Captain Jack Returns To Doctor Who
Source SciFi Pulse
23 March 2007
As is very much common knowledge Captain Jack is returning to Doctor Who for two perhaps even a three-episode stint. The first story that Jack will feature in will be episode 11, which is titled utopia. However unlike many of the episodes, which have been synopsised on the Internet, just recently all that has been revealed about this episode is what follows:
311 - Utopia (Original UK Airdate: Spring 2007)
The Doctor arrives in the Cardiff branch of the Torchwood Institute and is united with Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman).
Fairly major spoilers ahead. Do not read any further if you do not wish to have the episode spoilt.
Our source Dr. Phibes who resides at a black tower somewhere out there in time and space can reveal a little more about this episode.
“First off as already stated the episode starts in Cardiff Bay where the Doctor and Martha set down to use the spatial rifts energy in order to recharge the Tardis.” Phibes revealed.
“Obviously this episode picks up where the finale of Torchwood left off as far as the fate of Captain Jack is concerned anyway.”
“While the Doctor and Martha are enjoying a quick banter about Cardiff we will see Captain Jack running and shouting after the Doctor only to barely latch onto the Tardis as it dematerialises, this one moment promises to be a rather impressive CGI shot which is illustrated by the script excerpt included below.”
FX: CUT TO WIDER – and he’s clinging on, yelling, to the outside of the Tardis as it hurtles through the vortex!
As you can imagine in order for Captain Jack to come back onto the series, the plot had to be something pretty big and outlandish for the episode to work.
“Big is an understatement,” our man in Havana Phibes revealed. “The episode sees the Doctor and his friends going to the year one hundred trillion which the Doctor claims is impossible.” (Script Excerpt Below of conversation between The Doctor and Martha)
THE DOCTOR
Strictly speaking, the ending’s way off. This is more like, the end of life in the universe.
MARTHA
So what’s out there?
THE DOCTOR
I don’t know
MARTHA
Ooh, say that again, that’s rare.
The DOCTOR
Not even the Time Lords came this far. It’s all just theory. We should leave. We should go. We should really, really go…
And he grins, grabs his coat, he & Martha run out.
“While there aside from meeting Jack they encounter two distinct races of humanity. One known as the Futurekind and the other who are normal human beings. It is this aspect which is the central mystery of the episode.”
It would be fair to say that the episode with its use of two different types of humans living on the same planet is a gentle nod to the Eloi and the Morlocks, which we read about, in HG Well’s classic novel ‘The Time Machine’.
Dr. Phibes also revealed that the episode gives some clues as to how exactly Captain Jack found his way back to Earth.
“Indeed, it turns out that our friend Captain Jack was able to utilise a primitive form of Time Travel, however it is far from a Tardis, and below is some quite funny banter between Jack and the Doctor about our good captains chosen way of time travel.” (Script Excerpt below of banter between The Doctor & Captain Jack).
EXT. MOORLAND – NIGHT
THE DOCTOR, MARTHA & JACK – MARTHA with medical satchel, Jack with rucksack – striding along, heading up a gradual incline. The Doctor ahead, trying not to join in. All on the hoof, rattling it off, fast. To Martha –
CAPTAIN JACK
…so there I was, stranded in the year two – hundred – one – hundred, ankle deep in Dalek dust, he goes off without me, but I had this –
(his wrist – strap)
I used to be a Time Agent, it’s called a Vortex Manipulator, he’s not the only one who can time travel –
THE DOCTOR
Excuse me, that’s not time travel. It’s like, I’ve got a sports car, you’ve got a Space Hopper.
MARTHA
Oh, boys and their toys.
CAPTAIN JACK
All right, so I bounced, I thought, Twenty – first century, that’s the best place to find the Doctor. Except I got it a little bit wrong, arrived in 1880, and this thing burnt out, so it was useless –
THE DOCTOR
Told you!
CAPTAIN JACK
- then I had to live through the entire twentieth century, waiting to find the version of you that would coincide with me –
MARTHA
But that makes you more than a hundred years old.
CAPTAIN JACK
And looking good, don’t you think? So, I went to the Time Rift, cos I knew you’d come back to refuel, until finally, I get a signal on this thing, detecting you –
(his rucksack)
- and here we are!
Of course as the episode progresses we see plenty of locations ranging from missile silos to quarries. Yes you heard right. Quarries, but as the above script excerpts illustrate the episode will answer a fair few questions regarding what happened to Captain Jack after the Doctor and Rose departed for earth after he regenerated. So well worth viewing this episode, which is, number 11 in the running order and is titled Utopia.
As ever thanks go out to our intrepid friend Dr. Phibes for providing us with this exclusive intelligence concerning the much-awaited return of Captain Jack.
Doctor Who season 3 will premiere on the 31st of March in its usual early evening slot on BBC – 1.
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