, James was in love with a human woman he wanted to stay with. Unlike Joan, though, Gwen will forget James.

Mr. Dine is in the role of Martha, knowing what James has to do and helping him to do it. Even though James doesn't understand and doesn't want to change.

I like the theme.

I was also thinking that we never get James' cover story. Presumably he infiltrated Torchwood the same way John Smith moved into the school - everyone always thought he'd always been there. For all we know, James just joined Torchwood moments or hours before the story started. The other characters wouldn't know the difference.

Perhaps you can tell: I was intrigued by James.

Comments

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

The thing that bothered me about the memory thing was that wouldn't they remember the things that they actually did with him?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Apparently not. Even Jack seemed to think he'd be forgetting James fairly soon. It was like automatic retconning.... And presumably their records would be erased, too? What about all the security footage from the Torchwood CCTVs - surely they'd remember when they looked at it again?

Maybe they would, but the memories of even that would still be fleeting.

I'm not sure why this should be the case - was there good reason, from James' point of view, for the Torchwood team not to remember him? I suppose it might be easier on Gwen if she could forget, but I can't think they'd set it all up to be that way for that reason. (They didn't aniticipate James falling in love, presumably.) I suppose it was important to have security protocols because they didn't want humans from Earth getting the idea they could cross over in to the Border Princes' lands. Not that they could anyway. The Rift seems to be a one-way gate, at least from this side.

Or maybe people fall through this side and are just thereafter known as missing persons. Like Diana in "Out of Time" - we've no idea what happened to her.

Memory, and its loss, is an interesting sub-theme in all the Doctor Who-related shows, if you think about its use in "Family of Blood" and the use of Retcon in Torchwood and the fact that Jack still has missing memories from his Time Agency period.

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

I usually just recon the Retcon and say that they do remember what they actually did with James, because at the very least Jack would write a sticky note saying what the black square is.

Especially since that the Border Prince would want someone on this side to remember the exchange program, so if the first Principal insertion device broke they could deliver him back to his keepers. That was the task of the... I can't find the family's name, but the family that was looking out on this side of the Border/Rift.

Isn't it that they can send things though the Rift, but they don't come back?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

at the very least Jack would write a sticky note saying what the black square is.

So he would. Moreover, he wouldn't let information get away. I think he'd want to know that the Border Princes were there, and what they were doing. So he'd make sure that there would be information on hand.

Isn't it that they can send things though the Rift, but they don't come back?

Yes - and I don't think they project or aim things, so they don't know where things go when they go through the Rift. So they can't actually use it. It looks as if the Border Princes can go back and forth, at least to our world, but still don't have much control over the portals.