And Even Yet Another New Slideshow

[Gerard]

I forgot all about that, MB! Imagine, in '91, watching all that on the "mini-series" premier in 14 minutes before we're informed that Sophia has announced to Dorothy, Blanche and Rose that she's, in the next episode on Saturday night, is moving in with Phil and his wife, even though Sophia doesn't like Phil.  I guess I'm just so atuned to the original with its long build-up (even though I thought it was ridiculous, after that, that Barnabas would show up dressed in 60's garb and pass as a 60's guy one day after his release).  Still, the '04 pilot seems so fantastic.  WB really dropped its hat on this one.

Gerard

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I was just looking back at a post I made a few days after having seen the pilot at the '05 Fest, and apparently I completely forgot about a major difference between what we're used to seeing when it comes to accessing the secret room, how the script describes accessing the secret room, and how the secret room was actually accessed in the pilot:

Once Willie and Kelly get to the mausoleum, the same "lion's head watches the dove" clue for finding the secret room comes up. But rather than the lion's head being the way into the secret room, it's the dove.

Oops!    Buy hey, it's been nearly 9 years since I've seen the pilot and I only saw it that one time. And apparently no one else working on the slideshow seems to have remembered that tidbit either, so I'm not alone.    Which brings up something I'd definitely like to make clear: if anyone who's seen the pilot notices that we fail to mention anything that is different about the pilot vs. what may be explained in the script, by all means, please point it out.    Normally I will mention that there's something that none of us remembers or is sure about. But if we've all completely forgotten about something altogether, well, it's kind of hard to mention it. 

[Cousin_Barnabas]

That makes a lot more sense, actually.  Since "dove" is the last word, the dove should be the way they access the secret room.  I am glad they fixed it in this version.  It's something that has bothered me since I was young.

[Gothick]

I can't recall the lion/dove poem being a part of the original 1967 episodes depicting Barnabas' release.  What I remember is [spoiler]Willie was trying to get one of the three sealed sarcophagi in the Mausoleum open and had tied one end of a cable to the ring in the lion's mouth, thinking I guess to pull open the sealed lid with pressure from a crowbar and the other end of the rope which was somehow secured to the coffin in question.  Instead, what happened was the ring in the lion's mouth slowly came loose, activating the machinery that opened the secret panel.  Which, in and of itself, is an occult occurrence, given that thing had not budged since the 1830s (in the original storyline---later, of course, revised to the 1790s). [/spoiler]

I think the lion/dove poem was Sam Hall's contribution to the re-staging of these events in hoDS.  Correct?

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Yes, the lion's head/dove clue was first introduced in hoDS. Then it was reused again in the '91 DS - and then again in the '04 pilot.

Now that I've reminded myself (thanks self  ) that the dove was the way into the secret room in the actual pilot, I remember thinking it was a neat twist because we weren't seeing the whole ring-in-the-lion's-head for a 4th time (counting the original) (plus, as Cousin_Barnabas points out, with "dove" being the last word in the clue, it makes more sense that the dove is the way in). I wouldn't have thought I would have forgotten the twist because it made such a big impression on me back in '05 that when I posted my thoughts about the pilot I listed it as one of the major changes to what we've been used to seeing. But time passes, and, well, short term memory is not what it once was.    I'm just glad that we have older posts like that to revisit to refresh our memories of what we've posted in the past about things like the '04 pilot...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Before Willie is scripted to ask today's quoted question -

Page 19 - Willie: 'What were these?'

- the script indicates that:

Kelly zippos an old wall torch near the sarcophagus while Willie stares at the DRIED BLOSSOMS weaved around the chains.

However, as is often the case in the pilot, Willie doesn't ask the question as scripted - he asks "What is all this?"

[Gothick]

Fascinating.  I wonder whether the dried blossoms were supposed to have been garlic flowers?

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Funny you should ask because you just might get the answer very soon...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

As far as today's quote -

Page 19 - Kelly: 'Garlic. Probably some kind of burial rite. (to Willie) Less talk, more crowbar.'

- goes, the "Less talk, more crowbar" part was dropped, and what Kelly actually says otherwise is "Garlic. Probably from some burial rite" - though that's not much different from what was scripted.

Things are going to start to get extremely interesting in this scene from this point on, though, because we're going to begin to see things that have never been done in any other version of DS - things that even depart completely from the script - things I most definitely did not forget about.    But more on that starting tomorrow...

[Gothick]

I'm glad your memories are so strong MB.  I can't recall this scene at all.  I might have been distracted by whoever I was sitting with, though.

Very cool touch having the garlic flowers interwoven with the chains...

G

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I have to confess that part of the reason I remember much of it is because there are production stills featuring different aspects of what's about to happen. Not shots from the actual scene, but shots of what went into it. And I'll be sharing several of those in the next two days, so all will become clear soon...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The way the script describes the next section of the scene is:

Willie pries at the chains, the links BURSTING APART in puffs of rust-red powder. Throwing the chains back, Willie puts his shoulder against the heavy lid. It rises on ancient hinges, the flickering torchlight illuminating

A WITHERED CORPSE INSIDE.

At that point Willie is scripted to deliver today's quote -

Page 19 - Willie: 'What the hell...'

- and then the script goes on to describe:

Face and eyes are sunken, hands folded on its chest, clutching at a

JEWEL-STUDDED CROSS.

Her greed overwhelming, Kelly reaches into the coffin and grabs for the cross, the BLOOD from her gashed hand spattering the corpse's dead lips. She turns and holds the cross up to the torch, studying the jewels, when

THE EYES OF THE CORPSE SUDDENLY SNAP OPEN.


However, things don't quite work that way in the pilot. For one, there's a great deal more dialogue. Upon Willie prying apart the chains, grunts of exertion at opening the sarcophagus, and then Willie gasping in shock at seeing the withered body:

Kelly: "Will, it's gotta be in here with him. Take this kit and help me look."
Willie: "I'm not touching that!"
Kelly: "He's dead. Help me check his pockets."
Willie (high pitched): His pockets? You check his pockets!"
Kelly: "You can make yourself useful. Search the walls."
Willie: "Fine. I'll search the walls.

And Willie does indeed find something (I honestly don't remember for sure what - if someone else does, certainly feel free to post what it is), at which point he calls out:

Willie: "Here!"

And after seeing Willie struggle:

Kelly: "Get your crowbar on it!"

But at some point during Kelly's searching through the sarcophagus while trying to get Willie to help, just as in the script, blood from Kelly's wound has dripped on the corpse's lips and, well, the "corpse" does indeed revive.

What will happen from there? Well, it may not be what you think. And then again, maybe some of it will be. But that will all wait until tomorrow...

And just to give you an idea of what the corpse looks like, here's a close shot of the head of the dummy that was created for the scene and one of the dummy fully dressed:

[Gothick]

Very cool photos, MB! And excellent descriptive work and dialogue transcription, as always.

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Because there's much that we have to cover regarding the script vs. the pilot, I'm going to break things up into two posts. First up, the script:

THE EYES OF THE CORPSE SUDDENLY SNAP OPEN.

Before Will can react, a strong hand with a black stone ring bursts out of the coffin, GRABBING WILLIE BY THE THROAT. As Willie CHOKES, he's pulled into the coffin itself. Kelly turns at the sound, STUNNED by what she sees.

And it's at that point that today's quote -

Page 20 - Willie (CONT'D): 'Help... me...'

- is scripted to take place. And from that point the script goes on to describe:

With a SCREAM, Kelly bolts for the entrance, but the stone door suddenly SWINGS SHUT. Trapped, Kelly turns back to see Willie's body slump to the floor, the dark figure of the

VAMPIRE

silhouetted in the torch light, already out of sarcophagus. We only see the Vampire in flashes of feet, hands, blood-red eyes... with a burst of SPEED he's upon her,

SLAMMING

her against the stone wall. Strong HANDS shove Kelly's head back, revealing her pulsing JUGULAR. She squirms, helpless against his strength, as his lips pull back, revealing

BONE WHITE FANGS.

The Vampire's eyes ROLL BACK LIKE A SHARK'S, then he SINKS HIS FANGS into Kelly's throat. As Kelly convulses, she DROPS the cross to the stone floor, her BLOOD speckling it red...

FADE OUT.         

END OF ACT ONE

But don't get too attached to much of that because the actual pilot is VERY different...

[Gothick]

That's hot stuff, MB.

Are you at liberty to reveal who wrote that? 

I wonder if the people behind the Jonathan Rhys Meyers DRACULA series had seen the script or the pilot...  I will leave it at that for now.  As I posted while watching the episodes, there were several story references that were a clear nod to events and personalities in the DS 'verse.

G.