Captain Jack - The Face of Boe?

[Dave]

...there was a mini war going on and if someone was killed, they came back to life and the war just went on and on. I'm sure that the Dr Who/Torchwood team could make it work better.

I'm trying to picture how Torchwood do it...

All the combatants would have to be naked, though not necessarily very good-looking without their clothes on. And Welsh obviously! They would draw their energy from the Rift instead and would need constant sex to re-incarnate. Captain Jack would be able to relate to their condition. Either Owen or Gwen would become one. Ianto would try to keep one as a pet.

 

[Shrek Baby]

Sounds about right!

 

[Shrek Baby]

Just done it. "End of the World" doesn't make any commitment either way: they simply meet, apparently for the first time. There's no recognition from Boe.

In "New Earth" there is clearly a recognition at having apparently met for the second time. However, Novice Hame refers to the Face's people as Boe-Kind, though of course it might just be legend. Later, when the Face speaks of learning something from the Doctor, it seems very much at being some he has JUST learned, not something he's been treasuring for millennia.

Would be a great question for RTD at an interview though: when did he/TPTB really come up with the idea of making Jack the Face of Boe.

Well - I just watched a repeat of "Utopia" and found a slight glitch. Martha discovers the Professors watch and runs to tell the doctor. Jack is there too and the three discuss it. Martha says "Remember what the Face of Boe said: you are not alone" and Jack is standing right next to her and doesn't batter an eyelid! At this point in time, Jack is not aware that he supposedly evolves into the Face of Boe but he has been called that prior to ever meeting the doctor as we discover in "The Last of the Timelords". Surely Martha's exclamation would provoke some kind of reaction - how does this person who he has only just met have knowledge of a name he used to be called in the past!? Why does he not react to this?

I'll tell you why - at the writing of this episode, RTD did NOT know that Jack was going to be Boe. When RTD plans a series, he makes damn sure that references, however small, are evident and can be connected when people rewatch the episodes. He did no such thing here - I now firmly believe that RTD made the Jack/Boe revelation as a kind of additional shock to the end of the final episode of the series. If he had had the idea earlier on, it would have prevented such continuity errors.

 

[Dave]

How does this person who he has only just met have knowledge of a name he used to be called in the past!? Why does he not react to this?

Good Call! Big Nit! Why did he offer up the fact that he was once called 'The Face of Boe' later, but at this point, when it would have made much more sense, he stays quiet?

 

[Harleyquin]

its strange that everybody is focusing on the little glitches from the "future" where jack dosent react to the face of boe name...

What intriges me is that everybody seems to be ignoring the first time we met Boe.

If you remember the doctor went rabbiting on about how Boe was a legend even to the timelords - been around for millions and millions of years bla bla.

Ok so ... erm... When jack came back from the future in his new semi-immortal state he came back to the 19th centurary.

So boys and girls we start the clock ticking for immortal boe at say 1850.

How prey tell do the timelords know of boe as some mythical being from the dawn of time thats just been around if jack only poped up at 1850 - ignoring the fact we dont know when he "transformed" into the actual big head that breathed a special gass...

this to me seems the biggest plot hole - not some minor issue about not recognising a nickname you where once given?

 

[Ursa major]

You don't suppose Jack's throwaway line was simply a joke, do you?

 

[Crazihors]

No idea, RTD seems just to have put it in cos he felt like it...if Jack is Boe, then RTD will have to explain how exactly he turns from handsome human to weird giant face in a jar....somehow I don't see that happening

 

[Dave]

RTD will have to explain how exactly he turns from handsome human to weird giant face in a jar.....

Presumably, it happened in the same way that Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta went from human beauty to thin piece of stretched skin - years of surgery and treatments. His face is all that is left, (though why it gets larger is unexplained) and it is held in a antiquated steam driven powered, fluid filled life support tank in 'The End of the World'.

I do think Harleyquin has made a very valid point though.

And it is clear that The Face of Boe was never originally intended to be human. He was said to have been from the Silver Devastation in that episode, and Cassandra considered herself the to be the only pure human in the room.

 

[PTeppic]

Maybe the Silver Devastation led to the engorgement, his inherent invulnerability preventing his otherwise death.

 

[disastra]

I know its a long time to reply to this topic, however, the reason Jack turns into big face boe maybe he has some sorta growth problem with his head (in the same way that your ears and nose never stop growing), so after a few billion years his head becomes massive and his other limbs waste away - with a a hint of evolution at the same time! That's my guess anyway!

 

[Dr.Jackson]

I'm not sure how they're going to explain it since Boekind are supposed to be a race from the Silver Devestation in the Isop Galaxy.
What confuses me is that they've got 'facts' on Boekind that might disprove Jack being the Face of Boe. Boekind usually live for about 40 years, and that the Face had six children, none of which lived past their natural lifespan of 40. Unless Jack is the progenitor of all Boekind, then this means that he transformed into another race at some point in time, which is just weird, or impossible ... and now my head hurts.

 

[Qinx]

its strange that everybody is focusing on the little glitches from the "future" where jack dosent react to the face of boe name...

What intriges me is that everybody seems to be ignoring the first time we met Boe.

If you remember the doctor went rabbiting on about how Boe was a legend even to the timelords - been around for millions and millions of years bla bla.

Ok so ... erm... When jack came back from the future in his new semi-immortal state he came back to the 19th centurary.

So boys and girls we start the clock ticking for immortal boe at say 1850.

How prey tell do the timelords know of boe as some mythical being from the dawn of time thats just been around if jack only poped up at 1850 - ignoring the fact we dont know when he "transformed" into the actual big head that breathed a special gass...

this to me seems the biggest plot hole - not some minor issue about not recognising a nickname you where once given?

Well... he's a TIME traveller. And The Doctor (so I guess the whole Time lord species) does not know about the "new" Torchwood, it's mission, and capabilities. Maybe somewhere in the future Captain Jack does some time travelling that goes horribly wrong, bringing him back to the beginning of the universe. And a big bang might do weird stuff to your face.

 

[Dave]

In the second season 'Torchwood' - 'Adam' epsiode, Jack has memories of his childhood: I won't spoil too much if I say that he lived in a place known as the Boeshane Peninsular. Face of Boe - Boeshane, is that too subtle? Less clear is why he appears to be called Jack, since that was an identity he assumed in 1940, but his memories were being manipulated at the time, so maybe we should not hold much stock by them.

 

[PTeppic]

He explained that he came from the Boeshane Peninsular at the end of "Last of the Time Lords"

 

[Pyan]

Was it just me, or did I see just a flash of The Face in the teaser for Episode 7?

 

[vivienne16]

I had just finished decontructing "Something Borrroed" into a alternate present version of Arthur and the Round (oblong) Table.

Jack is Arthur; Gwen is (well Gweniviere); Ianto is the page/knight/coffee boy.

Torchwood named to honor Dr. Who and sometimes Jack needs a DOCTOR
(Dr. Who aka Merlin)

Now this face of BOE thing makes me wonder. Is Jack now less than Arthur (he's not in his final form), or, is he MORE like Arthur than ever becacue he does live to be so old and sage.

Feedback appreciated

 

[PTeppic]

Was it just me, or did I see just a flash of The Face in the teaser for Episode 7?

No...

Spoiler

It would seem that what you saw was the re-imagined face of a Sontaran - either THE or one of the main nemeses this season

 

[Pyan]

Thanks, PTeppic...must be seeing things again.....

 

[vivienne16]

I had just finished deconstructing "Something Borrowed" into a alternate present version of Arthur and the Round (oblong) Table.

Jack is Arthur; Gwen is (well Gweniviere); Ianto is the page/knight/coffee boy.

Torchwood named to honor Dr. Who and sometimes Jack needs a DOCTOR
(Dr. Who aka Merlin)

Now this face of BOE thing makes me wonder. Is Jack now less than Arthur (he's not in his final form), or, is he MORE like Arthur than ever because he does live to be so old and sage and quasi eternal albeit impotent (figuratively) life.

 

[manns41078]

Here's my take on this. Jack doesn't know that he is The Face of Boe (the floating head one). He does know that he was called "the face of boe" due to being a poster boy.

So here we are he is the head of TW and doesn't realise that someday he will be a unique being. He's absorbed energy from the Tardis which could mean that his DNA was re-written. Remember the Dr was able to re-write his DNA to be a human?

So now Jack is a being with an immense life energy. I'm not sure how far into the future New New York is, but it is very possible that Jack does a bit of time travelling. Perhaps he is even able to tap into the Tardis energy he possesses. So it is possible that The Face of Boe is a legend who has appeared throughout time. Also I think that humans possess psychic energy (as show in the last episodes where the Dr fights the Master). So is it possible that the Face released his psychic energy into the rest of the human race when he saved them?

Anyways... blabbing on...