Torchwood Declassified (2006) s02e01 Episode Script

I'll take one of everything.
Any questions? I play a character named Captain John Hart who is a Time Agent.
I wrote Captain John absolutely for James Marsters.
I think he had a ball playing it.
It was certainly great fun to make.
He came on board and just took it to a completely new level.
The character was so much fun.
It's a nemesis for Jack.
Captain John is a bit of a doppelganger for Captain Jack.
No blonde, though.
You need a blonde.
God, he's worse than Jack.
Oh! Please! Please stop.
He's built up quite well as the dangerous, cool guy.
My email box went ping one day, and there was an email to my agent from James Marsters' agent saying James Marsters would love to appear in Torchwood.
We talked to Chris Chibnall, who was writing episode one at the time, and he was writing a story that involved a character that would have conflict with Captain Jack.
And so Russell got in touch with Chris and said, ''Write it for James Marsters.
'' -What are you wearing? -Captain Jack Harkness.
-Note the stripes.
-Captain John Hart.
Note the sarcasm.
Hey, I worked my way up through the ranks.
I bet the ranks were very grateful.
When I got the script, we didn't really need a lot of discussion with the director or with the producers.
Because the script is really self-explanatory.
He's so enthusiastic and professional and so up for it, you know.
He read the script.
He loved the character.
So every day was just a joy for him, you know.
And you could tell.
I think it's there in his performance.
MAN: Action.
MAN: Get off! I didn't do it.
James does a brilliant job of it.
Particularly the first introduction to him.
-Which artery do you normally sever? -No! I'm not bluffing! Oh, well, see, now you've given yourself away.
I think with any character, you want them to have a big impact when they arrive.
With Captain John, I just wanted to make sure that he comes in, he kills, he kisses, he fights.
Just to make sure that everybody knows that he's an absolute equal for Jack.
Please, please, stop! Well, no.
Oh, my God! You get the idea that it's what a bad Captain Jack could have been like.
When James is at the bar and I arrive and come through those doors, we did think of the genre of Westerns.
I wrote it in the script that the first meeting of John and Jack should be Sergio Leone.
It should be a Spaghetti Western.
That first meeting between Captain Jack and Captain John is just bristling, and they're like gunslingers in a bar.
We then shot both of them walking towards each other, which we kind of elongated the sequence.
Lots of Steadicaming back and forth, so that you really build up the moment.
We built up the moment for these two meeting.
You think they're just gonna headbutt each other and then they kiss.
So not expected.
You so don't see that coming.
It was probably one of the funnest things that we've done, you know, with Jack.
It was just great.
It's perfect Torchwood, really, isn't it? The style of fighting is very similar to what I'm used to.
What I'm not used to is a lead who's willing to get in there like John.
Knee or is it a kick in the balls? It's like you take that leg and actually sort of I'll have you know that that fight sequence, we did everything except throw ourselves through that glass window.
MAN: Here we go.
Three, two, one, action.
I don't fall! If my feet leave the floor, that ain't me.
Boing, that ain't me.
We wanted it to be a lively fight, a fun fight.
Can I take that punch as a left-handed stomach punch? -If you like.
-Yeah.
I'm left-handed.
I feel like I'll be able to lay it a little better -and with more control.
-That's the way I'd do it.
It's a cross between different fights we've had.
It's like O.
K.
Corral, like a Western-type fight, crossed with a bit of martial arts.
And also crossed with a bit of Bourne Identity type fight, with the short-arm crosses and all that.
You really in the fight see that they're not just ticked off at each other, but they're also good friends, and they're actually quite enjoying this.
-Quiet please.
-Action.
-Your dolly birds did all my leg work.
-That's what you wanted.
What I want is for you to come to your senses.
Captain John is trying to tempt Captain Jack back to his way of life, you know, back to the evil side if you like.
Join me, Jack.
Back in the old routine.
We'd be emperors.
It's a key scene, really.
This is where the story could go either way.
How can you stay tied to one planet when there's thousands of worlds sparkling with wonder? We found the perfect rooftop, which is a British Gas building in Cardiff.
It's 1 33 feet high, had a perfect view of the city and the twinkling lights Somewhere in the script it mentions the beautiful lights.
Canister.
Whoops.
Whoops.
We had to set up this stunt which was kind of the key part of the film where Captain Jack falls, you know, down to the ground.
Curtis does all my stunts and is very good and makes me look good.
What we're doing tonight is we're gonna be doing this fall.
It's 1 40 feet from the top of the building, backwards.
And to create the illusion of falling backwards, I'm gonna be wearing a full-body harness, which we have three to five mil cables coming out of that, attaching to some 1 0 mil dynamic rope, which goes right the way up above the building to this huge crane, then comes down the crane, all the way down through this mechanism which is three to one.
Meaning when it's pulled, for every foot the vehicle that it's attached to travels backwards, I will then ascend three feet up to the number one position.
On ''Action'', the car will drive forward to some set marks, and I will descend.
Speak to Dai.
Happy to rehearse? We've been testing all afternoon, we're about to do some more tests now, with some sand bags, and they'll be my weight exactly.
And we test it and test and test until we're completely satisfied.
I can't believe it.
The crane actually went to 1 60-something feet.
So it's a huge crane we've got.
We had to block off the roads.
There was an air-bag underneath for the stuntman's safety.
So, logistically, it was a big move.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, let's shoot next, please.
CURTIS: I've gone a lot higher than that attached to bungee cords.
I've done a lot of parachuting.
It's actually much scarier to be 1 00 foot off the ground.
It looks very little, a five millimetre cable, coming off a harness, and that's all that's between you and that tiny air-bag.
Which looks like a matchbox when you look over your shoulder.
There's always a real buzz when you're doing a stunt, a big stunt like that.
And that is a big fall, you know.
So it was a good thing to do.
The moments while you're being lifted into position, those are, you know, the more nerve-wracking moments.
Because, for me, personally Everyone's different.
As soon as they shout action, then you're working and you're thinking about how the character moves or exactly what you've got to do for the job.
It was interesting because it was about if I'm correct, maybe a little later.
And here's this guy in the middle of Cardiff, hanging from a huge crane on a cable.
And they hoisted him up.
You know, and he's splayed out.
And they put him up there, and then he They drop him.
And he's doing all this, coming all the way down.
He got to do the fun bit.
I had to lay in a box in green screen.
Three, two, one, action.
It was in another scene following that, of Jack, righting himself off the You know, bones cracking.
Unbends himself off this bench.
Action.
It just became really clear, once we put the programme together, it just felt we didn't need it in the story, so we left it out.
That's brilliant.
GWEN: Have you never seen something so mad, so extraordinary, that just for one second you think that there might be more out there? WOMAN: Who are you people? You've always got to top what you did last year.
You're Torchwood, yes? There's a rift through space and time that runs through Cardiff, stuff slips through it from other timelines and planets, and it's our job to monitor it.
We've got a more cohesive idea about what this world is, you know About the boundaries and the limits of it, but also how far we can push things.
Stop wasting our time, we know you're an alien.
Everyone's still in the same place, doing the same job, doing what they did, just better than they did before.
Second series, we're now running.
Get away from me! What, is it not spooky enough? It's bigger and it's better.
There's a lot more crammed in there.
Honestly, it's just sex, sex, sex with you people.
Everyone knows the characters now, and everything's more well-rounded.
The team have come together.
You have picked the wrong girl to stalk, mate.
There's this incredible world out there, and we're introducing you to it.
-When are the others coming? -They're already here.
GWEN: Oh, my God.
JACK: Welcome to planet Earth.
The characters go on a bigger journey.
They are facing life-threatening disasters.
A human being who's travelled in time and space.
You learn more about the characters.
You really are something special.
-Oh, what's happening? -I don't know.
Toshiko, show me the city now.
They're everywhere.
I just feel like Torchwood is much more of a unit now.
TOSHIKO: You're the only one who can stop this.
If you don't, it's the end of everything.
You always remember what you killed, don't you, Jack? Nuclear warheads.
Ten of them.
It's all over.
Let's all have sex.
And I thought the end of the world couldn't get any worse.
OWEN: Come on, what do we do? Just keep watching.
Keep doing what we do.