DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '11 I => Topic started by: Watching Project on May 20, 2011, 12:20:06 AM
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Robservations #1219
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The reconstructed episode... I wonder what on Earth doctors could do then... well, I can believe they could tell when someone's pregnant. Maybe. Nice that the doctor was played by the actor who was the police detective in PT1970. Did they have the same name? If so, the family stayed in C'port, and only lost a little bit of the English accent.
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I'm pretty sure doctors (and midwives) could tell that a woman was pregnant--what I wonder is how Catherine could be so very sure that Bramwell was the father.
Nice touch that the Hamilton (I think) family stayed in Collinsport. Maybe Dr. Hamilton and the late Dr. Harridge were colleagues.
And it was funny that LP wore such a huge silver cross--maybe to keep vampires away?
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They did a very nice job on the Lost Episode. I think Lara Parker was overly dramatic in her narration, but I daresay she was encouraged to do that, along with wearing a black dress and the aforementioned cross.
I'm pretty sure doctors (and midwives) could tell that a woman was pregnant--what I wonder is how Catherine could be so very sure that Bramwell was the father.
Good question, leading to the whole question of how time is being measured at the moment. On the one hand, it seems to me that more time must have passed for the characters since Catherine's eventful stay at the Old House than has passed for us, because, although I've never been pregnant myself, my impression is that there wouldn't be time enough for anybody to be sure that Catherine was pregnant. On the other hand, there have been episodes that covered less than a day, so it also seems to me that less time has passed for the characters since then than has passed for us. All I can figure is that things are different in parallel time. But anyway, if Catherine wants to cover up that she was known to be pregnant so soon in order to pass the baby off as Morgan's, how is she going to keep the doctor quiet? It's one thing to say, "Please don't tell anybody right now," with the assumption that she wants to surprise her husband. It's another thing to say, "Please don't tell anybody ever."
Incidentally, it always seems terribly unfair to me that I didn't get to see Colin Hamilton dressed up in 1841 parallel time garb in his one and only appearance is this storyline, because I liked him a lot in 1970 parallel time. Does anybody remember from the original broadcast if he wore a wig, or an bright purple coat, or something else outlandish?
The narration said that, after Daphne said she knew that Bramwell would never hurt her, they passionately embraced. What does that mean? Did they kiss or not? It matters a lot. I can't imagine the embrace being passionate without a kiss, but if they did kiss, why didn't the narration say that? RobinV says they kissed. Is that something she remembers? And if so, then oh, golly, we missed both Colin Hamilton in purple (maybe) and Frid and Jackson kissing. If they had to lose an episode, why couldn't it have been another one?
More boorishness from Morgan, no surprise. Now that Catherine's married to him, she's supposed to care about the Collinses, but now that Morgan's married to Catherine, he has no obligation to worry about the Harridges. I don't think I'd expect any better from Bramwell. In 1795, Barnabas chose between good, as personified by Josette, and evil, as personified by Angelique. In parallel time 1841, Catherine chose between bad and bad.
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The narration said that after Daphne said she knew that Bramwell would never hurt her, they passionately embraced. What does that mean?
Excellent question! I've always wondered about that too, especially after Bram told Daphne he wouldn't be able to offer her "youthful passion." Did he possibly sleep with her once or twice just for form's sake? If so, I'm sure it was only perfunctory.
Catherine wouldn't necessarily have had to tell Dr. Hamilton to keep quiet forever. She may have been hoping eventually to pass the baby off as Morgan's--and premature. Some (admittedly primitive) birth-control methods were available, but they were unreliable enough that she could have claimed an accidental pregnancy. She also could have expressed a preference for a midwife or another doctor--someone who didn't know the truth about exactly when she became pregnant. Also, Morgan wouldn't have been allowed (or wanted to be) in the room during the labor and almost certainly wouldn't have recognized a preemie--although Flora or the ever-vigilant Julia might have. This leads me to interesting speculations on what might have been if they hadn't had to wrap up the plot so quickly!
I also enjoyed Colin Hamilton's performance as the inspector in 1970 PT, and it is too bad we didn't get to see him in period costume! But even so, I would rather have lost this episode than 1218 or 1220. Unfortunately, I didn't watch the show during its first run, so I don't know if they gave him a wig or an outrageous coat.
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...correct me if I'm wrong, but the VHS/Sci-fi Channel version of this episode did NOT have the audio only track right?? That was added for the DVD releases when it turned out a fan had recorded the audio with his cassette recorder... Or did I dream that maybe??
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The audio from the ep is on MPI's VHS, but Sci-Fi didn't include it. They only showed the parts with Lara and filled out the rest of the 30 minutes with a video interview with DC and one with Lela Swift.
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Ok that must've been it. To my recollection Lara would speak her parts put over a generic scene with the characters she mentioned. Its truly amazing this was the only episode that got lost over the years. I still have my tapes in the back of the closet somewhere!
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What Sci-Fi showed was put together by Jim Pierson specifically for them. He intercut the footage of Lara's narration with a mixture of some of the screencaps that were used on MPI's VHS while playing the audio.
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I've often sounded like a broken record on this issue but we shouldn't have expectations that what's possible in PT is only what was possible at that point in RT. Who knows what PT doctors were capable of? There may have even been pregnancy tests sold in pharmacies even at this early time period in PT. And who knows, DNA tests may have even been possible, so that could have been how Catherine knew for sure that Bramwell was the father. [ghost_wink]
Of course, there's also a little thing called the suspension of disbelief - and it's a major requirement when watching all soap operas, not just DS. [ghost_cheesy]
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Ah, silly me, assuming that what holds in RT is also true in PT! [ghost_wink] [ghost_smiley]
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Heavens. I completely missed the appearance of Colin Hamilton in this show. I must have seen this one way back when, but have no memory of it, unfortunately. (I do have memories of watching certain episodes of DS in the 1960s and early 70s--such as the episode in which Nicholas punishes Cassandra with "a taste of what midnight will bring," and Quentin's first appearance to the children with Beth in 1968, and the scene where a voice whispering from Angelique's portrait freaks out PT Maggie, and even a scene of Melanie sobbing in front of the door to the Curse Room in PT 1841.)
G.
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Oh, Gothick, how could you have missed Colin Hamilton's dulcet tones?