Characters appearing or mentioned in this episode

 

Mrs. Sheila Warburton

Flight Sergeant John Andrews

Steel

Phillip Burgess

Sapphire

the Princess

the Conductor

Gold

Mrs. Ariss (mentioned only)

Lord Rothmore

Lady Rothmore

Phillip Burgess' daughter (unnamed, mentioned only)

Rose (mentioned only)

Rose's boyfriend (mentioned only)

Mr. Hadley (mentioned only)

Mark Tanner (mentioned only)

 

Didja Notice?

 

Andrews accuses Mrs. Warburton of working for the Jerrys. "Jerry" is a nickname for a German, usually associated with WWII and used by Allied soldiers and civilians.

 

Andrews identifies himself to Steel as a flight sergeant for the RAF. RAF is a the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom.

 

Steel seems to think that Andrews is "flak happy". "Flak happy" is essentially another term for "shell shock" among soldiers in the military, though "flak happy" is usually identified more specifically to air force personnel, "flak" being a term for anti-aircraft fire.

 

When Mrs. Warburton learns that Andrews is from a war being fought in 1943, she remarks, "They said they wouldn't send our kids to die again." She is from 1919, shortly after WWI, which was, at the time, known as "the war to end all wars." Obviously, that was extremely wishful thinking by idealists of the time.

 

Sapphire tells Steel about the latest passengers to board the train, including a Mr. Hadley, who was sailing to America in 1907 but his boat hit an iceberg and there weren't enough lifeboats. It seems as if this is a reference to the sinking of the British passenger liner RMS Titanic, but that incident occurred in 1912, not 1907. In 1907, the German passenger liner SS Kronprinz Wilhelm struck an iceberg, but was able to continue her voyage and suffered no casualties.

 

Gold wants to blow up the boiler to destroy the train, stopping Time in its tracks, but Sapphire and Steel are not willing to sacrifice the lives of those aboard. Gold presses for his solution nonetheless and remarks, "Come on, Steel. I know you've made bigger sacrifices than this." To what kind of sacrifice is Gold referring? It could be a reference to the merchant brigantine ship Mary Celeste, a real world ship that was found deserted and adrift in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872 with all crew missing and no sign of why they should have abandoned ship. In "Escape Through a Crack in Time" Part 4, we learned that Sapphire and Steel were involved with it. Steel also maneuvered the paranormal investigator George Tully to his premature death in order to stop Time's plot in "The Railway Station" Part 8, so he's not above sacrificing human life if the situation calls for it.

  

Memorable Dialog

 

it exploded in his hand.mp3

I couldn't remember if you were bulletproof.mp3

dead man's handle.mp3

I could blow the whole train sky high.mp3

I know you've made bigger sacrifices than this.mp3

the book.mp3

 

Back to Sapphire & Steel Episode Studies