THE REDJAC CHRONICLES: "SEBASTIAN AGAINST THE WORLD"

In the future, "Jack the Ripper" would be held accountable for 17 murders in London between 1887 and 1891, not just the canonical five. This will be according to the shipboard computer on the USS Enterprise.

Five of those twelve other victims occurred before the murder of Mary Ann Nichols. And one of those poor unfortunates, Martha Tabram (August 7th, 1888), was considered to be one of Jack's victims by one of the Scotland Yard inspectors on the case, Harold Langford (seen below) when he arrested Dr. John York for her murder and those of the first three "official" victims of the Ripper: "Polly" Nichols, Annie Chapman, and Elizabeth Stride.

As I've already established in previous posts, the true murderer was an insane Xeraphin mutant known as Redjac. The alien would take an unwitting and probably unwilling human host to act as its avatar to carry out these murders in a slow, ritualistic fashion so that it might feed upon the fears of the victims, as well as on the fears of the public at large.

Many who have studied those first five women whose murders were never solved don't believe that they were the work of Jack the Ripper. Too many of the details differ from the "Canonical Five". For one thing, none of them were strangled into unconsciousness before their killer began his work in earnest. But that could be attributed to a learning period, in which the budding butcher practiced his craft.

These are the five women some believe are the first victims of Jack the Ripper:

"FAIRY FAY" (December 26, 1897)

ANNIE MILLWOOD (February 25, 1888)

ADA WILSON (March 28, 1888)

EMMA SMITH (April 3, 1888)

MARTHA TABRAM (August 7, 1888)

But the true first victim of Jack the Ripper (in the TV Universe only, of course) was a man named Sebastian. (His last name was never revealed to the audience viewing back home in the Trueniverse.) Redjac possessed him upon arrival and used him as its instrument in the killing of Mary Ann NIchols.

Sebastian may have been a butcher by trade, which could be why he was wearing a leather apron at the scene of the crime as described by witnesses.

But before Redjac could use him again to kill prostitutes, the alien race known as the Vorlons abducted Sebastian.

As all-powerful as those Old Ones were, the Vorlons never noticed the presence of Redjac. So the entity was able to abandon Sebastian and flee to a new host. It would be some time before the authorities were notified by Sebastian's neighbors, family, and friends that he was missing - not until after November 29, the date of the last official murder by Jack the Ripper.

Sebastian would next be seen onscreen in the TV Universe on board the space station 'Babylon 5'. Sebastian served the Vorlons as their inquisitor whenever necessary (and in this case, it was to question Delenn about her belief in her "holy cause". Who would know better? After all, "Jack" supposedly served a holy cause as well.) Afterwards, he would be remanded back to his incarceration in a stasis field. And so that is how he spent the last 400 years.

Sebastian remembered his crimes, even if Redjac was ultimately responsible, and took the blame for all of the murders, probably because he couldn't prevent Redjac's reign of terror. He felt guilty that he so easily surrendered his soul to the creature.

Because of the intervention by the Vorlons, Redjac took precautions with the next series of murders. He found a new way to kill the doxies of Whitechapel.....

BCnU!

THE REDJAC CHRONICLES: "MY MOMENT OF UN-TRUTH"

Before I go any further, I have a confession to make. This part of the essay was a lot shorter. But I had to scrap my entire thesis because - as is my wont - I didn't do all my homework.

I worked out an incredibly detailed splainin as to who killed each of the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper, which had Redjac as the foundation for why Jack looked different every time he appeared in a different TV show.

But today, I finally saw the "Ripper" episode from the rebooted version of 'The Outer Limits'.......

And so it all had to be tossed out.

I'll still be able to use most of it in a different context, and now I'll certainly have enough material to run the whole week of Thanksgiving. But as I read back on what I had already done, I nearly sprained my arm patting myself on the back for being such a clever clever.

Oh well, no sense crying over spilled blood.....

On with the show; this is it!

AS SEEN ON TV: MINDY COHN

MINDY COHN

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Chris Farley

BCnU!

THE REDJAC CHRONICLES: "IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE"

"There is something here. Something terrible. I feel its presence.

Fear, anger, hatred... anger feeds the flame.

Oh, oh, there is evil here, monstrous, terrible evil! Consuming hunger!

Hatred of all that lives, hatred of women, a hunger that never dies!

It is strong, overpowering, an ancient terror!

It has a name: Beratis, Kesla, Redjac.

Devouring all life, all light! A hunger that will never die!

Redjac! Redjac!"

Sybo

'Star Trek'

In other media (comic books, short stories, novels), the alien entity Redjac (once known as Jack the Ripper during Earth's Victorian age), returns to wreak havoc for several generations of the Enterprise crew. But as far as I can tell, no one has ever questioned the origins of Redjac.....

Redjac was a malevolent being comprised of pure energy, described as a highly cohesive electro-magnetic field . There was at least one other such alien race from 'Star Trek' that resembled Redjac's basic form - "The Lights of Zetar". And it's possible Redjac was an outcast from their society because of its depraved insanity. (As we saw in "The Lights Of Zetar", they weren't exactly saints themselves as a whole, but they were at the time fighting for their survival and driven to desperate measures.)

But since 'Doctor Who' will already be playing a small role in the history of Jack the Ripper, I thought to expand the show's participation in "The Redjac Chronicles" by looking to its history for the source of Redjac's ancestry.

There were several options for alien races which were pure energy in 'Doctor Who'. Among them would be the Helix Intelligence (which includes the Mandragora Helix) from "The Masque Of Mandragora" and from the spin-off series 'The Sara Jane Adventures' there was a species of energy beings who called themselves "The Ancient Lights". But I think the best option is that of the Xeraphin, featured in the Fifth Doctor adventure "Time-Flight".

Here are some excerpts from the description of the Xeraphin to be found in "The TARDIS Files", a 'Doctor Who' wiki:

The Xeraphin were highly psychic beings, able to wield psychokinetic energy, possess people in order to communicate, exert a hypnotic influence over people, and telepathically project components of their gestalt - such as people who have been absorbed into it - into other locations, even the interior of a TARDIS.

The power of the Xeraphin was controlled by two aspects, good and evil, of the same personality.

If Redjac was a member of the Xeraphin, it must have been a mutant - for it only had the one aspect. Redjac was pure evil.

The Xeraphin didn't become a single consciousness until after it was poisoned by radiation as it fled to Earth. I think Redjac had separated itself from the others long before the Vardon-Kosnax War, during which the Xeraphin were believed to have perished.

(Russell T. Davies believes that the Ancient Lights were related to the Mandragora Helix. I wrote about the possible connection of the Ancient Lights to the Lights of Zetar here. It could be that like all humanoids across the galaxy, all energy beings spread across space are basically related.)

Redjac either fled its own species before that war (possibly escaping incarceration for crimes it committed among them before they could execute it), or it was banished by its brethren because it was alien even to them as a mutant. It traveled the galaxy via one host after another, causing the same murderous mayhem which it would commit once it reached Earth.

One of those planets which was mentioned in the 'Star Trek' episode was not in the timeline for Redjac after it left Earth, so it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble that Redjac struck there before arriving on the third rock from the Sun. There on Deneb II it was known as "Kesla" and Deneb II could have been the planet it terrorized before leaving for Earth. On another, unnamed, planet, it could be that Redjac so inflamed the emotion of fear among the populace that it may have triggered the rulers to launch their ultimate weapon - "The Doomsday Machine".

By 1887, Redjac found its way to Earth. It couldn't be any earlier in the timeline of Earth Prime-Time because there really isn't any record of serial killer attacks of such magnitude ("Pop! Pop!") before then. And the first suspected killing by Jack, although not considered canonical, was on December 26, 1887. Redjac would have needed to feed by that time had it arrived much earlier.

How did Redjac get to Earth?

Simple. It hitched a ride via a humanoid host.

But who?

Ah ha......

As of now, there is no recorded presence of the Doctor on Earth Prime-Time between 1885 (when he encountered H. G. Wells in "Timelash") and late 1888, when he arrived in London after the official Ripper murders ended. (Thanks to Vastra in "A Good Man Goes To War".)

But if some future incarnation of the Time Lord should arrive on Toobworld (perhaps from Deneb II) during that temporal window, it doesn't necessarily mean that it possessed the Doctor. (Although I could see it forcing the Valeyard to do its bidding as its host! And apparently, that's close to the premise of the tie-in novel "Matrix".) It wouldn't even have to be one of the Doctor's Companions. As Redjac demonstrated on board the Enterprise, it could have infected the ship computer on board the TARDIS.

(The Doctor - his seventh incarnation, principally - did battle with Jack the Ripper on several occasions actually. But that would be the Doctor to be found in novels, comic books, and audio-plays; and thus having nothing to do with the TV Universe. But if you're interested in that topic, perhaps as an ardent overall crossoverist, then I'd like to recommend a blog for you - "Who Etc.", in which a Whovian named Thomas tackled that topic in a seven part essay over a three month period, beginning in June. He's also got one of the best blog headers I've ever seen!)

Once on Earth, there's a way by which Redjac could have arrived in London by December 26, 1887, ready to feed. Via a host that is humanoid, but not altogether human.....

With Santa Claus, on the night before Christmas.....

Look out, Miss! That ain't Father Christmas! It's the Ripper!

Ho Ho Ho, ho's!

AS SEEN ON TV: BENITO MUSSOLINI

BENITO MUSSOLINI

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Chris Farley

BCnU!

THE REDJAC CHRONICLES: "WOLF IN THE FOLD"

DC Paula McIntyre:

"If you show violence on TV, it promotes violence."

Dr. Tony Hill:

"Oh yeah? What shows did Jack the Ripper watch?"

'Wire In The Blood'

I'm taking the week of Thanksgiving off, but I do have a multi-part essay set up to run through the week. Hey, I can't deprive my loyal followers in Team Toobworld of their minimum daily requirements for televisiological sustenance!

And because it's Thanksgiving, what better topic than a study of Jack the Ripper's televersion? After all, both have a little something to do with carving.....

Jack the Ripper has been portrayed several times on TV and as such, his physical appearance has changed with each different portrayal. With other crossover universes, such as the rightfully exalted Wold Newton Universe, this would not be quite so problematic. Win Scott Eckert, carrying on the project started by Philip Jose Farmer, focuses mainly on literary sources and so the WNU is more a realm of the mind - the way you see a character in your mind is the most important and so various interpretations by different authors can be blended together.

Not so in Toobworld, however. It's a visual medium and ideally it should all look the same, no matter the source material. But luckily, 'Star Trek' and 'Sliders' are Toobworld "Essentials" because of their use of alternate dimensions - we always have places to store away the things that just won't fit in the main Toobworld.

With each depiction of Jack the Ripper in a cartoon series - 'Time Squad', 'Futurama', and 'Family Guy' - all of those can be lumped together into the Tooniverse, no matter the differences in animation styles. Jack's portrayal in the mini-series "Jack The Ripper" isn't the "real" serial killer, but how he was imagined by the two crossover stalwarts investigating the case - DI Barlowe and DI Watt. And since 'Smallville' and 'Sanctuary' take place in alternate TV dimensions, we don't have to give their Rippers any consideration.

Our main problem is with the Ripper's appearance on several different TV series which should all be sharing the same TV dimension... and yet Jack the Ripper is a different man in each one. And even worse, each of those shows had a different theory as to what happened to the killer (usually thanks to the hero of the show or TV movie.)

But along came the 'Star Trek' episode "Wolf In The Fold", which was about the original Whitechapel murderer - still plying his trade in space, the final frontier. It was penned by Robert Bloch, who has had a long fascination with Jack the Ripper in his writings. (And one of those other stories will figure prominently in the coming days.)

"Wolf In The Fold" is the perfect example of why 'Star Trek' is one of the Toobworld "Essentials". It's because of the events in that episode we can keep all of those variations on Jack The Ripper in the same TV dimension without any fear of Zonks to be splained away.

So for this first day of our look at Jack the Ripper in the TV Universe, click here for "Wolf In The Fold". (The hosting web site is still working on their embedding process.) This 'Star Trek' episode was written by Robert Bloch, directed by Joseph Pevney, and guest-starred John Fielder....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ANDREW GIULIANI

ANDREW GIULIANI

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Chris Farley

BCnU!

TOOBWORLD CENTRAL NEWS FOR THANKSGIVING

I'll be on vacation for the next week, but I will be leaving behind a major project about Jack the Ripper in Toobworld. (That's the reason why postings this past week were scant.)  Hopefully those Ripper essays will publish automatically without a hitch. Also, the same goes for the "As Seen On TV" showcase.

For the "ASOTV" showcase, I decided to run with a theme. Once before I featured a week-long salute to characters played by the late Phil Hartman and I thought I might do something similar again.

And so for Thanksgiving week, who better to put the spotlight on than that butterball, the late Chris Farley....?

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: MARY JANE KELLY

MARY JANE KELLY

AS SEEN IN:
'The Outer Limits'

AS PLAYED BY:
Mary Ann Skoll

From Wikipedia:
Mary Jane Kelly (c. 1863 – 9 November 1888), also known as "Marie Jeanette" Kelly, "Fair Emma", "Ginger" and "Black Mary", is widely believed to be the fifth and final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London from late August to early November 1888. She was about 25 years old, and living in poverty at the time of her death. Reports of the time estimated her height at 5 feet and 7 inches (1.70 metres Her hair colour is somewhat uncertain as her various nicknames imply.

She has been variously reported as being a blonde or redhead and "Black Mary" suggests a dark brunette. Her reported eye colour was blue. Detective Walter Dew, in his autobiography, claimed to have known Kelly well by sight and described her as "quite attractive" and "a pretty, buxom girl". He said she always wore a clean white apron but never a hat. Sir Melville Macnaghten of the Metropolitan Police Service, who never saw her in the flesh, reported that she was known to have "considerable personal attractions" by the standards of the time. The Daily Telegraph of 10 November 1888 described her as "tall, slim, fair, of fresh complexion, and of attractive appearance". She was said to be fluent in the Welsh language.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: "LONG LIZ"

LIZ STRIDE

AS SEEN IN:
'The Outer Limits'

AS PLAYED BY:
Marnie Alton

From Wikipedia:
Elizabeth "Long Liz" Stride (née Gustafsdotter) (27 November 1843 – 30 September 1888) is believed to be the third victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer called Jack the Ripper, who killed and mutilated prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London from late August to early November 1888.

She was nicknamed "Long Liz". Several explanations have been given for this pseudonym; some believe it came from her married surname "Stride" because a stride is a long step, while others believe it was because of her height, or the shape of her face. At the time of her death she was living in a common lodging-house at 32 Flower and Dean Street, Spitalfields, within what was then a notorious criminal rookery.

BCnU!