Discuss - Ep #0382

[Watching Project]

Robservations - #382

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

Re: Discuss - Ep #0382

[DarkLady]

FAREWELL, KITTY CAT!

One of the best bits of dialogue ever:

Abigail: I think that Josette has lured Jeremiah away! You are blind to the devil’s work!
Naomi [dryly]: If the devil has blinded me, Abigail, I find it curious that he lets you in on all of his plans. [YOU GO, GIRL!]

Naomi's gown of pearl gray with darker gray trim is very nice, but not one of my favorites. Abigail wears only one or two plain gowns and covers her hair with a cap, even though she is unmarried and doesn't have to. (I guess Naomi is the exception to the rule.)

Abigail finds Vicki in her room and refuses to leave the room before Vicki does. After all, it's Abigail’s house and she can go where she pleases and when. She stays behind to give the cat a talking-to about its evil ways. She turns her back for a moment to ransack Vicki’s dresser drawers for anything incriminating. Suddenly there is a flash and a bang and a puff of smoke and a long wailing cry. When she turns around with a shriek, Joshua is sitting on the bed. He is totally disoriented but manages to catch his fainting sister in his arms.

Downstairs, the countess has taking over grilling Vicki when Abigail enters with Joshua. He orders everyone except Naomi out of the room. Naomi asks Vicki to go to the kitchen to get some broth for Joshua. The moment everyone has left, a brief but revealing domestic scene follows. Naomi gently steers Joshua to a chair by the fire, then sits opposite him, leaning forward to study his face anxiously for any sign of pain or distress. Are you all right? she asks gently. Unconsciously revealing his trust in her, he replies quietly, The important thing is that I’m here now. Tell me everything, just as it happened.

[dom]

I thought AM did an excellent job in this episode. I also liked her look, it had an 'innocent' quality to it. A lot of good lines in the scene between Bennett & Blackburn as DarkLady noted. Vicki was lucky that Joshua's return prevented Abigail from finding the family history book. And again when she & Natalie find the charm bracelet with Vicki's 20th century clothes. Can you imagine the consequences? BTW, is satan a typical charm for a 1967 charm bracelet? I don't see Abigail & Natalie being in cahoots. I keep expecting Abigail to accuse Natalie of being in league with the devil because she reads the tarot. Trask is from Salem -- not good.

Just think, if Barn had told the true story of Barn & Josette, Vicki may have been able to do something to change things. She would have at least know that Angelique was the witch.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

This is one of several 1795/96 eps that were infamously edited when they were shown on Sci-Fi - and not because of any glitches in the master tapes. In this one, everything from the point Abigail calls out Joshua's name after he reappears on Vicki's bed right up through Abigail fainting in Joshua's arms was cut.    Why? Well, only that "certain someone" who "tweaked" the eps for Sci-Fi knows.    But thank heavens we have it all on the VHS and DVD releases. 

[MagnusTrask]

Many think a cheap special effect is worse than no effect at all, even of cutting it would confuse everyone and ruin the story.   I think Joshua's reappearance worked, unlike when he changed the first time.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   From that standpoint, that's what's perhaps most strange about the edit because the special effect is completely intact in the Sci-Fi version - it's just the majority of Abigail's reaction to Joshua's reappearance that's been removed.    It's an odd edit. (But then so are the changes in other Sci-Fi eps where the only thing that's been altered is the background music.)

[MagnusTrask]

Someone just fiddling around in order to justify his job, and not look as if he's doing nothing?

[dom]

Perhaps they needed to shave off a few seconds for a logo spot.

[alwaysdavid]

Vickie comes in with packages wrapped in brown paper and twine. She says they are from the postal service but did they deliever packages in those days and wouldn't it be more likely that they would habe been shipped in by the shipping company and in wooden crates.  I seem to recall that paper was fairly dear in those days. 
I love how the cat flees the room everytime Abigail comes in. When Josh does reappear, it is revealed he has been gone for seven days. Too bad he cannot remember his time spent in cat life.