Introduction
Remember
the bumper birthday issue last month? You remember just how much was in it?
Yes?! Well it was because it was so huge
that issue 13s Gadgets & Gizmos was left out. I was super busy making
pretty covers for all that immense work we had. So, now we have reached the end
of season one with the two end of season
stories ‘Captain Jack Harkness’ and the
final earth moving episode ‘End of Days’ and I have written a bumper addition
of Gadgets & Gizmos. So what shall we be looking at in Issue 14?
In
this issue we shall be once again looking at a gadget in a back-to-front and
upside-down kind of way. We will be having a look at the Rift Manipulator. We
shall be looking at the ‘out-of-time’ Polaroid camera used by both Bilis Manger
and Toshiko, along with its modern counterpart. Ever wondered why the Torchwood
computers make such strange sounds with blue wiggly things skittering across
the monitors? Read on and find out here.
Things to scan your baby blues and cause untold havoc across Cardiff and
the world and blimey! I never thought there’d be a day I’d be researching about
the storage of body parts! And all thanks to a Sycorax with a big sword.
So
let’s take a small step back in time into the 1940’s and 2007.
The Rift Manipulator
There
is very little written about the Rift Manipulator, so the best I can do is give
a brief description of what it does and then describe some of the repercussions
when things go wrong
Right
from the very first episode, sitting at the very heart of the Hub, has been the
Rift Manipulator. On observation the main part of the machinery looks not
unlike the time-rotator/central column that sits in the centre of the TARDIS
console. And not unlike the TARDIS, the
Rift Manipulator, when under full control, the Rift can be manipulated and,
though very minor, can achieve time travel. In order to open the Rift and
time-travel you must have the correct time co-ordinates, longitude and the
equation that allows you to control the Rift Manipulator. It was this very
equation that Tosh was working on and, for whatever reason, had only left part
of it on her computer back at the Hub in 2007. The rest of the equation needed
by Owen and Ianto to open the rift and bring back Jack and Tosh from 1941
Cardiff safely, is on her Laptop, and that is with Tosh in 1941.
When
Gwen finds the equation, that Tosh, in 1941, left for them to find, it is
discovered that it is still not complete, thanks to Bilis sabotaging it. It is
then Owen who finally succeeds in opening the Rift after he finds, in Bilis’
office, the Pendulum Key Disc. An artifact that was missing from the Rift
Manipulator that allows it to operate and that had somehow found its way into
the Grandfather Clock in Bilis’ Office. How and why this happened is anyone’s
guess and is something that is never explained, other than it was all some kind
of plan by Bilis. When Owen, after being
shot by Ianto, succeeds in opening the Rift it creates a doorway between 1941
and 2007 and so allowing Jack and Tosh to return.
As
you may have gathered by my explanation on how it works, you may have deduced
that, due to the lack of equations and therefore proper control, the Rift
manipulator has been used incorrectly and so the Rift has been opened in a very
uncontrolled manner. And so there will be dire consequences.
What
we see happen in ‘End of Days’ is that splinters/cracks are emanating from the
Hub, outwards across the UK and the world, and terrible things are now leaking
through from various points in time. As Jack quite rightly says to Owen “The
first rule of Torchwood is don’t mess with the Rift” and as we see, it’s very
much the rule to stick by.
It
is really only by sheer luck that completely opening the Rift actually corrects
the damage. But what it does do is make it more volatile in the future.
What Do We Have On
Earth?
Well
much like the Resurrection Gauntlet, there is no such thing. If you do know of
one, do, by all means, email us and I shall amend this gladly :)
Bilis’ ‘out of time’
Polaroid Camera
In
the episode ‘Captain Jack Harkness’ we see Bilis use a strange camera. Well
strange for 1941. Though maybe not to the untrained eye. The camera he uses is
an instant camera, ie. A Polaroid camera which did not exist back in 1941. The
Polaroid camera was not introduced for consumers until 1947 and this was the
Land Camera Model 95, which we see Bilis use. This camera and all other Land
Camera models that followed this one involved a rather complex system for
taking good photographs. The photographer would have to manually take out the
photographic paper from the camera, peel off the paper after 60 seconds. It
took a while to dry after exposure and you’d often find chemicals left on your
hands afterwards.
The
Polaroid Land Camera was produced between 1947 and 1983 and was named after the
inventor, and founder of Polaroid, Edwin Land. The Land part was dropped in
1982 after Edwin Land retired, though they did continue to produce Polaroid
cameras after 1983. The Model 95 was the first commercially available model and
could produce an image in 1 minute and the first to use instant film and so for
the first time the consumer was able to produce instant pictures without the
aid of a photographic laboratory.
The
Model 95A was a similar camera to the 95, with a few differences. This camera
was better known as ‘Speedliner’ and had a 130mm/f8.8 lens which was mated with
a rotary shutter. This allowed the user with speeds anywhere from 1/12 to
1/100.
What Do We Have On
Earth?
You
may be as surprised as I was to discover that the Polaroid camera is still very
much around. The last report I found was that Polaroid was set to release a
camera called the ‘Socialmatic Camera’. This camera has been in the running
since 2012 and it takes both digital images and produces instant prints with
the help of a built-in Zero ink printer. It also has built in wi-fi allowing
you to upload images instantly to the Social Media. Something that may even
impress Bilis Manger me thinks. Abaddon, maybe not. I think he’d just squash
it. Or destroy it with his scary shadow.
Organic Computer
An
organic and living computer or one that is able to think for itself has been
used on numerous occasions throughout the history of science fiction. And so
Torchwood is by no means an exception to this.
Although
it has never been stated in the series or novels, but referred to on the
Torchwood website, the computer system used at Torchwood 3 is in fact, much
like the TARDIS, living, ergo Organic. And much like the TARDIS, is alien
technology. According to the details on the website, this computer "is as
old as Torchwood itself — a piece of organic, living, intuitive technology
light years ahead of anything on Earth. It salvaged what it could, and
continues at the heart of our work today."
And it seems as if the whole thing sits on the Torchwood server as it is
accessibly from any computer, via some kind of password system I would imagine.
We have seen it accessed whilst the team have been in the SUV and in the Doctor
Who episode “The Sound of Drums” when Jack is showing the Doctor and Martha
things linked to Harold Saxon. In the 5 part story ‘Children of Earth’ the team
access the Torchwood software even after the Hub has been destroyed. So rather than saying the computers
themselves are organic, I would suggest that’s it’s the software that is the
original alien organic from all that time ago and that via this the computers
were augmented.
In
the past we have seen that the computer was able to access and salvage
information after the fall of Torchwood One. It is an incredibly intuitive
system that is able to perform individual tracking, detect anything
extraterrestrial, monitor the weather as
well as GPS Navigation and it can perform all of these at the same time if
needs be. Something a normal computer would find very difficult.
Of
course when you see any Torchwood monitor you can see the organic system
running behind anything on the screen. It is a blue pulsating mass with long
tendrils, with almost a luminance about them, that wave across the screen,
networking various pieces of information, with an unexpectedly soft guttural
alien sound in the background.
In
various episodes over the years we have seen many of this systems capabilities,
such as in ‘They keep killing Suzie’ in season one, even though the whole of
the Hub is on lock down and there’s no power, the computer is still able to
recognise commands. Owen is completely sure, in ‘Captain Jack Harkness’ that
the computer is smart enough to not need the full equation from Toshiko and
still operate and bring back Jack and Toshiko. And when Gwen, Tosh, Owen and
Ianto want to fully open the Rift via the Rift Manipulator in ‘End of Days’ the
system requests retina scans before it will proceed.
What Do We Have On
Earth?
Definition:
Organic
computing is a form of biologically-inspired computing with organic properties.
It has emerged recently as a vision for future information processing systems.
Organic Computing is based on the insight that we will soon be surrounded by
large collections of autonomous systems, which are equipped with sensors and
actuators, aware of their environment, communicate freely, and organise
themselves in order to perform the actions and services that seem to be
required.
Source:
Though
nothing like the computer seen in Torchwood, computer scientists have for many
years been working on an intelligent organic computer system that can work and
function on its own initiative. Perform self examinations and so on. And so
making a much more efficient and faster working system. Or that’s the idea.
Where the problem can be is controlling such a system. We all remember HAL in
‘2001: A Space Odyssey? When creating such a system protections must be
implemented or we could find ourselves being jettisoned from the space craft
just because the computer doesn’t like our face. Not good.
It
must be safe and we must be able to trust them. Maybe we need to go in the
direction of Asimov’s I-Robot with the three laws:
A Robot
may not injure a human being or, though inaction, allow a human being to come
to harm
A Robot
must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders
would conflict with the first law
A Robot
must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict
with the first or second law
There
was a fourth or zeroth law later added by Asimov which precedes the others. And
it says that - law 0 says A Robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow
humanity to come to harm.
Maybe
that way we’d be more trusting. But as we well know, laws can be broken and if
you have an organic computer that is intelligent and so is able to think for
itself it may choose to ignore such laws.
If
you want to learn some more about this massive subject, take a look at these
few links below:
Retinal Scanner
In
‘End of Days’ the team, with the exception of Jack who is completely against
it, decide to completely open the Rift via the Rift Manipulator. Jack confronts
them and for this Owen shoots Jack dead...again! When Gwen puts in the password
‘Rhea Silver’ to activate Emergency Protocol One to open the rift the organic
system requests the retinal scans of all active Torchwood agents. To do this
Gwen used a hand-held retinal scanner on each of the team, thus being able to
scan Jack’s retina also. Once the organic computer had all the retinal scans it
opened the Rift fully, setting everything back again but also it set Abaddon
free from beneath the Rift under Cardiff.
This
is the only time we see this used in all four seasons.
What Do We Have On
Earth?
For
some time now the military have been using such hand-held scanners to scan the
iris’ of Iraqi people to keep track of them as most have no form of
identification. A company called AOptix have created another, more
sophisticated system that not only scans the iris, but can also scan
fingerprints, has built in facial recognition software, plus the iris scanner.
Another
company in New York created a much smaller, looks a little like the Torchwood
Retinal Scanner, and is said to be the first and only iris scanner created for
consumers. The actual device is the size of a business card and fits into the
USB port. Once the software is installed you can decide which of your
applications you wish to Eyelock, then all you need to do is scan the iris
using the wand like scanning device. The iris scan is then logged into any
password protected area on your computer. So this means you don’t need to
remember any passwords, just simply scan your iris and you will log into where
you wish to go. Much like the Torchwood system.
The Transparent Case
for Severed Hand
Throughout
the first season of Torchwood, sat on a table with a couple of similar
containers, sits a canister that contains the severed hand of the Doctor. This
hand was cut off when the Doctor fought a Sycorax leader in the 10th Doctors
first story “The Christmas Invasion”.
Jack
later found the hand somewhere in London and took it back to Cardiff where he
placed it in a special storage case. This canister is transparent and is filled
with a special preservative liquid. We also must assume that this canister is
no ordinary canister and like much of the equipment in Torchwood has been
augmented in some way with alien technology. It must be noted that it has blue
lighting and bubbles ever so slightly. So maybe this is some kind of life
support system maybe. Especially as this isn’t the only thing contained in one
of these canisters. There is also the alien artefact the Head of Vexor Eleven,
so admired by Eugene in ‘Random Shoes’, though he wasn’t quite so sure what the
hand was.
Jack
keeps the hand as a kind of warning system to let him know when the Doctor’s
around. At the end of the season one episode ‘End of Days’ we see the hand glow
and the liquid starts to bubble frantically. At which point Jack grabs the
canister and leaves the Hub. When we next see him he’s running across the Roald
Dahl Plass where the TARDIS is parked in front of the water tower in the Doctor
Who episode ‘Utopia’ the first part of a three part story. The hand is later
stolen by the Master, along with the TARDIS later on in the episode.
What Do We Have On Earth?
Today
body parts, when stored, are kept in cold storage. There are many rules and
regulations with regards to how human tissue is stored such as how it is
stored, how long for, how it is used, permissions that must be obtained and so
forth. The following is a few extracts from a document anyone can read on the
internet. The funniest thing about this is that this particular document is
from the University of Cardiff!
STANDARD OPERATING
PROCEDURE FOR THE USE OR STORAGE OF HUMAN TISSUE FOR THE PURPOSES OF RESEARCH
OR EDUCATION
MAINTENANCE AND
UPKEEP OF CONSTANT TEMPERATURE STORAGE EQUIPMENT
Temperature
Controlled Storage – Any storage facility designed to maintain a fixed
temperature for the purposes of storage (usually -80°C, -20°C or +4°C).
5.2 Methods of Storage
Tissue should be stored in line with current
good practice on: security of storage areas and containers [ie rooms and
buildings, freezers, fridges and other storage containers]; traceability,
including information about risk.
Records should detail the location of the
materials; health and safety, including appropriate containment levels for the
storage, transportation and handling of materials that may pose a risk to
others.
Cleaning and maintenance of storage is also
included in this category.
You
can read more from the following link. Be aware that this link is to a document
that will ask to be downloaded. It’s the only way to read it.
Coming up in issue
15...
As
we have now reached the end of season one and Jack has now run off with “the
right Doctor”, we shall be taking a ’Doctor Who Side-Step’ and be following
Jack, along with the Doctor and Martha in all three episodes in Issues 15, 16
and 17 of Project: Torchwood!
Jikai
made, sayōnara (Japanese for “Until next time, goodbye”)
Mickie
Bibliography
Books
Torchwood: The
Encyclopedia by Gary Russell
The Torchwood
Archives by Warren Martyn (aka Gary Russell)
Wikipedia
Torchwood Items:
Wikipedia
Torchwood Three
TARDIS Data Core
Doctor Who Items
Other Sites Used
Bilis’ Polaroid
Camera
To read more about
Bilis’ camera the Model 95 visit here
To read more about
the Model 95A visit the link below.
Socialmatic Camera
Organic Computer
Article
BBC
Asimov Slasims
Organic Computers in
the real world -
Retinal Hand Held
Scanner
AOptix
Eyelock
The Transparent Case
for Severed Hand Article
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