Fic: Torchwood 1913: Jack be Nimble

[jjpor]

Fic: Torchwood 1913: Jack be Nimble, Part 14

The gang go back to the Hub to regroup - wackiness ensues. More Lydia POV stuff, and some of her thoughts on Gerald. Gerald meanwhile, finds out just what Jack and the rest of them were up to while he was in London, and is not best pleased. And Harriet wonders just what she has got herself into... Oh, and Lydia probably should have copyrighted that line she comes out with at the end...

The link:

www.whofic.com/viewstory.php

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

Yes, options are good. I'm glad it isn't ALL doom and gloom at least.

I DO want to make a Colonel Crichton icon! I was thinking of other things, but now I thought of that, I want to make one badly. Just cf my screen caps problem. If I can download or pay to download something reasonable that will let me do that, I'm sure I can at least manage something, as I have plenty of DVDs (inc The Five Doctors).

Yes, I know what you mean about the photo - and it's TV flawed reasoning, because they would only have been that stiffly seated for an official studio photo, which that clearly isn't meant to be, therefore it's been taken by someone they know and they would therefore be much more relaxed, smiling (and possibly a little blurred). Do I spend too much time reading family history mags, do you think?
But, it's cool to see them & I can recognise them - except who's the older man on the left?

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Heh - I've seen the Col. Crichton icons - love that one with the Brig and Crichton looking over his shoulder.

The guy on the left I assume to be Douglas - I probably wrote him as a bit younger than the guy in the photo, actually, but the spurious fluff on the website claimed he lived til 1957, so he can't have been too old in 1918. He reminds me of Ray Stubbs, who used to present Soccer Saturday on BBC1, but with an enormous moustache...

But yeah, the idea that people in the late 19th, early 20th century automatically adopted this terrified "it's going to steal my soul!" sort of attitude when confronted with a camera, any camera, is a bit ridiculous, really. As you say, it comes from seeing those painfully posed studio photos and assuming those were the only sort of photo being taken in those days.

And of course, it begs the question who was taking it? The obvious candidate would be Jack, but my timeline has him off dogfighting with the Red Baron and pals at the time that was supposedly taken...

hmm...

[thisbluespirit]

Heh. I thought after I posted the comment when I looked again at the date you said, that it must be Douglas.

Yes - This was taken in 1911 (if I can get this to work, which is unlikely):
(Okay, it works in as far as you can see it if you click on it!)

I don't think that's a problem, though - Jack on leave. It would be a natural thing to do.

Heh, and I'm never going to be a great icon-maker, but at least I have the ability to scrape up something if I want some odd minor character. Which, you know, happens... (I think this one is probably the most successful so far. I'm learning slowly!)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like this one - old Colby certainly looks pretty...sceptical, as you say... ;D I think part of the problem may be that the 70s TV images are of comparatively low resolution, so if you try and resize them too much the graininess really comes out, but that one's a very good effort. I was looking at your Fendahl picspams before (couldn't think of any comments to leave that weren't unseemly and puerile, so didn't bother! ;D), but yeah, the potential for icon-making and indeed shipping (shipping everybody, with everybody else, just about!) is strong in that one...

Now, that's a nice photo, and illustrates what we've been saying. Is the baby in the front laughing or crying, do you think? I couldn't quite decide. Like the smiling bride.

So, yeah, Jack's on leave from the Western Front, pops in to see the old gang (I mean, when he's had enough of boozing/sleeping his way around London, where else is he going to go?) and takes a photo of them. I think getting them to pose like idiots in front of the "Torchwood" sign (which is presumably there in case any aliens/enemy agents break into the Hub, so they'll know they're in the right place!) would probably appeal to Jack's sense of humour, actually. Gerald's looking so annoyed because he's thinking "get on with it, Harkness..." Yes, that's fanon now as far as I'm concerned. Yes. :)

[thisbluespirit]

No, I think it's because it's a free thing I downloaded as per John's instructions. It takes snapshots, but they're quite a small size. It didn't work too badly on the Image ones, but it showed more on The Five Doctors. However, it works and that's enough for me for the moment.

Heh, well, you could have said they were pretty or something, just to cheer me up. ;-) And, yes, I didn't get Thea/Max in there, but it is a bizarrely shippy episode. With a very shippy commentary!!! :lol:

I thought laughing, but that's the only copy I have (it was sent by my Dad's cousin), so it's hard for me to tell. (The bride and groom are my great-grandparents, btw. I don't know who anyone else is!) But it shows that if it's studio conventions that result in that stiffness. And, yes, I don't see what other explanation there is. Unless Jack telegraphed for a professional photographer to go down and annoy them, but somehow I don't think he'd have got away with that...

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Well, they _were_ very pretty. Actually, I don't know if "pretty" is really the right word to describe Tom Baker, but he wasn't in most of them, anyway... ;D

Aw, well it's a very nice photo as I say; I wish I had anything that old from my own family. The oldest family photos I've ever seen date from the 40s-50s and consist of my granddad and family in various army camps around England and Germany just after the war. And nothing really from my dad's side of the family... Ah, well.

Of course, now I'm thinking just what sort of uniquely Torchwood domestic drama has ensued between Jack, Gerald and co just before the taking of that photo - it must have been _something_ judging from the unamused faces on them... Thus are unwanted plot bunnies born...

I've got some sort of consultation meeting with the HR people this week, and am going to a presentation about this wonderful job I don't really think I want in Birmingham, but hopefully there will also be time for writing in among it all...