Out of Time (TV story)

Out of Time (TV story)

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Out of Time
Featuring:	Jack Harkness Gwen Cooper Toshiko Sato Owen Harper Ianto Jones
Main setting:	Cardiff, 2007
Key crew
Writer:	Catherine Tregenna
Director:	Alice Troughton
Producer:	Richard Stokes
Release details
Release number:	10
Premiere broadcast:	17th December 2006

For other uses of "Out of Time" see; Out of Time (disambiguation).

Out of Time was the tenth episode of the first series of Torchwood.

Synopsis

A plane from the 1950s lands in modern Cardiff, courtesy of the Rift; the passengers are reoriented by the Torchwood team, who become drawn closely to their lives.

Plot

A plane, called the Sky Gypsy, lands on an air strip in Cardiff. Its occupants are the pilot, Diane Holmes, with passengers Emma-Louise Cowell and John Ellis. The Torchwood team welcomes them. The people on the plane think that they are in the year 1953. However, Jack informs them that they fell victim to the rift and were transported over fifty years into their future. The team make it their duty to look after the occupants of the plane until they can adapt to the 21st century lifestyle. At first, they are fascinated, yet appalled by new items they never seen before such as tea bags, and certain obscene magazines.

Gwen looks after Emma, since her parents have died. She takes her to her home, where she lies to Rhys that Emma is her cousin and that she came for a visit. The couple take her to a nightclub.  When they later find Emma with a man, they separate her from him as they see the two kissing. Gwen explains that things are different than they were in the 1950s. Later Emma finds a job as a shop-girl in London. Gwen is hesitant, wanting to get her a job in Cardiff where she can look after her, but she has to change her mind when Rhys discovers that Emma is not Gwen's cousin. Gwen agrees to let her go and tells her to not talk to strangers when travelling to London before wishing each other a happy Christmas.

Meanwhile, Jack starts a friendship with John, who wants to find his son, Alan Ellis. Tosh manages to finds him, John pays him a visit, but he is devastated to find out that his son is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. A severly depressed John takes Ianto's car to kill himself by carbon monoxide poisoning. Jack tries to convince him to stop. However, John said that he died decades ago. A reluctant Jack joins him in the car as the carbon monixode slowly kills John.

Owen looks after Diane, who wants to fly, but can't because her licence expired decades ago. Owen convinces her to go out to lunch with him. After spending more time together, they begin a sexual relationship. As the relationship progresses, Owen develops feelings and falls in love with her, with Diane admitting the same feelings. One morning, Owen discovers that Diane has gone, with a note on his pillow. He rushes to the airfield, where he finds her attempting to take off with the Sky Gypsy. Owen attempts to convince Diane to stay, but she is confident that due to the exact weather conditions from where she took off, the rift will open up again to take her back to her timeline. Owen unsuccessfully tells her that the rift won't take her back. After she kisses Owen goodbye, she takes off and her plane disappears into the clouds.

In the end, Jack, Gwen and Owen think back on how the three have touched their lives.

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
• Diane Holmes - Louise Delamere
• John Ellis - Mark Lewis Jones
• Emma-Louise Cowell - Olivia Hallinan
• Alan Ellis - Sam Beezely
• Nurse - Marion Fenner
• Alesha - Janine Carrington
• Jade - Rhea Bailey
• Flying Instructor - Andrew MacBean
• Barman - Ciaron Dowd

Crew

to be added

References

• Diane Holmes flew over the Bengal Bay.

Individuals

• Amelia Earhart, another famous woman pilot, also went missing on July 2, 1937.

Events

• Alan mentions the 1953 FA cup and the match between Blackpool and the Bolton Wanderers

Music

• Moonlight Sonata - Ludwig van Beethoven
• The Good Life - Tony Bennett
• I Just Blew in from the Windy City - Calamity Jane
• I See You Baby - Groove Armada
• Trouble - Ray Lamontagne

Story notes

• Emma set off for London on the same day in which the Webstar came to London. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
• A plane carrying composer Glenn Miller also disappeared while flying over the United Kingdom in 1944, similar to the Sky Gypsy. He composed Moonlight Serenade and In The Mood, both of which featured heavily in The Empty Child, which introduced Jack Harkness.
• This is the first episode in the Doctor Who franchise to have a "love scene". There was previously a "sex scene" in TW: Day One.
• The film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian handled the departure of Amelia Earhart is very similar to how Diane's departure is handled, including the aspect of a female pilot having fallen in love with a leading man, and flying off with uncertainty regarding her survival.
• This is the second consecutive episode to have no antagonist or enemy of any kind.

Ratings

• BBC3 - 1.0 million viewers
• BBC2 - 2.2 million viewers

Myths

to be added

Filming locations

• Plane landing at the begining of the episode - RAF St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan
• John visits the Millennium Stadium's gate 3 - Westgate Street, Cardiff
• The restaurant Owen and Diane visit is The Pearl of the Orient - Cardiff Bay.

Production errors

• The events in Out of Time occur in December. However, in several scenes, including those of the airfield and outside the supermarket, the foliage on the trees indicates that the episode was filmed during the summertime.
• During a scene in the conference room, a window can be clearly seen behind the characters, and a street can be seen outside. This is impossible because the Hub is underground.
• Diana mistakenly states that Amelia Earhart disappeared in 1932, while she actually disappeared in 1937.

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.

• A vision of Diane appears to Owen in TW: End of Days.
• The events of this episode are happening around the same time as DW: The Runaway Bride.
• Jack mentions that he has died once and that he fell through time.

Home video releases

This episode was first released on DVD, with three other episodes as Torchwood: Series 1, part 3 on 26 March 2007. It was later released in Torchwood:The Complete first series on 19th November 2007

External links

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