Roger:  "See, Dan, I *told* ya I could play Barnabas!  The chair even fits me like a charm!"
Grayson:  "GIve me a BREAK."

Hi Onyx,

what Penny Dreadful says is right on the mark.  In Christian folklore, Witchcraft ofen implied a pact with the Devil.  It's interesting to note that one of the earliest documents actually banning non-Christian religious practices, a 9th century Papal bull, includes such acts as "worshipping" sacred springs, trees, standing stones, and other natural features; honoring the New and Full Moon; healing with the aid of herbs; and a lengthy list of other practices that are part of today's Wiccan practice, but seldom linked to the late Mediaeval and Renaissance iconography of "the Witch figure."

I think of Angelique as deriving her powers from Elemental sources--Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and herbs that contain potent combinations of these agents--but she often invokes the Devil "Prince of Fire," "Dark Lord," etc. in her incantations.

In the case of Count Petofi, his powers come from his Will.  The 4 powers of the Mage were cited by Eliphas Levi, a 19th century mystic and magician, as "To Know, to Will, to Dare, and to keep silent."

It's also implied that Count Petofi has Elementals at his beck and call.  There's a scene where he tells someone, maybe Lady Kitty, that his information "does not come from human sources."

I could ramble on and on about this topic, so I have tried to keep this short.

Hey, Penny, I'm going shopping in Salem late in January.  Want to do a meet-up at the Front St. Cafe? *wink*

Gothick

Greetings all,

I'm not sure just where this post belongs, or if it's even appropriate for this Board--but I'll give it a shot anyway.

I am curious whether anybody knows whether Dan Curtis Productions has an official policy regarding fan-produced material that incorporates original DS broadcast material.  I'm thinking here primarily of things such as websites with lots of stills and video clips, and music videos which are usually montages of clips of the original episodes.

Given that the fan music videos have been shown for years at the Festivals, and that I've never heard of a cease-and-desist order from DCP directed against any of the fan sites, my guess is that *unofficially* DCP regards all of this as free advertising for its product.  Does anybody know whether Dan's office has an *official* policy about this?  I ask for a reason, not simply out of idle curiosity.

The only time I can remember there being a problem was when a fan site announced they were going to offer complete episodes as some sort of streaming video.  I don't think they had the technology (or bandwidth!) to accomplish that, but I seem to recall that they got a letter--or were persuaded by other fans that it wasn't a good idea.

Thanks for anyone who can shed some light on this.

Best wishes,

Gothick

Oh, OK.  The one where she's gathering herbs would be on the first "1795" DVD set (I don't own any of the DVDs myself--I have the videos).

I don't think the "jewel of antiquity" one has been released yet--it's from the Count Petofi storyline, which lasted several months (one of my favorite storylines--Count Petofi is a Magician, so his scenes with Angelique are interesting if you enjoy the notion of a Witch vs. a Magician).

Another thing I forgot to say is that in the original 1795 story, Angelique's powers seemed very much like folk Witchcraft (similar to what in the deep south is called Hoodoo or "root doctoring").  When she comes back as Cassandra in 1968, she's suddenly a Satanic Witch and invokes the Devil in her spells.  Lara Parker played up this angle very heavily in her novel, Angelique's Descent.

G.

Happy belated birthday Dear!

In your honor, I'm imagining a naked, smiling Chris Jennings popping out of a birthday cake and coming up to you with a shy, eager smile, asking you to "help him out."

As a skilled professional, I think you know what to do next. *wink*

Best wishes!

Gothick

Of course, I have to chip in my own opinion, and as usual, I irritatingly disagree.

I have just been watching weeks 10 through 13 of 1897. [spoiler]The unfolding of Quentin's curse, Laura's story, Angelique's role in everything, and the occasional scenes of Barnabas doing his vampire thing all works together really well.  Quentin's anguish is anything but campy.  Horrifying though Laura is, Millay brings an element of poignancy to her final episodes.[/spoiler]

Just my not-so-humble opinion.  If we all agreed, what would there be to discuss?

G.

Thanks, dear!  I was stupidly using the Chinese-hat brackets instead of squares.

I'm just a Luddite at heart.

G.

Those family trees would appear to incorporate quite a bit of fannish speculation.  I myself have speculated that Joe was related to the Collins', though distantly enough so that I don't squick at the thought of him dating Carolyn.  I think actually that in the Celtic lands there were traditions of first cousins marrying so the same goes for Chris and Carolyn... I've always thought that the Collins had their background in a Scots-Irish family.  Since they were already here in the US in the 17th century, they were obviously amongst the early waves of settlers.  But I digress...

On the show, in canon, it only says that Joe was a "cousin" to Chris, Tom and Amy.  Because of his closeness to Chris, and his protectiveness to the child, I always thought that cousin here means a close relationship rather than a distant one.  English kin terms are so darned imprecise ...

G.