And Even Yet Another New Slideshow

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It seems as if Roger is in charge here.  Not too sure I like that.  Why is Elizabeth not more authoritative?  I suppose it has to do with the fact that Carolyn is in the hospital, and that has drastically reduced the character...  Still.  I don't like Roger making family decisions.

The plan was for Roger to be much more than just in charge. But more on that down the road...

[DarkLady]

MB, thanks so much for today's photo! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

You're welcome, DarkLady. Many more photos of Alec Newman as Barn will be showing up because, perhaps not surprisingly, more official photos of him have been publicly released than any other actor/character in the pilot. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

As for the new sequence, the script explains it all as:

INT. VICTORIA'S BEDROOM - COLLINWOOD - NIGHT

Blue moonlight filters through the window as Victoria slips on her nightgown. She's just pulling back the bed-covers when she stops, as if SENSING SOMETHING. Curious, she goes to the balcony doors...

EXT. VICTORIA'S BALCONY - COLLINWOOD -. NIGHT

She steps out and looks across the dark grounds. CUT TO:

BARNABAS' NIGHT-VISION POV.

Watching Victoria from a distance. Eerie, deep blue.

But nothing like that plays out in the pilot. What does happen in the pilot is actually far more interesting. However, before I get into what does actually happen, I need to track down an extra I want to include in my post to better illustrate it. But I will throw in two bits of trivia now:

1) The sequence was the first that Alec Newman shot after being cast as Barnabas.

2) It's the only sequence in the pilot in which Barnabas is seen with fashionable stubble. And that's because TPTB didn't like the look after they saw it on film. But time ran out and they were never able to reshoot the sequence.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

So, what does actually happen in the pilot? Well, later in the night after Vicki has already gone to bed Barnabas actually shows up at Vicki's bedside, and it's at that point that today's quote -

Page 36 - Barnabas: 'Josette. You've come back to me.'

- is delivered by Barnabas (though it is scripted in other circumstances that I'll wait until tomorrow to get into). However, as Barnabas prepares to bite Vicki, as in similar scenes in both the original series and the '91 DS, he can't bring himself to go through with it. In the pilot Barnabas cries out mournfully, startling Vicki awake - but he flees from the room before she sees him. But the really interesting bit comes after Vicki has awakened and looks to see if anyone is in her room and what the audience sees is Barnabas hanging upside down and clinging to the exterior wall of Collinwood above Vicki's bedroom window and out of her sight (very much in the style of Louis Jourdan's Dracula in PBS' 1977 Count Dracula). And out there Barnabas laments "Josette" before the scene comes to its end.

And to help people who haven't seen the pilot to better picture Barnabas in this scene, here are two shots of Alec Newman from when he played a vampire on NBC's Dracula this past November:

Sure, Newman is almost ten years older, has a different hairstyle, and is wearing different clothes - but the shots are a good way to approximate Barnabas' look in the scene, right down to his fashionable stubble. 

[Gothick]

Alec if anything is even sexier now than back in 2004!  That was a great role for him in DRACULA.  Wish the character had gotten more than one episode; nice to think he got a free trip to Hungary out of it.

Thanks for this awesome narrative, MB.  Again, I have no recollection at all of this scene from the screening.  I'm starting to wonder if I had dozed off.  BTW I am very happy to report that I have finally gotten a diagnosis for my sleep apnea and am at the end of day 3 of sleeping with a CPAP.  And the change, for the better, is already phenomenal.

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And again the latest chart -

- provides a clue as to what's coming up next...

[Josette]

But the really interesting bit comes after Vicki has awakened and looks to see if anyone is in her room and what the audience sees is Barnabas hanging upside down and clinging to the exterior wall of Collinwood above Vicki's bedroom window and out of her sight (very much in the style of Louis Jourdan's Dracula in PBS' 1977 Count Dracula). And out there Barnabas laments "Josette" before the scene comes to its end.

That sounds wonderful!! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

What's also interesting is the audience is completely left wondering who the hell Josette is. And they won't find out until nearly the end of the pilot. In the original series, she was already a well known character. And right after the costume party in hoDS Barn explains Josette's story to Willie. And in the '91 series at least she was seen in a portrait right after Barn's encounter with Vicki. But here the audience is totally left in suspense for an extended period.

[DarkLady]

Thanks for those great frame grabs of Alec Newman on Dracula, MB! I'm with Gothick--if anything, he's even sexier now.   

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The script sets up the new scene as follows (as we backtrack a tiny bit):

BARNABAS' NIGHT-VISION POV.

Watching Victoria from a distance. Eerie, deep blue.

EXT. WOODS - COLLINWOOD - NIGHT

Barnabas stands hidden in shadow, his red eyes STARING AT VICTORIA as he MURMURS to himself.

BARNABAS
Josette. You've come back to me.

Torn by desire, his lips pull back, revealing razor-sharp fangs. He's about to take a step forward when he hears...

And it's at that point that today's quote comes up:

Page 36 - Sarah (O.S.): 'Barnabas.'

And it's interesting that they took Barnabas' line about Josette coming back to him and put it in the entirely new scene of Barnabas' aborted attack on Vicki. But then it makes perfect sense that they did.

And as we'll see, even though what's about to transpire bears some similarities to a scene from the pilot for the '91 DS, there are also some differences, including some neat special effects, had the scene actually been shot and included as scripted.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

"Josette... You have come back to me." is the definitive line that sums up the Barnabas story arc of Dark Shadows, so I'm glad it was also included in the pilot. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Before we get to today's quote, it needs to be mentioned that the script explains -

Barnabas turns, stunned to see SARAH, the little girl in David's portrait, standing directly behind him.

- and then Barnabas asks today's quote:

Page 37 - Barnabas: 'Sarah?'

[Mysterious Benefactor]

After Sarah delivers the quote for the 8th -

Page 37 - Sarah: 'Don't hurt her, Barnabas.

- the script indicates -

He reaches for Sarah, but when he touches her, she suddenly DISSOLVES LIKE GHOSTLY SMOKE.

- and that's why Barnabas delivers today's quote:

Page 37 - Barnabas: 'Wait! Don't leave me...

Had the scene been shot, Sarah's dissolve seems like it would have been a really neat special effect. But then, even if the scene had been shot, there's no guarantee that effect would have been among the ones that were actually completed before time ran out... But still, it's fun to imagine what it could have looked like... It certainly would have been different from anything we'd seen on DS before. 

[Gothick]

Again, I'm impressed at just how many plot points were foreshadowed or introduced in this screenplay.  I know I've asked before and you said the screenplay was written as an ordinary (40 min.) length TV episode but it seems as if it would have been much more effective with an 85 minute running time (for a two hour air slot)--old school feature-length.

But, as you would say Misterioso darling, alas...

G.