Clockwork man (Time Works)
- You may be looking for the Clockwork Man from SS Madame de Pompadour.
Clockwork men were employed by the AI called the Figurehead to control the humanoid population of Industry.
The face of clockwork men was blank, and they were incapable of speech. People of Industry believed that clockwork men had a cog wheel in place of their heart. They emitted loud ticking.
Clockwork men were typically deployed in conjunction with a local time freeze. Their main task was embedding subliminal messages into people deviating from the Figurehead's plan in order to correct their behaviour. A small proportion of Industry's population, including Prince Zanith, were immune to this conditioning. Clockwork men also "cut out from time" individuals with too significant violations, as well as the surplus individuals not necessary for the success of the plan. Individuals who could serve the Figurehead in a different capacity were taken to the Clock Tower, with the rest of Industry believing them to be cut out from time like the others.
The stochastic capabilities of clockwork men enabled them to predict probable futures. In the rare cases they encountered non-time-frozen individuals, they could deliver a painful shock to them if they detected even a small probability of misbehaviour.
Clockwork men's base of operation was in the Clock Tower.
The Eighth Doctor, Charlotte Pollard and C'rizz provoked a successful revolution against the Figurehead and her clockwork men. (AUDIO: Time Works)
Behind the scenes[[edit] | edit source]
- Although it is not stated explicitly that clockwork men were based on clockwork technology, all indirect evidence implies it, including their name, the ticking sound they emit and the popular belief of the population of Industry that they have a cog instead of the heart.
- The image provided on the CD cover is not accurate as it depicts eyes and nose instead of either a clock face according to the belief of people of Industry or a blank surface as described by Vannet.
