Adam

[jennifer]

i've always found Adam annoying but in watching him this time have to say that Robert Rodan did a good job
He is annoying because he acts like a child and wants everything NOW! while before i would just FF through his scenes i am now watching them. he doesn't listen,
has fits when he doesn't get his own way etc... the poor boy needs a few too many time outs it would have been interesting as Robin pointed out in another post to see him return more mature!

jennifer

[Daphne]

I think Adam is just like a child...he doesn't understand [along with the rest of the characters] when he does something wrong, or why something hurts him, or how to do things that people who LOOK his age should be able to do. When he throws a fit, it's like a little kid throwing a fit, only he's NOT a little kid. I mean, he has the mind of one, but physically he's not a little kid. I figured it was because Julia stopped the experiment before it was completely done, and so all of Barnabus's brains didn't get transported in2 Adam's head. LMAO! That sounds riciculous typed out, but I always figured that Adam was kinda off-balanced because the experiement didn't completely run. Of course, he certainly got Barnabus's obsession and fierce, selfish need of love [instead of smartness? Maybe because there's more of it in Barnabus's head...hehe]. What a great thing 2 inherit.....I can't wait 4 him 2 start talking!!!  

[kuanyin]

Oh yeah, I despise the character of Adam. But, I in no way blame Rodan for that. I don't get this feeling with every part I dislike, but with Adam I think Rodan was playing him exactly as he was told to. Part of it is the lameness of taking such a familiar story, right down to the kindly blind man who befriends him. And even in the movies, you only get about an hour and half of the monster. With serial t.v. we can have him go on whining about fire and being hurt FOREVER. Eccckkk.

[Cassandra]

I figured it was because Julia stopped the experiment before it was completely done, and so all of Barnabus's brains didn't get transported in2 Adam's head. LMAO! That sounds riciculous typed out, but I always figured that Adam was kinda off-balanced because the experiement didn't completely run. Of course, he certainly got Barnabus's obsession and fierce, selfish need of love [instead of smartness?   

That's a good point Daphne. I was thinking along the same lines here. As we know, Dr.Lang expected Barnabas' life force to go fully into Adam's body, therefore making Barnabas become a new man. Of course we know that couldn't happen really, as there would be no more Barnabas. So I figured with the experiment only half completed, this must be why Adam is the way he is with the mentality of a child.

Now that Im watching these for the second time around, I've noticed different things about Adam too. It must have been a real challenge for Robert Rodan to play because he has to act so clueless all the time, just like a little child. And if you think it's annoying for us just imagine how annoying it must have been for him?  In the beginning Im sure he had alot of fun with the role, especially with all the teasing & food fights with Willie. But after awhile, I could imagine him saying to the directors, " hey, when is Adam gonna learn some new words to say besides music & Barnabas?!"   At least with Sam around, Adam is finally beginning to learn how to say more words.

[ROBINV]

IMHO, Adam was one of those characters whose potential was never completely realized.  He started out really interesting--this huge man-child trying to figure out his world, being "raised," as it were, by clueless Barn and Jul and his nasty brother, Willie.  

I always felt sorry for Adam, looking for love in all the wrong places.  Carolyn sympathized with him, but felt he was just not in her league.  I can just imagine him returning to Collinsport, educated, handsome, wealthy, and sweeping Carolyn off her feet after the death of Jeb Hawkes!

Love, Robin

[Cassandra]

I always felt sorry for Adam, looking for love in all the wrong places.  Carolyn sympathized with him, but felt he was just not in her league.  I can just imagine him returning to Collinsport, educated, handsome, wealthy, and sweeping Carolyn off her feet after the death of Jeb Hawkes!

Love, Robin

Me too Robin. It's too bad they didn't persue his character like that on the show.

[Philippe Cordier]

Oh yeah, I despise the character of Adam. But, I in no way blame Rodan for that. I don't get this feeling with every part I dislike, but with Adam I think Rodan was playing him exactly as he was told to. Part of it is the lameness of taking such a familiar story, right down to the kindly blind man who befriends him.

I've always felt that Rodan got a bad rap.  I really "felt Adam's pain" when he leapt from Widow's Hill last week.  I'm not sure why I don't like the Adam storyline as a whole; maybe because it seems to go on and on.  Last time this storyline ran on SciFi, I commented that I thought it was one of the better interpretations of "Frankenstein" that I've seen.  I still think so, having seen the Karloff version, the Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing version, the Michael Sarrazin version, the Dan Curtis production, the Patrick Bergin/Randy Quaid version (which comes the closest in portraying the creature), and the truly awful Kenneth Branagh version (note:  I'm a great admirer of Kenneth Branagh except for this movie).

None of these movies deals with the major concerns of Mary Shelley's novel.

There is one Frankenstein film that does, however, which I only discovered by chance last year:  Calvin Floyd's "The Terror of Frankenstein,"  a.k.a. "Victor Frankenstein," a Swedish-Irish co-production.  Though low budget, it's the only Frankenstien movie, IMO,  to faithfully render the book, including the appearance of the creature as described in the novel (Quaid's is also an interesting interpretation--and better acted) and Shelley's themes (the limits of science, man as superman, etc.).  As an example of how much of the novel is at least touched on in this film, a very brief scene depicts Victor's and Henry Clerval's experimentation with necromancy.  The late Nicholas Clay (Lancelot in "Excalibur") gives one of the movie's better performances as Clerval.

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