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Messages - Gothick

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4786
Thanks, again, to all of you for wishing me well!  I had a lovely day.

Jean-Claude, you know you're KIILLING me with that card!

cheers, G.

4787
Current Talk '06 II / Re: quentin in the "present"
« on: July 27, 2006, 04:09:57 PM »
Hi Mscbryk,

I certainly respect your decision not to watch the final months of the series--I've done that with other shows--I only watched about half of the final season of Babylon 5 (although I did finally view my tape of that last episode, mainly because it was originally filmed as the finale of Season 4), and the same with Beastmaster--both shows in which I found my interest failing due to poor writing and poor production strategies.

Despite some spectacularly awful plot decisions, there are some gems in 1840 and PT 1841.  I think the most notable to me are Virginia Vestoff's performance as Samantha which really is some of the best acting in the entire series, and some of Grayson's scenes as PT Aunt Julia Collins (originally a widow, she then became a spinster, poor dear--no wonder she often seemed tetchy!).  I also ADORE Joan's early scenes as Flora, the pixilated romantic novelist.  Hysterical!  Unfortunately somebody or other decided they needed to tone the character WAY down and she soon became yet another version of Joan's iron matriarch character--still fun, but not all that noteworthy.

cheers, Gothick

4788
Current Talk '06 II / Episode 21
« on: July 26, 2006, 09:37:21 PM »
I just love the selection of snapshots from Episode 21 on today's slideshow.  It almost seems like the theme is "Dark Shadows Salutes the Bright Lights of Broadway"!  In the first one, it looks as if Burke and "friend" are singing "I Whistle a Happy Tune" from "The King and I."  The second one could be Vicki and Carolyn doing that big number from "West Side Story," "I have a love" (I'm probably getting the title wrong), while the third one has to be Collinwood's unique version of "How you solve a problem like Maria" from "The Sound of Music."  (Don't you think Liz would be a natural as a Mother Superior.)

I'm not sure which big B'way hits involve telephones so I am at a loss to come up something with the final shot of Burke on the phone.

G.

4789
OMG, Heather, that is too funny!  I LOVE that scene!!!

Thanks, to Midnite and all, for remembering my solar return!  I was almost ten when I started watching DS in June of 1968--YOU do the math!

Bette, you're a genius!  A Grayson Hall marathon is just the thing to make my day perfect!  Heck, a Grayson blitz would make ANY day Heaven on Earth!

cheers, Steve

4790
Current Talk '06 II / Re: Vampire bat
« on: July 26, 2006, 05:02:45 PM »
The original bat in 1795 is what in Ceremonial Magic is often called a Servitor.  It is a being fashioned out of the Sacred Elements in combination with the Will of the Magician and exists to perform specific tasks.  In Angelique's case, she created it to spy on Barnabas and be her eyes and ears where she was not present.  When you create one, you are supposed to be very specific and sensible craftsmen with solid training will usually give a specific date or circumstance for the dissolution or "death" of the creature so it doesn't run around wreaking havoc after it's done what you wanted.  They often take the form of mythological animals such as griffins or unicorns but such beasts as cats or bats are also popular. Somewhat confusingly, there is another tradition of a Witch creating a cat, a bat, a bird, a wolf or other animal as her "Fetch."  It is linked to her life essence and if it is harmed, the Witch can suffer harm as well.  There is a story about this in the Silver John stories written from Appalachian folklore by one of the old writers--Manly Wade Wellman, maybe?  And some folklore was collected in a recent volume on faery and werewolf legends by a French scholar that has been published in English.

When Jeb summoned the Bat from Hell during the Leviathan period, that bat was clearly of demonic nature.  I think that technically speaking, it was a critter of a very different kind from Ange's bat in 1795.  Of course both were played by the same Bil Baird puppet, and I'm sure I have written far more than anyone wanted to know on this subject.

cheers, Gothick

4791
Current Talk '06 II / Re: quentin in the "present"
« on: July 26, 2006, 03:09:29 PM »
Hmmm. Well, maybe when Barnabas and Julia time-warped, even though when they got back everyone SAID it was 1970, it was really... 1975???

What really bugs me, Mscbryk, about the sloppy continuity in this part of the show, is all the hints and clues they gave during the Summer of 1970 about the Java Queen, Gerard's pirate crew, Gerard and Daphne's shipboard romance, Tad and Hallie's closeness to Gerard and Daphne, etc. etc. and then in 1840, NONE of this shows up!  at all!

Of course the same thing happens in the run-up to the 1795 storyline.  Nearly everything we're told about the histories of Barnabas, Jeremiah, and Josette ca. 1837 is disregarded when Vicki arrives in 1795.  Somehow, though, the 1970 continuity gaffe just seems WAY more outrageous to this viewer.

A New England curmudgeon,

G.

4792
Current Talk '06 I / Re: Parallel Time
« on: July 25, 2006, 11:15:38 PM »
I just double-checked, and those last 4 tracks have an asterisk which marks them as "bonus tracks."  I presume they are bonus to the previous release which must be the one you have.

Does yours include a couple of extremely rare photos in the inlay "booklet" (which is only two pages in mine)?  Mine has a shot of Joe giving Maggie a kiss (from a 1968 publicity session from which another picture of the two together has been much more widely circulated), a picture of Quentin in his post-werewolf shredded clothing posing in the drawing room set, shots of Gregory Trask and Magda, and a photo of Liz and Carolyn together from Episode 2--all seldom if ever seen elsewhere (by me).

Best, G.

4793
Current Talk '06 I / Re: Parallel Time
« on: July 25, 2006, 09:59:27 PM »
Sorry to rehash this again, but I just got out my copy of the CD, "Original Music from Dark Shadows, volume 4," dated 1990 on the Media Sound Records label (once distributed by MPI).  I gather this is now out of print.

Anyhow, the final track on this disc, track 28, is a 2.24 minute version of Ode to Angelique arranged for solo piano.  Part of it was heard several times on the series when Bruno would be seen tickling the ivories (as we used to say) with what seemed to be not just his favorite, but his ONLY composition (I think he played it so much because he knew how much Quentin loathed it).

I played the track through and it's just piano--no music box or other sound effects.  Really very pretty music.

Let's hope this track is included on the massive new set Darren mentioned in an earlier post.

Best, G.

4794
Current Talk '06 II / Re: DS Cookbook
« on: July 25, 2006, 09:12:11 PM »
Hi Charles, I have it at home and if I can remember, I will post it in this thread tomorrow.  It sounds like fun but I have never tried it.

G.

4795
Current Talk '06 II / Re: DS Cookbook
« on: July 25, 2006, 06:10:32 PM »
Well, Diana's book is called "I'd rather eat..."  The great lady did not say anything about actual COOKING, now did she???

Grayson had a recipe for a grape dessert that was published in at least two daytime TV mags back around 1970-71.  In interviews she mentioned vitella tonnata and carpaccio (which is sort of like beef sushi), the latter of which she first sampled at Harry's Bar in Venice, Italy, as among her favorite dishes.  She was known for her flair with Mexican cookery but in the Sixties identified herself as a French chef (I think this may have been Julia Child's influence).

Best, G.

4796
Polls Archive / Re: A seriously laughing matter
« on: July 24, 2006, 11:36:41 PM »
Since I just watched it recently, I would go with Nicholas' evil laughter at Cassandra's new "manicure."  (Clever thing to call it!)  It's understated and, if evil laughter can ever sound natural, fairly plausible. 

I do like Angelique's evil laugh but all too often they replaced it with some canned laugh from an actress who sounded as if she'd gotten into Roger Collins' secret Scotch stash.

Special mention has to made of Julia's demented laughter when lawyer Tony Peterson states his belief that Roger is the individual Julia does not want to get his paws on her diary.  I just love the Divine One's laughter from beyond the border of sanity: "Ra-ha-ha-ha-ha-HA-jerr!" Great stuff.

G.

4797
Oh, what sad news!  I'm so sorry that her last years were marred by that hateful illness.

My only exposure to her was on Strange Paradise, where she was more or less a guest star.  She was on for 3 weeks in the first "season" of the show and they brought her back a couple of months later as another character--an actress who was wont to slip into a bit of Shakespeare, or Noel Coward--divine!  It was such a superb role for her and I cherish those shows--I've watched them several times.

I wish I could have seen that local access show she hosted.  Like Grayson Hall, I can imagine Tudi Wiggins reciting the phone book as riveting theatre.

Best, Steve

4798
Current Talk '06 II / Re: Grayson Hall--Better than Heroin!
« on: July 22, 2006, 12:24:38 AM »
Heather, you are a GEM!  I love coming here and seeing those snapshots from Gargoyles.  Thank you so much for including the scene where she rushes into the sheriff's office, goes STRAIGHT for the drawer where he keeps the "emergency liquor supply," grabs the bottle and takes a few good strong slugs.  I think as she's grabbing the bottle the deputy is about to say something like "Take it EASY, Mrs. Parks!"  Great stuff.

Thank you for a bright spot of my week!  Now, if only some good samaritan could add some snapshots of Hoffman at her most sinister and smug... I love the scene where, with gritted teeth, [spoiler]Hoffman complains to Angel/Exis, a propos of Maggie:  "I HATE taking ORDERS from her!"  ANY scene involving Hoffman in PT is truly better than Heroin![/spoiler]

A lifelong Hall-o-holic,

G.

4799
Calendar Events / Announcements '05 I / Re: Illustrations, dahlings
« on: July 22, 2006, 12:13:38 AM »
Thanks, luv, for posting this link... I noticed Connie's comment (I think I must have missed it originally) and went back to look.

The way you showed the "sculpting" of Grayson/Peggy's back bears a strong resemblance to a symbol commonly used today by Witches and Neo Pagans for the Great Goddess in Her aspect as the "Triple Goddess," specifically with lunar associations--the two back-to-back C's (often drawn with a circle in the middle) are signs for the waxing and waning Moon.

Pure serendipity, but, given that some of us routinely refer to GH as "the Divine One," don't you think?

G.

4800
Current Talk '06 II / Re: the hemline switch of 1970
« on: July 22, 2006, 12:07:14 AM »
Forget the hemlines, what about Sebastian Shaw's utterly sexxxalicious leather trousers, seemingly sprayed on!  EEEEEEE-YOWWWWW!

Talk about sights that can cause a strong man to slither in a gelatinous puddle to the floor...

G.

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