Rumor about Captain Jack in DW *Spoilers*

So, I read a rumor today that they might bring back Captain Jack Harkness for the 50th Anniversary Special/s. Only one problem, they want to do a younger version of Caption Jack, one that is not played by John Barrowman, and may not even have his signature look (just a thought on my part, since his first meeting with the Doctor was in WWII and his attire that became iconic came from that period, somewhat).

The rumor is that Moffat doesn't want to hassle with working around John Barrowman's schedule (he's trying to do more work in America, CW's the Arrow for one), and two, doesn't want to tie DW in with the recent Torchwood timelines (Children of Earth and Miracle Day spring to mind, but I don't really see what the problems are tying in DW). His plan is to introduce a new actor as Captain Jack, before he ever met the Doctor, and then he loses his memory (which was addressed in his first meeting with the Doctor, then never brought up again).

Personally, and I'm sure this won't be a shock to most of you, this appalls me. First, it bears too much of a resemblance to the River Song story, that was pretty much played out to death. Second, John Barrowman made the character, and to try to get someone younger to fill his shoes just won't work in my opinion.

Sounds so stupid, I believe it!

I hope that stays a rumor and never comes to fruition.

I would hope that the Moff would realize that to the fans Captain Jack is John Barrowman.

As brett made sure to point out, this is a rumor, just like how the "Amy's pregnant" plot line got leaked, and with it came a rumor that they'd be double-checking time and space to make sure who the father was.

Nooooooooo

But...he's said plenty of times that he wants to come back, so I doubt he'd actually be too busy for DW...plus he's not doing that much work, and won't even be a regular in that tv series.

If Captain Jack's in the 50th Special - neato.

If Captain Jack's in the 50th Special as another actor and taking place in his own past - BOOOO!

Now if only there was some way of getting through the 50th without Billie Piper. Nothing against the woman personally, but Rose was played out back in Series 1. Honestly, that wall between dimensions is about as effective as a screen door on a airlock.

Rust wrote:

Now if only there was some way of getting through the 50th without Billie Piper. Nothing against the woman personally, but Rose was played out back in Series 1. Honestly, that wall between dimensions is about as effective as a screen door on a airlock.

Nah, I really really doubt we'll ever see her again. I don't think any of the main companions from the new series will return at all.

kcooper76 wrote:

Rust wrote:

Now if only there was some way of getting through the 50th without Billie Piper. Nothing against the woman personally, but Rose was played out back in Series 1. Honestly, that wall between dimensions is about as effective as a screen door on a airlock.

Nah, I really really doubt we'll ever see her again. I don't think any of the main companions from the new series will return at all.

I want to see Classic Companions back in some capacity.

I would not put Moffet past this, since he seems to enjoy pissing off fans, it seems.

Here's why I give this rumor credit: From everything I've read on Moffat, he wants his 'Whoniverse' to be completely different from Davies 'Whoniverse' (which is why I don't see Rose/Mickie/Martha/or Donna ever coming back).

Now originally, Captain Jack was created by Moffat (including the 2 year lapse in memory, that almost no one remembers, because it never became a part of Torchwood or anything else). However, I remember reading that Moffat saying that Davies made Jack his own, writing him into more DW and Torchwood.

I could see Moffat trying to 'reclaim' his character, by using a different actor, using the lost memories, and having him interact with the 11th Doctor, who may not know him because he adopted the Jack Harkness name in WWII if I remember (sort of like the end of the Dark Knight Rises, I won't spoil that for anyone who hasn't seen it).

If this is true, I think it is horrible. Jack/John Barrowman has not only become such a big part of Doctor Who, but Torchwood as well. To try to reinvent the character with a new actor, or even name, it just wouldn't be the same. I really wouldn't put this past Moffat, however, as the man who is going to answer the biggest *yawn* question of all time, the man who gave the Doctor his wife *yawn*, and so on and so forth.

Actually, I beleive that the character of Jack was created by RTD and that he told Moff to write him into his story and introduce him.

SeaDevil wrote:

Actually, I beleive that the character of Jack was created by RTD and that he told Moff to write him into his story and introduce him.

That's correct, it was created by him

Ronpur wrote:

Sounds so stupid, I believe it!

Same here.

jaredofmo wrote:

I want to see Classic Companions back in some capacity.

I'd like for there to be a story where some of the classic companions (played by their original actors) are brought together to save the Doctor somehow.

If this is true, it's just further proof that Moffat has no respect for the series and only cares about stroking his own ego. Barrowman IS Captain Jack. Replacing him with a younger actor would be about as dumb as replacing the Sonic Screwdriver with a walkie talkie.

Gallifreys Loss wrote:

Replacing him with a younger actor would be about as dumb as replacing the Sonic Screwdriver with a walkie talkie.

I'm almost sure that'll be in the next sonic screwdriver upgrade.

yea, that would be like having someone beside William Shatner play Captain Kirk!........Oh yea.......

LastWho wrote:

yea, that would be like having someone beside William Shatner play Captain Kirk!........Oh yea.......

And the new Kirk's just an arrogant prick.

Shatner, to me, is Kirk.

The Castellan wrote:

LastWho wrote:

yea, that would be like having someone beside William Shatner play Captain Kirk!........Oh yea.......

And the new Kirk's just an arrogant prick.

Shatner, to me, is Kirk.

Not to derail the topic too much, but this is where I agree wholeheartedly with the Castellan. The characters in the Star Trek movie (besides Bones) were no where near the original characters. Spock had more emotion than all of the Original Series and Movies combined. Kirk was more of a pompous jerk than Shatner ever was (yes, that was hard to do). And don't even get me started on Simon Pegg (won't call him a name he wasn't even trying to be).

However, I know we are in the minority. Remakes are big money, if they garbage that was the Amazing Spiderman was a hit, anything can be. Let's reboot Torchwood while we are at it. Who should be Gwen? Ianto?

Yes, I'm being silly, but this thought is just so far out there that I have to be. Jack is a big part of the Whoniverse now, and replacing John Barrowman is unfair to not only him, but to the fans as well. I have to sit through the Soap Opera....sorry, arc of River Song. The endlessly annoying Ponds. The least they can do is bring back the proper Captain Jack.

One of my biggest dissapointments was when Jack left the series in Season one. His brief time in the TARDIS was great! If his character came back without Barrowman, it would be aweful.

Now, on to the Star Trek remake in 2009. JJ Abrams just did a remake of the original Star Wars (As in 1977 episode 4)

A young orphaned (almost) farm boy meets an older wiser man who tells him that he has larger destiny than he can possibly imagine.

He gets swept up on a mission in space and faces foes of unimaginable power.

He becomes a Jedi after only a few days with Obi wan....I mean a Starfleet officer in record time.

Then the Death Star destroys Alderan....I mean the Romulan mining vessel destroys Vulcan.

Then he has to rescue Lea from the Death Star.....I mean, Pike from the Romulan vessel.

Then he flis an X-Wing into the Death Star and destroys it....I mean Spock flies the jellyfish into the Romulan vessel.

Then we have Han Solo and Chewbacca, who reluctantly get dragged along for the adventure.... Um...I mean Scotty and the short lizard guy....

Not to mention the sets were dark, the paint was scuffed on the shuttles, the weapons were dinged and used, like in Star Wars, not the spit polished federation of Roddenberry's design.

Not to mention Kirk spent half of the movie hanging off of a cliff edge!

But yea, McCoy was spot on and a perfect tribute to Star Trek.

Quinto, while looking good as Spock was, as mentioned, not Vulcan in character.

I did like the uniforms though, they rocked!

Jeez, but there's a lot of "wah" on this thread.

It's a rumor. Waste energy complaining when you know there's actually something to complain about.

mysterylad wrote:

Jeez, but there's a lot of "wah" on this thread.

It's a rumor. Waste energy complaining when you know there's actually something to complain about.

THANK YOU!

LastWho wrote:

One of my biggest dissapointments was when Jack left the series in Season one. His brief time in the TARDIS was great! If his character came back without Barrowman, it would be aweful.

Now, on to the Star Trek remake in 2009. JJ Abrams just did a remake of the original Star Wars (As in 1977 episode 4)

A young orphaned (almost) farm boy meets an older wiser man who tells him that he has larger destiny than he can possibly imagine.

He gets swept up on a mission in space and faces foes of unimaginable power.

He becomes a Jedi after only a few days with Obi wan....I mean a Starfleet officer in record time.

Then the Death Star destroys Alderan....I mean the Romulan mining vessel destroys Vulcan.

Then he has to rescue Lea from the Death Star.....I mean, Pike from the Romulan vessel.

Then he flis an X-Wing into the Death Star and destroys it....I mean Spock flies the jellyfish into the Romulan vessel.

Then we have Han Solo and Chewbacca, who reluctantly get dragged along for the adventure.... Um...I mean Scotty and the short lizard guy....

Not to mention the sets were dark, the paint was scuffed on the shuttles, the weapons were dinged and used, like in Star Wars, not the spit polished federation of Roddenberry's design.

Not to mention Kirk spent half of the movie hanging off of a cliff edge!

But yea, McCoy was spot on and a perfect tribute to Star Trek.

Quinto, while looking good as Spock was, as mentioned, not Vulcan in character.

I did like the uniforms though, they rocked!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

I always thought Trek 2009 was nothing BUT Stars Wars with a face lift. And seeing how JJ said himself "I always preferred Star wars over Trek, was never a Trek fan and I asked myself "What I can use from Star Wars to make this film""

Same for the Robocop movie, Peter Weller IS Robocop like Shatner IS Kirk.
I bring this up because of the feelings about Jack, and how Barrowman and only Barrowman, is Jack. So far, Moffet's another JJ Abrams or another Turkey Neck, er, excuse me, George Lucas, seeming to really want to piss off loyal fans for no good reason.

OR maybe it's because Barrowman has other obligations (He's presently got a part in The Arrow on the CW) and they were looking at potential "backup plans".

You know, kind of like how in The Three Doctors, Sergent Benton only got the amount of attention and screen time he did because he was the stand in for Jamie, since Frazer Hines was unavailable to participate.

Personally I hope they avoid turning Captain Jack into another "institution" (Unless for whatever reason it's revealed he's a Gallifreyian Survivor and all Rose actually did was unlock his Time Lord potential, but without the obvious physical side effects of regeneration), but if they did I'd be willing to give it a shot.

As a random aside, I really wish Moffat or somebody would just hurry up and give us some more Gallifreyians in the show. Maybe not bring back the planet or civilization, but if the Daleks could have so many potential variants squirreled away that survived the Time War, then more then the Doctor and Master should have survived on their side.

I think there'd be a story there, about the Doctor stumbling upon a small community of survivors of Gallifrey, trying desperately to eke out a peaceful existence all the while cursing the Time Lords for destroying their idyllic society - and thus see the Doctor (As the Last of the Time Lords) as a shameful reminder of what happened to their proud race when it began interfering in the affairs of other races...which could be seen as a byproduct of the Doctor's influence during his time as President-Elect.

It has the double benefit of giving the Doctor back at least a shadow of his people, but still has to remain apart and in exile due to his connections with a past they no longer wish to adhere to.

If it's not Borrowman, I'm not interested.

I would also like to point out the SUPREME FRAKKING IRONY of getting up in arms over a character being recast...on a show the very continued existence of which is predicated ENTIRELY ON THE NOTION THAT ITS LEAD ROLE CAN BE REPEATEDLY RECAST.