MOAR Torchwood stuff - plus! an SF challenge!

[dreamer_easy]

OK kids, I have an SFnal challenge for you.

You'll remember controversy over Owen's use of an alien spray in the very first episode of Torchwood to seduce first a woman he fancies, then her boyfriend. Owen sprays himself with the stuff, and anger and indifference turn at once to overwhelming lust, in a parody of those Lynx ads.

Now, RTD and Julie Gardner are completely blithe about this in the DVD commentary. And it suddenly hit me: the spray doesn't affect the couple; it only affects Owen - at least, that's the intention.

Every theory I've come up with about how the spray works has assumed it somehow affected the couple - meaning this was a variety of drug rape. Even if it made Owen shoot out superpowerful pheremones or something, that's still affecting the other people rather than him.

So thinking caps on: what the heck could the spray do only to Owen that made him suddenly irresistable?

In the meantime, some links for u:

Ianto and Jack both make afterelton.com's list of Ten Best Gay and Bisexual Science Fiction Characters. "...Jack and some of the other characters in the series represent an almost “post-gay” approach to sexual themes, in which sexual identity is represented as fluid and complicated, and, more importantly, as not a big deal. It simply is what it is."

Some really terrific analysis of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang from crabby_lioness.

And some icons that are just gosh darn funny. :-)

Comments

[jhg.livejournal.com]

But this happens all the time naturally.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

I'm no expert on this, but if Wikipedia can be believed over the claims of the snake oil merchants, human sex pheremones have yet to be discovered.

[jhg.livejournal.com]

Hmm.

Well, what about bateria and viruses passed from person to person?

[nostalgia-lj.livejournal.com]

Not done deliberately with intent to alter their will.

[matthewwolff.livejournal.com]

It's the whole "alter a person's will thing" that seems the assumption here. As there are no real human pheromones, and as it isn't explicitly stated how the spray works, why would it necessarily follow that the spray would somehow change a person's will? Or, for that matter, introduce chemicals into another persons body without their consent? It's just as easy to assume based on what we see in the episode that the spray works on Owen alone, after all, he sprays himself. The result of the spray, IMHO, simply makes him more attractive.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Sure: but how?

So far all I've come up with is a complex telepathic exchange and something to do with body language and facial expressions.

[matthewwolff.livejournal.com]

Oh dear... wibbly-wobbly-he's-so-hot-who-wouldn't won't do? ;)

Ok... people use scents to make themselves seem more attractive all the time. All our senses are tied into arousal... perhaps this spray efficiently augments those parts of you that (unconsciously) project you as an attractive person (in scent, perhaps something in harmonics, maybe even in appearance itself) to someone else... I know, it's not terribly hard Sci, but I'd put this kind of technology in the "sufficiently high tech enough as to be indistinguishable from magic" category...

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

wibly wobbly sleazy slimy lol

[matthewwolff.livejournal.com]

Ha!
Giving it a little more thought...
Owen's real sleaziness if it doesn't come from actual rape is certainly apparent in his taking pleasure in breaking up other people's relationships. An argument can be made that this is due to the spray's influence on Owen, similar to how the glove changed Suzie. Repeated use might have compromised Owen's will, making him take some form of sadistic pleasure in other's pain. He even laments it in a future episode once he's out of the spray's influence....

[outsdr.livejournal.com]

I think you're on the right track with the telepathic aspect. Suppose it's not a scent at all, but simply a vapor? A drug delivery system for a telepathic chemical that allows the telepathic expression of the desire the host feels for the object of affection? And it's used as a spray so that the user has to consciously utilize it, as opposed to something that always must be controlled to prevent sub-conscious expression of desire and wild uninhibited surprise shagging on the subway.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

It could be a glamour - tricking the subject into seeing the user as the Man of Their Dreams or whatever. That would at least be more in the direction of seduction than rape.