636

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Number	628
Timeline	1968
Narrator	Thayer David
Writer	Sam Hall
Director	Lela Swift
Broadcast	December 2, 1968 (Monday)
Recorded	November 22, 1968 (Friday)
Video	Complete: Disc 67 Collection 11: Disc 3

We have 20 images of Dark Shadows 636

After attempting to kill Victoria, Adam goes to Professor Stokes for help as Jeff arrives to begin a strange ritual.

Synopsis[]

Teaser

A great storm races through Collinwood. A rainless wind which seems to sweep violence all over the great estate. For vengeance has become one man's obsession. And in the basement of this house, he takes his revenge on the man who made him, for he means to kill the girl his enemy loves and in the same grotesque way his own mate was turned into a skeleton.

In the Old House basement laboratory, Adam tries to kill Victoria the same way Eve died. But he is interrupted by Barnabas and Julia. Barnabas shoots Adam in the shoulder.

Act I

Adam tries to throw the switch to kill Victoria, but is stopped by Barnabas before they both nearly pass out. Adam recovers and runs away, with Julia in pursuit. Barnabas checks Victoria. Julia returns and starts to tend to Victoria, she tells Barnabas she will be alright and perhaps he should get a coffin prepared, just in case Adam dies from the gunshot wound. Adam breaks into Prof. Stokes home. The telephone rings and Adam picks it up, not answering it. The caller is Jeff Clark. Adam hangs up. Adam then finds a dagger and hides behind the door as it begins to open.

Act II

Prof. Stokes enters and Adam puts down the dagger. Stokes tries to call a doctor, but Adam hangs up the phone, begging him not to call Julia. Stokes calls someone else and tries to get Adam to calm down. At Collinwood, Julia watches Victoria sleep. Barnabas returns from telling Carolyn what happened. They quiz Victoria about what they saw and heard, but she does not remember anything after Adam abducted her. She tells them Adam went insane and begs Barnabas to stay with her until the morning. Julia says Barnabas can't, but she will. Back at Prof. Stokes', Adam has been treated by a friend of the Professor. Stokes says that Adam has not chosen his friends wisely and that he failed Adam because he taught him, and then did not follow through. Adam says he cannot be loved because of his appearance, but Stokes says that is the easiest thing to change. Jeff Clark rings the doorbell and Adam begs him not to answer because of what he has done to Victoria.

Act III

Jeff tells Stokes about the phone call, but Stokes says he was not here as he was out gathering herbs for a ritual. He tells Jeff he wishes he would reconsider. Jeff says he knows now he is really Peter Bradford using the body of Jeff Clark. Stokes tries to convince him to forget everything and marry Victoria. Jeff eats an herb and Stokes freaks out because they are dangerous without the proper ritual, so he turns off the lights, lights a candle and begins. Jeff goes into a trance and writes his name... Peter. He says he came to the present "because I love her and I want to see her once again". At Collinwood, Victoria wakes, hearing Peter call to her. She runs out of the room past a dozing Julia. Peter relives the day he was hanged, begging to see her again. Victoria bursts into the room, grabs him and says she will not let him go back, that if he commits his love to her "they will let him stay".

Memorable quotes[]

Professor Stokes: You need a doctor. I won't even ask you what has happened. Curiosity is the most boring obsession.

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Professor Stokes: Julia is not my resident physician.

Professor Stokes: You can be assured that death is no better than life, so don't look forward to it.

Professor Stokes: (to Adam) You won't die, not from negligence anyway, as long as you are in this house. But I think you knew that before you came here.

Professor Stokes: (to Adam) If you don't like the old Adam, you can make a new one. I need a project.

Professor Stokes: (to Jeff) Frankly, my advice would be simply to marry the girl. Consider it a rather unusual marriage, but then, most marriages are one way or another.

Adam: No one will ever love me.

Professor Stokes: I can't possibly tell whether you're right or not, I've never been much of a prophet.

Dramatis personae[]

← Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins →
← Grayson Hall as Julia Hoffman →
← Thayer David as Timothy Eliot Stokes →
← Robert Rodan as Adam
← Betsy Durkin as Victoria Winters →
← Roger Davis as Jeff Clark →

Background information and notes[]

Production[]

Final appearance of actor Robert Rodan and the character Adam. He wears his third costume in his last scene. [Yes....this is the infamous episode where Adam goes into Stokes' bedroom to hide from Peter Bradford and is never seen again!!!]
Thayer David provides the opening narration, but Grayson Hall announces Betsy Durkin over the title sequence.
There are no cast credits at the end of this episode. [Addendum: the picture is of the Old House, not a set from the episode as usual.]

Story[]

We do not see the physician who tended to Adam's wounds. Professor Stokes calls him "Carl".
This episode marks a foreshadowing to 'The Leviathans' storyline, referred to as "they" by Victoria and Jeff. When "they" are around Jeff he is surrounded by a multicolored, swirling glow. The Leviathan's connection to the couple will be revealed in 967, Victoria's fate was prophesied in 617, and a mysterious force connected to Jeff's fate was mentioned in 610.
Peter Bradford was born in 1770 to Nora and Caleb Bradford.
Professor Stokes' telephone number is Rockport 8279.
GHOSTWATCH: Professor Stokes mentions that he has never encountered a ghost who uses the telephone. Jeff thinks he is the ghost of Peter using the body of another named Jeff Clark. (This is somewhat ironic considering that David and Amy will communicate with the ghost of Quentin Collins from 639 using a telephone.)
SEDATIVE: Professor Stokes' doctor has prescribed Adam a pill to reduce the danger of infection.

Bloopers and continuity errors[]

When Julia pulls the switches to turn off the equipment, it apparently turns off the music as well. It stops as the switches are pulled.
Why is Julia still wearing her trench coat when she is sleeping in the chair in Victoria's room?
How does Victoria get to Professor Stokes's so quickly from Collinwood, especially in a raging thunderstorm? She is in bed and is awakened as Jeff/Peter starts calling to her during the "herb ceremony" with Professor Stokes. When the scene switches back to Professor Stokes's apartment, she suddenly bursts in.