DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '10 I => Topic started by: Watching Project on February 17, 2010, 07:33:55 PM
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Robservations Infamous #938
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Infamous, eh? Well, it was pivotal I guess, being completely devoted to Barnabas and Julia telling each other each other's stories, thus merging them into one story again. Nice shot by the fire as they start. I wasn't sure how much was old tape, but there was a newly-shot scene of Oberon and Barnabas taking place between his arrival at the cairn and his waking up again. If this adjusted backstory is the infamous part, well, this had already been introduced into the story earlier. We just get to see it this time.
The one thing that I thought would have added validity to it would have been if Oberon had needed Barnabas to drop some barrier (voluntarily) in his mind against total domination to become the Leviathan "leader", and so Oberon had used Josette to gain this very reluctant "permission", during that forgotten interlude. Barnabas would have been blackmailed into allowing a brainwashing that ordinarily he would have been able to fight off. Then of course the domination would have prevented Barnabas from remembering it.
This was well done, overall.
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This is also the ep with the opening voiceover that was rarely seen in US syndication and never seen nor heard on the Sci Fi Channel, so original fans who wanted to see it again had to wait til MPI released it.
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I didn't recognize the voice in the VO, and later decided it must have been the actor who played Oberon.
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I wasn't sure how much was old tape, but there was a newly-shot scene of Oberon and Barnabas taking place between his arrival at the cairn and his waking up again.
I believe that was the only new scene, and I think it really was pretty clever of the writers to throw it in after all the other clips so that, back when viewers saw an episode once and only once, they might think, "I don't really remember it, but it looks about right." Slightly earlier in the episode, Barnabas said that he had been able to keep Josette from jumping off Widows Hill, and that wasn't correct; it was Natalie who stopped Josette. It wasn't an important change; I assume the idea was simply to save time.
The added scene tells us that Leviathans are fully aware that the effect of the will-suppressing dream will slowly wear off, because Oberon says Barnabas will remember the vampire and Josette threats only if it becomes necessary to remind him.
It must have hurt Julia to hear that Barnabas and Kitty actually got so far as planning to marry. And then Barnabas said he thought he knew what would happen when he took Kitty's hand as she was dissolving into the portrait. What did he think would happen? Did he think he could yank her out of the portrait? Or was it going to turn into a portrait of Barnabas and Josette together, with Barnabas and Kitty somewhere in blissful limbo?
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Infamous, eh?
Oh yes - extremely infamous. Check out this topic starting with this post:1970 program announcement
and also be sure to read reply #3 to read specific letters as well as a bonus letter that will give you an image in your head with regard to a certain character - an image that will probably prove to be nearly impossible to get out of your head whenever that character is on screen in upcoming eps. [lghy]
If this adjusted backstory is the infamous part, well, this had already been introduced into the story earlier.
Given the major promotion for the ep (that's detailed in the linked post), the sore spot with many fans (as is obvious in the letters shared in reply #3 of the linked topic) was the fact that practically everything that was supposedly "revealed" as "the real story of the terrifying Leviathan plot", including that business with Oberon, was already known.
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Thanks MB retroactively, for the postings over 6 years ago, and for referring me back there! I guess you meant Davenport=Shemp... but I was thinking how effective his zombie was when I just saw the episode. We get a few moments to watch his face as he looks out into the living world again, but with different eyes. But then, I sometimes wonder if I'm the one embuing what I'm viewing with content...
Yes, I'd have been PO'd myself, had I been suckered in by those promos. I have no memory whatsoever of the Leviathans from childhood, so I must have tuned out awfully soon. Networks often make the big mistake of lying to viewers to get them to watch. UPN kept doing this with Voyager promos. I guess their mommies or teachers never told them the story of the boy who cried wolf.
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I couldn't stop them from drugging me,
umm, did they 'drug' Barnabas?
Also, shouldn't the narrative be about 'Kitty', not Josette?
Patti
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From the 1970 comment letter in Teen Beat regarding Megan and Philip:
I've seen better acting from my high school's drama club
I'm so glad someone besides me felt this way!!
Patti
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I love this episode and I would conisder it INFAMOUS! To me there are really no words to describe it. It's beautifully lit, atmopsheric, and haunting. I also love that Jonathan Frid and Grayson Hall are the only "live" actors working that day!
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I also love that Jonathan Frid and Grayson Hall are the only "live" actors working that day!
Peter Lombard must have been there too, for the new scene with Oberon. I was wondering if the woman who played Haza (Robin Lane, according to a couple of websites, but I sure can't remember) wasn't available, or if management just didn't want to pay for another actor.
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It's beautifully lit, atmopsheric, and haunting.
There's certainly no denying that (particularly, as Magnus alluded, the shot of Barn and Julia in front of the fire - beautiful [thumb]). Though for original viewers, there's also no denying that it didn't live up to the hype that ABC built up for it. :( Original viewers didn't tune in looking for beautiful lighting and atmosphere - they wanted answers - and on that score they got squat. >:(
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I wish all the promo's you mentioned had survived. Were they like the one that Alexandra & Jonathan did for 1795? Or just voiceover's???
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Opening Michael's grave was accomplished under calm skies, and Julia was dry when she arrived at Collinwood to force an explanation out of Barnabas. The two of them decided to head for the privacy of the Old House, the DS theme played, and then cue the thunder and lightning, the mood lighting, and the raging fire. But that's not the most implausible part...
I get why they added the never-before-seen part with Oberon. It served to impart information that had until now unfolded slowly over nearly 50 eps-- from the start of the storyline right up to the last one. In other words, it was an easy (perhaps lazy) way to insure that all viewers got up to speed on the story. But I happen to think that Leviathans, in theory, was not a bad idea, so maybe I'm alone in thinking that catching up this way is the same as skipping chapters of a marvelous book and reading the Cliffs Notes instead. But even worse, to insert the scene at a point when we thought Barnabas was unconscious threw the door open to inconsistencies, as retconning often does. For example, it makes no sense for Oberon to tell Barnabas the details of the punishments that the Leviathans had in mind for him if the intent was that he would forget them anyway. And it clearly was not the only thing that Barnabas didn't remember about Oberon's lesson; based on #915 alone, Barn came to the present not only unaware of the background of this race of people (Adlar had to spell it out for him even though Oberon covers it here), but he seemed clueless that any punishment awaited him at all and horrified that the Leviathans knew his dirty little vampiric secrets (despite Oberon telling him here that "we know everything about you").
Like Patti, I hated the revelation that Barnabas was drugged at the cairn. No no no! What need would powerful, ancient beings have of pharmaceuticals?
BTW, the hand of Sheriff Davenport belongs to Assoc. Prod. George DiCenzo.
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Oops, one more thing. Julia told Barnabas that Angelique lent her the portrait in exchange for a promise to never involve her with the Collinses. But that's not true. The promise that Angelique asked her to make was that Julia would never tell the Collinses she was there, which Julia just broke by telling Barnabas about it.
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I wish all the promo's you mentioned had survived. Were they like the one that Alexandra & Jonathan did for 1795? Or just voiceover's???
I'm so sorry I haven't responded to this, Taeylor. When I read your post originally, I was checking the forum just before I went out and I meant to answer you when I got back - but responding completely slipped my mind. [embb] But thankfully Midnite is a bit behind when it comes to posting her thoughts on these eps, so I got to see your post again. ;)
Anyway, unless I completely missed them, there weren't any more promos like the one for 1795. The promos that I documented were mostly voiceovers that ran over the other soaps' closing credits - or ABC showed a promo photo (similar to the ones in the PomPress books that have DS and the ABC logo on them). However, there were promos that included one or more scenes from the show. For example, here's a transcript of a promo that heralded Megan and Philip opening the Leviathan box:
* Philip and Megan are staring at the key to the box. We see the box.
Voiceover: This is the Leviathan box. When opened, what strange mark will it leave on Collinwood?
* Philip inserts the key.
Voiceover: Watch the incredible event on Dark Shadows.
But the best of these types of promos was probably the one for 1970PT because it included many different scenes. And I'll explain that one after we get to 1970PT. :)
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Thanks MB! I figured you were busy or something. I wish those promos had survived!
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Speaking about infamous episodes, when does the (IMHO) most infamous episode of all, involving the return of a ghost with an update on a vary familiar character happen?
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Ep #967 is still more than two weeks away in the WP. And what's revealed in that ep makes the ep worse than infamous because it's mostly an excuse simply to justify the outlandish return of one character because another was unavailable. But more on that when that ep comes up...
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I liked the lighting, and Julia shouldn't have said anything.
[spoiler]It seems for the next couple weeks, they kept saying that josette was being held
by the Leviathans.[/spoiler]
Was this the begging of Barnabas redemption, no longer a meanie.
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Great to see you posting on the WP project again LORI! :) Glad to have you back! [ghost_smiley]
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I got through a lot of shows this weekend. It is a stress reliever.
Thanks everyone.