sam_storyteller: (Torchwood)
sam_storyteller ([personal profile] sam_storyteller) wrote2005-07-17 11:15 am

Second City Torchwood: Story Notes

Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:


Poetry by Carl Sandburg, naturally.

Hey look! [livejournal.com profile] laurab1 made me some awesome manips!

Notes on Second City Torchwood

There are a lot of references in this story which are passing, but which might be confusing for non-Chicagonos. To my mind the most important of these is actually one of the biggest throwaway lines, where Ian asks Gwen, "Sox or Cubs?"

In the two-stadium city, generally speaking, southsiders root for the White Sox and northsiders root for the Cubs (yes yes, I'm sure I'll get all kinds of comments calling me wrong, but in general this is accurate). The territorialism can get vicious. Ian and Gwen are representative of this -- Gwen is a southsider and Ian is a northsider, and they relate to each other across the cultural gap that causes.

Another throwaway line concerns Devil in the White City, a best-selling book about the Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer who stalked in it, Dr. HH Holmes. It's sort of de rigeur reading for Chicago history buffs, and fairly popular even for those who aren't. Come to think of it, the description of the horse in the drinking water may have been from The Pig And The Skyscraper, another nonfiction book about Chicago, but it's not the kind of book many people would voluntarily read (though an excellent primer on Chicago's history and socioeconomic context).

A couple of mentions are made of Halsted; Halsted is a major street on Chicago's northside, which runs through the heart of the Boys Town neighbourhood. As the name may imply, it is a heavily gay-friendly area and Halsted has a great many gay bars on it. It also has Gaymart, which sells remote-controlled Daleks. Trufax.

The Music Box Theater, where Jack takes Ian on their first date, is a real indy cinema not very far from where I live, actually, and it is awesome. Byron's, mentioned by Edgar van Scyoc as one of the main reasons he is against the downfall of American civilisation, is a Chicago restaurant chain (though I use restaurant in the loosest sense of the word, since they don't have, you know, tables or waiters). While they are famous for their hot dogs, and rightly so, Edgar like myself prefers their hamburgers. Pizzeria Uno, the analog to Jubilee Pizza, is a Chicago chain credited with inventing the deep-dish, though others also claim the distinction. I don't like deep-dish, but there you have it.

Torchwood Red Line Station does not exist; in fact, if a Torchwood station did exist, it would be on the blue line which runs almost directly under Daley Plaza in the heart of the downtown "Loop". The red line is cooler, that's all. The entry to the Torchwood Red Line Station in the photo is actually the entry to the above-ground Sheridan Red Line station, which is my stop (and also Ian's) in Wrigleyville.

Daley Plaza itself is a real place, of course; there's a giant Picasso sculpture located at the north end of it, analogous to the fountain in the Plass in Cardiff. On holidays, Daley Plaza often has fairs, the Christmas Village and Chicagoween being the most well-known. In October they dye a nearby fountain orange for Chicagoween, which is not a good look.

The Torchwoods in America all have counterparts in canon; Torchwood One is New York, of course, and Torchwood Two is a very strange man in Austin, Texas. Torchwood Three is naturally Chicago, and the missing Torchwood Four is/was located in Las Vegas. They are loosely allied to USPAT, the United States Paranormal and Alien Taskforce, the equivalent of Doctor Who's UNIT. Jack has been lobbying for decades to get them to change their beret colours from yellow to red.

There are several People Who Are Not Real in this fic, of course, or even More Not Real than the Not Real characters. James Ragtime is a made-up name for a jazz trumpeter that Jack is fond of. Edgar van Scyoc is faced by Alexis Denisof but is likewise fictional, and of course anyone familiar with my HP fic will recognise Ellis Graveworthy as a recurring non-person.

When I ran the idea of American Torchwood past Junie, including the name "Ian" for Ianto, she asked me if Ianto was too weird a name for Americans. I told her it wasn't that it was too weird; it was that it was too Welsh. I could have named him something generic, like Ian Smith, but I wanted to give him a heritage, and in Chicago there are plenty of heritages to choose from. So, I gave him an incredibly Italian name and a bland nickname that he goes by, in order to point up that Ian is still very young and in something of the throes of an identity crisis. It's also a sly jab at every fanfic ever where Jack calls Ianto "Yan".

One of the least-explored and most-interesting facets of American Torchwood, to me, was the Doctor. Plonking Torchwood down in Chicago as-is made no sense because there was no cultural context of Doctor Who to guide the plot -- it's difficult to watch Torchwood without understanding a lot about the last four years of Doctor Who. The Doctor's actions caused Lisa Hallett's death, not to mention Jack's disappearance, Martha existence and thus her visit to Torchwood, and Jack's immortality. I had to make Torchwood the basis for the Doctor instead of the other way around, which gave me a great deal of leeway in how I treated the Doctor.

Torchwood America's Doctor is not Great Britain's Doctor. He is much younger -- only in his second incarnation, though that incarnation has been kicking round the galaxy long enough to earn him the title of Lonely God. He is relatively fresh from the battle of Arcadia which killed his entire race and most of the Daleks; he's an angry, unhappy, and deeply troubled man. He's not supposed to be a good guy; he's ambiguous and creepy and he has no problem using a sonic blaster to get his way (it came in a set with the screwdriver). In the American spinoff, Doctor Who was supposed to chronicle his growth from this person into someone more like our Doctor: ruthless but pacifist, desperate for love but often afraid to accept it, childlike with wonder but also childish in his occasional self-absorption.

The Doctor Sings minifeature, of course, is a send-up of John Barrowman's Anything Goes performance for Torchwood. I'm not actually positive that the Fats Waller version of I Would Do Anything For You has the lyrics I used (my recording is from the New Zealand Dixieland Jazz Band) but I believe it to be so.

As for the fans...well, if you're a regular reader of [livejournal.com profile] torchwood_three, you'll recognise the "type" of fanfics I was presenting -- angstfics, songfics, Mary Sues, a little hint of Twincest courtesy of the HP fandom's crazy, lots of gay porn, a handful of AUs, some Real-Person fic, and some darkfic. Torchwood_El is meant to be the major hub for American Torchwood fandom, but of course that means that it attracts all the crap as well as all the cream. Most of the usernames are made up, but a handful are people I invited because I knew they'd get a kick out of it.

And of course you'll see my name in there. I'm not sure what level of meta that brings me to; me writing about a fictional me writing non-canonical stories about a fictional television series written by me which is a non-canonical story about a television series. Which is not written by me.

The End.
drgaellon: I Has a Yantoe: from <lj user='copperbadge'>'s _Trying to Communicate_ (I Has A Yantoe)

[personal profile] drgaellon 2008-05-19 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not sure what level of meta that brings me to; me writing about a fictional me writing non-canonical stories about a fictional television series written by me which is a non-canonical story about a television series. Which is not written by me.

I think that's a Moebius loop of meta...

[identity profile] lhazzie.livejournal.com 2008-05-21 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
There's probably a paradox in there, no?

[identity profile] polaris-starz.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 03:15 am (UTC)(link)
Sam, your writing is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. ♥ I just. I cannot express my adoration for this. The levels of meta are AMAZING and I want this show to be real.

[identity profile] beadslut.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
evil genius, you are.

[identity profile] sabra-n.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
That was brilliant. I have to say, though, that this:

The Doctor is deeply, deeply creepy. John Barrowman is a genius.

...is where I really had to struggle to stay in your AU, because a universe where Barrowman is a great actor is very alternate indeed. :P

-blue

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 02:16 pm (UTC)(link)
LOL! Well, I slyly justified it in the interview with John Barrowman where he talks about how Edgar likes that he was uncomfortable in the role, because it made the Doctor seem vaguely uncomfortable in his own skin. :D That's my story and I'm stickin' to it...

[identity profile] cleversimon.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
me writing about a fictional me writing non-canonical stories about a fictional television series written by me which is a non-canonical story about a television series. Which is not written by me.

This? This is why I will love you forever and ever and ever.

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 02:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Awww, it's nice to be loved for meta. *hugs you*
ext_52148: image of bombardier plane with my name on it (glorious)

[identity profile] bluebombardier.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
You, sir, are Meta-Man. To the max.

This makes me want to visit Chicago. I've never been despite having the valid excuse of visiting a cousin. If I ever go, Byron's will be top the list of "Places to Stuff My Face". I loves a good burger.

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
A word to the wise, Byron's is delicious but it's more of a "place to buy stuff to stuff your face with" -- the one near me has a single picnic table as its only seating, and that's outside :D It's very much an eat-in-your-car or drive-home-with-it kind of a place.

But yeah, definitely give it a go, it's delicious food.

[identity profile] juniper200.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 04:29 am (UTC)(link)
I wish I understood anything that happened in this story. It seems like it must have been pretty good. (I mean, I was in it and everything!)
girlpearl: dom and billy with text reading you and me against the world (otp)

[personal profile] girlpearl 2008-05-19 07:23 am (UTC)(link)
I fail to see how any project that involves, in any way no matter how incidental, you, me, and Sam, can fail to be totally fucking awesome.

(No more commas for anyone else now; I have used them all.)

[identity profile] altorogue.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 05:29 am (UTC)(link)
You have made me very very homesick right now. I want to take the el to Halstead in Greektown and eat gyros. And climb on the Picasso, which my mother would never let me do as a child. And then walk in Grant Park and smell the roses and watch the fountain when it lights up at night. Seriously, homesick.

You have a gift for creating universes, and this was a fantastic one. My brain is all awash with possibilities now. Lovely.

[identity profile] butterflykiki.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 06:25 am (UTC)(link)
It's like triple-level meta, which I think means you get a triple-level score on Yahtzee or Scrabble with it, I'm not sure. I desperately want to see your take on the American Doctor Who after reading this, and I want S2 Torchwood America.

Love what you did in placing Torchwood in Chicago-- the original does take a lot away from being in Cardiff, Wales, solidly part of Great Britain but not part of London or its environs. Plus, with Gwen & Ianto being Welsh and sounding it, that's even more grounding for the rest of the sometimes-silliness that occurs.

I think your re-imagining of the plotlines inverted like this, with DW coming out of Torchwood instead of vice versa, gives it a really cool new AU direction to go in. Because yeah, the actors who play the characters give a whole huge feel to how those characters evolve, and a Doctor Who played by John Barrowman and set after Arcadia is *nothing* like a DW played by David Tennant, an incarnation away from those events, and a whole lot older to boot.

You are far too freaking talented and I want to buy you a burger. Also, to get Edgar a nice leather case for his homosexual agenda. *hugs Ellis*

[identity profile] sabra-n.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
Well, Stephen Moffat claims that Russell T. Davies keeps his homosexual agenda in a special pink folder in a leopard-print safe, so it's only fair that AU!RTD get a nice container for his gay agenda, too.

-blue

[identity profile] lehorin.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
I think I am confused already. Oh well.

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 11:52 am (UTC)(link)
Er -- did you read the notes first or the story? Notes should really come last :D

But if you have any questions I can answer, I'm happy to...

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[identity profile] lehorin.livejournal.com - 2008-05-19 14:13 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] cellophane_ria.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 09:24 am (UTC)(link)
Oh my, Sam. :D Funny! And a bit disturbing, because, well. Your brain. Good you're not using it for anything more sinister. xD
Also, I like your Owen even more than british Owen, thank you very much for changing his cheesy recruitment story:)

Here we go. Take one, singing I Would Do Anything For You by the late, great Fats Waller.
Awwww:D (now I only wish they could meet him:D Pretty please?;D)

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 11:43 am (UTC)(link)
Meet who, Fats Waller? That'd be an awesome episode :D

I don't think anyone liked Owen's recruitment story. I thought the whole thing should have been swapped round a bit, because it was a much slower story than the others -- Ianto's should have been the "climax" story.

[identity profile] nikki4noo.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 10:26 am (UTC)(link)
Brilliant! Loved it and had a good giggle at the fic titles and summaries

[identity profile] alexiel-neesan.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 11:25 am (UTC)(link)
Sam. Sam. You're a genius.

In Sam's world, America and conservatives are still America and conservatives, Ellis rocks, writers and scripters use sarcasm like they invented it, Sam's fictions are still the best, John Barrowman would be a brillantly creepy Doctor, David Tennant would be a brillant Captain Jack (once I remembered that yes, Daid Tennant can do dangerous and creepy) and I'm betting that people are going to write for this, as people writing non-canonical stories about a fictional TV show written by ... trying to write this hurts my head like trying to understand Cpt Jack timeline (the fictional non-fictional one.).

Then I frigtened myself by thinking how Torchwood would turn if there was a French Torchwood. I'm still shivering.

Thank you. You rock.

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 11:38 am (UTC)(link)
LOL, it's like Torchwood, International House Coffee! :D Glad you enjoyed it.

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[identity profile] samantharichter.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 01:04 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not sure what level of meta that brings me to; me writing about a fictional me writing non-canonical stories about a fictional television series written by me which is a non-canonical story about a television series. Which is not written by me.

*rofl* Oh my, that sentence is made of win! It's amazing how much thought you put into this, I'm very impressed. These kind of background thoughts make the best stories. Also thanks for the story notes. Since I'm neither American nor British I'm sure I missed loads of references, especially the Chicago ones. I've been enjoying this whole thing immensely! Though, I have to say, I was completely unable to think of Jack and think of DT portraying him at the same time. When reading about Jack at Torchwood, it was JB for me... And I'm so pissed off by them cutting out the Jack/Ian Kiss in Cyberwoman. *lol* What about the "To the Last Man"-Kiss, did that one exist? *ggg* Great story. *thumbs up*

Cheers,
~Sam~

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 01:13 pm (UTC)(link)
That sentence took me a full ten minutes to work out, too. :D

I'm glad you enjoyed the fic! Even without catching all the cultural references.

To The Last Man hasn't actually happened in this 'verse yet, but I bet when it does they give the ultimatum -- leave the kiss, or don't air the show :D
ext_29257: (BallyK: Beauty and the Priest)

[identity profile] aimsleydale.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, Sam. Just wow. I just loved all of that. All of it! When I got to your first Three Things I actually had to get up off my chair and do a little dance. Seriously. Awesome!

BTW, I read these notes beforehand, and it actually turned out really useful - not only meant I understood references and so on, but gave me a healthy sense of anticipation for reading it :) Also, I'd never seen that clip of Barrowman singing before, thanks for the link!

Adding to your meta, somewhat, is that you are telling the story of a televison show rather than just giving us the show, with main characters like Canon and Fanfic and Behind the Scenes and Critical Reception and how they interact and what effects they have on each other and that's amazing. Maybe I'm really weird for looking at it that way, but that's the thing I like about it best, I think.

Dude. Your mind totally amazes me.

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I do love world-building :D And it's fun to come up with the ways in which the rest of the world interacts with a TV show, plus kind of necessary to point up the way an American audience would receive and influence the show. So I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[identity profile] roguewords.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
Sam, this is just amazing. All of it, you've pulled it off so convincingly. I think this might be the most awesome piece of fan fic/meta that I've ever read. So very cool.

[identity profile] kayleigh-jane.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 11:40 am (UTC)(link)
This was awesome! The switches between the story, the script, the viewer(Sam's three things!), the fanbase, the writers and the actors and the non-fandom world make this possibly your best work to date. *ducks tomatoes*

And tell me, is a_fell_crowley a real lj-er or someone you made up to please the geeky fans? Because I squeed when I saw it. I squeed more over Ellis, by the way, who can wander into different universes and yet always stays himself (did that make sense? Never mind, you write third-degree meta, you'll understand!).

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 01:16 pm (UTC)(link)
a_fell_crowley is not real, alas :D The name's up for grabs!

[identity profile] jkivela.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 04:10 pm (UTC)(link)
This was all very cool and required a lot more thought that the average fanfic takes. It made me really think about certain defaults in the TV show.

But I don't completely agree with this:

it's difficult to watch Torchwood without understanding a lot about the last four years of Doctor Who.

The only Doctor I've seen was when it was on the air 20 years ago (gah, that soudns so old). Granted I've picked up a lot of those details you list from the show and online research, but I feel Torchwood stands on its own very well.

Not that I don't want to start watching Doctor, just a lot of DVDs to get...

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 04:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Most people I know who've seen Torchwood but not Who tend to be a bit baffled by some parts, especially the S1 finale and the Martha arc in S2. Not to mention it greatly enhances one's knowledge of how Jack came to be who he is :) Though I suppose that's not context you absolutely need, and of course you can pick it up from other sources.

If you'd like to see the new Who but would rather not buy all those DVDs (and I know I wouldn't) try alluc.org or sidereel.com for online episodes. :)

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[identity profile] jkivela.livejournal.com - 2008-05-20 16:31 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] hloke.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 06:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Ok, that was very interesting, though not my favorite story of yours, I confess.
Anyway, I kinda adored that Ianto's name was basically the same in your 'verse, with the lovely cultural change: "Gianni" is, after all, a diminutive of the italian form of "John" (or "Ian", in welsh, as you surely know). Lovely detail, I thought.
Thanks.

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 07:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Yep -- I picked Gianni for its shared heritage with Ianto :D Fun with linguistics!

(Anonymous) 2008-05-20 08:08 pm (UTC)(link)
I think this is one of those times when i'm like, "Comment, you fool!" but my brain is mostly a dribbling mess of adoration. So my mushbrain is keeping me from constructive feedback. Bsdfyrefrhakjfdhdertasdyf.

(Though, question: You said Barrowman is only the second incarnation of this Doctor, so i assume the Doctor's regeneration works the same way. But then he's dead at the end of Torchwood Season 1. So then theoretically he'll be alive'd by regenerating. But then Barrowman won't be playing him anymore. Which i thought you said he was in the spinoff? Is your answer just: you're overthinking this?)

Also: I dare you to write any of the "fanfic"s. Even the songfic could be endured!

[identity profile] concretesphinx.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 08:08 pm (UTC)(link)
failure to login when commenting at work.

[identity profile] celtic-tigress.livejournal.com 2008-05-22 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
As a fellow Chicagoan, I got an enormous kick out of imagining Torchwood (even your off-the-wall alternate version) fighting aliens and taking names here in our back yard. My favorite mention of local detail was the one fic described as "Ian goes to Boystown. A lot." It made me lol as only someone who has been there can lol. *eg*

I too am boggled by the twisty turns of meta that this fic actually encompasses, but that just makes it more awesome. This was a really unique idea and I think you executed it remarkably well, as well as remaining true to the campy earnestness of actual canon. Bravo, I enjoyed it immensely!

[identity profile] sam-storyteller.livejournal.com 2008-05-22 11:12 am (UTC)(link)
Glad you liked it! I had fun working in local allusions :D
ext_41384: Girl, white dress, in a field of white flowers, like snow. (Default)

[identity profile] rosethornli.livejournal.com 2008-05-22 06:14 am (UTC)(link)
YOU ARE AWESOME! ♥

Just had to say~

[identity profile] fireflyfailure.livejournal.com 2008-05-22 06:30 am (UTC)(link)
You are an evil, absolutely wonderful genius. Oh yes. ^___^

[identity profile] anjelmati.livejournal.com 2008-05-23 12:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you.This was tremendous fun,and your switching of Tennant and Barrowman works quite well.Your explanations are enlightening,though I guessed what was meant by the context most of the time,a tribute to your writing skills.This deserves more than one reading,and after a short lie-down in a darkened room,I'll be back to do just that.
ext_114511: (Default)

[identity profile] schwarze-elster.livejournal.com 2008-06-19 07:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow. This was... different. Fun to read =) I had a good laugh at the fanfiction and the discussions going on behind the scenes. It kind of bends my brain to imagine John Barrowman as the Doctor and David Tennant as Jack, but I liked it.

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