Sarah's powers / was Re: Discuss - Ep #0314

[loril54]

Who could have they gotten to play her.  Sharon was growing up fast. Could we have excepted anyone else.  Look what happened when they tried to  replace Vickie.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I could be wrong, but I think the audience would have accepted a different actress playing Sarah far easier than they would have accepted a different Vicki. While Sarah sometimes played an important part in the introduction of Barn (much less so in 1795/96), she wasn't all that central a character, whereas for so much of the show Vicki was THE central character. In fact, by 1969 and beyond there would have been a large percentage of the audience who had never even seen Sarah...

[MagnusTrask]

Yeah, intent....I'll have to see early 1897 to know of course, but if he did leave bodies in his wake then, as well as that relative later on, then perhaps the big difference in Barnabas between 1967 and 1897 is that he's cut back on mayhem a little, and with the rest, has gotten better at rationalizing.

I know he's in a difficult spot, being a vampire, and I used to hate it when characters such as Julia would "just say no" to him.    But he knew he'd be a vampire in 1897... I'm guessing he did.     If he hadn't made that difficult choice the series wouldn't be the interesting thing that it is, but he had to know he'd end up killing people.

If Lydia is right about conscience awakening Sarah, then perhaps his relatively clear conscience in 1897, because he's on an 'heroic mission',  despite what he does, IS the reason there's no Sarah ghost.     Rationalization as exorcism.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

But he knew he'd be a vampire in 1897... I'm guessing he did.     If he hadn't made that difficult choice the series wouldn't be the interesting thing that it is, but he had to know he'd end up killing people.

It might be nice to think Barnabas would be willing to make that choice, but the fact is that when he threw the I Ching wands in 1969, Barnabas had no clue whatsoever that he would travel back in time to 1897. He simply hoped to be able to communicate with Quentin's ghost. And he was horrified when he saw his changed coffin beyond the door and ended up inside it. He most certainly never suspected much less was willing to let that happen. But once he was in the I Ching trance, apparently there was no going back.

On the other hand, yes, he did know he would be a vampire in 1840. But he was already a vampire in 1970, so the whole vampire issue was completely moot.

[MagnusTrask]

Big spoiler of course, about going back to 1897, but in the absence of that DS period, I'd rather hear a bit about it than not, I guess.

My childhood memory is of there having been so many intentional trips through time by our heroes via I Ching, with the 49th hexagram always appearing by chance, that it was funny.    

[Brandon Collins]

Personally, I think to say that Sarah has some form of precognition really solves the entire thing rather well. I mean, I really can't accept that she didn't know what was going to happen as a result of her intervention in 1967, because otherwise, she wouldn't have done it. Of course she hoped that her intervening would save some lives, but I think ultimately she knew it would lead to more than that. She knew that it would lead Barnabas down the correct path he needed to go down, and ultimately lead him to be a better person. Depending on how you define precognition, it could swing one way or the other. If you define it loosely, by which I mean she knew she would've been saving some lives, then YES, she DID have precognition. If you define it as knowing that an event is definitely going to happen, no matter what you do, then NO, she probably DIDN'T have precognition.

I'm still unsure, myself, of whether or not Sarah knew that Barnabas would be doing all that time-traveling and reaking all the havoc he did in certain time periods.

And as far as her appearing in 1897, sure she could've watched unseen, making sure that Barnabas didn't do anything too horrible. I think it would've been a nice touch for the writers to add in the sound of her flute playing just after Barnabas had killed Carl, or committed some other such wrong doing in 1897. That would've been something simple enough to call back the memory of Sarah for most viewers and say "Hey, I'm still here, and I"m still watching, so be good or it's coal in your stocking."

Not to mention that with the writers preoccupation of reincarnation through the series, they could've had Sharon Smith come back and play a teenage girl who came to live at Collinwood, or maybe someone who befriends Jamison, or maybe even as Kitty Soams' daughter or niece or cousin, and then instead of having Kitty be the reincarnation of Josette, they could've had Sharon's new character be the reincarnation of Sarah. I think that would've been even more gripping if the Leviathans had've taken Sarah's reincarnated self hostage instead of Josette, because Josette was constantly in danger, whereas Sarah was only in danger once in 1795.

[MagnusTrask]

Sarah stayed frozen as a child as she was when she died in 1795, and wonders where everyone from then got to.    I doubt she'd live other lives, then die again and appear as Sarah as a child, after.   The flute in 1897 would have been a nice touch, maybe just that once. 

[loril54]

Not to mention that with the writers preoccupation of reincarnation through the series, they could've had Sharon Smith come back and play a teenage girl who came to live at Collinwood, or maybe someone who befriends Jamison, or maybe even as Kitty Soams' daughter or niece or cousin, and then instead of having Kitty be the reincarnation of Josette, they could've had Sharon's new character be the reincarnation of Sarah. I think that would've been even more gripping if the Leviathans had've taken Sarah's reincarnated self hostage instead of Josette, because Josette was constantly in danger, whereas Sarah was only in danger once in 1795.

I like the idea that Sarah came back as someone else, but she could have known that she was Sarah, and she could have had an effect on Barnabas. That way Sharon could have come back, that is if she was acting then. The flute playing would have been great.  Brandon I really like the place you are coming from.

Lori

[Brandon Collins]

Thanks Lori!

And you know what? That's quite an idea about Sarah knowing who she really was, but coming back in another body. There are some beliefs out there that a spirit can choose to reincarnate into another life anytime it pleases. The only reason that we don't remember our past lives, if we truly did have them, is because the transition from the higher plane to this plane is somewhat difficult, so we generally forget. But I'm sure that if Sarah were a strong enough entity, and I think she was, that she could make herself remember, or maybe do a past life regression through hypnosis to remember what she reincarnated for in the first place.

She could choose, for example, to be reincarnated and born on earth in, say, 1882, then show up in 1897 as a 15 year old, full well knowing that she's there to stop Barnabas from doing anything wrong.

[MagnusTrask]

But then she wouldn't appear in 1967 as a ghost of a child from 1795.    If anything, her ghost would be of her last reincarnation, wouldn't it?    And if she had ever been an adult, she wouldn't have the mindset of a child later on as a ghost.

[ProfStokes]

But then she wouldn't appear in 1967 as a ghost of a child from 1795.    If anything, her ghost would be of her last reincarnation, wouldn't it?   

Not necessarily.  Josette was reincarnated as Kitty Hampshire in the late 1800s, yet when her ghost appears it is in the form of Josette circa 1796, her earlier incarnation.

ProfStokes

[loril54]

Barnabas needs Sarah to stop him from doing bad things.  If he was a monster, then Sarah couldn't really stop him.  Sarah didn't stop him with Jason or Trask or Nathan.  But then maybe she wanted them to die because they were bad.  Trask  was responsible for Vickie's trouble and Nathan  told  Naomi the truth or told her about  Barnabas.

[Garth Blackwood]

Possibly David had something (possibly subconsciously) to do with the appearance of Sarah. I recall
asking someone what exactly spurred on the appearane of the ghost room/Tad and Carrie storyline in 1970, since there was no explicit reason (like there was when David and Amy broke the wall in front of Quentin's room in 1969). Someone argued to me at that point that perhaps simply the combination of Hallie and David just made it happen, since they were the same age and reincarnations of Tad and Carrie.

Well, maybe Sarah appeared because of Barnabas, but this alone wasn't enough. The fact that David was the exact same age as Daniel was when she died had something to do with it. I know this explanation is not very well thought out, but in 1897 there was no catalyst similar to David in 1967.

[MagnusTrask]

Oh, I think Barnabas appearing in the world of the living again, and being as warped as he was, was more than enough of a trigger for Sarah ro "feel needed".