And Even Yet Another New Slideshow

[Mysterious Benefactor]

After Willie's arrival in Josette's room just as Barnabas and Vicki are about to kiss and Vicki leaves, instead of today's quote -

Page 58 - Barnabas: 'They must have buried it with her... praying the blessed earth would keep her black soul from rising again.'

- Barnabas asks Willie "Why did she bring me back, Willie?" And I'm presuming he's referring to Kelly.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Before today's quote, things are changed a bit from the script in that dialogue is added. Willie notices the dagger and asks Barnabas "What is that?" And with a reworking of yesterday's quote, Barnabas responds "It's been in her heart all these years. We buried her with it."

And after that exchange is when today's quote -

Page 58 - Willie: 'What are you talking about?'

- comes up.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Rather than today's entire quote -

Page 58 - Barnabas: 'The woman who wore this necklace... over two hundred years ago. (intense) Her name was Angelique, and she is the devil incarnate.

 - Barnabas responds to Willie with "Her name is Angelique... (pause) and she is the devil incarnate." And that's the end of the scene as the script indicates:

OFF Barnabas' intensity...

[Gothick]

Thanks again, MB.  I look forward to your summary of the pilot finale sequence, which really did not work for me, though all I can recall is one image.

This has been a fantastic ride!  Thanks to yourself and all others involved in making this happen.

Best,

G.

[Gerard]

Again, not to create controversy, by why don't the powers-that-be (and you know whom I talking about, not one of my favorite persons let's just say his initials are JP), just release this decade-old to things like youtube?  There's no more way to make money off of this to the estate of DC.  It's over; it's done.  Put it out there for free and expand the market.  It costs nothing.  As a matter of fact, it can make more money.  If JP would put it out there and x-amount of hits on youtube, it will make money for DC.  Right now, it makes nothing.  What is it with these people in the "entertainment industry" who are so stupid? Again, sorry for making another controversy, but this makes me mad.  And those who don't want to make money should not get fans (and future fans) mad.

Gerard

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The thing is that DCP doesn't own the pilot, WB does. And if we can believe KLS' latest DS book, when the pilot isn't being shown at the Fests, WB has it locked away in one of their vaults. And security at the Fests is still high when it's shown so as not to allow bootlegging. So it's quite possible that JP couldn't put the pilot up on YouTube even if he wanted to. Posting it to YouTube would probably be the prerogative of WB, who apparently has no inclination to do so.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

As far as the script goes, this is how the final scene plays:

EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - NIGHT

Victoria drives, headlights burning through the darkness, her face hard with determination. As she makes a turn, she suddenly hears a weird, ethereal VOICE.

ANGELIQUE (O.S.)
Stay away from him.

Victoria looks around, confused, not sure what she heard.

ANGELIQUE (O.S.) (CONT'D)
He'll never love you...

Suddenly, a drenching DOWNPOUR explodes from the sky. Startled, Victoria fumbles for the wiper switch, looking back up as the wipers take their first swipe, revealing

ANGELIQUE,

standing in the road directly ahead of Victoria's car! Victoria JAMS ON THE BRAKES, but it's too late. An instant before they collide, Angelique's face subliminally dissolves into a leering, skeletal

DEATH'S HEAD,

then WHAM! They hit! Angelique's body folds over the hood, head SMASHING face-first into the windshield as Victoria loses control. The car fishtails, sliding off the road and

SLAMMING HEAD-ON

into a tree. Dazed and bleeding, Victoria woozily pulls herself up, staring in horror at ANGELIQUE'S CRUSHED BODY, sprawled on the hood, gaping at Victoria through lifeless eyes. As Victoria begins to falter from her injury,

ANGELIQUE'S HEAD SUDDENLY TURNS,

bones CRUNCHING from the effort. Her face is a mask of blood.

ANGELIQUE (CONT'D)
He's mine.

Victoria's eyes roll back and she passes out. OFF this moment of horror...

FADE OUT.

END OF EPISODE.

However that's not entirely how the scene plays out in the pilot. And I'll get to that later on after I've had the chance to scan some production stills...

[Gothick]

As scripted, that scene could have been quite powerful.

I really can't think of what to say about how I remember it actually playing onscreen.  It just did not work for me.

Again, many thanks MB for this labor of love!  Happy New Year!

As for Gerard's request, we all know what the WB home video department thinks of DS... what more need be added...

G.

[Gerard]

I keep forgetting that WB owns this version, not DCP.  My mistake, repeated again! 

I guess I just can't understand why WB, after spending probably a pretty penny on this and ending up not making a penny, just won't let it go and allow fans to enjoy it.  If anything, it's free exposure for a franchise and without exposure a franchise based on something that came into creation eons ago can only last so long (as fans can only last so long).  I just don't get the business understanding of how the entertainment industry works.  Oh, well.

With that being said, this has been an incredible and terrific ride seeing how the pilot ran, both in it's semi-completed state and in the scripting.  This has been a tremendous experience, and thank you, MB, for making it possible!

Gerard

[Uncle Roger]

Yes, this has a most fascinating look at one of the most interesting (and most obscure) pieces of DS history. Thanks, MB, for this most compelling series. A

[Josette]

Wow!  That would certainly have been exciting.  Since you say it didn't play out "entirely" like that, presumably it was similar.

[DarkLady]

Thanks so much, MB--you truly live up to your name.

[MagnusTrask]

I wish my eye thing allowed me to read this whole thread.  That car crash is strange.  It's disturbing, but doesn't give an impression to me of a powerful, threatening supernatural being, but of a frail one.  I know she survives and it was all a trick, and Vicki's supposed to be shocked by Ang's survival, but the biggest impression in my mind afterward would be all the damage to Angelique.

I'm not getting into the spirit of it, probably.  This is in keeping with classic ghost stories I suppose.  A few more such encounters like this would have followed, building up the message that Ang is indestructible each time.

The owners of the pilot probably want to wait a certain number of years to build up the mystique.  They might not want it reduced to being some obscure DVD extra, on a par with outtakes and deleted scenes.  There's also just a basic business assumption that you don't give anything away.  When in doubt, play it safe. 

[Gothick]

Glad to see the '04 slideshow is starting up again!  I'll enjoy reading at least some of it once again.

If you do have time to write about the changes in how the final scene wound up being shot and edited, I would be interested to read that.

Happy 2015!

G.

[Uncle Roger]

What a great ride! I really enjoyed seeing the pilot when it was screened at the Festival. It's a modernized version of the original and would have worked well as a companion to Buffy and Angel.

For the most part, it is very well cast. Marley Shelton, Matt Czuchry and Jessica Chastain have certainly lived up to the promise they showed here.

Sigh. What if...