DARK SHADOWS FORUMS

General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '25 I => Current Talk '02 I => Topic started by: Cassandra on June 13, 2002, 12:16:33 PM

Title: Sam's Screams
Post by: Cassandra on June 13, 2002, 12:16:33 PM
Upon seeing most of the dream curse now, I had originally thougth that Willie was the ultimate "screamer"   that it - until I saw Sam Evan's having the dream yesterday!!  What was all that wailing about??  My God, he was worst than the women!! ;D
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: Craig_Slocum on June 13, 2002, 05:29:04 PM

What about his blindness?  ?!?
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: kuanyin on June 14, 2002, 02:22:35 AM
The blindness issue occurred to me, but I didn't want to chastise the writers when they actually got it right. It surprises me that they did, and I don't know if they knew it. But people who are suddenly disabled do not have the disability in their dreams. Christopher Reeve has commented on that.   8)

But, goodness, yes, the way he was catterwalling was ridiculous. Then, he sees Maggie in a veil, we can see it's her from behind, but he can't tell it is her from the front? Oh puhleeeeeeeze.
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: Cassandra on June 14, 2002, 09:18:47 AM
Quote
The blindness issue occurred to me, but I didn't want to chastise the writers when they actually got it right. It surprises me that they did, and I don't know if they knew it. But people who are suddenly disabled do not have the disability in their dreams. Christopher Reeve has commented on that.   8)

But, goodness, yes, the way he was catterwalling was ridiculous. Then, he sees Maggie in a veil, we can see it's her from behind, but he can't tell it is her from the front? Oh puhleeeeeeeze.

Yes, Kuanyin you're right. I do remember Christopher Reeves mentioning that. He said that he loves to dream at night because in his dreams he can walk again and is not disabled. It just bought tears to my eyes hearing him say that.

As for Sam, It just seemed so funny to hear him carry on like that. It was almost as if he wanted his last perfomance on the show to be a memorable one.  ;D
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: IluvBarnabas on October 03, 2006, 10:12:51 PM
Poor Sam, Cassandra/Angelique was really cruel to him when she [spoiler]made him go blind, made him have the dream, then brought him back from the grave against his will and forcing him to tell the dream to Vicki. I always felt Cassandra was just as responsible as Adam was in regards to Sam's death....even more so. Adam had never really intended to harm Sam, whereas Cassandra deliberately burdened Sam with the mental torture of the dream, knowing too he had some serious concusions from the accident....it never occured to her after such an accident it might not have been the right time to inflict Sam with the dream? Especially since the torment of the dream just might kill him....which it did.[/spoiler]

Boo hiss Cassandra.....she was so nasty and cruel to an innocent man who never did anything to her. What she did to him was really despicable. >:(

modified by mod to fix code
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: ProfStokes on October 04, 2006, 12:50:56 AM
Boo hiss Cassandra.....she was so nasty and cruel to an innocent man who never did anything to her.

Well, that's not exactly true.  He did [spoiler]cause her to age into a 200-year-old crone when he repainted her portrait.[/spoiler]  Although Sam's crime was unintentional, we all know Angelique can carry a grudge...

ProfStokes
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: TERRY308 on October 04, 2006, 02:54:53 AM
If somebody had repainted a picture of me to make me look like a 200 year old crone, I'd carry a grudge too. [Witch_Potion_Animated]
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: Lydia on October 04, 2006, 03:09:45 AM
Oh, I don't know, he may have uglified her face, but he left her legs intact, and two out of three ain't bad.
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: IluvBarnabas on October 04, 2006, 03:38:43 AM
Sam had no way of knowing that he actually was [spoiler]turning a witch into a 200-year old one. He certainly never thought she'd do something to him. Just because he was ignorant of who and what she was at the time doesn't justify what she did to him. Once she had the painting back she should have let him see again....then again that would have been out of character for Cassandra....she was never known to being merciful to any of her victims.

If Sam hadn't died, though, I think he would have regained his sight once Cassandra had died.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: Lydia on October 04, 2006, 03:49:09 AM
[spoiler]If Sam hadn't died, though, I think he would have regained his sight once Cassandra had died.[/spoiler]

It's a reasonable assumption, but

[spoiler]Elizabeth's obsession with being buried alive continued long after Cassandra had died and even after Angelique the vampire had disappeared from the scene.[/spoiler]

Reasonable assumptions just don't work on Dark Shadows - thank heaven!
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: IluvBarnabas on October 04, 2006, 02:59:28 PM
You got a point, reasonable explainations are practically foreign at Collinwood. ;D

Maybe you're also right about Sam too....maybe he wouldn't have gotten his sight back right away but

[spoiler]it took awhile but Elizabeth ultimately got over her fear of being buried alive (once it actually happened
and she broke out of her trance), I like to think if Sam had stayed, even if it didn't happen right away, he would have eventually learned to see again.[/spoiler]
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: BuzzH on October 04, 2006, 04:43:50 PM
[spoiler]it took awhile but Elizabeth ultimately got over her fear of being buried alive (once it actually happened
and she broke out of her trance), I like to think if Sam had stayed, even if it didn't happen right away, he would have eventually learned to see again.[/spoiler]

Actually, he wouldn't have because the producers [spoiler]made him go blind so that David Ford could look at the prompter any time he wanted.  When making him blind didn't help, they killed off his character.[/spoiler]

At least that's what KLS has claimed for years, and we KNOW she's on the ball acurate about these things!   ;D

Seriously though, if this IS true, why do we bitch so much about Jonathan always going up on his lines when it sounds like Ford was WAY worse.
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: IluvBarnabas on October 04, 2006, 07:05:26 PM
Wow, I didn't realize that.  So that's why they [spoiler]made Sam blind.[/spoiler]

So Ford was fired? That's too bad. I liked Sam and thought he really met with such a sad and undeserved fate. 
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: Nancy on October 04, 2006, 07:27:07 PM
The fact that David Ford was fired was discussed during a Question and Answer panel at one festival.  KLS said that the reason Sam was made blind and then wore those glasses was so Ford was free to read the teleprompter.  Jonathan Frid then asked "Why didn't they do that with me?!!!"

Nancy
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: MsCriseyde on October 04, 2006, 07:50:21 PM
Jonathan Frid then asked "Why didn't they do that with me?!!!"
Because, as a vampire, he was already blind as a bat much of the time.  ;D
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: Nancy on October 04, 2006, 08:55:47 PM
Jonathan Frid then asked "Why didn't they do that with me?!!!"
Because, as a vampire, he was already blind as a bat much of the time.  ;D

 [eviltongue]
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: stefan on October 04, 2006, 09:33:07 PM
Seriously though, if this IS true, why do we bitch so much about Jonathan always going up on his lines when it sounds like Ford was WAY worse.

David Ford got much worse as the show progressed. In the B&W stories he was excellent as Sam Evans and one of my favorite characters. But, in 1795 you can see how he was loosing it. I've seen him stumble to his place on the stage and very obviously mumble along where he obviously couldn't remember what he was suppose to say. Again though, initially DF was very very good. I'd have hoped that instead of firing him he could have used a long vacation. Maybe he was tierd or needed a break. Certainly, he didn't deserve to be fired and KLS should have recognized how good he was and could be. She worked with him during his best performances.
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: Nancy on October 05, 2006, 02:30:22 AM
Again though, initially DF was very very good. I'd have hoped that instead of firing him he could have used a long vacation. Maybe he was tierd or needed a break. Certainly, he didn't deserve to be fired and KLS should have recognized how good he was and could be. She worked with him during his best performances.

It's really not fair to criticize any stage actor for not being able to keep up with the memorization demands of daytime television, particularly in the day where there was little or no editing of mistakes.  Clearly some stage actors adapt better than others.  Memorization is a skill, it doesn't make you a good actor.   Stage actors have several weeks or, in the case of summer stock, a whole week to learn their lines not just a few hours.  I would like to see how KLS would fare on stage sustaining energy and believability for two and a half hours which a play requires.  That is hard work.

Nancy
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: Raineypark on October 05, 2006, 02:40:52 AM
I was just reading today that the sort of memory aides stage actors are taught, are being used in the treatment of patients with memory disorders.

No, I don't actually recall WHERE I read it..... ::)
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: Nancy on October 05, 2006, 02:52:25 AM
It must be relatively new, Rainey.  When I was training in the early 1990s how to memorize quickly was never brought up, let alone taught, and my teachers were professional actors fairly active in the business.  I'm glad memory aides is being taught now though I must admit I never considered teaching that to my students.

Nancy

I was just reading today that the sort of memory aides stage actors are taught, are being used in the treatment of patients with memory disorders.

No, I don't actually recall WHERE I read it..... ::)
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: MsCriseyde on October 05, 2006, 03:12:32 AM
When I was training in the early 1990s how to memorize quickly was never brought up, let alone taught, and my teachers were professional actors fairly active in the business.  I'm glad memory aides is being taught now though I must admit I never considered teaching that to my students.
I wonder if that has to do with a concern that actors will focus too much on the dialogue and not on the overall performance. In his interviews on the DS DVDs, Geoffrey Scott attributes his rather wooden performances to an obsession with getting the lines memorized  and recited correctly.
Title: Re: Sam's Screams
Post by: Nancy on October 05, 2006, 03:17:27 AM
Interesting idea.  I personally don't equate the ability to memorize with being a good actor and as a stage director I have knowingly cast actors who are "slow" in memorizing in a play because I knew they were good actors and would pull it off.  Anxiety is another reason some actors have difficulty remembering lines.  I don't feel my giving memorization tips woiuld really help.

Nancy

[I wonder if that has to do with a concern that actors will focus too much on the dialogue and not on the overall performance. In his interviews on the DS DVDs, Geoffrey Scott attributes his rather wooden performances to an obsession with getting the lines memorized  and recited correctly.