Torchwood Declassified (2006) s02e04 Episode Script
Save The Whale
Imprisoned, chained and drugged.
Welcome to planet Earth.
We were just throwing ideas around and, true to form, Russell said, ''Why isn't it just a great, big whale in a warehouse?'' It was designed to be one of Torchwood and Doctor Who's biggest monsters, one of the biggest things we've ever created, but not in terms of, like, big and evil, the literal size.
This was a chance to sort of explore the strangeness of life that you get out there.
The design team went away and drew a concept picture of what they felt the whale would look like within the warehouse.
Well, hey, there we are.
-And there we are, done.
-Wow.
Initially we were a little fanciful with it.
It looked a bit too beautiful and exotic.
And then we decided if it looked like that, they'd exhibit it.
It would be a freak show.
And then I think we just came up with the idea of a giant kebab.
There it is.
(ALL LAUGHING) I had to sit there drawing it 'cause I wanted it simpler.
We really don't want it complicated.
It's meat, size, an eye and that's it.
The scale is what was the big thing.
So we had to go and find this huge, great warehouse, which we've often filmed in, but we'd never been to this space, which is basically this huge hangar.
And action, artists.
That's amazing.
We had this 50-foot crane, which is just incredible.
I've not touched a 50-foot crane before.
You know, it's super, super techno.
We had that for two days and it was just amazing.
The team that were involved in that, you know, the grip team and the camera department, was just so intense and focussed on trying to get these shots.
It was worth it because, you know, some of the stuff we got, I don't think we'll get it again.
The cut of the actual animal is actually there.
That's disgusting.
So we could play in amongst that, which is this big blood-soaked, soppy, big sponge thing.
And obviously that was CGI'd onto the huge, big creature.
Would you like a sirloin or a fillet? It's a good laugh to do, as well, 'cause there's nothing there.
You're just looking at something and ''So where's the eye, then? Is this the eye?'' It opens here and you're there and this is it.
''How big is it?'' And they're telling you all this.
It was just trying to convince them that it's there and it's making these sounds, and I think there's various times when you hear me going And all of this other stuff that's kind of like, you know And A, yes, it is kind of funny, and you can see them behind the eyes going, ''No, no, no.
'' But they're giving it and they're doing it.
It comes off.
It works.
It really does.
(WAILING) We'd had a little show on the computer of something of what it was going to resemble.
It usually starts off with getting the shape of it right, and rigging it to animate.
So that's all this is, really, is just This is the first shot where Rhys sees it for the first time.
It just keeps growing, no matter how much we cut it.
That's the final model, which everything's based on.
This is a close to completed shot.
That one there gives detail and texture to the lighting.
Well, that's a reflection pass.
'Cause it's an undersea creature, they're keeping it wet to keep it alive.
So those are reflections which we subtly add in over the top of this, which was just the basic colour, that's the basic texture of it.
And then that's the final result.
Rhys, as the faithful boyfriend of Gwen, has always been kept in the dark, has no idea about Torchwood or, indeed, about alien life, until this week.
She introduces him to Torchwood.
And, uh, he doesn't run away.
Captain Jack Harkness.
Thanks for dropping in, Rhys.
It becomes a sort of rite of passage for the two of them, as to, ''Will their relationship survive through that?'' My mistake.
Terribly sorry, guys.
Rhys is Gwen's long-suffering boyfriend, you know.
Uh, he lives here.
He's just an everyday guy.
He's not even so much mundane, he's just like He's an average blue-collar worker.
MYLES: Why doesn't he just go and marry a really nice girl who's got a nice, normal job, comes home, eats lasagne, has a glass of wine, makes love, has a lovely time? But wouldn't that be a boring life? Instead, he's got Gwen Cooper, who saves the world.
He does put up with a lot, doesn't he, from his, you know, wife-to-be? One night off.
You promised.
Don't you dare.
If you go now, Gwen Gwen's had to lie an awful lot to him.
The police have taken the meat out of the back of the van, um -You any idea why? -How would I know? Funny thing is, Rhys discovers the truth about Torchwood.
He doesn't discover everything that's ever happened.
If you look back at series 1 , there's an awful lot of things Gwen isn't telling him.
In the first series, we had planned to kill Rhys.
I'm I'm Rhys.
We were gonna bump him off in the last episode and he was gonna be dead.
Gwen's boyfriend? But we like Kai Owen, the actor who plays Rhys, so much, literally, we thought, ''We can't kill him.
'' Oh, you're here.
-Weren't you just here a minute ago? -You're here! So, when we came to look at series 2, it was one of our great joys, actually, one of the first decisions we made was we can't make this guy look like a sap any longer.
He's got to be aware of what's going on.
And then that very quickly became a very big story.
KAI: He can't believe He's just stunned, what he's seeing, this alien whale, this alien beast.
He's scared.
He doesn't know.
His mind's racing.
And, ''Where the bloody hell is Gwen in all this?'' as well.
I think he can't believe it.
He can't believe this is happening in Cardiff, in his capital city, in Cardiff, you know what I mean? What is it? This is the finale to episode 4, where Torchwood comes to save the whale, save the beast, save the alien.
And action.
Dale, don't be an idiot.
Show yourselves or I shoot the delivery boy! Ianto and Rhys are hostage, and Rhys dives in front of Gwen and takes the bullet for her in his shoulder.
So, good scene.
Long scene, but good.
Bang, bang, bang, bang.
Patch underneath there, that's what makes the boom.
Camera is at speed.
-Sound speed.
-Sound speed.
-Mark it.
-1 61 , take 1 .
When the bullet hit, it was brilliant.
I was stunned how it worked.
Really, really brilliant.
I've been shot before, but never, never this, sort of, graphic, in this special-effects way.
The guys are brilliant, what they did, you know, fantastic.
Kai had never done the squib thing.
He's like, ''I'm not a hero.
I don't do those sort of things.
'' You know, ''John does that, or Burn does that.
'' He's just, ''I don't do that.
What does it do?'' And I'm saying, ''Well, it really hurts, man.
'' And he's just There's just that little look.
''No, he's kidding me, isn't he?'' And action.
I'm making money here! This is my business! For the first time in my life, I've actually got something for myself.
Dale, stop.
Stop.
You can still walk away from this.
You lied to me.
(GUNFIRE) Not bad, not bad, not bad.
Okay, and cut.
Cut there.
And the shirt, the jacket, the blood and all that, fantastic.
No! But ''ah'', and I think that is a genuine reaction, you know! Because no matter what anyone tells you, it does actually nip.
It nips a bit, I think is the word.
Look, it's okay.
(SCREAMING) I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Shh! Breathe.
Cut there.
And you actually feel, you know, a little push, nothing massive, but, you know, it helps.
It's It was great.
(INDISTINCT) So there's a genuine sort of like ''ah'' from him, which I think is a great reaction, you know.
For a big lad, it was a great reaction.
Welcome to planet Earth.
We were just throwing ideas around and, true to form, Russell said, ''Why isn't it just a great, big whale in a warehouse?'' It was designed to be one of Torchwood and Doctor Who's biggest monsters, one of the biggest things we've ever created, but not in terms of, like, big and evil, the literal size.
This was a chance to sort of explore the strangeness of life that you get out there.
The design team went away and drew a concept picture of what they felt the whale would look like within the warehouse.
Well, hey, there we are.
-And there we are, done.
-Wow.
Initially we were a little fanciful with it.
It looked a bit too beautiful and exotic.
And then we decided if it looked like that, they'd exhibit it.
It would be a freak show.
And then I think we just came up with the idea of a giant kebab.
There it is.
(ALL LAUGHING) I had to sit there drawing it 'cause I wanted it simpler.
We really don't want it complicated.
It's meat, size, an eye and that's it.
The scale is what was the big thing.
So we had to go and find this huge, great warehouse, which we've often filmed in, but we'd never been to this space, which is basically this huge hangar.
And action, artists.
That's amazing.
We had this 50-foot crane, which is just incredible.
I've not touched a 50-foot crane before.
You know, it's super, super techno.
We had that for two days and it was just amazing.
The team that were involved in that, you know, the grip team and the camera department, was just so intense and focussed on trying to get these shots.
It was worth it because, you know, some of the stuff we got, I don't think we'll get it again.
The cut of the actual animal is actually there.
That's disgusting.
So we could play in amongst that, which is this big blood-soaked, soppy, big sponge thing.
And obviously that was CGI'd onto the huge, big creature.
Would you like a sirloin or a fillet? It's a good laugh to do, as well, 'cause there's nothing there.
You're just looking at something and ''So where's the eye, then? Is this the eye?'' It opens here and you're there and this is it.
''How big is it?'' And they're telling you all this.
It was just trying to convince them that it's there and it's making these sounds, and I think there's various times when you hear me going And all of this other stuff that's kind of like, you know And A, yes, it is kind of funny, and you can see them behind the eyes going, ''No, no, no.
'' But they're giving it and they're doing it.
It comes off.
It works.
It really does.
(WAILING) We'd had a little show on the computer of something of what it was going to resemble.
It usually starts off with getting the shape of it right, and rigging it to animate.
So that's all this is, really, is just This is the first shot where Rhys sees it for the first time.
It just keeps growing, no matter how much we cut it.
That's the final model, which everything's based on.
This is a close to completed shot.
That one there gives detail and texture to the lighting.
Well, that's a reflection pass.
'Cause it's an undersea creature, they're keeping it wet to keep it alive.
So those are reflections which we subtly add in over the top of this, which was just the basic colour, that's the basic texture of it.
And then that's the final result.
Rhys, as the faithful boyfriend of Gwen, has always been kept in the dark, has no idea about Torchwood or, indeed, about alien life, until this week.
She introduces him to Torchwood.
And, uh, he doesn't run away.
Captain Jack Harkness.
Thanks for dropping in, Rhys.
It becomes a sort of rite of passage for the two of them, as to, ''Will their relationship survive through that?'' My mistake.
Terribly sorry, guys.
Rhys is Gwen's long-suffering boyfriend, you know.
Uh, he lives here.
He's just an everyday guy.
He's not even so much mundane, he's just like He's an average blue-collar worker.
MYLES: Why doesn't he just go and marry a really nice girl who's got a nice, normal job, comes home, eats lasagne, has a glass of wine, makes love, has a lovely time? But wouldn't that be a boring life? Instead, he's got Gwen Cooper, who saves the world.
He does put up with a lot, doesn't he, from his, you know, wife-to-be? One night off.
You promised.
Don't you dare.
If you go now, Gwen Gwen's had to lie an awful lot to him.
The police have taken the meat out of the back of the van, um -You any idea why? -How would I know? Funny thing is, Rhys discovers the truth about Torchwood.
He doesn't discover everything that's ever happened.
If you look back at series 1 , there's an awful lot of things Gwen isn't telling him.
In the first series, we had planned to kill Rhys.
I'm I'm Rhys.
We were gonna bump him off in the last episode and he was gonna be dead.
Gwen's boyfriend? But we like Kai Owen, the actor who plays Rhys, so much, literally, we thought, ''We can't kill him.
'' Oh, you're here.
-Weren't you just here a minute ago? -You're here! So, when we came to look at series 2, it was one of our great joys, actually, one of the first decisions we made was we can't make this guy look like a sap any longer.
He's got to be aware of what's going on.
And then that very quickly became a very big story.
KAI: He can't believe He's just stunned, what he's seeing, this alien whale, this alien beast.
He's scared.
He doesn't know.
His mind's racing.
And, ''Where the bloody hell is Gwen in all this?'' as well.
I think he can't believe it.
He can't believe this is happening in Cardiff, in his capital city, in Cardiff, you know what I mean? What is it? This is the finale to episode 4, where Torchwood comes to save the whale, save the beast, save the alien.
And action.
Dale, don't be an idiot.
Show yourselves or I shoot the delivery boy! Ianto and Rhys are hostage, and Rhys dives in front of Gwen and takes the bullet for her in his shoulder.
So, good scene.
Long scene, but good.
Bang, bang, bang, bang.
Patch underneath there, that's what makes the boom.
Camera is at speed.
-Sound speed.
-Sound speed.
-Mark it.
-1 61 , take 1 .
When the bullet hit, it was brilliant.
I was stunned how it worked.
Really, really brilliant.
I've been shot before, but never, never this, sort of, graphic, in this special-effects way.
The guys are brilliant, what they did, you know, fantastic.
Kai had never done the squib thing.
He's like, ''I'm not a hero.
I don't do those sort of things.
'' You know, ''John does that, or Burn does that.
'' He's just, ''I don't do that.
What does it do?'' And I'm saying, ''Well, it really hurts, man.
'' And he's just There's just that little look.
''No, he's kidding me, isn't he?'' And action.
I'm making money here! This is my business! For the first time in my life, I've actually got something for myself.
Dale, stop.
Stop.
You can still walk away from this.
You lied to me.
(GUNFIRE) Not bad, not bad, not bad.
Okay, and cut.
Cut there.
And the shirt, the jacket, the blood and all that, fantastic.
No! But ''ah'', and I think that is a genuine reaction, you know! Because no matter what anyone tells you, it does actually nip.
It nips a bit, I think is the word.
Look, it's okay.
(SCREAMING) I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Shh! Breathe.
Cut there.
And you actually feel, you know, a little push, nothing massive, but, you know, it helps.
It's It was great.
(INDISTINCT) So there's a genuine sort of like ''ah'' from him, which I think is a great reaction, you know.
For a big lad, it was a great reaction.