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You may wish to consult Out of Time (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

Out of Time was the tenth episode of the first series of Torchwood.

Synopsis

A plane from the 1950s lands in modern Cardiff, courtesy of the Rift; the passengers are reoriented by the Torchwood team, who becomes drawn closely to their lives.

Plot

A plane called the Sky Gypsy lands on a Cardiff air strip. Out step the pilot, Diane Holmes, and passengers Emma-Louise Cowell and John Ellis. The Torchwood team welcomes them. The people on the plane think that they are in the year 1953. Jack informs them they fell through the rift and were transported over fifty years into their future. The team make it their duty to look after the occupants of the plane until they can adapt to the 21st century. At first, they are fascinated, yet appalled by new items they never seen before such as tea bags and dirty magazines.

Gwen looks after Emma, since her parents have died. She takes her to her home, where she lies to Rhys that Emma is her cousin and that she came for a visit. The couple take her to a nightclub. They separate Emma from a man she is kissing. Gwen explains that things are different than in the 1950s. Later Emma finds a job as a shop-girl in London. Gwen is hesitant, wanting to get her a job in Cardiff where she can look after her, but she has to change her mind when Rhys discovers that Emma is not Gwen's cousin. Gwen agrees to let her go and tells her to not talk to strangers when travelling to London. As Emma leaves, they wish each other a happy Christmas.

Jack stays with John

Jack stays with John as he dies.

Meanwhile, Jack starts a friendship with John, who wants to find his son, Alan Ellis. Tosh finds him, John pays a visit, but is devastated to find his son is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Severely depressed, John takes Ianto's car to kill himself by carbon monoxide poisoning. Jack tries to convince him to stop. John said that he died decades ago. A reluctant Jack joins him in the car as the carbon monoxide slowly kills John.

Owen looks after Diane, who wants to fly, but can't because her license expired decades ago. Owen convinces her to go out to lunch with him. They begin a sexual relationship. As it progresses, Owen falls in love with her. Diane admits to the same feelings. One morning, Owen finds she has gone, leaving a note on his pillow. He rushes to the airfield, where he finds her attempting to take off in the Sky Gypsy. Owen tries to convince her to stay, but she is confident that due to the exact weather conditions from where she took off, the rift will open again to take her back to her time. After she kisses Owen goodbye, she takes off and her plane disappears into the clouds.

In the end, Jack, Gwen and Owen think back on how the three have touched their lives.

Cast

Crew

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.


References

Individuals

  • Amelia Earhart, another famous woman pilot, went missing on July 2, 1937.

Events

Locations

Story notes

  • Emma set off for London on the same day the Webstar came to London. (DW: The Runaway Bride)
  • A plane carrying composer Glenn Miller also disappeared while flying over the United Kingdom in 1944, similar to the Sky Gypsy. He composed Moonlight Serenade and In The Mood, both of which featured heavily in DW: The Empty Child, which introduced Jack Harkness.
  • This is the first episode in the Doctor Who franchise to have a "love scene". There was previously a "sex scene" in TW: Day One.
  • The way the film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian handled the departure of Amelia Earhart is very similar to how Diane's departure is handled, including the aspect of a female pilot having fallen in love with a leading man and flying off with uncertainty regarding her survival.
  • This is the second consecutive episode to have no antagonist or enemy of any kind.

Ratings

  • 1.0 million viewers.

Filming locations

  • Plane landing at the beginning of the episode - RAF St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan
  • John visits the Millennium Stadium's gate 3 - Westgate Street, Cardiff
  • The restaurant Owen and Diane visit is The Pearl of the Orient - Cardiff Bay.

Production errors

  • The events occur in December. However, in several scenes, including those of the airfield and outside the supermarket, the foliage on the trees indicates that the episode was filmed during the summertime.
  • During a scene in the conference room, a window can be clearly seen behind the characters, and a street can be seen outside. This is impossible because the Hub is underground.
  • Diana mistakenly states that Amelia Earhart disappeared in 1932, while she actually disappeared in 1937.

Continuity

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

Timeline

Home video releases

TWS1Part3

Series one, part three DVD cover

This episode was first released on DVD, with three other episodes as Torchwood: Series 1, part 3 on 26 March 2007. It was later released in Torchwood:The Complete first series on 19th November 2007.

External links

Footnotes

ImagesAvailable
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