Doctor Who: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Captain Jack Harkness
8. Why Didn't He Crash Utopia's Credits?
Captain Jack's white-knuckle TARDIS ride in Utopia necessitated a re-ordering of the episode's pre-titles sequence.
Because we see Jack clinging to the TARDIS as it flies through the time vortex, it was felt that the episode couldn't go straight from this shot into the opening titles. Otherwise, viewers would be expecting Captain Jack to be bolted to the TARDIS as it dodged DAVID TENNANT, FREEMA AGYEMAN, JOHN BARROWMAN, and UTOPIA BY RUSSELL T DAVIES.
So, to provide a break between Jack's flight through the vortex and the actual title sequence, the short scene of the Futurekind preparing to hunt some humans was brought forward. This meant that there was a clear delineation between the Captain Jack scene and the actual Doctor Who titles. But, if we're honest, where's the fun in that?
In the DVD commentary for Utopia, Russell T Davies and David Tennant joke that a special edition Captain Jack edit should be made, which includes John Barrowman holding on to the TARDIS as it drifts through the vortex.
This special edition is yet to surface, but until such time as the Collection Blu-Ray boxsets reach the 21st century era of Doctor Who, we've got funny fan videos to tide us over.