Was there any point to this character other than to fill up time while the "A" cast were off filming the first movie? I FF over most of the awful Jeckyll/Hyde ripoff story but this character seems to appear often but serve no purpose....unless I've skipped over so much that I missed the point of him being on so much. And what was this "compound" he blathers on about all the time? Cocaine?? Marijuana?
shareThe cast was pretty pared down during this story line, I guess somebody had to help fill the void. Gladstone was somewhat important; the chemical compound he provided was the key to Cyrus' experiment. I believe there was an incorrect measurement of an ingredient, an impurity, or some other variation, that resulted in Yaeger emerging. Gladstone suspected something was up and attempted to blackmail Cyrus, if I recall correctly.
share"I FF over most of the awful Jeckyll/Hyde ripoff story..." LOL! I know how you feel. There are some storylines that have my finger just itching to press FF.
Dan Curtis must have liked the Jekyll/Hyde story. He was one of the producers of the 1968 TV Movie "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".
That film had a beautiful melody recorded for it which later became "Quentin's Theme". The early version is included on my "Dark Shadows 30th Anniversary" CD.
I'll take the Jeckyl and Hyde story over 1841 PT or the godawful Joanna Mills 1840 subplot any day.
shareI agree, Fletcher. The Jekyll and Hyde story didn't annoy me as much as those others you'd mentioned. Don't even get me going on the Leviathan storyline. LOL!
shareChristopher Pennock did a good job as John Yeager (even with that putty on his nose). The acting (using the word loosely) of Lisa Richards drags it down a notch, though.
Horace Gladstone was an interesting character. Not a bad storyline, I thought. Hilarious though, when the sword piece unexpectedly slid out of Yeager's cane and came crashing to the floor!
Yes, Christopher Pennock did do a good job as John Yaeger (Cyrus Longworth). I don't hate the storyline, but having had seen the 1920, 1931, 1941 and 1968 film versions of the Jekyll/Hyde story, I just rolled my eyes when it popped up again in "Dark Shadows".
It became a game of watching it to see what the show's writers would borrow from the original source and what they would invent for the show.
I'm sure you know, Lisa Richards was in "House of Dark Shadows".
The sword incident is, indeed, very funny and memorable. As usual, no time (and money) for retakes!
I'm sure it pales in comparison to the movie versions (I've probably seen maybe one of those when I was young).
I've been doing a rewatch of my Supernatural discs and the Leviathan storyline just ended. The Leviathan concept was much too ambitious for DS to execute sufficiently.
Yah, I remember Lisa Richards as Daphne on House of Dark Shadows. She was OK on that (it was practically a cameo anyway), but something about her irritates me in expanded roles on the show. Lackluster comes to mind. Buffy was much better acted, I always thought.
The Leviathan concept really was much too ambitious for a show like "Dark Shadows" to attempt. It had no effect whatsoever. Small studio. No money for the sets and extras to make it all seem real. It was never terrifying at all.
I remember seeing "Night of the Living Dead" at a drive-in theater in 1968. It was the bottom half of a double bill. The first feature was a B horror film in color. The lower budgeted black and white "Night of the Living Dead" was considered a Grade Z film. Black and white films were just about passé by then.
But, with a handful of extras playing zombies outside an abandoned farmhouse, and the "real" people getting TV news inside the farmhouse about zombies popping up all over the nation, it became believable and frightning.
Of course, since its original run, "Night of the Living Dead" has become a cult classic. And rightly so. It was a case of a little bit of money, a paltry cast, and moody photography (whether intended or not) being able to create something that the Leviathan storyline just wasn't able to do. Leviathans fizzled away.
One of the worst lines on the show (referring to Leviathan followers) - "We knew many would be coming". Bruno, Buffy, and Schyler Rumson were about it. Oh, and Paul Stoddard, who I thought was under-used.
shareBut, with a handful of extras playing zombies outside an abandoned farmhouse, and the "real" people getting TV news inside the farmhouse about zombies popping up all over the nation, it became believable and frightening.
Exactly, Fletcher. Too little Leviathan followers to amount to anything worthwhile.
Winston, when CBS used to air "Night of the Living Dead" as a Friday/Saturday late-night movie (evidently, CBS was afraid to put it in a prime time slot), they used to have "A DRAMATIZATION" written on the bottom of the screen during the TV newscasts throughout the film.
Evidently, CBS didn't want viewers who had just tuned in to think they were watching an actual newscast. Thus, avoiding a panic like the one caused when Orson Welles did his infamous "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast which caused major panic for radio audiences back in 1938.
It must have been unnerving seeing locations 100 miles from your home when you watched "Night of the Living Dead" that Saturday night. After all these years, the film still scares me. That first zombie that Barbara and Johnny meet is so frightning! "Carnival of Souls" is another film I remember from the 1960s that still continues to scare me.
"Carnival of Souls" is another film I remember from the 1960s that still continues to scare me.
Yes, I bought the Criterion double DVD set. It was well-worth it. Crisp, beautiful print of the film plus all those bonus features. No matter how many times I've seen it, I still look over my shoulder and/or at the windows in the room when Herk Harvey makes his eerie first appearance in the film. Great scene!
shareOh I totally agree about the Leviathan storyline. Now that I've watched the whole series a few times I usually skip over the Leviathan story, watch 1970 PT and then start the series over. I just can't bring myself to watch the last eight months of the show. If there are any highlights after 1970 PT please someone tell me and I will skip to whatever is recommended.
I've never seen Carnival of Souls....is there more than one? Should I just seek out the original?
There is more than one "Carnival of Souls". The original 1962 classic is the one to seek out. Skip the 1998 remake. It was a BOMB!
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