From the time he joined the cast of characters in April 1967, vampire Barnabas Collins has been the most famous thing about Dark Shadows. We haven’t seen him in over a month. He passed through a cosmic rift in #980, leaving his native universe behind and arriving in another “time-band” populated largely by counterparts of people he knew. In the original continuity, Barnabas was freed from his coffin when dangerously unstable ruffian Willie Loomis unchained it, believing he would extract from it a treasure in jewels that would make him rich. Here, Barnabas is trapped in his coffin when Willie’s counterpart, author William H. Loomis, chains it, believing he will extract a story from Barnabas that will make him rich.
We haven’t seen any of Will Loomis’ oral history sessions with Barnabas, since John Karlen and Jonathan Frid have both been in Tarrytown, New York. Along with many other key members of the cast, they have been filming their parts in the feature House of Dark Shadows. That production is nearing a wrap, and several other cast members have already come back. Today’s story is all about Barnabas’ impending return.
When Barnabas found himself in “Parallel Time,” the first person he met was Will’s wife, the counterpart of Barnabas’ distant cousin Carolyn Collins Stoddard. He told Carolyn that he was a descendant of the eighteenth century Barnabas Collins, of whom a portrait hangs in the foyer of the great house of Collinwood. In his own universe, that portrait does hang there, and it has been Barnabas’ letter of introduction to the Collinses more than once. But Carolyn told him there was no such portrait there or, so far as she knows, anywhere else. So he bit her and made her his blood thrall.
Indeed, the other day we saw the spot on the wall where Barnabas’ portrait hangs in the main continuity, and it was not there. Instead, there was a metallic decoration reminiscent of a coat of arms. That decoration hung there before Barnabas’ portrait first appeared in #204. So few of the people watching at this point in 1970 had been in the audience in early 1967, and so few of those would have made note of what was hanging on the walls, that I can’t imagine one viewer in ten thousand would have caught the reference during the first broadcast. None of the writers currently with the show was on staff then, nor was line producer Peter Miner. It’s one of those moments when I suspect director Lela Swift and art director Sy Tomashoff were decorating the set for their own amusement.
Today, a portrait of Barnabas has taken the place of the coat of arms. Children Daniel and Amy Collins found it in the attic of Will and Carolyn’s house, and for some reason housekeeper Julia Hoffman and butler Mr Trask decided to hang it up by the front door. It is a copy of the one we have seen over the last three years. It depicts Barnabas’ counterpart in this universe, a man who lived a quiet life and died a natural death in 1830.
The master of Collinwood, drunken sourpuss Quentin Collins, is shocked to see the portrait, and orders it to be removed immediately. Daniel’s counterpart, strange and troubled boy David Collins, had been the first to speak Barnabas’ name when he called Willie’s attention to the portrait in #205. Shortly after, Willie heard a heartbeat coming from the portrait, which led him to make his fateful trip to open the coffin. In this continuity, it is Daniel who hears the heartbeat, and he will today try to find and open the coffin.
Quentin has caught two glimpses of the other universe in the room in the east wing that was his late wife Angelique’s bedroom. Unknown to Quentin, Angelique has returned from the dead and murdered her identical twin sister Alexis. Quentin thinks that it is Alexis who is his guest in the great house, staying in her sister’s old room. When he tells her today what he saw, “Alexis” thinks he is losing his mind. But she then sees the phenomenon herself. She sees Hoffman’s counterpart calling for Barnabas, as Quentin had seen her talking about Barnabas’ “terrible curse.” “Alexis” and Quentin decide that they and Hoffman should have a séance to contact the spirit of the Barnabas Collins who died in their universe in 1830, the only Barnabas Collins they know of.
In the main continuity, séances are a frequent occurrence; we have seen fourteen of them there, and heard a detailed account of a fifteenth. In the early days, there was always one participant who tried to break the circle, only to be sternly reproved by the leader. The characters stopped doing that as they got to be familiar with the procedure, but séances are rarer in this universe. As things start to get interesting, Hoffman can’t take it anymore. She breaks the circle and runs out. “Alexis” says that the presence she felt is gone. But then a ghost materializes in the corner of the room.
Dark Shadows Commentary 