Theory:Torchwood television discontinuity and plot holes/Fragments

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Fragments doesn't fit well with other DWU narratives. You can also talk about the plot holes that render its own, internal narrative confusing.

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... and so on. 

• Jack refers to himself as Jack Harkness in his Victorian-era flashback, but that alias was taken from a Second World War airman.

He took the name from a WWII airman, then met the doctor, then went back to the Victorian era. Thus, he had already taken the name before this flashback took place.

• Jack is "killed" by the blast, Ianto gets at least a hand injury and head wound, and Tosh breaks her arm and some ribs, yet Owen - arguably the most fragile of the group and unable to heal - somehow manages to escape completely unscathed.

Martha had said in an earlier episode that Owen can't bruise, and as was revealed by him cutting his hand open in Dead Man Walking, he doesn't bleed either. If one considers this and the fact that he can't feel pain and was wearing clothes that covered most of his body, he could have suffered considerable physical trauma and he and the viewer would not be aware of it. Also, it might just be a storytelling device -- irony. Also, the explosion was down to chance. Chance doesn't decide which person is most 'fragile.' Another thing is that he may be wearing some form of protection underneath his clothing in order to protect himself more than normal.

• The depiction of UNIT as a rather malevolent organization that keeps human prisoners in stark conditions (including filthy cells with no beds) with no rights is at odds with the depiction of the organization in the 1968-89 episodes, as well as the later The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky.

Jack covers this by referring to the then-current (political/security) climate; UNIT's behaviour parallels real-world criticisms of the United States and others in the War on Terror era. Also, UNIT was never thoroughly profiled; it may have had a dark side, much as Torchwood did. This is also implied in dialogue when Martha Jones tells the Doctor she wants to change the organization from the inside out in The Sontaran Stratagem. Also it is not known who is in charge of UNIT at this point in time as the relationship of former UNIT head Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart -- a more benevolent character -- have not been fully established; note, for example, UNIT's involvement with the world-destroying Osterhagen Key in Journey's End. There is also nothing in the Sontaran Stratagem or the Poison Sky that contradicts the depicton of UNIT in this episode. In fact it reinforces it, with Donna and the Doctor both taking an exceedingly dim view of UNIT and it's practices .

• The killing of the Torchwood 3 team on Dec. 31, 1999 take place on the same day as the Eighth Doctor fought the Master in San Francisco, an incident punctuated by news coverage of unusual weather and other odd events. (DW: Doctor Who: the Movie) Yet there's no mention of this at Torchwood, an organization that should know.

Time zones: midnight in the UK occurred many hours before midnight in San Francisco, and most of the odd weather and other events surrounding the Master's scheme did not manifest until only a few hours prior to the New Year in San Francisco. It's possible Torchwood would have been made aware of the events "off screen", though Jack would likely have been preoccupied with the murder of his team. Also, Torchwood One is still active at this point and would more likely have handled this issue. Plus Torchwood works for the British Empire and therefore would not go to America, unlike UNIT. At around the time Torchwood Three's members are killed, the Eighth Doctor would have only been meeting Grace Holloway for the first time, long before any major events transpired. The most that Torchwood would know at this point is that a man with two hearts had died in San Francisco, if that had even been reported. We also don't know what Alex Hopkins knew - he might have been well aware of these events but since he had snapped and was in the process of killing his team, it might have been irrelevant; Jack, for his part, was occupied by a mission.

That said, the TV movie (albeit bending time zones somewhat) seems to suggest something unusual happened in the UK late that night.[1]

• The team think about how they came to join Torchwood while they are trapped. But how could Jack think back when he is apparently killed by the blast?

Torchwood talks a lot about what happens after death; this could be one of the theories. It also could be that he has come back to life, but he has lost consciousness. In addition, it has not yet been established exactly what happens to Jack in the time between "death" and "resurrection". It's possible he's not fully dead, and therefore is capable of having some sort of dream. (It's simply a story-telling device. There's no confirmation that just because we are seeing these events on screen, they are each personally reflecting at that time as to how they joined Torchwood.)

• When Jack enters the Hub, the Doctor's hand can be seen. How did Jack already have possession of the hand prior to the events of The Christmas Invasion?

If I am right in assuming you mean in the flashback, Jack does not have the Doctor's hand. What is actually seen are two of the same type of chamber holding different things - when Gwen first joins Torchwood, she sees three of the chambers on the table. Euguene also comments on the face/head of a monster that sits behind the Doctor's hand, they are still present in series 2 after Jack has returned to the Hub without the doctor's hand.

• Jack mentions meteors killing the dinosaurs. Earthshock ;seems to state that it was actually a spaceship.

Jack probably didn't know this, he may not be 100 per cent accurate on actual Earth History bearing in mind he comes from the distant future and that a spaceship wouldn't be on record as causing dinosaurs to become extinct. It's also possibly this reference was a joke.

• Tosh's handcuffs disappear without explanation when she's first put in her cell.

She may be good at picking locks and getting them off.

Or maybe it's because they were taken off before she got shoved into her cell