Drabble: Soap Star

[bk_forever]

Title: Soap Star

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Ianto, Jack

Rating: G

Written For: Challenge 305 – Soap Operas at tw100

Spoilers: Nada.

Summary: Ianto comes across a familiar face in an unexpected place.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.

It was one of the stranger and more innocuous items to fall through the Rift. Amused and intrigued, Ianto settled down with the old TV guide, flipping through it to see if there were any shows he recognised.

He soon realised it must have fallen through from an alternate universe. Some of the shows were familiar, but the casts were different.

Turning a page, he was suddenly confronted by a familiar face.

“Jack! Take a look at this!” he laughed, pointing to a cast photo for Titans, an American soap opera.

“He looks just like a younger version of you!”

The End

Comments

[jedi-harkness.livejournal.com]

*giggles* OMG, wait until they find TV Guides with listings for Central Park West and Arrow!

Loved this, so clever and funny! :D

[bk_forever]

I wasn't too happy with this week's prompt because I loathe soaps, but then I remembered the cast picture for Titans and thought I could have a bit of fun with it. *grins*

[iantojjackh.livejournal.com]

heh heeh heh

[bk_forever]

Thank you! It was the only thing I could come up with at the time - I hate soaps!

[tardisjournal.livejournal.com]

Imagine that! LOL.

After that whole business with the Night Travellers, you'd think Ianto wouldn't be so surprised. ;)

[bk_forever]

Maybe this was before that episode.

Ianto finds it very amusing. Jack thinks he's much better looking than the actor in the picture ;)

Thank you.

[tardisjournal.livejournal.com]

In that case, that's why Ianto kept insisting the image in the film at the Electro was Jack, even though Gwen and Owen thought he was nuts. He'd already seen Jack pop up in unexpected media before! :D

[bk_forever]

Yeah, it was no surprise to him! It takes a lot to surprise Ianto though.

[asia27.livejournal.com]

Man, TVGuide could never contain any stories on the drama that is Jack; that would require a full movie! Vey cute (but I never saw John in anything before Torchwood.... :[ )

[bk_forever]

I first saw JB in Doctor Who and followed Captain Jack to Torchwood. I still haven't seen him acting in anything else, but I'd seen the cast photo for Titans on the barrowmanfans site, so I used it for this. I'm not a fan of soaps (especially the mind-numbingly atrocious British ones), but at least the American ones have some glamour and back-stabbing.

Thank you.

[asia27.livejournal.com]

I don't really watch soaps at all but I have seen JB in "Arrow" and he was truly frightening as Malcolm! That last episode of him getting stabbed in the fight was incredible and John was just awesome in the whole series; damn, he cleans up really pretty in a suit! But if you get the chance to see any eps, do so; he's terrific. It's a change from Captain Jack and terrific to see him in something else. Still hate CoE and MD; MD is in reruns here and I just can't deal with it; it truly hurts "Torchwood" totally to be connected with the wonderful series it started as and dumbs down JB's and the casts' work on the series. I do have a few of John's albums but my out-and-out favorite is "Remember Me". He has such a lovely voice...

[bk_forever]

Sadly Arrow isn't being shown on Terrestrial TV over here and I can't afford Sky, so I'll have to wait until I can afford the DVDs. I do want to see it though.

I have several JB CDs myself, he's a great singer. Not sure what my favourite track is though, he sings everything beautifully.

I wish CoE and MD could be erased from history. Torchwood had so much potential, but it was wasted because RTD just had to find a way to turn it from what the BBC wanted - a team show adult spin-off from Doctor Who with JB as the lead - into what he'd originally wanted to make, a show about a woman who stumbles across a secret alien hunting organisation, with the woman being the lead character.

[asia27.livejournal.com]

I'm going to try to get them myself; my son turned me onto it kicking and screaming :D I'm not surprised he's considered a National treasure over there; the man certainly deserves to be cherished as a terrific entertainer.

I truly agree with you about CoE and MD; I didn't realize that RTD wanted Gwen to be the lead; a ginormous mistake! Why use JB and relegate him to second string for someone who really would not have pulled the fans in the way JB did? I watched for him, not her and I'm sure most fans would agree. It makes it a little clearer why RTD stupidly killed off the other characters just to keep her when she had no skills whatsoever to justify being there. I notice that most of the fan stories written aren't exactly complementary to her and not many write her to be second to Jack or what Ianto is to Jack. I have a hard time understanding how Gwen could figure she's could be Jack's lover, knowing Jack prefers men.

[bk_forever]

I think the point about Jack is that he doesn't particularly prefer men, he's omnisexual - men, women, aliens, if he likes them he'll sleep with them. Supposedly. Even though during the series it was clear that he was only sleeping with Ianto.

RTD wanted to make a show called Excalibur, with this woman finding out about an alien hunting organisation and getting involvrd with them. No one wanted to finance that. The BBC wanted an adult spin-off of Doctor Who with JB as the star because Captain Jack was so popular, but they wanted it to be a team show. They offered it to RTD who said okay, and then spent the entire time trying to turn it into the show he'd originally wanted to make. Which in my opinion is why it all fell apart. The further he forced it away from the show the BBC had commissioned and that the fans loved, the less the fanbase it built up in the first two seasons liked it. The BBC should have made sure RTD stuck to the what THEY wanted instead of letting him get away with wrecking it to turn it into something else entirely.

[asia27.livejournal.com]

I'd no idea about this Excaliber show but you are so right that the BBC should have made RTD follow what they wanted. I wonder if he now realizes how badly he misjudged the fanbase using Gwen to try lead Torchwood with the failure of CoE and MD. His whole premises would never have worked. I saw Eve's turn on DrWho in that one episode and over here, they've been running episodes of the 10th Doctor over the last six months, at least here in NY, and I've been able to catch most, if not all, of John's DrWho appearances but I saw nothing in Eve that would make her a leading character for the show. The ep last night with New Earth and Face of Boe was on and I'm still appalled at the fate Jack's character allegedly undergoes. I'm appalled at how the 10th Doctor treated Jack so horribly. With the recent Christmas and Gallifrey resolution episodes and 10th Doctor giving that note to Jack to meet that guy in the spaceport bar, I wonder just what will happen to DrWho now and if there will ever be any kind of decent ending for Torchwood. Further, the Doctor seemed to be acting as a pimp for Alonzo; he didn't consider how badly Jack was hurting nor if Alonzo was even interested in Jack! If RTD had any sense, he should try to restart Torchwood with those actors through a crossover with DrWho. Thanks for the background. Between your stories and other writers' stories, I'm picking up a lot and enjoying all that I'm reading. (Sorry, I still loathe CoE and MD :D)

[bk_forever]

You're not alone, most of us loathe CoE and MD! I refuse to acknowledge anything that came after season 2 of Torchwood except for the Doctor Who Stolen Planet episodes.

RTD would never admit to being wrong about anything, not even if he thought he was. And he'll never think he was wrong anyway because HE believes he's brilliant.

I hated that bar scene - it just showed that the Tenth Doctor didn't know Jack at all, just thought all Jack needed was someone pretty to have sex with. He never really treated Jack as a person with feelings, just as a thing that was sometimes useful. I felt sorry for poor Alonso too. The Doctor didn't want him as a companion so just tossed him at Jack. When someone is grieving over their dead lover, the last thing they want is to have sex with a random stranger, that's pouring salt in the wound. RTD just wanted to showcase all the characters he'd invented, b asically just showing off, thumbing his nose at fans, saying in effect "I can do anything I want to them because they're mine and you can't do anything about it. see how clever I am?"

The Face of Boe thing was RTD again trying to be clever. I love old Boe, but I don't really believe he's future Jack, though I've read some good fics where he is. Boe is a heroic character though, using the last of his strength to protect the rest of the people of New New Earth for years until the planet was safe for them again.

[asia27.livejournal.com]

You know, there's one other thing that hit me with that Alonzo bit: it was almost an underhanded slap at John's gayness as well in the sense that John's/Jack's sexuality was something to be flaunted and the 10th Doctor was a stand-in for RTD's attitude towards John/Jack. Jack loved Ianto. I love John/Jack in their character but even JB lives cautiously because there are idiots out there like the Phil Robinson debacle and I'm so afraid he and Scott, like other gays, could come to harm here. I'm going to try to get the BBC versions of DrWho rather than the sanitized US eps but Torchwood only has 2 seasons for me and it was a terrific example of what a show could be: inclusive of lifestyles, good sci-fi and people who had their differences but made those differences take a back seat. I saw something recently on Official Who characters but Jack was not mentioned as the Face of Boe at all leading me to believe my friend may be mistaken. Her reference came from something a headless monk told Doc 11 about a 'pretty Time Agent who lost his head'; I don't believe Jack would ever be so careless as to let himself be taken and being an immortal who regenerates, how would a headless Jack be turned into Boe? What would they do with the body? If I look at what so many writers have done, Jack regenerates no matter what is done to him, especially after the torture with the Master. Jack being Boe just doesn't work for me.

[bk_forever]

The only way I think it might just work would be if Jack's head got cut off and was prevented from regenerating a new body, while his body grew a new head and he went on with his life, but that's still stretching things a lot. Maybe Jack met the Face of Boe and gave him the name other species come to know him by.

It's crazy, because RTD is openly gay himself, but he writes gay characters in such a callous way and seems to kill them off as often as possible. It's warped. The only character who will absolutely never have anything terrible happen to them is Gwen, she'll never lose anything, RTD has admitted as much.

[asia27.livejournal.com]

I had no idea he was gay! But the manner in which he deals with his gay characters tells me that he also has some deep-seated issues with it and is projecting int onto the characters themselves. I'm sorry but I just have a low tolerance level for Gwen; maybe she's his 'other side' and represents someone in his life that he's close to. I did see a story somewhere with the premise that the Face of Boe did come from Jack being decapitated but the body grew the new head and Jack and Ianto went off to live their lives but the head became the Face of Boe. Jack and Ianto were aware of when the Face died too. I'm still trying to figure out how it became pregnant! There was one ep of DrWho that announced it and I was gobsmacked when I saw the Face!

[bk_forever]

It's the future, even heads can reproduce, lol! With science fiction, anything is possible!

I know, it's ridiculous! Maybe Gwen is modelled on his mum or something, I don't know, I just think she's an awful character. I do try to make her more tolerable when I write her, but I'm never going to like her, she just irritates me.

[red-day-dawning.livejournal.com]

Hehe! I haven't seen JB in anything other than Doctor Who, but my son said he was good in Arrow.

[bk_forever]

I've seen a few clips of him in other things, but I've only really watched him in Doctor Who/Torchwood. I knew about Titsns from seeing the cast photos. I do want to see Arrow though.

Thank you.

[owensheart.livejournal.com]

that's coz he is a younger version of Jack LOL

Great story.

[bk_forever]

Yep! A younger, alternate universe version, lol!

Thank you.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Jack certainly gets around!

[bk_forever]

He does, he's even in alternate universes, acting, lol!

Thank you.

[black59.livejournal.com]

“He looks just like a younger version of you!”

ARGH!!
Not sure Jack enjoy!!

[bk_forever]

LOL! Jack took one look and said "I'm much better looking!"

Thank you!

[milady-dragon.livejournal.com]

How sad is it that I remember that show but didn't recall John being in it? He just wasn't on my radar then. LOL!

Maybe Jack was undercover for the Time Agency when he took a role in an American soap, even if it's from another universe?? *snickers*

[bk_forever]

He might have been! Maybe he was there to make sure the show didn't get cancelled in the alternatye universe, lol!

Thank you!

[timelordshines.livejournal.com]

Hehe
Great use of the prompt :-)

[bk_forever]

I was worried about this prompt because I loathe soaps, but I remembered seeing the cast photo for Titans and it gave me this idea. Thank you, JB! LOL!

Thank you!

[too-beauty.livejournal.com]

awww he is a hero in very universe!

[bk_forever]

I'm not sure his role in Titans was very heroic, I never saw it, lol!

Thank you.