Ghost Machine (Torchwood)

Doctorwhobox
number = 03
serial_name = Ghost Machine
caption =


show = TW
type = episode
cast =
* John Barrowman – Captain Jack Harkness
* Eve Myles – Gwen Cooper
* Burn Gorman – Owen Harper
* Naoko Mori – Toshiko Sato
* Gareth David-Lloyd – Ianto Jones
guests =
* Kai Owen – Rhys Williams
* Gareth Thomas – Ed Morgan
* Ben McKay – Bernie
* Llinos Daniel – Eleri
* John Normington – Tom Flanagan
* Emily Evans – Lizzie Lewis
* Christopher Elson – Young Ed Morgan
* Christopher Greene – Young Tom Flanagan
* Julie Gibbs – Bernie's Mum
* Ian Kay – Snooker Player
* Ryan Conway – Kid in arcade
* Kathryn Howard – Woman in shop
writer = Helen Raynor
director = Colin Teague
production_code = 1.3
producer = Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall (co-producer)
executive_producer=Russell T Davies Julie Gardner
script_editor = Brian Minchin
series = Series 1
length = 50 mins
date = 29 October, 2006
preceding = "Day One"
following = "Cyberwoman"
imdb_id = 0852920

"Ghost Machine" is an episode of the British science fiction television series "Torchwood". It is the third episode of the first series, which was broadcast on 29 October, 2006.

Synopsis

Torchwood comes into possession of a device that can tap into the hidden energy left behind by strong emotions, creating ghostly recreations of the events that left them there. When Owen accidentally uses the device at the scene of an unsolved murder, he becomes obsessed with bringing the killer to justice.

Plot

Jack, Owen and Gwen pursue a man through the Cardiff streets, while Toshiko tracks his alien energy signature through the CCTV network. Gwen separates from the group, chasing down the suspect into a train station, and is able to grab the man's jacket but he gets out of it and runs away. Gwen discovers an alien device in the jacket pocket, and when she activates it, she finds herself seeing a brief vision of the past, that of a young lost boy wandering the train station. Gwen remembers a name tag worn by the boy, and the team is able to track the name down to a old man in Cardiff who admits that during the World War II evacuation, he was sent to Cardiff with no one to meet him and wandered lost through the train station. The group determines from further analysis that the nanotechnology of the "Ghost device" allows people to see moments of the past spurred by strong human emotions, and try to learn how their suspect came upon such technology.

They determine the suspect is Sean "Bernie" Harris, a petty thief from Splott, and travel there to find him. Unsuccessful, they return to the train station to try the device again when Owen activates it while under a bridge, where he witnesses the raping and murder of a young woman named Lizzie Lewis in the 1960s by a man named Ed Morgan. Returning to the Hub, the team investigates the crime to confirm what Owen saw, but that Ed was interrogated but never accused of the crime. Owen insists on trying to bring Ed to justice despite that the case has long since closed, and starts to track Ed on his own. Owen confronts the elderly Ed but gets no information out of him; however, upon leaving his house, he spots Bernie and gives chase, catching up with him. Owen takes Bernie to a pub to learn more about the device while the rest of Torchwood is en route. Bernie explains he found the device in a tin of random objects from an old lady, and that he too saw the murder of Lizzie, and wonders if the team wants the "other half". Torchwood follows Bernie back to Bernie's home to retrieve the other half as well as the other objects in the tin, all alien objects that fell out from the Rift. Bernie explains that he only used the other half once, as it showed him bleeding to death outside his home at his current age. As they leave, Gwen accidentally triggers the second half, and has a vision of herself holding a bloody knife, calling out in vain to Owen. Jack tries calms Gwen down, claiming it just may be a possible future.

As the team recollects, they realize that Ed is paranoid and depressed, and that based on Owen's conversation with him, that he was being blackmailed by Bernie to have Bernie remain quiet about Lizzie's murder; Jack becomes concerned that Owen may have triggered Ed to take action. Learning that Ed has left his home and is heading towards Bernie's, Jack, Gwen, and Owen arrive just in time to disarm Ed from stabbing Bernie with a knife. Owen takes the knife and gives to Gwen, when suddenly Ed rushes Gwen, stating "I knew you'd come for me", and impales himself on the knife. As Gwen realizes she is experiencing the future she saw, Jack and Owen attempt CPR on Ed but are unable to revive him. Jack attempts to comfort Gwen, telling her Ed was suicidal and his death was not her fault, and the device makes people act in ways to try to change the future. The team returns to the Hub, and the device is put into the secure archives.

Continuity

* Gwen's words after Morgan's death do not exactly mirror those in her earlier vision, perhaps indicating that Jack was correct about it merely being a possible future. Similarly, it appears that Bernie's vision of his own death has also been averted.
* The circled "P" emblem of the Preachers from the "Doctor Who" episode "Rise of the Cybermen" can be seen as faded graffiti on rusty bins outside Bernie's flat.
* As Owen flips through his various fake ID cards, one can be seen for UNIT.
* An 1886 letter on the Torchwood Institute website suggests that Owen is not the first member of the Institute to feel personally involved with a case. [ [http://www.torchwood.org.uk/html/bernie/letter.shtml Torchwood External Hub Interface - Intercepted Letter (1886)] ]
* An article dated 2007 on the same website provides some more background on the "crazy old man" in whose lock up the ghost machine was found. The date further confirms that "Torchwood" takes place in the near future. [ [http://www.torchwood.org.uk/html/gadgets/magazine.shtml Torchwood External Hub Interface - Magazine Article, 2007] ] This is also supported when Thomas tells Gwen that he has lived in Cardiff for 66 years after being evacuated from London in 1941, placing the episode in 2007. The fact that Bernie says that he'll be 20 years old in July places the episode anywhere between January and June of 2007. However, at the end of "End of Days" Jack is seen running off somewhere, as shown in the "Doctor Who" episode "Utopia", which is set in 2008.
* When Owen and Toshiko are discussing Ed Morgan in the pub, she refers to him as "claustrophobic". But later, when Morgan is heading for Bernie's flat, she refers to him as "agoraphobic".
* The explanation Jack gives for the ghosts matches the one Sarah Jane Smith would later give in "Eye of the Gorgon", an episode of "The Sarah Jane Adventures".

Production

Cast notes

* Gareth Thomas is best known for his role as Roj Blake in the science fiction series "Blake's 7" and also appeared in the "Doctor Who" audio play "Storm Warning". John Normington previously appeared in the "Doctor Who" serials "The Caves of Androzani" and "The Happiness Patrol".

Music

* The song "Sing" by Travis features briefly when the team questions Bernie at the pub.
* The song "Can't Stand Me Now" by The Libertines features briefly in the scene when Owen and Toshiko are in the bar talking about Ed Morgan.
* The song "Feeling a Moment" by Feeder features briefly after "Can't Stand Me Now" in the scene with Owen and Toshiko in the bar.

Outside references

* Owen Harper discusses "Strictly Come Dancing", the fourth series of which ran concurrently with the first series of "Torchwood", with Tom Flanagan's daughter.
* The concept of "residual haunting", where ghosts are merely recordings in the surrounding environment that are somehow played back, is also known as the "Stone Tape theory", named after the 1972 BBC television play "The Stone Tape" by Nigel Kneale, which popularised the idea.

References

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/sites/episodes/series1/ep03_ghostmachine.shtml "Ghost Machine" episode guide entry on the BBC website]
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