Cyberwoman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 04 – "Cyberwoman" | |
|---|---|
| Torchwood episode | |
 The Cyberwoman. |
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| Cast | |
| Guest stars | |
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| Production | |
| Writer | Chris Chibnall |
| Director | James Strong |
| Script editor | Brian Minchin |
| Producer | Richard Stokes Chris Chibnall (co-producer) |
| Executive producer(s) | Russell T Davies Julie Gardner |
| Production code | 1.4 |
| Series | Series 1 |
| Length | 50 mins |
| Originally broadcast | 5 November 2006 |
| Chronology | |
| ← Preceded by | Followed by → |
| "Ghost Machine" | "Small Worlds" |
| IMDb profile | |
"Cyberwoman" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Torchwood. It is the fourth episode of the first series, which was broadcast on 5 November 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Ianto has a dark secret, tied to the basement of the Hub — a secret he will protect at any cost.
[edit] Plot
During a mundane day at Torchwood Three, the team decides to go get a drink, though Ianto politely stays behind. Once the team is gone, he brings in a Japanese doctor named Tanizaki into the Hub and takes him to a holding cell deep below the surface. There, a partially cyber-converted woman is strapped to a conversion unit surrounded by instruments keeping her alive; Ianto introduces her to Tanizaki as Lisa, his former lover when they both worked at Torchwood One in London. She was only partially converted during the Cyberman invasion, and Ianto rigged the equipment to keep her alive but in secret from the rest of Torchwood. Ianto hopes that Dr. Tanizaki, a cybernetics expert, can undo the conversion and make her human again. They take her to the autospy lab and are able to have her breath on her when Ianto learns that the rest of the team is on the way back to Torchwood to deal with a rouge unidentified flying object. Ianto leaves Dr. Tanizaki to take Lisa back to the cell while he prepares for the team's arrival. However, after returning Lisa, Lisa's Cyberman influence takes over, and attempts to "upgrade" Dr. Tanizaki as way of repaying him for his favor, killing him.
As the rest of Torchwood deal with the UFO, there is a brief power flicker; Ianto quickly covers up by claiming that the generators have been acting up all day and offers to look into it. Returning to Lisa's cell, he finds Dr. Tanizaki's body with Lisa standing over him. Ianto tells Lisa to stay in the cell as he drags Dr. Tanizaki's body off to hide it from the team. Lisa reenters the cybernetic unit and begins to drain more power from Torchwood, which is quickly noticed by the others. Arming themselves, they set for the holding cell where the power drain is occurring, believing Torchwood to be under attack. They find and recognize the cyber conversion unit, but are attacked by Lisa, resulting in Gwen being placed in the conversion unit. Jack attempts to shoot Lisa before she can start the unit up, but Ianto tackles him, allowing Lisa to escape. The team regroups in the Hub as the power is drained further by Lisa in preparation to recreate a Cyberman army. Jack demands that Ianto tell everything that's happened. Ianto pleads that since he cleans up after Torchwood but is never asked about his life, they should help him restore Lisa, but Jack affirms that there is no cure. Ianto asks that he try to reason with Lisa before the team attempts to attack her again.
Approaching Lisa, Ianto tries to remind her that she is still human, but she finds herself disgusted with her looks. She offers to implant her brain into Ianto, believing this to be true love as to share the same life, but Ianto refuses. Lisa declares him incompatible and throws him aside, knocking Ianto unconscious, and sending the rest of the team into action. Jack orders Toshiko to go to the surface to recharge emergency power cells while Gwen and Owen are to search for any weapons they can find, while he lets himself stand in Lisa's way to delay her advance. Lisa electrocutes Jack twice to the shock of Gwen and Owen. Gwen and Owen are momentarily trapped by Lisa in the autospy lab but manage to escape back to the main Hub, where they find Jack, very much alive despite the previous attack. Jack sprays Lisa with a special "barbecue sauce" that helps their pet pterodactyl identify its prey, and as it attacks Lisa, the rest of the team, along with the recovered Ianto, are able to escape through the invisible lift. Upon exiting the lift, Ianto immediately punches Jack and tries to return back inside, but Jack threatens him, that if he fails to kill Lisa in ten minutes, he will come down and kill them both. Ianto returns back to Torchwood by himself.
Unbeknown to the team, a pizza delivery girl, using Torchwood's other entrance to bring some pizzas ordered earlier by Ianto, finds the pterodactyl barely on the floor, and then Lisa is suddenly behind her. Later, as Ianto makes his way to the holding cell, he finds that Lisa's body has died, but the delivery girl, with a large cut across her forehead, claims she is Lisa, and that she took the girl's body so they could both be together. Ianto tries to hugs her, but pushes her away and holds her to gunpoint. The girl tries to explain she did this for Ianto, but then promises that they can be upgraded together. The rest of the Torchwood team, arriving to hear that, fire several times on the girl and kills her, leaving Ianto to mourn over Lisa's body.
[edit] Continuity
- In this second appearance of the pterodactyl, it is revealed that the reptile is attracted to "a sort of barbecue sauce", which is what the Torchwood team use to identify its food. The Torchwood Institute website explains that it is a special protein sauce to help the creature identify what is safe for it to eat.[1]
- New footage of the events of the Doctor Who episode "Doomsday" (2006) appear in this episode, featuring Ianto pulling Lisa from the destruction of Torchwood One.
- The Torchwood Institute website reveals that Ianto worked for Torchwood One before he was transferred to Torchwood Three.[2] It also reveals that Dr Tanizaki was the head of the Cybertechnology Institute of Osaka, founded in 2007 after the Cyberman invasion to monitor and learn from the Cybermen and their debris.[3]
- The lock-picking device is said to be something Suzie was working with. This is the first time Suzie Costello has been mentioned since her death in "Everything Changes". The lock-picking device is the same prop as the data scanning device seen in "Everything Changes", although it is not clear if it is the same device.
- Unlike the Cybermen of the main Doctor Who universe, the parallel Earth Cybermen usually transplant human brains into Cyberman shells. The cyber-conversion of Lisa by means of direct grafting of cyber-components is more akin to the original Cybermen's methods of conversion.
- The Torchwood Institute website states that, while most of the humans who were cyber-converted were either pulled into the void, or had their cyber-components wrenched from them, those whose components originated from "this side" of the void were left behind. Most of these people died, as their conditions could not be stabilised due to Torchwood's unfamiliarity with the technology.[4] This clarifies an issue that was not made clear at the end of "Doomsday".
- A similar looking, partially-converted "Cyberwoman" appeared in the illustrations made for the webcast Doctor Who webcast story Real Time.[5]
- Partially cyber-converted humans, with varying degrees of independent will and human personality, are seen in the Doctor Who stories The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967) and Attack of the Cybermen (1985). In "Doomsday", the completely converted Yvonne Hartman still retained some of her former personality, as did the similarly-named Yvonne Hartley from the Big Finish Productions audio play Spare Parts (which inspired the plot of "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel").
[edit] Production
- The original title of this episode was "The Trouble with Lisa".[6]
- The pizza girl, unnamed on screen, is called Annie in the end credits.
[edit] Music
- The song "Chocolate" by Snow Patrol can be heard in the background in the bar (Snow Patrol having been previously heard in the episode "Everything Changes"). The song "We're No Here" by Mogwai can be heard as we are first introduced to Lisa.
[edit] References
- ^ Torchwood External Hub Interface - Pterodactyl
- ^ Torchwood External Hub Interface - Ianto Jones - Transcript - Online Counselling Session
- ^ Torchwood External Hub Interface - Doctor Tanizaki
- ^ Torchwood External Hub Interface - Report: Closure of Torchwood One
- ^ Real Time Picture Gallery. BBC Doctor Who website. bbc.co.uk. Retrieved on 2006-11-13.
- ^ Shannon Sullivan (2006-11-06). A Brief History of Time (Travel): Cyberwoman. Retrieved on 2006-11-07.
[edit] External links
- "Cyberwoman" episode guide entry on the BBC website (currently accessible by UK residents only)
- "Cyberwoman" at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
- "Cyberwoman" at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
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