WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Time After Time 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:08.640 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind, let's see what 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:10.320 are we talking about this week? Oh, this is going 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:14.160 to be our episode from nine to seventeen, twenty twenty one, 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:18.360 in which we discussed the really excellent, quite fun nineteen 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.919 seventy nine film Time After Time, in which Jack the 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:24.720 Ripper steals HG. Wells time machine and travels to modern 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:28.240 day San Francisco. This one is kind of a classic, 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:29.840 kind of a minor classic. A lot of people love 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:32.599 this film. We really enjoyed it. Hope you enjoy our 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:34.360 discussion of it. Let's go. 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:43.800 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:51.880 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamp and. 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.200 This is Joe McCormick, and it is Time Travel o'clock 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:59.400 on Weird House Cinema. Today's movie selection is the nineteen 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:03.800 seventy nine and romantic sci fi adventure Time After Time 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:08.480 by the American writer and filmmaker Nicholas Meyer. So this 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.120 is a movie that I had never seen until this week, 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:14.600 and I came across it by way of a plot 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:16.960 description in some article I was reading somewhere. I don't 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:19.720 even remember what it was now, but I discovered in 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.880 this article that there was allegedly a time travel adventure 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:28.440 movie in which the English writer HG. Wells, real historical 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:32.039 figure author of the novel The Time Machine, played in 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.280 this movie by Malcolm McDowell, must use a real time 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.880 machine to chase Jack the Ripper played by a smooth 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:43.560 and sadistic David Warner, through space and time in this 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:47.560 time machine to prevent the Ripper from slashing twentieth century 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:52.400 disco dancers. And the premise was it sounded so bonkers 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:54.560 that I immediately thought this had to be a good 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:58.560 option for weird House. And then the really surprising thing 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:00.600 was the more I read about it, the more it 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:04.559 seemed that most critics really liked this movie, even though 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:06.280 I had somehow never really heard of it, or if 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:09.000 i'd heard about it, it didn't make enough of an impression 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:12.399 that I remembered it. So I saw this out, and 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:14.920 I got to say I was really impressed. Now, on 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.880 the downside, for weird House context, at least, I will 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:22.800 say this movie doesn't actually when you're watching it, feel 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:26.560 quite as weird in its execution as a straight read 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:29.800 on the premise would lead you to assume. But nevertheless, 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:32.280 I think this is mostly just a really great movie, 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.119 and it opens up all kinds of interesting, bigger questions 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.799 about the themes and ambitions of time travel stories and 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:40.160 science fiction in general. 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.760 Yeah. I was excited to view this film again, especially 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:49.120 after watching Spooky's last week, in part because I was 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:51.680 excited because you had never seen it, and so that 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:53.960 would make it fresh. It's a film that I had 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:56.080 not seen in a long time. I remember watching it 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:58.320 on TV. I don't know if they used to show 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:00.840 it on like TNT or maybe came on A and 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:02.720 E or something back in the day, but I remember 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:08.160 watching it on television, and oh it does. It holds 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:11.720 up so well. I've spoken to various people and folks 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:13.880 who have seen this movie. They tend to like it. 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.040 I haven't met anybody who hated it. It's kind of 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.120 like an Orange Julius. I guess, as long as you 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:22.360 just don't really hate orange juice or really hate you know, 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:26.200 malls or malls or something. I don't know. It's a 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:30.000 terrible analogy, but I don't know. There's something about about 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:32.800 this film just seems to sit well with most people. 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:36.119 I don't know. Everything's very well calibrated, like it's sci fi, 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:39.080 but it's not so sci fi that it turns off 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:42.640 people that would be opposed to say rampaging more locks, 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:45.760 And yet people like us who might say, why are 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:48.360 there no more locks in this picture? It's still it's 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:51.960 still so captivating and well acted and well put together 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:55.400 that I ultimately can't argue too much about the results. 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:58.280 Yeah, I agree. I mean I would have, of course 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:01.480 enjoyed it if it went much weirder and wrapped in 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:04.640 more HG. Wells, lower, had more locks and all kinds 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:06.720 of stuff like that. It doesn't, And in fact, the 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:08.960 film is almost the opposite of that. I would say, 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.400 for a science fiction movie involving one of the most 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:17.000 notorious sadistic serial killers in history, this is an extremely 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.040 cozy feeling movie. Would you agree? 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:23.560 I would agree. I believe this was a PG, but 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.520 it was a nineteen seventy nine PG, so I do 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:31.839 not recommend watching this with your young children. Right, there 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:34.320 is blood, and there's some mature themes that are explored, 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:38.480 But even those mature themes, which are just part of 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:41.880 the tapestry you're invoking by bringing in a character like 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:46.039 Jack the Ripper, they are handled in a very light 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.080 and ultimately kind of comforting way, I guess. 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.200 And I think it also helps that you know it's funny. 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:55.359 I want to criticize myself because I think in a 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:58.080 previous episode of Weird House Cinema, I was trying to 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:02.080 list actors that just have that evil look, that unfortunately 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:05.040 just have faces where maybe they can't overcome the fact 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:07.880 that they look sadistic and sinister, and one of the 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.720 actors I singled out in this regard is Malcolm McDowell. 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:12.880 I'm like, it's going to be hard to have Malcolm 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:15.560 McDowell as a hero because he just looks like an 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.200 evil person. That's not a nice thing to say, but 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.000 for some reason he does. And yet I hadn't seen 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:24.080 this movie at the time. In this movie, he's so sweet. 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:27.599 He is, He's very lovable in this he's a Victorian 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:32.440 teddy bear, and he also feels smaller than usual, probably 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:34.400 by design the way they were shooting him and maybe 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.000 leaning into his actual hide a little bit instead of 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:42.320 putting him in an apple box or something. It's also 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:45.279 fascinating that this was the film that followed up The 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.800 Notorious Caligula, in which he very much played a villain 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:52.920 and a nasty character in a nasty film, and apparently 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:54.599 that was part of it. He's like, I really don't 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:56.960 want to play a villain for once. Can I play 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:59.840 the hero of a picture? And yeah, he's great in this. 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:03.039 It's almost hard to imagine the gap that has crossed 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:06.760 going from Caligula to this sweet romantic time travel adventure, 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:11.840 you know, love story galloping across time. Caligula is it's 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:14.479 It's a movie that I have tried to watch for 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:18.599 badness sake years ago with some friends and I couldn't 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:23.080 make it through the movie. It is just so repulsive 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:26.960 and like it is the one of the ugliest movies 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.599 I've ever seen. The colors hurt the eyes. It's just 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:36.840 relentless depressing violence and depravity. There's one part that's, you know, 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.919 it would have been funny in a different movie because 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:42.920 it's so ridiculous. There's a part where like I think 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:47.440 Malcolm McDowell is like watching a gigantic lawnmower in ancient Rome, 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:49.960 just like cut off the heads of people who were 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:53.000 buried up to their necks. But the movie is like 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:58.120 so depressing, Like even that wasn't funny, so it's just yeah, 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:00.680 just awful. And then yeah, going for that to this, 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:05.640 which is just this spry, sprightly, beautiful time travel adventure. 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:10.440 Yeah, yeah, it's quite quite a leape. But yeah, he's 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:12.240 very good in this. And I will say that as 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.360 Malcolm McDowell aged, I feel like he kind of aged 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.240 into that face even more to where it's harder to 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:24.040 imagine older Malcolm McDowell. I'm playing a likable character, a 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:26.440 non villain. But I say that he's been in so 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:29.320 many films. I'm sure he pops up later on playing 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:32.560 like a kind grandfatherly character. But also I think he 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:36.840 became increasingly type cast as he got older too. Yeah, 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:39.160 and he's still active. We'll get into his BioPen in 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:41.040 a bit. But yeah, he's still active, so there's still time. 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:44.200 Okay, how about a movie where Malcolm McDowell plays Santa Claus. 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.840 He could go to Kurt Russell route. You know, I 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:47.160 don't know. 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:48.840 I guess the part of the thing is if you 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.840 are going to pay out and get Malcolm McDowell to 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.960 play Santa Claus in your film, then clearly you want 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:57.480 villainous Santa Claus, Like, wonder, what are you doing? 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:01.760 You know? At this point is one of the Yeah, 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.680 one of those Santa Claus is the monster movies, like 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:08.320 the one with Goldberg, remember that one? 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:10.200 I know of it. Yeah. 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:14.080 Well, maybe we should give a little historical context for 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:17.600 the premise of this movie, which is, once again HG. 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:21.080 Wells must pursue Jack the Ripper through time in a 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.440 time machine to stop him from ripping the twentieth century. 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:27.440 Yeah, well, let's let it rip here. So first of all, 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:29.080 what do you need to know about HG. Wells and 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:31.480 the time Machine to enjoy this film? Well, not a lot, 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.280 but here are the basics. Time Machine is an excellent 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.839 eighteen ninety five novel by English writer HG. Wells, who 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:41.720 lived eighteen sixty six through nineteen forty five. It's a 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:45.440 short read, widely available, and in my opinion, it holds 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:47.680 up really well. It's a very readable text today. 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:50.319 One thing that's worth noting is that the time this 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:53.880 movie is set before HG. Wells wrote the novel, So 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:56.920 he wrote the novel in eighteen ninety five. I don't 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:58.800 remember exactly the year, but I think this is set 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.720 in eighteen ninety one one or ninety three, something like that. 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:03.760 Or the beginning is before they travel through. 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:06.720 Time eighteen eighty eight. I believe, oh okay, that would 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.760 be that would be prime ripping time, right there? 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:10.680 Oh okay, all right. 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:13.840 At any rate, this is not the absolute first time 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:16.559 travel yarn. It's an interesting discussion to get in. I 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:17.920 think we've talked about this in the show when he's 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:19.800 trying to figure out, like, who was the first person 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:22.120 to deal with time travel? But it was the first 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:26.000 time travel story to gain just a huge degree of popularity, 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:30.440 and Wells actually coined the term time machine. Now, to 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.480 be clear, the character in the book is just the 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.240 time traveler and is not Wells himself. 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.880 Wells written from a first person perspective. 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.040 It is but I don't think we're really supposed to 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:43.240 assume that Wells made a time machine. 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:44.080 No, no, no no. 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:49.200 This film, however, takes a different approach. Wells was a futurist, 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:52.160 though in real life he was not an inventor outside 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:54.560 of the invention of sci fi concepts and the like 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:58.160 and the exploration of new ideas. The book has been 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.880 adapted a few different times, the famous nineteen sixty George 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:05.080 Powe adaptation. This one has a really iconic look for 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:09.520 the time machine wonderful morlock designs. Like when you think morlocks, 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:11.960 these are the more locks you probably picture. But there 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:14.599 was also a nineteen seventy eight TV movie and a 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:19.040 two thousand and two remake that I've seen, and as 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:21.280 I remember it being alright. But the interesting thing about 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.280 it is that it was directed by Wells's great grandson, 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:25.599 Simon Wells. 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:29.160 Really that's interesting. Yeah, that's worth seeing it on its own. 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:30.680 Even if it came out in two thousand and two, 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.400 which man movies from two thousand and two, it is 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:36.199 hard to escape that early two thousand's look. It just 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.400 kind of bleeds into everything. I watched the movie from 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:40.920 two thousand and two the other day. It was a 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:45.240 really bad but enjoyable Clint Eastwood detective movie from two 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.320 thousand and two called blood Work. I don't know if 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:48.080 you've seen that one. 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:49.200 I've not seen that one. 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:53.600 Well, so, I mean absolute like hack detective story, hilarious 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:57.079 but also quite fun, and it's got that look it 0:10:57.240 --> 0:10:59.640 just like everything from two thousand and two has this 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.559 I don't know, this some feature of like the contrast 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.240 and the colors and everything just everything looks kind of 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:06.360 slick and awful. 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:08.840 Well, it's been a while since I've saw the two 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.000 thousand and two Time Machine, but I remember, I remember 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:13.800 being entertained by it, and I remember that it had 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:15.640 Jeremy Irons as a Morlock in it. 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:17.920 So oh, good, good choice there. 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:21.400 Yeah, I remember the Morlocks look pretty good. But then again, 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:23.360 I'm just I'm generally in on the idea of moralo. 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:24.760 It's hard to break more locks for me. 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:25.240 Oh. 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:29.000 But one thing that was true about the historical figure HG. 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:30.880 Wells that is also true of the character in the 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.680 movie is that he was known as something of a 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:37.800 kind of progressive utopian socialists and a futurist, so he 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:40.520 had a lot of like visions of the future that 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:44.960 involved progressive political ideals. I'm not sure if all of 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:48.199 the exact things stated by the character in the film 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:50.680 would be real things that HG. Wells thought or would 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:53.240 have said, but it's at least sort of in the ballpark. 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.920 Right And then yeah, Ultimately, the film is largely about 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:01.960 the idea that if Wells represents optimism for the future 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.840 coming out of the Victorian Age, and ultimately the optimism 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:08.560 about what was possible in the Victorian Age in the 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:12.480 late nineteen hundreds. Then our other figure represents the worst 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:16.520 of that time period, the notorious character of Jack the Ripper. 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.240 So what do you need to know about Jack the Ripper? Okay, 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:21.400 here are the basics. So in many ways this is 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:24.920 the original true crime sensation and a topic of continued 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:28.959 and largely fruitless intrigue today. Also referred to as a 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:32.920 leather Apron, this was an unidentified serial killer active in 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:37.640 London's Whitechapel district around eighteen eighty eight. He targeted under 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:42.000 privileged members of society, generally prostitutes, and was known for 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:45.400 the modus operandi of slicing first the throat then the abdomen, 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:48.080 as well as his taunting letters to the media. 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.840 Now, one note I do have there is that because 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:54.040 this movie set me off on a reading spree where 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:55.520 I was like, oh, I need to know things about 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:59.120 Jack the Ripper. The letters are one of the most 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.000 famous things about him, though I think there is serious 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:05.520 doubt about the authenticity of all of the letters that 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:10.000 I think there's only one letter that historians take seriously 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.680 at all all as possibly being from the killer himself, 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:16.360 and this is the so called from Hell letter because 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:18.040 and I think the reason this is the only one 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.520 that's really taken seriously is that it was accompanied by 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:26.040 a jar containing a piece of actual human kidney, allegedly 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.000 taken from one of the victims, though it's not possible 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:31.440 to confirm whether it actually came from a victim or not. 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:34.199 They didn't have like DNA testing at the time, obviously, 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.079 and so it could have been obtained from a medical 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:39.960 college or cadaver or something like that. 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.679 Yeah, I believe the police at the time they suspected 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:46.840 or one of their theories was that that was the 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.200 origin of the organs. It came from some sort of 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:53.400 a cadaver situation as opposed to a murdered victim. 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:56.280 And one of the weird things about it is that 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:59.400 the from Hell letter, I will say, just as like 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:03.000 a literary appraisal of the interest contained in these letters, 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:06.199 it's one of the less interesting ones. Like the really 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:09.400 interesting letters are the ones that are pretty much yeah, 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:13.080 known to be hoaxes that were sent possibly by like 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.520 journalists trying to gin up interest in the story further 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:17.920 to sell more newspapers. 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:22.680 Yeah, absolutely, those are some of the more entertaining letters. 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.000 But also and you can see why they would have 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:29.280 been fabricated just to sort of drum up this this 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:31.920 this paranoi and excitement about the murders they have that 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:35.000 one of them has that line, I shan't stop ripping. 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:37.880 Right till I am good and buckled or something. 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:43.320 Yeah, so yeah, you know, there's a high probability that 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:44.840 he didn't write any of these letters, but they are 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:48.360 very much associated with him. The idea, this figure that 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:51.520 is killing and then mocking the press, that is that 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:54.600 is the subject of all this media and public fear 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:58.400 and fascination, but is also potentially feeding it as well 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:00.080 and feeding off of it, right. 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:03.280 And I think it's these letters, even though probably none 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:05.200 of them are authentic, or at least most of them 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.560 are not authentic, it's these letters that sort of create 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:11.120 one of the most lasting legacies of Jack the Ripper, 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.400 which is this idea that he's sort of playing a 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:16.720 game of chess with the police and that this is 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.640 a major part of his motivation. And this does come 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.120 through in the movie as well, because you see Jack 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:25.000 the Ripper in his identity before he's revealed to be 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.200 Jack the Ripper. He is a friend of H. G. 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:30.800 Wells and they play chess together in the movie, and 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.640 you know he's very into like outsmarting his opponents. 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:39.640 Yeah, now there are I think just five verified murders 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:41.400 if you will, by Jack the Ripper, though there are 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:44.240 others that may or may not be attributed to him, 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:47.160 depending on where you're falling. And then likewise, there's a 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:51.600 great deal of folklore, fiction and pseudohistory that just abound 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:55.760 within the realm of ripperology. He was never caught, and 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:58.560 there are numerous suspects that have been discussed over the years, 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:03.080 and they range from the potentially believable to the outrageous 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:08.600 to the unbelievable even during the time, and some of them, 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.680 some of these suspects did have a surgical background, because 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:16.040 there was the whole apparent removal of organs in the murders, 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:18.920 and so you know, some thought, well, this indicates that 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:21.920 they had the individual had some level of training or 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:26.760 expertise or familiarity with human anatomy. Now, in time after time, 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:31.400 the Ripper is this character, doctor John Leslie Stevenson, who 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.440 is not an historical person as far as I can tell. 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:38.760 But weirdly enough, the nineteen nineties Outer Limit episode Ripper, 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.680 which stars David Warner and Carrie Elwiss, was co written 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:46.360 by Leslie Stevens. So there you go. That's enough of 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:47.960 a connection for Ripper ology. 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.760 I think, wait, is Leslie Stevens a real person and 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.120 it's just a coincidence? Or is this a pseudonym for 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:55.360 saying it was like written by David Warner or something. 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:00.480 I mean, it's an IMDb writing credit that's not Warner. 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:02.880 So I think it's either just somebody who happens to 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:06.159 be Leslie Stevens, or is the actual Jack the Ripper 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.520 having time traveled to the nineties to make a career 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:13.000 for himself in in TV screenplay writing. 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:15.480 Okay, so the last week I have been wandering around 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:19.000 my house non stop singing that Cindy Lauper song. I 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:20.520 can't get it out of my head. Is it not 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:22.760 used in the film? In fact, the song was released 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:26.080 after this film came out. Is there any connection between them? 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:30.399 Allegedly, Cindy Lapper was inspired to write the song because 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:33.760 she liked the movie, and weirdly enough, there was a 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:36.679 In recent history, there has been a there was an 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:40.480 attempt to bring the novel Time after Time back as 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:43.960 a TV series, and each episode of the TV series 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.600 gets its title from the lyrics to Cindy Lauper's Time 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:49.120 after Time. 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:53.200 Nice. Nice. Cindy Lauper doesn't get enough credit as a songwriter. 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:55.840 You know, have you ever have you ever actually listened 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:59.199 to the like the lyrics of girls Just Want to 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:02.920 Have Fun? Actually like a sort of profound and sad song. 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:06.160 Yeah, yeah, I like some Cindy Lapper. I haven't really 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:08.720 been playing her recently, but yeah, she had a number 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:12.880 of hits. I would generally take the Cindy Lapper songs 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:16.119 of that era and put them above the Madonna songs 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:16.640 of that era. 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:18.680 Ooh, I don't know if I would go that far, 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:20.399 but definitely I'm a fan. And now I have to 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.280 correct myself because I actually just looked it up to 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.480 make sure and found out that Cindy Lauper did not 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:27.639 write Girls Just Want to Have Fun? Her version was 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:31.080 a cover version. Whoops. Oh okay, okay, Well great song anyway, 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:35.600 and her version is great. 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:42.760 So we've already pretty much done our elevator pitch for 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.480 Time after Time? Shall we go ahead and listen to 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:47.439 just a little bit of the trailer audio, not the 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:49.360 full thing, but just a little bit of the trailer. 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.440 Maybe some man I don't like this trailer. I feel 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:55.080 like it really it takes away from the movie. But okay, 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:56.960 let's just get at least get a snippet. 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:02.480 The time is eighteen three and novelist and in better H. G. 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:07.200 Wells makes a startling announcement, gentlemen, I am talking about 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:12.320 traveling through time in a machine constructed for that Betty Puppose. 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:14.800 The first to use the machine. 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:20.760 However, is doctor John Leslie Stevenson, better known to history 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:26.720 as Jack the Ripper Time after time. 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:40.679 Yeah, this is this is a bad trailer. I hate 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:44.480 the comedic trailer narrator who's like Jack the Ripper is 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.760 on a on a vacation, you know, it's like always 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:50.320 this kind of like Casey caseum ask voice that's like, 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:53.600 you're gonna have a good time at the theater and yeah, 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:56.440 give me the voice of God any day over this nonsense. 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:58.919 The trailer is bad in numerous ways, and I do 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:01.040 not recommend watching it. First of all, because of what 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:03.679 you're saying. The tone and the narrator are irritating, and 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:07.520 I think do not accurately communicate the spirit and feeling 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:11.639 of the movie. And second, the trailer reveals the entire plot, 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.439 including the ending it's one of those awful things. So like, 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:16.680 if you've seen the trailer, the movie is kind of 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:17.520 spoiled for you. 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:20.280 Yeah, yeah, not a good way to go into this film. 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:22.960 Now, being a time travel movie, one of the things 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:25.000 that I was thinking about for this episode is it 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:28.000 it sort of made me want to create an in 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:32.920 house taxonomy of major types of time travel stories, sorted 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:37.399 by prevalent themes. And of course, any given movie or 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:41.199 story can partake of multiple different time travel themes, multiple 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:43.520 of the themes that follow that we're about to talk about. 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:46.119 And I'm also sure this list will not be exhaustive. 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:47.760 People will probably write in and be like, hey, what 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:49.760 about this type of movie. It'll be something I didn't 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:51.879 even think about. But I think here are some of 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:56.359 the major categories of time travel stories, and we can 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:58.760 talk about how time after time fits or does not 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:01.520 fit into each of them. So the first one I 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:05.000 wanted to mention is what I would call the debugging 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:08.719 history story. And this is a type of time travel 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:13.679 story that focuses primarily on isolating variables of cause and 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:17.680 effect in the progression of history and human life. So 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:23.119 it's largely concerned with the consequences of decisions and the 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:27.399 long term ripple effects of seemingly minor events and encounters. 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:29.800