Random Who and Torchwood speculation. Bear with me...

[tencrush]

Okay, this will all seem a bit random and there are spoilers and stuff, so don't read it if you don't like that sort of thing, srsly, JUST MOVE ALONG, it's not that hard.

I've been doing a bit of thinking and discussing and such about these Who finale spoilers, the talk about Rusty leaving, Torchwood being rejigged AGAIN (WHY?? Don't fix it, asshats, it ain't broke right now!!) and the possible 5/6 episode Torchwood stint, so I'm going to put some rambling thoughts down about what's going on and hope they make sense.

• First of all the 5/6 episode TW run wouldn't hugely surprise me, just because logistically, doing 6 TW eps plus 3 full length Who specials just about adds up to the same amount of work as ONE CREW would put in for a WHOLE NORMAL SEASON of either of those two things. I wouldn't read too much into it, I don't think there's an implication there that either show is scaling down for good, I think they're just attempting to keep one crew employed for the upcoming year, as opposed to offering a few months here and there, which is never a popular move.



• Money stuff. WHAT HAPPENED TO CBC?? They dropped Who after S3 and TW after S1, is that just lack of funds or what? I never actually read any reports on why the collaboration ended. Is the franchise costing BBC Wales slightly more money than we perhaps realise now that it's a solo production? Are they possibly looking for a new co-production partner? (Like I've said before, it wouldn't surprise me if BBCA were willing to pump some money into TW with a few strings attached, including upping the number of episodes, which would require better writing for en ensemble cast, which would require a slightly different production method, which... etc etc.) Plus, SciFi's first broadcast rights on Who are up soon (after the specials, I assume?) In short, I think there's A LOT going on behind the scenes right now, Russell's leaving is probably even tied into all that somewhere along the line.



• Speculation tiem: The stuff I've heard is this when it comes to the Who finale: There's a reset button, there's at least ten people IN the TARDIS (Donna, Martha, Rose, Sarah Jane, Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Mickey, Jackie, Pete). When it comes to the new series of TW, I've heard Mickey and Martha are joining, but I've also heard talk that there's been casting (for an uncommissioned series, cool) for Owen and Tosh's replacements, and, obviously, Marsters is on board for a number of episodes (in fact, he has seemed to be the MOST FIRM in seeing TW as an actual DIARY commitment already, and I figure with the commitments he has elsewhere, he is actually likely to receive more solid information than anyone else if they want him to return.)



• SO, BEARING ALL THAT IN MIND, this is my theory: It's not a popular choice, but I DO think there's a reset button involved somehow and we may well lose a few months, if not years of canon. The reason I think this, is because doing so (there was talk of Nine never having regenerated into Ten, now there's talk of Eight never having regenerated into Nine and something to do with changing the outcome of the Time War.) DOESN'T ACTUALLY AFFECT ANYTHING, IF all the major players involved in the franchise are at the eye of the storm and therefore unaffected. The Torchwood organisation could conceivably not exist or have ever existed without that proving too much of a problem for the Torchwood TV show, IF Jack, Gwen and Ianto have still been through everything they've been through in S1 and 2 by virtue of them missing out on the reset. They could easily start up TW mark 2 with no real problem, because the end is where they start from, after all. And there has been talk of a MAJOR CHANGE at TW.



• In fact, you see, the thing is, the more I think about EVERY MAJOR CHARACTER FROM THE ZOOWHONIVERSE BEING IN THE TARDIS AT THE SAME TIME, the more I can't really think of any other valid reason for that to happen OTHER THAN circumstances outside the TARDIS changing to such an extent that every player in the franchise will need protecting from those changes.



• And the reason I'm starting to buy into that idea now is PRECISELY BECAUSE I now KNOW Russell is leaving and LOOK WHAT CHIBNALL DID TO TW ON HIS WAY OUT. Russell obviously likes those big gay dramatic gestures, or you'd think he'd have vetoed major character death on Torchwood. I think Russell's going to do something MASSIVE. Not CGI massive, just massive. Canon massive.



• Having said that, it's probably jusy some big gay cgi monster.

In Gareth news: ACTUAL FIRST HAND ORGEE ACCOUNTS are more than welcome IF they are cock-related and, obviously, actual pictorial evidences of alleged cock incidents would be rewarded with some sort of fangirlish bounty.