Discuss - Ep #0331

[Watching Project]

Robservations - #331

And if you'd care to look back, the first WP discussion topic for this ep:

Re: Discuss - Ep #0331

[DarkLady]

Welcome, toy soldier!

Barnabas has to hide a very smug grin when Roger tells him about David's nightmare. But his smile vanishes instantly when Roger adds that Dr. Woodard is coming over to give David a sedative. Is this our first on-camera sedative, I wonder?

A coffin, Barnabas laughs, how absurd.

Sarah gives David the little toy soldier with its blue Continental coat. David calls it "nifty" and asks Sarah how she got it--after all, she is a girl. She won't tell David whose toy it was--but it can only have belonged to Barnabas. Telling David that he asks too many questions, once again she vanishes from his sight.

[MagnusTrask]

It never seemed to me that it should be the end of the world for Barnabas, if someone sees his coffin.  It's a pretty big leap from "The Old House has a coffin the basement" to "This confirms that my cousin is a vampire!", unless you already believe in vampires...  Barnabas could say "It was here when I moved in."

 

[dom]

Barn’s latest plan is quickly set into action. “THE BAT!!!” “What bat?” (lol) The scene was a little hokey but it worked for the most part. If only there’d been guano – that would have been proof enough that there was a Bill Baird bat in David’s room. David’s no idiot, he knows it’s Barn’s dirty work. Do you suppose that was Barn?

Does that vertical column in David’s room bug anybody? It bugs me every time I see it.

Dear sweet Roger, lol. He let a bevy of cats out of the bag during his visit to the Old House to talk to Barnabas. So many things for Barn to think about – Woodard, Julia’s lying (again), David blabbing about the basement & Barn rising from a coffin & Sarah’s warning, etc. I loved this scene and it was so well done, Frid stumbled a bit in the middle of it but got his groove back. His physicality was marvelous, his facial expressions practically flawless. I loved it.

Dr. Woodard & David: Great scene. Well acted (Henesy did refer to Willie as “she” twice in one sentence though) and very exciting in a subtle way. I know I say this a lot but I love Gerringer’s acting and I especially liked the tenderness and sensitivity his Woodard shows toward David in this scene. No wonder Barn was alarmed when Roger mentioned Dr. Woodard. The Doc could (at this point) turn out to be David’s second greatest ally, Liz being #1.

Liz and Dr. Woodard to the rescue!. Liz’s fierce protection of David’s best interests is one of the main reasons why she is my favorite character.

The one thing I am having a little trouble with is the fact that after all that has happened at Collinwood and the Old House, why doesn’t anyone believe in ghosts? Were all the ghostly happenings explained away at some point, like the sobbing ghost actually being Liz, etc?

David & Sarah: Another good scene as far as content. Oh, Jeez, another doll, oh, okay, toy soldier (I refuse to say action figure, lol). I’m pretty sure I remember to whom the toy soldier belongs. I don’t think Sarah’s doll or the toy soldier possess any talisman type powers, but instead serve as distractions to would-be evildoers.

Batman got no credit today. I wonder if the opening scene was a retake because the bat pole showed up again in the shadows. Would they have really let that show up twice?

[DarkLady]

Dave Woodard should have had kids of his own. He's very protective of and tender toward both David and Sarah, even though he hasn't met her. He talks to David as if to an equal--the only way to deal with kids, IMHO.

[spoiler]Although, considering his ultimate fate, it's probably just as well that he doesn't.[/spoiler]

[alwaysdavid]

When Elizabeth confessed to Vickie about Paul, she revealed she was the sobbing woman.

[Janet the Wicked]

It never seemed to me that it should be the end of the world for Barnabas, if someone sees his coffin.  It's a pretty big leap from "The Old House has a coffin the basement" to "This confirms that my cousin is a vampire!", unless you already believe in vampires...  Barnabas could say "It was here when I moved in."

True, but wouldn't you think it a triffle strange that your cousin didn't have it removed? Wouldn't you begin to wonder why you never see this guy in the day time?

All right. This family has no TV. At least we never see one. But "The Fearless Vampire Killers" came out in 67. Wouldn't you think at least somebody in that family would have seen it? And all that literature. They just have no clue about vampires. Come on!

[dom]

Someone reported here not too long ago that the writers approached the story (the show?) as though the vampire literature we know had never been written. Not that we, the audience, could have known that. I don't know if this was substantiated.

[MagnusTrask]

True, but wouldn't you think it a triffle strange that your cousin didn't have it removed? Wouldn't you begin to wonder why you never see this guy in the day time?

All right. This family has no TV. At least we never see one. But "The Fearless Vampire Killers" came out in 67. Wouldn't you think at least somebody in that family would have seen it? And all that literature. They just have no clue about vampires. Come on!

In the long run, I guess it's a lot safer to "prove" there never was a coffin.   Down the road, things could happen which cause people to think back on the coffin, and make them put two and two together.   But just considering the present and immediate future, it's still a big leap to "Aha!  Vampire!", maybe partly because of countless vampire movies.   You'd look a bit ridiculous accusing someone of being a vampire-- they'd say you were watching late night movies too much.   And really, just imagine considering accusing a real family member of vampirism, in real life.   You wouldn't, probably.   You'd stop yourself no matter how good the evidence.

Someone reported here not too long ago that the writers approached the story (the show?) as though the vampire literature we know had never been written.

Thank you dom-- I've wondered whether they did that, for decades.

[Midnite]

Someone reported here not too long ago that the writers approached the story (the show?) as though the vampire literature we know had never been written. Not that we, the audience, could have known that. I don't know if this was substantiated.

That doesn't hold up with what we saw on the show because much earlier in ep #4, Carolyn teased Vicki that Roger would turn into Dracula at the stroke of midnight.

[MagnusTrask]

That doesn't hold up with what we saw on the show because much earlier in ep #4, Carolyn teased Vicki that Roger would turn into Dracula at the stroke of midnight.

That example really stands out, though.  Wasn't it the only time?   Besides, no discussions would have happened yet about how to handle the characters' knowledge of vampires, since Barnabas wasn't envisioned yet at that point.

[Midnite]

Wasn't it the only time?   Besides, no discussions would have happened yet about how to handle the characters' knowledge of vampires, since Barnabas wasn't envisioned yet at that point.

Post Barnabas, I recall [PT] Hoffman getting her hands on a book that told her everything she wanted to know about vampires (but was afraid to ask ).

[MagnusTrask]

Post Barnabas, I recall [PT] Hoffman getting her hands on a book that told her everything she wanted to know about vampires (but was afraid to ask ).

Yes, and that's how they chose to deal with the subject on-air, as an area of obscure supernatural knowledge about a phenomenon in the real world, rather than as a pop culture cliche that everyone knew from TV and films.  That was just the right way to handle it, I think.