The Leviathan Episode's

[Taeylor Collins]

I just started my Leviathan DVDS the other day.  I have always loved this storyline, and wondered if there we're any other fans who liked it as well.  I thought that it had a DARKNESS that no other storyline ever featured in it.  I liked the "evil" Barnabas and it seemed like Jon enjoyed playing the new evil Barnabas.  I know there are some problems with the storyline but I truly liked it.  Am I the odd one out?  Just curious.

[Alondra]

I've always considered the Leviathan storyline my least favorite with the exception of the first Laura storyline which I hate with a passion, but this last time seeing it on my DVD's it was pretty good. Though it will never be my favorite storyline there are a lot of things in it that I found more interesting this time around.

Alondra

[Gerard]

I'm one who enjoyed the Leviathan storyline.  I remember watching it during DS's initial run, and always hoped that it would be the next episode where they would finally show what that thing actually looked like!

Gerard

[Mark Rainey]

In spite of its myriad problems, I've always liked the Leviathans. When I was a young ¢â‚¬Ëœun, we didn't get cable till 1969, and it was only then that I was able to start watching DS regularly. The Leviathans episodes were just starting up, and back then, as far as I knew, that was what DS was all about. I still have a real soft spot for the storyline -- and as a fan of Lovecraftian fiction, my appreciation of that aspect has grown over the years.

[IluvBarnabas]

As a child, the Leviathan storyline kind of went over my head, but watching them now as an adult, I really appreciate it a lot more.

In a way it sort of reminded me of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with the characters we have grown to love turned into emotionless, unfeeling zombies. [spoiler]Except in this case, in the end, the folks at Collinwood eventually return to their normal, emotional, caring selves.[/spoiler]

There was a certain twist in there that I definitely loathed (and a lot of others on here hated it as well) but all in all, the Leviathans, while not the best storyline, was certainly very interesting to watch.

[loril54]

I have never really liked the Bad Barn after he was good. In some ways it showed how weak Barnabas was, I always wondered how and why Barn didn't fight it? I know it must have been good for Jonathan not just to play only the good Barnabas.  He didn't seam to be protecting  his family. The main thing that I didn't like was the fact the Barnabas was so mean to Julia. 

I also thought it was too long. The bratty kids really got me. It was just to much. I wanted to strangle the kids more than once. It just to much.

[Gothick]

Hey Taeylor,

I'm a HUGE fan of Leviathan.  It is my second favorite storyline (second only to the Cassandra Collins story in 1968 which was when I started watching, so it will always have pride of place in my heart).  I'm a major Julia Hoffman fan and I love all the fun stuff they gave Grayson to do in this, especially in the first two months of it.  It kind of went downhill rapidly after that, I think because Dan Curtis ordered them to wrap it up in a hurry because of all the hate mail the studio was receiving about it.

In my opinion the real reason why fans back then hated this storyline was because people could not accept Barnabas as a bad guy.  Fans also complained that there were two many scenes "down at that weird antique shop" but IMO the scenes at the shop are among the highlights of the story because Sy created such a wonderful atmosphere in there.

I think DC kept wanting to "push the envelope" with the show.  The original Barnabas storyline in '67 was quite outrageous by the standards of daytime television back then.  I believe that DS was the first soap opera as well to feature shirtless male stars (Don Briscoe, Joel Crothers, David Selby).  With Leviathan and its Lovecraftian overtones (really far more Gothic than sci-fi, despite what some critics and fan commentators have written), there was a perception that the series had gone too far and alienated its fan base.  You will notice that the PT 1970 story which followed it was much more "traditional" in certain ways (I'm a huge fan of that one, as well, btw).

cheers, G.

[Brandon Collins]

Ah, the subject of a long and heated (as opposed to short and colded?) debate.

I rather enjoyed the story when I watched it on the DVDs, because it was easier to follow and not as broken up like it was on SciFi. It was easier to follow I suppose.

MAJOR detractors where those pesky Leviathan children and all their antics: "I hate her!" "I want your radio David!" blah blah blah. I just wanted to smack them off the roof of Collinwood!

But, Bad Barn was a plus, and as someone else mentioned, his treatment of Julia in this storyline is superb (not for her but for the story). Some of my favorite Barnabas/Julia scenes are from early on when they don't trust each other. And during this story the way he treats her and doesn't entrust her with his secrets anymore, the hurt is visible on her face. But she continues fighting the way she needs to in order to find out what's really going on. Great stuff.

Oh, and there's that other THING that BLARES like a HORN and makes you want to AS()@$&#($&#@R#!~ at the writers, but hey, other than that, the Leviathan's aren't really so bad.

I just wish there was more [spoiler]vamp Megan.[/spoiler]

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I just wish there was more [spoiler]vamp Megan.[/spoiler]

It would have been very interesting if [spoiler]vamp Megan had been allowed to develop along the lines of vamp Angelique.[/spoiler]But alas, Leviathans was winding down by the time [spoiler]Megan got vamped. And in a way it's actually good that Megan was killed off so soon because, even though it was DS' loss, Marie was cast on Somerset in one of her best soap roles (India Delaney) and the soap world was better for it.[/spoiler]

[Joeytrom]

What I didnt like was the changing of the origin of the Leviathan's

[spoiler]Oberson was the original leader and the Leviathan's were from an otherwroldy dimension.  Then because of fan reaction, they decide to "retcon" the roigin so that Nicholas Blair was always the leader and the Leviathan's were in league with the devil.[/spoiler]

[arashi]

I've been watching these episodes recently on DVD for the first time since my initial SciFi run. I don't really recall much of this storyline when it first aired, or my reactions to it... other than frustration that certain loose ends were not being wrapped up (nor would they be, ever). I'm certainly enjoying it now, and hoping my bleak memories of 1970PT will be... well not unfounded, but not as bad as I remember.

[Alondra]

It would have been very interesting if [spoiler]vamp Megan had been allowed to develop along the lines of vamp Angelique.[/spoiler]

Yes since when [spoiler]Julia and Barnabas offered to try to cure her she flat rejected this, said she loved being a vampire. It would have been great if they had delved more into her reasons for this. But I love the scenes with Willie being given the assignment of staking her, how nervous it made him, how his lip quivered, and how at the last he heroically did the deed. Now if only Barn could have brought himself to say thanks Willie, but no.[/spoiler]

Alondra

[IluvBarnabas]

I'm gonna give Barnabas the benefit of the doubt and say he DID thank Willie....we just didn't get to see it on screen.

[MagnusTrask]

For me, it was the thinness of the threat-- a big snake that conveniently is never seen but only talked about-- and the slowness of the plot.   After the rapid-fire of 1897, I just couldn't take going back to the old soap opera pace, where everything is dragged out and discussed over and over and over.

At some point, fairly early in the plot, it hit me... they're never going to show the asthmatic snake, ever, are they?    They can't, they don't have the budget.    So from then on, I got mad every time they teased us with the horrible creature, trying to make us wonder if THIS will be the day we see it.   Sure, suspense is great, but only if there's something behind it, or else it's a cheat, and the audience is betrayed.

I'd like to see Somerset.

[Taeylor Collins]

I am still really enjoying the Leviathan Eps.  I too like Brandon enjoy the distrust between Julia/Barney.  I also love the altar...and I love the area beneath the altar...very very spooky.    So in his true form the Leviathan being was A BIG SNAKE??  Also the sign of the NAGA is that a word that made up or does it have basis in HP LOVECRAFT'S novel...which I really want to read.