623

← 623 →

Number	616
Timeline	1796
Narrator	Louis Edmonds
Writer	Gordon Russell
Director	Lela Swift
Broadcast	November 13, 1968 (Wednesday)
Recorded	November 6, 1968 (Wednesday)
Video	Complete: Disc 65 Collection 11: Disc 1

We have 16 images of Dark Shadows 623

Eve travels in time to 1796 when she was Danielle Roget to stop the marriage of Jeff and Victoria. There she enlists the aid of Ben Stokes to save Peter Bradford and discovers the Collins Family History Book.

Synopsis[]

Teaser

This is Collinwood in the year 1968. But for one person, on this night, it will be the Collinwood that existed almost two hundred years ago. In another house not far from here, a strange ceremony has taken place, and it has enabled one woman to transcend the barriers of time for six hours. During this brief visit to the past, she will see and do things which may tragically affect the present. The place is Collinsport in the year 1795.

Eve fades away to 1796, arriving at the Collinsport Gaol just as the warrant for Peter's execution has been received and read.

Act I

Danielle tells the gaoler she is here to see Peter Bradford. She explains they were once to be married, but she has been gone for six months. The gaoler tells her Peter certainly had a way with the ladies, because only a few weeks ago he was to marry a young woman ("Gloria Winters, " he says) who was hanged on a charge of witchcraft. When Danielle says she must be dead now, the gaoler says that she was certainly hanged, but she requested a mask before the execution and when they removed it, the body was that of another woman. He takes Danielle to see Peter, who does not face her, saying there is nothing between them. Danielle says it is ironic that he condemns her for killing a man and now he has done the same. Peter states the difference is that she is guilty and free, and he is innocent and going to die. She makes a plan to break him out of gaol, saying he only needs to be ready when she comes for him. She recalls that Angelique told her she cannot stay more than six hours. She has obviously convinced herself that if she stays more than six hours, she will change history and stay in the past with Peter. She says she needs time and Ben Stokes, the one man who could never refuse her anything. At Collinwood, Joshua Collins calls Ben into the drawing room and gives him the news that Peter Bradford has been condemned to hang and there is nothing anyone can do about it. He only hopes that, between Peter's execution and Victoria's, the hysteria in town will die down. He also tells Ben he wants him to destroy the Collins Family History Book.

Act II

Ben asks Joshua why he wants the book destroyed, and Joshua says he believes the book is evil, and if there is any such thing as the product of the Devil, this is it. He tells him that he has read the book and it frightens him, but he plans on perpetuating many of the inaccuracies of the book so that they will become part of history. He intends to write his own history without the real cause of Barnabas' death and what he became after, Naomi's suicide, or “any mention of Millicent's association with "that scoundrel." Instead, Barnabas will have gone to England and never returned, Naomi will have died of natural causes, and Millicent will have lived a life of spinsterhood. Joshua believes once the book has been destroyed, the curse on the family will be lifted, so he orders Ben to take it into the woods, far away, and burn it. Back at the gaol, Peter Bradford asks Mr. Prescott, the gaoler, to bring him a pen and paper as his last request because he wants to leave someone a note. Just outside Collinwood, Danielle meets Ben and begs him to meet her at the gaol with two horses. She intends to drug the gaoler to sleep while the other man there is preparing for the execution. Ben asks for assurances that the gaoler won't be harmed and tells her he is doing this for Peter, not for her, but first, he has a book to burn. Danielle tells him he can burn the book later, but the matter with Peter is more urgent. She takes the book from him and tells him she will return it when he comes with the horses.

Act III

Danielle realises that Victoria really did travel to the past and must have brought the book with her, and that she can make use of the book herself. Ben arrives with the horses and tries to get the book back, but Danielle sends him out as the gaoler returns. She tries to seduce the gaoler, but when he tells her Peter is writing someone a note, she decides to go ahead and see him. Peter says he is not going to try and escape, that he is going to keep his promise to die with Victoria, and live with her again in another life. He gives her a note he says will explain all his reasons. The gaoler and his assistant come to take Peter away. The gaoler turns to Danielle and says she can go "into the waiting room." Danielle reads the note and realizes it is what she needs to stop Jeff and Victoria from getting married. She puts the note in the book, clutches the book to her chest, and fades away in front of the gaoler.

Memorable quotes[]

Ben: (to Danielle): Helping you in one of your schemes means hurting someone else. I'll have no part of it.

Mr. Prescott : (to Danielle): A hanging is a gruesome thing. Not a sight for a lady.

Mr. Prescott: You're not going to be around to get an answer.

Dramatis personae[]

← Louis Edmonds as Joshua Collins →
← Thayer David as Ben Stokes →
← Roger Davis as Peter Bradford →
← Marie Wallace as Eve / Danielle Roget →
← Tom Gorman as Mr. Prescott (credited as The Jailer)
← James Shannon as Gaoler (uncredited) →

Background information and notes[]

Production[]

Final appearance of Joshua Collins; however, he will appear in 661 but only in recycled footage. A parallel counterpart will appear in 1009 and 1012.
Peter calls the gaoler by his name, Mr. Prescott, but that name does not appear in the credits.
Mr. Prescott's assistant is unnamed and uncredited, even though he receives a good deal of screen time.
Marie Wallace is credited as Eve, but in this episode she is technically appearing as Danielle Roget.
It seems that somebody could have solved the issues of Eve as played by Marie Wallace not looking like Erica Fitz, the actress that played Danielle Roget in 594, by simply casting Fitz for this episode. It may be that Fitz wasn't available at the time. [Addendum: this is somewhat consistent with Victoria's trip to 1795, when she replaced somebody else in appearance.]

Story[]

In this episode the misinformation in the family history is adopted by Joshua Collins when reading the Collins Family History Book makes him decide it was more generous to his family than an accurate history would be. This would be the very misinformation which causes this book to be written, with inaccurate history. Sort of a mobius strip. Following Barnabas' death, when he had started the rumor that Barnabas had sailed for England, Josette and the Countess had both realized the history had been preserved as Joshua wanted it.
Joshua refers to Millicent Collins as his niece, though previous episodes indicated they were cousins.
Peter sees Eve as Danielle. She vanishes from the present and goes into the body of Danielle. Why does she look like Eve? Where is Eve's or Danielle's body? How did she get the eighteenth century clothing? (Presumably Eve's form has overwritten that of Danielle seeing as it now contains the life force of Danielle.)
Joshua claims he never thought Victoria was a witch, though at one point he did.
The last time we saw the Collins Family History Book, Victoria was burying it in the woods.
INTERNAL MONOLOGUE: Eve: I've learned more than I thought.
TIMELINE: Day 247 begins, and will end in 629. From Eve's perspective, Time remains parallel between 1968 and 1796: Eve leaves at midnight in 1969 and arrives at midnight in 1796. (This will be the same for her return at 6am as seen in the next episode). Eve tells the jailer she has been gone for six months. The clock strikes 12am when Eve disappears. Peter is to be hanged tonight. It was a few weeks ago when Victoria was hanged. 5:30am: Eve realizes she has thirty minutes left. 6am: Eve returns to the future as the episode ends.
- This episode depicts the latest point in the eighteenth century that is shown in the series, being set, "a few short weeks" after the execution of Victoria Winters as seen in 460.

Bloopers and continuity errors[]

In the reprise at the beginning of this episode, Eve disappears into the past and the clock on the mantle shows and chimes 12:00am. However the ending of the previous episode shows the clock to be approximately 11:40pm.
Tom Gorman refers to the witch who escaped her execution as "Gloria Winters," when the character he is actually referring to is Victoria Winters.
The jailer tells Danielle several times she should not attend the execution, but executions at the time were public entertainments where crowds gathered and people brought their children to watch.
Louis Edmonds flubs, "I think she was protecting... trying to protect..."
Peter is clearly not writing when he is supposed to be. When he goes to put the pen back into the ink well, he misses and lets the pen drop onto the bed.
It is stated more than once that this is 1795 but after Victoria was hanged. Later this will be retconned as being 1796 when Barnabas goes back in time to save Victoria from hanging. There's certainly plenty of evidence before this episode to support the idea that this is actually supposed to be 1796.
Although Eve has Danielle Rogét's lifeforce, Danielle Rogét was originally played by Erica Fitz, and had a totally different appearance. However, both Peter Bradford and Ben Stokes recognise Eve on sight, despite only having known Danielle Rogét in her original physical form.