History Fridge / Torchwood

* When watching ''Torchwood'' I always wondered why the hell in the first series, Torchwood was all hush-hush. Yet, in the second series, almost everyone in Cardiff knows about (and seems to despise) Torchwood. It wasn't until rewatching Utopia that I realized why. While Jack was gone, Gwen was in charge. Gwen is also the newbie who has no idea how to do stuff. It is perfectly plausible that somehow, she managed to f*ck something up so badly, that the general populace knows about the existence of Torchwood. Tropers/Margo196
** Torchwood was barely hush-hush in season one, though. It's a little hard when they have a big van that says "Torchwood" and whenever Jack enters a crime scene Jack loudly announces Torchwood's presence. It would be inaccurate and baffling to blame Gwen and Gwen alone when the whole team lacked subtlety. - EMY3K

* Lots of people hate "Countrycide". Me, I didn't, but only because I realized it was making a not so subtle point: ''At times, human bastardry is far more freaky and twisted than any alien presence could be.'' True, it is disappointing there was no alien presence at all, but when Jack just wanted to kill them all (correctly, knowing they were sick sociopaths far more twisted than an alien threat) and Gwen (naively, in a case of WrongGenreSavvy, thinking they just had a BlueAndOrangeMorality she wanted to understand) tried to figure them out, I realized RTD was basically foreshadowing the true horror we humans can be capable of in ''[[Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth Children of Earth]]'' and ''[[Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay Miracle Day]]''. - Rpgingmaster

* From the flashback in "Fragments," we find out that Ianto only started wearing suits after trying to get a job in Torchwood several times and getting summarily rejected by Jack. Ianto probably interpreted Jack's rejection to be in part due to his youth and wears suits around the workplace to be treated like an adult, much like how a lot of interns or entry-level employees dress more formally to be taken more seriously!
* Gwen speech from "Children Of Earth" theorizing the Doctor hasn't shown up to help because he's ashamed of the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans' actions]]. Letting millions of children be used as drugs seems rather out of character for the Doctor, no matter how mad he may have been...until you realize that Gwen doesn't really ''know'' the Doctor, aside from "the man who occasionally shows up to save the world", so it makes sense that she might think that (even though Doctor Who fans who watched him years would disagree).

** There's also the less-mentioned fact that the Immortality Gate was acquired from one of the fallen Torchwood bases. That's right: top-secret alien technology that was locked away for decades in the Torchwood vaults can now be easily obtained by anyone with the right connections and enough money. Let the implications of that sink in.

* In ''Series/DoctorWho The End of Time'', the Master uses an alien device to change every person on Earth into his genetic clone, including those who are dead and buried. There's already Fridge Horror there in that we aren't told whether the dead went back to ''being'' dead once the effect was [[ResetButton undone]]; it gets worse when you remember that [[spoiler: Tosh and Ianto were buried on Earth.]]

** There's also the less-mentioned fact that the Immortality Gate was acquired from one of the fallen Torchwood bases. That's right: the top-secret alien technology that was locked away for decades in the Torchwood vaults can now be easily obtained by anyone with the right connections and enough money. Let the implications of that sink in.

** On the other hand, that episode seems to imply their ''might'' be something after all, since he's shown ascending upwards and rapidly zooming away from Earth. If there was truly nothing, wouldn't he have simply blinked out?

* Rearrange the letters in "Torchwood" and you get...[[spoiler: [[DoctorWho Doctor Who]]]].

** On the other hand, that episode seems to imply their ''might'' be something after all, since he's shown ascending upwards and rapidly zooming away from Earth. If there was truly nothing, wouldn't he have simply blinked out?

*** Fortunately, both Gwen and her baby are shown to be alive and well in ''MiracleDay''. That doesn't do much to lessen the horror of what might have happened at the time, however....

** He wasn't the only living specimen in cold storage, either: there were several people who were put in suspended animation because they were mutating into creatures that the Institute ''[[SealedEvilInACan didn't otherwise know how to contain]]''.

* Jack chloroformed Gray and placed him in cryofreeze near the end of "Exit Wounds". When the Hub was blown up in "Children of Earth: Day One", we don't know if he was caught in it. We never saw the resting place of Gray's body when Jack deposited him in the morgue.
** For that manner, Myfawny and the Weevils such as Janet. Myfawny might be OK- she can fly, and comes and goes from the Hub as she pleases. She wasn't present in the Hub when the bomb went off, but the Weevils probably were turned to chunky salsa.
** Worse, the morgue's stores of the dead may have been blown up. The dead got deader that day... hopefully Toshiko's body was not one of them and she was buried instead. And Suzie definitely wasn't, due to the events of the novel ''[[http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Long_Time_Dead Long Time Dead]]''.

** Worse, the morgue's stores of the dead may have been blown up. The dead got deader that day... hopefully Toshiko's body was not one of them. And Suzie definitely wasn't, due to the events of the novel ''Long Time Dead''.

** On the other hand, that episode seems to imply their ''might'' be something after all, since he's shown ascending upwards and rapidly zooming away from Earth. If there was truly nothing, wouldn't he have simply blinked out?

** On the other hand, that episode seems to imply their ''might'' be something after all, since he's shown ascending upwards and rapidly zooming away from Earth. If there was truly nothing, wouldn't he have simply blinked out?

** Fun Fact: "Torchwood" was the working title of preproduction for the Dr. Who revival until the announcement.

** He wasn't the only living specimen in cold storage, either: there were several people who were put in suspended animation because they were mutating into creatures that the Institute ''[[SealedEvilInACan didn't know how to contain]]''.

*** WordOfGod says that the Master attempted to kill the team by causing an avalanche, but that they survived and managed to crawl back to basecamp. What happened after they got ''back'' to Cardiff is [[ThePurge another story]]....

** Gwen was pregnant at the time. What do you suppose happened to '''''[[BodyHorror in utero fetuses?]]'''''

** Torchwood was barely hush-hush in season one, though. It's a little hard when they have a big van that says "Torchwood" and whenever Jack enters a crime scene Jack loudly announces Torchwood's presence. It would be inaccurate and baffling to blame Gwen and Gwen alone when the whole team lacked subtlety. - EMY3K
* Jack's name in the future is [[spoiler: The Face of Boe]]. It seems random until you realize that he grew up on [[spoiler: The Boeshane Peninsula.]]

* In ''Adam'', [[spoiler: Ianto]] is the first one to take an amneasia pill. Well it because he got the worst memories, so he'd want to forget the most!

* A minor case of brilliance, but for anyone wondering why the entire Torchwood team is bisexual, remember - they were all recruited by [[AnythingThatMoves Captain Jack Harkness]]. It's hardly surprising that he'd add 'bisexual' to his list of criteria for a good team member.

* How come [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E11BoomTown an alien could become mayor of Cardiff and plot to destroy the city]] right under Torchwood's noses? Easy: Jack let it happen. Why? Because he had been there and knew the Doctor would fix it. Also, had he intervened, he'd have been crossing his own timeline.

** He wasn't the only living specimen in cold storage, either: there were several people who were put in suspended animation because they were mutating into monsters that ''[[SealedEvilInACan couldn't otherwise be contained]]''.
** The big one in "Exit Wounds": Jack decides to let himself be buried underground for 2000 years... yet a few minutes/2000 years later, he pops up again fresh as a daisy fully remembering why he was buried and not being at all mad from it. Clearly he's gotten so mad he's [[BoredWithInsanity looped back round again]]. Or something.

* In ''Series/DoctorWho The End of Time'', the Master changes every person on Earth into his genetic clone, including those who are dead and buried. There's already Fridge Horror there in that we aren't told whether the dead went back to ''being'' dead once the effect was [[ResetButton undone]]; it gets worse when you remember that [[spoiler: Tosh and Ianto were buried on Earth.]]

* Thinking logically, Ianto's death in ''Children of Earth'' was entirely predictable. Charging off to threaten an alien in a sealed chamber that is threatening to unleash a bioweapon that is lethal to humans, with only handguns and no kind of gas masks or other protection would seem to carry a 100% probability of unpleasant death. That this was not obvious kind of makes Jack look like a GeneralFailure from a tactical standpoint. Then again, not [[WouldHurtAChild not exactly the best grandfather either]].
** Consider also that Torchwood's ''entire base'' had just been destroyed. Without a massive computer database and a hub full of exotic alien technology to fall back on, they were out of their element (especially Jack, who is still very much a "shoot first, ask later" kind of guy).

** On the other hand, that episode seems to imply their ''might'' be something after all, since he's shown ascending upwards and rapidly zooming away from Earth. If there was truly nothing, wouldn't he have simply blinked out?

*** WordOfGod says that Master caused an avalanche, but that the team survived and managed to crawl back to basecamp. What happened after they got ''back'' to Cardiff is another story [[ThePurge horrific]]....

** On the other hand, that episode seems to imply their ''might'' be something after all, since he's shown ascending upwards and rapidly zooming away from Earth. If there was truly nothing, wouldn't he have simply blinked out?

* Gwen speech from "Children Of Earth" theorizing the Doctor hasn't shown up because he ashamed of the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans action]]. Letting millions of children be used as drugs seems rather out of character for The Doctor no matter how mad he is, until you relies Gwen doesn't really know the Doctor aside from the man who occasionally save the world, so it makes sense that she might think that even though Doctor Who fans who watched him years would disagree.

*** WordOfGod says that the Master caused an avalanche, but that the team survived and managed to crawl back to basecamp. What happened after once they got ''back'' to Cardiff, however, was undoubtedly [[ThePurge horrific]]....

* In "Out of the Rain", there was a circus group who was stealing the breaths of people to add to their audience and the only way to restore the victims back was to get the vial. Near the ending scene, the villain tosses the bottle, killing off everybody except a child. While it sounds like a happy ending, keep in mind that those killed included that said child's entire family. [[SarcasmMode Enjoy life as an orphan!]]
** Made worse that they mentioned they didn't completely wipe out the threat either.

* Gwen speech from "Children Of Earth" theorizing the Doctor hasn't shown up because he ashamed of the [[HumansAreBastards humans action]]. Letting millions of children be used as drugs seems rather out of character for The Doctor no matter how mad he is, until you relies Gwen doesn't really know the Doctor aside from the man who occasionally save the world, so it makes sense that she might think that even though Doctor Who fans who watched him years would disagree.

* At the end of "Random Shoes", the ghost of Eugene "passes on". Considering what we know of [[TheNothingAfterDeath the afterlife in Torchwood]], his new location is not an improvement.

* Thinking logically, Ianto's death in ''Children of Earth'' was entirely predictable. Charging off to threaten an alien in a sealed chamber that is threatening to unleash a bioweapon that is lethal to humans, with only handguns and no kind of gas masks or other protection would seem to carry a 100% probability of unpleasant death. That this was not obvious kind of makes Jack look like a GeneralFailure from a tactical standpoint. Then again, not [[WouldHurtAChild not exactly the best grandfather either]].

* Thinking logically, Ianto's death in ''Children of Earth'' was entirely predictable. Charging off to threaten an alien in a sealed chamber that is threatening to unleash a bioweapon that is lethal to humans, with only handguns and no kind of gas masks or other protection would seem to carry a 100% probability of unpleasant death. That this was not obvious kind of makes Jack look like a GeneralFailure from a tactical standpoint (and as a boyfriend). Then again, not [[WouldHurtAChild not exactly the best grandfather either]].

* A minor case of brilliance, but for anyone wondering why the entire Torchwood team is bisexual, remember - they were all recruited by ''Captain Jack Harkness''. It's hardly surprising that he'd add 'bisexual' to his list of criteria for a good team member.

** In ''the same episode'', Owen, the team's literal walking dead man whose consciousness inhabits a corpse that can't repair itself, gets trapped in a room about to be flooded with the waste from a nuclear reactor and desintegrated. Which means, basically, he's just been transformed into a cloud of sentient, conscious radioactive particles. And you thought Jack's fate was bad. Was Chris Chibnall asleep at his keyboard that day or what?

** Plausible, however there were more casualties than the original Jack Harkness. But then again it would be rare for an event such as original Jack's death to be a fixed point in te so the cause of death could be the afformentioned hate crime.

** Made worse that they mentioned they didn't completely wipe out the threat either.

* Lots of people hate "Countrycide". Me, I didn't, but only because I realized it was making a not so subtle point: ''At times, human bastardry is far more freaky and twisted than any alien presence could be.'' True, it is disappointing there was no alien presence at all, but when Jack just wanted to kill them all (correctly, knowing they were sick sociopaths far more twisted than an alien threat) and Gwen (naively, in a case of WrongGenreSavvy, thinking they just had a BlueAndOrangeMorality she wanted to understand) tried to figure them out, I realized RTD was basically foreshadowing the true horror we humans can be capable of in ''[[Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth Children of Earth]]'' and MiracleDay. - Rpgingmaster