Not making any comment at all on the quality of Jonathan Frid's performance as Barnabas (which I think was extraordinary) but can we please move beyond the myth that he "rescued a failing show"?  From posts shared here long ago, I recall that the ratings were pretty healthy during the Laura Collins Phoenix story and on into the run-up to the introduction of Barnabas.  I think the dramatic spike happened in 1968--"that year of insanity" as people on the ground at the time remembered it.  Or am I wrong?

I think a lot of actors don't care about videos of public appearances because they regard the distribution of same as free publicity.  That clearly isn't the case here.

G.

I remember even back during the original broadcast thinking that burying someone fated to become a vampire wouldn't make any difference.  With all the research Julia had done on the lore before meeting Barn, one would have expected her to have realized that.

G.

Best of luck to you, Victoria.

G.

I think the moral world of DS, such as it is, is a very different place from these more recent productions.  It's also a very grey terrain where relationships shift.  The most blatant IMO is Barnabas' attitude to David.  They never explain or reconcile how he goes from wanting either to drive the child insane or murder him outright, to pretty much going to Hell and back to protect him.

Barn feels compassion for Chris long before he ever knows Chris is part of the family.  He feels compassion as a fellow sufferer under a curse.  Quentin starts out as an adversary but eventually Barnabas also tries to help him, not only because he feels compassion for him but because Quentin's survival is key to the future of the family.

In the case of Laura, there is pretty much unmitigated animosity because of her plans for her child/ren. 

I personally don't care for the metaphysics that declares an entire race of beings "good" or "evil."  It smacks too much of racism to me, at least in outline.  Perhaps the way it is portrayed in these novels or games introduces more gradations of ambiguity.  We are talking about fantasy cultural production here, after alll...

G.

Sheer delight.  And how very appropriate that QUENTIN has the last word!

G.

In the old lore collected by "Rev." Montague Summers and other authorities, vampires and werewolves were practically kissing kin.  While in some of the legends they were described very differently, in other folk-tales they were both regarded as forms of the Undead.

In the Universal 1940s films, "wolfman" Larry Talbot hangs out with Dracula, the Frankenstein monster, various mad scientists, Maria the gypsy (played by fabulous Marie Ouspenskaya--the Magda character was a mixture of Maria, the gypsy played by Marlene Dietrich in Touch of Evil--she actually has the line to the Orson Welles character, "you hef no future" and a dash of Grayson's over-the-top stage persona), etc.

I haven't kept up with the current trends so was unaware that there is a "tradition" of werewolves and vampires fighting one another.

cheers, G.

Thanks, MB.  As for Vicki, Carolyn at least was in no doubt whatsoever as to what Vicki was doing, UNCHAPERONED, in Burke Devlin's room at the Inn! (i. e., exactly what Carolyn herself had planned for Mr. D.)

G.

Tonight's new Robservations capture highlights how in 1966 characters in the same scene appeared to be inhabiting different seasons.  Liz's stylish matronly wool coat-dress looks perfect for a brisk Fall morning in Maine, while Vicki's summery sleeveless number (the same dress we've seen in the recent captures, which makes perfect sense because Art Wallace was still writing the series as if it were playing out in real time, one half hour per day) seems like just the thing for a hot aestival afternoon chasing after that little devil David.

I love the expressions the two are wearing in this snapshot.  Liz seems to be saying "I don't think I can bear this ghastly coiffure much longer!" while Vicki seems to be offering sympathy--"It really doesn't make you look as if you're pushing 70, Mrs. Stoddard."

G.