December 16th - The Best Of Times, The Worst Of Times

[Lydia]

I'm finding that the writers are introducing all new characters and stories that some seem to go by the wayside. For instance, though bear with me as I'm just watching this story arc, we are introduced to Quentin then haven't seen him again, at least not by episode 650 (I think).

I like that - now that the show's on DVD so that I can jump ahead if I care to.  The Old House set, Julia, Professor Stokes, and Quentin were each briefly introduced and then not seen again for quite some time.  It gives the impression that the writers were actually planning ahead, rather than going from day to day.

How was the Leviathan plot suppose to originally turn out?

I don't know, but when I saw the episode in which Nicholas Blair plays the officiating bad guy and Barnabas plays the heroic rescuer, I thought to myself, "I'll bet that was originally planned with Barnabas officiating and Quentin rescuing."

[MagnusTrask]

I thought to myself, "I'll bet that was originally planned with Barnabas officiating and Quentin rescuing."

Interesting.... Barnabas just sort of lapsed in his evil, for no discernable reason, at one point.   Threats to Julia, I know, but the Leviathans' control became a little weak and puny toward the end.    Good Barnabas shoehorned back in because of DC's panic over ratings?    Though, Philip Todd lapsed in the same way. 

They opted for resolving a story about a terrifying menace to everything and everybody by having us find out they were a lame menace that peters out after awhile.     That makes the viewer feel her/his time was just wasted, I think.    First they're a credible threat, then sorry, we made a mistake.... not very tough after all.....

It's always strange to me when a series chooses to start undermining the threat from its antagonists.     Another example is when they all suddenly find out that the Book has been saying all along not to kill anybody, ever, because ghosts are their worst enemies.   Of course, later, it turns out that werewolves are.   Man, did he pick the wrong town!   Jeb I mean.   The Leviathan People seem to be the Bubble Boys of the supernatural world.... now I'm imagining Jeb giving some tough, threatening speech to Bruno, but he stops and points to a corner of the room and screams, because he just saw a leprechaun or the alien from the Flinstones, or something.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Interesting.... Barnabas just sort of lapsed in his evil, for no discernable reason, at one point.   Threats to Julia, I know, but the Leviathans' control became a little weak and puny toward the end.    Good Barnabas shoehorned back in because of DC's panic over ratings?

Exactly. And because they'd already shot some shows out of sequences before the decision was made to drop the Evil-Barn, Barn flip flops from Evil-Barn to Good-Barn back to Evil-Barn and then back again to Good-Barn in the space of a few episodes. 

It's always strange to me when a series chooses to start undermining the threat from its antagonists.     Another example is when they all suddenly find out that the Book has been saying all along not to kill anybody, ever, because ghosts are their worst enemies.   Of course, later, it turns out that werewolves are.   Man, did he pick the wrong town!   Jeb I mean.   The Leviathan People seem to be the Bubble Boys of the supernatural world.... now I'm imagining Jeb giving some tough, threatening speech to Bruno, but he stops and points to a corner of the room and screams, because he just saw a leprechaun or the alien from the Flinstones, or something.

Hmmm, leprechauns might have been perfect.    After all, Leviathans did wrap up in March.    If only you had been on the writing staff back then to suggest it. 

[Lydia]

It's always strange to me when a series chooses to start undermining the threat from its antagonists.     Another example is when they all suddenly find out that the Book has been saying all along not to kill anybody, ever, because ghosts are their worst enemies.   Of course, later, it turns out that werewolves are.

I liked the bit about the werewolf being the Leviathan's worst enemy.  It started me thinking about evolution and primaeval times and happy werewolves chomping on Leviathans until the Leviathans were put on the Endangered Species list.  And then I dreamed up a fanfic idea where Chris Jennings is killed and Quentin somehow realizes that a werewolf is the only effective predator of Leviathans, so he destroys his own portrait so he can go after Jeb.  Of course, then I was too lazy to write the story, but it would have made Quentin an interesting character again.

[MagnusTrask]

I liked the bit about the werewolf being the Leviathan's worst enemy.  It started me thinking about evolution and primaeval times and happy werewolves chomping on Leviathans until the Leviathans were put on the Endangered Species list.

Me too, in the back of my head, anyway.   I like it when a backstory is inserted that gives you a lot to think about, for one thing because it's an efficient way to squeeze as much good story as possible into a small space.   A short reference to an intriguing backstory opens the story up, making the scale of it larger, without any further expense, trouble, or production time.    Of course, here, I think it was sort of accidental.    When we think about the werewolf/Leviathan backstory, we're making up for writing flaws with our own imaginations.  Then again, that could have been a better stretch of story at that point; I'm often surprised that certain bits are better than I remembered.

[Miss_Winthrop]

i think i must be one of the rare viewers who really enjoyed at least the first two thirds of the leviathan storyline.yeah the kids were annoying and the whole thing does fall apart towards the end(in my opinion 1968 falls apart,1897 goes on much too long and by late 1970 the whole thing runs out of steam)but the first several weeks had an atmosphere quite unlike anything else on the series.

i also really liked 1970 parallel time too.go figure.

You're not alone for I too really liked the Leviathan storyline.  I too liked 1970 PT although I wish there was more of Stokes and Hannah during that timeframe.

[PennyDreadful]

And, where did Adam go? Vacation? He hasn't made an appearance at Collinwood for a long time now. I"m sure that gets resolved as it also involves Barnabas and his vampirism, but to just leave the viewer hanging...

Prepare to be left hanging. 

 I too am curious to know where the Leviathan story was originally headed.  I suppose at this point the original surviving writers wouldn't remember.

 Another thing I've been fascinated with for awhile was a claim that the writers had discussed a proposed mummy storyline, but I've never .. er...unearthed anything further on that theory.

 For the record I really enjoyed both the Leviathan and 1970 Parallel Time storylines.  Not my favorite tales in the series, but I definitely enjoyed them.   When I first watched 1970 PT in syndication (channel 58 out of Marthas Vinyard), the station ran out of episodes and had to stop airing the series - in the midst of the 1970 PT mysteries.  Oh the torment!  Thank goodness for MPI!!

  Hexoxo,
  Penny
   

[michael c]

i was quite entertained by the brief return of "bad" barnabas and his return to an antagonistic relationship with julia during the early part of this stryline.

the barnabas-and-julia-fight-the-monster-of-the-week show gets on my nerves at times.
i think both barnabas and julia are more interesting characters when they are morally conflicted.

my impression is that originally the werewolf plot and the leviathan plot were not intended to overlap but trying to weave them together late in the storyline was just an example of how clumsy the writing got(not to mention the out-of-left-field inclusion of vicki and peter)towards the end when negative viewer reaction threw the whole thing out of whack.