Wacko Fan Theories About Doctor Who and Torchwood, pt 2
So, I was watching episode two of series four, that is, the one where the Doctor and Donna visit Ancient Rome--Pompeii, actually, and one line of the Doctor's stuck out a bit. Something about fixed points in history, and how if you save even one person, everything could get fucked up. (But then he went and saved that guy and his family anyway.) RTD alluded to this when he taked about how Peter Capaldi in Torchwood is Peter Capaldi-in-Doctor-Who's descendant and therefore it's fitting that he should shoot his whole family. (Yeah, right, um, whatever....)
I've been speculating for a while about a possible reset in the offing, and I thought it perhaps hinged on Harriet Jones being deposed by the Doctor, which apparently rewrote history a bit. It's one of the first things Ten did, but I wondered if something that happened further back was the problem. Who was the first person who ought to have died but got saved instead because of the Doctor?
"Supposed to have died" is so relative in the midst of all this timey-wimey stuff, that the only way I know of knowing for certain whether someone was really supposed to die is to first ask, did they die?
The only person who died and came back to life was Captain Jack.
Neither Doctor Who or Torchwood has ever touched on possible screwing with history that Jack's been doing by living in the 20th and 21st, having lovers, fathering children, saving lives, making decisions that affect the planet's future.
Perhaps if Jack had never been restored to life and made immortal, Torchwood would not have existed past Canary Wharf. Perhaps Torchwood Cardiff would have been finished after Alex shot his entire team at the beginning of 2000.
The 456 incidents would not have gone the same way, in any case. There'd have been no Jack to hands the kids over in the first place, for a start.
Anyway, just theories. Obviously whatever happens in Doctor Who will be all about Ten, and not all about Jack, but I wondered for a second if inadvertently creating Torchwood might actually be Ten's big mistake, though I can't think there's a link between the existence of Torchwood (prior to Canary Wharf) and the existence of Jack Harkness, so all this Jack-themed speculation may be beside the point.
But if things get rewound to the point that Jack Harkness was never immortal, at least it would explain statements by people like RTD and Eve Myles to the effect of, "the dead stay dead", which make no sense currently.
In case anyone wonders, I really didn't think they would reset CoE specifically, but I keep having the impression RTD has something sneaky up his sleeve, and I hate, hate being tricked. I must figure it out before that can happen.