I believe the stakes Bram Stoker describes in the novel Dracula were around three feet long, actually.  I recall seeing a documentary somewhere or other where the presenter brought one out and said Hollywood and Hammer had modified it to what we are used to seeing because something that big would look "ridiculous."

One of the few bits used from the novel in the new BBC film version was that the stakes were more like the ones described in the book than we usually see.  Of course they were used in a totally over-the-top manner...

This isn't the first time in history, by a long shot, that a dead dictator's grave has been desecrated by a vengeance-seeking mob.  I believe it was in fact by Parliamentary order that the dead bodies of Cromwell and Ireton, the leaders of the 1640s "English Revolution" that ended in the decapitation of Charles I, were exhumed and hung from a gallows to exact a posthumous punishment.

G.

Didn't Luciaphil write a hysterical story on the old Lighter Side BB about how Bob the Bartender was such a cheapskate at the Blue Whale, he refused to buy any new 45s for the jukebox and just let the same 3 songs play over and over again?  I still crack up every time I think about that.

G.

Sandor sez "Ah!  what fine Wheeeesky!  Surely no one will notice one less bottle..."

What a cute contest, Mysterioso darling.  Only you could be "casually reminded" of a thread from four years ago...

G.

So, yesterday I was watching some 1897 episodes... not actually watching whole shows but just fast forwarding around to various scenes... and I saw one of the early scenes between Tim and Amanda.  And Tim actually informed Amanda that her face was full of "wisdom and innocence."   I just about died.

I couldn't think of anything that could top Trask's line about Abigail's "kindly, loving face" but this did the trick.

G.

I hope Buzz returns soon.  Who else can help us recall those infinitely poetic words of wisdom from the Great One:

"If you feel it, SIT IT!"

G.

Hi Taeylor,

They never specified exactly what the Leviathan creature looked like, but IMNSHO it resembled the hideous, transgalactic, nightmare terror of "Yog Sothoth" as revealed in the climax of the 1969 film of The Dunwich Horror.  A lot of the plot of Leviathan was inspired by The Dunwich Horror, with some bits of The Call of Cthulhu thrown in for good measure.  (These were both originally short stories by H. P. Lovecraft)

Naga, female Nagini, is a Sanskrit word denoting a spiritual being taking the form of a snake.  If you check Wikipedia there's probably an entry about it.  My talk of Jeb's personal Naga is my own little joke, I'm afraid...

cheers, G.

And, Mysterioso darling, don't forget to add that as soon as Roger put the phone down from uttering that immortal line, he turned around to see Jeb himself standing at the door, grinning in an uncomfortably smug manner!

Great scene... which I've only watched, oh, 19 or 25 or 39 times...

G.

Just reading further back in this thread and amused to reflect that the individual to whom MB referred kept telling the actors not to worry about flubs and poor performances because the show would go out the one time and then be forgotten--like Kleenex.

I cannot help laughing because now in 2007 EVERY EPISODE has been made available in both DVD AND VHS.  And I have a friend who downloads the shows on a file sharing site somewhere or other.

That's awfully long lasting Kleenex, doncha think?

Fascinating too, that awful as 1968 purportedly was, some of us who had the whole thing on tape felt compelled to collect EVERY disc of the DVD release *throws mental glance at bookshelf back in bedroom*

G.