Toshiko in Doctor Who
OK - I'm going to start this off by trying to clarify what I'm looking at, to try and avoid confusion. So here's some points to begin.
a) I believe that the Dr Sato who appears in Doctor Who Series 1 (episode - Aliens of London) - is the same Toshiko Sato who appears in Torchwood. This has actually been confirmed by both RTD and Naoko Mori in interviews.
b) I believe based on information given in Torchwood, 2.12 that she was already working at Torchwood by this time and so is working, in this episode, undercover.
What this discussion aims to clarify is whether Toshiko is working undercover at UNIT or working for UNIT in this sequence - which I've seen around quite a lot and I think is fanon, rather than canon. I think the idea emerged, understandably, because UNIT is mentioned within the Doctor Who episode in question and Toshiko is seen working in proximity with people in outfits very similar to the ones associated with UNIT. Screencaps are my own - so sorry about the pause symbol and the like. Spoilers beneath the cut obviously.
ARE THE SOLDIES IN THIS EPISODE UNIT
OK, so throughout the episode we see lots of soldiers - they're at the crash site, they're both inside and outside Albion hospital and they're outside 10 Downing Street. These soldiers have reddish-berets, with a badge that definitely looks UNIT-ish. It's kind of understandable that they were associated with UNIT.
Now lets look at some pictures. First up is our very first shot of the soldiers. The berets here look more burgundy than red, but that's hardly definitive.
And here is our soldier who shoots the pig. Otherwise known as "poorly paid extra who doesn't get to say anything because then we'd have to pay him more, even though it makes him seem a bit stupid". Can see the cap a bit better here - but still not enough for us to make out the insigna
Now we do get to meet UNIT in The Christmas Invasion. So here's the best shot I could get of their ground shoulders from the episode. Although I'm afraid it's not very good. The hats are similar. But these are redder and the insigna is slightly different. The biggest difference is that these soldiers are dressed completely in black.
Now, lets look at the blokes in charge of these two forces. Here's General Asquith from Aliens of London.
And here's the guy in charge in the Christmas Invasion, who's name escapes me. Both a long shot so you can see the hat and a close up so you can see his badge/patch which is the same as the one that appears on the band of his hat. These outfits are strikingly similar, I almost feel that they're meant to remind us of General Asquith. But they're also definitely different.
So. It's clear that these aren't the same uniforms in the pictures. But they are very similar and that could just be down to a re-design once UNIT became more central to the story. Not really conclusive. The text, however, is more revealing.
Firstly every time the soldiers are referenced they are referred to as the army, although most of these references are made by news reporters who probably wouldn't know the difference between UNIT and normal army.
A minor point that I want to mention here. Is that we're told by the same news reporter tells us "the body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary" - but I don't think that's a reference to UNIT as it seems unlikely that the newsreporter would know this and we're told immediately afterwards that it's just been taken to the nearest hospital and a specific reference is made to patients being evacuated from the hospital.
Now General Asquith seems to give us our strongest hint that, at least in the script this wasn't intended to be UNIT. Firstly, he tells us that the experts haven't arrived yet. UNIT haven't arrived on the scene yet, in fact we see them arriving at Downing Street here.
And the Doctor tells us:
REPORTER
It is looking likely that the government is bringing in alien specialists - those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space.
DOCTOR
UNIT! United Nations Intelligence Task force - good people.
ROSE
How do you know them?
MICKEY
'Cause he's worked for them. Yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet... and in the history books, and there's his name. Followed by a list of the dead.
DOCTOR
That's nice. Good boy, Rickey.
ROSE
If you know them, why don't you go and help?
DOCTOR
They wouldn't recognize me. I've changed a lot since the old days.
More than that - General Asquith is welcome to wander around Downing Street even before he's a slitheen, he doesn't show any familiarity to the UNIT representatives and he's leading the meeting. He seems seperate from them.
My overriding feeling is that these soldiers were never intended to be UNIT, but that at some point during production a decision was made to make their outfits UNIT-esque although left vague, but the script remained the same as it had been originally. So you could argue either way that this is UNIT or isn't... The episode errs on the side that it isn't, but it's vague enough to leave lee-way.
TOSHIKO SATO
So where does this leave Toshiko, if she could be working nearby UNIT soldiers? To start off here's two pictures of her from the episode. I have to say that I love that in Fragments they've made her look similar to how she looks here. :D
I think it's fairly apparent that Toshiko isn't working for UNIT in these sequences. Firstly, the Doctor heads almost immediately to the Hospital as soon as the body arrives there, there doesn't seem to have been much time to ship in a UNIT doctor. It's not impossible, but it is unlikely. It seems more likely that Toshiko was undercover at the hospital already - right place, right time - could be a coincidence, could be because at some point Rose or the Doctor told Jack the story of what happened, gave him enough information to send a team member there. But Jack's not stupid, he wouldn't risk a time paradox himself by going to see the Doctor who hasn't met him yet.
Then we've got what General Asquith says to Tosh again:
ASQUITH
We've got experts being flown in. Until they arrive... get that out of sight.
So, he at least doesn't consider her to be an expert - which would seem a little odd if she's a Doctor working for UNIT. Plus UNIT and the other experts are being flown in so they're not there yet.
Add to this that Toshiko is at least playing this as if she doesn't know what aliens are (which presumeably was how the character was intended to act at the time) - this would also seem a little unusual for someone undercover at UNIT.
Again it's probably not conclusive. But when you look at the whole thing what you end up with is that Toshiko is never directly linked to UNIT, she acts in a manner that is unlikely for someone working undercover as a Doctor attached to an organisation of alien experts, the only thing that ties her to UNIT is the presence in the same hospital as soldiers whose uniform bears a similarity to UNIT, although doesn't match it exactly, and who the script strongly suggests are the army not UNIT.
a) I believe that the Dr Sato who appears in Doctor Who Series 1 (episode - Aliens of London) - is the same Toshiko Sato who appears in Torchwood. This has actually been confirmed by both RTD and Naoko Mori in interviews.
b) I believe based on information given in Torchwood, 2.12 that she was already working at Torchwood by this time and so is working, in this episode, undercover.
What this discussion aims to clarify is whether Toshiko is working undercover at UNIT or working for UNIT in this sequence - which I've seen around quite a lot and I think is fanon, rather than canon. I think the idea emerged, understandably, because UNIT is mentioned within the Doctor Who episode in question and Toshiko is seen working in proximity with people in outfits very similar to the ones associated with UNIT. Screencaps are my own - so sorry about the pause symbol and the like. Spoilers beneath the cut obviously.
ARE THE SOLDIES IN THIS EPISODE UNIT
OK, so throughout the episode we see lots of soldiers - they're at the crash site, they're both inside and outside Albion hospital and they're outside 10 Downing Street. These soldiers have reddish-berets, with a badge that definitely looks UNIT-ish. It's kind of understandable that they were associated with UNIT.
Now lets look at some pictures. First up is our very first shot of the soldiers. The berets here look more burgundy than red, but that's hardly definitive.
And here is our soldier who shoots the pig. Otherwise known as "poorly paid extra who doesn't get to say anything because then we'd have to pay him more, even though it makes him seem a bit stupid". Can see the cap a bit better here - but still not enough for us to make out the insigna
Now we do get to meet UNIT in The Christmas Invasion. So here's the best shot I could get of their ground shoulders from the episode. Although I'm afraid it's not very good. The hats are similar. But these are redder and the insigna is slightly different. The biggest difference is that these soldiers are dressed completely in black.
Now, lets look at the blokes in charge of these two forces. Here's General Asquith from Aliens of London.
And here's the guy in charge in the Christmas Invasion, who's name escapes me. Both a long shot so you can see the hat and a close up so you can see his badge/patch which is the same as the one that appears on the band of his hat. These outfits are strikingly similar, I almost feel that they're meant to remind us of General Asquith. But they're also definitely different.
So. It's clear that these aren't the same uniforms in the pictures. But they are very similar and that could just be down to a re-design once UNIT became more central to the story. Not really conclusive. The text, however, is more revealing.
Firstly every time the soldiers are referenced they are referred to as the army, although most of these references are made by news reporters who probably wouldn't know the difference between UNIT and normal army.
A minor point that I want to mention here. Is that we're told by the same news reporter tells us "the body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary" - but I don't think that's a reference to UNIT as it seems unlikely that the newsreporter would know this and we're told immediately afterwards that it's just been taken to the nearest hospital and a specific reference is made to patients being evacuated from the hospital.
Now General Asquith seems to give us our strongest hint that, at least in the script this wasn't intended to be UNIT. Firstly, he tells us that the experts haven't arrived yet. UNIT haven't arrived on the scene yet, in fact we see them arriving at Downing Street here.
And the Doctor tells us:
REPORTER
It is looking likely that the government is bringing in alien specialists - those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space.
DOCTOR
UNIT! United Nations Intelligence Task force - good people.
ROSE
How do you know them?
MICKEY
'Cause he's worked for them. Yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet... and in the history books, and there's his name. Followed by a list of the dead.
DOCTOR
That's nice. Good boy, Rickey.
ROSE
If you know them, why don't you go and help?
DOCTOR
They wouldn't recognize me. I've changed a lot since the old days.
More than that - General Asquith is welcome to wander around Downing Street even before he's a slitheen, he doesn't show any familiarity to the UNIT representatives and he's leading the meeting. He seems seperate from them.
My overriding feeling is that these soldiers were never intended to be UNIT, but that at some point during production a decision was made to make their outfits UNIT-esque although left vague, but the script remained the same as it had been originally. So you could argue either way that this is UNIT or isn't... The episode errs on the side that it isn't, but it's vague enough to leave lee-way.
TOSHIKO SATO
So where does this leave Toshiko, if she could be working nearby UNIT soldiers? To start off here's two pictures of her from the episode. I have to say that I love that in Fragments they've made her look similar to how she looks here. :D
I think it's fairly apparent that Toshiko isn't working for UNIT in these sequences. Firstly, the Doctor heads almost immediately to the Hospital as soon as the body arrives there, there doesn't seem to have been much time to ship in a UNIT doctor. It's not impossible, but it is unlikely. It seems more likely that Toshiko was undercover at the hospital already - right place, right time - could be a coincidence, could be because at some point Rose or the Doctor told Jack the story of what happened, gave him enough information to send a team member there. But Jack's not stupid, he wouldn't risk a time paradox himself by going to see the Doctor who hasn't met him yet.
Then we've got what General Asquith says to Tosh again:
ASQUITH
We've got experts being flown in. Until they arrive... get that out of sight.
So, he at least doesn't consider her to be an expert - which would seem a little odd if she's a Doctor working for UNIT. Plus UNIT and the other experts are being flown in so they're not there yet.
Add to this that Toshiko is at least playing this as if she doesn't know what aliens are (which presumeably was how the character was intended to act at the time) - this would also seem a little unusual for someone undercover at UNIT.
Again it's probably not conclusive. But when you look at the whole thing what you end up with is that Toshiko is never directly linked to UNIT, she acts in a manner that is unlikely for someone working undercover as a Doctor attached to an organisation of alien experts, the only thing that ties her to UNIT is the presence in the same hospital as soldiers whose uniform bears a similarity to UNIT, although doesn't match it exactly, and who the script strongly suggests are the army not UNIT.