A Theory on this Return to 1796

[Joeytrom]

A. Warren Oddson (the artist/timeline solver)from The World of Dark Shadows  had a theory this return to 1796 was a trap set by Angelique to lure Vicky,
Peter, Ben, and Barnabas into a fantasy 1796 to do away with Vicky once and  for all.  

When Barnabas has Ben torch her, Vicky and Peter were able to  escape the trap, but Barnabas had to find a way out, which was his chained  coffin.  Nathan and Natalie were a "fail safe" device in case something
went wrong.  When ben took care of that and chained Barnabas in the coffin,  both returned to where they belonged.

Thus, 1795 was never really changed.

How does this sound to you?

[Dr. Eric Lang]

Well, there's the fact that Barnabas found that note that said "Help me - I am alone" (or something) and it really wasn't clear who wrote it. Barnabas even answered to Julia that the handwriting did not seem to be Vicki's. So maybe it was Angelique who put it there. It's conceivable that once "The Master" sent her back to 1796 she conjured a way to bring Barnabas back to her, but then again, why couldn't she have simply let him out of his coffin in 1796? The Barnabas of 1968 has no more love for Angelique than he did in 1796.

[Afan]

?!? I wonder why the burning of Angelique did not free Barnabus from her spell as it did Vicki?  I believe that we have talked about this before, but it has been freshly brought up.  A has died many times, but it never freed B, but it seems to work wonders for her other victims.  Maybe the spell for making a vampire is stronger??
Afan

[Blue_Whale_Barfly]

It didn't work on Elizabeth though.  She still had her curse after Cassie bit the dust.

[VAM]

A. Warren Oddson (the artist/timeline solver)from The World of Dark Shadows  had a theory this return to 1796 was a trap set by Angelique to lure Vicky,
Peter, Ben, and Barnabas into a fantasy 1796 to do away with Vicky once and  for all.  


Thus, 1795 was never really changed.

How does this sound to you?

Curious Angelique did not have to do anything to Vicki. I thought that anyone who Barnabas (as a Vampire) loves would die as part of the curse-Vicki included. Unless Angelique wanted to escalate things...

[Miles]

I think were reading too deeply into a mini-storyline that has enought continuity problems.  For one, why did Vicki have to tell Barnabas that "there was someone else"?  They never were an item in the 1795 storyline.  Anyway, I just can't buy the whole sub-dimension created by Angelique thing because... well, just because.  It does (sort of) make sense though, but its not supported by any real evidence.  Did barnabas do anything that would have *really* changed time?

[VictoriaWintersRox]

I think were reading to deeply into a mini-storyline that has enought continuity problems.  For one, why did Vicki have to tell Barnabas that "there was someone else"?  They never were an item in the 1795 storyline.  Anyway, I just can't buy the whole sub-dimension created by Angelique thing because... well, just because.  It does (sort of) make sense though, but its not supported by any real evidence.  Did barnabas do anything that would have *really* changed time?

The thing about there being someone else also puzzeled me. Barnabas and Vicki were never in love during 1795. Even if Vicki was told that Barnabas was coming from the future, which she wasn't, Barnabas would already know about Jeff/Peter.

[Cassandra]

The thing about there being someone else also puzzeled me. Barnabas and Vicki were never in love during 1795. Even if Vicki was told that Barnabas was coming from the future, which she wasn't, Barnabas would already know about Jeff/Peter.

Along with that, another thing puzzeled me also.
Didn't Peter/Jeff know all about Vicky and the future since he himself was also there?  Why did Peter act so clueless when Vicky was explaining to him that she went back to her own time for awhile? Then in their last scene together Peter tells Barnabas that he and Vicky will go West and get married.  Then who the heck did she marry before she got whisked back to the past??

[Gothick]

Couple of thoughts about this week's episodes ...

So far as I know, they were the first episodes Dan Curtis actually directed on the show, so he was probably leaning even more heavily on the writers to have the plot go a certain way.

I also think they were giving viewers who had joined  the show during 1968 (the series got a tremendous ratings boost through that year) to get a glimpse of where Barnabas came from with this glimpse of 1796.  I know that back in the day it was an exciting week of shows for me because I had not been watching during the original 1795 storyline.

Warren Oddson's theories about the DS storylines are kind of like Platonic astronomers who kept adding more epicycles to their models of the Kosmos as they sought to give an orderly aetiology for an ever growing list of observed anomalies.  One has to admire the ingenuity with which he attempts to make sense of entire plot developments that underline the plain fact that DS is an out and out fantasy that has no relationship to the real world.

Gothick

[Raineypark]

  One has to admire the ingenuity with which he attempts to make sense of entire plot developments that underline the plain fact that DS is an out and out fantasy that has no relationship to the real world.

Thank you, dear man, for pointing out the futility of trying to force the constraints of logic onto ANYTHING involving Dark Shadows plots.  

I think it's best if we all follow that common advice from DS's own era, and just "go with the flow".....where ever the hell it takes us!!

Raineypark

[scout75]

Barnabas and Vicki were never in love during 1795. Even if Vicki was told that Barnabas was coming from the future, which she wasn't, Barnabas would already know about Jeff/Peter.

You know, it's funny...

Even though I knew it wouldn't happen, there was a moment when I was hoping that Vicki would wise up and figure out the truth--that 1795-6 Barnabas and 1967-68 Barnabas were one and the same.

After all, the one thing all three Vicki's had in common--besides chronic cluelessness and selective amnesia--was what the perpetually victimized governess referred to as a "close relationship" with Barnabas.

Don't you think she'd love to tell straight-arrow Burke "It's-Just-Your-Imagination-Vicki" Devlin about all the recent craziness in her life? That is, if the selective amnesia hasn't kicked in and she's forgotten all about the old boy...