#torchwood ghost train

[lord-save-me]

Let's take a moment to appreciate that Ianto and Rhys canonically kissed

[gallifreywhere]

Ianto and Rhys being roommates & stealing fridges from Harwood lorries together is absolutely hilarious. And of course Jack comes over....... Poor Rhys. Ghost Train my beloved.

Ianto: Are we having a row? Was it about last night and the thing with the-

Rhys: No! It's about you!

[catharinatudor]

Ghost Train made me fall in love with the Bromance of Ianto and Rhys

[benevolenterrancy]

Ghost Train may be my favourite Torchwood audio to date. Jack's pure and utter bafflement when Rhys saves him on the train added years to my life

[captain-ghost]

I've spoken to/seen people who say they don't like Rhys, and I simply will never understand them.

I cannot describe my adoration for him, but all throughout Torchwood (and in Miracle Day especially) he is just my heart and soul, I love him <3

[secretartquotes]

5 reasons why "Ghost Train" by James Goss is my Favourite Torchwood (non Big Finish) Audio

This is a new thing I'm trying out - maybe I'll do it again, maybe not. It's purely for me and my love for this story but if anyone enjoys this, then good for you. If anyone agrees or disagrees with what I'm about to say - let me know, civilly, this is just my opinions and they're here to be positive, so please, keep the negativity to a minimum. I'm here for the fun and general warm fuzzy feelings this audio story gives me and not to start a war or just an argument.

1. The Performance

Kai Owens performance is the thing that brings everything together to me. He gives an excellent performance as Rhys Williams and just generally has a nice voice. I feel every time I listen to the audio as if I'm there in front of him and he's telling it to me. The character voices he does are really good. I always have to remind myself that it's a one man show not an ensemble cast. He gets Gwen's , Ianto's and Jack's voices just right - they sound uncannily similar to the real stuff. And the voices he does for the new character sound completely different from one another - you really feel they could be the voices of real people. All that really immerses me into the story.

2. The Writing

I'll get this out of the way now at the start - I haven't listened or read all of James Goss's things but from what I've sampled most of his stuff leave me pretty neutral or angry (I'm looking at you 'Almost Perfect'), the only things of his that have left a positive impression on me are Department X , Fall to Earth and House of the Dead, so I'm not exactly an authority on his writing. This time he left me speechless , it was not even before a couple of months that I realised he had written it. I was amazed, because of reasons precisely explained. He gets Rhys's voice so well. He doesn't try to make him out like he is some action hero or that he's Gwen's boring husband - Rhys is plenty interesting and he really understands that. I know that he does - he gets that he is pretty down to earth and that he loves his job, even if it's not as impressive as saving the world, he gets how caring and loving and understanding Rhys is, especially with Gwen. He gets why he's such an amazing character. His descriptions are so evocative - the language is pretty plain , it's not exactly poetic but I think coupled with first person narration , it's a very good in character description that gets what it must across.

3. The Story

I love the story or the plot - it's like a journey. We set out on it knowing where we will end but not how it will finish. The slow burn mystery of what's going on with the missing fridges coupled with the mundane goings-on with Rhys's life and the crazy background world ending Torchwood mundanity makes the story a fun and easy experience. The ending is fantastic, the resolution is amazing and the mystery holds up.

4. The Characters

No story can be without great characters , especially one that has to be in character. And if you don't get the characterizations right you end up with COE. The writing, the performances, the story and the production - it is all fantastic but the uniquely bizarre character choices they made were bad. Most people in the fandom know what I'm talking about. So let's say I'm very happy that everyone is in character - especially the dynamics. Gwen, Jack, Rhys and Ianto are just exactly as they should be at this point of time. Gwen and Rhys's relationship is great and loving and exactly as I like it. Rhys's dynamics with everyone else are also fantastic - especially his camaraderie with Ianto. Great antagonist - mostly in the background but they are not exactly magnificent.

5. Miscellaneous Stuff I just like for no particular reason

The 3 times Rhys passes out - from having Gwen with him as he wakes , to waking alone in the rain, to finally waking on the ground but Gwen is back with him.

Rhys messing with the coffee machine despite Ianto's protests and the fact he maybe breaks it because they are drinking tea in the next scene.

Gwen's grunts in the morning and her coming off the shower with wet hair and the duvet.

Snoopy mug.

Storage unit with an alien spaceship.

Every exchange between Rhys and the Powells.

The funky music that plays when things are about to get intense.

[littlegaybean1]

Ok ok ok...

It's been almost 18 years since it aired, but who cares I'm talking about it anyway.

I've seen a lot of people hating on Cyberwoman. And yeah, I understand why. That costume choice was, er, quite something. But it's still my favourite episode and yk why? The build up. The plotline. And most of all the acting. Oh my god the acting. My favourite scene has got to be the tourist office, because oh my days have you seen the way Gareth David Lloyd plays Ianto? It gives me chills. After watching it, I rewatched Everything Changes and Ghost Machine because I never actually noticed Ianto in them, unless he's speaking. The only time you ever see him is when he intentionally draws attention to himself, which he rarely does. I watched them again, specifically focusing on Ianto. He's barely in them. He's one of the main 5 characters, but in the first three episodes he has one of the most minor roles. Like, you see him let Gwen into the Hub, delete the stuff she typed to make herself remember and see him introduced. That's it for episode one. And yes, everyone has a minor role in that, but you never actually see him as part of the team. He works alone, always.

Episode three really highlights that for me. He appears every so often with a funny comment. He has less screen time than Rhys. If it wasn't for the fact that I was actively thinking about him, I would have completely forgotten that he was there. One of his rare appearances really got to me - the ending. Jack gives him the ghost machine to put in the secure archives. That's normal, the archives are his area.

Except Jack doesn't even look at him. He just holds it out, like Ianto is a servant, not someone with years of experience dealing with aliens. Ianto worked at Torchwood One. He was the most qualified of anyone on that team when each of them joined. Owen was medically trained, but no experience with aliens. Tosh was a genius, but she had only experienced aliens through wrong blueprints of their technology, plus a charge of treason. Gwen had police training, nothing more. She got a job by being stubborn, and in the right place at the right time. Jack was reckless, dangerous, and did not want to join Torchwood. He only did it because he needed to do something in the 100+ years that he would be waiting for the Doctor.

Ianto had everything taken from him all at once, and nobody bothered to check on him. He looked fine, so they didn't give it any more thought. They of all people should know that that's not how it works. Ianto was repressing his grief, exhausting himself with the amount he worked both at his job and caring for Lisa. He never had any desire to cause anyone any harm. He was blinded by overwhelming grief. When humans experience loss, the automatic reaction is to cling to what you have. For most people, that means reaching out to friends and family, creating a support system. Ianto lost all his friends, all at once. We don't hear about his family until S3 (goddamn S3), but it's implied that they aren't close. I haven't listened to any of the audios, so if there's more to it than that then I don't know it.

Ianto had nothing, except an echo pretending to be Lisa. He did the most natural thing in the world, clung to what he had. Or at least, what he thought he had. Don't blame Ianto for the events of Cyberwoman. His actions correlate with normal reactions to grief. Yes, his actions were extreme. But so was his grief.

[dont-kill-your-double]

The Contestants

1. Gwen Cooper and Gwyneth (Torchwood/Doctor Who)

2. Peppino and Fakino (Pizza Tower)

3. Darkwing and Negaduck (Darkwing Duck)

4. V1 and V2 (Ultrakill)

5. Dana Cardinal and Dana's double (Welcome to Nightvale)

6. Rory and Auton Rory (Doctor Who)

7. Pit and Dark Pit (Kid Icarus)

8. Frisk and Chara (Undertale)

9. Steve and Herobrine (Minecraft)

10. Madeline and Badeline (Celeste)

11. Yosuke and Shadow Yosuke (persona 4)

12. Doppel and Glass (Heartless)

13. live1967 and die1967 (tumblr)

14. Optimus Prime and Nemesis Prime (transformers)

15. Mario and Wario (Super Mario)

16. Luigi and Waluigi (Super Mario)

17. Sonic and Shadow and Metal Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog)

18. Rumble and Frenzy (Transformers)

19. Meta Knight and Dark Meta Knight (Kirby)

20. Link and Dark Link (LoZ)

21. Four Swords Links (LoZ)

22. Nights and Reala (NiGHTS into dreams)

23. Tulip Olsen and Lake (Infinity Train)

24. Angela and Carmen (Lobotomy Corporation)

25. Kenjaku and Geto (Jujutsu Kaisen)

26. Yomiel and Sissel (Ghost Trick) (no spoilers!)

27. Nick Valentine and DiMA (Fallout Four)

28. MK and Ink MK (Lego Monkey Kid)

29. Sun and Moon (Fnaf)

30. Preston Garvey and Impersonator (Fallout Four)

31. Ghost and The Hollow Knight (and siblings)

32. Protagonists (Crawl)

[princess-of-the-worlds]

writing patterns: first lines

Rules: list the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

Tagged by @insane-ohwhyfandoms! Thank you friend! Also stole your format!

CC-2224’s first memory is the pale sun of Kamino rising over the dark seas as he watches from the balcony of Tipoca City, his small legs dangling over the edge, his young mind soaking in the stolen moment. by any other name [star wars | cody-centric]

Reva was awake to watch from the Temple parapet nearest to the crėche when four Jedi Masters boarded a speeder and headed across the Coruscant skyline. growing up a little at a time (then all at once) [star wars | reva & obi-wan]

The Hub was completely empty, but someone was still watching her. they said the end is near [torchwood | tosh-centric]

The raucous cheers from the crowd reverberate with a bloodlust and fury that Obi-Wan can feel echoing through his blood and bones as he steps out into the dusty, gore-soaked arena. inching towards sunrise [star wars | jangobi]

Two men meet on a small planet, technically Mid-Rim but trenched on the initial edges of the Outer Rim to be overlooked and forgotten. how to stay with you [star wars | jangobi]

He’s busy leading a squad of the Alpha batch through a round of training exercises when Taun We enters the classroom, the skirt of her blue robe long enough that she appears to be floating. this lust is a burden we both share [star wars | jangobi]

When Luke Skywalker is five, he knows three things about his father: His name was Anakin, he had been a navigator on a spice freighter, and he is dead. i have not ever seen my father's grave [star wars | luke & anakin]

In a corridor in the Imperial Senate Building, by a marble pillar that frequently shadowed forbidden young lovers, Vader sees a ghost. you'll see my face in every place [star wars | anidala]

“Target spotted on Level 5123,” crackled the voice in CC-2224’s in-ear comm. “Target is suspected to be a Jedi traitor. Approach with extreme caution.” pull me from hell (bring me back again) [star wars | codywan]

“Fancy finding you here,” came a familiar drawl, teasing and light, as Cody continued counting the crates of recently requisitioned inventory. august slipped away into a moment of time [star wars | codywan]

final thoughts: i swing between simple sentences and compounds with a lot of phrases and comma usage. idk what to do with this knowledge.

tagging: @violetmessages, @toshsato, @shejustcalledmeafish, @horselover107, @dinodina, and whoever else would want to do this!

[deadguydeathmatch]

The Dead Guy Death Match Bracket Is Here!

Round 1 will be split into 4 waves of 16 24 hour polls and each wave will be posted 24 hours after the previous. The first wave will start on Tuesday the 18th of April at 3pm BST

The matchups are listed under the readmore and will be hyperlinked to the polls when they go up.

The matchups were all randomised although I did make minor adjustments if I thought one was much too unfair.

Also tagging @tournamentdirectory as I haven't already

Wave 1:

Charles Foster Kane (Citizen Kane) Vs Gavroche Thenardier (Les Miserables)

Leif (Bug Fables) Vs Queen Serenity (Sailor Moon)

L (Death Note) Vs Jonny D'Ville (The Mechanisms)

Noah Czerny (The Raven Cycle) Vs Lee Everett (The Walking Dead)

Pat Butcher (BBC Ghosts) Vs Xerxes Break (Pandora Hearts)

Captain Orimar Vale (Skyjacks Campaign Podcast) Vs Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks)

Diallos Hoslow (Elden Ring) Vs Rachel Amber (Life Is Strange)

Andrei Grandier (Rose Of Versailles) Vs Constance Blackwood (Ride The Cyclone)

Spock (Star Trek) Vs Maria Robotnik (Sonic The Hedgehog)

Kravitz (The Adventure Zone) Vs Sal Fisher (Sally Face)

Mari (Omori) Vs Ianto Jones (Torchwood)

Nate (Leverage) Vs Max (Sam and Max)

Owen Carvour (Spies Are Forever) Vs Vylad Ro'Meave (Minecraft Diaries)

Neil Perry (Dead Poet's Society) Vs Sayaka Miki (Madoka Magica)

Flapjack (The Owl House) Vs Maes Hughes (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Loki (Marvel) Vs Adam Faulkner Stanheight (Saw)

Wave 2:

Obi Wan Kenobi (Star Wars) Vs Diggory Graves (Hello From The Hallowoods)

Hugo Oak (Kipo And The Age Of Wonderbeasts) Vs Leonardo Hamato (Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie)

Chara (Undertale) Vs Magnus Chase (Magnus Chase)

River Song (Doctor Who) Vs Micheal Afton (Five Nights At Freddy's)

Catherine Earnshaw (Wurthering Heights) Vs Tara Maclay (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)

Laudna (Critical Role) Vs Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy)

Mia Fey (Ace Attorney) Vs Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby)

Meiko 'Menma' Honma (The Flower We Saw That Day) Vs Claire Foley (Professor Layton)

Grelle Sutcliff (Black Butler) Vs Skelly (Hades)

Ethan Winters (Resident Evil) Vs Portgas D Ace (One Piece)

Polly Geist (Monster Prom) Vs Hua Cheng (Heaven's Official Blessing)

Avatar Kyoshi (Avatar The Last Airbender) Vs Galivar Kholin (Stormlight Archive)

Pink/Orchid (Animation Vs Animator/Minecraft) Vs Lewis Pepper (Mystery Skulls Animated)

Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb) Vs Stoick The Vast (How To Train Your Dragon)

Evelyn Hooper (Less is Morgue) Vs Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango)

Kokichi Oma (Danganronpa) Vs Silco (Arcane)

Wave 3:

Eurydice (Greek Mythology) Vs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead)

Jack Twist (Brokeback Mountain) Vs Charles Vane (Black Sails)

Howard Hamlin (Better Call Saul) Vs Jason Grace (Riordanverse)

Nora Hildegard (The Vampire Diaries) Vs Gerard Keay (The Magnus Archives)

Manny (Swiss Army Man) Vs Matoro (Bionicle)

Wen Ning (Mo Dao Zu Shi) Vs Kikyo (Inuyasha)

Yuri Nakamura (Angel Beats) Vs Simon Kain (Pathologic)

Deep Throat (The X Files) Vs La Signora (Genshin Impact)

Esmeralda (The Hunchback Of Notre Dame Novel) Vs Ursula Zandt/Silhouette (Watchmen Comics)

Nageki Fujishiro (Hatoful Boyfriend) Vs Tuba (Infinity Train)

Beetlejuice (Beetlejuice) Vs Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption)

Oda Sakunoske (Bungou Stray Dogs) Vs Rose Quartz (Steven Universe)

Duncan (Dragon Age) Vs Junpei Yoshino (Jujitsu Kaisen)

Quincey Morris (Dracula) Vs Connor Murphy (Dear Evan Hansen)

Deadman (DC Comics) Vs Breakdown (Transformers)

Draal The Deadly (Troll Hunters) Vs Castiel (Supernatural)

Wave 4:

Matsuri Kanroji (Demon Slayer) Vs Midori (Your Turn To Die)

Kelsier (Mistborn) Vs Peter 'Parker' Yang (Malevolent Podcast)

Tadashi Hamada (Big Hero 6) Vs Noriaki Kakyoin (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

Erik (The Phantom Of The Opera) Vs Matthias Helvar (Six Of Crows)

Tigerstar (Warrior Cats) Vs Boromir (The Lord Of The Rings)

Joel Miller (The Last Of Us) Vs Pedro Madrigal (Encanto)

Rufus Emeterio (They Both Die At The End) Vs King Arthur (King Arthur)

Bunny Corcoran (The Secret History) Vs Lenore (Nevermore Webtoon)

Sliver Of Straw (Rain World) Vs Bow (Inanimate Insanity)

Chidi Anagonye (The Good Place) Vs Nicholas D Wolfwood (Trigun)

Tiso (Hollow Knight) Vs Okudera (Yakuza 5)

Koki Kariya (The World Ends With You) Vs Horst Cabal (Johannes Cabal)

Mr Boddy (Clue) Vs Garret Jacob Hobbs (Hannibal)

Eddie Kaspbrak (IT) Vs Emily (Corpse Bride)

Ash Lynx (Banana Fish) Vs Ophelia (Hamlet)

Eddie Munson (Stranger Things) Vs Kili (The Hobbit)

[l33t-hax0r-tournament]

THE BRACKET IS HERE!

round 0 (yes, we are starting at 0 just like computers do) will start on march 2 at 12pm EST. the round will be spread out across 4 days to avoid a shadowban, and posts will be tagged as #round 0. the matchups were randomized, so sorry about that! matchups in text form are under the cut:

match 0: Ami Enan (Lupin III Part 5) vs. Harold Finch (Person of Interest)

match 1: Barbara Gordon (Batman) vs. Saburo Yamada (Hypnosis Mic)

match 2: Hackerman (Kung Fury) vs. Piconjo (Newgrounds)

match 3: Lain Iwakura (Serial Experiments Lain) vs. Dr. Alphys (Undertale)

match 4: Sollux Captor (Homestuck) vs. Lucyna Kushinada (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners)

match 5: Breanna Casey (Leverage: Redemption) vs. Saeyoung "707" Choi (Mystic Messenger)

match 6: Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost In The Shell (1995)) vs. Bentley Wiseturtle (Sly Cooper)

match 7: Kururu (Keroro Gunsou) vs. Mei Hatsume (Boku no Hero Academia)

match 8: Nomi Marks (Sense8) vs. Tulip Olsen (Infinity Train)

match 9: Tae Joon "Crypto" Park (Apex Legends) vs. Penny (Pokémon)

match 10: Tux the Penguin (GNU/Linux) vs. Hieronymous "The" Hacker (Cyberchase)

match 11: Elliot Alderson (Mr. Robot) vs. Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi (Digimon Adventure)

match 12: Vanessa A. (Five Night's at Freddy's: Security Breach) vs. Chihiro Fujisaki (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc)

match 13: Donatello Hamato (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) vs. Aloe Cookie (Cookie Run: OvenBreak)

match 14: Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club!) vs. Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivruski IV (Cowboy Bebop)

match 15: Spock (Star Trek) vs. Roxy Lalonde (Homestuck)

match 16: Rita (The Penumbra Podcast) vs. Futaba Sakura (Persona 5)

match 17: Entrapta (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) vs. Mickey Smith (Doctor Who)

match 18: Idia Shroud (Twisted Wonderland) vs. Alter Ego (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc)

match 19: Urushihara Hanzo (The Devil is a Part-Timer!) vs. Alec Hardison (Leverage)

match 20: Root (Person of Interest) vs. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya (Mass Effect)

match 21: Katie "Pidge" Holt (Voltron: Legendary Defender) vs. Penelope Garcia (Criminal Minds)

match 22: Carla Dosa (The Hex) vs. Nicole the Holo-Lynx (Sonic the Hedgehog)

match 23: Dendy (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes) vs. Toshiko "Tosh" Sato (Torchwood)

match 24: Yasuho Hirose (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: JoJolion) vs. Ezekiel Jones (The Librarians)

match 25: Ritsuko Akagi (Neon Genesis Evangelion) vs. Felicity Smoak (Arrow)

match 26: Robert "Bob" Johansson (We Are Legion (We Are Bob)) vs. Maya Ibuki (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

match 27: Neo (The Matrix) vs. Trinity (The Matrix)

match 28: James T. Kirk (Star Trek) vs. Player Bouchard (Carmen Sandiego (2019))

match 29: Shiang Sun (Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2) vs. Raimu "Rhyme" Bito (The World Ends With You)

match 30: Susie (Kirby) vs. Miles "Tails" Prower (Sonic the Hedgehog)

match 31: Mikado Ryuugamine (Durarara!!) vs. Fuuka Yamagishi (Persona 3)

[julibellule]

Okay, here we go! Do you have any fic recs? Kind of daunting knowing where to start. Ninerose, tenrose or tentoorose, any rating?

What!? I am so sorry. I never noticed this was laying here in my Inbox!! When did you send me this???

Ha! To answer your question, I have this very organized reclist that I compiled since I started reading DW fanfiction in 2010. I always want to be able to find my favorite fics easily and that's the way I went with it.

It is so hard to pick my favorites amongst them. But here are a few:

Double Crossing, by @jessalrynn 10!M 43.5k (#Star Trek CrossOver)

Ten Minutes, by @oodlyenough & @go-ldy 10.5!T 14.5k (#Post JE #Established Relationship)

Training in Covert Manoeuvers, by Queenofthecastle 10!T 9k (#Bounty Hunter AU)

Sensigenia, by Tkirr 10!E 10.5k (#Established Relationship #BDSM)

Standstill, by Aeolist 10!E 25k (#Post Satan's Pit)

Age of Aquarius, by TheTenzo 10!T 10.5k

Zen and the Art of Aesthetic Farming, by Abadplanwellexecuted 10.5!E 14k (#Post JE)

Pear Jelly and the Beginnings of a Fantastic Life, by @bluedawn0123 10!E 14k (#Torchwood AU)

A Ghost Story, by @kelkat9 10!E 75k (#Haunted House AU #Ghost!Doctor)

A Most Ingenious Pair of Docs, by Kitsunealyc 10&9!E 15k (#UA #Reunion fic)

The Swap, by @allrightfine 10!T 18k (#Dystopian AU)

Can I self rec my huge Interractive Journey's End .. I will be working on that one for the rest of my life I think, but I am still in love with this life long project of writing all the possible outcome that could've happen on Bad Wolf Bay at the end of Journey's End.

And there are so many more, but all those marked with ♡♡♡ in my google doc reclist are those that are really close to my heart, that I read and reread constantly.

Thanks for asking, luv. Have magical holidays ♡

[catharinatudor]

Torchwood Headcanon: Bi-Awakening

Jack: always has been (nobody cares in 51st century)

Ianto: Jack

Gwen: Still in denial

Tosh: Owen (thought she was lesbian before she met owen)

Owen: Somewhen in Highschool

Rhys: Ianto (in the audio Ghost Train)

[thetorchwoodarchive]

Hello!! I was wondering if you guys have any recs for fics where Ianto meets a past version of Jack 💕

Sing Me Like a Choir by princessoftheworlds (JackIanto | complete | 62462 | E)

Javic Thane and Ianto Jones were never meant to meet, but that won't stop them from falling for each other. A love story where even time and space couldn't keep two men apart.

synchronicity by princessoftheworlds (JackIanto | complete | 1805 | T)

Sighing, Ianto continues further up the Plass, the soles of his boots striking against the cobblestone as he rounds around the water tower. Then he glances up, and his mouth drops open in shock.

Right there, standing smackdab in the center of the Plass, as striking and obvious as it could possibly be, is a bright blue wooden box with glowing windows.

Jack and Ianto have a chance meeting in Cardiff, two years and several tragedies too early.

minor details by fitzroysquare (JackIanto, Gwen&Ianto | complete | 12246 | T)

Jack Harkness is a liar. Jack Harkness is also a lie. Surprisingly, no one has seemed to have caught onto those two things yet.

[Or: Jack loses his memory and thinks he’s Javic Piotr Thane, conman. He acts like it, too.]

Of Motion In Perpetuity by Beleriandings (JackIanto, GwenRhys | complete | 106706 | M)

When Gwen, Jack and Ianto investigate a cold case from end of the nineteenth century, they find themselves pulled back in time against their will, fighting to protect each other and to get home.

Time Tracks by (Cyborgtamaki, thirteeninafez | complete | 174005 | T)

It took him a second to realise what had happened; what had felt like hours while travelling through the rift shrunk itself in his head to a mere instant of searing gold. That’s when the flicker of the fire in front of him finally registered through his confused daze. In his haste to get away from the flames around him, he slipped and fell, scrambling back until he was a safe distance away from the smoke and the heat. It was only then that he took notice of the voices behind him. He turned towards the noise of a deep, northern voice spluttering and saying, confused and almost angry.

“Who the hell are you?”

The man rolled over onto his knees and stood up, looking around like he’d never seen a street before. “Jones.” He sounded uncertain but then spoke again with more confidence. “Ianto Jones.”

Ghost Story by Mad_Maudlin (Jack/Ianto | complete | 70423 | T)

I called out. "Would you like to hear a ghost story?"

For a moment Jack didn't move, and I knew he'd recognized my voice. After a moment he said, flatly, "I don't believe in ghosts."

"It's a complicated story," I admitted, and pulled the watch from my pocket by the chain. "And it starts with 'Long ago and far away.'"

Requiem by engagemythrusters (JackIanto | complete | 2462 | T)

Captain Jack Harkness died on Satellite Five and woke to find someone he had never seen before in his life.

The Star of the Universe by celedan (JackIanto | complete | 23729 | E)

By chance, young Torchwood One employee Ianto Jones saves popstar Serenity Carter from aliens, and has to flee with her from their assailants. At the same time, the Doctor drags Jack Harkness back to Earth for an impromptu adventure. Running into each other, the two parties have to flee together and solve their problem while Jack's heart aches to see Ianto again after all this time.

Your Face Is Turned by copperbadge (JackIanto, JackOther(s), IantoOther(s), JackIantoOC | complete | 75390 | E)

Lo Boeshane has a promising career ahead of him as he enters his first year of Fleet Officer Training, but the war is still with him and life at Quantico Station can be difficult. Meanwhile, Ianto Jones is just trying to figure out why the Doctor kidnapped him to the fifty-first century and why Jack abandoned him at a school for the Fleet's military elite. He suspects it may have something to do with Lo, but his attempts to help the troubled young veteran may damage his own timestream beyond repair.

Another Chance by gmariam (JackIanto | complete | 3108 | T)

Jack Harkness meets Ianto Jones in a London pub, celebrating his birthday with friends from Torchwood One.

Resurrection of the lost by FredAndGeorgeForever (Jack&Ianto, Jack&Team, JackIanto | complete | 2794 | T)

It was a perfectly normal day at Torchwood when a demand came to help bring Torchwood four back. Nothing weird about that at all.

[pers-books]

Brain training for the Third Doctor

Tim Treloar, Daisy Ashford and Jon Culshaw star in Doctor Who and the Brain Drain, a full-cast audio adventure due for release in February 2025.

The first of 2025’s Third Doctor Adventures box sets brings together the UNIT team of Doctor Who Season 7 in a brand-new adventure which – like the TV stories of that era – is told over seven episodes. 

In Doctor Who and the Brain Drain, the Doctor (Tim Treloar) is getting used to his recent exile on Earth and settling into his role as UNIT’s scientific advisor when he’s dispatched to Scotland on his latest mission. 

Accompanying him are Dr Liz Shaw (Daisy Ashford) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Jon Culshaw). This fledgling team will have to pool all their skills, as monsters, ghosts and more threats await them. 

Doctor Who – The Third Doctor Adventures: Doctor Who and the Brain Drain is now available to pre-order as a collector’s edition CD box set (+ download for just £24.99) or a digital download only (for just £19.99), exclusively here.

A newly exiled Doctor accompanies Liz Shaw and the Brigadier to a symposium held in an imposing Scottish castle. Professor MacLeod and her son have developed a new treatment for memory loss and a possible cure for dementia. 

As the Doctor investigates sightings of strange mythical creatures, and ghosts are unleashed in the castle’s corridors, Liz and the Brigadier search for a connection. 

Just what is happening to the energy produced by the MacLeods’ revolutionary treatment? And what is the strange creature that hides in the castle grounds? 

The supporting cast of Doctor Who and the Brain Drain includes Rosalyn Landor (known for classic films including The Devil Rides Out and The Amazing Mr Blunden), as well as Mark Elstob, Susan Harrison, Glen McCready, and Callum Pardoe. 

The script is co-written by Nicholas Briggs, Big Finish’s executive producer, and Richard James, an experienced writer of stage plays and thriller novels, here making his Big Finish debut. 

Nicholas Briggs said: “My wife had been editing one of Richard’s books and said to me, he writes beautifully. He also knows his old Doctor Who and has a very clear sense of the Third Doctor era, so I asked him for ideas for Third Doctor stories. He sent this one pitch and it had something about it that I really liked. It felt like Doctor Who, but also like an old-fashioned Sunday afternoon teatime adventure.” 

Richard James added: “Nick’s written not just some of the best Doctor Who for Big Finish, but some of the best scripts I've ever heard. I love his Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller stories; I remember listening to those avidly. So I was delighted to co-write with him.  

“And I never knew I was such a big fan of the Third Doctor era until I started writing the script and suddenly I could hear the Doctor, the Brigadier and Liz Shaw in my head. It was quite extraordinary. Liz is really interesting, and was criminally underused at the time, so I gave her the opportunity to come to the fore and do her own investigating. 

“It was amazing hearing those words coming back to me by the people who were born to say them. Not just the likes of Tim Treloar, Daisy Ashford and Jon Culshaw as the triumvirate that we all know and love, but also the incredible supporting cast.” 

Big Finish listeners can save money by purchasing Doctor Who and the Brain Drain in a bundle with 2025’s second Third Doctor Adventures box set (Title TBC), which is due for release in October, for just £47 (collector’s edition CD box set + download) or £38 (download only).     Alternatively, listeners can buy this series as part of a bundle of all 15 Classic Doctor Who box sets released in 2025 for £335 (collector’s edition CD box set + download) or £275 (download only).   

All the above prices include the special pre-order discount and are subject to change after general release. 

Please note that Big Finish is currently operating a digital-first release schedule. The mail-out of collector’s edition CDs may be delayed due to factors beyond our control, but all purchases of this release unlock a digital copy that can be immediately downloaded or played on the Big Finish app from the release date.

[yeonchi]

Kisekae Insights #36: Adapting the Rangers and Riders

This is Part 2 of the introduction to Gokaiger and Decade covering what Super Sentai teams and Kamen Riders have been adapted for both series. Keep in mind that this doesn't cover every new Kamen Rider or Rider forms that made their debut in Japan post-2015 – these will come in later instalments covering later series.

As a short rule of thumb, I only adapted all Sentai teams between Dekaranger and Zyuohger along with some teams post-Zyuranger, while all Heisei Kamen Riders up to Drive were adapted before expanding to Ghost and later Ex-Aid, Build and Zi-O. Showa elements making a reappearance in the Heisei era have been cut.

Anyway, we'll get right into it after the break.

The Superhero Project

My version of Gokaiger is probably the closest you will get to an adaptation of ToQger and Zyuohger for various reasons, such as trains not being as profound in the West or dinosaurs and ninjas being more marketable as gimmicks. Go-Busters was almost in that category until Power Rangers Beast Morphers was announced to be adapting that series. I am aware that ToQger and Zyuohger generals have appeared in Power Rangers series, but it’s not exactly a full adaptation per se.

The Power Rangers of this series are all grouped under UNIT’s Superhero Project. The scope of Super Sentai teams adapted range from the Dekarangers to Zyuohgers, along with the Zyurangers, Kakurangers, Ohrangers and Hurricanegers. The TV movie special also introduces three Ancient Ranger teams, namely the Gorengers, JAKQ and Dairangers (because the Showa era is practically ancient history for me lmao).

The only teams who have Megazords are the Gokaigers and teams whose Zord summoning/combining commands are explicitly integrated into their equipment, that is, their morphers have buttons to summon/combine their Zords. Those teams are the Boukengers, ToQgers, Ninningers and Zyuohgers.

The names, morphing calls and equipment voices follow those of the Super Sentai, with the addition of the “It’s morphin time!” pre-call. There is an exception here for the ToQgers’ equipment voices due to their nature and the Megazords for the Gokaigers, ToQgers and Ninningers. In the case of the ToQgers, I made (and remade) a post speculating what a ToQger adaptation would be like with names and all; their equipment would be voiced by Cheri Chan Yu-yan (陳如茵), the voice of Hong Kong’s MTR. As for the Ninningers’ Megazord names, they are named in the vein of “Shuriken Megazord” to differentiate them from the names in Power Rangers Ninja Steel, which was airing at the time.

The first wave of the Superhero Project, namely the Gekirangers, Go-Ongers, Shinkengers, Goseigers and Zyuohgers, are made up of members from Girl Power, who were antagonists prior to Series 10. The Go-Ongers don’t have Engine Souls, but they have generic Cell Chips to morph and power up their weapons.

The Magirangers are Takumi Kamijō’s team at Torchwood Pleiades, also known as the magical girls of Mitakihara. The Boukengers are the girls of the Light Music Club and the Kyoryugers are the Lucky Stars of Saitama. The Go-Busters are a separate team based at UNIT NZ in Auckland as an allusion to Power Rangers being produced in New Zealand, at least until this year. That team is listed in the Lucky Star instalment where I also covered the Kyoryugers, while two of the Rangers (and their commander) are detailed in #25.

The Zyurangers (with Kibaranger), Kakurangers, Gouraigers and Ninningers are made up of characters from Arthur as follows:

Arthur Read (AkaNinger)

Brain (AoNinger)

Buster Baxter (KiNinger)

D.W. Read (ShiroNinger)

Muffy Crosswire (MomoNinger)

Kinji Takigawa (StarNinger)

Binky Barnes (TyrannoRanger)

Rattles (MammothRanger)

Slink (TriceraRanger)

Molly MacDonald (TigerRanger)

Prunella Deegan (PteraRanger)

Nigel Ratburn (DragonRanger)

Bud Compson (KibaRanger)

George Lundgren (NinjaRed)

Francine Frensky (NinjaWhite)

Ladonna Compson (NinjaBlue)

Sue Ellen Armstrong (NinjaYellow)

Fern Walters (NinjaBlack)

Timmy Tibble (KuwagaRaiger)

Tommy Tibble (KabutoRaiger)

Cameron Watanabe (Shurikenger)

The Hurricanegers are a bit of a special case here as they appeared on Decade as Kamen Riders, but they are considered a Ranger team as well, particularly post-series, and their Gokai Changes are also used. It’s just that they never appear alongside the Gouraigers.

The Ohrangers, Dekarangers and ToQgers are teams made up of original characters, though they barely serve any purpose or have any development. Like Kinji Takigawa was with the Ninningers in this series, Sir Topham Hatt is KingRanger while Akira Nijino is ToQ 6gou. This was done as part of a special guest feature for the series, with Kinji and Akira’s actors reprising their roles in this adaptation. The Ohrangers and ToQgers are based on the Island of Sodor as a tribute to Thomas the Tank Engine.

The Gorengers, JAKQ and Dairangers were a spur-of-the-moment addition made for the TV movie. Aside from Sammy J and Randy Feltface for RyuuRanger and ShishiRanger, the rest of those teams were played by the casts of Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell and The Checkout, both being satirical comedy programmes broadcast on the ABC.

Kamen Rider Project

Originally known as Project Decade, the Kamen Rider Project is something I put a lot of heart into as it became something I preferred over Super Sentai or Power Rangers. Unlike the Superhero Project Power Rangers which were entirely developed by UNIT, various Kamen Riders were made by different organisations including UNIT, with Decade as their unifying mascot Rider.

The scope of my Kamen Rider adaptation covers the entire Heisei Kamen Rider era with some changes. For fear of scope creep I had no intention to include Showa elements, with the exception of Dai-Shocker and the Shocker Combatmen for the series only.

The Nine Riders of my Decade adaptation are different to the Nine Riders of the original series:

Original: Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, Faiz, Blade, Hibiki, Kabuto, Den-O, Kiva

Adaptation: Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, W, Blade, Ninja, Magica, Shugo, Drive

Originally, the plan was to create original Riders or adapt the Riders and give them new names for the adaptation. In the end, I decided to adapt the Riders with their original names because of footage reasons, plus I didn’t think it was respectful to the original Riders to just change their names like that. A number of original Riders did make it through to the series for reasons that I'll explain now.

At first I didn’t want to adapt Hibiki, then I changed my mind after seeing how interesting it was and how I could stuff a lot of Riders into the series thanks to the many Oni featured. My first impression of Faiz and Kabuto was that they were villainous Riders, probably because of their nature (Faiz being an Orphnoch or Smart Brain/ZECT being villainous organisations), so I classed them and Hibiki as Narutaki’s minions in the series. The idea of Hibiki being a Rider but not exactly a Rider in the way they transform and fight was used to create Kamen Rider Magica, a Rider influenced by Madoka Magica and GARO.

My decision not to adapt Den-O was basically “Why do we need the Den-Liner when we already have the TARDIS”, plus the Taros are pretty overrated characters, especially Momotaros, who has reappeared practically every year in the 14 years since the series ended (plus it’d cost us money to hire voice actors lol). As for Kiva, I wasn’t entirely with the idea of a vampire Kamen Rider, so elements from it and Den-O were mixed to create Kamen Rider Shugo - a Rider resembling Den-O but using unique weapons in each form like Kiva instead of a weapon in different modes (DenGasher).

Kamen Rider Ninja, another original Rider, is HurricaneRed, Hikaru Azuma, an autistic boy from the manga With the Light. His sister, Kanon, and their friend, Moe Nakajima, are HurricaneBlue and Yellow respectively; while they are summonable by Diend, they were not considered Riders or given Rider names until their reappearance in Kamen Rider Zi-O, at which point they were called Kamen Rider Mizuna (ミズナ/水波) and Kamen Rider Okachi (オカチ/陸地). Kamen Rider Shinobi ain’t got nothing on Ninja lmao.

In summary, Faiz, Hibiki and Kabuto's places as part of the Nine Riders were replaced by Ninja, W and Drive, while Den-O and Kiva were replaced by Magica and Shugo for the entire adaptation. To put my original Riders in context with the rest of the lineup, here is a sneak peek of Decade’s original Extra Final Form, Ultimate Complete Form, with its activation sequence:

Ultimate: Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, Faiz, Blade, Ninja, Hibiki, Magica, Kabuto, Shugo, W, OOO, Fourze, Wizard, Gaim, Drive

OOO, Fourze and Wizard made cameo appearances in the TV movie special before appearing in the New Worlds Arc. Ghost wouldn’t appear until the Age of Riders movie trilogy, but he made cameo appearances in the TV movie special and the final episode.

I've covered a number of Rider groups in previous instalments of this series, so I won't go into full details about them. Here’s a quick list of them:

Kuuga: #7

Salacian Riders (Agito/Ryuki/Hibiki/Amazons et al.): #11

Blade: #17

Magica: #19

Shugo: #25

Fourze/Wizard: #32

Instead, I'll just cover the Rider groups we haven't covered before now.

Faiz: Kamen Rider Faiz is a pig named Old Major (named after the character in Animal Farm) who became a bipedal humanoid thanks to the power of the Faiz Gear granted to him from an animal activist group called Food Chain Breakers (FCB) when they saved him from the slaughter. Kaixa and Delta’s users are from a mercenary group who is an enemy to the FCB.

The Orphnochs in this series are actually evolved Sandmen from those seen in the Doctor Who episode Sleep No More, being able to take on monster forms and disguise themselves as humans.

Kabuto: The users of the Kabuto and Gatack Zecters, Tommy Cooper and Kyle Bonlin, are members of the New Tongmenghui, a successor to the original group that fought for children’s rights and the overthrowing of oppressive parents. The Hopper Riders, aka the Hells Brothers, Daniel and Nathan Trindall, are of unknown affiliation. As for TheBee, Drake and Sasword, they were given to Salacians Lorah, Hugo and Tata when they joined Narutaki.

The Worms are a splinter species of the Zygons; when their home world was destroyed in the Time War, half of the Zygons managed to escape while the other half were mutated into Worms. They retained their ability to mimic humans while also gaining the ability to moult into monstrous forms and Clock Up into super speeds.

W:

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking, B1?” “I think I am, B2…” “It’s morphin’ time!”

For the series, I had planned to make some Rider showcase posters (from existing art), however I only ended up making two. W is one of them and the other one is for Gaim.

Double’s users are B1 and B2, respectively comprising the mind and body portions of the two-in-one Kamen Rider. Double (along with Skull) was the only Rider from W to be adapted into Decade, with said Rider replacing Faiz as part of the Nine Riders. Accel was not adapted because I didn't like the idea of him turning into a bike; due to footage reasons in Zi-O, Accel was introduced in Soulbound Series 4, with its user being a member of the former Girl Power who is also in a relationship with Narutaki.

OOO: The user of the OOO Driver is another member of the former Girl Power, whose counterpart in the TV Movie Special was Gaim, reflecting previous plans for said movie. Additionally, he has a dream world counterpart dark Rider whose form uses Putotyra Combo. Soulbound Series 4 would feature the debut of the new Combos of the CSM OOO Driver, along with Super Tatoba Combo and the original Yadopangaru Combo (Yadokari/Hermit Crab, Panda, Kangaroo).

Birth's user is another member of the former Girl Power whose dream world counterpart dark Rider transformed into Kamen Rider Skull. His upgrade form, Birth X, would make its debut in the post-Zi-O specials.

Aqua and Poseidon were also introduced due to footage reasons for Zi-O, but Aqua was replaced with another Rider in the end. See #20 for more details.

Gaim: The main Riders of Gaim are Morgan, Amy, Lulu and Rat in a Hat, taking on the armours for Gaim, Baron, Ryugen and Zangetsu respectively. The Genesis Driver users, Duke, Sigurd, Marika and Zangetsu Shin, are Narutaki, Topsy the Kangaroo, Melanie Yang and Rat in a Hat.

Duke's armour was originally used by Tsukasa Amakawa of Torchwood North before it was stolen by Narutaki for her own use. The armour would then be passed onto Akari Ichigo after she decided to become Gold Drive following a period of interchanged use.

All the equipment for the Gaim Riders came from another universe where more Lockseeds were in use. But how did they get to our universe in the first place? The question will be answered eventually…

Drive: Drive's user is Shinnosuke Tomari thanks to a guest appearance from Ryōma Takeuchi. However, due to Takeuchi's popularity in Japan, Shinnosuke was replaced by Akari's cousin and former Girl Power/Kurayami Alliance leader Daniel from Soulbound Series 4.

Mach's user is Akari's little brother Michael. He is the only Drive Rider who isn't replaced following his debut.

Mr Carburettor was Mashin Chaser before Flash would later take on his mantle as Kamen Rider Chaser. You will find out how it happened when I get to it.

This has been the introduction to my version of Gokaiger and Decade. From the next instalment, we’ll begin diving into Gokaiger and seeing how I would do it better than Super Megaforce.