DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '06 I => Topic started by: Fletcher on February 02, 2006, 04:05:00 AM
-
What do you think the Leviathan monster really looked like?
All I remember about that storyline (I don't have the MPI tapes, unfortunately) is that three or four people went into a room (over the course of several episodes), looked up (so, it musta been big) at some monster, and went all google-eyed and crazy. So, the creature certainly was very horrific.
My interpretation of the creature has always been based on the iconic reliefs on the Leviathan altar, box, and book. I seem to recall a many-headed snake-like creature. So as a kid, I assumed that Jeb was manifest into a being looking similar to those icons. But, that doesn't seem particularly scarey or horrific. So, I may be WAY off-base in my interpretation of the Leviathan.
I'd like to hear how others pictured the creature in their minds. What do you think the creature really looked like, and what made it so frightening???
-
The snake-like creature on the box, and on Bruno's Ring was called a Naga. The word "Naga" has its roots in Sanskrit and means "serpent." This was the symbolic sign of the Leviathans, not necessarily a representation of their "true form." The leviathan creature itself, like Lovecraft's Cthulu, were supposed to be indescribably horrible in appearance, enough to "blow your mind" with fear. I do remember that they were slimy, and sometimes left a trail. I agree, fletcher, that the creature may have had something reptilian about it, but I always envisioned it to be like a big, almost shapeless pile of tentacles, perhaps with black eyes. As a kid, my friends and I would imitate the "breathing" of the creature, just for kicks.
Petofi
-
I agree that some aspect of the Naga must have been part of the Leviathan creature's appearance. The many-headed serpent holds such an important place for the Leviathans, and is similar to the Cthulhu imagery found in the cult artifacts in Lovecraft's stories. However, this was probably just one aspect of the Leviathan's appearance as a many -headed giant serpent, while scary to be sure, is not "mind blowingly" horrible. Perhaps the nest of snakes is an outgrowth on the Leviathan's neck or coming out of its mouth or eyes..
We know this much. The Leviathan being leaves footprints. It can open doors. It leaves a slimy residue.
I think the thing has humanoid aspects combined with the multi-headed serpent- aspect, and also some deeply horrific and disturbing overall Lovecraftian aspect to pull it all together - something so horribly demonic and grotesque that the human mind cannot imagine or even fully perceive it without becoming unhinged. The only way for the Leviathan cultists were able to represent it physically, was to focus on sepentine aspect of the creature.
-
A lot like this:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/damnedrodan/pvsdh.jpg)
-
We know this much. The Leviathan being leaves footprints. It can open doors. It leaves a slimy residue.
I think the thing has humanoid aspects combined with the multi-headed serpent- aspect, and also some deeply horrific and disturbing overall Lovecraftian aspect to pull it all together - something so horribly demonic and grotesque that the human mind cannot imagine or even fully perceive it without becoming unhinged. The only way for the Leviathan cultists were able to represent it physically, was to focus on sepentine aspect of the creature.
Yeah, that would be Lovecraft's...If you want a clear picture, I might advise visiting Wikipedia and typing in "Cthulhu." It will take you to a picture that shows what we're describing. :)
-
I always figured it looked something like the rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. ;)
-
How about a humanoid looking slug. You know, it leaves a trail, retracting eye stalks. Bleah. :P We could throw salt at it. What in the heck would the baby that Jeb and Caroline produced look like? Whats the point of producing a race of repulsive looking beings? Dateless Friday Nights. ::)
-
Asthmatic snakes give me the willies. Therefore, DC is a genius. An auteur.
-
because someone(barnabas?)describes the time that the leviathan's inhabited the earth as a time when there was only "energy" not pysical matter i pictured the monster to be some sort of amorphous blob.perhaps just energy,or gas,or light.not something tangible or identifiable
-
More horrifying than anything imagined thus far in this thread...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/damnedrodan/228011-david_hasselhoff_RED.jpg)
-
More horrifying than anything imagined thus far in this thread...
OMG! I knew that the Leviathan monster was definitely something reptilian in a true Lovecraftian sense!
Gerard
-
Yeah, that would be Lovecraft's...If you want a clear picture, I might advise visiting Wikipedia and typing in "Cthulhu." It will take you to a picture that shows what we're describing. :)
Oh I am familiar with Cthulhu. Quite familiar actually. Acording to the bio on my website, I dated him in High School. His tentacles tickled. ;)
I think there's definitely some snakelike aspect to the Leviathan as opposed to octopoidal though. Otherwise, why the constant appearance of the Naga? Maybe it looks like Cthulhu but the tentacles are a mass of writhing snakes instead of octopus tentacles?
Has anyone ever asked Dan Curtis what the Leviathan being looks like?
AAH! Mark, that picture is truly scary. I'm about to go catatonic...
-
Hasselhoff - - - Naga - - Hmmm.... I understand Cthulu, like Hasselhoff, is way more popular in Europe. Could it be . . . a coincidence?
Petofi
-
More horrifying than anything imagined thus far in this thread...
There is something so funny about Davie Hasselhoff. Thinking that Jeb turned into him is just hilarious.
Misa
-
Speaking of Hasselhoff, this video must be seen to be believed. Yes, it truly is like looking into the room in the Todd's antique shop...
http://www.thesuperficial.com/archives/2006/01/26/david_hasselhoff_is_hooked_on.html
-
Oh my God, that is really awful!
-
More horrifying than anything imagined thus far in this thread...
This is, without a doubt, THE funniest thing I've ever seen/read on this forum! ;) Mark, you are an evil genious! >:D
-
I almost put in a link to that, but I wasn't sure how much horror ought to be compressed into a single post.
I imagine he's trying to out-shat the Shatner with that one.
-
What do you think the creature really looked like, and what made it so frightening???
Many headed snake-like creatures would be terrifying (at least off-screen in real life-just one snake slithering down unexpectedly over the wreath on your front door is enough). The legend of the Medusa is a familiar precedent (maybe the storyline writers had this in mind on DS, though keeping the Leviathan monster offscreen was a smart move, especially with the hokey props and effects of that era).
This sort of reminds of a Star Trek storyline involving aliens called the Kelvans who had assumed human form, but whose natural appearance according to Spock's mind meld was that of "immense beings, with many limbs that resemble tentacles."
-
This sort of reminds of a Star Trek storyline involving aliens called the Kelvans who had assumed human form, but whose natural appearance according to Spock's mind meld was that of "immense beings, with many limbs that resemble tentacles."
Probably THE freakiest ST creature, to my toddler mind anyway when I was watching it, had to be the Salt Vampire. She would take the form of some curvy chick specific to that particular male victim's fancy, then would turn back into this abominable snowman-esque thing w/an aardvark type mouth w/suction cup fingers after killing its prey. Gave me the creeps!
BTW, she/it DID kill the guy in the red shirt, LOL! ;)
-
Another Leviathan question: The native language (?) of the Leviathans. Also their pale skin color and robed, hooded attire seen when they first take Barnabas captive in 1897 and send him to 1969.
-
Another question: When the Leviathan monster was in its natural state, was it wearing any human clothing, or was it completely in the buff? Only shortly after Sheriff Davenport is attacked and killed by the monster, it is transformed back into Jeb Hawkes in his human appearance with human clothing.
What do you think the creature really looked like, and what made it so frightening???
-
The only creatures on earth that wear clothing are human beings. Why would the Leviathan creature be wearing clothing in its natural state? And why would it be considered naked if it wasn't wearing clothing? It's not human.
-
"Come again, Rainey?"
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/damnedrodan/snoopy.jpg)
-
(Rainey falls out of chair and howls laughing on the floor.........)
Okay!! I'll make an exception for ONE cartoon character......
And NO, diapers on chimps don't count either!!!
[lghy]
-
Arashi's site features Frenchy (16 magazine) and her rendition of the Leviathan. Check out the bottom left hand corner of the Chris Pennock piece. The kitty-cat snakey lookin' thing is Frenchy's take on the Leviathan...
http://www.hollowmoon.net/sites/darknessfalls/images/misc/misc15.jpg
Arashi's site is very cool. Here's the link to the "Darkness Falls" http://www.hollowmoon.net/sites/darknessfalls/
-
Rush Limbaugh. [snow_rolleyes]