Adam (TV story)

Adam (TV story)

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Adam
Featuring:	Jack Harkness Gwen Cooper Toshiko Sato Owen Harper Ianto Jones Adam Smith (introduction; dies)
Main enemy:	Adam Smith Weevil
Main setting:	Cardiff, 2008 Boeshane Peninsula, 51st century (Jack's childhood)
Key crew
Writer:	Catherine Tregenna
Director:	Andy Goddard
Producer:	Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall (Co-producer)
Release details
Release number:	18
Premiere broadcast:	13th February 2008

Adam was the fifth episode in the second series of Torchwood.

Synopsis

to be added

Plot

Adam, a creature of The Void, is drawn through the Cardiff rift by the intense field memories which are had by each member of the Torchwood team. Adam's power is to tamper with the memories of its prey, to sustain its own survival. So, Adam would exist as long the Torchwood team could bear him in their memories. Adam is able to both implant memories and alter the already existing ones of people. merely by touching them with its hands. By such means, Jack, Gwen, Owen, Toshiko, and Ianto believe that Adam had been with them since the current team formed three years ago. However, Adam has been with them just 48 hours.

Beside surviving, Adam toys with their minds. Jack retrieves his childhood memories, about his last moments with his father and brother at the Boeshane Peninsula. Gwen forgets about her fiance Rhys. Toshiko and Owen's personalities are reversed: Owen becomes an introversive geek and he has a crush on Toshiko. Toshiko unleashes her personality to start a passionate relationship with Adam, slighting Owen. Ianto, who discovers Adam's maneuver by not finding him in his everyday diary, is harassed by him, so Ianto believes that he has murdered three young women.

Jack's trust in Ianto leads him to investigate the security feed of Torchwood. Jack discovers that Adam has been tampering with each one of his team during the latest 48 hours. Adam is captured then put into a cell. Jack orders that all his team should swallow a Retcon amnesia pill to forget what Adam has done to them. Except him, they do so. At the holding cells, Jack confronts the now weakened Adam for the last time. Desperately, Adam attempts to make Jack keep some tampered childhood memories, which are so bewildering now, through threats and mental torture. Nonetheless, Jack takes his pill in time and Adam dies.

The next day, nobody in the Torchwood team understands why two days are missing from their minds. A floral arrangement and a note of love from Owen, which were intended for Toshiko, survive but Owen dismisses them with a scorning comment. Also, a Torchwood-labeled bag is found and it has been inked by Adam. Nonetheless, nobody knows about Adam.

Cast

• Captain Jack Harkness — John Barrowman
• Gwen Cooper — Eve Myles
• Owen Harper — Burn Gorman
• Toshiko Sato — Naoko Mori
• Ianto Jones — Gareth David-Lloyd
• Rhys Williams - Kai Owen
• Adam Smith — Bryan Dick
• Jack's Father — Demetri Goritsas
• Jack's Mother — Lauren Ward
• Young Jack — Jack Montgomery
• Gray — Ethan Brooke
• Young Adam — Rhys Myers
• Weevil - Paul Kasey
• Murdered Woman - Jo Malaren

Production crew

Executive Producers   Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner

Written by Catherine Tregenna	Produced by Richard Stokes	Directed by Andy Goddard	Director of Photography Richard Cox	Production Designer Edward Thomas Julian Luxton	Visual Effects The Mill
Make-up Designer Marrie Dorris	Casting Director Andy Pryor	Music Ben Foster	Costume Designer Ray Holman	Edited by Mike Hopkins

General production staff Co-producer - Chris Chibnall Associate Producer - Catrin Lewis Defis Script department Script Editor - Brian Minchin Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Richard Harris 2nd Assistant Director - Lynsey Muir 3rd Assistant Director - Hannah Simpson Camera Operator - Martin Stephens Camera Assistant - Paul Hanning Gaffer - Dave Fowler	Art department Production Buyer - Clare Keyte Standby Art Director - Beverly Gerard Costume department Costume Supervisor - Charlotte Mitchell	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Supervisor - Claire Pritchard Make-up Artist - Andrea Dowdall Movement Stunt Co-ordinator - Tom Lucy Casting Casting Associate - Andy Brierley General post-production staff Post-production Supervisors - Chris Blatchford, Helen Vallis On-line Editor - Mark Bright Special and visual effects Visual FX Producer - Marie A. Jones Visual FX Supervisor - Barney Curnow Visual Effects Co-ordinator - Jenna Powell Colourists - Jon Everett, Mick Vincent Digital Matte Painter - Charlie Bennett Sound Dubbing Mixer - Peter Jeffreys Sound Effects Editor - Howard Eaves

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.

References

Individuals

• Gray is Jack Harkness's brother.

Locations

• The Boeshane Peninsula, and Jack's home is seen. However, the nature of the beings which attacked Jack's family isn't revealed.
• Adam says he is from "The Void", but it is not known if this is the same Void.

Timeline

• Adam adds himself into the Torchwood records placing himself as; Adam Smith, that he was born on 16th November 1982 and that he was recruited into Torchwood on 7th May 2005.

Weapons

• The regular opening flash of sequences is altered to feature two shots of Adam, including one of him holding a Dalek enhanced Tommy Gun, although a giveaway to his nature is that he is in none of the original group shots.

Story notes

• The plot element of the group's memories being altered and a "new member" suddenly appearing among them is similar to the plot of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Conundrum", the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Superstar", the Stargate SG-1 episode "The Fifth Man", and the Torchwood novel Border Princes. The similarity to Border Princes is particularly striking as the infiltrator of the novel exhibits some of the same behavior shown by Adam in the episode. In the novel, Gwen and Jack note that this kind of thing could have happened again and again without their knowledge.
• Whilst filming the kiss between Jack and Ianto, the crew pulled a prank on John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd by not calling 'Cut!' after they had stopped filming, causing the kiss to continue for more than two minutes before the two actors realised what was going on.

Ratings

• BBC2 - 3.8 million viewers

Myths

• It was suggested amongst the internet community that Adam Mitchell would return in this episode. (It was false.)
• As Adam Smith came from the Void it is widely believed that the Daleks and Cybermen could too. In DW:The Next Doctor the last of the Cybermen fell through the Void due to the events in DW:The Stolen Earth/DW:Journey's End, so it is entirely possible Adam fell through the Void too.

Filming locations

• Talbot Place, Cardiff (Exterior Gwen and Rhys' flat)
• The Port Of Cardiff, Cardiff Docks, Wales (Jack comes out of sewers, meets Adam)
• Canal Park, Butetown, Cardiff (Adam following Jack around chatting)
• Coney Beach, Porthcawl (Boeshane Peninsula beach)
• Merthyr Mawr Warren, Merthyr Mawr (Beach near (young) Jack's house)
• Waterguard Pub (outside), Harbour Drive, Cardiff (Outside (young) Jack's house)
• Fox Street, Splott, Cardiff (Ianto 'remembers' the murder in an alley)
• BBC Studios, Upper Boat, Tonteg Road, Treforest Industrial Estate, Pontypridd,

Production errors

to be added

Continuity

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

• Jack first mentioned his home, the Boeshane Peninsula, in DW: Last of the Time Lords. (See also Face of Boe).
• The Void is mentioned, it was last featured actively in DW: Doomsday.
• Gray was previously referenced by John Hart in TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.
• Jack's childhood in the 51st century is explored.

DVD releases

• This story along with the rest of Torchwood Series 2 was released in a complete series boxset.

External links

• Adam at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• Adam at Shannon Sullivan's A Brief History of Time (Travel)
• Adam at The Locations Guide