Captain Jack ... what's in a name?

And apparently, when the name is "Captain Jack," there's a heck of a lot in it. In fact, I was very tempted to chuck all the images in here and say, "There, sort them out yourself!" But no. Would I do that to you? Well, I probably would if I didn't have the time to do this properly, but since I do...!

There's at least EIGHT Captain Jacks that I know of, and you could probably find someone out there who knows some more. But right now let's have a look at the eight of 'em. This gallant company starts with the one you probably know best, or second-best:


There you go ... with strains of The Johnny Depp Song going around your head ... Jack Sparrow himself! What's the Johnny Depp song? Allow me to illuminate you:

Okay --! So that's one down, seven more to go! The other one you probably know best, or second best: Harkness, Jack Harkness ... the time agent from the 51st Century who's now not merely immortal but indestructible:

...and now it gets better, because you get two Jack Harknesses for the price of one:


And if you think your glasses just steamed up, and you didn't see that right, here's Take Two ... oooooh, yes you did:

Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood, 2007, meet Captain Jack Harkness of the US Airforce, 1941. Boy meets boy, the old, old story, right?

Okay, there's three down! Next:

Let me transport you back to 1980, or thereabouts. Captain Jack Vincent ... the show was Smuggler, a young adults' adventure series set in the Napoleonic Wars. Some episodes were too juvenile to really "travel well" across the generations, but some were absolutely top-notch. This Captain Jack was brooding, simmering ... smuggling in fact. So there's Number Four. Next?

Your grandmom would tell you, maybe with a quiver in her voice, that John Wayne wasn't always old and grizzled. You demand the evidence before you believe? Okay, you got it. Our generation didn't invent gorgeous, we only think we did:

And this here, with the hat and the major sideburns in the color still above, is Captain Jack ... Stewart. The movie is Reap the Wild Wind, and it's still a good watch, about sixty years later! So that's Captain Jack number 5. Next?

Now it gets musical. Enter Billy Joel at stage left:

Not sure if I'd call Billy's music "timeless." Not usually my kind of thing, actually, but there sure is a Captain Jack coming at you from this direction ... and if you're in the mood for two Captain Jacks for the price of one again, here's Billy Joel's Jack, plus the one in the greatcoat ... "Captain Jack will get you high tonight." (Warning to the faint hearted: there's some stuff on the soundtrack that rates this MA15, and some visuals, likewise.)



So that's Captain Jack number Six. Still two to go, that I know of ... and I'm sure there's others. Drop me a line, kids, and I'll update this. But in the meantime, try this for a golden oldie: Captain Jack and the Mermaid was a folk album that came out in 1975 ... and I've been listening to the audio CD since about 1982. Would give anything for a CD version, but you can't beg, borrow or steal them. You can only get Captain Jack as Amazon MP3 downloads ... and if you're not in America, you're outta luck, because Amazon MP3 is another Americans Only club. Here is is:


And I know the cover of a music album doesn't mean a heck of a lot, so try this instead ... YouTube to the rescue, to a point. They won't let you embed a videoclip. It's a good song, though not the best on the album (The Elf Glade is the best ... whoooo!)

And there is actually one more Captain Jack. The real one -- real, live historical character. The Black Irish Band has recorded the story. The first 75 seconds of this video give you a history lesson, so if you just want the song, fast forward to 1:15. But this is the real deal:



Starring as Captain Jack:

Johnny Depp as Sparrow
John Barrowman as Harkness
Matt Rippy as the "real" Harkness
Oliver Tobias as Vincent
John Wayne as Stewart

With music by Billy Joel, Meg Davis and Black Irish.

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!

John Barrowman: go west, young time agent!

This isn't news ... to be news, I'd have had to put this post up in mid-August! But it's interesting to me, because I finally, finally got to see the third season, the miniseries, of Torchwood -- Children of Earth. This also ain't a review, because it's too late for that, as well ... shows you how much a much of a chaos my life has been lately!

You might be wondering what I thought of Children of Earth? I'll give it 9 out of 10, and I only dock the last mark because the ending was downbeat enough that I'm not sure I want to shell out $45 (incl. p+h) to buy it.

I'm not talking about the death of Jack's lover and best mate, Ianto Jones ... that, I can accept as necessary, painful and marvellously dramatic. But I have to admit, I was expecting a much more upbeat conclusion -- Jack always found a way to save the day in style. He certainly saves the day in this one, but the "style" is grand tragedy, a la Wagner. Everything has blown away on the wind, and Torchwood is literally over. Gone. Hmmm.

Now, to viewers in Australia and England, the miniseries was dark and absolutely harrowing -- far more so than we're accustomed to from TV, and especially from something like Torchwood. Imagine my surprise to read the American reviews, where not one but several critics referred to the same five hours of digital video as (get this), "good fun," and "lighthearted."

Uh....hunh? Hey, whatever, dudes.

If they thought Children of Earth was good, lighthearted fun, gawd only knows what they're accustomed to watching on American TV, and I don't wanna even speculate about that!

And what worries me is -- and given the above!! -- Torchwood is heading west. To America.

If this is news to you (maybe you've been working as hard as me for the last six months and haven't seen much Internet, much less a magazine!) I'll give you a quick bulletin: against the odds, the show was picked up for a 10-episode fourth season, all of which is going to be one loooong extended story -- but one of the sponsors is the US cable network, Starz, and their involvement takes the show to America and adds an American cast. Which is fair enough ... if American money is paying for it, they want to listen to American actors, not to Welshmen, right? Right. That's not what worries me.

What does worry me is that if American critics thought Children of Earth was good, lighthearted fun, by the time the new writing team gets done "rebooting" the show, as they put it, it could be so dark, so dismayingly dismal, a lot of us won't be watching it. And there's a tragedy, because some of us fell head over heels for Jack so long ago, he was still dancing on a spaceship, in midair, in front of Big Ben, at the time! He's Russel T. Davies's ninth symphony ... he's a gay icon ... and therefore the Americanization of Torchwood fills me with dread.

Having said that, I'll give it a whirl, give everyone the benefit of the doubt. The new writing team certainly has great credentials (see this for more), and it just depends how dark Starz will want to make it. In all seriousness, if Jack Harkness were a real human being, rather than a character in a TV show, he would be stark, raving mad by this time, after what he's done, and seen, and had done to him.

And here's the thing: maybe Jack is bonkers. There's a lot you can do with a character who's actually insane, though the insanity is soooo subtle, you don't see it at once. You could weave what Mel Keegan called "a darkness incandescent" about him. And I have no doubt John Barrowman will be absolutely, bloody amazing in the part, if only the audience can hang on long enough to watch ten potentially depressing episodes.

Here's something else that's interesting. The British style of acting is not "satisfying" to American critics. To Commonwealth eyes, the performances on Torchwood (and esp. this last series) have been utterly outstanding. American reviewers referred to them as mediocre. It's the style of the performance which doesn't "jive" with the American dramatic requirement ... so, again, we can look for subtle differences in the new one -- Torchwood: The New World.

And there was I, hoping "the new world" might be Mars or Castrovalva, or maybe Callufrax. No such luck!

UPDATE:
Two things. Several people asked why I didn't run a video or an least a pic of Jack and Ianto in full-on romance mode, and that's a hell of a good question ... so here it is:


Second thing: thanks so much to Jade for "cross pollinating" with me on her latest post, and if I helped to inspire the shots where (whooooo!) Jarrat and Stone finally get it together, then ... well, I'll just do a few laps of the room without touching the floor here! And check this out:


Here's the post where the full set of images appear. At risk of sounding like the kid in the movie, with the bowl and the spoon, "Can we have some more?"

Jack Harkness: immortalized in comics

Comics?! Yep -- comics.

In fact, this is really cool. First, I happen to like comics; second, modern comics have incredibly high production values. Third, John and Carole Barrowman are writing this one. Fourth, John has made "his face" available to the character, so you get very, VERY nice artwork...

See this: Captain Jack And The Selkie’ Comic Strip First Look, for a sneak preview and the story behind the story!



Looks like being a blast, and it's great that John's sister Carole has gotten into this. (She has her own webpage, incidentally.) It's so great that Torchwood is a massive success -- it's even gone well in the US, which surprised the heck out of me. US networks are really picky about coarse language, sexual references, nudity and whave have you, and I'd expected them to handle Torchwood with tongs! In fact I think they did to a degree. I read a quote from John Barrowman where he says the next season (he could mean the third or even fourth, depending on how old the quote is, and this is something I can't say) of the show will be toned down. He said words along the lines of "We won't be swearing or doing anything close to the bone, so the show won't have to be heavily edited for US audiences." That's not a verbatim quote, but it's darned close ... and I can't find my way back to the original page for love or money!

Okay -- now the part you've been waiting for. The eye candy! Shut up and paste the pictures in, Aricia....

John Barrowman and -- who? So that's Matt Smith!

I did a post a couple of days ago, "Captain Jack meets Doctor #1 -- the new Doctor." And quite a few people said to me, "Who the heck is Matt Smith?

Well, the simple answer is, "a very young English actor with a quirky, unique face, who has a connection to the GLBTI community..." He's still in his twenties, but there's much about him that suggests to me that he could actually "be" the Doctor...



We've lurched over the hurdle of the Doctor being identified as an older man -- he's immortal, he regenerates, there's no reason he shouldn't regenerate into a young face. Peter Davison was the first young Doctor, and he promptly laid to rest the arguments that he was too young. Paul McGann was the next young Doctor ... gods help me, I liked him a lot as the Doctor, but I know a lot of people didn't. Well ... anyway.



And now ... it gets interesting. I put the following to you, and I'm not going to say another word:



Actually, I will say another word or two after all: Woah, this is going to get intreresting! Jack Harkness became a gay icon in a single episode of Doctor Who, even before Torchwood came along, and, uh ... after that it was an absolute blast.

Captain Jack and #11 ... John Barrowman meets Matt Smith

As everyone in this timeline has to know by now, David Tennant is turning in his Tardis keys at the end of the current season ... which means the Doctor is about to regenerate.

Is anyone out there old enough (come on, now, hands up, people: have courage!) to remember when Doctor #1 regenerated into #2?! Bill Hartnell turned into Pat Troughton. What, no takers??

Yo. My hand is going up. Fact is, there were some very good reasons to be there in the 1960s ... not that I had much choice about it, of course. My parents had made the decision ... or were taken by surprise. (When I appeared, it was probably more of a shock. I know: SHUT UP, AG, AND GET BACK TO JOHN BARROWMAN!!)


There's a very, very cute story running on The Daily Record right now. Let me quote you a little bit of it, and then you can click on over and read the whole thing (don't forget to come back here when you're done -- the eye candy is up later...)

JOHN BARROWMAN feels like he's cheated on David Tennant after meeting the new Doctor Who, Matt Smith.

Glaswegian-born John, 41, who plays Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, has become friends with fellow Scot David, who is quitting as the 10th Doctor at the end of the year.

But John, who is gay, hadn't met Matt until five minutes before our interview, and was clearly a bit giddy at the chance encounter.

He laughed: "I feel like I've had an affair against David because I've met the new guy. I liked him but, David, my heart is always with you."

John was in the BBC's London HQ to chat to me about his new variety show, Tonight's The Night, and met Matt in the press office.

John said: "He walked right past me and he and I sat and had a chat. He's got some big shoes to fill when David leaves, but he'll bring his own spin to Doctor Who.

"He's very handsome, very quirky but striking. I think he'll do very well."

There's a really good article following on from this, and here's your link: Exclusive: David Tennant is the best Doctor Who for me, says John Barrowman ... nice one!

And now, the aforementioned pictures, which is what you're here for anyway, right? Right. Here goes:





Woah! Nice one. Verrrrry nice one. Scots rock. (And I oughtta know, being one...)

So who's Matt Smith, and what's in store for us when he and Jack get onto the samde soudstage?? Click here to take a sneak peak...!

Jack's back! Pop the champagne!

John Barrowman fans -- break open the champagne!

Here's the story running today on The Daily Record:

New trailer revealed for Torchwood's switch to BBC1 - watch it here
Feb 6 2009
FANS of Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood have been given a sneak peak of the sci-fi series’ new episodes.

The show, which stars Scots actor John Barrowman alongside Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd, makes its BBC1 debut this year after initially launching on BBC3.

The new series, titled Children of Earth, will be shown over consecutive nights on the flagship channel, and sees the Cardiff-based trio investigating why children across the world have suddenly frozen.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/2009/02/06/new-trailer-revealed-for-torchwood-s-switch-to-bbc1-watch-it-here-86908-21101682/

And what's more -- here's the trailer!



Woah -- this is going to be good!

Here's more: Jack's back: new Torchwood season unveiled ...from which the following is the quoteworth quote in, uh, this, um, context: "It wouldn't be Torchwood if people (and aliens) weren't having sex all over the place, all the time. Captain Jack finally has to face the consequences of having random relations with random people when his daughter turns up. Of course, that won't stop him from getting it on with the adorable besuited Ianto."

Ohhhhh, yes! And, while we're here --