DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '09 I => Topic started by: Watching Project on May 05, 2009, 09:16:54 PM
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Robservations #772
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VO: Clarice Blackburn
A cool effect of B & the Old House! LOVES IT! “A precious hour for Barnabas Collins…” They are really working Jonathan Frid lately! Recap from the previous day with an extended replay.
OH NO—Carl! I know it was a tour de force for John Karlen but he works my last gay nerve! I do love to see JF and JK playing off one another though!
Poor B and his bold face lying. Being in destiny’s path, such as he is, would scare me shitless! I would be a nervous wreck that I would change something vital. B doesn’t seem to have that worry.
Poor Barney…a new dawn’s a coming! Donald Briscoe sometimes sounded mono tone which annoyed me at times---oh but Don PRETTY!
Barnabas is actually shoveling? WTF? Is that a first? He is always having someone do his dirty work!
Charity is a total twit! However, I do like how Nancy lowers her voice register while playing her. It’s the total antithesis of that other twit Millicent!
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I too, liked the special effect of the superimposition of Barnabas over the Old House. I suppose this was cutting edge for the time. I see Pansy has a rope around her neck to show she was st angled which I don;t recall from the previous episode. It brought to mind when Barnabas said, " this house wasn't meant to be a tomb." But it sure seems like one with Dirk expiring in the secret room and Barnabas dragging Pansy there next.
Poor Charity with her long list of sins and the parents from Hell. So Minerva thinks Carl is a better suitor than Tim. I guess that status and connections are a priority for the Tr ask family. And we learn that Charity loves Barnabas and the fact that the seldom seen Angelique is his betrothed doesn't matter to her doesn't seem very Christian. I'd love to see what her father has to say about that and perhaps we will find out.
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LOL that must be a first. Barnabas actually thought to lock the front doors of the Old House before someone walked right in!
Carl’s on the right track when he finds the purse, but for the wrong reasons. Pansy doesn’t have to be in the house just because she left the purse. It only means she didn’t leave for good. After all, she left the purse to head to Collinwood originally, which makes sense. She didn’t actually need the purse and she thought she was coming back.
Everyone’s sure wide awake and bustling around at 5AM, (can't believe it's 5PM already so it must be the same morning) aren’t they? Even Charity and Tim. LOL and there’s the BLACK EDGED AFGHAN ON THE BED IN TIM’S ROOM. Interesting. The chest of drawers in Tim’s room is the same one from Beth’s room.
LMAO there’s the stupid rooster and the grave for Pansy’s not nearly filled in. Good catch in the last topic by Saramonster, and continued here, about her not going vamp cause someone made a save with a rope around her neck. Anyone else amused by the fact that Barnabas has to do his own shoveling this time? LOL I see Taeylor caught that too. GMTA. [ghost_wink]
Great scene between Tim and Minerva. Hard to see any redeeming characteristics in her. LOL on the line that she does all the work because her husband is a thinker not a doer. So he’s playing her too.
Wait a minute, what is Barnabas doing back at the Old House when the cock crowed so long ago. Are we supposed to believe this is the next evening already? Seems Pansy isn’t just going to be covered up like yesterday’s landfill. She’s making her displeasure known.
That’s interesting, now Minerva is trying to steer Charity toward Carl Collins (certain irony to that, considering some changes we know are down the road). I love the face NB made when Charity said she tries not to think of Carl Collins at all. Does make more sense to throw her at a Collins brother, considering the social climbers we know the Trasks are. Note how Minerva shuts Charity down when she mentions Barnabas because “hes only a cousin, not one of the brothers”. For all they know he’s just as wealthy, so that’s a very interesting bit of scheming. Ironic to think that if Minerva had started throwing Charity at Barnabas, how differently the whole storyline might have played out.
Good point, alwaysdavid, about how Barnabas is to everyone's knowledge already engaged-- and keep in mind in those days women DID file breach of promise suits (One of Anne Perry's Inspector Monk Victorian mystery novels used that whole thing to great effect). Course the same thing happened later, again with poor Charity [spoiler]whose father was throwing her at Quentin's head when he was trying to juggle Angelique and Beth, though I don't think Amanda was in the -- pardon the pun -- picture yet[/spoiler]
Snicker at how Minerva hid the cards, and jumped out of her skin when Tim came in when she was playing. Of course the Queen of Spades comes into play, then Tim’s programming comes in to play.
Jeannie
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However, I do like how Nancy lowers her voice register while playing her.
Didn't think of that before, but yes. Some interesting remarks in this post, but I don't have reponses to make.
Good catch in the last topic by Saramonster, and continued here, about her not going vamp cause someone made a save with a rope around her neck.
Yes, I was starting to wonder about her not becoming a vampire, then the noose!
Interesting that the Trask family lust for wealth and position, which Greg and Minerva shared, did Minerva in. The life lesson here? You could say it was don't be greedy or else you'll be hoisted by your own whatever, but maybe it's that you really shouldn't marry someone with similar interests.
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How lucky for Barnabas that Dirk dug up a coffin from the old cemetery, leaving the hole for him to deposit Pansy Faye's body. And how fortunate that Barnabas discovered it earlier. It's not like he had the time (less than an hour!) to dig one himself.
So Minerva thinks Carl is a better suitor than Tim. I guess that status and connections are a priority for the Tr ask family.
LOL, apparently. She said that Tim doesn't have the proper leadership qualities. And he's too different from Charity's father. So she's backing Carl instead because he'd make such a great leader, and he's sooo like Gregory. ... To quote ROBINV, "Are you kidding me?"
Clarice Blackburn was really, really good in this ep.
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Didn't think of that before, but yes.
It is a simple choice (from an actor) such as lowering their voice that makes the role that much better, that much more authentic. That is an actor! One who takes something, besides what is written on the page and makes it spring to life! We are fortunate, as Craig Hamrick once said about Shadows, that we are able to see this group of NYC actors work their craft because without the show we may have never been privy to their performances!
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It is a simple choice (from an actor) such as lowering their voice that makes the role that much better, that much more authentic. That is an actor! One who takes something, besides what is written on the page and makes it spring to life! We are fortunate, as Craig Hamrick once said about Shadows, that we are able to see this group of NYC actors work their craft because without the show we may have never been privy to their performances!
That is a wonderful post, and I can't really think of much to add. All I can do is ditto Craig Hamerick (rest his soul) about how lucky we were to see such a talented group of stage actors in action. My take is without the extra that these talented people brought to it, it's far less likely that we'd still be discussing these characters in such detail 40 years later.
Jeannie
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Major Milestones: [milestone]
1. Pansy had a rope around her neck this time, in addition to the bite marks. I think it's pretty rare for them to make such a drastic change, isn't it? TPTB didn't want her to "rise" as another vampire and made a mistake in the previous episode, I think.
2. I figured I'd add this to the list, too.LOL that must be a first. Barnabas actually thought to lock the front doors of the Old House before someone walked right in!
3. Carl found Pansy's purse, with her money still in it, at the Old House. Later, Pansy's ghost haunted him. Carl's on the right track, but for the wrong reasons. She didn't actually need the purse and she thought she was coming back.
Good point, Pansity.
4. Barnabas buried Pansy himself?! He didn't have anyone else do it for him. It's the 1st time we saw him use a shovel!
5. At Minerva's suggestion, Charity broke her engagement with Tim. Minerva wanted her to pursue Carl! [lghy]
6. Evan sent Tim the signal in the note: "Queen of Spades". Later, while Tim was raptly watching Minerva playing cards, she put down that same card, so he instinctively poisoned her tea.
7. Barnabas said, "No! No!" when he saw Pansy this time, instead of "My God! No!" I wonder if that change was in the script.
I love the effect of Barnabas's image being superimposed over the Old House during the opening voiceover! Pretty cool! [ghost_cheesy]
I think it was great that, while Tim was under Evan's influence, he was really sarcastic and uninhibited towards her. She had it coming! [ghost_wink] But I don't think she deserved to die. [ghost_nowink] I thought the way Tim was acting when he poisoned her tea was really creepy. [ghost_shocked]
How lucky for Barnabas that Dirk dug up a coffin from the old cemetery, leaving the hole for him to deposit Pansy Faye's body. And how fortunate that Barnabas discovered it earlier. It's not like he had the time (less than an hour!) to dig one himself.
Oh, so that's how he did it so fast! I forgot about that!
I noticed that Nancy Barrett lowered her voice while playing Charity, too. Proof of just how talented an actress she is. I thought it was great that she did that.
It was wonderful to watch Carl and Barnabas's scenes together. Yes, indeed, Barnabas's treatment of Carl was similar to how he treated Jenny. Carl seemed rather childlike in this episode. I loved these lines - Carl: "We've got to find Dirk, Barnabas." Barnabas: "I know, I know." Barnabas did a great job with that line. I loved the look on his face, and the way he said that line.
Just thought I would mention a couple of bloopers: [signerror]
1. When Charity came into the room, there was a microphone over Tim while he was sitting at the desk.
2. I heard a chair sliding across the floor in the background.
These bloopers don't bother me at all. As someone else said, I think it makes it seem more like a play.
Excellent episode! Great acting by all. [clap2]
----- Sally -----]
[snow_bigglass] [hippy2]
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It was not the first time we saw Barnabas use a shovel. He helped bury zombie Quentin. Like you, what I thought seemed odd was that he was doing the work by himself, but that could be my memories playing tricks. [smlyb]
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Don't think that was your memory,Midnight. In general, Barnabas seems to have minions around to do the hard dirty physical work.
Jeannie
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Boo hoo, I want minions! [ghost_sad]
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LOL so do I!
Snicker, I just thought of my friend Linda, who not only wants minions, she wants the litter carriers from Fractured Fairy Tales to carry her around on a litter!
Jeannie [ghost_cheesy]
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It was not the first time we saw Barnabas use a shovel. He helped bury zombie Quentin.
Oops! I forgot about that! [signerror] [6184]
----- Sally -----
[snow_bigglass] [hippy2]
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Who doesn't want minions? Minions would rule!
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Who doesn't want minions? Minions would rule!
No, we would rule them!
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LOL. But which one is the learner, and which one the master? <insert Darth Vader breathing>
Jeannie
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This was a particularly enjoyable episode.
How long did the writers work, and how many names did they consider, before they came up with the name Pansy? It's perfect for the character, and John Karlen has a glorious time with it.
Minerva Trask makes a lasting impression for somebody who is with us for so few episodes. I particularly like a self-righteous line of hers today: "I try to be as fair as God will let me." Yes, Minerva, that's right, God will punish you if you're too fair with people.
When Barnabas asked Carl why he (Barnabas) would want to keep Pansy prisoner, of course I imagined Barnabas brainwashing Pansy into believing she's Josette. I'd love to see Magda's reaction if he tried.
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I think the reason that Minerva tried to steer Charity towards Carl (other than the obvious wealth of course) was that Minerva really doesn't know any of the male Collinses at all. She talked with Judith once, but has had no conversation with her brothers. Had Minerva known what a practical joker Carl was, I am sure that she would have been more open to Charity's choice to Barnabas. Or try to hook her up with Quentin herself.
So true about Minerva's line about being as fair as the Good Lord will let her. From what we've seen of her and her charming hubby and daughter, the Trask family ignores the Bible's philosophy on mercy and concentrates solely on its passages about vengeance and punishment. I doubt any of the Trasks even know the definition of fair or mercy.
Did Minerva deserve her fate? Realistically, probably not. However, I still remember how nasty she was to poor Rachel awhile back, so it's hard for me to drum up much sympathy for her.