In most traditions, the ghost of a person who has suffered violent death at the hands of another displays unusual powers, particularly if said ghost returns to right the wrong(s) that led to her murder.

I felt that Samantha's story, and the scene on Widow's Hill, revealed WHY Joanna came back and with the form and powers she had, as well as her true nature as--One of the Living Dead!!! (bum bum BUM!)

G.

Oh, good Heavens!  I didn't mean that the fan *legally* owned the rights to "The House"-- I meant that s/he had a tape of it that was scheduled to be shown at a couple of the festivals (so far as I know, this never happened).

Darren, I really hope you can present and speak about your research on the NoDS footage, even though I imagine at this point the thought of that painful topic may seem less than pleasant to you!

Best wishes,

Steve

I just love how as Miranda clutches at her Voodoo doll doing her darnedest to give Judah one royal hex up the wazoo, the playdoh with which the fetish has been coated starts to fall off, revealing what's clearly a 1960s Barbie Doll underneath.

Although often reported as a "blooper," I see the crumbling away of Miranda's doll as a wonderful symbol for the decay of her powers as Judah comes thundering in.  As for the Barbie Doll, obviously, Julia brought it with her when she went traipsing up the lil ol Stairway through Time.  I just know Jules never went anywhere with out her pet Barbie. Yeah, that's the ticket.  And then, of course, Julia thoughtfully loaned the fetish out to her best friend, Angelique.  "Trust me, darling, I know you'll be needing this," smiles the attractive redhead, as she secretly wished for the 999th time that her last packet of Marlboros hadn't run out 3 months ago.

(btw, in one of the Innovations Comics Dark Shadows books, they printed a letter from a fan who quoted from her 1971 journal entry describing her disbelief at the shoddy production values in this very episode--wonderful stuff)

trying not to smirk too obviously,

G.

Oh, and of course, we'd have to get someone to portray The Divine One (Ms. Hall to you).

G.

The ratings were going up when the cancellation was announced.

As I have said before, it's my opinion that the plug was pulled because DC no longer wanted to do the show (and I personally think others wanted out as well).  I know this will never be proven, but it's really the only thing that makes any sense.  Particularly when you consider that the new movie started shooting roughly one week after the final episode was taped.  That just seems like too much of a coincidence not to have had the involvement of the production team.

G.

Darling MB,

Darren is showing NoDS clips at Tarrytown next year???

Gods, I just *may* have to attend--even though the Roger Davis alert is set to a truly terrifying ORANGE level.

My Mom also hated DS, but she grew to hate it long before the movie ever came out.  It was the same as what others have reported--every time she saw the show, there was something really gruesome going on.  Mom still has a lot of sensitivity towards violence.  A couple of years back, my Dad and I were watching a TV broadcast of the restored Spartacus, and after a bit she asked if we could turn it off, because it was so violent and it was upsetting her (I think she actually retired to her bedroom at this point).  I was surprised, given how stylised and balletic the violence in that film was compared to what's done in routine police dramas today.

Mom actually banned me from watching DS back in 1969, and watching it in secret was the first real act of parental rebellion I can remember.  I was a real goody-two-shoes as a child... the nastiness was festering beneath the surface of course... heh heh...

G.

As regards the symbol in the Astrological Font, which I finally got around to examining today, it's the old alchemical symbol for Earth.  A symbol similar to it is also used to represent the Earth sephira (Malkuth) on the Tree of Life in Qabalah.

Why it was adopted for use as a prop for the Judah Zachary character on DS, I have not a clue.

Perhaps it was meant to be a relic of the Happy Meal of Baal???

G.

IIRC, there were a couple of unresolved storylines at the end of 1897. The ultimate fates of Magda, Count Petofi, Edward, and Charity were never resolved.  It may have been that there were thoughts about doing a follow-up story further down the road with some of these characters.

I remember a charming interview Grayson did late in 1970 in which she was talking about Magda, her favorite character, and said something along the lines of "I insisted my gypsy girl stay alive."  It was implied that she might be given the chance to play her again.  Barrett got to reprise the "Pansity" persona with Letitia, and I've often wondered whether Grayson might have played a Magda-type character in 1840 had Julia not become so popular at that point.

I find the pacing of the final weeks of the 1840 story to be very dodgy.  Both Barnabas and Julia are absent for some weeks running (I know in the case of Grayson she had an unexpected furlough when her father-in-law died).  The spellcasting sequences with Gerard and Daphne are vacuous and repetitive, and so is a lot of the material involving other characters who are around.

I think one of the biggest surprises is how a certain storyline involving Samantha plays out--despite a string of botched scenes leading up to it, the denouement is really quite satisfying.

G.