Discuss - Ep #0951

[Watching Project]

Robservations #951

[MagnusTrask]

Barnabas is a vampire again.

Apparently Oberon and Haza are Jeb's parents...  When did Barnabas become so attached to Maggie as Maggie, rather than as a Josette surrogate?    I find I'm eyeing potential blood sources for Barnabas, as he must be doing.   Bob the Bartender?   His blood's probably full of cigar smoke... 

I like the Virginia woman's story, what little we get.   Was she never brought in by a Box, but won over freely?   The Leviathans are "liberating" to her.   She must be one of those people looking for a cult to join.   Barnabas feels her out, searching for some awful trait that will justify his feeding on her...

Grayson Hall was good, in her reaction to what's happened to Barnabas.   Quentin: "How do we fight them, now that Barnabas is no longer able to function during the day?"   Well, on the bright side, he functions really well at night!   This is the worst mistake Jeb could have made.   He gave his biggest enemy superpowers...

Barnabas didn't care whether Megan was upstairs sleeping when he torched the place...   And so begins the disastrous Collinsport Fire of 1970, or it easily could have been!

[Lydia]

I like the Virginia woman's story, what little we get.   Was she never brought in by a Box, but won over freely?

Apparently, but I'm finding it hard to imagine how Bruno persuaded her that the Leviathans were the cat's pajamas.

I was surprised to see Bob O'Connell getting a credit at the end for playing the bartender, but the Blue Whale bartender did seem very much a part of the action today, even though he didn't say a word.  He probably knows more than he cares to tell about the Leviathan business, and about everything else that goes on Collinsport.  Is this the last time we see the Blue Whale?

I'm sorry for Barnabas, living out his worst nightmare by being turned into a vampire again, but I'm afraid I just can't get terribly interested in it at this point.  No doubt the die-hard fans who stuck by Dark Shadows even though they hated the Leviathan storyline were cheering - but it all seems sort of old hat to me.  Maybe that scream from Barnabas was heartfelt on Jonathan Frid's part: going back into a role that he thought he had shed.  If Dark Shadows hadn't been canceled, and the "No more vampire" clause in Frid's contract (or whatever it was) remained in force, would the fact that the Barnabas Collins character had once been a vampire be an arcane bit of Dark Shadows lore rather than the part of Dark Shadows most likely to be remembered by non-fans?

[Taeylor Collins]

7/16/70
OH no…Barney is doomed again.   So how many times has he been turned into a vampire again?? 
Regardless JF always conveys pain well when he is bitten!   

“What have you done with ‘em!’  Quentin says with David’s southern sound shining through.
Grayson plays her emotions well.  I don't get why B is so gray headed?   He sure is painted to high heaven.  Contoured and highlighted and bronzed!   Oh hello nice to see ya Bob the Bartender!  Oh YAY…the Jukebox seems to be out tonight and we won't hear the same three songs.

A new Leviathan in town??  Did the group get together and have Naga rings and necklaces made to go around?? 
Again this is another episode that is very unfamiliar to me! 

I really love to see Julia and Quentin working together as well as Grayson and David.  Okay now I remember this episode because the line that Grayson delivers is very memorable!  “But I think that soon Jeb Hawkes is going to learn that he has made the biggest mistake of his life this night! Julia

Whoever is breathing has a slight wheeze in their voice.  Bunch of smokers!  LOL  Hey it was the 60’s!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

When did Barnabas become so attached to Maggie as Maggie

That's an excellent question - especially considering that Barnabas was totally willing[spoiler]to let Maggie die when he decided she had to be used as the lifeforce for Eve.  [/spoiler]But then, Leviathans isn't exactly a storyline that's concerned with little things like storyline continuity, logic or fact. And sadly with respect to that last one, the next ep features one of if not the most ridiculous plot point ever within what has to be one of the most if not the most ridiculous plot turn ever.    But more on that in the discussion for Ep #952...

If Dark Shadows hadn't been canceled, and the "No more vampire" clause in Frid's contract (or whatever it was) remained in force, would the fact that the Barnabas Collins character had once been a vampire be an arcane bit of Dark Shadows lore rather than the part of Dark Shadows most likely to be remembered by non-fans?

There wasn't actually a clause in Frid's contract that he wouldn't play Barnabas as a vampire - he simply said that he didn't want to play Barnabas as a vampire anymore. What was in his contract, though, was that Frid had to be given a character other than Barnabas to play. And frankly that was only fair because every other major actor on the show had already played multiple characters by the time he'd insisted on that.

However, you bring up a very interesting question - and I'll take it even one step further: if DS hadn't been canceled and was still on the air today, would Barnabas even be the character that's most associated with the show? Every long running soap has had characters who at the time they were on the show seemed so identified with the show that it would be impossible to ever think of the show without thinking of them. But funny thing, when they left those shows, yes, there may have been gaps in fans' hearts, but the shows soon introduced other characters who eventually filled those gaps. And while the departed characters have most probably remained in longtime fans' hearts, they're no longer seen as irreplaceable or as the character most identified with the shows. And when it comes to newer fans, many if not most don't even know who some of the classic characters on their favorite soaps were or even care about them because they're so far removed from what happens on the soaps nowadays.

[Midnite]

I just watched a lovely scene between Barnabas and Maggie in #937 in which they discovered their common ground-- a mutual concern for the Collins family, especially Carolyn, and I think it's the answer to your question about when he began to see her as an individual.  While of course Barnabas was in desperate need of allies at the time, it's touching to see him finally treating her as an equal ("We think alike, Maggie. You don't know how gratifying it is to find that out."), and afterward, his thoughts revealed that he struggled with the weight of having involved her in the Leviathan mess.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If only his conscience had struggled that much back when he'd insisted on what I mentioned in my spoiler. But then, Barnabas' conscience doesn't exactly operate with anything resembling consistency. In fact, it's often fickle and it rarely ever gets in the way of what Barnabas believes has to be done, no matter who suffers in the process...

[MagnusTrask]

Midnite-- Thanks.... The attachment of Barnabas's for Maggie that I wondered about was his overpowering desire for her right after revampirization.   He's obsessed with the fact that he can have her... tonight!   ...As if this had been a dream of his for ages.   Of course she's a friend, but when did he become Vicki II to Barnabas?

MB-- Right now, I think of JF's demand to play another character as totally unreasonable.  Why?  Because Barnabas wasn't a peripheral character.   The lead actor playing the most popular character can't abandon that character and play a different part, and get away with it.   It's something that they got away with all the part-switching on DS, but I think it was because they at least had that one character whom they could depend on to be there, as an anchor.

[IluvBarnabas]

Sorry, Magnus but I don't agree that Jonathan was unreasonable to want to play another character. I mean, almost everybody else on the show got to play a different character....do you fault him for wanting the same opportunity? I don't.

Do you think he should have been sacked simply because he asked for the chance to portray a totally different character? I don't think he was trying to 'get away' with anything. He just wanted a chance to do something different.

[MagnusTrask]

If the audience wanders off because of it, which was predictable, then it was the wrong choice.   As I said, getting rid of the very popular main character was too enormous a risk.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Right now, I think of JF's demand to play another character as totally unreasonable.  Why?  Because Barnabas wasn't a peripheral character.   The lead actor playing the most popular character can't abandon that character and play a different part, and get away with it.

Well, see, I've never considered Barnabas the end all and be all of the show - I've always been a fan of the entire package. There was a DS before Barnabas was on and there was still a DS after we'd last seen him - and in both cases the show was still successful (the Laura storyline boosted the ratings significantly and the ratings stayed at those levels through Barnabas' entire introduction and for many months thereafter - and 1841PT was even more successful than than 1967 had been - and NoDS was also quite successful). And I firmly believe that if the show hadn't been canceled, and if Frid had left the show, which he would have invariably done, it could have remained successful without him. But that's not a discussion to get into in this topic. It would be better to discuss it in a topic all its own.  

[IluvBarnabas]

Well, despite my username, I totally agree with every word you say MB. But as you say, this discussion would be better for a separate thread.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

To get this topic back on track, let's revisit one of my favorite capture/captions from the February 16th installment of the History Slideshow (the one that's atop the Robservations board):

1970: Ep #951 - After being attacked by the bat, Barnabas
agonizes that he's become Pepe LePu with that streak in
his hair - oh, no, wait - it's that he is once again vampire.
( But more so that he's a vampire who looks like Pepe
LePu. ;-) )

[Taeylor Collins]

Yeah I guess the gray was for effect but I never got it???

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Thanks heavens they dropped it in 1970PT. Maybe it faded away while[spoiler]Barnabas was chained in the coffin.  [/spoiler]