684 — darkshadows

← 684 →

Number	675
Timeline	1969
Narrator	Nancy Barrett
Writer	Sam Hall
Director	Lela Swift
Broadcast	February 6, 1969 (Thursday)
Recorded	January 30, 1969 (Thursday)
Video	Complete: Disc 71 Collection 12: Disc 3

We have 29 images of Dark Shadows 684

Barnabas and Chris discover a child's coffin, which could provide a clue into the haunting of Collinwood and Chris's werewolf curse.

Synopsis

Teaser

A moonless night on the great estate of Collinwood, and a mysterious spirit has led two men to a desolate part of the forest which surrounds the ancient house. There, they uncover a strange secret that can help them or lead them to disaster.

Barnabas and Chris open the coffin to which Beth's ghost led them. They discover the silver pentagram medallion on the child's neck. Barnabas says that the child must have needed protection from a werewolf.

Act I

Chris remarks that this must mean he is not the first werewolf in the area, but wonders how the event was not told, even in local legends. He wonders if there is a connection between that werewolf and himself. Barnabas estimates the coffin is at least fifty to seventy-five years old, but is not the type used in the late 18th century. Chris says his family was in the area at least seventy-five years ago, but he does not know of any contact with the Collins family. Barnabas plans to clean the silver pentagram and look for a date or markings that will give them a clue about the time period and look at old newspapers for stories of animal attacks. Barnabas takes the discovery as a good omen, and Beth's silence as a warning. They rebury the coffin as Quentin's ghost looks on.

David Collins walks into the Drawing room and gets a book called "Ghosts and Exorcism" out of the cabinet and begins to read it when Carolyn walks in and asks what he is reading. He tries to hide it from her, but she takes it from him and David asks her if she has ever seen a real ghost. He brings up the odd events of late and says he thinks they should all move. He starts to say more, but Quentin appears and he runs up to his room. As Barnabas and Chris finish their reburial and leave for Collinwood, Quentin torments David upstairs in his room. David resists, but finally gives in as the gramophone plays, saying he will get the medallion for him.

Act II

David annoys Barnabas by playing with his new suction-cup dart set in the drawing room while Barnabas is trying to read the markings on the silver pentagram. Barnabas tries to ignore it, but David is more irritating than he can stand. He stops throwing his darts and starts asking annoying questions about the pentagram when Carolyn walks in with the tea. Barnabas tells him that the pentagram says "To guard you from Cerebus", whom David, with his known love for monsters, appears to have missed. Barnabas and Carolyn tell him the basics of the story of Cerebus and Carolyn takes the pentagram and recognizes the jeweler's mark as being that of Mr. Braithwaite. She supplies a candlestick Mr. Braithwaite repaired for comparison.

While Barnabas looks up Mr. Braithwaite in the telephone directory, Carolyn reminds David that they were going to talk about the book, but David weasels out of it, saying he has lots of work to do and has been forbidden to leave until it is done. Carolyn isn't buying it, but drops the subject and leaves, giving David a chance to steal the pentagram while Barnabas is speaking to Ezra Braithwaite, who is very old, but still alive, on the telephone. He then throws his darts some more until Barnabas orders him to leave the room, but while David is whining about being made to leave, Barnabas notices the pentagram is missing and he and David look for it. Barnabas accuses David of taking it; David turns out his pockets, but having hidden it behind the dart board, does not have it. David reminds Barnabas that strange things happen in the house all the time and leaves.

Later Barnabas shows up at Ezra Braithwaite's shop with a sketch of the pentagram. At first Braithwaite is not sure his family made the pentagram, but then he almost remembers the details of the odd piece, but the details elude him. He tells Barnabas he will look through the business records, which go back to the beginning of the family business. Barnabas tells him he is sure the piece is from the Victorian Period and Braithwaite promises he will research it after the shop is closed. Meanwhile; upstairs in the West Wing Quentin holds the pentagram as David asks about his intentions for the piece.

Act III

Chris and Carolyn celebrate his finally asking her out with a bottle of champagne in the drawing room as Carolyn was starting to give up hope. She almost ruins the celebratory mood by mentioning how he disappears at sundown, but manages to bring Chris back. He says he is glad they are having dinner and has meant to ask her out for a long time. Barnabas enters the room to get his newspaper and speaks to Chris while Carolyn gets her coat. Carolyn returns and she and Chris leave for their date.

As Barnabas sits down to relax, David comes down to ask more questions about the medallion, but Barnabas pretends it isn't important. He retires to Roger's study and asks David to tell Mrs. Johnson he is expecting a call from Ezra Braithwaite and to come get him, no matter how late the call comes. David promises to do this. At Braithwaite's shop, Ezra Braithwaite calls Collinwood and speaks to David. He is very excited and offers to come to Collinwood on his way home. David promises to tell Barnabas, but Quentin takes the phone from his hand and listens in as Braithwaite explains that the medallion was one of the first pieces he ever made, and he will bring the ledger with the purchaser's name on it. David shouts at Quentin that he had no right to take the telephone and Quentin stares at him, sending David off in a panic.

Memorable quotes

Ezra: When I was young, there wasn't anything I ever wanted to remember. But now that I do, there just doesn't seem to be anything to remember.

Carolyn: Secrets? Now I have a mission for this evening: to find out every one of them! (takes Chris by the arm and leaves for their date)

Barnabas: Good luck.

David: This is a funny house we live in, isn't it, Carolyn?

Carolyn: Funny?

David: Yeah, so many weird things happen in it....Sometimes I just think we should move out of this house.

David: Carolyn, have you ever seen a ghost? I mean really seen one.

Carolyn: Why, have you?

David: (about Carolyn recalling how he dropped and broke a candlestick) Oh, you would remember that.

David: (to Barnabas) I don' t like old things.

David: Lots of things happen in this house that no one can understand, Barnabas. You should know that.

Barnabas: (when Ezra states his father died in 1901) That's a little before my time.

Carolyn: (to Chris): I'd begun to think you had what might be called "other interests."

Dramatis personae

Background information and notes

Production

Abe Vigoda is misspelled in the closing credits as "Abe Vigodo".
Ezra's shop appears to be the set for Sheriff Patterson's office redressed.

Story

Carolyn states that she had begun to fear Chris had "other interests". She thinks he may have been seeing other women.
Ezra's shop has been in business since 1781, and every piece of silver for the Collins family has been made by them. The shop made a number of odd things. There have been at least three Ezra Braithwaites, all related. Ezra's father, named Ezra Julius Braithwaite, died in 1901, and admired the Collins's taste. The shop has only part-time help now. Ezra thinks people are no longer interested in the finer things such as his work.
Ezra points to the portrait of his father. This same portrait appeared prominently in the drawing room of the house by the sea when Nicholas was living there.
According to David, his pockets contain his pocket knife, bubble gum that he traded with Amy for a box of raisins, and his allowance.
Mrs. Johnson is not seen, but she is mentioned.
David broke a candlestick at one point, having dropped it. Carolyn brought it to Ezra to fix. She remembers the jeweler's mark on it being the same as the one on the silver pentagram.
Ezra calls Barnabas a "young person."
While having champagne with Carolyn, Chris does his W.C. Fields impersonation again from 677.
Cerberus, a wild dog that guards the gates of hell, is mentioned.
Chris states that his family has been in Collinsport at least 75 years, but they had no dealings with the Collins family that he knows of. That would seem hard to believe since the Collins family built Collinsport and have always been major employers in the area. It will be later revealed that he is related to the Collins family through Quentin Collins; it is surprising that he does not know of the family relationship.
GHOSTWATCH: Quentin's ghost appears to David twice.
Quentin's and Beth's powers have expanded. Both regularly leave the storage room and the secret room behind it, and both can exert powers outside Collinwood.
TIMELINE: Day 271 begins, and will end in 686. 12am: David sneaks downstairs.

Bloopers and continuity errors

The opening reprise is retaped from the previous episode. In the previous episode, Chris was at first somewhat reluctant to open the child's coffin. When Barnabas suggests it, Chris say, "Do you think we should?" In the reprise in this episode, Chris immediately gets the shovel with no hesitation when Barnabas suggests they open the coffin.
Don Briscoe acts as if he is straining to open the coffin, and the sound effects suggest a seal being broken. But when Chris first places the shovel under the coffin lid, the lid moves, demonstrating that it really isn't sealed.
Barnabas is surprised to find a child in the coffin, though he could see it was only three feet long. [This is demonstrably an untrue statement. He is NOT surprised to find a coffin. In fact, he's not even surprised. He's saddened at the tragedy of it having been an infant.]
Jonathan Frid flubs a line in the teaser: "Someone here, long, long ago, needed protection to...protection from a...a werewolf."
When David is looking at the book about ghosts and exorcism in the drawing room, there is clicking noise from off-stage.
David Selby accidentally wanders into the frame to take up his position as David talks to Carolyn in Act I.
Barnabas tells David that he is going to the study to read while he waits for the telephone call. The study is supposedly off the foyer, where David took the call and then started shouting at Quentin. Barnabas should have heard the shouting if not the telephone ringing.
David asks Carolyn if she has ever seen a ghost; she asks if he has. Apparently both of them have forgotten Sarah, whom they both have seen. [Addendum: David has also frequently talked about seeing the ghost of Josette.]
When David steals the silver pentagram, the chain gets caught on the desk top, prompting David Henesy to pull it harder.
When David is looking for the pentagram medallion on the floor of the drawing room, Barnabas steps toward him, and a boom mic shadow appears on his head.
Jonathan Frid steps on Abe Vigoda's line: Ezra: "When I was young, there wasn't anything I wanted to remember...." Barnabas: "Mr. Braithwatie..." Ezra [simultaneously]: "Now that I do, there just doesn't seem to be anything to remember." Barnabas: "Well, Mr. Braithwaite, this is vital."
In Ezra's shop, a clock is chiming, and we hear a number of cuckoo clocks. However, the chiming clock says 7:25, which wouldn't be a time that a clock would chime.
Jonathan Frid stumbles over a line when talking to David in Act III: "Tell her to let me know it's...whatever the...however late the call comes."
A boom microphone shadow can be seen on the wall as Quentin begins to ascend the stairs toward David.