Idle Thoughts--Nicholas Goes to Hell 9/3-9/5

[Luciaphile]

Fashion notes first . . .  (all about Maggie today)

Maggie's velvet outfit had  a quasi-1920s flapper feel to it.  It's a good look for her; she's so slender that it flatters.

I'm not quite sure what was up with the sailor suit.  Like hairbows, this is the kind of thing that is best left on small children and not on grown women.  Entirely too cutesy for my taste.

Was less than impressed with the wedding dress.  It always gives me pause.  The veil has that whole doily/antimaccasar feel to it.  And what's up with the length of that dress?  If she was going for casual, they should have had her in a plain white dress or suit.  

And then that yellow outfit for the experiment?  Yeech.  Between that and her hair which looked like it needed to either be washed or redyed, she was not looking good at all.

Onto the show . . .

If this is Hell, then maybe I should go out and sin some more, because frankly, it's just about as scary as a dentist's office.  Satan has a desk???

There's a lesson to be learned here for budding filmmakers.

KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS!!!  If you can't do it well, then don't even try.  I have seen more convincing sets on the original Star Trek.

Plus the whole scene with Angelique had that whole ratting someone out to the teacher feel to it, which is not, I suspect, what TPTB were going for.

Adam has had a fine job of parenting, hasn't he?  Eve didn't love him so he feels justified in killing her?  Well, his "parents" spent a lot of quality time inculcating some basic values, didn't they now?  In some respects, he has my sympathy.  The other characters have had the benefit of time and education on a variety of levels and should know better.  He at least, just doesn't.

Wondering why they didn't attempt to have KLS mouth the words that Diabolos was speaking.

The Nicholas and Julia confrontation was something really rather remarkable.  This is the kind of thing that I live for.  I wish to God that there had been more scenes between HAA and Grayson Hall.  They both played well off one another.  In this case, the writing was immeasurably better: the dialogue, the motivations, the whole structure--it was all highly superior to what's been going on for weeks.

I'm still mystified as to where the church is that we're hearing the bells, but it was definitely a nice touch seguing from that into the visit to Hell.

Oh please, there is a problem because Eve has been dead so long?  Give me a break--this from the crew who had Adam and Eve both lying around for such a long period of time that we all know they should have been growing mold.  

I'm also deeply curious.  Okay the body was at the morgue for about what? two days?  Jeff is in jail for murdering her and they didn't do an autopsy?  Then they buried a Jane Doe without any attempt at locating her family?  Hello?

Some good work between KLS and HAA in the scene with the Egyptian cup.  I'm not a huge fan of Scott's, but for once she managed to give her character enough depth to make the relationship between Maggie and Nicholas plausible.

As for the arrival of Betsy Durkin, well, I'm not a fan.  Has nothing to do with Moltke (I like Carolyn Groves a lot).  Durkin's Vicki is just so querulous.  The dialogue is laughable to begin with, but Durkin just couldn't sell it.

Tom, I notice, tends to get very into scaring his victims, which probably means something deep and Freudian, but I'm too tired to go there right now.

Where was all this concern from Barnabas for Maggie and her well-being coming from?  A couple of weeks ago he was fully prepared and set on letting her die in the self-same experiment.  

Holy rip-off!  The destruction of Tom was taken straight from the fight between Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in The Horror of Dracula.

Oh my God.  Bobbi Ann Woronko made her debut.  There is no conceivable way that I could see that getting through nursing school and passing her boards.  Also noted that the sofa from Josette's room is now at Wyndcliffe.  All that aside, I've always liked Denise Nickerson.  She was a very, very good and competent child actress.  

I wish they had not killed off Conrad Bain.  With each passing day, they cut the strings to the old DS.  Incidentally, what a lot of gore!

I frankly like the post-Black Mass Maggie.  What I don't get is her reversion to SYT after Nicholas goes back "home."  

So the body of Eve disintegrates but her hair doesn't?  What idiot on the production team thought that a skull with a wig was frightening?

I will miss HAA deeply.  I know he comes back, but his stint as Nicholas made this stupid, stupid storyline worth watching.

Luciaphil

[Cassandra]

The veil has that whole doily/antimaccasar feel to it.  

LOL!! You know that's the first thing I thought of when I saw that veil on her head, reminded me so much of the doilies that my mother use to use on top of the furniture.

And then that yellow outfit for the experiment?  

When I saw that yellow thing she wore I at first thought she had borrowed it from Vicky. Didn't Vicky have something similar? It's hard to forget something like that.

Onto the show . . .

If this is Hell, then maybe I should go out and sin some more, because frankly, it's just about as scary as a dentist's office.  Satan has a desk???

LOL! Wondered how the desk fit in?  Does it get that crowded that Diabolis actually has to sit at the front desk to interview future residents?

I always expected Hell to look alot more scarier than that, but I suppose back then watching as a kid, it probably did, although I don't remember it.

The Nicholas and Julia confrontation was something really rather remarkable.  This is the kind of thing that I live for.  I wish to God that there had been more scenes between HAA and Grayson Hall.  They both played well off one another.  In this case, the writing was immeasurably better: the dialogue, the motivations, the whole structure--it was all highly superior to what's been going on for weeks.

I certainly do agree with you here! I loved the scenes between these two characters.  Both are strong willed and fearless. Julia played it so cool, even in the face of danger. The two of them acted well together.

Im also gonna miss HAA's character portrayel of Nickolas Blair,  he added so much to the show and was an interesting character. It's too bad they never bought him back for another storyline. I guess Diabolis really had it with him this time.

Great posts!  Im really enjoying them! :-)

[Midnite]

LOL! Wondered how the desk fit in?  Does it get that crowded that Diabolis actually has to sit at the front desk to interview future residents?

I always expected Hell to look alot more scarier than that, but I suppose back then watching as a kid, it probably did, although I don't remember it.

I interpreted that place as Diabolos' office down in Hell (and yes, I realize how stupid that sounds).  And we thought being called to the office of the nun in charge was scary!!!  Anyway, I don't remember how I reacted to those scenes the first time around, but since I still wondered if there really was a hell in those days (can you say "brainwashed"?), I'd imagine the screams in the background were unsettling to me back then.

Im also gonna miss HAA's character portrayel of Nickolas Blair,  he added so much to the show and was an interesting character. It's too bad they never bought him back for another storyline. I guess Diabolis really had it with him this time.

Nicky does return to treat us to some marvelous stuff opposite Angelique, though not for quite a while.  You've seen Leviathans, right?

[Dr. Eric Lang]

Was less than impressed with the wedding dress.  It always gives me pause.  The veil has that whole doily/antimaccasar feel to it.  

I thought the same thing. Although I have a photograph of my great grandparents getting married and my great grandmother wore the exact same kind of veil (around 1900).

There's a lesson to be learned here for budding filmmakers.

KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS!!!  If you can't do it well, then don't even try.  I have seen more convincing sets on the original Star Trek.

I have mixed feelings about that. In one sense it's a good thing they didn't try to tie the writers' hands with the limitations of their special effects. This left the writers free to create and use their imaginations. Sometimes the idea of something can be frightening enough on its own that you can overlook the technical limitations. I didn't think the "hell" set was all that bad - not when compared to some other instances that are far worse, such as Quentin and Amanda's sojourn through Hades and that big fake spider they ran into. Now THAT'S where someone should have said "Hey, let's try something else."

I frankly like the post-Black Mass Maggie.  What I don't get is her reversion to SYT after Nicholas goes back "home."  

Really - think of how much more interesting either Maggie or Vicki could have been if they had at least been CLUED IN.

[Raineypark]

In Gothic horror, atmosphere is everything.  If you don't get THAT right you aren't getting it at all.  

A huge budget film like "Dracula" (with Gary Oldman) was so full of stunning sets and costumes that your eyes were popping out of your head BEFORE anything actually happened.  

But that's not necessary.....I recently caught a Japanese ghost story on IFC not long ago, which had sets made up of little more than painted fabric panels, that was eerie beyond belief!

Even the original "Dracula" film used painted backdrop panels instead of real walls and doorways in many cases.

As far as DS goes, it was not the lack of funds or the lack of "stuff" ( they were using real antiques, right?!) but rather the lack of TIME to design it and create it and get it right.

Raineypark

[Nicky]

I was always very intrigued by Maggie's new jet-black 'do post-Mass (hair tips from Cassandra, perhaps?) especially considering the same thing happened to poor Willow on "Buffy" last spring.  That old' black magic, I guess.

Nicky