The situations that Barnabas goes through are remarkable. A treatment by Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) to cure him of his vampirism goes wrong by a very strong dose and it ages him to an old man. Mortal, perhaps, but since that’s featured in only one episode of this compilation, that detail is not known. No matter, though, because there’s more to marvel at: The jealous witch Angelique (Lara Parker, who provides slowly-spoken episode introductions) preventing devoted Collinwood servant Ben Stokes (Thayer David) by voice from killing Barnabas at his own request with a stake through his heart; Barnabas returning from 1897 to find the family under the control of the Leviathans and soon himself included, ordered to kill Hoffman; and an episode in Parallel Time, an alternate universe that Barnabas was accidentally sent back to, with Collinwood ruled over by the memory of Angelique, the late manor’s mistress. In this alternate universe, Hoffman is the maid of the manor and the plot of the episode feels like an adaptation of Rebecca, with Hoffman a reminder of Mrs. Danvers at Manderley.
Surprises abound here too, but not so much in the way of the storylines. Just like the surprise of Denise Nickerson in the Fan Favorites compilation, here is Marsha Mason in an episode from December 29, 1969, seeking Barnabas’s company, but Barnabas bites her neck instead and she turns into a vampire. It’s one of those instances in which the early career of a well-known actor is very interesting indeed, a role not noticed until hindsight decades later, after many famous credits have been racked up.
Jonathan Frid is in excellent company in this series, with excellent actors, including Grayson Hall, who changes so easily from Dr. Julia Hoffman to foreboding maid Julia Hoffman. John Karlen plays Willie Loomis in the first episode on the DVD, a worried, frightened man, and then there he is in the Parallel Time episode as drunken writer William H. Loomis, still with the same unease, the same unbalanced nature, but made more subtle, channeled into alcohol and insecurity. In Collinwood, you can’t quite be sure who has good intentions, but you can be sure that you’re watching an ensemble who is the biggest part of making this world totally believable.
I can easily see this DVD on a shelf at libraries, picked up by curiosity seekers who want to know how a soap opera can take place in a Gothic setting. They will soon know, taking this DVD home with books and other DVDs, starting on a journey that so many have already traveled, but which still remains fresh and unique. It lives on, just like Barnabas.
