That Sebastian guy is really, really, really, REALLY scary!
I really loved this episode. It is probably my favorite. Although it is very difficult to pick an all time favorite episode from this series since there have been so many great episodes. I thought that Wayne Alexander (who played Sebastian) did an excellent job playing the part. He delivered all of his lines perfectly.
I saw this one last night.
I wouldn't rank it was my favorite. But I have to say it was pretty good. Very heavy on the foreshadowing. (L:ke all of the episodes.)
ANP
Was Sebastian supposed to be Jack the Ripper?
Hans Yes I believe he was supposed to be.
...And we'll just ignore that part about him being from the wrong side of town.
Adam I believe other than the first time the episode aired, he is from the right side of London.
My Warner Home Video tape of this ep (Uk version) has Sheridan saying 'West End', which is wrong. the camera is on his face as he says this. How have they changed it?
I belive he is says it correctly on American TV I know I have seen it.
When I saw it he said West. Of course that was the first showing so I don't know if they fixed it.
They fixed it. Sebastian says "the East End" on my tape. They may have done it by putting the end of the word "the" over the beginning of "West" so it sounds like "East." Or maybe they just dubbed "East" over "West."
I thinks Delenn's little defiant speech was great. The line 'I think you are the sort of person who enjoys giving pain' type line. Basically when she tells him he is a vicious bully. You can see Sebastian start to lose his cool?
I want to know why the Vorlons used "Jack". Was he really the only person of any species to be born in over 1,000 years who was sadistic enough? What would that say about humans?
I really like this episode. I think this was the first episode where I really began to respect Delenn. I always liked her, but here, she really shows what she's all about, and what her role will be. She comes across as a real strong person. Both Sheridan and Delenn willing to lay down their lives for each other, and also, for anyone. Wayne Alexander did a fantastic job as Sebatian.
Also, the scene with Vir and Gkar in the elevator just tears me up everytime I see it. I really feel sorry for Vir here. Although I can understand Gkar's reaction, Vir really didn't deserve it. He's stuck, trying to do the right thing, but not able to do anything. He truly meant it when he apologized to Gkar. It's just too bad that Gkar couldn't accept it.
This was a great episode. Great characterisation with Sebastian.
One problem with Sebastian being Jack the Ripper: I saw a compelling documentary which suggested that the Ripper's identity was in fact known. He was an American doctor, not a Londoner (from either side of the city).
Apparently, the American newspapers at the time had a jolly good idea that this doctor was the Ripper, while the British press covered the whole thing up, because the British police had arrested the guy, and then let him go...
In the documentary, newly uncovered evidence strongly supported the idea that this doctor really was the Ripper.
Come on, we all know that Jack the Ripper was Hengist! Oops! That's Trek, not B5!
No! Jack the Ripper was killed in 1979 after traveling through time in a machine built by H.G. Wells!
Seriously though, I saw a documentary recently that presented very good evidence that Jack was a Romanian immigrant. The thing about Jack the Ripper is that there are many theories that have a lot of evidence supporting them, but no real proof.
Exactly because as was presented in the movie "From Hell" that the personal physician to the prince was the murderer is another theory that has been presented before.
Ah yes, Merat. "Time after Time".
And it starred two future Treksters...
Malcom McDowell as H.G. Wells, and David Warner as Jack.
Now I'll go away and atone for the sin of posting Trek on a B5 Board.
Regarding the whole East End-West End thing, in the recently released DVD, he says East End. But in the subtitles, it says West End. Truely strange.
Not strange at all. JMS realised he screwed up, and after praising his friend Harlen Ellison for writing a story by filling a page then taping it to the inside of a bookstore street side window for anyone that walked by to read, went back and rewrote history.
Actually Jack the Ripper was timetravelled to 1999 by accident by Nicholas Lyndhurst, and was then run over by a bread van...
Nit
The Vorlon ship that carries "Sebastian the Ripper" comes out of the jump gate backwards.
That's not a nit. It's actually reused footage from "The Gathering" B5's 2 hour TV movie pilot. The origional idea was that fast moving ships like the Vorlons' (who live far away from B5) would come out of the gate backwards so that they could use their main engines to decelerate, since in space with no friction you have to expend as much force as it took to get up to speed in order to stop. It wasn't often used on the show because it was decided that it looked silly visually.
As for the east-west side of London line, on the USA-DVD's it's been overdubbed in order to be correct. JMS was always straight up that it was a simple typo from him that caused the problem. Nobody caught it until it aired in the UK, which was before it's US airing. He didn't correct it before the US airing because he didn't want to overdub Sheridan's great delivery or have his mouth obviously out of sync when his lips clearly say "west." Obviously at some point he changed his mind and even mentions that the dubbing sounded like a pretty good match to the rest of the dialogue. One thing that I do find funny in the whole thing this that JMS, who's usually really good at coming up with some justification for inconsistencies and supposed nits, never once says the most obvious reason for Sheridan saying "west side of town." Sheridan did the same thing as JMS, he read all about the murders goes to confront Sebastian and just misspeaks. Sheidan is human too. People do stuff like that all of the time. "turn left here.......wait, wait I mean turn right here.