DARK SHADOWS FORUMS

General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '26 I => Current Talk '03 I => Topic started by: Gerard on May 13, 2003, 11:39:50 PM

Title: Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Gerard on May 13, 2003, 11:39:50 PM
David has a broken leg.  For real.  The writers must've had to scramble to write this "infraction" into the storyline.  Ironically, around this same time, give or take a couple of seasons, two other performers in Television Land went through the same thing.  On Family Affair, Buffy (Anissa Jones) broke her leg, and it had to be written into the series.  And then America's favorite redhead, Lucille Ball, did likewise, and that had to be written into Here's Lucy.  It was a veritable plague.

And then Quentin and Julia had to dig up Michael's grave.  It's interesting - there have been a lotta grave openings on DS, and almost always only two people are involved, and they would have a short period of time to not only dig it up, but pull the casket out of the hole.  Has anyone ever tried lifting one of those things?  I've been a pallbearer for several funerals, and with six of us hoisting that thing around, we all hoped that the whole thing wouldn't go crashing to the ground as we strained every muscle.  And yet Quentin got that thing up out of the ground all by himself.  I imagine that his portrait now includes two slipped discs and one really good hernia.

Gerard
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Misty on May 14, 2003, 01:44:08 AM
 ::) Have you ever counted the number of actors that appear on DS per episode? I have never counted more than 5 or 6. (up to this point) No wonder the "grave-robbers" have to work alone; considering the others on that episode are involved in other parts on the storyline!!
                                                                              Misty
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Cassandra on May 14, 2003, 06:41:32 AM
And yet Quentin got that thing up out of the ground all by himself.  I imagine that his portrait now includes two slipped discs and one really good hernia.

And don't forget poor Willie who always managed to dig up somebody's grave at the insistance of Barnabas!
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Connie on May 14, 2003, 07:02:38 AM
It's interesting - there have been a lotta grave openings on DS, and almost always only two people are involved, and they would have a short period of time to not only dig it up, but pull the casket out of the hole.

Well, it doesn't take that long in Collinsport.  I don't think they bury 'em too deep.  I mean REALLY - what's the point??

Quote
Has anyone ever tried lifting one of those things?
.....And yet Quentin got that thing up out of the ground all by himself.

Amazing, isn't it.  That Fitness Made Simple program really does seem to work.

[winkb]
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Luciaphile on May 14, 2003, 01:52:56 PM
And then Quentin and Julia had to dig up Michael's grave.  It's interesting - there have been a lotta grave openings on DS, and almost always only two people are involved, and they would have a short period of time to not only dig it up, but pull the casket out of the hole.  Has anyone ever tried lifting one of those things?  I've been a pallbearer for several funerals, and with six of us hoisting that thing around, we all hoped that the whole thing wouldn't go crashing to the ground as we strained every muscle.  And yet Quentin got that thing up out of the ground all by himself.  I imagine that his portrait now includes two slipped discs and one really good hernia.

I'm still amazed they didn't just wrap Michael's body in a sheet and dump it in a ditch (the way several illustrious Collinses have been interred).

What always boggles my mind is just how immaculate everyone always looks after disinterring the bodies. No sweat. No mud. No clumps of dirt clinging to the shoes. Nope, just like the ladies who decide to take a midnight stroll with no illumination through the dark Maine forests, the grave robbers invariably look like they have stepped out of a bandbox.
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: onyx_treasure on May 14, 2003, 03:21:00 PM
And then Quentin and Julia had to dig up Michael's grave.  It's interesting - there have been a lotta grave openings on DS, and almost always only two people are involved, and they would have a short period of time to not only dig it up, but pull the casket out of the hole.  Has anyone ever tried lifting one of those things?  I've been a pallbearer for several funerals, and with six of us hoisting that thing around, we all hoped that the whole thing wouldn't go crashing to the ground as we strained every muscle.  And yet Quentin got that thing up out of the ground all by himself.  I imagine that his portrait now includes two slipped discs and one really good hernia.

I'm still amazed they didn't just wrap Michael's body in a sheet and dump it in a ditch (the way several illustrious Collinses have been interred).

What always boggles my mind is just how immaculate everyone always looks after disinterring the bodies. No sweat. No mud. No clumps of dirt clinging to the shoes. Nope, just like the ladies who decide to take a midnight stroll with no illumination through the dark Maine forests, the grave robbers invariably look like they have stepped out of a bandbox.

     This could have been staged a little better.  Quentin kept his suit coat on and buttoned the whole time he was digging.  He should have had his coat off and his sleeves rolled up.  The make-up artist could have made him a little dirty and disheveled.  Julia standing there holding his coat.   
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Gerard on May 14, 2003, 03:38:54 PM
Well, it's a good thing he did keep his coat on, Onyx.  After all, it is the dead of winter in Maine.  Fortunately, they've had an unseasonably low amount of snowfall so far.

Gerard (Who's wondering how much more it would've cost to just paint some cornflakes white and have them strewn about.)
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: TERRY308 on May 14, 2003, 04:38:24 PM
And how about Sheriff Paterson?  Forgive me...I don't remember his name.
There's his grave stone and then here comes his hand and then his whole body.  How many inch's of dirt would you say he was buryed in....about a
1/2 an inch?  At least they could have had a wooden box lid on top of him, then he could have come out better that way. [deady]
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Blue_Whale_Barfly on May 14, 2003, 05:02:14 PM
Well, it's a good thing he did keep his coat on, Onyx.  After all, it is the dead of winter in Maine.  Fortunately, they've had an unseasonably low amount of snowfall so far.

Gerard (Who's wondering how much more it would've cost to just paint some cornflakes white and have them strewn about.)

Not only that but have you ever tried digging a hole when the ground is frozen.  They must have used a backhoe.
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Midnite on May 14, 2003, 05:04:17 PM
And how about Sheriff Paterson?  Forgive me...I don't remember his name.

No problem, it was Sheriff Davenport.  So if you were on first name terms with him, would you have called him Sheriff Sheriff?

 
Quote
There's his grave stone and then here comes his hand and then his whole body.  How many inch's of dirt would you say he was buryed in....about a 1/2 an inch?  At least they could have had a wooden box lid on top of him, then he could have come out better that way. [deady]

Wow, I planted a small tree yesterday and am sure I dug a deeper hole for it.
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Raineypark on May 14, 2003, 05:15:39 PM
You're getting it all wrong.  The man was Egyptian on his mother's side and his name was SHARIF....they just didn't know how to spell it!!
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Debra on May 14, 2003, 06:27:22 PM
Gerard, that was too funny!!!

  Digging up a grave in the middle of the night isn't exactly a common occurance (on ds it is though) so why doesn't any one ever get caught??   And funny thing no one ever notices that a relatives grave has just been dug up?

Deb
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Mysterious Benefactor on May 14, 2003, 08:46:21 PM
Fortunately, they've had an unseasonably low amount of snowfall so far.

Hmmm - perhaps those breezes from the sea that the opening monologues frequently refer to kept all the heavy snow clouds inland. [wink2] But at any rate, this was a scene we were NEVER going to see on DS:

(http://www.dsboards.com/images/snow.gif)

Quote
Gerard (Who's wondering how much more it would've cost to just paint some cornflakes white and have them strewn about.)

Apparently much too much! [lghy]
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Cassandra on May 15, 2003, 07:32:47 AM
What always boggles my mind is just how immaculate everyone always looks after disinterring the bodies. No sweat. No mud. No clumps of dirt clinging to the shoes. Nope, just like the ladies who decide to take a midnight stroll with no illumination through the dark Maine forests, the grave robbers invariably look like they have stepped out of a bandbox.

So true!  The other day I was pulling some weeds from my garden and the sweat was pouring off my head so much I couldn't see straight.  And it's not even that hot here yet!!   And I love how the woods are always so well lit at night.

Cassandra
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Carol on May 15, 2003, 10:59:59 AM
(Who's wondering how much more it would've cost to just paint some cornflakes white and have them strewn about.)
I thought I had read once that TV/Movie sets used Ivory snow or potato flakes to try to make winter scenes look real.  Then again, you'd have to clean up the mess to make it look like summer again in the next scene.
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Gerard on May 15, 2003, 11:37:51 AM
(Who's wondering how much more it would've cost to just paint some cornflakes white and have them strewn about.)
I thought I had read once that TV/Movie sets used Ivory snow or potato flakes to try to make winter scenes look real.  Then again, you'd have to clean up the mess to make it look like summer again in the next scene.

And, I guess, not to mention having two types of trees:  leafed and leafless.  My favorite is when a winter scene, even a blizzard, is shot on an exterior set, and there amongst the huge drifts of snow are trees with their full bloom of foilage.  Little House On the Prairie was notorious for that.  But then, Dark Shadows '91 had palm trees sprouting in Collinsport, Maine.  No wonder they always had such mild winters there.

Gerard
Title: Re:Of Bones and Boxes
Post by: Garth Blackwood on August 01, 2012, 01:38:16 AM
And how about Sheriff Paterson?  Forgive me...I don't remember his name.

Oddly enough, his name is ... Sheriff.  At one point you see his grave stone and it reads "Sheriff Davenport". This seems a rather strange and unnecessary (and hilarious) error in the show. Unless, of course, his name was supposed to be Sheriff.

I always imagined someone working for the show ordered the prop and the producers of the show see that it says "Sheriff Patterson". Then they think to themselves ... "Hmm. We really should order a new one with a real name. Eh. let's use it anyway."