Continuity
The majority of this episode takes place in the Torchwood Institute, which is seen on screen for the first time. The phrase "Torchwood" first originated from an anagram of Doctor Who used to conceal the "rushes" tapes during the filming of the first series. It was an arc word used through the majority of the second series, starting with the series one episode "Bad Wolf".
The episode's secondary plot device is the Cybermen, from the universe featured in "The Age of Steel" and "Rise of the Cybermen". The Cybermen breaking through plastic sheets is a recurring theme throughout Cybermen appearances, in particular, The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Invasion and Earthshock. The concept of a CyberKing, mentioned by Mickey, would eventually come to pass in "The Next Doctor".
The episode is also the first in which Freema Agyeman appears, although she is not playing the role of Martha Jones, which she would play in series 3, but a minor character named Adeola. Russell T Davies admired Agyeman's performance as Adeola and called her back to fill the role of companion that Piper had chosen to leave. Agyeman was officially announced to be playing Martha Jones on 4 July 2006, and first appeared as Martha in the episode "Smith and Jones". In that episode she refers to her cousin Adeola, explaining the resemblance between the two characters that she had portrayed.
Although both Cybermen and Daleks previously appeared in The Wheel in Space, The War Games, The Mind of Evil, Logopolis, The Five Doctors, and "Dalek", this two-part episode (including the next episode "Doomsday") is the first time that both the Cybermen and Daleks play a major role. They would later appear together in "Human Nature" and the two-part episode, "The Pandorica Opens" and "The Big Bang".
Read more about this topic: Army Of Ghosts, Plot
Famous quotes containing the word continuity:
“Continuous eloquence wearies.... Grandeur must be abandoned to be appreciated. Continuity in everything is unpleasant. Cold is agreeable, that we may get warm.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
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“If you associate enough with older people who do enjoy their lives, who are not stored away in any golden ghettos, you will gain a sense of continuity and of the possibility for a full life.”
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