Howling:How is Captain Jack Immune to Stet Radiation?
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In the show, it's been established that Jack is just a normal human, but the time vortex always brings him back. This means he can die, but is always resurrected once the body has been restored. Why then, did Stet radiation not kill him? I haven't seen "Utopia" for a few years but I don't recall there being an explantion. It's possible that his race is immune to radiation, or that the radiation creates a small injury before finishing the body off which he could have healed, or perhaps that radiation has a weird effect on time energy. However I'm still surprised there was no explanation. Was there something I missed? I'd appreciate it if someone who has seen the episode recently could explain it. 94.72.237.220talk to me 17:09, January 20, 2012 (UTC)
They didn't really give an explanation other than that he couldn't die. It can't be that his race is immune to radiation because he is, mostly, human. Most likely, he was able to heal before the radiation disintegrate him. He was shown to be in some pain due to the radiation.Icecreamdif talk to me 18:20, January 20, 2012 (UTC)
I have a new theory that might work out. Jack's first death was being shot by a Dalek gunstick. Since the gunstick appears to give off a radioactive effect, this might explain why he is immune to it. In "Journey's End" he was able to recover from a gunstick blast almost instantly, so this would make sense. The time energy will have a different way of dealing with death by gunstick because that was his original death - it had to use more power to bring him back from that death because he had been dead for ten minutes. 94.72.237.220talk to me 19:04, January 20, 2012 (UTC)
The Dalek guns can't use stet radiation though, because they don't vaporize their victims' bodies. The main problem with the stet radiation isn't that Jack recovered too fast, but that he didn't die at all. Icecreamdif talk to me 19:32, January 20, 2012 (UTC)
In the novel "Prisoner of the Daleks" it is shown that at the highest power the gunstick can disintegrate entirely. So it is possible they just use a less intense radiation. Also in "Journey's End" Jack doesn't really appear to die, because the gasping noise isn't made. 94.72.237.220talk to me 21:49, January 20, 2012 (UTC)
well, in miracle day it was revealed that jack heals super fast as well, so i assume that the cell degeneration caused by the stet radiation was slow enough for jack to heal and never get to a point where the damage is severe enough to kill him. Imamadmad talk to me 23:44, January 20, 2012 (UTC)
That not only makes sense, it seemed obvious at the time (i.e., when I first saw Utopia). We didn't need Miracle Day to tell us Jack heals fast; Everything Changes and several subsequent episodes in Torchwood Series 1 told us that. Also, 94, Jack doesn't always make "the gasping noise". He didn't in Everything Changes, when he recovered from being shot in the head. That doesn't mean he didn't die. --89.241.73.121talk to me 05:52, January 21, 2012 (UTC)
That's pretty much what I said before. He healed before he had a chance to die. Of course, the human who went in there died much faster, but the radiation may do less noticable damage before it disintegrates people.Icecreamdif talk to me 08:53, January 21, 2012 (UTC)
Only one problem - how did the Doctor know he would survive it completely unscathed? He doesn't seem to know many immortals. I'd guess it must be something to do with time energy. In "The End of Time" the Tenth Doctor is overcome by radiation and later does the most explosive regeneration he has ever done. Either it was because he held it off for a long time, or the radiation had a weird effect, which would also explain why Jack wasn't injured. 94.72.237.220talk to me 09:39, January 21, 2012 (UTC)
I believe that was answered when Jack asked The Doctor how he knew in Utopia, 94. "It's not easy, just looking at you, Jack. 'Cause you're wrong". Jack became a fixed thing in time, and The Doctor's said before to have the ability to know fixed events from normal events in time. As for the stet radiation, I think a slow cell degeneration rate due to healing is a possible conclusion. Prydonius talk to me 15:30, January 21, 2012 (UTC)
Here's an explanation: radiation causes each cell to move, and therefore heat up. The human's cells will have started to move, and when it had spread through all the cells he disintegrated from the heat. Jack's cells will have stopped moving before every single cell started moving. Whether or not the cells stopped moving faster than the radiation moved them allowing him to die from it if exposure was long enough is unknown, but he wasn't in there for that long. 87.102.94.3talk to me 17:55, January 21, 2012 (UTC)
The Third Doctor also died from radiation, and he probably had the least explosive regeneration of any of them. It should also be kept in mind that the Doctor hadn't heard of stet radiation before the episode. He knew that Jack was immortal, so he probably figured that if it killed Jack, then he would just wake up and continue his work before he died again.Icecreamdif talk to me 18:54, January 21, 2012 (UTC)
well, there is different types of radiation in the whoniverse as well as in real life. so the radiation 3 died from was different from what 10 died from and is again different from what jack experiences and is again different from the radiation the doctor absorbs harmlessly in smith and jones. we shouldn't generalise when it comes to radiation and its effects. Imamadmad talk to me 00:39, January 22, 2012 (UTC)
And for that exact reason, we shouldn't assume that the Dalek's guns are even remotely similar to stet radiation, and does not cause Jack to be immune to radiation.Icecreamdif talk to me 05:58, January 22, 2012 (UTC)
We don't need to assume Jack to be immune to radiation. We need to explain why he apparently is immune to stet radiation. --89.241.74.254talk to me 06:14, January 22, 2012 (UTC)
Did any of you even glance at 87s explanation? That's probably the best theory that's been made so far. 94.72.237.220talk to me 09:50, January 22, 2012 (UTC)
87's explanation is totally wrong about the effects of most forms of radiation, so I'd not say it's the best theory so far. In fact, it's nonsense. Imamadmad's explanation (rapid healing prevents the damage ever becoming fatal) might be wrong but at least it makes a reasonable amount of sense. It stands some chance of being right. 87's explanation might do for microwave radiation but not much else -- and microwave radiation doesn't fit what was said about stet radiation. 87 is also wrong (very badly wrong) about the effects on human tissue of heating. You don't disintegrate, you cook and, eventually, you burn. --89.241.74.254talk to me 11:46, January 22, 2012 (UTC)
Who's to say stet-radiation doesn't cook you so badly that it causes instant disintegration? 94.72.237.220talk to me 13:16, January 22, 2012 (UTC)
Anyone with any sense is to say that. The only way to do anything resembling such "cooking to instant disintegration" would be to vaporise all or most of the water in the body, more or less simultaneously. You'd blow up. We know Jack can be blown up (although he recovers). He wasn't blown up, therefore that's not what stet radiation does. If you're going to offer theories, please take at least some notice of the evidence they need to fit. --89.241.74.254talk to me 13:55, January 22, 2012 (UTC)
