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646
Number

638

Timeline

1968

Narrator

Joan Bennett

Writer

Gordon Russell

Director

Lela Swift

Broadcast

December 16, 1968
(Monday)

Recorded

December 9, 1968
(Monday)

Video

Complete: Disc 68
Collection 11: Disc 4

646 Gallery
We have 34 images of Dark Shadows 646

David and Amy meet the ghosts of Quentin and Beth.

Synopsis[]

Of all the dark and evil secrets that plague the great house at Collinwood, none has escaped detection longer than the secret behind the wall in the abandoned west wing. For over 70 years, a vengeful spirit has been imprisoned here. Now through the curiosity of two children it has been released, and soon it will bring about the final destruction of the Collins family.

David and Amy meet the ghosts of Quentin and Beth. Amy and David dress up and pretend to be Beth and Quentin. David and Amy bury the skeleton from the secret room . David strings a wire across the staircase causing Roger to fall.

Memorable quotes[]

Elizabeth: David gave me his word.
Roger: Yes, he's done that before as I recall.

Roger: (about Amy) I just hope she's not a bad influence on David.

David: If you sound convincing, Father will believe whatever you tell him.

Dramatis personae[]

Background information and notes[]

Production[]

  • First appearance of actors David Selby and Terry Crawford, and the characters of Quentin Collins and Beth Chavez. Quentin will be next seen in 669, but won't speak until 701, and Beth will next be seen in 673, and will speak for the first time in 678. Beth emerges from the shadows, appearing suddenly even though she wears a white dress. This is a neat trick, possibly accomplished by an unusually well done visual effect using Chroma Key. In the past, any lightness of clothing or skin has made it difficult to have, for example, Tom Jennings come out of the shadows without being noticeable beforehand.

Story[]

  • GHOSTWATCH: Quentin and Beth's ghosts appear to David and Amy.
  • TIMELINE: 2am: Roger goes to bed. Day 255 begins, and will end in 649. Amy will get Roger at 1am. 1am: Roger in bed.
  • The act of tying a wire across the stairs to make Roger fall is a reenactment of when David caused Roger to fall in 1967, only this time David is possessed.

Bloopers and continuity errors[]

  • The white wig of hair seen previously on the skeleton is gone.
  • David and Amy were able to get the cradle up the secret staircase but are apparently unable to get the toy chest down it.
  • When Amy and David are in Quentin's room with the music playing and Quentin standing before them, Amy asks if David likes the music. He says it's his favorite piece. Amy starts to say, "How could it be? You never heard it before last night when we..." Apparently, that is the cue for Beth's ghost to come out of the shadows and interrupt her, but Amy stops in mid-sentence and looks over to the darkness where Beth is supposed to emerge. However, there is a long pause between Amy's cut-off sentence, her looking toward the shadows, and Beth finally emerging.
  • David and Amy tell Roger that the chest is locked while he is looking at it and can plainly see that there is no padlock on the chest, which is the only way it could be locked, as we can see after the children bury the bones, yet David seems to think that his lie was a clever one! [Maybe Roger is just that gullible.]
  • When Elizabeth and Roger are discussing Victoria, Elizabeth says that she has given David and Amy only "a few lessons." However, Amy has been at Collinwood for only a couple of days. Everyone is behaving as if she's been there for quite some time. Also, originally Julia agreed to let Amy stay at Collinwood the first night she arrived, but the implication was that she would go back to Windcliff. Julia was insistent she needed to be there. But that seems to have been forgotten. There was never any follow-up discussion with Julia.
  • A boom microphone shadow is visible as Roger tells Elizabeth that Victoria is in a sad state.
  • The collar of Amy's green dress is visible above her pink robe.
  • The end credits roll is off kilter and tilted up on the left side.
  • The secret opening to Quentin's room has moved to the panel on the right.
  • The candle has been magically burning for about 24 hours in the secret room.
  • The clock in Roger's room has been set to 1am for the final scene, even though it is morning and Roger is off to work.
  • How did David manage to string up the wire in such a way that one end is attached to the concrete wall? This would require a screw or a hook, but none is visible. And in the next episode, Roger looks for traces of the wire and there are none, yet there should be a screw or a screw hole in the wall.

When Roger falls down the stairs, you can see the entire wall move.

External Links []

Dark Shadows - Episode 646 on the IMDb

Dark Shadows Every Day - Episode 646 - The Turning

The Dark Shadows Daybook - Episode 646

Gallery (34)[]

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