The incredible doppelganger

[kuanyin]

It's tiny! It's HUGE! It can be killed! Ummm, does any of this "explanation" strike anyone else as a last minute crazy idea that nobody thought would make it to the final script? Can't Barney think of ANOTHER story other than the cousin from England? Didn't he stop to think that if they KNEW Barney was a vampire, that there never WAS a branch of the family in England? Maybe saying he was from Australia would have been better. And why didn't Pansy Faye recognize him?

Overall though, two highly enjoyable episodes today. Man, I LOVED Judith and Pansy's interchange about Trasky. This was the great lady at her best. "I'm sure he spent HOURS trying to find it" (Amanda's soul). Hee, hee, hee....Is the portrait of Amanda getting bigger?

[Cassandra]

Kuanyin wrote:

Can't Barney think of ANOTHER story other than the cousin from England? Didn't he stop to think that if they KNEW Barney was a vampire, that there never WAS a branch of the family in England? Maybe saying he was from Australia would have been better.

I think it was only logical that he say he's from England since it was written in the family history book that the original Barnabas Collins left for England in 1795.  And since he's a direct decendant of the original Barnabas he probably felt that this explanation would be more believable. (even though it is getting a bit played out)

And why didn't Pansy Faye recognize him?

Because Pansy/Charity had only met the "vampire" Barnabas and now that he has been cured, he is no longer the same as he was before. He is human now.


Cassandra[/font]

[Josette]

There was a foreshadowing of this plot.  Quite a while ago, I think it was when Laura was threatening Angelique, she made a doppelganger of herself, was apparently destroyed, but really wasn't.  I couldn't say anything then, but it's fun to have this ability demonstrated and then later put to such a wonderful use!!

However, what I can't figure out, is that she apparently had to capture his image in the mirror to create the doppelganger.  As a vampire, he wouldn't have been able to cast an image in the first place, so. . . .

[Cassandra Blair]

However, what I can't figure out, is that she apparently had to capture his image in the mirror to create the doppelganger.  As a vampire, he wouldn't have been able to cast an image in the first place, so. . . .

Unless at the time the doppleganger was created, Barnabas had completed enough of the treatments to show up in a mirror.  Of course, Dark Shadows was never terribly consistant with this aspect of vampire lore.  I seem to remember Angelique showing up in the mirror several times when she was made a vampire by Nicholas Blair. 

[Cassandra Blair]

Forgot this:

And I so agree with you Kuanyin, on the Judith/Charity scene.  It's cool to see the lady back with a vengeance (pun intended).  Her line about Gregory spending hours searching for Amanda's soul was priceless.   Love seeing Judith and Charity getting to be friends, I wonder if they continued this.  And I can't wait to see what Judith has planned for Greggy-poo!

[Philippe Cordier]

Love seeing Judith and Charity getting to be friends, I wonder if they continued this.  And I can't wait to see what Judith has planned for Greggy-poo!

You haven't seen this before, CassandraB?

Re:  Judith's revenge -- you are in for a treat!

      

(Excuse the overkill on the smileys -- I just discovered the hidden cache!) 

[Ben]

Can't Barney think of ANOTHER story other than the cousin from England? ... Maybe saying he was from Australia would have been better.

LOL!  I can just hear Barney, with the help of Mr. Frid's distinguished accent, trying out different rouses:

"I'm a cousin from Montana and just sold my cattle ranching business."

"I'm a cousin from California, and I've come here to Collinsport to open a new fern bar."

"I'm a cousin from Texas, and I've come here to buy the Blue Whale and turn it into an urban cowboy bar."

Maybe cousin from England, as unimaginative (and often preposterous) as it was, was the only plausible choice.   

[LoveAtFirstBITE]

"I'm a cousin from Scotland who's come here to put lipstick on your sheep."

[Philippe Cordier]

I haven't had time to write any comments on the recent doppelganger events, but the doppelganger motif is one that has always fascinated me ... I believe Poe made use of it, though I don't remember specifically in which works, as did Dickens in many of his novels (e.g., there is an eerie scene in "Our Mutual Friend" in which the main character -- whose name escapes me -- literally views his double laid out on a slab in the morgue) ...

I'm kicking myself because I thought I caught something important on DS -- a few episodes before the revelation about Barnabas -- that raised a question about the whole upcoming doppelganger possibility -- but I was viewing late at night, practically falling asleep, and didn't write it down and have since forgotten what this could have been ...

I am curious about the connection DS made between mirror magic and doppelgangers -- as Angelique's mode of creating Barnabas's. It certainly makes sense, but I wonder if this was original to DS, or if the idea is common or appears elsewhere ... does anyone know?

I discovered some old notes of mine that refer to an early medieval treatise, "De Configurationibus qualitatum," by Nicole Oreseme (1320 - 1382) that is supposed to discuss mirror magic, but I haven't been able to look into this further.

[HobbiesDS]

 
What I thought was odd about the re-emegence of Barnabas was that he asked Aristede for help when Aristede was passed out on the ground himself! Why would he ask Aristede for help anyway?  *I'm a few episodes behind, but didn't Barnabas know what he was doing the whole time?  Or was that just part of the act??

Love this storyline, but I'm getting ready to go back to 1970.

HobbiesDS

[Philippe Cordier]

What I thought was odd about the re-emegence of Barnabas was that he asked Aristede for help when Aristede was passed out on the ground himself! Why would he ask Aristede for help anyway?  *I'm a few episodes behind, but didn't Barnabas know what he was doing the whole time?  Or was that just part of the act??

It didn't make much sense, and the only thing you'll hear later is Barnabas telling someone of his ordeal and saying he had seen someone, he thought it was Aristede, as he was stumbling from the tomb ...

[Miss_Winthrop]

What I thought was odd about the re-emegence of Barnabas was that he asked Aristede for help when Aristede was passed out on the ground himself! Why would he ask Aristede for help anyway?

I think Barnabas really was sick at this point. The experiments to turn him human hadn't been perfected and he was somewhere in between being cured or destroyed by them.  I can't really see it as an act he's playing out. I'm so glad he's back.

[jennifer]

However, what I can't figure out, is that she apparently had to capture his image in the mirror to create the doppelganger.  As a vampire, he wouldn't have been able to cast an image in the first place, so. . . .

Unless at the time the doppleganger was created, Barnabas had completed enough of the treatments to show up in a mirror.  Of course, Dark Shadows was never terribly consistant with this aspect of vampire lore.  I seem to remember Angelique showing up in the mirror several times when she was made a vampire by Nicholas Blair. 

that is true CB but if you watch other vampire shows or movies
they change things all the time. On Port Charles Caleb
is quite busy on those black satan sheets and i always thought
vampires were dead everywhere!(not even Viagra would help!heehee ) excuse me i have been stuck in the house a week
with the flu and then there is this horrid weather! good points made by all!

jennifer