I’d like to start this continuation of the Dark Shadows discussion from the old board with a look at some of the new and upcoming Dark Shadows audio stories from Big Finish Productions. There aren’t nearly as many Dark Shadows audio adventures as there are Doctor Who ones, but the Doctor Who series has been around longer. The Dark Shadows audios are a mixed bag. The first release was a full-cast sequel titled “Return to Collinwood”. Later they began to release a series of interconnected sequential stories grouped in short “seasons”. More recently they’ve been going back to the timeline of the original television show and telling interstitial one-shots. As the Dark Shadows series seems to be catching on, Big Finish seems to be ramping up their production schedule. “Curse of the Pharaoh” was released in September, and the next four are set for monthly release beginning in January at a special subscription rate.
CURSE OF THE PHARAOH:
“Curse of the Pharaoh” stars Nancy Barrett (reprising her role as Carolyn Stoddard) and Marie Wallace (perhaps best known as “Eve” on the TV show) in a new role, famed Egyptologist Dr. Gretchen Warwick. The story doesn’t specify, but I assume it takes place shortly after the end of the series original TV series, circa 1970 or so. Both actresses are kind of rusty and sound as old as they are, not as young as they (Caroline, anyway) are supposed to be. Barrett was always a better actress than Wallace, and that remains true. Wallace’s shortcomings are spotlighted in this “dramatic reading” in which she plays other bit parts, most of the male (Bob the bartender at The Blue Whale, Eliot Stokes on the telephone, Carolyn’s father in flashback), which she performs in a gruff kind of storybook voice as if reading aloud to a child. The story itself is a sequel to the unpopular “Leviathan” television storyline. If you’ve never heard a Dark Shadows audio and thinking of trying one out, there are better ones to start with than this.
KEY: OB = Old Board; UR = Un-Reviewed
Return to Collinwood - 169
SEASON ONE:
S1.1 The House of Despair - 1
S1.2 The Book of Temptation - OB
S1.3 The Christmas Presence - 264
S1.4 The Rage Beneath - 7
SEASON TWO: Kingdom of the Dead - 7
DRAMATIC READINGS:
1. Angelique’s Descent-Pt. 1 - OB
2. Angelique’s Descent-Pt. 2 - OB
3. Clothes of Sand - OB
4. The Ghost Walker - OB
5. The Skin Walkers - OB
6. The Path of Fate - OB
7. The Wicked & the Dead - OB
8. Echoes of Insanity - OB
9. Curse of the Pharaoh - 1
10. Final Judgment - 1
11. Blood Dance - 1
12. The Night Whispers - 1
13. London’s Burning - 2
14. The Doll House - 30
15. The Blind Painter - 87
16. The Death Mask - 88
17. The Creeping Fog - 89
18. The Carrion Queen - 89
19. The Poisoned Soul - 96
20. The Lost Girl - 96
21. The Crimson Pearl - 114
22. The Voodoo Amulet - 129
23. The House by the Sea - 170
24. Dress Me in Dark Dreams - 154
25. The Eternal Actress - 162
26. The Fall of House Trask - 163
27. Operation: Victor - 166
28. Speak No Evil - 166
29. The Last Stop - 166
30. Dreaming of the Water - 167
31. The Haunted Refrain - 167
32. A Collinwood Christmas - 167, 264
33. The Phantom Bride - 167
34. Beneath the Veil - 167
35. The Enemy Within - 167
36. The Lucifer Gambit - 167
37. The Flip Side - 167
38. Beyond the Grave - 168
39. Curtain Call - 168
40. The Harvest of Souls - 170
41. The Happier Dead - 168
42. The Carriage Damned - 168
43. The Devil Cat - 168
44. The Darkest Shadow - 173
SEASON THREE: Bloodlust - 170-172, 181, 269
45. Panic - 173
46. The Curse of Shurafa - 173
47. In the Twinkling of an Eye - 173
48. Deliver Us from Evil - 173
49. Tainted Love - 173
50. ...And Red All Over - 175
Echoes of the Past - 176
Blood & Fire - 176
Haunting Memories - 177
Phantom Melodies - 178
Dreams of Long Ago - 178
THE TONY & CASSANDRA MYSTERIES:
The Mystery at Crucifix Heights - 179
The Mystery of La Danse Macabre - 179
The Mystery of Flight 493 - 180
The Mystery of Karmina Sonata - 180
SHADOWS OF THE NIGHT:
Trio - 180
Honeymoon from Hell - 180
Retreat -180
1:53 AM - 180
MAGGIE & QUENTIN - THE LOVERS' REFRAIN:
The Girl Beneath the Water - 180
The Sand That Speaks HIs Name - 180
The Hollow Winds That Beckon
The Paper to the Flame
GOTHIC PAPERBACK LIBRARY
1. Dark Shadows - p183
2. Victoria Winters - p183
3. Strangers at Collins House - p183
4. The Mystery of Collinwood - p184
5. The Curse of Collinwood - p184
6. Barnabas Collins - p185
7. The Secret of BC - p185
8. The Demon of BC - p185
9. The Foe of BC - p185
10. The Phantom of BC - p185
11. BC vs. the Warlock - p186
12. The Peril of BC - p186
13. BC and the Mysterious Ghost - p187
14. BC and Quentin's Demon - p188
15. BC and the Gypsy Witch - p188
16. B, Q and the Mummy's Curse - p188
17. B, Q and the Avenging Ghost - p242
18. B, Q and the Nightmare Assassin - p244
19. B, Q and the Crystal Coffin
20. B, Q and the Witch's Curse
21. B, Q and the Haunted Cave
22. B, Q and the Frightened Bride
23. B, Q and the Scorpio Curse
24. B, Q and the Serpent
25. B, Q and the Magic Potion
26. B, Q and the Body Snatchers
27. B, Q and Dr. Jekyll's Son
28. B, Q and the Grave Robbers
29. B, Q and the Sea Ghost
30. B, Q and the Mad Magician
31. B, Q and the Hidden Tomb
32. B, Q and the Vampire Beauty
33. House of Dark Shadows - p241
ROB STAEGER: p189
NEWSPAPER STRIPS: p241
Replies
I've seen up through episode 935 now.
Quentin and Amanda work their way through the underworld, dealing with rickety bridges and giant spiders, but eventually Amanda starts to fall into a chasm. Quentin catches her, but that means they've touched, and the deal with Mr. Best is invalid. Amanda gets caught in a cave collapse, and Quentin is left in the woods alone. Later, he meets up with Julia, who wants him to help Barnabas out of whatever jam he's in. He doesn't agree to help, but he promises to stick around for a while.
One person who won't be sticking around is Paul Stoddard, who the Leviathan monster tracks down at Professor Stokes's place and kills offscreen. Paul (sometime between scenes) tells Julia some dying words that implicate the antique shop. Julia and the sherrif go to investigate, and the meet Jeb Hawkes, the latest (and grown up) version of Alexander/Michael/BabyNightmare. Later, Hawkes goes to the police station to kill the sherrif... and after he does so, Barnabas comes in, intending to spill his guts about the Leviathan conspiracy (at Julia's urging). At the climax, Jeb accuses him of betrayal.
Also, since Paul is dead, now it looks like Barnabas will give Carolyn away when and if the big wedding day comes.
Amanda gets caught in a cave collapse...
I originally watched these episodes on MPI Home Video and some of them had supplementary interviews and other features. In one of the interviews, Donna McKechnie describes her last day on the set. I was going to relate this story from memory, but the "Dark Shadows Every Day" blog quotes her from Barnabas & Company relating the same story. (Apparently this is a story she has told more than once because I don't have that book.)
“In rehearsal, we went through the scene with a few Styrofoam boulders and a little peat moss — no big deal. Nobody told me there was going to be ten times as much dropped during the taping. So, when it was time to tape the scene, I was looking up, and I just got buried. I got peat moss in my eyes and in my mouth and ears and nose… and I was covered in rocks. They way things worked at the studio, at the end of that scene, the lights went out, and the camera and crew and actors all moved on to the next scene, in another part of the studio. So there I was, laying under all those Styrofoam rocks and peat moss, and nobody helped me get out. I had to dig myself out, and that was my last experience on Dark Shadows.“
Here is what I had to say about 935 back in 2012:
#935: The adult Leviathan steps out of the room and introduces himself as Jeb Hawkes. Jeb speaks “TV hip.” He is a photographer and doesn’t mind the boarded up windows. Megan had rented out the room without Philip’s knowledge… very quickly after Michael’s death, especially considering how reluctant Philip was to even let the sheriff into the room. Sheriff Davenport later confides in Julia that he doesn’t trust the Todds, that he detected the same sweet smell in the room that was clinging to Paul’s jacket, and that he found a cufflink in the shop, a match to the one Paul was wearing at the time of his death.
Barnabas meets Jeb, who is even more obnoxious than his earlier selves if that’s possible. Carolyn is grieving for her father, but Jeb wants to see her right away. The sheriff later interviews Jeb a second time. Jeb knows he’s under suspicion.
Quentin mourns Amanda and tells Julia that the desk clerk has no record of an “Olivia Corey” registered at the inn. From this bit of information, Julia mysteriously deduces that all record of Olivia Corey’s life has vanished as if it never existed and that Amanda Harris’s date of death will be recorded as a suicide in 1897. Yeah, either that or Olivia Corey was travelling under an assumed name. Julia confides her suspicion of Barnabas to Quentin. Later, Julia tells Barnabas about the mounting evidence in hope that he will go to the police and not the Todds.
We are now up to Sheriff Davenport’s death scene which Commander Benson described earlier in this discussion on April 6 in regards to the performance of actor Ed Riley. (The sheriff is speaking on the telephone to someone named “George” as the scene begins? Could it be former sheriff George Patterson?) Barnabas arrives to find the sheriff dead. Jeb is there as well.
Commander, you indicated that you had something to say about the nature of the Leviathan creature…?
Cliffhanger: Jeb demands to know why Barnabas is there.
Barnabas Joke of the Day: What did Barnabas tell a victim who was running dry? He said, “I’ve had just about enough out of you.”
And because I alluded to an earlier post of Commander Benson's, here it is:
We're rapidly approaching an episode with a scene that has stayed burned in my memory all of these decades: the one in which Sheriff Davenport---obviously George Patterson lost the last election (luckily for him)---meets his demise at the antique shop.\
I won't go into the details, because Jeff will provide them when he gets to that episode, but that scene was shocking to me for a few reasons . . . .
1. Because there had always seemed to be an unwritten policy on the show that any legitmate law-enforcement personnel weren't killed. (There may have been one or two exceptions to this, but by and large, it was followed. Sheriff Patterson, for example, certainly led a charmed life, especially back in Barnabas' irredeemably evil days.)
2. Because the actor playing Sheriff Davenport---Ed Riley---was right out of Hollywood central casting for the part: stalwart, resolute, confident. If he had been in a 1950's monster film, he would have been the hero who survived and got the girl at the end.
Which leads to . . .
3. When he sees the agency of his death, Davenport goes into such an intense and stark terror that it grabs you by the short hairs. To see such a classic hero-type reduced to a shrieking, terrified panic assaults the audiences' sterotyped expectations.
The viewers never see what it is that does Davenport in, but I've always had a suspicion. I'll talk about that when Jeff gets to that episode to review.
And because he also replied to that later post, here it is as well...
Dark Shadows never showed us the true form of the Leviathan creature. At least, I don't recall seeing it.
I also don't recall if anything I saw or heard in the episodes led me to this---or maybe nothing did, and it was just intuitive---but I always had the pet idea that the true form of the Leviathan creature was similar to the Hydra, the nine-headed dragon in mythology.
At the time, I had missed the Lovecraft implications. All I knew was that whatever it was, it had to be something truly horrifying to send a stalwart, experienced lawman---as Riley portrayed Sheriff Davenport---into such a terrified panic.
Now I've seen up through episode 938. Branabas and Jeb butt heads, but not much comes of it, aside from strengthening Barnabas's determination to stop him. (It doesn't help that Jeb rattles off a list of people to be killed that includes Maggie, Julia, Amy, and even Mrs. Johnson!) Jeb sets a deadline of Friday for his wedding to Carolyn; Barnabas is to arrange that, and set up a room for him in Collinwood.
Meanwhile, Julia gets Quentin to help her dig up Michael's coffin, and she discovers it empty. She confronts Barnabas, and he decides (finally!) to spill his guts about Leviathan to her, via a quasi-clip show. (Two genuine clips, and one flashback that looks like a clip but is actually a retcon, as if the writers knew where the Leviathan story would lead when it first appeared: Now Barnabas has joined them under duress from the beginning, and they spell out the rapid growth of Baby Nightmare into Jeb.
In the last scene, the sherrif is seen clawing his way out of his grave, courtesy of Jeb's powers.
Oh, and Julia has told Barnabas that Angelique is back, in case that matters.
It's so great seeing these excepts of the previous conversations! I remember thinking Davenport's and Paul Stoddard's deaths were strong scenes, because they were gripped with terror.
I'm glad you're enjoying them. I'm only pulling my old summaries of the shows you commented on, but I did the others as well. I think Bob recommended, back when you first started watching Darks Shadows and commenting on this thread, going back to the beginning and reading the whiole thing. I don't know if you've ever done that, but I have twice. I really do need to do it at least once more, if fo no other reasong than to correct the "index" whihc still reflect the Ning 2.0 page numbering. Or I might just delete the index entirely at some point. Right now, Tracy and I are both focused on getting through the Leviathan arc as quckly as possible; it really is the show's low point. It will get better after this (although it will never again sore to the height of popularity it received during the 1897 arc).
938 is a clip show and a major course-correct (the second in the Leviathan arc). Here is what I had to say about it back in 2012 (and before you ask, no, I did not watch #938 between #886 and #887 this time around although I said 12 years ago that I "definitely" would).
#938: Barnabas takes Julia back to the Old House where they can talk more freely. He begins by telling her what she already knows: there was a fire in the studio of Charles Delaware Tate in which the portrait of Quentin Collins was supposedly destroyed. Julia tells Barnabas of Tate’s fate in the present day, and of the portrait and of Angelique (thus breaking her word). For anyone who thought the 1897 story ended abruptly with little transition to the Leviathan story, this episode is for you. (Basically, it flashes back to episodes #885-886 with new scenes added.)
Barnabas tells of his last night in 1897. He is to be married to Lady Kitty Hampshire (Kathryn Leigh Scott), who he believes to be the reincarnation of his lost love Josette DuPres. Kitty has become obsessed with the portrait of Josette, and on the eve of their wedding, feels compelled to put on one of Josette’s old gowns. Just as Barnabas enters the room, Kitty is drawn into the portrait. Just before she disappears entirely, Barnabas grasps her hand and disappears into the portrait as well. They reappear in “1797” (Dark Shadows is quite inconsistent regarding the date of the first time-travel story; sometimes it’s 1795, sometimes 1796, sometimes 1797), on the night Josette leapt to her death from atop Widows’ Hill, but this time Barnabas saves her!
They agree to meet later, and as Barnabas is walking through the woods alone, he comes upon the Leviathan altar. This is the same scene we saw in episode #886 but with far more detail added. Oberon outlines the Leviathans’ entire scheme in advance: the box, the book, how their new leader will be born, marry a human being and produce a whole new breed. The next time I watch this storyline, I will definitely watch #938 between #886 and #887!
Barnabas concludes his tale by recapping the story of the Todds and the series of odd children, the Leviathans’ plans for Carolyn and Paul Stoddard’s involvement. I see the Leviathan’s as being at least somewhat sympathetic in their portrayal here, very similar, in my assessment, to Doctor Who‘s Silurians. Both races were on this world first, and simply want to reclaim what they see as their birthright. Furthermore, it is not the Leviathan way to kill. They influence human behavior through dreams. The killing is all Jeb’s idea.
Cliffhanger: A hand reaches out of Sheriff Davenport’s grave!
Barnabas Joke of the Day: Why do you think Barnabas is homesick? Well, he’s always talking about his neck of the woods.
Now I've seen through episode 941. Jeb drugged Carolyn and tried to take her up to his room, but Quentin arrived, fought Jeb, rescued her and took her back. Barnabas plans to sequester Liz and Caroline somewhere (probably Angelique's island) for a while, but now Maggie's missing and Jeb has her locked away in a crypt...
Episode 940 is the one I was waiting for (one of two, actually), the one in which Quentin explains why he thought he was Grant Douglas. The explanation he gives is that he is a writer and "Grant Douglas" is one of his pseudonyms. That explanation dodn't really make sense, though, because all of his identification was in that name. A much more logical reason is that, as a virtual immortal, he has to change identities periodically, but that is never made explicit. I don't recall whether or not Big Finish accounted for it, either. Here's what I had to say about 941 back in 2012.
#941: Quentin arrives just as Jeb is carrying Carolyn upstairs. So much for their wedding night! Quentin and Jeb fight. Quentin wins. Back at Collinwood, Liz tells Barnabas she yearns to meet their leader Jabez. (Jabez means “born in pain” in Hebrew, BTW.) Quentin returns with the still unconscious Carolyn in his arms. Back at the shop, Jeb wakes up and vows revenge on Quentin. Barnabas urges Quentin to leave Collinsport. Barnabs also suggests to Elizabeth that she might thank Quentin. Barnabas watches over Carolyn while, from outside, Jeb watches over Collinwood. A storm is brewing and Elizabeth sees Jeb in a flash of lightning. Julia examines Carolyn and Barnabas suggests that Elizabeth take Carolyn away. Elizabeth is torn between concern for her daughter and he desire to please her Leviathan masters. She wants Carolyn to become a Leviathan and is relieved to learn the Leviathans don’t mean her any physical harm.
Barnabas and Maggie confer and he sends her out on a errand. Jeb startles Maggie in the woods. Elizabeth prepares to take Carolyn to the Rumson’s. Carolyn refuses to leave until she speaks with Jeb. Barnabas confronts Jeb in the shop about Maggie. Barnabas threatens Jeb with Oberon’s discipline if Jeb doesn’t start following the Book.
Cliffhanger: Jeb laughs maniacally as Maggie is shown lying in a crypt.
Barnabs Joke of the Day: What does Barnabas think of transplants? He thinks people should have a change of heart.
And now through episode 944. Bruno arrives, as the modern Aristede! It's good for Jeb to have someone who seems unreservedly in his corner, without the weird hypnotism that makes everyone act at least a little bit against their will. Bruno threatens Maggie, introduces her to Dead Sherrif, and finally she has a conversation with Jeb, where he opens the box and makes her a Leviathan agent. But does it take? She seems to be working with Barnabas, telling him what she knows...but also relaying information back to Jeb...but maybe not all of it. I'm pretty sure Good Girl Maggie is still a good girl.
Sabrina returns, bringing Chris Jenkings a flower that will cure him if he eats it during the full moon. But that will be when he's a werewolf, and he's strictly carnivorous then. The flower cure idea comes from the 1935 film Werewolf of London, if not before. Chris meets Sabrina in the woods as a werewolf, but before we get a definitive answer on whether he'd attack her or not, Bruno arrives and shoots him, and he runs off.
Also, werewolves and leviathans are ancient enemies, did you know that? Well, we do know, and Jeb is peeing his pants whenever he hears a howl. Bruno plans to kill the werewolf with silver the next time they meet...and maybe suspects the werewolf is Sabrina's brother, not her ex-boyfriend.
Meanwhile, Barnabas has gone off to Angelique's island, where she says she's worried that Liz will remember her -- and if the Leviathans get a witch in their power, that'd be game over. So Barnabas plans to move her and Carolyn and try to keep them safe another way.
Up through epside 949 now. We get:
A showdown between the Werewolf and Jeb -- which ends in a stalemate, but Barnabas temporarily regains Jeb's trust.
The return of L'il Flappy! Jeb goes out to the cemetary and captures a vampire bat to use against Barnabas.
A new seance! Barnabas, Julia, and Maggie contact Josette, who says she's not being held by the Leviathans, and sets Barnabas free from loving her.
Betrayal! Philip decides he's had enough of being under Jeb's thumb, and plans to steal the Leviathan Box and bring it to Barnabas. But Jeb finds him, and gets him to help him kill a snoopy cop asking questions about the recent murders.
Twist! Philip turns himself in for all the recent murders to throw suspicion off Jeb!
A retcon! Amy remembers an encounter with Quentin's ghost, where he urged her to not tell Jeb about a secret room. Of course the Littlest Leviathan Agent blabs.
Marital Strife: Angelique and Sky Rumson -- secret Leviathan agent -- have a falling out.
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