PT3 - To Live as Other Men (January-Febuary 1991)
Victoria Winters comes to Collinsport to be governess for young David Collins at the Collinwood estate. Though he is obviously a hostile problem child, she is determined to make friends with him. Servant Wilie Loomis, however, is determined to find hidden jewels. Though Roger Collins thinks he is a no-good alcoholic, Willie uncovers clues that lead him to a secret room in the Collins' mausoleum. Discovering a chained coffin, he opens it and a hand grabs him by the throat.
That very night, strange attacks start happening. The victims have bite marks on their necks and severe blood loss. Daphne Collins, the first victim, seems to recover quickly, though she still suffers from sleepwalking and amensia about the attack. The discovery of a strange cell in her blood causes blood specialist Julia Hoffman to be brought in to treat Daphne at Collinwood.
Another visitor has arrived at Collinwood. Barnabas Collins, who says he is a cousin from England, bears a striking resemblance to the portrait of the original Barnabas who lived in 1790. Getting permission from Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the head of the family, he restores the Old House on the estate with the help of the much-changed Willie Loomis. He also clears Willie of involvement in the attacks. And Barnabas should know. He is the mysterious attacker - and a 200-year-old vampire who Willie released.
Victoria bears a striking resemblance to another portrait, that of Josette duPres, who Barnabas had loved back when he was human. Convinced that Josette has come back to him, he starts courting the attractive Miss Winters. Intrigued by his stories of the Collins history and his old world charm, Vicki is drawn to him. But Barnabas is worried when he finds out that Julia has come close to breaking through Daphne's amnesia with hypnosis. Calling her to him, Daphne comes in spite of the police and her boyfriend Joe Haskell guarding her. She is found dead the next morning. After the funeral, Professor Michael Woodard warns Joe to be careful, for he believes Daphne was killed by a vampire, and will rise as the living dead. David, in fact, has already seen her, though no one but Woodard believes him. But when Joe is attacked by Daphne, they can't ignore it. The sheriff's men track her down and Woodard stakes her.
Julia discovers Barnabas is the vampire by accident, and confronts him with a bizarre proposal; she has created a serum she believes can cure him. Intrigued, he agrees to try it, and the experiments begin. Soon Barnabas shows signs of becoming human. He can even tolerate sunlight for short periods. But Woodard has become suspicious of Barnabas. Though everyone else is satisfied when they Barnabas in the day, Woodard figures out what Julia has done by reading her journal. But before he can expose him, Barnabas removes the threat by turning the professor into a vampire. The sheriff and Julia stake Woodard, and the town believes the threat is over.
Barnabas is anxious for the cure to be complete so he can marry Victoria, though it appears the ghost of his sister Sarah is against the relationship. Willie is also concerned for Vicki, so when Julia asks about Barnabas' intentions toward Vicki, he explains to her about Josette. But Julia has also fallen in love with Barnabas, and jealously decides to keep the cure from going any farther until he gives up on Vicki. When Barnabas discovers what he is doing, he demands she finish the cure immediately. The increased serum causes him to age rapidly. Julia, not understanding the seriousness of the problem, ignores Willie's pleas to come help Barnabas. He is only able to rejuvenate himself by taking blood from Carolyn Stoddard, making her his slave. Barnabas reverts to full vampire status.
Joe and Carolyn had been getting closer since Daphne's death, but now she is distant and aloof. Barnabas, blaming Julia for all his troubles, is using Carolyn to try to kill the doctor. When Julia discovers this, she confronts him, and he starts to strangle her himself. But Sarah appears to stop him. The young ghost tries to warn them of something, but is driven away by the spirit of Angelique, the witch who turned Barnabas into a vampire.
Realizing that Sarah's warning must have been important, Julia asks psychic Maggie Evans to conduct a seance to reach Sarah. During the seance, Sarah speaks through Vicki, saying that someone must go back to change things or everyone will die. Suddenly there is a clap of thunder and the lights go out. When they are turned back on, Victoria is gone, replaced by a woman named Phyllis Wicke from the year 1790!
Though he had previously ignored requests to ressurect Dark Shadows, in 1989 Dan Curtis decided it was time to return to Collinwood. He agreed to film a pilot for a new Dark Shadows series for NBC. It would not be a continuation of the old series, but a retelling, with new cast members filling the familiar roles. Only this time they would have experience, and a prime-time budget to draw on. No more rocking trees and microphones in the shots. An elegant, modern-day set and location footage would be used. Fans were particularly concerned was casting, for the wrong actors could ruin the much-loved characters. But when the cast list was announced, fans were relieved by all the casting choices. Of particular interest was Chariots of Fire actor Ben Cross in the role of Barnabas Collins.
Based on the plot of the MGM movie House of Dark Shadows, Curtis decided to make some changes to the original show. Victoria Winters would now be the Josette duPres look-alike, not Maggie Evans. Also, the first nine months of the original series that did not include Barnabs would be forgotten, at least for the time being. Hints about a future storyline involving David's mother Laura would be dropped during the first few episodes. Now that Maggie was not to be Josette, she needed a reason to exist; she was given an affair with Roger Collins, which brought down Laura wrath on them. Laura was said to be a witch, but David's preoccupation with fire gave a clue that she might indeed be a phoenix as in the original.
The use of familiar DS music by Robert Cobert as well as new compositions, would give the flavor of the old series, despite the increased budget. When NBC finally agreed to air the pilot and subsequent episodes as a midseason replacement (a decision that was hard won - the new DS was almost finished before it began), longtime fans eagerly awaited its airing. On January 13, 1991, Dark Shadows came to life again. But the timing couldn't have been worse. The seeds of its destruction would be sown in the early weeks, not in the field of television, but on the field of battle.
Less than a week after the first half of the pilot aired, Operation Desert Storm began in the mideast. Due to special news broadcasts, various shows were preempted or their times changed. For well-established shows, this was not much of a problem, but for a fledgling series, it spelled disaster. Viewers who couldn't find the show, or set VCR's for the wrong times, unaware of schedule changes, got frustrated. Ratings declined. Though twelve episodes were definately going to be aired, it would be a close call to see if the new Dark Shadows would go beyond that point.
Credits and Characters of Story 1a
Portrait Gallery for Story 1a
