I don't know whether or not to start a new thread for this, but I have to say I'm just groovin' on the gorgeous captures the Mysterioius One posted for Episode #638!  For some reason, Julia's expressions make me think Grayson should have done a softcore version of, oh, I don't know, "Gloriana, She Wolf Matron of the SS"!  And Vicki's expression in the third one looks as if she's feeling Jeff's fingers somewhere OTHER THAN her cheek!

Then there's the fact that Vicki looks like a Mardi Gras grotesque in the fourth capture--that couldn't have possibly been deliberate, could it? hmmm? *maintains poker face*

I love that shot of Julia and Chris together in the Leviathans show.  Funny that there are dramatic scenes involving the two of them in both the '68 and '69 shows today.

kudos once again to the MB!

G.

Well, I just watched some episodes from early Dream Curse (1968) last night (just got 'em on DVD--I righteously dig the format, and that menu sequence is just Super Groovy! outasite! but I digress) and I nearly gagged at how self-absorbed Barn came off.  Here's Julia about a pin's breadth away from a complete nervous breakdown (she actually screams at him "Why can't you leave me alone?!?!" and I wanted to stand and cheer) and all the man can do is moan about how he needs her to do the Experiment NOW.

You would have thought that with all his talk of how wonderful it is to be a human being, he would have tried on some compassion for size.  He was so extremely self-involved, I found myself thinking of Isobel's husband in Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (the novel, not the film version).

G.

Thanks so much for posting this good news, Midnite!  I've enjoyed the episodes of Rockford I have seen in the past, and it would be great to see these shows, especially the ones with Lara and Thayer.

Michael's comments on Davis and his episode are hysterical!  Perhaps Davis is cantering for the coveted new "ubersexual" title.

G.

The period that really gets me is during the Summer of 1970; he's a vampire, but Julia isn't treating him, and there is no reference to cattle attacks, or ANYTHING!  Same goes for 1840 after the end of a certain subplot.  I know in the case of the latter storyline, Jonathan Frid flatly refused to do anymore onscreen fanging, which I think partly explains the introduction of the abrupt cure scenario by Angelique, even though she had tried and failed to cure him in a previous storyline (but at that point, she had yet to morph into SuperWitch!).

The other thing that always floors me is this episode in 1897 when the light of dawn is breaking and Barn is scurrying down to the basement, opens his coffin, and there's Rachel passed out inside, thoughtfully left there as a little love-token from Angelique.  By rights Barnabas ought to have dumped her on a sofa in the drawing room, dashed madly back after locking the basement door, and hit the hay.  But he stays and talks with Rachel for awhile, or gets Magda to attend to her (can't recall which).

By the series' own logic, he should have been burnt toast crumbs at that point.  But he isn't!

G.

I don't think I'd call LeviaLiz a "zombie."  A latter day Lucrezia Borgia is more like it! I just loved Joan Bennett's portrayal of the character as a truly depraved socialite.  And when she enthuses to Barnabas and Megan about welcoming Roger and Carolyn into the "club," it's a fabulous moment.

But perhaps the best of all is having David reprimand "Elizabeth" for her failure to carry out a certain assignment--and Liz takes it!  David's parting shot about making everything OK with Barnabas adds to the general hysteria of the moment.

Other juicy moments are little LeviAmy quietly, methodically torturing Quentin, Maggie, and Willie in various scenarios.

Nope, no zombies in THAT crew, that I can see!

cheers, G.

I thought Big Lou's character in PT 1970 was more inspired by the Divine Clifton Webb's character in the 1940s noir thriller Laura.

PT 1970 Roger ties with 1966 Roger for my favorite Big Lou characterization on DS.

G.

Quentin's search for Count Petofi was mentioned in Sam Hall's famous 1971 TV Guide article, derived from his own notes for possible ways the plot could have continued after the PT 1841 storyline.

Several fan fiction writers (including, I believe, Dale Clark in a well-known series of small press novels) have written scenarios that involved the Count's return.  I even started one (but failed to get very far with it).

I'm quite sure that Petofi would have survived the events at Tate's cottage.

G.

I think one of the best scenes, bar none, between Barnabas and Angelique is in the 1968 storyline when she comes to the Old House as Cassandra after Nicholas has punished her, terminally, for the failure of the Dream Curse and her unwillingness to be a Team Player in Nicky's domain.

It's such a poignant scene, and I think they were both being honest with one another.  One of the few times that was likely the case.

I can't agree with the idea of Angelique as a one-man woman.  I think she took her relationships with both Quentin and, subsequently, Sky, quite seriously.

Neither man was suited for the role she wished him to play in her life, anymore than Barnabas was.  Her problems began because she persisted in seeing these failures as blows to her own pride and ego, rather than incompatibilities that had at least something to do with the TYPE of man she persisted in choosing.

The end of her story and Barnabas' in 1840 is really upsetting, if I bother to think about it for more than about 5 seconds, because it's such a slap in the face of the richly established histories of the two characters up to that point.  Lela Swift tried to get around this by having the writers present an Angelique who had not yet lived any of the events subsequent to 1795, which was simply absurd, and again, insulting to viewers who had so much invested in the story at that point.

Sorry to natter on.  such a topic...

G.