The Jack Who Stole Christmas

*** THE JACK WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS **

This story first snowballed into my head in late 2020 - in time for the closing date for 'Twice Upon A Time Scope' applications - but the Boehemoth has been with me for a long time. An intricate character, who I have given a detailed backstory within my own mind, the Boehemoth (an obvious play on the word Behemoth) is someone that I have high ambitions for and intend to use in the future - especially now that I have seen him brought to life by the fabulous Aristide Twain's illustration.

The concept that someone had to lose their life in order to grant Jack immortality has always been intriguing to me - it reminds me of 'Pushing Daisies', one of my favourite television shows aside from Who. However, I recall that during my initial pitch of the story Matthew Rimmer was quite apprehensive about the idea commenting that "the twist to Jack’s resurrections is an addition to the lore too far especially as it by proxy makes Rose responsible for mass casualties".

At this point I had not revealed my intention to have the Boehemoth as Rose's only victim, with the Boehemoth then going out and claiming all of other victims (one for each of Jack's revivals). But Matthew's comments about the original Time Scope having went death-free, and his intentions to follow suit with Twice, allowed me to revise the story in a way to fit that pattern. In the revised version Rose had not taken the Boehemoth's life but instead elevated him to a higher plane of living, and the Boehemoth had not killed his victims but imprisoned them - which allowed for them to be returned to their rightful times at the end of the story.

The feud between Jack and the Boehemoth was envisioned as being similar to Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones from 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. This connection was further cemented when the Boehemoth called Rose Tyler "the blonde witch" and "Calypso". In the POTC films Calypso was a witch who granted Davy Jones immortality - which he used to ferry souls to the underworld, before eventually turning on Calypso. Which is more-or-less what went down in this version.

The alternative version of Linda seen in this story was a cunning way to resurrect my favourite almost-companion. Just as luck would have it the final installment of Fan Fiction for 'Doctor Who: Lockdown!' was for 'Bad Wolf' / 'Parting of the Ways' which allowed me to include the same version of Linda in my story 'LINDA United'. There was incredible fun to be had there - especially as I was able to give Linda her own alien investigation team, in the vain of Torchwood, L.I.N.D.A. In this story Linda also escapes through the alternate world seen in 'Turn Left' - which I intended to have been the same alternate version of Earth as created by the Auteur in Aristide's story 'A Better World' (which later receives more focus in this story; https://thecrewofthecoppercoloredcupids.wordpress.com/2021/01/01/resurrection-of-the-author/).

This was not the only connection between this story and my 'Doctor Who: Lockdown!' entries. The Boehemoth's "headless henchman" was intended to be Ramone, who appeared in my first ever tale 'Ramone's Story'. Who knows why he ended up on the ship? But, as it was heavily hinted that he planned to seek out Captain Jack Harkness, perhaps he followed Linda's strategy of getting close to the Boehemoth to do so?

Finally, the mention of the "Intergalactic Confederation of Upright Narwhals" was a reference to Aristide Twain's work (where he has similarly named groups such as; the Collective of the Retconning Crocodiles, Drove of the Database-Compiling Dromedaries, and more). This reference was included in the tale long before my light-bulb moment of inviting Aristide to illustrate the story.

Hope you enjoyed reading, and look out for the Boehemoth and Linda in the future!