AdamSmith Posted January 6, 2018 Posted January 6, 2018 Dark Shadows Every Day The 1960s vampire soap opera, one episode a day. Episode 291: The Alchemist December 23, 2013August 1967, Malcolm Marmorsteinalchemy, backacting, dracula,fly, strangling, turning point “The basis of your problem is the destructive nature of your blood cells.” In Friday’s episode, Julia baited Barnabas into coming to her room to strangle her. But she knew he was coming, and waited quietly in the corner. Now she steps into the moonlight, and delivers some absolutely explosive dialogue. Julia: I know what you are. You’re Barnabas Collins — the only Barnabas Collins, who died over a hundred and thirty years ago. Barnabas: That’s an absurd statement. Julia: Don’t try to deny it. I’ve investigated you thoroughly, and I’ve seen you in your coffin. Barnabas: You realize that such knowledge puts you in great danger. Julia: Well, of course. That’s why I took the precaution of putting a dummy in the bed. Which is an unbelievably badass thing to say. Whenever someone asks you for an example of why Dark Shadows is the most surprising and therefore the greatest television show of all time, you can direct them to this scene. (Note: There is a very good chance that nobody will ever ask you this question. But it’s good to be prepared, just in case.) Of course, because this is Dark Shadows, the sublime takes a hairpin turn toward the ridiculous within forty-five seconds. Barnabas backs Julia up against a bedpost and snarls, “What is it you want?” Gasping, she answers, “You.” With fire in his eyes, the vampire growls, “I don’t know what you mean, but it doesn’t matter. Because… I am going… to KILL YOU! Miss Hoffman.” And then he stands there and glares at her. There’s a bit of an awkward pause, because he’s supposed to be strangling her, and he forgot. Apparently, if you want Jonathan Frid to start strangling somebody, you need to write START STRANGLING HER on the teleprompter. So Grayson Hall — who will basically spend the next four years of her career as a backup teleprompter for Jonathan Frid — reaches over with her left hand and tugs at his wrist, to remind him that he’s supposed to be grabbing her throat. He takes the hint, and the scene continues. Now her problem is how to get him to stop strangling her, so she tells him that she’s a doctor, and she makes him a surprising offer — he doesn’t have to live this life. Naturally, he’s stunned. Julia: I’ve spent my lifetime studying conditions such as yours. Barnabas: How could you have done this? Have there been others like myself? Julia: No. You’re the only one I’ve encountered. That’s why you’re so important to me, that’s why I need you. Barnabas: Need me? Julia: From the time I entered medical school, I’ve been fascinated by the relationship of life to death. I believe that one is a continuance of the other, and that someday they will merge, and that life will not terminate. That day is close at hand, now that I’ve found you. People often describe Dark Shadows as if it was only the sum of its influences — you mix together Jane Eyre, Dracula, The Telltale Heart and The Turn of the Screw, apply heat, serve for five years. But as far as I know, this plot point is completely original to Dark Shadows. Stumbling along from day to day, groping for some way to extend the vampire storyline, the Dark Shadows writers have come up with a bizarre, laughable and utterly brilliant idea. So: get ready for the science. Barnabas: What is this… theory of yours? Julia: Whole blood is insufficient to sustain you. That’s why you constantly have to replenish your supply. Barnabas: If I were to permit you… what would you do? Julia relaxes, shifting into the confident tone of a lecturer. She’s got him hooked now, and she knows it. Julia: Well, the basis of your problem is the destructive nature of your blood cells. There’s an imbalance which causes more cells to be destroyed than replaced. My objective then, is to alter the cellular structure of your blood, by introducing a new plasma into your arterial system. Barnabas: You begin to intrigue me, Dr. Hoffman. You begin to intrigue me very much. Yeah, no kidding. This is one of those moments where you can’t wait for them to come back from the commercial break because who knows what the hell they’re going to say next. Barnabas takes Julia over to the Old House, where they can talk about crackpot science without worrying about being overheard by a sensible person. They give Willie an update. Barnabas: Willie! Dr. Hoffman will be spending some time here. Willie: Doctor…? Barnabas: Yes. Dr. Hoffman has fooled us all. She’s been investigating us very carefully. Willie: Has she? Barnabas: Yes, she knows everything. Willie: Well, what’s gonna happen? Barnabas: That remains to be seen. You see, Dr. Hoffman is a very… unique doctor. So, here’s a question: What kind of a doctor is Dr. Julia Hoffman? She started out as a “blood specialist”, but she’s also been treating Maggie with hypnosis, to help her uncover repressed memories of her abuse. She has quickly moved beyond even the catch-all expertise of the TV doctor, and become kind of a cross between a mad scientist and a sorceress. Going back to the literary influences for a moment, the character that she most resembles is Professor Van Helsing from Dracula. In Bram Stoker’s novel, Jonathan Seward describes Van Helsing as “a philosopher and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day; and he has, I believe, an absolutely open mind.” That “open mind” is key, because for both Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Hoffman, the boundaries of medical science are too limited to understand and deal with the vampire menace. This “condition” is partly a physical one, which can be described in terms of flesh and blood. But it’s also a spiritual failure, a moral lapse which drives well-bred gentlemen to give in to their appetites for blood and sex and a general deflowering of the innocent. So Barnabas isn’t sure what to make of Julia’s mind-opening offer. He flip-flops several times during the episode, vacillating between hope and fear. While Julia is in the basement, picking out a room to use as a laboratory, Barnabas talks things over with Willie. Willie: You’re gonna kill her? Barnabas: I’m afraid I’ll have to. I went to her room tonight with that intention, but she anticipated me, was waiting for me. I planned to bring the body back here — but now, she’s made that so much easier for me. Willie: She told me what she was gonna do. The kind of experiment she was gonna make. Well, what about that, Barnabas? Can she really cure you? Barnabas: I don’t really know. But this isn’t really an “experiment”, is it? Julia said that Barnabas is the only individual with this condition that she’s ever encountered. There’s no control group, no accumulation of data. She hasn’t even examined Barnabas yet. She’s diagnosed him and devised a complicated treatment plan, based entirely on an analysis of Maggie’sblood. Here’s how she describes the first steps of her plan: Julia: The first thing I have to do is purge your entire arterial system. There won’t be any discomfort, and there won’t be any aftereffects. Now, I think I’ve done enough for one day. So that sounds simple enough, right? “I have to purge your entire arterial system.” Why would you imagine that might cause discomfort? Patients are such crybabies sometimes. Clearly, we’ve left actual medical science far behind, and entered the realm of alchemy. In the Middle Ages, alchemy was both a proto-science and a philosophical tradition, based on the idea that achieving material perfection — for example, turning lead into gold — was the key to spiritual and moral perfection. If you look at her plan as a metaphor — and that’s the only way you can look at it, because medically it’s nonsense — then “purging the arterial system” is another way of saying that she’s going to cleanse him of his destructive and antisocial impulses. Her plan to “introduce a new plasma” is basically a spiritual reawakening, the redemption of the antihero. So Barnabas’ indecision about Julia’s plan is ultimately a moral and spiritual question. Is there enough human empathy left in his undead heart? Can he learn to trust, and to feel? Okay, that’s a no. He grabs her by the throat, and tells her once again that I am going to — KILL you! But she’s got one more ace up her sleeve, and she chokes out: “Maggie Evans!” Barnabas: She’s alive? Julia: And well hidden. Barnabas: What has she said? Julia: Nothing specific as yet. I traced you through my own deductions. At present, she’s suffering from traumatic amnesia. But eventually, she will recover. And then she’ll tell everything she knows. So with that, it seems like Julia has all the ingredients that she needs to transmute Barnabas’ lead heart into gold, and lead him to a new understanding of empathy and human connection. Or… maybe not. Barnabas: But she’ll do that whether you’re alive or dead. Julia: No, she won’t. Because if I’m alive, I will be in charge of her treatment. And I can see to it that her amnesia… remains permanent. Okay, so she’s not perfect either. This might get a little complicated. Tomorrow: I Know Who’s Dead. Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for: Barnabas has the ring on his left hand again, so it’ll be in shot when he’s got Julia up against the bedpost. Barnabas tells Willie, “My existence may not have been what it should be, but at least I have permanence.” (The sensible way to say that would be: “My existence may not be what it should have been.”) Julia tells Barnabas that Maggie hasn’t said anything about him yet: “I traced her — traced you through my own deductions.” Barnabas tells Julia, “I have re-evalued our relationship, and I have come to the conclusion that it is not possible to trust you.” He means re-evaluated. While Barnabas is telling Willie that he can’t trust Dr. Hoffman, a fly settles on his forehead. When Julia enters the scene, Barnabas takes a little swat at the fly. It flies away for a second, and then comes back and settles on his cheek. https://darkshadowseveryday.com/2013/12/23/episode-291/
AdamSmith Posted January 6, 2018 Posted January 6, 2018 Episode 292: I Know Who’s Dead December 24, 2013August 1967, Gordon Russellcasper, ectoplasm, idiot, the house,the supernatural “You know about leaves and everything. Well, I know who’s dead, and who isn’t.” Okay, let’s see where we are. Yesterday, Dr. Julia Hoffman — the noted blood specialist and dangerous lunatic — managed to convince a vampire that she should hang out in his haunted mansion and purge his arterial system. She seems to feel that somehow this will be beneficial for humankind, and who’s going to argue with her? Well, I guess Dr. Woodard will. It’s been a whole two episodes since the last time he came over and said sensible things to Julia, and here he is again. Apparently he thinks that it’s “unethical” for Julia to abandon her patient, Maggie, in the middle of a very delicate and intense course of treatment. He’s right, of course. In fact, we learned yesterday that Julia is planning to ensure that Maggie’s amnesia will be permanent, in order to protect the monster who abused her. Unfortunately, if Woodard succeeds in getting Julia to take more responsibility for Maggie’s treatment, then the story gets less interesting. So, on behalf of the entire audience, I would like to shake his hand, tell him he’s one hundred percent correct, pin a medal on him, and then send him out to play in traffic. But as we’ve seen, Julia can talk her way out of anything. In this case, she chooses the most fiendish weapon in the liar’s arsenal. She tells him the truth. Julia: I believe that Maggie Evans came face to face with the supernatural, in a way that frightened her beyond anything you or I can understand. I can’t convince her that what terrified her doesn’t exist, because I know it does exist! Woodard: Are you, a scientist, telling me that the supernatural exists? By the way, yes, they call it “the supernatural”, and then they just carry on as if that’s a single specific thing that you can have a conversation about. Apparently “the supernatural” is the new “the past”. Along the way, Julia picks up a scary new tactic. Julia: If I’m right — medicine is about to break through the ultimate barrier between life and death. You realize that the doctors who helped make that breakthrough will go down in history. Woodard: Between… life and death? Julia: Dave, when you were in medical school, didn’t you dream of making some major contribution? Well, that could happen now, for both of us. Woodard: But Julia, I’ve got to know a great deal more than I know now! Julia: And you will! I’ll tell you, because I need your skill and knowledge, to help see me through. Woodard: Well, I’ll help you any way that I can. It’s fantastic. She could get him to do anything. So that’s another mark in the win column for the monsters. Meanwhile, David’s playing in the woods, and guess who he runs into? The supernatural. It’s just sitting there, crying. This is the ghost of Sarah Collins, who we haven’t seen for a couple weeks. She’s the vampire’s kid sister, and she befriended Maggie when Barnabas was holding her prisoner. Now, Maggie’s hidden away in a sanitarium, and everybody thinks that she’s dead. David asks why Sarah’s crying, and she says she’s lost her friend. Sarah: Her name was Maggie. She’s lost, and I miss her. David: Well, Sarah, I’m sorry that you miss her so much, but… if it’s Maggie we’re looking for, well, we better not look any more. Here, why don’t you help me look for different kinds of leaves? Personally, I’ve never tried that specific method of cheering up a grieving person, so for all I know, maybe it works. I’ll try it out and let you know how it goes. Sarah asks why she should stop looking for Maggie, and David breaks it to her that Maggie’s dead. Sarah chuckles. David: What are you laughing about? Sarah: She isn’t dead at all! She’s just lost! David: Everyone else says she’s dead. Sarah: Well, everyone else is wrong. David: How can you be so sure? Sarah: You know about leaves and everything. Well, I know who’s dead, and who isn’t. So that’s that. Sarah seems to have some kind of weird ghost sense that’s shorting out at the moment: “Sometimes I almost know where she is, but then it all fades away, and I begin to cry again.” I could probably come up with some kind of crackpot theory to explain how her ghost senses work, but really they’re just making it up to fit whatever’s convenient for the episode. And that’s how “the supernatural” works. So all of that is rather far-fetched, but it’s practically a documentary compared to what happens next. Julia and Burke are talking in the Collinwood foyer when all of a sudden Vicki bursts through the door and announces, “The most wonderful thing has happened. I’m in love.” Burke has been dating Vicki for several months, so at this point I guess nothing fazes him; he just stands there and asks her what the hell she’s talking about. And she says, “It’s with a house. I found the most enchanting old house in the world — it’s on the end of the North Road, by the sea. I must have passed it hundreds of times, only this is the first time I’d ever really noticed it. Burke, it’s like it was just waiting there. Just for me.” Okay, let’s do a quick review of Vicki’s financial affairs. Victoria Winters: Left at a foundling home as a baby. Apparently not adopted. Left the orphanage a year ago, when she became a live-in governess for a ten-year-old boy who appears to be doing his Introduction to Botany homework with a ghost. In other words: She lives in a mansion, but she has exactly no money. She’s probably renting the clothes she’s wearing right now. So while admittedly I don’t have any specific data at my fingertips about the Maine real estate market during the summer of 1967, I’m pretty sure she can’t afford a house, no matter how they may feel about each other. She goes on. Burke: Vicki, what’s this house like? Vicki: The house is very old. It faces onto the sea. In fact, it’s almost part of the sea. And there it sits, like a dowager queen, waiting for the ocean to bring her beautiful gifts from all over the world. Spoiler alert: She’s going to keep talking about this house for the rest of the week, and on into next week. This will take the place of what otherwise would be an interesting television show. Vicki: It was wonderful. Finding it, and standing there, and listening to the sea, and feeling that I really belonged there. And the house knew it. And the sea knew it. And I knew it, too, and we were all very happy there together. It’s awful, and depressing. We’ve been having so much fun lately, with Julia and Barnabas and the supernatural. And now this idiot girl runs onto the screen, babbling about some random house that she can’t afford, and the show comes to a complete stop. There’s a whole other scene after this, about David bringing Sarah back to the house, but she disappears before anyone else sees her. It turns into another Snuffleupagus sequence, except she left her bonnet behind on the floor. But why bother? Vicki’s in love with a house. Apparently that’s a plot point. Tomorrow: Untouched. Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for: When David leads Sarah into Collinwood, he doesn’t shut the front doors all the way, and you can see a gap between the two doors. Everyone who touches the doors today seems to have some kind of trouble; at one point, Vicki has to slam them shut. Behind the Scenes: This is the first episode written by Gordon Russell. Over the next few months, two of the show’s three writers will be replaced. Joe Caldwell and Malcolm Marmorstein will leave, and are replaced by Gordon Russell, and Sam Hall, who starts with episode 357. Russell and Hall become a writing team that takes them through the end of this series, and then on to another soap opera, One Life to Live. Tomorrow: Untouched. Dark Shadows episodåe guide – 1967
AdamSmith Posted January 6, 2018 Posted January 6, 2018 Episode 342: Shadow of the Bat March 4, 2014Joe Caldwell, October 1967bat signal, fashion, incompetence, police futility, recast, the supernatural “I didn’t say I believed it, but Dave did. And he’s dead.” You know, we’ve been spending a lot of time with the monsters lately; we should probably check in with the good guys while we still have some. Yesterday, Barnabas and Julia murdered Dr. Dave Woodard, because he’d found Julia’s notebook that described her efforts to cure Barnabas of being a vampire. Julia prepared a hypodermic with a drug that would make it look like Woodard had a heart attack. She chickened out at the last minute, but Barnabas jammed the needle into Woodard’s arm, and the doctor died. This has caused a great deal of inconvenience for everyone, because earlier in the evening, Woodard had called Sheriff Patterson, and made an appointment to share some important evidence. So now the Sheriff is wondering whether Woodard was killed to conceal that evidence. Naturally, this raises an important question, namely: Why do you need to make an appointment to bring the Sheriff crucial evidence about an unsolved murder and kidnapping? What else was on his schedule today? Sam was with the Sheriff when he found Woodard’s body, and now he has to tell his daughter what happened. Enter Maggie, wearing an incredibly inappropriate skirt. Now, when I say it’s inappropriate, I mean several things. For one thing, this is a fairly grim scene, and that’s not an outfit that expresses “sympathy for your loss in these trying times.” It’s also inappropriate for her age, her body type, her social class, her IQ and her character arc. But most of all, it’s not a good thing to be wearing in a television studio when the cameras are turned on. So the question is: What does Maggie’s skirt mean? It can’t mean that she’s glad Woodard is dead, because Sam hasn’t told her yet, and when he does, she seems pretty broken up about it. Sam: It just looked like he’d fallen asleep, that’s all… only his eyes were open. Maggie: Pop, maybe he died a natural death. Sam: A man doesn’t call and make a special appointment to see the Sheriff and then just die by natural causes. He just doesn’t! I guess I can understand the skepticism. Personally, I don’t have a lot of rules about what people do after they make special appointments, but Sam does, and I have to respect that. Maggie is uneasy, because they’re still not sure what happened to her while she was abducted. Willie has been blamed for the crime, but Maggie is still unable to remember what happened for all those months. Sam says, “Listen, I told you not to think about that. You just forget about the whole thing,” which given the circumstances is kind of insensitive. Sam remembers that he saw Woodard with a little red notebook earlier in the evening, and if it’s gone, then that may be a clue to what happened. Maggie doesn’t want him to go out — she’s scared that her kidnapper might still be at large — but he insists that he has to go. I don’t blame him; I wouldn’t want to stay in the house with that skirt either. It might go off, and hurt somebody. Sam goes to Woodard’s office, where he meets a man claiming to be Sheriff Patterson. He’s another recast; this is actually the third Sheriff Patterson we’ve seen in the last three weeks. They’re burning through the cops these days. I don’t have a lot of good things to say about Patterson’s outfit, either. I know, I’m being super shallow today, but look at those pants. I’m only human. Anyway, focusing on the fashion is helping to take my mind off the dialogue. There’s nothing that’s particularly bad about it, but this is one of those episodes where people stand around speculating, and the audience is fully aware that they don’t have the essential information that they’d need to figure out whodunit. These “police futility” episodes are an important staple of the conventional soap opera structure, where a crime is always followed by several weeks of inconclusive law enforcement. This helps to reassure the audience that our society is founded on principles of justice and order, and it also fills up time while the writers figure out what to do next. The Dark Shadows writing team hasn’t figured out yet that it’s okay to skip the pointless police investigations, and just go on to the next werewolf attack. They’ll get there eventually. Then we get one of those Dark Shadows moments that’s so breathtakingly incompetent that it makes you wonder how they ever manage to do anything else. To set the scene, I’m not entirely clear where the hell this is. Sam and the Sheriff are currently standing on the set that represents Dr. Woodard’s office. Previous episodes have established that this room is in the Collinsport Hospital, especially when Maggie was kidnapped from the hospital. However, in a later episode when Julia brought Maggie to Woodard’s office, they made a point of saying that the office was in Woodard’s house, because they were pretending that Maggie was dead, and she would have been recognized if she was in the hospital. And in yesterday’s episode, Sheriff Patterson was standing in this room when he picked up the phone and said, “Operator, give me the hospital.” So maybe this really is Dr. Woodard’s house. Oh, except there’s a sign on the door that says “David Woodard, M.D.” which I don’t think you would have in your own house, and also if it’s his house, then who let them in? But whatever. Anyway, Patterson and Sam are in this room, wherever it is, and Patterson hears footsteps approaching down the hall. He turns the lights out, and waits as the approaching visitor knocks on the door. The door opens, and Patterson draws his gun, snapping, “Stand right where you are!” Then he recognizes that it’s Burke, and asks, “What are you doing here?” And he just keeps on pointing the gun at Burke’s midsection. So, there’s your challenge: Make sense of that scene. If this is the hospital, then why is Patterson suspicious of somebody walking down the hall? If this is Woodard’s house, then how did Burke get in? And in any case, why does Patterson need to draw his gun, when as far as he knows, this isn’t even a crime scene? It’s a nice reminder, in the middle of all the supernatural shenanigans, that conventional soap opera scenecraft already exists at a sharp left turn from reality. Compared to this scene, the vampire stuff is practically a documentary. The ensuing conversation is basically a pageant of Great Moments in Forensic Science, which includes the following statements: #1.) “All right, forget the facts. I’ll settle for a few suspicions.” #2.) “A man like Dave Woodard doesn’t just sit down and die!” #3.) “Are you trying to tell me that Dave might have died of supernatural causes?” And while they’re having this conversation, at the window we see the silhouette of a large bat, hovering in place in exactly the way that bats don’t. Nobody in the room notices the bat, so the implication is that Barnabas is eavesdropping on the conversation, in bat form. I’m not going to be able to tie all this up, by the way. Some days, I can pull some kind of insight out of the episode, and some days I can’t, and this is one of the can’t days. It just keeps stumbling along, from one scene to the next, with no particular focus. Once the autopsy is complete, the Sheriff calls Sam and tells him that Dr. Woodard died of a heart attack, and there’s no evidence of anything other than natural causes. Apparently, they didn’t notice that he had a puncture wound in his bicep, but autopsies are funny that way. The end. Tomorrow: The Apparatus. Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for: Sam has some pronoun trouble in his conversation with Maggie: Sam: The red book, it was gone! Maggie: Maybe he just put it away. Sam: Well, if it is, then we’ll find it. Also, Sheriff Patterson doesn’t know how to pronounce the word “autopsy” correctly. He puts the stress on the second syllable. Behind the Scenes: The recast Sheriff Patterson is played by Angus Cairns, who only appeared in two episodes — yesterday’s and today’s. This is Cairns’ only screen credit, but he had a long career on Broadway, playing mostly ensemble and understudy roles, going back to 1938. This is the last time we see Sheriff Patterson for seven months — he’ll appear next in episode 505, in late May 1968. At that point, he’ll be played by Vince O’Brien, who we saw filling in as Patterson a few weeks ago, in episode 328. Tomorrow: The Apparatus. Dark Shadows episode guide – 1967
AdamSmith Posted January 6, 2018 Posted January 6, 2018 Episode 343: The Apparatus March 5, 2014Joe Caldwell, October 1967apparatus, blood, hope, love triangle, mad science “I wonder what I’ll be like, as a human being?” Okay, now we’re talking. Right out of the gate today, the first thing we see: dark red liquid bubbling in a glass jar. It’s connected with tubes and wires to a bunch of other equipment, and there’s a grinding motor noise that indicates that there’s some kind of complicated machinery at work. Backing up a step, we see Dr. Julia Hoffman in a pale blue lab coat, squinting at equipment and making adjustments. She’s in a basement room, with brick walls, exposed timbers and huge cobwebs. The doctor uses a pair of tongs to grab chunks of dry ice, and she drops them into a huge bubbling cauldron. That cauldron is full of more dark red liquid. It’s a bubbling cauldron of blood. This is mad science, we’re actually watching mad science. And it’s about damn time. They’ve been sitting on this “finding a cure for the vampire” story for a month, just letting it simmer in the background while Barnabas and Julia dealt with one manufactured crisis after another. We spent all that time arguing in the drawing room, and there was a bubbling cauldron of blood downstairs that we didn’t even know about. Barnabas walks into the room, and Julia turns off the motor. He objects. Barnabas: Why did you do that? It was magnificent! Julia: I only wanted to test it. Barnabas: Well, obviously, it works! And he’s right — if it’s bubbling and making a noise, then that means it works. He must have taken an elective in mad science. Julia: No, there are still a few details to fix. Barnabas: But you explained to me previously that it only needed a test to prove that the acids had activated. Well, I’d say that you’ve succeeded admirably… as you always do. And he’s right, it is magnificent. Just look at it, bubbling away. Acids are activating all over the place. But Julia isn’t happy; she doesn’t want to go on with the experiments anymore. She’s done. The other day, she helped Barnabas kill Dr. Woodard, because Woodard had learned about these experiments. A first murder can rattle anyone. But it’s too late to turn back; he’s already got a speech prepared. Barnabas: I’m sorry, but you’ve given me one irretrievable gift… hope. He walks a few steps, and strikes a pose. Barnabas: The hope of becoming human again. The hope of being able to love, and not destroy. Even the hope itself is a hint of what it must be like to be a human being. I love this scene. Remember what I said the other day about Joe Caldwell being a great writer? He’s writing four of the episodes this week. Yesterday was the obligatory useless law enforcement episode that they still think they need to have after a murder, but the rest of the week is this: Melodramatic speeches about what it means to be human, delivered by a vampire in his secret basement laboratory. It’s an impossible scheme, really — to take the psychopath who took obvious pleasure in cold-blooded murder only two episodes ago, and guide him through a moral reboot that will make him the hero of the show. But maybe there’s a science behind this madness after all. Barnabas: If I can love and not destroy, surely forgiveness can be found. Julia: For what you’ve done? Barnabas: Perhaps not. But let me love first, as a human being loves, and if there’s still no forgiveness, well, let me take the punishment… not as a monster, but as a man. And that’s the point, really, that he’s got a desire to change. That’s not quite the same thing as remorse, but it’s pointing in the right direction. Then he walks over to the huge bucket of bubbling blood, and says, “I wonder what I’ll be like, as a human being?” And you can just feel the acids activating. Over at Collinwood, Vicki and Burke are having another little quarrel about where they’re going to live when they get married. They’ve been doing a lot of this lately. She doesn’t want to quit her governess job and leave David right now, because he’s become emotionally disturbed, and he needs her. Vicki and Burke have had a series of conversations about this, and they don’t seem to be getting anywhere. It usually looks like they’ve reached some kind of understanding by the end of a given episode, but the next time we see them, they’re back at it. This is what they do now. But there’s a larger agenda at work here. Vicki and Burke can stay trapped in this little circular argument for as long as they like, because ultimately the writers aren’t invested in helping them work it out. This is a soap opera, and what really matters is the love triangle, an experimental apparatus lashed together with tubes and wires, connecting a tangle of loose storylines. On their own, Burke and Vicki don’t generate a lot of heat. She’s young and pretty and not very bright; he’s wealthy and he wants to marry her. They have no obstacles in their way, and they’ve spent the last several weeks trying to determine which enormous mansion they’ll move into after the wedding. But when you get a third party involved, there’s a chance for some interesting chemistry. Unfortunately, the Burke/Vicki/Barnabas triangle was pretty comprehensively nerfed more than a month ago. Vicki told Burke to stop being suspicious of Barnabas, Burke gave in, and the storyline just kind of rolled over and died. But it turns out that wasn’t the real love triangle after all. Burke’s about to be taken off the board, and the real triangle is Barnabas, Vicki and Julia. That situation has a lot more potential, because Julia has a hypnotic medallion, several terrifying secrets, and a bubbling bucket of blood. Chaos will ensue. Like any mad science experiment, it’s hard to say exactly how the love triangle is going to end up. But it bubbles and it makes noise, and that’s a good place to start. Let’s chuck some more dry ice in there, and see what happens. Tomorrow: Haunted. Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for: At the start of the first scene, while Julia is adjusting her equipment, someone in the studio has a loud coughing fit. When they come back from the titles, it sounds like Barnabas and Julia started the scene too early. Barnabas begins the scene by saying, “Nonsense! You’ve done nothing but take chances,” which doesn’t relate to anything. This has happened a few times since episode 333, when a scene started while Dr. Woodard was halfway through the word “-peared”. They need to get a handle on the timing. When Barnabas brings up Woodard’s murder, Julia says, “I didn’t kill anyone.” Barnabas is supposed to say, “You handed the hypodermic needle to me,” but he messes up the rhythm of the line. He puts stress on the wrong end of the sentence, so it comes out as “You handed the hypodermic needle to me,” which doesn’t mean anything. As you can see in the picture above, there’s a huge boom mic shadow obscuring Julia’s face during the entire terrace scene. It’s still there every time they cut to her reaction. Alone on the terrace, Julia is supposed to be startled by a ghost, which appears and vanishes using a Chromakey effect. But they mess up the timing, so Julia turns around and screams after the ghost has already come and gone. Behind the Scenes: Peter Murphy plays the ghost of Dr. Woodard here, silently gesturing to Julia on the terrace. Murphy started on the show a couple weeks ago, as the recast for the crazy old Caretaker. We’ll see him again next week, standing in for Burke in Vicki’s dream. Tomorrow: Haunted.
AdamSmith Posted January 6, 2018 Posted January 6, 2018 Couplers A device called a coupler allows the pipes of one division to be played simultaneously from an alternative manual. For example, a coupler labelled "Swell to Great" allows the stops of the Swell division to be played by the Great manual. It is unnecessary to couple the pipes of a division to the manual of the same name (for example, coupling the Great division to the Great manual), because those stops play by default on that manual (though this is done with super- and sub-couplers, see below). By using the couplers, the entire resources of an organ can be played simultaneously from one manual. On a mechanical-action organ, a coupler may connect one division's manual directly to the other, actually moving the keys of the first manual when the second is played. Some organs feature a device to add the octave above or below what is being played by the fingers. The "super-octave" adds the octave above, the "sub-octave" the octave below. These may be attached to one division only, for example "Swell octave" (the super is often assumed), or they may act as a coupler, for example "Swell octave to Great" which gives the effect while playing on the Great division of adding the Swell division an octave above what is being played. These can be used in conjunction with the standard eight foot coupler. The super-octave may be labelled, for example, Swell to Great 4′; in the same manner, the sub-octave may be labelled Choir to Great 16′. The inclusion of these couplers allows for greater registrational flexibility and color. Some literature (particularly romantic literature from France) calls explicitly for octaves aigües (super-couplers) to add brightness, or octaves graves (sub-couplers) to add gravity. Some organs feature extended ranks to accommodate the top and bottom octaves when the super- and sub-couplers are engaged (see the discussion under "Unification and extension"). In a similar vein are unison off couplers, which act to "turn off" the stops of a division on its own keyboard. For example, a coupler labelled "Great unison off" would keep the stops of the Great division from sounding, even if they were pulled. Unison off couplers can be used in combination with super- and sub-couplers to create complex registrations that would otherwise not be possible. In addition, the unison off couplers can be used with other couplers to change the order of the manuals at the console: engaging the Great to Choir and Choir to Great couplers along with the Great unison off and Choir unison off couplers would have the effect of moving the Great to the bottom manual and the Choir to the middle manual.Divided pedal Another form of coupler found on some large organs is the divided pedal. This is a device that allows the sounds played on the pedals to be split, so the lower octave (principally that of the left foot) plays stops from the pedal division while the upper half (played by the right foot), plays stops from one of the manual divisions. The choice of manual is at the discretion of the performer, as is the 'split point' of the system. The system can be found on the organs of Gloucester Cathedral, having been added by Nicholson & Co (Worcester) Ltd/David Briggs and Truro Cathedral, having been added by Mander Organs/David Briggs, as well as on the new nave console of Ripon Cathedral. The system as found in Truro Cathedral operates like this: Divided Pedal (adjustable dividing point): A# B c c# d d# under the 'divide': Pedal stops and couplers above the 'divide': four illuminated controls: Choir/Swell/Great/Solo to Pedal[2] This allows four different sounds to be played at once (without thumbing down across manuals), for example: Right hand: Great principals 8′ and 4′ Left hand: Swell strings Left foot: Pedal 16′ and 8′ flutes and Swell to Pedal coupler Right foot: Solo Clarinet via divided pedal couplerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_console#Couplers
AdamSmith Posted January 6, 2018 Posted January 6, 2018 Reading more about said Lambert Chaumont, Fenner Douglass's evil genius overwhelms me! Chaumont, from his musical background, is likely the one musician of all time whose ideas and insights about temperament could have let Fenner direct Dirk to architect an instrument capable of performing with fidelity not only the high North German repertoire, but then also the early Spanish Baroque works -- and then, all but impossibly! -- all the great early French Romantic compositions as well.Lordy! To quote Comey. https://message-forum.net/threads/the-organ.117576/page-40#post-1321231
Members MsAnn Posted January 6, 2018 Members Posted January 6, 2018 On 1/3/2018 at 10:16 PM, AdamSmith said: 16 hours ago, AdamSmith said: Dark Shadows Every Day The 1960s vampire soap opera, one episode a day. Episode 291: The Alchemist December 23, 2013August 1967, Malcolm Marmorsteinalchemy, backacting, dracula,fly, strangling, turning point “The basis of your problem is the destructive nature of your blood cells.” In Friday’s episode, Julia baited Barnabas into coming to her room to strangle her. But she knew he was coming, and waited quietly in the corner. Now she steps into the moonlight, and delivers some absolutely explosive dialogue. Julia: I know what you are. You’re Barnabas Collins — the only Barnabas Collins, who died over a hundred and thirty years ago. Barnabas: That’s an absurd statement. Julia: Don’t try to deny it. I’ve investigated you thoroughly, and I’ve seen you in your coffin. Barnabas: You realize that such knowledge puts you in great danger. Julia: Well, of course. That’s why I took the precaution of putting a dummy in the bed. Which is an unbelievably badass thing to say. Whenever someone asks you for an example of why Dark Shadows is the most surprising and therefore the greatest television show of all time, you can direct them to this scene. (Note: There is a very good chance that nobody will ever ask you this question. But it’s good to be prepared, just in case.) Of course, because this is Dark Shadows, the sublime takes a hairpin turn toward the ridiculous within forty-five seconds. Barnabas backs Julia up against a bedpost and snarls, “What is it you want?” Gasping, she answers, “You.” With fire in his eyes, the vampire growls, “I don’t know what you mean, but it doesn’t matter. Because… I am going… to KILL YOU! Miss Hoffman.” And then he stands there and glares at her. There’s a bit of an awkward pause, because he’s supposed to be strangling her, and he forgot. Apparently, if you want Jonathan Frid to start strangling somebody, you need to write START STRANGLING HER on the teleprompter. So Grayson Hall — who will basically spend the next four years of her career as a backup teleprompter for Jonathan Frid — reaches over with her left hand and tugs at his wrist, to remind him that he’s supposed to be grabbing her throat. He takes the hint, and the scene continues. Now her problem is how to get him to stop strangling her, so she tells him that she’s a doctor, and she makes him a surprising offer — he doesn’t have to live this life. Naturally, he’s stunned. Julia: I’ve spent my lifetime studying conditions such as yours. Barnabas: How could you have done this? Have there been others like myself? Julia: No. You’re the only one I’ve encountered. That’s why you’re so important to me, that’s why I need you. Barnabas: Need me? Julia: From the time I entered medical school, I’ve been fascinated by the relationship of life to death. I believe that one is a continuance of the other, and that someday they will merge, and that life will not terminate. That day is close at hand, now that I’ve found you. People often describe Dark Shadows as if it was only the sum of its influences — you mix together Jane Eyre, Dracula, The Telltale Heart and The Turn of the Screw, apply heat, serve for five years. But as far as I know, this plot point is completely original to Dark Shadows. Stumbling along from day to day, groping for some way to extend the vampire storyline, the Dark Shadows writers have come up with a bizarre, laughable and utterly brilliant idea. So: get ready for the science. Barnabas: What is this… theory of yours? Julia: Whole blood is insufficient to sustain you. That’s why you constantly have to replenish your supply. Barnabas: If I were to permit you… what would you do? Julia relaxes, shifting into the confident tone of a lecturer. She’s got him hooked now, and she knows it. Julia: Well, the basis of your problem is the destructive nature of your blood cells. There’s an imbalance which causes more cells to be destroyed than replaced. My objective then, is to alter the cellular structure of your blood, by introducing a new plasma into your arterial system. Barnabas: You begin to intrigue me, Dr. Hoffman. You begin to intrigue me very much. Yeah, no kidding. This is one of those moments where you can’t wait for them to come back from the commercial break because who knows what the hell they’re going to say next. Barnabas takes Julia over to the Old House, where they can talk about crackpot science without worrying about being overheard by a sensible person. They give Willie an update. Barnabas: Willie! Dr. Hoffman will be spending some time here. Willie: Doctor…? Barnabas: Yes. Dr. Hoffman has fooled us all. She’s been investigating us very carefully. Willie: Has she? Barnabas: Yes, she knows everything. Willie: Well, what’s gonna happen? Barnabas: That remains to be seen. You see, Dr. Hoffman is a very… unique doctor. So, here’s a question: What kind of a doctor is Dr. Julia Hoffman? She started out as a “blood specialist”, but she’s also been treating Maggie with hypnosis, to help her uncover repressed memories of her abuse. She has quickly moved beyond even the catch-all expertise of the TV doctor, and become kind of a cross between a mad scientist and a sorceress. Going back to the literary influences for a moment, the character that she most resembles is Professor Van Helsing from Dracula. In Bram Stoker’s novel, Jonathan Seward describes Van Helsing as “a philosopher and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day; and he has, I believe, an absolutely open mind.” That “open mind” is key, because for both Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Hoffman, the boundaries of medical science are too limited to understand and deal with the vampire menace. This “condition” is partly a physical one, which can be described in terms of flesh and blood. But it’s also a spiritual failure, a moral lapse which drives well-bred gentlemen to give in to their appetites for blood and sex and a general deflowering of the innocent. So Barnabas isn’t sure what to make of Julia’s mind-opening offer. He flip-flops several times during the episode, vacillating between hope and fear. While Julia is in the basement, picking out a room to use as a laboratory, Barnabas talks things over with Willie. Willie: You’re gonna kill her? Barnabas: I’m afraid I’ll have to. I went to her room tonight with that intention, but she anticipated me, was waiting for me. I planned to bring the body back here — but now, she’s made that so much easier for me. Willie: She told me what she was gonna do. The kind of experiment she was gonna make. Well, what about that, Barnabas? Can she really cure you? Barnabas: I don’t really know. But this isn’t really an “experiment”, is it? Julia said that Barnabas is the only individual with this condition that she’s ever encountered. There’s no control group, no accumulation of data. She hasn’t even examined Barnabas yet. She’s diagnosed him and devised a complicated treatment plan, based entirely on an analysis of Maggie’sblood. Here’s how she describes the first steps of her plan: Julia: The first thing I have to do is purge your entire arterial system. There won’t be any discomfort, and there won’t be any aftereffects. Now, I think I’ve done enough for one day. So that sounds simple enough, right? “I have to purge your entire arterial system.” Why would you imagine that might cause discomfort? Patients are such crybabies sometimes. Clearly, we’ve left actual medical science far behind, and entered the realm of alchemy. In the Middle Ages, alchemy was both a proto-science and a philosophical tradition, based on the idea that achieving material perfection — for example, turning lead into gold — was the key to spiritual and moral perfection. If you look at her plan as a metaphor — and that’s the only way you can look at it, because medically it’s nonsense — then “purging the arterial system” is another way of saying that she’s going to cleanse him of his destructive and antisocial impulses. Her plan to “introduce a new plasma” is basically a spiritual reawakening, the redemption of the antihero. So Barnabas’ indecision about Julia’s plan is ultimately a moral and spiritual question. Is there enough human empathy left in his undead heart? Can he learn to trust, and to feel? Okay, that’s a no. He grabs her by the throat, and tells her once again that I am going to — KILL you! But she’s got one more ace up her sleeve, and she chokes out: “Maggie Evans!” Barnabas: She’s alive? Julia: And well hidden. Barnabas: What has she said? Julia: Nothing specific as yet. I traced you through my own deductions. At present, she’s suffering from traumatic amnesia. But eventually, she will recover. And then she’ll tell everything she knows. So with that, it seems like Julia has all the ingredients that she needs to transmute Barnabas’ lead heart into gold, and lead him to a new understanding of empathy and human connection. Or… maybe not. Barnabas: But she’ll do that whether you’re alive or dead. Julia: No, she won’t. Because if I’m alive, I will be in charge of her treatment. And I can see to it that her amnesia… remains permanent. Okay, so she’s not perfect either. This might get a little complicated. Tomorrow: I Know Who’s Dead. Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for: Barnabas has the ring on his left hand again, so it’ll be in shot when he’s got Julia up against the bedpost. Barnabas tells Willie, “My existence may not have been what it should be, but at least I have permanence.” (The sensible way to say that would be: “My existence may not be what it should have been.”) Julia tells Barnabas that Maggie hasn’t said anything about him yet: “I traced her — traced you through my own deductions.” Barnabas tells Julia, “I have re-evalued our relationship, and I have come to the conclusion that it is not possible to trust you.” He means re-evaluated. While Barnabas is telling Willie that he can’t trust Dr. Hoffman, a fly settles on his forehead. When Julia enters the scene, Barnabas takes a little swat at the fly. It flies away for a second, and then comes back and settles on his cheek. https://darkshadowseveryday.com/2013/12/23/episode-291/ 16 hours ago, AdamSmith said: Episode 292: I Know Who’s Dead December 24, 2013August 1967, Gordon Russellcasper, ectoplasm, idiot, the house,the supernatural “You know about leaves and everything. Well, I know who’s dead, and who isn’t.” Okay, let’s see where we are. Yesterday, Dr. Julia Hoffman — the noted blood specialist and dangerous lunatic — managed to convince a vampire that she should hang out in his haunted mansion and purge his arterial system. She seems to feel that somehow this will be beneficial for humankind, and who’s going to argue with her? Well, I guess Dr. Woodard will. It’s been a whole two episodes since the last time he came over and said sensible things to Julia, and here he is again. Apparently he thinks that it’s “unethical” for Julia to abandon her patient, Maggie, in the middle of a very delicate and intense course of treatment. He’s right, of course. In fact, we learned yesterday that Julia is planning to ensure that Maggie’s amnesia will be permanent, in order to protect the monster who abused her. Unfortunately, if Woodard succeeds in getting Julia to take more responsibility for Maggie’s treatment, then the story gets less interesting. So, on behalf of the entire audience, I would like to shake his hand, tell him he’s one hundred percent correct, pin a medal on him, and then send him out to play in traffic. But as we’ve seen, Julia can talk her way out of anything. In this case, she chooses the most fiendish weapon in the liar’s arsenal. She tells him the truth. Julia: I believe that Maggie Evans came face to face with the supernatural, in a way that frightened her beyond anything you or I can understand. I can’t convince her that what terrified her doesn’t exist, because I know it does exist! Woodard: Are you, a scientist, telling me that the supernatural exists? By the way, yes, they call it “the supernatural”, and then they just carry on as if that’s a single specific thing that you can have a conversation about. Apparently “the supernatural” is the new “the past”. Along the way, Julia picks up a scary new tactic. Julia: If I’m right — medicine is about to break through the ultimate barrier between life and death. You realize that the doctors who helped make that breakthrough will go down in history. Woodard: Between… life and death? Julia: Dave, when you were in medical school, didn’t you dream of making some major contribution? Well, that could happen now, for both of us. Woodard: But Julia, I’ve got to know a great deal more than I know now! Julia: And you will! I’ll tell you, because I need your skill and knowledge, to help see me through. Woodard: Well, I’ll help you any way that I can. It’s fantastic. She could get him to do anything. So that’s another mark in the win column for the monsters. Meanwhile, David’s playing in the woods, and guess who he runs into? The supernatural. It’s just sitting there, crying. This is the ghost of Sarah Collins, who we haven’t seen for a couple weeks. She’s the vampire’s kid sister, and she befriended Maggie when Barnabas was holding her prisoner. Now, Maggie’s hidden away in a sanitarium, and everybody thinks that she’s dead. David asks why Sarah’s crying, and she says she’s lost her friend. Sarah: Her name was Maggie. She’s lost, and I miss her. David: Well, Sarah, I’m sorry that you miss her so much, but… if it’s Maggie we’re looking for, well, we better not look any more. Here, why don’t you help me look for different kinds of leaves? Personally, I’ve never tried that specific method of cheering up a grieving person, so for all I know, maybe it works. I’ll try it out and let you know how it goes. Sarah asks why she should stop looking for Maggie, and David breaks it to her that Maggie’s dead. Sarah chuckles. David: What are you laughing about? Sarah: She isn’t dead at all! She’s just lost! David: Everyone else says she’s dead. Sarah: Well, everyone else is wrong. David: How can you be so sure? Sarah: You know about leaves and everything. Well, I know who’s dead, and who isn’t. So that’s that. Sarah seems to have some kind of weird ghost sense that’s shorting out at the moment: “Sometimes I almost know where she is, but then it all fades away, and I begin to cry again.” I could probably come up with some kind of crackpot theory to explain how her ghost senses work, but really they’re just making it up to fit whatever’s convenient for the episode. And that’s how “the supernatural” works. So all of that is rather far-fetched, but it’s practically a documentary compared to what happens next. Julia and Burke are talking in the Collinwood foyer when all of a sudden Vicki bursts through the door and announces, “The most wonderful thing has happened. I’m in love.” Burke has been dating Vicki for several months, so at this point I guess nothing fazes him; he just stands there and asks her what the hell she’s talking about. And she says, “It’s with a house. I found the most enchanting old house in the world — it’s on the end of the North Road, by the sea. I must have passed it hundreds of times, only this is the first time I’d ever really noticed it. Burke, it’s like it was just waiting there. Just for me.” Okay, let’s do a quick review of Vicki’s financial affairs. Victoria Winters: Left at a foundling home as a baby. Apparently not adopted. Left the orphanage a year ago, when she became a live-in governess for a ten-year-old boy who appears to be doing his Introduction to Botany homework with a ghost. In other words: She lives in a mansion, but she has exactly no money. She’s probably renting the clothes she’s wearing right now. So while admittedly I don’t have any specific data at my fingertips about the Maine real estate market during the summer of 1967, I’m pretty sure she can’t afford a house, no matter how they may feel about each other. She goes on. Burke: Vicki, what’s this house like? Vicki: The house is very old. It faces onto the sea. In fact, it’s almost part of the sea. And there it sits, like a dowager queen, waiting for the ocean to bring her beautiful gifts from all over the world. Spoiler alert: She’s going to keep talking about this house for the rest of the week, and on into next week. This will take the place of what otherwise would be an interesting television show. Vicki: It was wonderful. Finding it, and standing there, and listening to the sea, and feeling that I really belonged there. And the house knew it. And the sea knew it. And I knew it, too, and we were all very happy there together. It’s awful, and depressing. We’ve been having so much fun lately, with Julia and Barnabas and the supernatural. And now this idiot girl runs onto the screen, babbling about some random house that she can’t afford, and the show comes to a complete stop. There’s a whole other scene after this, about David bringing Sarah back to the house, but she disappears before anyone else sees her. It turns into another Snuffleupagus sequence, except she left her bonnet behind on the floor. But why bother? Vicki’s in love with a house. Apparently that’s a plot point. Tomorrow: Untouched. Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for: When David leads Sarah into Collinwood, he doesn’t shut the front doors all the way, and you can see a gap between the two doors. Everyone who touches the doors today seems to have some kind of trouble; at one point, Vicki has to slam them shut. Behind the Scenes: This is the first episode written by Gordon Russell. Over the next few months, two of the show’s three writers will be replaced. Joe Caldwell and Malcolm Marmorstein will leave, and are replaced by Gordon Russell, and Sam Hall, who starts with episode 357. Russell and Hall become a writing team that takes them through the end of this series, and then on to another soap opera, One Life to Live. Tomorrow: Untouched. Dark Shadows episodåe guide – 1967 16 hours ago, AdamSmith said: Episode 343: The Apparatus March 5, 2014Joe Caldwell, October 1967apparatus, blood, hope, love triangle, mad science “I wonder what I’ll be like, as a human being?” Okay, now we’re talking. Right out of the gate today, the first thing we see: dark red liquid bubbling in a glass jar. It’s connected with tubes and wires to a bunch of other equipment, and there’s a grinding motor noise that indicates that there’s some kind of complicated machinery at work. Backing up a step, we see Dr. Julia Hoffman in a pale blue lab coat, squinting at equipment and making adjustments. She’s in a basement room, with brick walls, exposed timbers and huge cobwebs. The doctor uses a pair of tongs to grab chunks of dry ice, and she drops them into a huge bubbling cauldron. That cauldron is full of more dark red liquid. It’s a bubbling cauldron of blood. This is mad science, we’re actually watching mad science. And it’s about damn time. They’ve been sitting on this “finding a cure for the vampire” story for a month, just letting it simmer in the background while Barnabas and Julia dealt with one manufactured crisis after another. We spent all that time arguing in the drawing room, and there was a bubbling cauldron of blood downstairs that we didn’t even know about. Barnabas walks into the room, and Julia turns off the motor. He objects. Barnabas: Why did you do that? It was magnificent! Julia: I only wanted to test it. Barnabas: Well, obviously, it works! And he’s right — if it’s bubbling and making a noise, then that means it works. He must have taken an elective in mad science. Julia: No, there are still a few details to fix. Barnabas: But you explained to me previously that it only needed a test to prove that the acids had activated. Well, I’d say that you’ve succeeded admirably… as you always do. And he’s right, it is magnificent. Just look at it, bubbling away. Acids are activating all over the place. But Julia isn’t happy; she doesn’t want to go on with the experiments anymore. She’s done. The other day, she helped Barnabas kill Dr. Woodard, because Woodard had learned about these experiments. A first murder can rattle anyone. But it’s too late to turn back; he’s already got a speech prepared. Barnabas: I’m sorry, but you’ve given me one irretrievable gift… hope. He walks a few steps, and strikes a pose. Barnabas: The hope of becoming human again. The hope of being able to love, and not destroy. Even the hope itself is a hint of what it must be like to be a human being. I love this scene. Remember what I said the other day about Joe Caldwell being a great writer? He’s writing four of the episodes this week. Yesterday was the obligatory useless law enforcement episode that they still think they need to have after a murder, but the rest of the week is this: Melodramatic speeches about what it means to be human, delivered by a vampire in his secret basement laboratory. It’s an impossible scheme, really — to take the psychopath who took obvious pleasure in cold-blooded murder only two episodes ago, and guide him through a moral reboot that will make him the hero of the show. But maybe there’s a science behind this madness after all. Barnabas: If I can love and not destroy, surely forgiveness can be found. Julia: For what you’ve done? Barnabas: Perhaps not. But let me love first, as a human being loves, and if there’s still no forgiveness, well, let me take the punishment… not as a monster, but as a man. And that’s the point, really, that he’s got a desire to change. That’s not quite the same thing as remorse, but it’s pointing in the right direction. Then he walks over to the huge bucket of bubbling blood, and says, “I wonder what I’ll be like, as a human being?” And you can just feel the acids activating. Over at Collinwood, Vicki and Burke are having another little quarrel about where they’re going to live when they get married. They’ve been doing a lot of this lately. She doesn’t want to quit her governess job and leave David right now, because he’s become emotionally disturbed, and he needs her. Vicki and Burke have had a series of conversations about this, and they don’t seem to be getting anywhere. It usually looks like they’ve reached some kind of understanding by the end of a given episode, but the next time we see them, they’re back at it. This is what they do now. But there’s a larger agenda at work here. Vicki and Burke can stay trapped in this little circular argument for as long as they like, because ultimately the writers aren’t invested in helping them work it out. This is a soap opera, and what really matters is the love triangle, an experimental apparatus lashed together with tubes and wires, connecting a tangle of loose storylines. On their own, Burke and Vicki don’t generate a lot of heat. She’s young and pretty and not very bright; he’s wealthy and he wants to marry her. They have no obstacles in their way, and they’ve spent the last several weeks trying to determine which enormous mansion they’ll move into after the wedding. But when you get a third party involved, there’s a chance for some interesting chemistry. Unfortunately, the Burke/Vicki/Barnabas triangle was pretty comprehensively nerfed more than a month ago. Vicki told Burke to stop being suspicious of Barnabas, Burke gave in, and the storyline just kind of rolled over and died. But it turns out that wasn’t the real love triangle after all. Burke’s about to be taken off the board, and the real triangle is Barnabas, Vicki and Julia. That situation has a lot more potential, because Julia has a hypnotic medallion, several terrifying secrets, and a bubbling bucket of blood. Chaos will ensue. Like any mad science experiment, it’s hard to say exactly how the love triangle is going to end up. But it bubbles and it makes noise, and that’s a good place to start. Let’s chuck some more dry ice in there, and see what happens. Tomorrow: Haunted. Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for: At the start of the first scene, while Julia is adjusting her equipment, someone in the studio has a loud coughing fit. When they come back from the titles, it sounds like Barnabas and Julia started the scene too early. Barnabas begins the scene by saying, “Nonsense! You’ve done nothing but take chances,” which doesn’t relate to anything. This has happened a few times since episode 333, when a scene started while Dr. Woodard was halfway through the word “-peared”. They need to get a handle on the timing. When Barnabas brings up Woodard’s murder, Julia says, “I didn’t kill anyone.” Barnabas is supposed to say, “You handed the hypodermic needle to me,” but he messes up the rhythm of the line. He puts stress on the wrong end of the sentence, so it comes out as “You handed the hypodermic needle to me,” which doesn’t mean anything. As you can see in the picture above, there’s a huge boom mic shadow obscuring Julia’s face during the entire terrace scene. It’s still there every time they cut to her reaction. Alone on the terrace, Julia is supposed to be startled by a ghost, which appears and vanishes using a Chromakey effect. But they mess up the timing, so Julia turns around and screams after the ghost has already come and gone. Behind the Scenes: Peter Murphy plays the ghost of Dr. Woodard here, silently gesturing to Julia on the terrace. Murphy started on the show a couple weeks ago, as the recast for the crazy old Caretaker. We’ll see him again next week, standing in for Burke in Vicki’s dream. Tomorrow: Haunted. On a lighter note... https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/3661274f-9f01-3bc9-97c5-11cf9b82b3c7/ss_united-passenger-befouled-the.html United passenger befouled the bathrooms so badly the plane had to land AdamSmith 1
AdamSmith Posted January 7, 2018 Posted January 7, 2018 5 hours ago, MsAnn said: On a lighter note... https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/3661274f-9f01-3bc9-97c5-11cf9b82b3c7/ss_united-passenger-befouled-the.html United passenger befouled the bathrooms so badly the plane had to land LMMFAO!!! ...as it were. MsAnn 1
AdamSmith Posted January 7, 2018 Posted January 7, 2018 Episode 1113: The War Doctor December 18, 2017Sam Hall, September 1970doctor who, lies, sherry, smart people,trickster “I have to go back and try to change history, so that this terrible night couldn’t have happened!” She calls herself a Collins; they usually do. She says that she’s from England, by way of Pennsylvania, which is just as good of a cover story as anything else. She’s Barnabas Collins’ daughter, apparently, and she’s also Barnabas Collins’ sister, and frankly, given the chance, she’d be his wife as well. It’s complicated. So here’s Julia Hoffman, using the time-tested time-travel trick adopted by all of the horologically diverse visitors who turn up at Collinwood at haphazard intervals. If you ever find yourself in a surprising century, the formula is to knock on the nearest door and pretend you’re an ancestor. It’s easier if you’re Barnabas, of course, because then you’ve got a portrait right there in the foyer that you can use like a driver’s license. Julia doesn’t have that advantage, so she falls back on a popular strategy: blame the government. “I really meant to get in touch with all of you,” she says. “How embarrassing all this is. I did write! The posts are so bad, I only wish they were better.” If this doesn’t work, she’s going to try “fake news”, and see how far that gets her. It’s always stressful when you meet the in-laws, especially if you’re an impostor and not actually part of the family in any way, but Julia’s holding up well. Samantha seems like kind of a pushover, but Julia also has to deal with Gabriel, who’s a poisonous viper, and Gerard, who recently in the future killed a lot of her friends and burned down two houses while she was standing in them. She does fluster momentarily on sight of Gerard, but she holds it together, because if there’s one thing that Julia can do, it’s lie. Well, two things I guess, because the first one is finding her light. The second one is lie. She expected her brother Barnabas to arrive before her, she says, armed with a letter of introduction and a face that looks like a portrait. She’s a cousin from England, which is why they’ve never met before, and she’s also a cousin from Pennsylvania, which is why she doesn’t have an accent. She might also be from a couple other places that she’s holding in reserve just in case she needs them. Fortunately, she’s got an accomplice on the inside, ready to noisily believe her story, which helps put things over. Plus, accepting her alias makes this another opportunity to pass the sherry around, and nobody at Collinwood can resist that. So they raise their glasses and drink to gullibility and mail delivery, as the boom mics swirl moodily overhead, buzzing suspiciously. But it was never in doubt, really. This is Julia Hoffman, the woman who was exposed as an impostor back in April 1968 and was then issued a permanent parking space in an upstairs bedroom. If anybody knows how to talk her way into Collinwood, it’s her. Because Julia is a smart character, and they’re always welcome. She’s allowed to live perpetually onsite because she can move the plot along, in ways that the Collins family members never seem to quite manage. Smart characters can’t be put off the scent; they investigate, and get into trouble. That’s why she’s finally been upgraded to main character, and now she’s the one traveling in time. Julia is the Doctor, currently engaged in the Second Great Time War. The walking dead men have jumped forward to the future and destroyed her home planet; now the War Doctor has the awful responsibility of circling back, and destroying theirs first. Obviously, the hero can’t carry this story on her own; she needs a worthy adversary with smart-person powers of his own. There’s another mad renegade in this story: Gerard Stiles, the dark twin of the Doctor. He’s also insinuated himself into the house under an assumed name, and he can recognize a fellow mendacitist when he sees one. Gerard’s been carrying an aberrant earring around in his pocket, a careless clue that Julia dropped in the playroom a couple episodes ago. Gabriel found it and passed it on, and now Gerard is musing on the mysterious Julia Collins, when she returns to Collinwood from a suspicious early-morning walk to the cemetery. This is his opportunity for a fishing trip. “Any news from your brother?” he asks, and she says no. “You must be terribly worried about him,” he observes, and she says yes. This is the traditional opening move. Gerard: Tell me, how long has it been since you’ve seen your brother? Julia: Not since I came to America, I miss him very much. Gerard: I see. Tell me, where do you live in, uh — Pennsylvania, yes? Julia: A farm, just outside Philadelphia. I’m something of a recluse. Gerard: Ah, I hope not so much that you don’t remember the famous restaurant on Chestnut Street — Julia: I never go to the city. Gerard: Pity. You miss so much. They’re always recluses, these cross-time impostors, who have been nowhere, seen nothing, and known no one. She’s done this before. “By the way, Miss Collins,” he columbos, “I have something that belongs to you.” “Oh? What?” she asks, and then he brandishes the earring. “My –” she begins, and then catches herself. She has a split-second to come up with a recovery, which she does. Split-seconds are the appropriate unit of time, when she’s lying. “My word,” she continues. “What is it?” He says it’s an earring. “Really!” she coos, as if this is a brand new experience. “Such an unusual design!” “Isn’t it?” he retorts, and he can’t resist just the hint of a smile, as he admires a colleague’s skill. “I found this in the playroom, the night before last.” She adopts a sarcastically innocent tone of voice, signaling that she knows what he’s up to. “But I wasn’t here, why would you think it would be mine?” “Because there’s another one just like it on your dresser!” he retorts, and that’s it, he’s lost the match. This is how the Doctor operates — she provides an opening, and the monsters fall into their own traps. Now he’s giving her information, which is the opposite of how he wanted this to go. “Why were you in my room?” she snaps, and he gives away more intel. “I brought your luggage in from town,” he explains. “One like this was on your dresser. Now, this can’t be a coincidence, can it, Miss Collins?” He paces toward her, and grabs her arm. “Now, tell me,” he thunders, “who are you, and what do you want here?” She makes a face that leads into a cliffhanger, but she’s clearly winning on points. He’s answering more questions than she is, and he’s the first to raise his voice. And then he just keeps telling her every fact that he knows. Observe the technique. Julia: What right have you to question me? Gerard: Would you prefer Gabriel Collins to do it? He was the one who found the earring. He’s as interested in this as I am. Daniel Collins says there was a woman in the room, the night the earring was found. Now, was it you? That’s two more pieces of information that he’s given up, for zero of hers. Julia is amazing at this. Julia: I arrived this evening, you know that. I’m not accustomed to strangers doubting my word. Gerard: When Gabriel showed me this, I had a feeling that it belonged to a woman who did not dress as a woman ought to do. Julia: You’re a psychic, too? Gerard: Not professionally. And oh my god, dude, get it together. Julia’s using the greatest trick in the impostor arsenal: invoking social norms to make her challenger uncomfortable. “What right have you to question me?” and “I’m not accustomed to strangers doubting my word” are specifically designed to remind him that she outranks him. She might as well call him an upstart. And then she pulls out that irritatingly disarming crocodile smile, which is the last thing you see before the Hand of Omega wipes out your homeworld. “Well, whatever your interests,” she needles, “I can answer your questions about the earring very easily.” He just stands there, stiffening as he waits for the banana cream pie to fly into his face. “It was on the bureau when I went into the room.” And that’s it. The game is over. “Nobody has been into that room since all the time I’ve been here,” he says, “and that’s been several months.” But his heart isn’t in it; he knows what’s just happened. “I meant to call it to Mrs. Collins’ attention,” she says, and then gives a little chuckle designed to stab him directly in the heart. “But you can do that now.” She cocks her head, and does a victory lap. “There’s no way of telling how long it’s been there, is there?” “No, there isn’t,” he says, and he wants to exterminate her, more than he’s ever wanted anything before. “Well, I’m afraid you’ll have to solve the little mystery yourself,” she chirps. “We will solve it,” he vows, “and soon.” And then he takes the long walk upstairs, wondering if he knows anyone who could get their hands on a reality bomb. Tomorrow: The Unshakeable. Dark Shadows bloopers to watch out for: Julia tells Ben, “I was hoping to see you, so that I could hear more stories about Father, when he was young. My brother and I used to listen to how Collinwood was, then.” The mic cuts out at the end of Gerard’s line: “I’m afraid I’m only interested in — [the living].” Gerard says, “No, Leticia — I’ve learned to recognize that peculiar look she gets in her eye whenever she wants to — whenever she wants to see me.” Besides the flub, how could Gerard see the look that Flora gets when she wants to see him? If he sees it, then she’s seeing him already. Barnabas tells Stokes, “She opened the door, and the stairs was there.” Tomorrow: The Unshakeable. Dark Shadows episode guide
AdamSmith Posted January 8, 2018 Posted January 8, 2018 One of my most precious belongings is a publicity still of Roxanne that Donna Wandrey (the actress who played her) autographed for me in the signing lineup at the 1993 Shadowcon. I will scan it and post it here sometime. Great spot-plot summary here: https://darkshadowseveryday.com/2017/12/21/episode-1114/ The below summary shows just how insanely brilliant this TV show was. Roxanne Drew EDIT SHARE Roxanne Drew Production Information Portrayed by Donna Wandrey First appearance 1081 Last appearance 1177 Episode count 20 Biographical Information Name Roxanne Drew Year of death 1840 Manner of death Turned into a vampire by Barnabas Collins (As a vampire): Consumed by flames when exposed to sunlight by Randall Drew Origin Maine, New England, USA Supernatural abilities (As a vampire): Possession Teleportation Shapeshifting Summoning Family members Randall Drew (Brother) Samantha Collins (Sister) Mr. Drew (Father) We have 3 images of Dark Shadows Roxanne Drew This article is about the Roxanne Drew who lived as a vampire in 1840 and 1970. For the psychic from parallel time, see Roxanne Drew (PT). Roxanne Drew was a female vampire who lived in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and who victimized Maggie Evans, Lamar Trask, Sebastian Shaw, and Julia Hoffman. Contents [show] Original life history Edit Roxanne Drew was a native of Collinsport in the year 1840. She had one brother, Randall Drew and an older sister, Samantha, who was married to the original Quentin Collins. She was courted by Lamar Trask, the son of Reverend Trask. Although Lamar hoped to marry Roxanne, she did not return his affections (1114). It is unknown how Roxanne became a vampire in the 19th century without Barnabas and Julia there, and then showed up in Collinsport in 1970. Vampirism Edit In an alternate timeline, Roxanne became a vampire because of Julia Hoffman's presence in 1840, before the Barnabas Collins who lived with her in the 20th century joined her in the past. Julia released Barnabas from his chained coffin and he, not yet knowing the doctor from the twentieth century, refused to work with her (1112). Hoping to make her his bride, Barnabas attacked Roxanne (1114), and when she tried to prevent his actions, killed Julia. Roxanne rose as a vampire, but apparently did not remain with Barnabas. She returned to Collinsport in 1970 (1080) with her assistant and servant Sebastian Shaw, an astrologer and psychic. Barnabas had recently returned from Parallel Time, where he'd loved the Roxanne Drew living in that time band. Trying to woo this version of her, Barnabas found the girl uninterested (1081). Roxanne later victimized Maggie Evans, forcing Julia, Barnabas and Willie Loomis to trap her inside a coffin in the secret room of the Old House (1106). At one point, Sebastian tried to destroy Roxanne, but he was stopped by the ghost of Gerard Stiles. Roxanne in 1840 Later, Barnabas, inexplicably unaffected by the alterations to the 1840 timeline, saw Julia's grave from that year and used the I Ching wands to send his astral body back in time and take control of his physical body in the past. Now under the control of his future mind, Barnabas did not kill Julia and did not allow Roxanne to die and rise as a vampire (1116, 1117). In theory, this prevented the existence of the 1970 Roxanne. This was all nearly in vain, however, when Angelique caused the vampire wounds on Roxanne's neck to reopen later in 1840 (1133). Roxanne did die (1139) and return as a vampire (1143), but the timeline was changed again when her brother Randall Drewforced Roxanne to remain in the sunlight, where she was destroyed (1150). It was never revealed if Roxanne was still in the secret room of the Old House when Barnabas and Julia returned to the present following their mission in 1840. Paradox ruminations Edit The character of Roxanne Drew of regular time has been labelled an inconsistency in the show's writing by the publication "The Dark Shadows Companion: 25th Anniversary Collection", however her existence can be clearly understood with the inconsistencies in the character of Barnabas Collins, instead. It appears that three versions of the 1840 time-line are referenced on the series: one described only in the aftermath of the 1970 disaster and seen by Barnabas and Julia in 1995. We can assume, since Julia Hoffman had not traveled to 1840 because she had not come back to 1970 from Parallel Time in this version of events, that Roxanne had died a normal death in the unaltered timeline. The second version of 1840 existed when Julia and Barnabas returned to 1970 after being in the future. That version of 1970 now existed in the aftermath of Julia's eventual solo journey to 1840, although Barnabas was paradoxically not changed by Julia's releasing him from his coffin early. Roxanne had become a vampire because of Barnabas in this version of 1840, and he had killed Julia in 1840. The third version of the 1840 events shown were those actually enacted during the full 1840 Flashback storyline. Barnabas and Julia prevented Roxanne's first death and rising as a vampire, but their presence alerted Angelique to begin posing as Valerie Collins. Roxanne died anyway, and was killed in 1840 because of her brother's unexpected arrival. Barnabas' unchanged status in the 1970 storyline leading up to the 1840 Flashback is the true inconsistency and creates the perception that Roxanne should not exist in 1970. References Edit The Dark Shadows Companion: 25th Anniversary Collection, edited by Kathryn Leigh Scott, foreword by Jonathan Frid, Pomegranate Press, 1990. ISBN 0-938817-25-6 Appearances Edit 1081, 1082, 1083, 1088, 1090, 1101, 1102, 1104, 1105, 1106, 1114, 1115, 1116, 1117, 1124, 1133, 1138, 1139, 1143, 1149, 1150, 1163, 1164, 1177 MsGuy 1
AdamSmith Posted January 8, 2018 Posted January 8, 2018 Reverend Trask EDIT SHARE Reverend Trask Production Information Portrayed by Jerry Lacy First appearance 385 Last appearance 523 Episode count 21 Biographical Information Name Reverend Trask Year of death 1796 Manner of death Immurement by Barnabas Collins Origin Salem, Massachusetts, USA Profession Reverend Witch-hunter Family members Lamar Trask (Son) We have 3 images of Dark Shadows Reverend Trask This article is about Reverend Trask from the 1795 storyline. For the 1897 character, see Gregory Trask. Reverend Trask (1760s - 1795) was a witch-hunter from Salem, Massachusetts. Trask had a reputation for persecuting innocent girls and sending them to the gallows as witches. He was brought to Collinsport by Abigail Collins to exorcise the estate of a witch, Victoria Winters (385). His passion for the case eventually resulted in Victoria being wrongly found guilty (437) and sentenced to death by hanging. Trask was also responsible for blackmailing Nathan Forbes into testifying against her in trial. He later confessed his error (441) and wrote a letter to this fact before being immured in a supporting basement wall in The Old House by the newly risen vampire, Barnabas Collins (442). The letter was dismissed by the court as inadmissible evidence. Rev. Trask was the father of Lamar Trask, an undertaker who lived in the 1840s. Lamar was trying to get revenge for the disappearance of his father. Through Lamar, he was the grandfather of Elias Trask, who lived in the 1860s. He was the great-grandfather of Gregory Trask, a cruel preacher and educator who died in 1897. Rev. Trask was also, in all probability, the ancestor of Tony Peterson, a lawyer who lived in the 1960s and '70s. In 1968, Professor Stokes, Julia Hoffman, and Tony Peterson held a seance to summon Trask's ghost (510) so he could exact revenge on Angelique (who was masquerading as Cassandra Collins, wife of Roger Collins), reasoning that since she was the real witch and she had deceived him into persecuting Victoria Winters, and she was the one who made Barnabas a vampire, she was more responsible than he for Trask's death. Trask tried to get revenge on Barnabas for killing him in 1795. He started to wall up Barnabas in the same space he was in for 173 years. Trask also summoned all of Barnabas' victims from the past for a mock trial. Barnabas was found guilty and he was walled up. Dr. Julia Hoffman and Willie Loomis saved Barnabas. The shade of Rev. Trask destroyed Angelique (519) by performing the same rite of exorcism on her that he had performed on Victoria Winters in 1795 (385). This was undone when Nicholas Blair came to Collinsport (521) posing as Cassandra's brother and resurrected her (526). Nicholas used his powers to summon Rev. Trask's ghost to extract information about Barnabas Collins (523). At first, Trask refused, but had no choice when Nicholas threatened to force Trask to spend eternity wandering without being able to return to his grave. The ghost of Reverend Trask also appeared to Victoria Winters and Jeff Clark. Jeff was the reincarnation of Peter Bradford, the lawyer that defended Victoria in her trial for witchcraft. Jeff recognized Trask and Victoria believed that to be proof that Jeff was Peter. Rev. Gregory Trask told Barnabas Collins that he was the great-grandson of the Rev. Trask who travelled from Salem to Collinsport in the late 1790s and disappeared mysteriously on his way home (725). Later Barnabas admitted to Gregory Trask that he killed his great-grandfather at the Old House and vowed to Gregory that he would meet a similar fate, which he did. NotesEdit Reverend Trask's first name was never revealed, although Jerry Lacy jokingly referred to him as "Horrible." Reverend Trask was Jerry Lacy's second and most notable role on the show. The Reverend Trask was also played by Roy Thinnes in the 1991 Revival Series. Source MaterialEdit Reverend Trask's death was based on the death of Fortunato in Edgar Allen Poe's The Cask of Amontillado. Appearances Edit 385, 386, 387, 388, 400, 412, 427, 429, 432, 433, 434, 435, 437, 438, 440, 441, 442, 511, 512, 516, 519, 523, 1126 http://darkshadows.wikia.com/wiki/Reverend_Trask
AdamSmith Posted January 8, 2018 Posted January 8, 2018 1 hour ago, AdamSmith said: One of my most precious belongings is a publicity still of Roxanne that Donna Wandrey (the actress who played her) autographed for me in the signing lineup at the 1993 Shadowcon. I will scan it and post it here sometime. Great spot-plot summary here: https://darkshadowseveryday.com/2017/12/21/episode-1114/ The below summary shows just how insanely brilliant this TV show was. Roxanne Drew EDIT SHARE Roxanne Drew Production Information @MsGuy, is that not all self-evident?
Members MsGuy Posted January 8, 2018 Members Posted January 8, 2018 1 hour ago, AdamSmith said: The below summary shows just how insanely brilliant this TV show was. Roxanne Drew We have Roxa Original life history Edit Roxanne Drew was a native of Collinsport in the year 1840. She had one brother, Randall Drew and an older sister, Samantha, who was married to the original Quentin Collins. She was courted by Lamar Trask, the son of Reverend Trask. Although Lamar hoped to marry Roxanne, she did not return his affections (1114). It is unknown how Roxanne became a vampire in the 19th century without Barnabas and Julia there, and then showed up in Collinsport in 1970. Vampirism Edit In an alternate timeline, Roxanne became a vampire because of Julia Hoffman's presence in 1840, before the Barnabas Collins who lived with her in the 20th century joined her in the past. Julia released Barnabas from his chained coffin and he, not yet knowing the doctor from the twentieth century, refused to work with her (1112). Hoping to make her his bride, Barnabas attacked Roxanne (1114), and when she tried to prevent his actions, killed Julia. Roxanne rose as a vampire, but apparently did not remain with Barnabas. She returned to Collinsport in 1970 (1080) with her assistant and servant Sebastian Shaw, an astrologer and psychic. Barnabas had recently returned from Parallel Time, where he'd loved the Roxanne Drew living in that time band. Trying to woo this version of her, Barnabas found the girl uninterested (1081). Roxanne later victimized Maggie Evans, forcing Julia, Barnabas and Willie Loomis to trap her inside a coffin in the secret room of the Old House (1106). At one point, Sebastian tried to destroy Roxanne, but he was stopped by the ghost of Gerard Stiles. Roxanne in 1840 Later, Barnabas, inexplicably unaffected by the alterations to the 1840 timeline, saw Julia's grave from that year and used the I Ching wands to send his astral body back in time and take control of his physical body in the past. Now under the control of his future mind, Barnabas did not kill Julia and did not allow Roxanne to die and rise as a vampire (1116, 1117). In theory, this prevented the existence of the 1970 Roxanne. This was all nearly in vain, however, when Angelique caused the vampire wounds on Roxanne's neck to reopen later in 1840 (1133). Roxanne did die (1139) and return as a vampire (1143), but the timeline was changed again when her brother Randall Drewforced Roxanne to remain in the sunlight, where she was destroyed (1150). It was never revealed if Roxanne was still in the secret room of the Old House when Barnabas and Julia returned to the present following their mission in 1840. Paradox ruminations Edit The character of Roxanne Drew of regular time has been labelled an inconsistency in the show's writing by the publication "The Dark Shadows Companion: 25th Anniversary Collection", however her existence can be clearly understood with the inconsistencies in the character of Barnabas Collins, instead. It appears that three versions of the 1840 time-line are referenced on the series: one described only in the aftermath of the 1970 disaster and seen by Barnabas and Julia in 1995. We can assume, since Julia Hoffman had not traveled to 1840 because she had not come back to 1970 from Parallel Time in this version of events, that Roxanne had died a normal death in the unaltered timeline. The second version of 1840 existed when Julia and Barnabas returned to 1970 after being in the future. That version of 1970 now existed in the aftermath of Julia's eventual solo journey to 1840, although Barnabas was paradoxically not changed by Julia's releasing him from his coffin early. Roxanne had become a vampire because of Barnabas in this version of 1840, and he had killed Julia in 1840. The third version of the 1840 events shown were those actually enacted during the full 1840 Flashback storyline. Barnabas and Julia prevented Roxanne's first death and rising as a vampire, but their presence alerted Angelique to begin posing as Valerie Collins. Roxanne died anyway, and was killed in 1840 because of her brother's unexpected arrival. Barnabas' unchanged status in the 1970 storyline leading up to the 1840 Flashback is the true inconsistency and creates the perception that Roxanne should not exist in 1970 Dearest AdamSmith, Did you even bother to read this colossal crap fest before posting? Back in the day, I actually tried to get myself interested in the show several times BUT The acting was rancid and the story lines and dialogue would gag the most jaded soap opera script-writer (and probably did). Bless your heart but WTH, buddy. Sincerely yours, MsGuy
AdamSmith Posted January 8, 2018 Posted January 8, 2018 16 minutes ago, MsGuy said: Yes, dear. I sat through the insanely turgid slow-moving treacle every day. It was torture. BUT I got the poetic beauty out of it, likewise, every day. (Well, enough of them! ) You are obviously not an English major.
Members MsGuy Posted January 8, 2018 Members Posted January 8, 2018 Well, one supposes one takes one's poetic beauty where one can find it. Me, I like mine more readily available and at a reasonable price. Hunting through the crap pile to find a few kernals of undigested corn just aint my thing. AdamSmith and MsAnn 1 1
AdamSmith Posted January 8, 2018 Posted January 8, 2018 4 minutes ago, MsGuy said: Well, one supposes one takes one's poetic beauty where one can find it. Me, I like mine more readily available and at a reasonable price. Hunting through the crap pile to find a few kernals of undigested corn just aint my thing. I takes it where I finds it, yas indeedy. if the cellulose induces spastic colon, so much the better.
Members MsGuy Posted January 8, 2018 Members Posted January 8, 2018 3 minutes ago, AdamSmith said: I takes it where I finds it. Which is why you're the English major. Ooooh, I'm good. MsAnn and AdamSmith 1 1
AdamSmith Posted January 8, 2018 Posted January 8, 2018 18 minutes ago, MsGuy said: Which is why you're the English major. Ooooh, I'm good. In actual life practice, I'm today the leading market researcher & consultant on engineering modeling & simulation software in the world. But -- reality? How dull!
Members MsGuy Posted January 8, 2018 Members Posted January 8, 2018 AS, no matter how hard I try to best you, I wind up with all my arguments deflated. But I will endeavor to persevere. MsAnn and AdamSmith 1 1
