Howling:Bigger on the Inside

The Howling → Bigger on the Inside

There be spoilers about un-released stories here.
Run back to the forums if you're scared.

Did I mishear, or was the PhiCorp warehouse bigger on the inside than on the outside? I know that it isn't likely that there will be many Doctor Who references, but if it is dimensionally transendential, that would suggest Time Lord technology, and it was Time Lord technology that made Jack immortal in the first place.Icecreamdif 04:48, July 23, 2011 (UTC)

Yep, at 15:04, Jack says, "Bigger on the inside than the outside."

But that doesn't mean it has to be Time Lord technology; other races have developed dimensionally transcendental technology, not necessarily with time travel (and humans, Cybermen, and possibly Daleks seem to do it the other way around). Besides, Time Lord technology only indirectly made Jack immortal; it was a human doing something no Time Lord would ever even think of attempting, and then using her resulting godlike powers without thinking it through, that made Jack immortal…--173.228.85.118 08:15, July 23, 2011 (UTC)

PS, speaking of alien technology, what ever happened to the Immortality Gate after The End of Time? The Doctor absorbs all the radiation, the system shuts down, he and Wilf walk out. Later, Wilf tells him that they arrested Naismith and his daughter for "crimes undisclosed", and that's the last we hear. If Naismith acquired it after the fall of Torchwood, others must have known about it, right? --173.228.85.118 08:55, July 23, 2011 (UTC)

The Gate might be capable of doing this, but didn't the Vinvocci woman say that it heals people. It was able to heal the burns on one of Naismith's employees, but the Miracle doesn't heal people, it just keeps them alive. The ability to make something bigger on the outside is usually described as Timelord technology, like in Doomsday, even though other species have been shown to have that technology, like in The Chase. Obviously the mere presence of a TARDIS isn't enough to cause the miracle, but if PhiCorp found it, they could have used it for that purpose.Icecreamdif 15:32, July 23, 2011 (UTC)

I don't think that Jack meant that the building was dimensionally transendental. The way he said it without any real emphasis or acknowledgement from Rex made me think it was a throwaway line. That it was Jack’s way of stating that the building goes on and on and is filled with the stockpiled drugs. Jack has been semi-explaining all of the alien and future terminology to Rex as he goes and does not explain why the building is bigger on the inside. Also Rex seems surprised at the room, but more about what is in it, not the size or whether or not it is bigger on the inside.MasterIII 23:02, July 23, 2011 (UTC)

:MasterIII, you're right that it could easily just be a throwaway reference for the fans (and, in-universe, a private joke for himself) rather than a plot point.

:Meanwhile, Icecreamdif, you're right that the Daleks refer to transcendental engineering as "Time Lord technology", but that just means that the Daleks stole it from the Time Lords. And actually, the case you're talking about, in Doomsday, they're actually talking about a Time Lord artifact, the Genesis Ark, not their own technology. Anyway, the point is, the fact that there are races that appear to have transcendental engineering without time travel (Trions, Logopolitans, a few others from the novels) and vice-versa (future humans, everyone Faction Paradox sold tech to, etc.) means that just because someone has transcendental engineering doesn't necessarily mean they have any other Time Lord technology.

:Anyway, so far we don't have any evidence that PhiCorp is anything but a present-day earth corporation. So presumably they got any advanced technology by scavenging from aliens—just like van Statten, Naismith, and Torchwood itself—which means that even if they do have a dimensionally transcendental building, it doesn't imply any other technologies. --173.228.85.118 00:25, July 24, 2011 (UTC)

When I saw the episode, I also thought that Jack might have been speaking metaphorically, but the way he said it sounded like he meant it literally. In Doomsday, when the Daleks said that the Genesis Ark was Timelord technology, and then when the Daleks opened it, the Doctor said something like "Timelord technology, bigger on the inside," which would suggest that it is a technology generally associated with Timelords. I agree that PhiCorp is a present-day Earth corpoation, but if any Timelord technology is still left after the Time War, it is possible that PhiCorp could have scavenged it and used it to make humanity immortal to sell more drugs. Icecreamdif 02:28, July 24, 2011 (UTC)