The Levithins Are The Best Time Period!!!

[michael c]

i also agree with those here who found the whole werewolf/leviathan connection to be tacked-on,silly and meaningless.

suffice to say that the peter bradford development was the worst plot twist in the show's entire history.

[AndreDuPres]

God, that Peter Bradford crap was just so...unnecessary.  Why couldn't they just do a Jeremiah Collins and hire some random guy to play the ghost of [spoiler]Paul Stoddard?[/spoiler]  That's where the storyline looked to be heading, anyway.  It's almost laughable just how many people wanted to kill Jeb by the end of the plot.  Let's see, we have [spoiler]Nicholas, Bruno, Angelique, Sky, Philip Todd, Peter Bradford...am I missing anyone?  Probably Roger and the rest of the Collinwood gang sans Carolyn, but they were just too nice to admit it.[/spoiler]

[Barnabas'sBride]

Peter Bradford's appearance and what it meant absolutely disgusted me, and the fact that they let it go without any characters on the show discovering it makes it even worse, IMO. They just dropped it like it meant nothing. I'm surprised my tv lived through those episodes.

[BuzzH]

He had plenty of ruthlessness inside anyway, and I prefer his natural vampiric evil to his being a pawn any day.

Haven't seen Leviathan yet, but I tend to agree w/part of the above statement.  Although I DO prefer Barnabas as the anti-hero rather than all out villin, I hate it when he's a PAWN and being pushed around (one of the reasons I hated the Adam/Eve plotline, Adam was constantly pushing him around and I *hated* that!).  If it's a choice between him being good, but pushed around, and bad but in control, I'll take bad and in control every time!

[McTrooper]

The Leviathans was the first full story I got to see (before I had only seen the Revival series), so it holds a special place in my heart.
In hind sight it has a rather slow pace.  Still a lot good stuff too.  One particular memory that stands out is how Angelique ruined Carolyn and Jeb's happily ever after moment.  To me that was the conclusion of the story, not the "Afterward" to Jeb's giving up his destiny. 

[Joeytrom]

Leviathan was to be six months long?  That explains the first 6 weeks of almost nothing happening.  I always wonder if there is an outline to these later stories somewhere (1897, Leviathan, 1840) that explains the original intent of the writers like Shadows on the Wall was for the first year of DS.

They should have had Paul Stoddard return in a traditional soap opera story as they did with Jason McGuire.  Having him involved with the Leviathans was a mistake and we missed out on a lot of good drama with Paul, Liz, and Carolyn.  BTW... they should have used Paul's ghost even though Dennis Patrick was unavailable by having him be off camera and Jeb reacting to him.

[spoiler]The fact that they changed the origin of the Leviathans more then halfway through was a really bad mistake and where they start to "throw everything but the kitchen sink in".  One episode Oberon was the leader and then the next one Nicholas Blair was the leader as if he always was.[/spoiler]

[Barnabas'sBride]

They should have had Paul Stoddard return in a traditional soap opera story as they did with Jason McGuire.  Having him involved with the Leviathans was a mistake and we missed out on a lot of good drama with Paul, Liz, and Carolyn.  BTW... they should have used Paul's ghost even though Dennis Patrick was unavailable by having him be off camera and Jeb reacting to him.

I agree with this. I think Paul was a wasted opportunity in terms of character development. There would have been plenty of drama and conflict between Carolyn, Elizabeth and Paul, no need to add the Leviathans into it at all.

Also agree with you on [spoiler]Nicholas showing up and being behind the whole thing. That was so tacked on, and just....well, dumb. They should never have brought him in, even though the scene when Angelique meets him is amusing.[/spoiler]

[michael c]

i agree that it would have been great to have some traditional soap opera storytelling with the return of paul stoddard.it was a wasted opportunity in terms of character driven plotting.

but i suspect that the writers believed(rightly or wrongly)that after all that had preceeded it they couldn't return to more "normal" soap opera storytelling because it might turn off those "kids that ran home from school".they needed to constantly sate the pre-teen attention span.

i loved the jason mcquire blackmail plot but it's unlikely that it would have rivited many twelve year olds.

in some ways they created a monster.the youth audience brought the show it's greatest success but they became captive of it and could never again gear a storyline strictly at an adult audience.

[MagnusTrask]

but i suspect that the writers believed(rightly or wrongly)that after all that had preceeded it they couldn't return to more "normal" soap opera storytelling because it might turn off those "kids that ran home from school".they needed to constantly sate the pre-teen attention span.

i loved the jason mcquire blackmail plot but it's unlikely that it would have rivited many twelve year olds.

in some ways they created a monster.the youth audience brought the show its greatest success but they became captive of it and could never again gear a storyline strictly at an adult audience.

Adults need their imaginations stimulated, too.     Jason McGuire was a well-done character and storyline for what it was, but it's such a relief to see it end, and see the last vestiges of 1966-type DS dissipate, knowing things are now really going to take off.    For me, watching the Barnabas and McGuire storylines going on simultaneously is strange, because it's like seeing the old DS and the new DS at the same time, perhaps vying with each other.     Then, when the two storylines merge, with Barnabas finally getting around to giving some of his personal attention to the Jason problem (dealing with it as a good family man like Tony Soprano might), it really seems to me as if the brave new DS is strangling the life out of the reserved, patience-trying, both-feet-squarely-on-the-ground old DS.

[Barnabas'sBride]

I love the Jason McGuire storyline that ran parallel with Maggie's kidnapping. I'm surprised those first dvd sets of mine still work, considering how many times I've watched those episodes over and over again. That was DS at its finest, IMHO. There was no need to choose one over the other [realistic drama/supernatural] - blended together, they were perfect, IMO. The characters were all interesting, it had some of the best dialogue, it was well written and developed.

My imagination was stimulated by those episodes. Very much so.

[michael c]

as much as i enjoyed the 1966 episodes i'm ultimately glad that the show made the jump.

that's why 1967 is my favorite time period.i felt plenty stimulated by those episodes.

i just feel that after a certain point the writers aimed certain storylines specifically at the pre-teen audience.
i don't mean that as a total criticism because i as an adult enjoyed alot of this material but i do think the show could have stayed a bit more grounded and utilized the original cast more and focus less on what amounted to temporary,disposable characters.

[IluvBarnabas]

I appreciate the Leviathan storyline much more as an adult than I did as a kid.

[spoiler]It was interesting to see Barnabas revert back a bit to the old, mean Barnabas from 1967 (though I too prefer the half bad/half good Barnabas) and it once again put him at odds with Julia. And also, instead of trying to help Chris, we see Barnabas actually working against him (I do think Barnabas was actually trying to expose Chris secretly by trying to get Elizabeth to check up on Chris' activities).

Also it was very exciting to see Elizabeth play an icewoman as well.....her scene with a drugged Paul, saying she never wanted him back at Collinwood at all.....BRRRR!!! She was a block of ice in that scene (Joan was simply brilliant).

Hated Michael and Alexander, but we were supposed to dislike them from the start. We knew they weren't "normal kids".....rotten to the core but their evil plots were exciting to watch.

I know many feel Jeb's rehabilitation was a bit too quick, but I do appreciate the fact the writers did make me change my feelings for him in such a short time (hated him for turning Barnabas back into a vamp, but totally appreciated he wanted to be human and applauded the fact he destroyed the box and the altar to save Carolyn from becoming what he was).[/spoiler]

As a child it had all been confusing to me, but from an adult point of view, I have a better understanding and appreciation for the story.

[MagnusTrask]

They could have won me over with less wheel-spinning, a creative glimpse or two at the monster, and double the screen time for Megan.    More imagination and detail concerning the Leviathans' plan and point of origin, and backstory, too.   It was fascinating at first.  I thought they might be from the extreme distant future, or another planet.

[loril54]

I think they could have done more with Barnabas acting bad to please Jeb, but meanwhile going around in secret undoing his handy work.  I hated Sky Rumson and I like how that ended.[spoiler]This was like the old days. When Barn took things into his own hands. Could have done more with Barn and Julia and their changing feelings.   [/spoiler] [/size]

[McTrooper]

They could have won me over with less wheel-spinning, a creative glimpse or two at the monster, and double the screen time for Megan.    More imagination and detail concerning the Leviathans' plan and point of origin, and backstory, too.   It was fascinating at first.  I thought they might be from the extreme distant future, or another planet.

That's interesting.  When I saw the story I simply thought the Leviathans were a supernatural cult because I saw a G.I. Joe episode (Skeleton In The Closet) where Destro was part of a supernatural cult that had something to do with a monster called a Leviathan that was kept at the family castle.  Although I haven't read any HP Lovecraft I'm pretty sure that's the kind of Cthulhu like story G.I. Joe was going for.

I wonder if that G.I. Joe episode was in anyway inspired by Dark Shadows.