The second season of the revived Doctor Who, which started in 2005 after a 16-year hiatus from Classic Who in 1989, featured David Tennant and Billie Piper in a 13-episode season of epic time-traveling adventures. From its very first season, showrunner Russell T. Davies arrange a number of threads that unraveled all the approach via the present’s tragic finale. One of its largest, nonetheless, was the origin of Doctor Who’s most infamous group: Torchwood.
Doctor Who has by no means shied away from introducing a thriller, and it did so with Torchwood throughout episode 12 of season 1, “Bad Wolf”, the place the group is referenced as a solution in a sport of The Weakest Link. It would go on to be talked about once more in “The Christmas Invasion”, which sees Harriet Jones (Penelope Wilton) name on Torchwood to shoot down the retreating Sycorax’s spaceship. Considering the group’s army would possibly, the query of who Torchwood was and what position they might serve was one of the sci-fi household present’s earliest mysteries. The “who” was lastly answered in season 2’s second episode, “Tooth and Claw.”
The Doctor doesn’t all the time take his companions to new planets; generally the time-hopping alien is content material to go to the previous. In “Tooth and Claw,” Tennant’s Time Lord and Piper’s Rose Tyler accomplish that by touring to Scotland in 1879, the place they encounter Queen Victoria (Pauline Collins). The duo learns that the Queen plans to cease at the property of an previous pal, Sir Robert MacLeish (Derek Riddell), because it’s unlikely the Queen will make it to Balmoral Castle earlier than darkish. Posing as the Queen’s protector, the Doctor and Rose be a part of her — unaware that they’re being led right into a entice involving a bunch of monks who plan to contaminate the Queen with lycanthropy through the use of an extraterrestrial werewolf.
In typical Doctor Who style, Davies blends historical past and campy sci-fi shenanigans into a really phenomenal episode that takes benefit of the epic ‘everything goes’ playground that Doctor Who is thought for. The Doctor and Rose ensnare and kill the werewolf utilizing the Queen’s Koh-i-Noor diamond, minimize by Prince Albert, and a telescope in the property’s observatory. The Queen is grateful to the Doctor and Rose for saving her life, however is totally unamused by the stage of glee the two confirmed amid the carnage and chaos that led to a number of individuals dying, together with Sir Robert. She banishes them from the British Empire and declares that, after the occasions she’s skilled, she refuses to be caught unaware by aliens (pleasant or in any other case) once more. In reminiscence of Sir Robert’s sacrifice, she names the group after the identify of his property: Torchwood.
The origins of Torchwood are important for 3 causes. The first is that we all know that it began as a corporation that regarded the Doctor and different extraterrestrial lifeforms as potential threats to humanity, which might clarify why there have been seemingly no qualms with capturing down an alien ship in “The Christmas Invasion.” Secondly, the revelation that Torchwood’s origins lie with the British Empire would later assist clarify its nationalist angle when the operatives revealed themselves to the Doctor in episode 12, “Army of Ghosts.” Its unofficial slogan at the time is revealed to be “If it’s alien, it’s ours.” An actual, not-so-subtle nudge on what kind of shady group Torchwood is, and why they’ve the technological know-how that can ultimately assist result in the tragic season finale, “Doomsday.”
However, the biggest significance of Torchwood’s origins is it might finally arrange and result in a beloved adult-oriented Doctor Who spin-off. Torchwood follows Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), a former companion of the Doctor. After the destruction of Torchwood One in “Doomsday”, Jack has rebuilt the group in Cardiff. Torchwood Three signified a brand new period for Torchwood, one that might be far much less antagonistic and extra open to cooperation with alien lifeforms, together with the Doctor.
One of the biggest issues about Doctor Who is that, very like Star Wars, there’s lots of house to broaden on tales lengthy after they’re first launched. Torchwood continues to be the topic of tales, via books, radio plays, and more, about its existence and historical past inside the world of Doctor Who. The thriller of Torchwood was planted in late season 1, but it surely’s solely with “Tooth and Claw” that the set-up of one of the sci-fi collection’ most questionable organizations is ready to flourish.
