David first appears in the film costumed as a "ghost," having cut holes in a bedsheet draped over him with the intention of scaring his governess, whom he apparently has not met prior to the incident. As his surprise is spoiled by his being prematurely exposed, he joins the others at the dining table. It is revealed that David believes he sees ghosts, specifically the spirit of his deceased mother. Dr. Hoffman notes that David believes his late mother to be "some sort of cyclic immortality," presumably an allusion to the original series character, Laura Collins, who had been depicted as a human phoenix.