NOTES:
The problems begin right away.
Barnabas Collins, who's supposed to be our hero (at least according to
the package blurb), is sneaking into a house to kill a defenseless woman
in her bed. Huh? I thought it said he didn't start doing evil deeds
until he was forced to. Why is he doing this? Well, it's difficult to
explain (and remember that Viewmaster's motto throughout this story is
that if it's difficult to explain, then DON'T!). They offer some
half-reasons about her being an evil genius (which is not quite true on
the actual show) and about Barnabas being driven by a desperate (unspecified)
necessity. He doesn't really want to, but he has to, he's just obeying
orders, and besides, he was in Switzerland during the war. The moral
here is that if your heroes appear to be doing something that would
ordinarily be wrong, to shut up, don't ask questions, assume that
they've got a good and valid reason for doing it, and don't get in their
way by demanding to know what the reason is. Though outwardly an
escapist fantasy, this show actually turned out to be excellent
training for kids who would later live through the Nixon and
Clinton administrations.
In the television show, Barnabas does not live at Collinwood
at all, but rather in another building on the estate known as the "Old House".
Since it might have taken as much as another sentence to explain this,
the Viewmaster Version (henceforth called the "VV") has him operating
out of Collinwood.
Why exactly does Angelique want Eve killed again? Well, she
doesn't really. In fact, in the TV show, they worked closely together
during this period. But saying that she does helps establish how evil
Angelique is, you see (if the fangs hadn't done that already).
Who is Adam again, and what was that bit about his man-made body
housing Barnabas' life force? The VV never bothers to explain this
reference, possibly because it also never makes the slightest reference
to the fact that Barnabas was ever a vampire himself. If you'd heard
that Dark Shadows was a vampire soap opera and picked up this
booklet, you'd naturally assume that Angelique was the vampire of the
series, but this is nothing of the sort. She's merely slumming at this
part of her career. The real vampire of the show is Barnabas Collins
himself, who was merely vacationing among the living during this
storyline. If you knew that Barnabas Collins was a former vampire who
had fanged half the population of Collinsport in the past, and was now
getting a taste of his own medicine, the resulting hilarity would not be
at all conducive to the somber atmosphere (and colors) that the booklet
cover promises.
Okay, so no fooling this time. Who IS this Adam guy? All
right, all right. Not that it will help you understand the VV in any
way, but basically Adam is Frankenstein's monster. He was created as
part of a convoluted attempt to cure Barnabas (who is basically
Dracula) of being a vampire, by setting aside a part of Barnabas' Life
Force in another body that the vampire curse can't get at ("It's so
crazy it just might WORK!"). Adam was taught to read, write and
talk by Professor Stokes (who is basically Mr. Rogers), but was led into
evil by Nicholas Blair (who is basically
Screwtape),
who has some idea that Adam can be the forerunner of a new race of human
beings that God won't have any kind of claim on, even though they're
made from parts and spirits of the old humans ("It's so crazy it just
might... not work!"). To better keep Adam in line, Nicholas
blackmailed Barnabas and Julia into creating Eve (who is basically the
Bride of Frankenstein), who was brought to life from the Life Force of a
ghost ("It's so crazy it just might... oh, forget it."), namely the
ghost of one Danielle Roget (who was basically Madame Guillotine). Keep
in mind now, that NONE of this will help you understand the VV any
better.
Who was Angelique again? Well, for once, Viewmaster has gone
into enough detail simply by saying that she is a person of some
supernatural power who used to be involved with Barnabas. You really
don't need to know any more than that, and after the last explanation,
you probably don't want to, either.
The Instant Heart-Attack-O medicine in Barnabas' hypodermic is
probably the same stuff he used to murder Dr. Woodard in Episode 341,
when Woodard found out about Barnabas' little daylight problem.
Naturally, the VV doesn't go into any detail about this or other past
indiscretions, not only because most of them are irrelevant to the current
situation, but also because they might lead one to falsely (?) conclude that
Barnabas isn't really that nice a guy.
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