Now that I'm recovering from my near-heart attack after receiving an e-mail message from the administrator that I had been removed from the board (were my comments on the supernatural really THAT controversial?), I've decided to REALLY push things ...

(I was relieved to find the thread saying that the same thing had happened to others, but my heart is still pounding ...)

Actually, my title for this thread is mainly an attention getter  ... While it MIGHT be an interesting topic to debate in light of current world events, I fear that such debate would not be healthy for this board ...

So, I RESTRICT my comments to this sense:  Is Angelique a terrorist, in a non-political sense?  In other words, does she seek to terrorize, cower, and strike at innocents without mercy or conscience to get what she wants?  Whether or not she has a legitimate gripe, does that justify her actions?  Oh boy, that actually probably could serve as a definition for a political terrorist.  Let's just keep the discussion from veering into current events and mention of specific nationalities or peoples ...

One might argue, on the other hand, that in Josette's case, at least, Angelique might actually be doing Josette a big favor -- Josette will not become one of the cursed undead.

Other comments upon viewing yesterday's excellent episodes ...

Strong acting by Grayson Hall as Countess DuPres.  In fact, I think this is some of the best work she has done in the series up to now.  She seemed very natural and real in her concern for Josette, her suspicions, her fears.

Louis Edmonds was superb, which isn't too surprising.

Has Vicki been visited by an Avon saleswoman in her jail cell?  It looked like she had had a makeover.  (Hope I'm not encroaching on Luciaphil territory here ...    )

Three clues ... I think these were 1) a lost ring, 2) the sound of glass breaking, and 3) a storm ...

I love the tension that this builds, but as those who have seen the complete series know, the tension will be much more prolonged when even more interesting clues are presented in the 1897 storyline ... and there'll be a further twist of the screw when we get to 1840, when the ingeniously devised clues even cross the centuries ...

A sense of hopelessness in the face of fate ... that's a feeling that I realize DS often gives us.  No matter what the characters do, if something is fated, it can't be stopped.  (Oh, there will be a breath of relief, of optimism, at a couple of pivotal points in the last few months of the series ...)

It makes me think:  would I want to know future events that may be in store for me?

Vlad

Originally posted by Vlad on the Dark Shadows: General Discussion Forum on February 27, 2002 at 16:15:48:

I would have added this to Luciaphil's original thread, and my costume comment under Happybat's, but with all the activity on the board recently it seems that threads only a week old are already being removed.

First, a question: Is Angelique the maid of Countess du Pres or Angelique? I was surprised to hear that Angelique will be returning to Martinique with Natalie and Andre after Josette is married, so apparently she is the countess' maid, not Josette's personal maid. I must have had Lara Parker's novel more clearly in mind, where Angelique was hired to be a companion and maid for Josette when they were children (and also sisters, but that's another story.

Later in the original series, Natalie says that she knew Angelique's mother, and also that she knew Angelique when she was an "uninteresting child." However, given what we know about Angelique, [spoiler]actually having lived in earlier Colonial times as Miranda du Val, I have rationalized that the older Countess simply referred to the sweet young slip of a thing Angelique as "a child." Apparently Miranda/Angelique was somehow achieved immortality when she was around 20, I'd guess. Any ideas on how the apparently innocent Miranda became the evil Angelique? Lara Parker did a good job investigating the psychological possibilities of how someone becomes evil, but she ignored Angelique's history as Miranda and instead had her born and growing up on Martinique.[/spoiler]

Also, I must have missed some dialogue here -- did Josette arrive in New York after a sea voyage from Martinique, or from Paris?

I must say I'm getting a rather perverse delight in watching Angelique at work here - those eyes are real killers. 

Has anyone noticed how the lighting in 1795 seems to make everyone's faces thinner (hollow cheeks)? I noticed this first with Nancy Barrett, then Vicki, and today with KLS.

This is probably just me, but I always have a hard time remembering that Jeremiah is Barnabas' uncle rather than his brother. For some reason it just seems to me like they should be brothers. Interestingly, that is the way the 1991 revival series did it. However, having two brothers in love with the same girl seems more of a cliche. Maybe that's what the original series writers were trying to avoid.

A note on the men's costumes - Comparing the 1790 costumes in the 1991 series with what we're seeing now, I'd have to say the 1991 series costumes were much more attractive and flattering to the men. For one thing, the pants were - ahem - looser  ; also, the colors are more monochromatic rather than the variegated colors we see in the original series. Does anyone know which series had the more "authentic" men's costumes for this period? The fabrics in the 1991 series also looked more luxurious to this untrained eye. 

-Vlad

Originally posted by Vlad on the Dark Shadows: General Discussion on February 18, 2002 at 18:06:52:

Has anyone catalogued what alcoholic beverage every character drinks in every time period on the show?

I think this would be an interesting exercise in trivia -- and just think what it might reveal about each character!

I've noticed in several posts recently that people have made references to brandy. Not having paid too much attention to this sort of thing during my previous viewings, I'm guessing that brandy is Roger Collins' drink of choice. I'm trying to remember what Naomi Collins liked to nip back in 1795. A complete list should expand beyond the dark-paneled walls of Collinwood, of course - The Blue Whale would open up a whole new vista into the characters' lives - What do Vicki and Carolyn order when they're kicking back or dancing to the one-tune jukebox? Better add the Evans cottage to the list  - Can't remember, did Matthew Morgan like to put back a few, too?

Last Friday, Barnabas hospitably offered Julia a glass of port when she dropped by for a chat about why he was terrorizing her. (Ahh, port and claret - I seem to remember those being mentioned in Jane Austen novels, Gone With the Wind -) A few days previously, I think, Elizabeth offered someone a sherry.

I have to blame Castlebee for getting me going on this - a while back she gave me directions for making a hot toddy - I finally got around to experimenting this past weekend (confidential to Castlebee: It happened again - getting carded, I mean - and is it really necessary to even add water??

And while I got around to buying the necessary ingredients for my hot toddy (now that the cold cold winter - not! - is finally about over [crossed fingers] - though I was happy with my hot mulled wine in the meantime), a memory flashed into my mind about Barnabas and Amontillado. So I checked for that while at the liquor store. I've never especially cared for sherry (though I've sipped it at the source, so to speak, in Jerez de la Frontera, and at countless English department functions in years past), I decided it might add a note of authenticity to my late-night viewings of DS. Needing to economize, I substituted a "dry" sherry for imported Amontillado, and found that - surprise of surprises, I actually liked it now!

Enough of my ramblings - (NOT the effects of imbibing, I hasten to add -- that was last weekend),

-Vlad

Originally posted by Vlad on the Dark Shadows: General Discussion Forum on February 05, 2002 at 18:31:18:

This is rather hazardous, I know, but I was reading the "Dark Shadows Resurrected" book about the 1991 revival series, and Dan Curtis talked quite a bit about his plans for the 1991 series. Since those plans weren't realized when the show was cancelled after only 12 episodes, it seems likely that he would want to take them up again.

One thing Curtis mentioned was that there were several storylines in the original series that he liked and hoped to revamp for the new series. One that he specifically mentioned was the Quentin story, beginning with the two children talking with Quentin on the antique telephone in the West Wing.

That would be a great place (Quentin, West Wing) to start a new series! The storyline has *only* been done once before. It would give those of us who loved the original show the chance to see one of the best storylines in a fresh light; it would be "our" Dark Shadows, yet new.

The show could certainly go off in just about any direction from that point on -

Let's keep our fingers crossed -

- Vlad

Originally posted by Vlad on the Dark Shadows: General Discussion Forum on January 31, 2002 at 19:48:59:

For those who are interested in some of the literary sources that DS drew on during its run, a recent British production of "Nicholas Nickleby" aired on Bravo this week and will be repeated on Sunday during the day (in two two-hour episodes).

DS borrowed from an early section of the novel in its depiction of Rev. Trask's school (Worthington Hall?). I thank whoever pointed this out on the old board during the last airing of DS's 1897 storyline. I had forgotten about this until I sat down to watch my tape of Nicholas Nickleby (it aired during the presidential address Tuesday night and I'm sure it got *great* ratings ). At first I thought, well maybe the DS writers said something like, "Hey, let's make this Rev. Trask's school like the one in Nicholas Nickleby," and I thought that might be the extent of it. As I watched, though, there were clear parallels between DS's Rachel Drummond and Tim Shaw (?) with Nicholas and his sister Kate Nickleby. It was interesting to see that, aside from the fact that it's a great production!

This was another reminder to me of how literate the DS writers often were, and how creative they could be in adapting material from a wide variety of sources and fitting it into a supernatural storyline. Not to mention that someone on the team had even read this early novel of Dickens, which wasn't widely known before the Tony Award-winning Broadway/Royal Shakespeare Company production in the late '70s.

- Vlad