i'd generally be inclined to think it was an imposter as well...

but it does appear to actually be cody. i'm not sure why i'm confident in that but i am.

really?

i'm not getting that from it at all.

Well I think Johnny of course is giving a nod to the old show. And I personally think that is very cool!!

true depp is definitely channeling frid in many ways...the spiky bangs, the inverness cape...but when people freak out that "frid never wore that much makeup!" it's too much to take.

and to think for years i watched this on VHS...

one can imagine how much room that took up. actually it wasn't that long ago that i upgraded the 1966 episodes to the "the beginnings" DVD format.

so i really cannot justify purchasing the series in a third format. but it's nice for the newcomer.

in the parallel-time topic recently someone stated that the writers seemed more concerned with what impact a particular situation would have on that day's episode than whether or not it fit into overall series continuity or made any real sense even within the DS world.

the reason for this being the presence of quentin and angelique in 1970 parallel time. the whole premise of the storyline was an alternate version of the "present" where the characters lead different lives based on making different choices. in some examples they follow through with this setup. for instance "hoffman" could legitimately be a variation on the julia of the present who became, for whatever reasons, a maid rather than persuing a medical career. but it's the same person.

however quentin and angelique don't legitimately have any counterparts in the "present". they are not actually extant. they only exist there through various supernatural manipulations but they are not truly "part" of that time.

however the impact of this storyline comes from their participation. it could be the same case with 1840. the writers just thought the impact would come from angelique's presence, the DUH-DUH-DUH!!! moment so to speak. it didn't have to make sense.

and of course there is the old chestnut that these episode were only supposed to be viewed ONCE. there was a presumption that viewers would simply "forget" the actual progression of events over time and just accept new twists the writers came up with because they was no way to backtrack or cross-reference anything. it's a cynical viewpoint but true.

i think the problem here can be traced back to one name...frank langella.

before langella the history of cinematic vampires was filled with white-faced ghouls. suddenly the count is an open-shirted, blow-dried, disco-era lothario. i still remember when i was a kid my mother and her friends swooning over langella. he changed the game completely.

fast-forward and now we've got the tween 'twilight' twinks. i believe they sort of sparkle, is that correct?

anyways what depp seems to be channelling is the vampire in the classical sense. what's ironic is that much of this discord is coming from people who fancy themselves DS and horror "purists". one would think that they'd be pleased with this return to vampire tradition but people like to complain and here this is what they've chosen to take umbrage with.

interesting remarks about grey gardens and the "hermetically sealed" atmosphere of collinwood.
 
what's notable about the OS is how much of what the show became was simply based on accident and happenstance.

when the series began it was not a "hermetically sealed" world. with the exception of liz who never left the place much of the action was focused in town...the diner, the inn, the cannery...and other offsite locations.

however once the barnabas character became established suddenly the old house became a semi-permanent set. in a cramped studio with probably only room for three or four sets per episode that meant other less important locations got dropped. when crypts and basement laboratories become the main locations suddenly there is less need for diners and canneries.

also when you've suddenly got a main character who can only exist at night the tone of the series changes completely. it becomes a "night show" and sets and locations that represent a daylit world...again in town businesses and so forth...become unnecessary.

and of course the "five characters per episode" budgetary restrictions meant that the cast usually consisted of core members of collins family or other collinwood residents like julia. all of this was happenstance yet in ended up creating an atmosphere of claustrophobia and of a "hermetically sealed" world.

what's also notable about this picture is that there seems to be something diabolical happening in the exchange between barnabas and liz...

i was looking at it with a coworker. i said it looked like barnabas was threatening liz. he said it looked like they were conspiring. neither of which has any precedent in previous tellings of the story. more than perhaps anybody barnabas traditionally has a neutral , even deferential, relationship with liz. they're never in cohorts and liz herself is usually sort of out of it in terms of the supernatural activities happening in her own house.

it's seeming clear that pfieffer signed on to be a new, more participatory liz.