651 — darkshadows

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Number	643
Timeline	1968
Narrator	Grayson Hall
Writer	Gordon Russell
Director	Lela Swift
Broadcast	December 23, 1968 (Monday)
Recorded	December 16, 1968 (Monday)
Video	Complete: Disc 68 Collection 11: Disc 4

We have 29 images of Dark Shadows 651

As Elizabeth again becomes obsessed with her own death, Joe confronts Chris about his lack of concern for Amy.

Synopsis

A strange and terrifying night at Collinwood, a night in which the past has reached into the present and taken the life of a young woman. It took only a matter of seconds for Victoria Winters to disappear forever, but it will take a very long time for those who witnessed this supernatural occurrence to comprehend or accept the fact that Victoria Winters no longer exists.

Elizabeth has become preoccupied with death after Victoria disappears. Elizabeth says, "Vicki has vanished into another time. That's where she will die." Meanwhile Chris is worried if he is not asleep he will change into a werewolf. Julia has given Elizabeth a sedative to help her deal with the shock of Victoria's disappearance. Julia and Barnabas discuss his feelings about losing Victoria. Joe asks Amy about the pentagram then leaves. Elizabeth leaves the house without saying a word. Julia does not want to give Chris the sedative, still unsure if he is truthful about why he needs them. Elizabeth tells Amy she is going to be buried alive. Joe argues with Chris about Amy. Chris turns into a werewolf after Joe leaves.

Memorable quotes

Elizabeth: We don't understand death, do we? Because we can't. We can only wait for it, knowing it will reach out for us...when it's ready.

Julia: She has an alarming preoccupation with death.

Barnabas: (about Elizabeth and Cassandra) They hated each other from the moment they met.

Barnabas: (about Victoria) I can't think of what life will be without her.

Julia: I can't force you to see what you should see.

Chris: (about Amy) I do love her!

Joe: What are you looking at?

Amy: The moon.

Joe: Why? Does it look different tonight?

Amy: Sometimes it scares me. I wish I knew why.

Joe: Well, you don't have to be afraid of it. It's much too far away to be able to hurt you.

Dramatis personae

Joan Bennett as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins
Grayson Hall as Julia Hoffman
Joel Crothers as Joe Haskell
Don Briscoe as Chris Jennings
Denise Nickerson as Amy Jennings

Background information and notes

Production

The grandfather clock in the foyer makes a ping pong sound, indicating the passing of the seconds.
The Ralston Purina lamp appears next to Elizabeth's bed. [Addendum: Elizabeth's bedroom does not appear in this episode.]
The final scene with Chris lying on the bed and starting to turn into the werewolf was prerecorded and edited in.

Story

INTERNAL MONOLOGUE: Elizabeth: The tomb is ready.
SEDATIVE: Julia has given Elizabeth a sedative in order to rest overnight and forget about thoughts of death. Julia gives Chris the sleeping pills he anxiously wants. [It is a little odd that Julia has been giving out sedatives all the time since arriving but suddenly seems reluctant to give them to Chris here. (As noted before, this does not seem unusual as Chris's desperation for the bills is quite over the top; even Julia would be suspicious and reluctant.)
TIMELINE: 8:10pm at start of this episode. It was yesterday when Amy saw the pentagram on Joe's face.

Bloopers and continuity errors

A boom mic shadow is seen on the wall as Joe and Amy enter Collinwood. [Addendum: The shadows of the Collinwood entrance door opening and closing is seen on the other entrance door; this is not a boom mic shadow.]
When Chris calls Collinwood, he asks the operator to connect him to the phone number 7758. Previously it was 4099 (episode 44), but in episode 550 that was shown as being Professor Stokes' number. (Also, 4099 is at one point shown to be Stokes's number.)
Denise Nickerson flubs a line when Amy is talking to Joe in the Collinwood foyer: "He's been very busy since he cames back to Collinsport."
Amy tells Barnabas that Elizabeth walked right by her in the foyer and had a strange look in her eye. Barnabas then says, “You mean that she went out the door?” But Amy didn't say anything about Elizabeth leaving the house.
Jonathan Frid flubs a line: "She must have gone looking for Mrs....for Elizabeth."
The full moon has been up for a long time throughout the episode, yet Chris does not transform into a werewolf until much later at the end of the episode. However, when Chris is begging Julia for the sleeping pills at Collinwood, he says he needs to get back to town "before dark," but it's clearly been dark for a long time.
Elizabeth visits the Collins mausoleum and says to herself, "The tomb is ready. There is no reason to wait...any longer." When Amy asks Elizabeth whether there are dead people in there (the mausoleum) and if she came to visit them, Elizabeth says no, she will be one of them very soon. However, only Joshua, Naomi, and Sarah Collins are in the mausoleum. It has not been prepared for anyone else, including Elizabeth.
Before the commercial break in Act 2, as Amy finds Elizabeth in the cemetery, we see just a few puffs of smoke from the fog machine. After the break, the smoke is so thick it almost obscures the scene.