Discuss - Infamous Ep #0938

[tragic bat]

There was another, equally campy scene in 1840 where Julia recaps/summarizes the recent plotlines with professor Stokes.  I found both of them to be obnoxious and a poor way to explain shoddy writing.  It seemed more likely that Barnabas was under a spell, given his behavior, and not just being blackmailed. 

Where Leviathins lost me was in the seemingly endless episodes that surrounded the leviathan kids playing with david and amy...certainly not what I would refer to as a mature storyline.  I also couldn't stand Paul Stoddard and his undignified spiral towards insanity inside so many dingy rooms.   The character seemed much more interesting back in the Jason McGuire era.

[michael c]

Dark Lady, I actually love PT 1970.  It is the last storyline with a plot that has a coherent development, and a finale that draws together all the loose threads in a satisfactory conclusion. Granted there are speed bumps--notably Aunt Hannah's abrupt disappearance once Hoffman comes back (she was evidently viewed as a surrogate for Hoffman, as Alexalique's co-conspirator), and the whole Claude North thing (I wonder if Brian Sturdivant just failed to show up for work one day--that's what happened with Craig Slocum).  I also enjoy getting to see Edmonds, Bennett, Thayer and others play such way-out characters.  John Karlen played an alcoholic writer, but Will H. Loomis was still more with-it than his previous characterizations--though I will always love Willie best of all his roles.  The Jekyll/Hyde plot isn't all that interesting to me, but every storyline has something that I feel the urge to fast forward through (in 1795, it's the Vicki/Peter stuff and Vicki's endless trial scenes).

The final weeks of Leviathan are memorable for that awful "Shadow" "special" effect.  Ah well.

as you know I'm also a great fan of 1970PT. it's planned brevity made for a nice, tight, concise little moment. it was visually very appealing and had it's own unique atmosphere. as I recall they even employed a different set of musical cues to heighten the effect of being in a "different" universe.

for me it was the last truly original storyline (if "original" is a word that can really be applied to heavily cribbed material) before the whole thing started to devolve into retreads. except for the brief jaunt to 1995 it was the last storyline/time period I was actually engaged in.

[DarkLady]

I'm so glad to find another 1995 fan! That thread and the 1970s story that followed it had some of my favorite moments. I thought the 1970 mystery plot was very well set up and more or less coherently developed, as Barnabas and Julia try to undo or remake the events that led up to the 1995 disaster.

Regarding Claude North, [spoiler]I think his final scene showed him stabbed to death in the mausoleum--although I don't remember if we actually see his face. It could have been a stand-in.[/spoiler]

Vicky's trial was endless, wasn't it!

[michael c]

by the time Vicki's witchcraft trial commenced most of the 1795 characters were dead or soon would be. it was sort of "denouement". the "action" of the period was largely over and it was just sort of wrapping things up...


since Vicki would be the only character returning to "the present" it was more about building a bridge for her to return in a dramatic way. it wasn't really woven into the overall story arc.

[Gothick]

Dark Lady, when I mentioned Claude North, I wasn't thinking of his demise but more the fact that there was his huge build-up to his appearance and then all of a sudden--he was dead.

I know it wasn't possible for Claude to be played by Thayer David, but IMO the role needed an actor of that kind of presence and depth.

Of course I did think Brian Sturdivant was a sexy little thing... just not the right actor for that role.

G.

[michael c]

by the time they started mentioning "claude north" (every five minutes) the time period was winding down anyways...


it was really much ado about nothing. 

[Gothick]

An even bigger "much ado about nothing" was the whole Java Queen thing, endlessly discussed and speculated upon during the Gerard haunting story in the Summer of 1970.  Complete with pirates who later became zombies, and a cool model of the Queen that showed up in David's bedroom.

Then we go to 1840 and ... zilch.  I think during the big plotting session that supposedly happened over a weekend in Sept. (or maybe even early Oct.) of '70, somebody realized just how difficult it would be to stage a shipboard romance storyline in the confines of the existing studio space.

That wasn't the only major continuity gaffe in 1840, but it was a doozy.

G.

[Uncle Roger]

As the Adventures in Leviathanland draws to a close, its principle failure for me is the lack of any real screen chemistry between Nancy Barrett and Christopher Pennock. Someone else must have thought so too, as they are never paired romantically again.

All of the core Leviathan cult members are killed off. Elizabeth (and presumably Amy and David) are given very selective amnesia. They appear to remember Jeb but have no apparent recollection of anything they did on his behalf.

The show rebounds very well with the parallel time story. Dark Shadows is once again, as has been posted before, a story about a family. True, the Cyrus/Yaeger stuff lacks cohesion but the Tomb of Ligea/Rebecca elements are a new twist to the formula. Lara Parker does some of her best work as the true Alexis Stokes and I was genuinely sorry to see her go.

The 1995/1970 starts off so well, establishing the threat of impending doom. Somewhere along the way, though, it just loses that.

And, after that, it's everything including the kitchen sink.

[MagnusTrask]

Leviathans was great at the start for me just because it took awhile to hit me that we'd never see the creature, ever.  Now it's never great to me, since the suspense isn't there.  At least when they throw the kitchen sink in later, it livens things up.  Barnabas walking and talking without any hint of the real character in there anyplace is alienating.

Interesting DL, maybe Dan thought falling back on classic stories and retelling them was "safer".  It wasn't, unless you only care about kid viewers who haven't seen those stories (so you can steal them safely without viewer groans or resentment), but even kids knew Jeckyl and Hyde and especially Frankenstein.  And would Rebecca interest them?

[michael c]

Marie Wallace said in an interview that to this day she doesn't understand the Leviathan plot...


she just read the scripts that were handed to her but never knew where it was going.

[Uncle Roger]

Well, there you go.

It would have been interesting to see exactly where this story was headed before it got derailed. Maybe a Rosemary's Baby story for Jeb and Carolyn?

[michael c]

as I recall the recently married Jeb and Carolyn was the first (and only?) time we actually saw a couple in bed together on the show. 

[Cousin_Barnabas]

as I recall the recently married Jeb and Carolyn was the first (and only?) time we actually saw a couple in bed together on the show. 

There was a pretty racy scene involving Gerard and Daphne(?) on a bed in 1840.  I still can't get over that that appeared on DS.

[DarkLady]

Yes, I remember both of those bedroom scenes too! The one with Gerard and Daphne was pretty steamy!

A Rosemary's Baby for Jeb and Carolyn would have been amazing! 

And true, we don't get to see the creature, but we can infer a lot about from some very clever effects. So far we know that its touch (or whatever) burns like acid.

[Uncle Roger]

There's plenty of sexual tension throughout the series, with very little actual activity. Aside from that and the Make Me Write Bad Checks hookup between Catherine and Bramwell, most of the "action" seems to take place off screen, if it happens at all.