Jeff of Earth-J > Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)October 3, 2025 at 12:29pm
We're standing pat at 1199 for the time being. I figure it will take you 16 weeks to get to the end of the series (based on how long it took you to watch the last 47 episode leading up to 1202). So that's... what? January 23? That means if we start watching again on December 7, we should get to the end at roughly the same time. Otherwise, let me know when you think you're 47 days from the end.
I've seen through episode 1206 now. Melanie discovered Stella held captive by upstairs, and wants to release her, but Julia and Flora convince her to wait another day. Then she turns up dead -- a knife sticking out of her when her body is seen, but then described as strangled in the next episode. Did Melanie do it in one of her fugue states? We don't know.
Meanwhile, the Bramwell/Morgan/Catherine triangle has almost resulted in a marriage between Morgan and Catherine, but has instead resulted in a duel. Morgan and Bramwell are pacing it out in the cliffhanger.
And Bramwell's mom Josette has appeared! Her husband (and his dad) Barnabas is apparently dead in this continuity. I don't know if he was stabbed to death or strangled. Probably both.
Jeff of Earth-J > Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)December 4, 2025 at 8:28am
Tracy and I have resumed watching. I estimate we'll be done by January 10, but we can pick up the pace if need be. I have a special post planned for post-1245 which I have already begun working on. This will be the first time we have watched 1841-PT not immediatley following 1840. I'm trying to think of it as a wholly different show (which is not too difficult)... and it's not very good. It was an odd choice to completely abandon everything that made the show what it was for its final 13 weeks.
Then she turns up dead -- a knife sticking out of her when her body is seen, but then described as strangled in the next episode.
As Danny Horn put it: "Julia tells Morgan that Stella was strangled. If that's true, she must have been strangled with a knife because that's what was sticking out of her chest yesterday."
...the Bramwell/Morgan/Catherine triangle...
Catherine does seem to love them both, but oone two occasions (the first attepmt at a the lottery and the duel) she insists on being married to Morgan first (even though that would require her to participate in the lottery in the first case) so as not to lose out on the benefits of being Margan Collins' widow.
And Bramwell's mom Josette has appeared!
This reality is essentially "What if there were no 'Angelique' in Collins family history?"
Also, it's hard to figure how the lottery could have been held in this room every generation since 1680 if the mansion wasn't built until 1795 (at least in non-PT).
I have added Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and Shirley Jackson's The Lottery to "Dark Shadows' Séances and Sources."
Looks as if we've topped out with no fewer than 21 séances.
And now I've seen through episode 1211. Morgan shot Bramwell in the shoulder, and he's recuperating... and seems to have renounced his love for Catherine. (Is Daphne into him? Could be.) Plus, Morgan and Catherine have married! (And after he refuses to talk about having children, she starts reading Bramwell's letters again... sigh.)
Meanwhile, the police (unseen) are investigating Stella's murder, and Melanie feels the heat. Quentin wants to figure out who Melanie is channeling in her fugue states -- he thinks it's someone Brutus Collins, the originator of the curse, knew. They do a seance (hey, a new seance!) to contact them -- and Melanie channels someone, who says the lottery must be done tonight, and shouts "Plague! Die! Plague! Die!"
Then, that night, Melanie gets the plague. Now the lottery is definitely going to happen, and the family votes that the women will be included. (Gabriel casts the deciding vote in favor of women's participating, and his brothers are furious with him.)
At the cliffhanger, the family stands ready to draw the lottery slips... and they begin drawing the slips. Whoever gets the X will have to go into the room... but that's something we'll learn next episode!
Also: We're 34 episodes from the end! In episode 34, Burke Devlin was letting Vicki see his detective's report, and arguing with Joe Haskell about who should pay for drinks!
The Baron > Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)October 14, 2025 at 12:43pm
I watched Dan Curtis's Bram Stoker's Dracula, starring Jack Palance, last night. Francis Ford Coppola took a few things from Curtis's version, including putting Bram Stoker in the title. But from what I understand, the connection between Dracula and Vlad the Impaler started here, and the modern reincarnation of Dracula's lost love was new to this version, too (although here, Curtis cribbed from himself and Barnabas Collins's obsession with Josette). And boy, Dan Curtis likes a music box, doesn't he?
I hate to say it, but Palance isn't the most dynamic Dracula I've ever seen. I was expecting more, since Gene Colan based Marvel's Dracula on him. (Although I've now read that he based his design on Palance in Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde; this movie actually came out 2 years after Tomb of Dracula started.) And he looks so distraught all the time! Maybe it's the way the fangs fit in Palance's mouth that forced the expression on him.
Jeff of Earth-J > Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)October 15, 2025 at 12:18pm
Yeah, I've got it on DVD. I feel pretty much the same way about it as you do. Like you, I once naturally (and mistakenly) assumed that Gene Colan based his version of Dracula on this movie.
Replies
We're standing pat at 1199 for the time being. I figure it will take you 16 weeks to get to the end of the series (based on how long it took you to watch the last 47 episode leading up to 1202). So that's... what? January 23? That means if we start watching again on December 7, we should get to the end at roughly the same time. Otherwise, let me know when you think you're 47 days from the end.
My plan this year was to get through the series by the end of the year; that's meant 15 episodes a month, which I've pretty much stuck to.
Barnabas lives in the basement of the old house because he is nostalgic.
What good is being a vampire if you can't be rich and entitled, too?
I've seen through episode 1206 now. Melanie discovered Stella held captive by upstairs, and wants to release her, but Julia and Flora convince her to wait another day. Then she turns up dead -- a knife sticking out of her when her body is seen, but then described as strangled in the next episode. Did Melanie do it in one of her fugue states? We don't know.
Meanwhile, the Bramwell/Morgan/Catherine triangle has almost resulted in a marriage between Morgan and Catherine, but has instead resulted in a duel. Morgan and Bramwell are pacing it out in the cliffhanger.
And Bramwell's mom Josette has appeared! Her husband (and his dad) Barnabas is apparently dead in this continuity. I don't know if he was stabbed to death or strangled. Probably both.
Tracy and I have resumed watching. I estimate we'll be done by January 10, but we can pick up the pace if need be. I have a special post planned for post-1245 which I have already begun working on. This will be the first time we have watched 1841-PT not immediatley following 1840. I'm trying to think of it as a wholly different show (which is not too difficult)... and it's not very good. It was an odd choice to completely abandon everything that made the show what it was for its final 13 weeks.
Then she turns up dead -- a knife sticking out of her when her body is seen, but then described as strangled in the next episode.
As Danny Horn put it: "Julia tells Morgan that Stella was strangled. If that's true, she must have been strangled with a knife because that's what was sticking out of her chest yesterday."
...the Bramwell/Morgan/Catherine triangle...
Catherine does seem to love them both, but oone two occasions (the first attepmt at a the lottery and the duel) she insists on being married to Morgan first (even though that would require her to participate in the lottery in the first case) so as not to lose out on the benefits of being Margan Collins' widow.
And Bramwell's mom Josette has appeared!
This reality is essentially "What if there were no 'Angelique' in Collins family history?"
Also, it's hard to figure how the lottery could have been held in this room every generation since 1680 if the mansion wasn't built until 1795 (at least in non-PT).
I have added Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and Shirley Jackson's The Lottery to "Dark Shadows' Séances and Sources."
Looks as if we've topped out with no fewer than 21 séances.
And now I've seen through episode 1211. Morgan shot Bramwell in the shoulder, and he's recuperating... and seems to have renounced his love for Catherine. (Is Daphne into him? Could be.) Plus, Morgan and Catherine have married! (And after he refuses to talk about having children, she starts reading Bramwell's letters again... sigh.)
Meanwhile, the police (unseen) are investigating Stella's murder, and Melanie feels the heat. Quentin wants to figure out who Melanie is channeling in her fugue states -- he thinks it's someone Brutus Collins, the originator of the curse, knew. They do a seance (hey, a new seance!) to contact them -- and Melanie channels someone, who says the lottery must be done tonight, and shouts "Plague! Die! Plague! Die!"
Then, that night, Melanie gets the plague. Now the lottery is definitely going to happen, and the family votes that the women will be included. (Gabriel casts the deciding vote in favor of women's participating, and his brothers are furious with him.)
At the cliffhanger, the family stands ready to draw the lottery slips... and they begin drawing the slips. Whoever gets the X will have to go into the room... but that's something we'll learn next episode!
Also: We're 34 episodes from the end! In episode 34, Burke Devlin was letting Vicki see his detective's report, and arguing with Joe Haskell about who should pay for drinks!
Cambot! Gypsy! Burke Devlin! Crooooow!
I watched Dan Curtis's Bram Stoker's Dracula, starring Jack Palance, last night. Francis Ford Coppola took a few things from Curtis's version, including putting Bram Stoker in the title. But from what I understand, the connection between Dracula and Vlad the Impaler started here, and the modern reincarnation of Dracula's lost love was new to this version, too (although here, Curtis cribbed from himself and Barnabas Collins's obsession with Josette). And boy, Dan Curtis likes a music box, doesn't he?
I hate to say it, but Palance isn't the most dynamic Dracula I've ever seen. I was expecting more, since Gene Colan based Marvel's Dracula on him. (Although I've now read that he based his design on Palance in Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde; this movie actually came out 2 years after Tomb of Dracula started.) And he looks so distraught all the time! Maybe it's the way the fangs fit in Palance's mouth that forced the expression on him.
Yeah, I've got it on DVD. I feel pretty much the same way about it as you do. Like you, I once naturally (and mistakenly) assumed that Gene Colan based his version of Dracula on this movie.
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