Leviathans Not So Bad

[Brandon Collins]

Not that I thought this storyline completely sucked....but I did think it somewhat lacking. But now, upon rewatching it, I realize that it's not that bad. It starts out slow, when they are setting it up, and the children are quite annoying at times, but once Jeb arrives things start to perk up. I mean just look:

[spoiler]Once Jeb arrives, you get things kicked into high gear. Barnabas tells Julia what has been going on, reuniting them once again. Barnabas gets turned into a vamp for being a traitor and burns down the antique shop. Angelique comes back into the picture in one of my personal favorite ways. Nicholas Blair comes back to cause trouble. Willie eventually returns to guard Barnabas again.[/spoiler]

All the great dynamics that carry the show through anything are there once again! And now that I've watched it through again, I understand what's going on with the Leviathans themselves. It's not really that difficult to understand, as some have said. Even some of the writers say that didn't understand what was going on. But what's so hard about it? It's just like any season of Buffy: Someone or some group wants to take over or destory the world. That's all the Leviathan's want to do. Make their race the dominant one and kill everyone else. Simple as that.

Now, I'm only up to episode 955 or so, so if things get complicated after this, then I've got another thing coming.

[MagnusTrask]

With most storylines after 1897, the broad premise sounds good, then the actual initial storyline isn't and is usually pilfered too transparently, but when events come along that deviate from the initial ripped-off predictable storyline(s), that gets interesting.   During Leviathans, I enjoy old 1897 characters entering 1970, and how it all happens.

[arashi]

I've recently been watching these episodes myself for the first time since my initial Sci-fi run.

Knowing already where the story was going, it was easier for me to put aside my initial hopes upon watching in seeing events previous to the 1897 storyline wrapped up, and to take the Leviathans storyline as itself on a different level. So far I am really enjoying it. It has a great 30s horror movie feel to it....

[spoiler]I totally got a kick out of the scene after Paul Stoddard has been killed. Julia, Stokes and Sherrif Davenport are standing around Stokes' flat discussing the events. So much exposition! It was like some old 50s horror flick.

A new personal favorite exchange of dialogue followed shortly thereafter:

Phillip: Carolyn's father?! He's dead?
Davenport: Yes sir. Very dead.

[/spoiler]

Jeb is a villan, at his appearance, unlike they'd had on the show as yet and I am totally getting a kick out of Chris Pennock's performance. I forgot how good he was. Geoffrey Scott on the other hand.... God love him, but holy crap.

A question for those who have read Lovecraft.. how closely to his works does the storyline mirror? I did a little research on the mythology behind Cthulhu, which I think helped me understand exactly what Jeb & the Leviathans were. Also where does the whole werewolf thing come in? Neil Gaiman also used the idea in his short story "Only the end of the world again" published in Smoke and Mirrors. (Do I *love* Neil Gaiman for writing short stories featuring Larry Talbot? You bet I do. But I love him for other reasons as well.) In which Larry Talbot, now a detective of sorts, wanders into Innsmouth and has to deal with the potential return of the Elder Gods.

[Mark Rainey]

The Leviathans is based on H. P. Lovecraft's mythos only loosely, at best -- the basic commonality being the elder race that is inimical to humanity seeking to return to its former dominance. The critter in the upstairs room has its roots in "The Dunwich Horror," and to some degree "The Shuttered Room" (which August Derleth wrote, based on Lovecraft's notes, calling it a "posthumous collaboration"). DS does a pretty good job capturing the creepy atmosphere of the stories, at least in the early episodes, though there are other Lovecraft tales that might have been every bit as conducive to "borrowing" within the context of the Leviathans -- "The Whisperer in the Darkness" coming immediately to mind. Compared to Lovecraft's Great Old Ones, the Leviathans are simple dilettantes when it comes to clearing the earth of its human cancer.

[BuzzH]

The critter in the upstairs room has its roots in "The Dunwich Horror," and to some degree "The Shuttered Room"

My brother says The Shuttered Room was one of the scariest things he saw as a kid.  Is it on DVD?  I'd love to see it.

Geoffrey Scott on the other hand.... God love him, but holy crap.

LOL!  He was pretty bad, but easy on the eyes at least.  Funny, I don't remember him being that horrible on Dynasty as Mark Jennings.  I may have to get Dynasty from Netflix and see if he was.  Maybe I was too busy drooling over him to notice his wooden acting. 

[Mark Rainey]

"The Shuttered Room" has never been released as a licensed DVD. I haven't seen it in many years, but apart from a typically good performance by Oliver Reed (one of my all-time favorite actors) and the atmosphere of its first half, which was spot on, I remember it being fairly dull. The climax of the story, in Derleth's hands, wasn't all that it could have been, but the movie completely destroys it.

[spoiler]In the story, the "half-sister" is revealed to be a creature reminiscent of Lovecraft's "Deep Ones" -- on the order of the Creature From the Black Lagoon. In the movie, it turns out that Carol Lynley has a twin sister who is a homicidal maniac. Talk about a major let-down...[/spoiler]

Given the chance to watch it again, I certainly would. It's been so long, I could probably view it with a reasonably fresh perspective and perhaps get something out of it that I didn't the first time around.