Cardiff and tall rooftops
Nov. 15th, 2023 06:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI'm reading a Torchoood fic that has time travel set in Cardiff, and it just became clear that the writer hasnt noticed how rapidly things change, specifically architecturally. Which is a pity, because judging from the list of Tallest Buildings in Cardiff, the 60s when the fic is set and the early 2000s when the series happened both had a tendency to construction that changed the skyline.
It's mentioned in some of the Torchwood books that Cardiff experienced a building boom during the timeframe of tbe Torchwood series, an economically exciting time when everyone thought the future needed big expensive flats, but by the later books it's a plot point that said flats didnt sell, and they're scaling down their expectations from luxury apartment to possible student housing. The architectural excitement made it into the opening credits - the really tall building Jack stands on was absolutely new that year, according to wiki. The twenty first century is when everything changes, and you could see it building up. But then it didnt work out the way anyone thought it would.
And Big Finish has a Cardiff that hit... really rough times both economically and architecturally. The Hub has gone through some rough patches both on and off screen, and the things people will do for a good flat make story mileage.
So if you set a fic in the 60s, Jack can't go stand on the same familiar rooftops, because they didnt exist. He's up there in the 2000s surveying the changes in His City from the vantage point of a really big change. Back in the 60s if he likes to be tall (on a scale that still gets on the list) he is either going fully historical and climbing the Cathedral, climbing a clock tower, or he's up a block of flats that probably still has the scaffolding on.
Any of which make mileage as metaphors, what with the time travel leaving him stuck in a past that must seem so ancient, waiting for the future to hurry up and get built.
But I wouldnt put this in a comment, because rude, so I'll just write it here and feel like it's a missed opportunity.
It's mentioned in some of the Torchwood books that Cardiff experienced a building boom during the timeframe of tbe Torchwood series, an economically exciting time when everyone thought the future needed big expensive flats, but by the later books it's a plot point that said flats didnt sell, and they're scaling down their expectations from luxury apartment to possible student housing. The architectural excitement made it into the opening credits - the really tall building Jack stands on was absolutely new that year, according to wiki. The twenty first century is when everything changes, and you could see it building up. But then it didnt work out the way anyone thought it would.
And Big Finish has a Cardiff that hit... really rough times both economically and architecturally. The Hub has gone through some rough patches both on and off screen, and the things people will do for a good flat make story mileage.
So if you set a fic in the 60s, Jack can't go stand on the same familiar rooftops, because they didnt exist. He's up there in the 2000s surveying the changes in His City from the vantage point of a really big change. Back in the 60s if he likes to be tall (on a scale that still gets on the list) he is either going fully historical and climbing the Cathedral, climbing a clock tower, or he's up a block of flats that probably still has the scaffolding on.
Any of which make mileage as metaphors, what with the time travel leaving him stuck in a past that must seem so ancient, waiting for the future to hurry up and get built.
But I wouldnt put this in a comment, because rude, so I'll just write it here and feel like it's a missed opportunity.