Discuss - Ep #0887

[Watching Project]

Robservations #887

[Lydia]

What exactly did Oberon and Haza do to Barnabas?  It must have been pretty powerful magic, since it worked on a vampire.  I'm a bit worried about the mechanics of what's planned.  The beings that are to come are linked in the thoughts of Oberon and Haza and hidden in their loins (the usual thanks to Robservations for supplying me with the exact words) but only the spirits of Oberon and Haza, and not their loins, are supposed to accompany Barnabas.

Julia needs to get a dress with pockets to stuff that diary and pen into.  But she's got a bag that would also do the job, so I suppose that the words she has written about Barnabas feel like the closest she can get to him right now.

So Julia's been hearing 1897 conversations since she came back from 1897?  Very strange.  I understand why she heard 1969 conversations in 1897: she never was fully in 1897.  But I would have thought she would be fully in 1969 now.  The I Ching is a mysterious business, however, so I accept strangeness, and move on to wondering what conversations Julia has heard.  It would have been frustrating for her if she had to listen to the under-house-parlormaid talking with the scullery maid about that handsome new footman when she wanted to hear about Barnabas.  But she struck gold today, although the conversation between Magda and Charity/Pansy was highly suspect.  What's this about Magda being good friends with Barnabas?  Would Magda even have met the new and improved 1897 Barnabas?  And how could Edward have seen Barnabas and Kitty going to the Old House together?  I could have sworn they went separately.  Something seems to have been lost in translation between 1897 and 1969, or else the I Ching was playing a prank on Julia.

Reading over this post, I see myself as obsessed with carrying things and leaving things behind.  First the whatever-it-was hidden in the loins, next Julia's diary and pen, and finally pieces of Julia in 1897.  There may be some meaning to it, but I suppose it's just the usual problems associated with moving between time periods.  Maybe that's the real reason why Julia hung onto her diary: she was still traumatized from her time travel.  My grandmother used to say, "Three moves are as good as a fire."  Maybe Julia heard that, too.

[MagnusTrask]

Haza has Triskelion badges on her robe, sort of, that symbol with the three running legs joined in the middle.   Since Star Trek used this too, I imagine Haza suddenly tapping one of the badges to request an emergency beam-out, though that's a Next Gen thing... not funny I know, I'm just free-associating.

Beings are latent in their loins.    What an odd thing to say about oneself.

Goodbye, real Barnabas.  We won't hear from you again for a long time.   I have in my notes: "Some look on JF's face".   This might have been the moment of transformation.

I keep imagining the robed guy introducing himself with, "I am Merle Oberon!"

The Leviathans only go back 2200 years?   I thought they were here before human beings.

Where do Carolyn and the family think Barnabas has gone?

If anyone wonders why I keep referring to the Leviathans as snakes, and some do, it's because of that multi-headed snake on the cairn.

[Gothick]

I think this may be one of my all time favorite episodes of DS.  The cryptic exchanges at the beginning between the transfigured Barnabas and the two weird Leviathan Priests--the evocative gnomic utterances of the dialogue, and the intimations of powers that pre-dated the Earth's own Primal Age--were elements we had never seen before on DS.  While some felt the show had gone right round the twist, as a viewer in 1969 I was very excited by the unveiling of these new elements.  I'm presuming that I must have already been reading some Lovecraft because I recall not finding the concepts as baffling as they must have been to those who had never read the Eldritch Squire of Providence.  It was a surprise to me a month or two later to learn that many fans bitterly disliked the new storyline.

Grayson and Nancy are two of my all time favorites on the series and the chance to see them sharing so many scenes together is a rarety.  I love how they play these dialogue-heavy scenes--so naturalistically, and with Julia treating Carolyn as a confidante, which is a change from how the two interacted when last we saw them together.  Although, come to think of it, Julia was seen offering Carolyn a lot of emotional support during that dreadful period when Carolyn thought her Mother was dead--this may have been when their friendship really began.

I also love the scene where Grayson is reacting to the overheard conversation between Magda and Pansity.  Just fabulous stuff.  And then there's the way Julia says the word "DIVINE."  Gotta love it!

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The captures for this ep have finally been added to Robservations. The easiest way to access them is by clicking the link in the first post.

[Taeylor Collins]

YAY! We are on the eps I have! YAY! I am headed to watch! I can't wait yall!

[Robot_Quentin]

I think this may be one of my all time favorite episodes of DS. 

Ditto. I too was probably one who would've sent in my dislike at the current storyline in the next few weeks' episodes. [spoiler](It was all good after it turns out Barnabas is still good!!!)[/spoiler] But at first I was totally digging the inexplicable EVERYTHING from this time shift back to the present. Dennis Patrick is a joy back in this period too!! His "promise" to the Leviathans came out of the same left field (for me) as Eve being part of the 1795 time line! Totally bizarre, but intriguing at the same time.

[Lydia]

Grayson and Nancy are two of my all time favorites on the series and the chance to see them sharing so many scenes together is a rarety.  I love how they play these dialogue-heavy scenes--so naturalistically, and with Julia treating Carolyn as a confidante, which is a change from how the two interacted when last we saw them together.  Although, come to think of it, Julia was seen offering Carolyn a lot of emotional support during that dreadful period when Carolyn thought her Mother was dead--this may have been when their friendship really began.

Yes, I was thinking as Julia and Carolyn were talking that Carolyn and Maggie never became close the way Carolyn and Vicky did, and that I'd never before noticed this closeness between Carolyn and Julia.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The Complete This Phrase / Fill In The Blank(s) topics for this ep have been posted (including some, uh, "amazing" captures of Julia). They're backdated to the 19th and are currently on Page 1 of the CTP/FITBs-Y4 board beginning with this topic:

Episode #0887

- but they'll move on once I post more of the delayed topics...

[MagnusTrask]

When I got my tapes in 2002, and reached this episode, it was fascinating to me.   It seemed completely appropriate after the success of 1897 to step up the scale of the story from just dangers to Collinsport, to dangers to the world.   I had no memory at all of any of this from childhood.   DS seemed to be transcending itself, or exceeding itself.   I had to strain to try to understand what these new beings were-- from the lines, it seemed equally possible that they were from the extremely distant past, the extremely distant future, or even another planet.   In fact the past seemed least likely to me then.

[spoiler]The problew isn't in the premise or in how the story started, but in the lack of a payoff.   If you keep throwing suspense at the viewer and don't deliver anything later, you're breaking a contract with the viewer.[/spoiler]

[Taeylor Collins]

I don't have this episode but I wanted to let Gothick and Magnus know I really enjoyed your posts!

I also absolutely adore this episode of Dark Shadows! I find it so beyond intriguing, wierd, wild, far out and one of my favorites of DS as well! LOVES IT!

Also Lydia I think that Oberon and Haza are far beyond a mere vampire!  

[Midnite]

The beings that are to come are linked in the thoughts of Oberon and Haza and hidden in their loins (the usual thanks to Robservations for supplying me with the exact words)

Hmm, I'm pretty sure Oberon said the beings were latent in their thoughts, but it's no big.

I also absolutely adore this episode of Dark Shadows! I find it so beyond intriguing, wierd, wild, far out and one of my favorites of DS as well! LOVES IT!

What Taeylor said! 

An unfortunate blooper-- as the stranger (played this one time by Mart Aldre-- another DS performer lost to AIDS) walks purposefully through the woods, you can see quite a bit of the edge of the ground cover.

[Lydia]

Hmm, I'm pretty sure Oberon said the beings were latent in their thoughts, but it's no big.

Yes, that sounds more correct.

[IluvBarnabas]

It's wonderful to see Carolyn again, after so long. Ditto Dennis Patrick.

I too wonder how Julia is able to hear conversations from 1897 now that she's back in 1969. Maybe she's been playing around with the I Ching again and landed on a diagram that was an eavesdropper on an era gone by.

I enjoyed the Leviathan saga. Barnabas reverts back to bad guy form for quite a bit now. It's actually quite a refreshing change even though I love 'good' Barnabas.