Tag: Frankenstein Created Woman

Episode 587: How can you hate yourself so much?

In April 1968, mad scientist Eric Lang promised Barnabas Collins that he could cure him of vampirism. The cure was an experimental procedure modeled on the one in Hammer Studios’ 1967 film Frankenstein Created Woman. A body constructed of parts salvaged from several fresh corpses was to be associated with Barnabas, and when the procedure was complete Lang expected Barnabas’ body to be dead and his mind to awaken in the constructed body. After Lang’s death, Barnabas’ friend, Dr Julia Hoffman, completed the experiment. To their surprise, the procedure ends with both Barnabas and the new man alive. Barnabas named the new man Adam. They take Adam to the dungeon in Barnabas’ house, and keep him there in horrifyingly bad conditions until he escapes. Adam of course hates Barnabas and Julia.

Lately, Adam has been hiding out in a long-deserted part of the great house of Collinwood. Heiress Carolyn Collins Stoddard took pity on him and has been looking after him there. He has fallen in love with Carolyn, to her embarrassment and his frustration. Carolyn has delegated the day-to-day responsibility for looking after Adam to unsightly ex-convict Harry Johnson. Adam’s former protector, occult expert Timothy Eliot Stokes, visits from time to time. Adam’s most frequent and most influential visitor is suave warlock Nicholas Blair. Carolyn and Stokes are good, Nicholas is evil, and Harry is just distasteful.

When Nicholas found out about Adam, he forgot about whatever plans he may previously have had and focused on the goal of founding a new humanoid race. He has talked Adam into demanding Barnabas and Julia repeat the experiment to build a mate for him. Adam threatened to kill well-meaning governess Vicki Winters unless they complied. Now there is a patchwork female corpse and a lot of scientific equipment in Barnabas’ basement. All that is missing is a woman to donate her “life force.”

Barnabas and Julia were plotting to use Maggie Evans, The Nicest Girl in Town. When Barnabas was a vampire in May and June of 1967, he abducted Maggie and tortured her in an attempt to erase her personality and replace it with that of his lost love, the gracious Josette. When that evil scheme collapsed, Maggie escaped and Julia used her preternatural powers of hypnosis to block her memories. Ever since, Maggie has had no idea of what happened during those two months, and she has thought of Barnabas as a wonderful person. Barnabas wants Julia to use those same powers first to bring Maggie to the basement lab, and then to block her memory in case she survives.

Barnabas’ much-put-upon servant, Willie Loomis, overheard this plan. Willie has a crush on Maggie. He tried to talk Barnabas and Julia out of their fell intentions, and when they would not listen he tried to persuade Maggie to leave town. She wouldn’t listen either, so he took it upon himself to abduct Maggie. He stole some chloroform from the lab, broke into her room, and took her to the hidden chamber inside the old Collins family mausoleum.

We open today in the front parlor of the Old House, where Adam is coolly explaining to Barnabas that he does not want Maggie to donate the “life force” for his mate. Barnabas angrily explains that it must be Maggie, because Julia has proven that she can control her. Besides, Maggie lives alone, so she can go missing for several days before anyone knows she is gone. Barnabas is the chief protagonist of this show, by the way.

Adam says that the only woman whose “life force” he wants to animate his bride is Carolyn. Barnabas says that this is impossible. Adam has been gradually learning the details of the experiment that brought him to life; only now does Barnabas tell him that in the original plan, he would die and come back to life in his body. Adam is bewildered by this. “How could you hate yourself so much that you wanted to change your body?” Barnabas does not want to confess his his former vampirism, so Adam doesn’t get an answer.

Adam meets Nicholas at the gazebo on the grounds of the estate. Nicholas wants him to ignore everything Barnabas said, but Adam is giving deep thought to all of it. It was Nicholas’ idea that Carolyn should provide the “life force,” and Adam enthusiastically agreed, believing this meant that his mate would be like her. He says now that he and Barnabas do not recognize themselves in each other, and Nicholas tries to brush this very apt observation off by saying that Barnabas would hide his similarities. Adam demands Nicholas assure him that Carolyn will not be subjected to any violence. She must want to participate in the experiment. As my wife, Mrs Acilius, pointed out, that condition is indeed a similarity with his “life force” donor- Barnabas had been preoccupied with the idea that Maggie and his other female victims would eventually come to him of their own will. While Nicholas is trying to quell the big guy’s concern, Willie happens by.

Adam starts to figure everything out, and wants to reason with Nicholas.

Adam hides while Nicholas confronts Willie. He puts a magic zap on Willie to compel him to release Maggie. After Willie goes, Nicholas tells Adam he will use the same painless technique to cause Carolyn to cooperate. Adam is skeptical, but Nicholas assures him that his doubts will be settled when he sees that Maggie is free before daybreak.

That may not quite work out. Willie made the worst possible choice of hiding place when he stashed Maggie in the hidden chamber of the mausoleum. Barnabas took her to that chamber for torture when she was his prisoner, and shortly after she awoke there her memory started to come back. By the end of today’s episode, she remembers that Barnabas was her captor. When Willie returns, he will find that he has quite a problem on his hands.

Episode 581: Death and I are old friends

Vampire Angelique wants to take part in an experiment. The experiment is modeled on one in Hammer Studios’ 1967 film Frankenstein Created Woman. A mate will be created for patchwork man Adam by a process that involves draining the “life force” from a person into a female body made up of parts salvaged from several cadavers. Angelique wants to be the “life force” donor.

Angelique knows that when Barnabas Collins donated his “life force” to Adam, he not only survived the process but emerged cured of the vampire curse she had herself placed on him 172 years before, when she was a wicked witch. She is hoping that if she follows his lead, she too will be freed to walk in the daylight.

Angelique has been snacking on an unpleasant man named Peter who prefers to be called Jeff. Peter/ Jeff is working on the experiment as a lab tech. She keeps demanding that he run the experiment with her as the “life force” donor. He keeps explaining that he’s just there to set up the equipment and has no idea how to operate it. The only person qualified to do that is mad scientist Julia Hoffman. Angelique says that no one else must be involved, and gives Peter/ Jeff 24 hours to become an expert on the process.

Meanwhile, Adam visits heiress Carolyn in her bedroom. He describes their relationship in terms that show a far greater maturity than she has seen from him before, and she calls him an “amazing creature.” The word “creature” wounds him. We hear his thoughts in a voiceover monologue, the first time Dark Shadows has used this device in mid-conversation. It is quite unnecessary; Robert Rodan’s face tells us everything we need to know about Adam’s feelings. Carolyn certainly sees that she has hurt Adam, and scrambles to make up for it.

Carolyn gives Adam a bright green sweater, and he bursts into tears. He says that no one has ever given him a gift before. Carolyn does not know about Adam’s origin, and is puzzled by this remark. He tells her no one is as nice as she is, that he wants to be her friend forever and never to hurt her, and rushes out of the room, overwhelmed by his emotions.

The experiment to build a female Frankenstein’s monster began after Adam told Barnabas that if he were not given a mate, he would murder everyone in the great house of Collinwood, including Carolyn. The scene in Carolyn’s room shows that this threat is a hollow one. On Friday, Adam dropped in on suave warlock Nicholas, who put him up to extorting Barnabas and Julia, and told him he loved only Carolyn and was ready to tell Barnabas to forget about the experiment. Nicholas talked him out of that, promising him that he would make it possible for him to have both his mate and Carolyn if only he would do everything he told him to do.

Angelique returns to the lab. Peter/ Jeff isn’t there, but Adam is. She tells Adam that he is breaking his word to Nicholas. Nicholas did not in fact tell Adam to stay away from the lab, but he did give Angelique that command. Adam is skeptical of Angelique, but he has no reason to stay in the lab or to throw her out. So he leaves her there.

Soon Peter/ Jeff is back. He keeps trying to explain to Angelique that he has no idea what he is doing, but she puts herself on the table and insists he start right away. While he throws switches, she moans.

Danny Horn’s post about this episode on Dark Shadows Every Day details the similarities between this scene and the way TV variety shows of the period presented “psychedelic” rock and roll acts such as The Doors. Danny’s commenter “PrisoneroftheNight” (a.k.a. Marc Masse of the intermittently available blog Dark Shadows from the Beginning) points out that The Doors themselves were likely aware of the similarity, as witness a voice that can be heard at the eight second mark of track 11, disc 2, of the CD release of The Doors in Concert calling similar visual effects “Dark Shadows time!”

Danny doesn’t say anything about Lara Parker’s rendering of Angelique’s experience on the table. On Dark Shadows Before I Die, John Scoleri says that Angelique “seemingly enjoys the experiment (because we’ve seen her shriek in pain, and this definitely was not the same),” to which his sister Christine adds that Peter/ Jeff “seemed to be pressing all the right buttons.” When we were watching the episode, Mrs Acilius noticed Peter/ Jeff’s uncomprehending reaction to Angelique’s moans and remarked “Yeah, yeah, we know you’ve never heard a woman make those sounds.”

Angelique beside herself. Screenshot by Dark Shadows Before I Die.

Two of the four actors in this episode, Nancy Barrett and Roger Davis, are still alive as of this writing. I believe it is the first episode to have a cast that all survived as late as 2021. Robert Rodan died in that year, and Lara Parker in 2023. I don’t know if there are any episodes that still have all-surviving casts. (UPDATED: #751 does!)