I've been revisiting some of the 1991 remake episodes of our beloved series.  I was tickled to see that the writers brought back the old notion of a Tarot card identified by the Countess du Pres as "the wicked woman."  As we've discussed on a number of occasions on this forum, there is no such card in any orthodox edition of the Tarot.

I had speculated that the Countess may have been in the habit of regarding one of the standard cards of the Tarot as "the Wicked Woman" because it tended to reveal the presence of a female intent on mischief.  I believe I speculated that the card might have been one of the Queens.

I was amused to see two different episodes in which the Countess exclaimed "the wicked woman!" in the midst of a Tarot reading and on both occasions, the camera showed us which card she had just drawn.  On the first occasion it was the Queen of Pentacles, and on the second, the Queen of Swords.

Of course, there is still a broad streak of anachronism here.  There were no commercially available tarot decks around in the 1780s/90s, and a French aristocrat such as the Countess would have undoubtedly commissioned her own deck.  It would have given the French names for the Major and Minor Arcana.  Pentacles did not come into play on Tarot cards until the publication of the so-called "Rider Waite Deck" (the work of mystic and artist Pamela Colman Smith, working from descriptive outlines supplied by Golden Dawn initiate and master A. E. Waite) in 1910.  A deck created in the 1780s or earlier would like have used coins (deniers) in the suit that eventually became diamonds in standard playing cards and pentacles in most Tarot decks.  This was the case with the Marseilles deck and the popular Swiss "IJJ" deck around 1800--either would have been a suitable prop for the Countess to use.  Instead, however, the production crew provided her with what looks like a typical 1980s "Aquarian Age" type deck, complete with card designations in English.

Well, after all, the show was "filmed on location in Beverly Hills"!

I have to say that this time around, I was more impressed than I expected to be by Lysette Anthony's performance as Angelique.  It's really unfortunate that the breakneck pace of the series, and the calibre of the scripts, did not give her more to do in the role.  I've seen her in UK productions and she's a fine craftswoman as an actress.

G.

Greetings, Cousins--

I was intrigued to see a new entry on Barbara Steele's IMDB page the other day.  Barbara has a role (I think a cameo, really) in something called Her Morbid Desires, the work of LA scene figure Edward Plumb.  A trailer (no appearance by Ms. Steele, unfortunately) can be viewed here:

http://bloodbyte.com/IrenaBelle/HMD_IBFilms.html

It looks, on the basis of this trailer, like a direct-to-DVD production, but could be a fun backdrop to a Halloween party (I forecast an October release date).

G.

I can't view this cousin's links.  The site shuts down my browser whenever I click on it.  I'm sure the art is a kick!

G.

Oh and Lydia--

let's just say it takes a very special kind of man to appreciate the unique blandishments of Buzz.  LOL!

I think Buzz's "hip" lingo was dated for 1966.  The character seems to have been based on pop culture perceptions of the Beat people and "beatniks," such as characters on a now-forgotten but once wildly popular show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.  (Shit, when is THAT coming out on DVD??)

I still suspect that Buzz's hair got recycled when Cassandra appeared on the scene--it's so thick, lacquered, and helmet-like!

G.

My favorite is Grayson, but I freely admit to being WAY prejudiced here.  I just adore listening to her voice... I could literally imagine her making the New York Telephone Directory a HOOT.  I also love her way of pronouncing certain words--"Collinwood" often comes out sounding like "CALLANwood."

Thayer is another favorite because his voice is so distinctive.  Humbert was very good, as was John Karlen.  Alexandra was excellent, too.

There's a hilarious parody of Louis Edmonds doing a voiceover in the Cheep Productions video, Save Our Cemeteries.  When I first saw it, I initially thought it was Louis, but I think it was actually brilliant fan performer Daryl Schaeffer.

G.

I love Buzz, and he loves me.

that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

G.

Hi A. C., Welcome to the Boards!  You'll find plenty of fans of the Jason storyline here.  Several of us rate it as among the very best of the entire series.

I agree that a lot of the Jason shows are more compelling than the Barnabas/Maggie kidnapping shows, and I'll give you my personal reason why.  There was more scope IMO for dramatic tension between Jason and Liz, and Jason and the rest of the crew at the Big House, with the way Jason's scheme played out.  Joan and Dennis had some tremendous confrontations and the material required Jason to be quite devious and think his way out of the various attempts by Liz to sabotage his plans.  It felt as if the two were more evenly matched, and there was also the material from the responses by Carolyn, Roger, Vicki et al to the unfolding situation.  With Barnabas, Maggie and Willie it was pretty much the three of them engaged in a war of nerves in which Barnabas' supernatural powers kept trumping the situation.  There was certainly some fine writing AND thesping in this story but a lot of it also felt repetitive and less dynamic, over all, than the Jason scenario.

Another factor to consider is the shift in Burke's role during this time and the eventual [spoiler]writing Burke out of the show altogether.  Presumably this was done because the writers felt that if Burke remained on the scene, he would sooner or later, in any remotely plausible scenario, have learned Barnabas' secret.  Perhaps DC was also thinking of having a stronger romantic relationship between Barnabas and Vicki than was eventually the case--something more along the lines of the 1991 story.  For this to happen, Burke had to go.  It's significant that by the time Burke was written out, in, what October of '67?, it was obvious to all that Barnabas was here to stay.[/spoiler]

Just some thoughts.  Again, welcome!

G.

In looking at the ratings between the Fall of 1969 and the Spring of 1971, folks have to take into consideration the fact that several ABC affiliates were either dropping DS from their afternoon schedules or moving it to evening timeslots during this period.

I was thrilled when I discovered during the last month or so that channel 7 in Washington D. C. (I believe) was running it around 11 p.m. every evening.  Before the arrival of the videotapes at the end of the 1980s, this was the only time in my life that I was able to watch some of the episodes twice!  Channel 13 in Baltimore was still running it in the afternoons until the very end.

I don't think D. C. "sabotaged" the show.  I do think he had had enough and the need to go into production with Night of Dark Shadows gave him the perfect excuse to end the series.  I do wish they had had the presence of mind to provide a solution to the Stella Young mystery...

G.