The Leviathan Episode's

[arashi]

Thanks Mark! I'll definitely pick up a copy the next time I'm at the book store.

[Gothick]

Hi Arashi,

if you have the chance, some day you should read The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by Lovecraft.  It includes some flashbacks to the 18th century that are far more historically realistic than what was attempted on DS--the closest link, I think, apart from a Professor Stokes-like character who gets involved, is that it was an inspiration (via the film adaptation, The Haunted Palace) for the film Night of Dark Shadows.

I personally find Lovecraft's fiction quite addictive.  The Lurker at the Threshold and The Thing on the Doorstep are great yarns both of which have a DS sort of atmosphere about them.  I guess you'll either love it or hate it.  It's difficult to be indifferent to HPL!

G.

[arashi]

if you have the chance, some day you should read The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by Lovecraft.  It includes some flashbacks to the 18th century that are far more historically realistic than what was attempted on DS--the closest link, I think, apart from a Professor Stokes-like character who gets involved, is that it was an inspiration (via the film adaptation, The Haunted Palace) for the film Night of Dark Shadows.

Thanks! I absolutely LOVE the Haunted Palace, I'll be sure to check that out as well. I think a trip through Amazon might be in order.

[ProfStokes]

Stories I'd recommend most for the DS fan would be "The Dunwich Horror," "Whisperer in the Darkness," "Call of Cthulhu," "Haunter of the Dark," and "Dreams in the Witch House." Also on my general recommended reading list are "The Thing on the Doorstep," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," "At the Mountains of Madness," and "The Music of Erich Zann"

Besides the stories Mark has named, I recommend "In the Vault," "The Picture in the House," "Rats in the Walls," "The Hound," and "Herbert West--Reanimator."

ProfStokes

[Mark Rainey]

I personally find Lovecraft's fiction quite addictive. The Lurker at the Threshold and The Thing on the Doorstep are great yarns both of which have a DS sort of atmosphere about them. I guess you'll either love it or hate it. It's difficult to be indifferent to HPL!

"The Lurker at the Threshold" is actually one of August Derleth's "posthumous collaborations" with Lovecraft -- meaning that Derleth wrote the novella based on some notes Lovecraft left for a tale he never fully realized. It's an enjoyable enough story, but it's 95% Derleth, whose horror work is generally considered rather pedestrian. I doubt it was in any way intentional, but the Leviathans actually have more in common with Derleth's expansions of the Cthulhu mythos than with Lovecraft's own work.

[arashi]

I was watching the end of disc 3 in boxset 19 tonight, when I came across this episode.

[spoiler]Barnabas and Julia are discussing the whereabouts of Megan Todd's coffin, or Parallel Time, or SOMETHING. But that aside Barnabas at this point in the storyline is a vampire again. For the duration of their conversation, Julia is wearing a rather large silver cross.



Later in the episode she pulls it out and SHOWS it to Barnabas to show him that she is protected against Megan's vampiric impulses..... and yet the cross has absolutely no effect on Barnabas, who is, I repeat, a vampire again.

[/spoiler]

I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but I mean.... COME ON!

[Willie]

I just started watching the Leviathon story line myself, and so far it's just very slow moving.  That Alexander kid is about as awful as it gets - is he actually talking baby-talk while trying to sound ominous?  It's painful.  And that dream Elizabeth had with David in the funhouse made me embarassed to be watching.  I'm not totally turned off by it, but it's definitely one of the weaker story lines.  Coming as it does after all the very exciting events of 1897, it's a major shift in the pace of the show and not a good. one.  But it's not nearly as bad as the whole Turn of the Screw thing that took place prior to 1897 and it's not quite as boring as the middle part of the Adam storyline, so I'm still somewhat satisfied.  Amanda Harris is the only bright spot so far.

[PennyDreadful]

[spoiler]Later in the episode she pulls it out and SHOWS it to Barnabas to show him that she is protected against Megan's vampiric impulses..... and yet the cross has absolutely no effect on Barnabas, who is, I repeat, a vampire again.[/spoiler]

I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but I mean.... COME ON!

 Yeah, that gaffe was so obvious too.  [spoiler]Barnabas was affected by crosses before and after this scene in the series.  You'd think *someone* would have said "Hey wait a minute.  Shouldn't Barnabas turn away or something?"  They could have just had Julia tell him she had a cross instead of showing it to him.[/spoiler] 

[Gothick]

Thanks for that correction, Mark.  I was actually thinking of "The Haunter of the Dark."  I realized last year while looking at a Lovecraft anthology given to me by a friend some years ago that I had NEVER READ that tale, so I promptly sat down and read it.  I absolutely adored it so you would think I would have been able to remember the title!  Love the notion of the Shining Trapezehedron which seems to have been "borrowed" into the Buffyverse, as well...  (I had to find the proper title of this tale by running a google on Shining Trapezehedron.  Yes, I could remember that unwieldly phrase, but not the title of the story.  My mind is an odd place to live.)

As for that other incident, [spoiler]I know it's mega-naff but I like to imagine that clever Julia had designed a cross that was friendly to Barn but repelled all other vampires![/spoiler]

Cheers, G.

[Mark Rainey]

Nothing wrong with living in an odd mind, G. I rather enjoy mine.

"Haunter of the Dark" is in my top two or three favorite horror stories of all time. It's incredibly atmospheric and actually right spooky. Interestingly, Lovecraft wrote it with his sense of humor fully intact, as it was a response to Robert Bloch's "The Shambler From the Stars," in which young Bloch killed off a character based on Lovecraft. HPL returned the favor with "Haunter," and then Bloch followed it up with "The Shadow From the Steeple," in effect creating a "Trapezohedron Trilogy." Alas, the Bloch stories are not very good. He was just coming into his own at the time.

[Sunny_Collins]

I actually like the leviathan episodes. We get to see Carolyn working for once in her life!

However I think the writers could have devised a better plot line for Quentin's return, giving him amnesia was quite ridiculous. It didn't fit in with any of the plot.

It was very interesting to see barnabas and Julia at odds with each other, he under the leviathan influence and behaving uncharacteristically towards Julia, she bewildered and hurt by his strange reaction to her.

AlsoThe return of Carolyn's father was an unexpected surprise, I wish more could have been done with this character instead of having him killed off by Jeb.

I liked the Todds a lot. They were a good couple trying to start their own business. They loved each other and were very happy. It's really tragic the leviathans had to ruin their lives. 

When Jeb transforms Barnabas back in to a vampire, why is Barnabas so forgiving and friendly towards him after this? you'd think he'd be furious in the least and behave very hostile towards Jeb.

I always thought the leviathans were aliens. So if they're not aliens, what exactly are they? 

[PennyDreadful]

 Nope the Leviathans are not aliens.  They're ancient, powerful, extraplanar beings - sort of like demons without the fallen angel aspect.  They are a powerful evil force from beyond time and space.

[IluvBarnabas]

However I think the writers could have devised a better plot line for Quentin's return, giving him amnesia was quite ridiculous. It didn't fit in with any of the plot.

I didn't mind the amnesia angle so much as the fact they gave Quentin so very little to do after [spoiler]Olivia/Amanda was killed off.[/spoiler] After that he was designated to do little more other than to be a shoulder to cry on for the remainer of the storyline. I hated that.

AlsoThe return of Carolyn's father was an unexpected surprise, I wish more could have been done with this character instead of having him killed off by Jeb.

Yes, I would definitely have loved to have seen more of the relationship between Carolyn and Paul, and also between Paul and Elizabeth once [spoiler]she was free of the Leviathans' control. But I understand Dennis Patrick was off to do a movie around that time so they just decided to kill Paul off.[/spoiler]

I liked the Todds a lot. They were a good couple trying to start their own business. They loved each other and were very happy. It's really tragic the leviathans had to ruin their lives. 

Yes what happened with Philip and Megan was a tragedy. They were just two ordinary people who wanted to live their lives as they wanted to and be happy....and then the Leviathans had to come along and enslave them and destroyed the promising prospects they had. Whenever I watch [spoiler]Megan siding over Michael the monster over Philip, that was bad enough, but it was even worse when Megan was willing to just sit by and watch Jeb railroad Philip over the murders of Paul, the Sheriff and Inspector Guthrie. That was the point to me that the Todds' marriage had reached the point of no return, at least as far as Megan was concerned, she remained loyal to them at the expense of herself and her marriage. At least Philip eventually realized the Leviathans' cause wasn't worth it. He wanted to save Megan and their marriage (too bad she never came around to this point of view).[/spoiler]

When Jeb transforms Barnabas back in to a vampire, why is Barnabas so forgiving and friendly towards him after this? you'd think he'd be furious in the least and behave very hostile towards Jeb.

I don't think Barnabas totally 100 percent, forgave Jeb, but he did come to realize that Jeb really loved Carolyn and she him, and for Carolyn's sake and her happiness he knew he had to make at an effort to at least be civil to Jeb.

[arashi]

Thanks to everyone who recommended Lovecraft stories to me. I was in the bookstore recently and hunted out the only Lovecraft book in the whole damn store. 2 floors of books, this store is HUGE, (the local Borders in Bangor) and the "horror" section consists of 4 shelves in 1 case. So, so very sad. Especially in Stephen King's hometown.

Anyhow, I was up in the late wee hours of the morning and decided to crack the book. You could now say that I'm hooked. I made it through Cool Air, The Hound, and The Lurking Fear before I realized that dawn was steadfastly approaching. Once I finish this I'll definitely be looking for his other works. Thanks so very much again! 

[jennifer]

it wasn't my least favorite storyline Early Laura and PT do that
for me but i did start to hate "groovy" Jeb and that awful
jacket and those bratty kids Alexander being the worst
i just don't think it can compare to 1795 and 1897
and the Haunting by Quentin and the chris Jennings story

jennifer