Everything Changes (TV story)

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Everything Changes was the first episode of the first series of Torchwood.

It introduced three of the five members of Torchwood Three: Owen Harper, Ianto Jones and Suzie Costello, as well as Gwen Cooper, who joined Torchwood following Suzie's death.

It also featured the first appearance of Jack Harkness since his abandonment by the Ninth Doctor on Satellite Five in The Parting of the Ways and of Toshiko Sato since her appearance during the Slitheen crisis in Aliens of London.

Synopsis

Torchwood Three arrives on the scene of a brutal murder. PC Gwen Cooper's curiosity is challenged by their attitude; their approach and their technology is at odds with everything she believes in, but in investigating them she finds a dark, dangerous and mysterious world, right in the heart of Cardiff.

Plot

During a murder investigation in Cardiff, PC Gwen Cooper spies on a mysterious group of people from "Torchwood" led by Captain Jack Harkness. One member, Suzie Costello, uses a metal gauntlet to temporarily bring the victim of murder to life in an attempt to learn the identity of his murderer. Jack notes Gwen's presence, causing her to flee the scene. The next day, she runs into Jack at a hospital. Following him, she finds a sealed-off area where she runs into a Weevil, who kills a porter. Jack arrives, spraying something at the Weevil, giving her a chance to escape. As she leaves the hospital she sees the Torchwood vehicle, and follows it while learning from her office that it is unregistered, and that while there was a "Jack Harkness" that disappeared in 1941, there is no record of one today. She follows the vehicle to Roald Dahl Plass, and somehow loses them as they pass by the Water Tower (the large fountain). She learns from her partner Andy that all personnel at the hospital have been accounted for.

Catching sight of a pizza delivery scooter, she asks at the local pizza store. They make deliveries to Torchwood. Disguised as a pizza delivery girl, she enters a tourist centre. Ianto allows her entry into Torchwood. Following a secret passageway, Gwen finds herself at the Hub of Torchwood, where the rest of the Torchwood team at first seem to ignore her entrance but break out in fits of laughter, well aware of who she is. Jack escorts Gwen around the Hub, showing her the captured Weevil from the hospital. They leave the Hub via a slab lift, ending up in front of the Water Tower in Roald Dahl Plass. Jack explains that a perception filter exists around where they stand, making them invisible to passersby. That is why Gwen lost track of the team earlier. Jack takes Gwen to a pub, and over a drink, explains Torchwood is there to control the flotsam and jetsam of the time-space vortex that falls to Earth through the rift that exists where the Hub is located. Gwen wonders why Jack is telling her all of this. He explains that he has placed an amnesia pill in her drink, and she will have forgotten all of this in the morning. Gwen races home to try to type out a message to herself before the pill's effects are complete, but falls asleep; Ianto hacks Gwen's computer and wipes the message clean.

The next day at work, Gwen is shown a drawing of the knife believed used on the victim two days ago, which begins to trigger a series of memories. These solidify when she spots a Millennium Centre programme with the word "Remember" in her own handwriting at home. She returns to the Plass. Suzie is waiting for her, and explains the effects of the amnesia pill can be broken with a specific image, that being the knife. Suzie says she killed the man, as well as other victims, to test the metal gauntlet and learn how to make the resurrection permanent. Suzie pulls a gun on Gwen. As Jack rises from the pavement elevator, Suzie turns and shoots him in the head. Jack survives, his wounds healing themselves, and tries to coax Suzie to stop. Suzie puts the gun under her chin and kills herself. Gwen falls to her knees, remembering everything.

In the Hub, the metal gauntlet is sealed away. Suzie's body is placed into their morgue. Standing on the roof of the Millennium Centre, Jack tells Gwen that he died once, but was brought back to life. Since then, he has been immortal, at least until he can find the right sort of doctor who can explain what happened. Jack explains that in the 21st century, "everything changes", and agrees with Gwen that perhaps Torchwood can do more to help people. He offers her a job, which she accepts.

Cast

Crew

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



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

  • The only information the Cardiff police have on a Captain Jack Harkness is an American volunteer who went missing from RAF 133 Squadron on 21 January 1941 at the height at the Blitz.
  • Jack mentions investigating Chandler and Bell.

Music

Featured tracks in this story include;

Objects

Races and species

  • There is a Pterodactyl living in the roof of the Hub.
  • There are a couple of hundred Weevils living in the sewers beneath Cardiff. Their origin and name are unknown due to their inability to communicate.

Technology

  • Captain Jack Harkness' explanation for the "not-being-seen" square at Roald Dahl Plass is that they have detected signs of a perception filter. Presumably, this was created by the TARDIS landing there in Boom Town.

Torchwood

Vehicles

  • The SUV has a registration (CF06 FDU) and does not officially exist.

Story notes

  • It was transmitted back to back with the next episode Day One on its UK premiere.
  • This story had two working titles: The Valley of Death and Flotsam And Jetsam (the former being the earliest title).
  • As the first post-watershed production of the Doctor Who franchise, the episode features several firsts, including the first use of the F-word in a televised Doctor Who franchise production.
  • A pre-credits sequence of Gwen and Jack on top of the Millennium Centre in a flash forward to the end of the story was cut but appears on the deleted scenes of the series one box set.
  • This first episode uses the very human character of Gwen in much the same way as Doctor Who did with the character of Rose Tyler in 2005, taking the viewer along with them for the journey.
  • A scene showing John Tucker being chased and murdered was shot but dropped.
  • Two alternative scenes were shot showing Gwen being retconned - the one in a traditional bar was dropped in favour of the Buffalo Bar that was used for transmission.
  • 'Buffalo' was a password used by the Ninth Doctor to access UNIT files.
  • Retcon is a reference to 'retroactive continuity', a means of covering up plot discrepancies used in many sci-fi shows. Other names considered for Retcon were Goldfish or Scooter.
  • Several scenes were trimmed from the episode for broadcast on the CBC in Canada, including a scene in which Owen, using the pheromone spray, also seduces the blonde's angry boyfriend.
  • It has been suggested that Owen's use of the pheromone spray was effectively "date rape".[1]
  • This is the only episode where Indira Varma has her name included in the opening credits. This was done to keep viewers from anticipating that her character would die in this episode, by making her seem like a regular cast member.

Ratings

  • BBC3 - 2.52 million viewers (22/10/2006 at 21:00)
  • BBC2 - 3.03 million viewers (25/10/2006 at 21:00)

Myths

  • The missing Torchwood 4 is a sly Babylon 5 reference: Babylon 4 also mysteriously disappeared. Although if the TW novels can be counted as canon - Torchwood is 'somewhere in Yorkshire'.

Filming locations

  • Millicent Street, Cardiff, Wales (Resurrection in the rain)
  • NCP Tredegar Street, Cardiff, Wales (Gwen spies on Torchwood resurrecting)
  • NCP Cardiff Rapports, Cardiff, Wales
  • Old Natwest Bank, Cardiff (Entrance of police station)
  • Dorset Street, Cardiff, Wales
  • Cornwall (pub), Cardiff, Wales (Pub where Gwen and Andy break up fight)
  • Newport Road Lane, Cardiff (Location where Gwen first sees Torchwood SUV)
  • A4232 (Grangetown/Butetown Link), Cardiff (Gwen in pursuit of the Torchwood SUV)
  • Mumbai Bay Takeaway, James Street, Cardiff (Jubilee Pizza, where Gwen goes, tracking down Torchwood)
  • Cardiff Castle, Cardiff (Part of the tunnel entrance into Torchwood)
  • Icon, Cardiff, Wales (Location where Owen tries the spray)
  • Buffalo Bar, Cardiff, Wales (Bar where Jack and Gwen have a beer, prior to him retconning her)
  • St Mary's Street, Cardiff
  • Altolusso, Bute Terrace, Cardiff (One of the tall building shots with Jack standing on top)
  • King Edward VII Avenue (A4161 underpass), Cardiff (Location where Gwen runs home after her meeting with Jack and her subsequent retconning)
  • Mermaid Quayside, Cardiff Bay (The tourist information shop/entrance to Torchwood)
  • Roald Dahl Plass, Cardiff (Exterior of Torchwood)
  • BBC Studios, Upper Boat Studios, Upper Boat Tonteg Road, Treforest Industrial Estate, Pontypridd

Production errors

  • A poster advertising a Doctor Who exhibition in Cardiff can be briefly seen in a background shot.

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.

Timeline

For Jack, Owen and Ianto

For Gwen

For Tosh

Home video releases

This episode was first released on DVD, with four other episodes entitled Torchwood: Series 1, part 1 on 26 December 2006. It was later released in Torchwood: The Complete First Series on 19th November 2007.

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Cult Spy: Catching Up With 'Torchwood' Accessed on 11th October 2008
v • e
Torchwood television stories
Series 1
Series 2
Series 3
Children of Earth: Day One • Day Two • Day Three • Day Four • Day Five
Series 4
Stories listed here are only those that have been officially licensed by the BBC.
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