769

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Number	760
Timeline	1897
Narrator	Terry Crawford
Writer	Violet Welles
Director	Henry Kaplan
Broadcast	June 5, 1969 (Thursday)
Recorded	May 29, 1969 (Thursday)
Video	Complete: Disc 80 Collection 14: Disc 4
We have 24 images of Dark Shadows 769

Dirk locks Beth in the basement with Barnabas, who appears to be dead.

Synopsis

To save a dying boy in the present, Barnabas Collins has gone back to the year 1897. But at that moment in time, Barnabas is a vampire, and vulnerable from dawn to dusk. Now in the last few minutes before dawn, an enemy crazed with grief comes seeking him at the Old House.

Beth attempts to subdue Dirk with a gun, but he manages to get the gun away from her. He then plays with Beth and gives her the gun but he's emptied it already. He locks her in the cellar. Beth cries. Dirk goes to the cottage and encounters Jamison who wears a light-tan jacket. Dirk says Laura is in the flames and is happy because Barnabas Collins is dead. Dirk tells Jamison about the coffin in the cellar of the Old House.

Dirk tells Jamison that Barnabas is a vampire. Jamison says, "There's no such thing as a vampire." Dirk says, "The vampire is dead." Jamison runs out.

Dirk attacked when dawn came; the life force left Barnabas, so he is unhurt. Barnabas says to Beth, "I don't live like other men do, why should you think that I can die like other men can?" He tells Beth the less Quentin knows, the better and the safer they all are, "Quentin can destroy all of us." Beth wonders how he is going to silence Dirk and whereas once she pleaded with Quentin not to kill Jenny and even worried about how they would all silence Dirk and didn’t want him killed... now she does.

Quentin is not at the Cottage. Dirk is, and asks for a sign from Laura.

Dirk hears Barnabas's laugh. Dirk says, "It's impossible!" Barnabas says, "But it is, Dirk." The voice says that Dirk will never leave this house. Dirk sees Barnabas and tells him he put six bullets into him.

Dirk tells Barnabas that he told someone about Barnabas being a vampire. It is Laura's revenge. Barnabas bares his fangs at Dirk.

Jamison comes to the Old House. Beth goes to the Cottage and talks to Barnabas. Judith and Edward are in Collinsport. Barnabas feels the need to threaten Beth into helping him and not telling Quentin or betraying him. He tells her she must convince Jamison that Dirk was crazy and what was going on in Dirk's mind was a tangle of fantasies and none of them were true, she must make Jamison believe her. He tells her to be subtle. He also tells Beth that she must not harm Jamison. Beth leaves. Jamison finds the coffin.

Memorable quotes

Dirk: (to Beth) Now didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with guns? You should only play with dolls!

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Barnabas: (to Dirk) How can you kill someone who is already dead?

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Beth: I've got to go to him [Barnabas].

Dirk: Oh, listen, you don't have to bother. All dead things look the same.

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Barnabas: Beth, I do not live like other men do. Why should you think that I can die like other men do?

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Barnabas: Beth, you're such a strange, soft-hearted girl. In this world of heartless people, you're going to be hurt.

Dramatis personae

• Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins
• Roger Davis as Dirk Wilkins
• Terry Crawford as Beth
• David Henesy as Jamison Collins

Background information and notes

Story

• TIMELINE: Judith and Edward are in Collinsport for the evening.

Bloopers and continuity errors

• In the reprise, Dirk states he is here to see "Barnabas"; however, at the end of previous episode he stated was there to see "Barnabas Collins".
• Dirk tells Barnabas that he shot him six times. However, only five shots were heard.
• As Jamison prepares to go down to the cellar, there is a crewmember standing behind the door, who attempts to move out of the shot but apparently cannot. David Henesy ignores him and peers past him down into the cellar.
• When Beth arrives at the cottage and knocks on the door, Barnabas asks who it is when he could have just looked through the windows of the door.

• Dirk is not wearing gloves in the reprise, yet he had them on at the end of the previous episode.
• When Barnabas is about to bite Dirk, he says, "No one else will ever know that you've been in this house." Barnabas seems to be referring to the Old House, where Dirk discovered Barnabas in his coffin and shot him. However, they are in the cottage when this conversation takes place, so "this house" doesn't make sense.
• When Dirk is talking to Jamison about Barnabas in the cottage, he says, "The reason I killed your mother is because she wanted me to." Clearly he meant to say "Barnabas" and not "your mother." Dirk did not kill Laura, and even if he had, Jamison would have reacted dramatically to such a statement. Jamison has no reaction.
• Barnabas's explanation to Beth regarding how he appeared dead to her after Dirk shot him makes little sense. Barnabas says that he collapsed "dead" not because Dirk shot him but because the sun came up at that moment and drew the life from him. However, that timeline makes little sense. Beth has been sitting in the Old House guarding Barnabas during the day. If this in fact was at dawn, then Beth would have been there at the Old House all day the previous day and all night for some reason. Also, if it were in fact dawn, it makes little sense that Jamison would be hanging around the cottage when Dirk encounters him there. [Actually, I believe what happened was, Beth and Barnabas returned to the Old House as the night was coming to an end, and Beth had only been there a short time when Dirk arrived, just before the sun rose. This explains why Barnabas was initially still awake when Dirk opened the coffin, but his life force left him as dawn broke. Then Beth stayed at the Old House all day until the sun went down and Barnabas rose again, and it was simply some time during that day that Dirk ran into Jamison at the cottage. Barnabas' explanation does fail to explain, however, why there were no bullet holes in his clothes.]

External Links 

Dark Shadows - Episode 769 on the IMDb

Dark Shadows Everyday - Episode 769 - Crazy Ex-Boyfriend