Getting Bored Now--

[Ron]

I've watched about half of the #25 disc with the parallel time story
already, waiting to see something spectacular-- or at least mildly
interesting-- and it ain't happening (so far). Do we *ever* see what
goes on in the locked room or do they just talk about it until our
brains fall out from lack of excitement?

On one of the disc's interviews, john Karlen said they had made a
mistake with this storyline, and brother, do I really have to agree
with him. Is there even one ghost anywhere to be found in the episodes
of disc #25? If I skipped to the end, I probably wouldn't miss much
would I? Oy...

Ron

[Graeme]

Post by Ron
I've watched about half of the #25 disc with the parallel time story
already, waiting to see something spectacular-- or at least mildly
interesting-- and it ain't happening (so far). Do we *ever* see what
goes on in the locked room or do they just talk about it until our
brains fall out from lack of excitement?

As I recall, they show you about halfway through the story, and then
sit and play cards for the rest of the story because they gave away
the plot too early.

But you already pretty much know what happens in the Room: the ghost
of Brutus drives people mad from terror. Does it matter precisely how
he does it? Whether he shows them Christmas Future, says "Boo", or
drops his pants, the result is the same.

But we do at least see that the Collinwood drawing room looked pretty
much the same even in 1680.

[Ron]

Post by Graeme

Post by Ron
I've watched about half of the #25 disc with the parallel time story
already, waiting to see something spectacular-- or at least mildly
interesting-- and it ain't happening (so far). Do we *ever* see what
goes on in the locked room or do they just talk about it until our
brains fall out from lack of excitement?

As I recall, they show you about halfway through the story, and then
sit and play cards for the rest of the story because they gave away
the plot too early.
But you already pretty much know what happens in the Room: the ghost
of Brutus drives people mad from terror. Does it matter precisely how
he does it? Whether he shows them Christmas Future, says "Boo", or
drops his pants, the result is the same.

YES! It matters because if I am gonna spend $35- $50 for the last set
of discs, I want to see something a lot more interesting than what
I've seen so far! After Trask getting buried, the show has gone
downhill faster than anyone can say, "oh shit!"

Some while back the Sci-Fi Channel had once aired "The Final
Playhosue" showing the last episode of several shows, including Dark
Shadows. If nothing more interesting happens, I'd rather round up that
tape and watch it rather than paying for the DVDs.

Ron

[Kishin]

Post by Graeme

Post by Ron
I've watched about half of the #25 disc with the parallel time story
already, waiting to see something spectacular-- or at least mildly
interesting-- and it ain't happening (so far). Do we *ever* see what
goes on in the locked room or do they just talk about it until our
brains fall out from lack of excitement?

As I recall, they show you about halfway through the story, and then
sit and play cards for the rest of the story because they gave away
the plot too early.
But you already pretty much know what happens in the Room: the ghost
of Brutus drives people mad from terror. Does it matter precisely how
he does it? Whether he shows them Christmas Future, says "Boo", or
drops his pants, the result is the same.

YES! It matters because if I am gonna spend $35- $50 for the last set
of discs, I want to see something a lot more interesting than what
I've seen so far! After Trask getting buried, the show has gone
downhill faster than anyone can say, "oh shit!"

Some while back the Sci-Fi Channel had once aired "The Final
Playhosue" showing the last episode of several shows, including Dark
Shadows. If nothing more interesting happens, I'd rather round up that
tape and watch it rather than paying for the DVDs.

Ron

=========================================================================


Well, you know, a LOT of "Dark Shadows" can be considered boring by a lot of
people. It just depends on your particular threshold. I enjoyed the final
story line, and bought the DVDs. It does pick up a little bit, when things
start getting explained. But if you're bored now, I can't guarantee you
won't be with the rest of it. If you have it on tape, dig it out and see if
you like it yourself.

--

Kishin

[Graeme]

Post by Ron
YES! It matters because if I am gonna spend $35- $50 for the last set
of discs, I want to see something a lot more interesting than what
I've seen so far! After Trask getting buried, the show has gone
downhill faster than anyone can say, "oh shit!"

Well, let's put it this way. What did you like about the earlier
ones? Cause DS was never a haven for hardcore gore, violence or
special effects. A tube of fake vampire blood here and there is about
as gory as they ever got.

A Locked Room story is more Hitchcockian than Friday the 13th. You
don't see much of what goes on inside, you just see people on the
outside dreading it and wondering. You do see a little, though.
People coming out and acting nutty. Two dead bodies inside. Louis
Edmonds as a vengeful ghost. Another person plunging off the top
balcony of Collinwood to their death (This seemed to replace Widow's
Hill at the end of the series). Karlen gets to be the action hero
again when Quentin gets stricken with appendicitis. But the meat of
the story is the love triangle between Bramwell, Morgan and
Catherine. As in the beginning, it's more Gothic Romance than Gothic
Horror. But it's got more supernatural activity than the first 100
episodes did, by far.

I like the 1841 story. I just don't like it as the FINAL story. They
should have returned to Normal Time, if not for a full story, at least
for an epilogue.

[Marcovaldo]

Post by Ron
YES! It matters because if I am gonna spend $35- $50 for the last set
of discs, I want to see something a lot more interesting than what
I've seen so far! After Trask getting buried, the show has gone
downhill faster than anyone can say, "oh shit!"

Well, let's put it this way.  What did you like about the earlier
ones?  Cause DS was never a haven for hardcore gore, violence or
special effects.  A tube of fake vampire blood here and there is about
as gory as they ever got.
A Locked Room story is more Hitchcockian than Friday the 13th.  You
don't see much of what goes on inside, you just see people on the
outside dreading it and wondering.  You do see a little, though.
People coming out and acting nutty.  Two dead bodies inside.  Louis
Edmonds as a vengeful ghost.  Another person plunging off the top
balcony of Collinwood to their death (This seemed to replace Widow's
Hill at the end of the series).  Karlen gets to be the action hero
again when Quentin gets stricken with appendicitis.  But the meat of
the story is the love triangle between Bramwell, Morgan and
Catherine.  As in the beginning, it's more Gothic Romance than Gothic
Horror.  But it's got more supernatural activity than the first 100
episodes did, by far.
I like the 1841 story.  I just don't like it as the FINAL story.  They
should have returned to Normal Time, if not for a full story, at least
for an epilogue.

I liked it too. I thought it was a tasty little horror story - a
drawing to see who must spend the night in a haunted room ... good
stuff.

I agree that it would have been better to end the show in the present
time.

[AlphaNova]

Post by Marcovaldo

Post by Ron
YES! It matters because if I am gonna spend $35- $50 for the last set
of discs, I want to see something a lot more interesting than what
I've seen so far! After Trask getting buried, the show has gone
downhill faster than anyone can say, "oh shit!"

Well, let's put it this way. �What did you like about the earlier
ones? �Cause DS was never a haven for hardcore gore, violence or
special effects. �A tube of fake vampire blood here and there is about
as gory as they ever got.
A Locked Room story is more Hitchcockian than Friday the 13th. �You
don't see much of what goes on inside, you just see people on the
outside dreading it and wondering. �You do see a little, though.
People coming out and acting nutty. �Two dead bodies inside. �Louis
Edmonds as a vengeful ghost. �Another person plunging off the top
balcony of Collinwood to their death (This seemed to replace Widow's
Hill at the end of the series). �Karlen gets to be the action hero
again when Quentin gets stricken with appendicitis. �But the meat of
the story is the love triangle between Bramwell, Morgan and
Catherine. �As in the beginning, it's more Gothic Romance than Gothic
Horror. �But it's got more supernatural activity than the first 100
episodes did, by far.
I like the 1841 story. �I just don't like it as the FINAL story. �They
should have returned to Normal Time, if not for a full story, at least
for an epilogue.

I liked it too. I thought it was a tasty little horror story - a
drawing to see who must spend the night in a haunted room ... good
stuff.
I agree that it would have been better to end the show in the present
time.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -

They were filling time with the last storyline. There were also
reports that Frid and Lara Parker had a contractual stipulation that
they get to play different characters...with the show going off the
air, they had to let them play someone else, otherwise be in violation
of their contracts.

[Graeme]

They were filling time with the last storyline.  There were also
reports that Frid and Lara Parker had a contractual stipulation that
they get to play different characters...with the show going off the
air, they had to let them play someone else, otherwise be in violation
of their contracts.

I don't think they knew they were going off the air when they planned
this story. At least Thayer David's telephone interview commenting on
the cancellation occurred well after the story was underway.

[Anim8rFSK]

In article

Post by AlphaNova

Post by Marcovaldo

Post by Ron
YES! It matters because if I am gonna spend $35- $50 for the last set
of discs, I want to see something a lot more interesting than what
I've seen so far! After Trask getting buried, the show has gone
downhill faster than anyone can say, "oh shit!"

Well, let's put it this way. ?What did you like about the earlier
ones? ?Cause DS was never a haven for hardcore gore, violence or
special effects. ?A tube of fake vampire blood here and there is about
as gory as they ever got.
A Locked Room story is more Hitchcockian than Friday the 13th. ?You
don't see much of what goes on inside, you just see people on the
outside dreading it and wondering. ?You do see a little, though.
People coming out and acting nutty. ?Two dead bodies inside. ?Louis
Edmonds as a vengeful ghost. ?Another person plunging off the top
balcony of Collinwood to their death (This seemed to replace Widow's
Hill at the end of the series). ?Karlen gets to be the action hero
again when Quentin gets stricken with appendicitis. ?But the meat of
the story is the love triangle between Bramwell, Morgan and
Catherine. ?As in the beginning, it's more Gothic Romance than Gothic
Horror. ?But it's got more supernatural activity than the first 100
episodes did, by far.
I like the 1841 story. ?I just don't like it as the FINAL story. ?They
should have returned to Normal Time, if not for a full story, at least
for an epilogue.

I liked it too. I thought it was a tasty little horror story - a
drawing to see who must spend the night in a haunted room ... good
stuff.
I agree that it would have been better to end the show in the present
time.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -

They were filling time with the last storyline. There were also
reports that Frid and Lara Parker had a contractual stipulation that
they get to play different characters...with the show going off the
air, they had to let them play someone else, otherwise be in violation
of their contracts.

Um, well, if they were going off the air, it wouldn't really matter if
they were in violation of their contracts or not.

[Graeme]

Yeah, but I don't think they did know they were going off the air whn
they planned out the whole 1841 story. They might have seen the
handwriting on the wall, but I've heard that the ratings were still
fairly good, and so the cancellation was a bit of a surprise.

I've heard that the same demographics data that would have kept Star
Trek on the air had they been used a year or so earlier, are what got
DS taken off. The ratings were still fairly good, but the show's
demographics had them being watched mainly by kids who didn't buy much
of the sponsors products.

[flyersguy]

Post by Graeme

Post by Ron
YES! It matters because if I am gonna spend $35- $50 for the last set
of discs, I want to see something a lot more interesting than what
I've seen so far! After Trask getting buried, the show has gone
downhill faster than anyone can say, "oh shit!"

Well, let's put it this way. What did you like about the earlier
ones? Cause DS was never a haven for hardcore gore, violence or
special effects. A tube of fake vampire blood here and there is about
as gory as they ever got.
A Locked Room story is more Hitchcockian than Friday the 13th. You
don't see much of what goes on inside, you just see people on the
outside dreading it and wondering. You do see a little, though.
People coming out and acting nutty. Two dead bodies inside. Louis
Edmonds as a vengeful ghost. Another person plunging off the top
balcony of Collinwood to their death (This seemed to replace Widow's
Hill at the end of the series). Karlen gets to be the action hero
again when Quentin gets stricken with appendicitis. But the meat of
the story is the love triangle between Bramwell, Morgan and
Catherine. As in the beginning, it's more Gothic Romance than Gothic
Horror. But it's got more supernatural activity than the first 100
episodes did, by far.
I like the 1841 story. I just don't like it as the FINAL story. They
should have returned to Normal Time, if not for a full story, at least
for an epilogue.

I wonder if Quentin of 1840 rebuilt the staircase through time and
found 1897 after the knowledge of Quentin of 1897 the werewolf and
kidnapped Charles Delaware Tate. And the, the two time traveled to
1971 as Quentin 1840 forced Tate to redo his portrait and found Chris
Jennings and did his portrait during the day. Quentin of 1880 gives
Tate a large sum of money and an offer to stay in 1971 or go back to
1887....tate goes back to 1897. Since there can not be two Quentin's
in the same time band and no one in the Collins family knew what
happened...not even Julia, Barnabas, and Professor Stokes. Quentin
Collins quietly returns to his 1840 and helps Desmond destroy the
staircase once again....for good as his love, Daphane is in Quentin's
arms as like Leticia is in Desmond. Hence.......Chris Jennings curse
is broken much like Quentin's and Quentin has a new portrait done.
Both men....will live forever young.

What do think of that ending?

flyersguy

[Ubiquitous]

Post by Ron
On one of the disc's interviews, john Karlen said they had made a
mistake with this storyline, and brother, do I really have to agree
with him.

What was the mistake they made during that story arc?

[Graeme]

Post by Ubiquitous
What was the mistake they made during that story arc?

I don't know what Karlen said, but my guess would be that the mistake
was in doing a storyline where there were NO familiar characters,
rather than focusing back on Collinwood in the 20th century, which is
what the show was supposed to be about.

In the original Parallel Time story, Barnabas and Julia were there as
(sideways) time travelers, representing the Collinwood of the Present
Day Normal Time. But in 1841, no one.

We had the same ACTORS, of course, playing similar roles. There was
Julia Collins, who was Julia Hoffman with the serial numbers filed
off. There was Karlen's Kendrick Young, who wasn't too different than
Desmond. Joan Bennett was Parallel Flora. And Quentin is always the
same. But none of the characters were the same ones that we had any
emotional stake in. Worst of all, was people still wanted Barnabas,
but they got Bramwell instead.

I basically liked the story anyway. Seeing Frid chasing Lara for a
change was a nice turnabout. I liked the Lottery and Wuthering
Heights knockoffs. I didn't mind the scarcity of actual monsters,
they were even scarcer in the pre-Barnabas episodes, which are some of
the best of the series. But still, I'd rather have seen what was
going on with Roger, Liz, Carolyn, and the people we'd been following
all those years.

[D***@webtv.net]

I like the final storyline. It was kind of an offhand way of giving the
familiar Collins family a happy ending through their lookalike
counterparts without wrapping it up in a too-perfect little bow
(Barnabas is finally cured! He ends up with *fill in the blank* while
the other various women in his life find happiness of their own! Roger
quits drinking! Vicki understands...and finally finds that blasted PEN!
etc.)

Plus, Bramwell and Catherine beating the lottery curse kind of gave us a
sense of hope that the whole Collins family - from all time periods and
parallel worlds - would now finally be at peace.

[Anim8rFSK]

Post by D***@webtv.net
I like the final storyline. It was kind of an offhand way of giving the
familiar Collins family a happy ending through their lookalike
counterparts without wrapping it up in a too-perfect little bow
(Barnabas is finally cured! He ends up with *fill in the blank* while
the other various women in his life find happiness of their own! Roger
quits drinking! Vicki understands...and finally finds that blasted PEN!
etc.)

I guess it's been waaaaay too long since I saw the finale. Vicky is in
it? And it's counterparts, not the real guys?

[Kishin]

Post by Anim8rFSK

Post by D***@webtv.net
I like the final storyline. It was kind of an offhand way of giving the
familiar Collins family a happy ending through their lookalike
counterparts without wrapping it up in a too-perfect little bow
(Barnabas is finally cured! He ends up with *fill in the blank* while
the other various women in his life find happiness of their own! Roger
quits drinking! Vicki understands...and finally finds that blasted PEN!
etc.)

I guess it's been waaaaay too long since I saw the finale. Vicky is in
it? And it's counterparts, not the real guys?

I think you misread. There is no Vickie. She left around the middle of the
series. Most of the cast was present for the final story line, but it took
place in parallel time 1841, so the characters were all different from those
in 1971.

--

Kishin

[flyersguy]

Post by D***@webtv.net
I like the final storyline. It was kind of an offhand way of giving the
familiar Collins family a happy ending through their lookalike
counterparts without wrapping it up in a too-perfect little bow
(Barnabas is finally cured! He ends up with *fill in the blank* while
the other various women in his life find happiness of their own! Roger
quits drinking! Vicki understands...and finally finds that blasted PEN!
etc.)
Plus, Bramwell and Catherine beating the lottery curse kind of gave us a
sense of hope that the whole Collins family - from all time periods and
parallel worlds - would now finally be at peace.

Ok.....just before Julia and Barabas went to 1840, Roxanne Drew (the
vampire of 1970) was behind the bookcase in a chained coffin as
Barnabas promised Roxanne that he is going to change her fate....ok
What happened to Roxanne once Julia, Barnabas, and Prof, Stokes
returns to 1971? Plus, what about Angelique that lived in 1970 that
was married and widower of Skyler Rumson? No mention as I went through
the series 3 times in less then two years.

Anyone out there can connect the dots?

flyersguy

[Graeme]

Post by flyersguy
Ok.....just before Julia and Barabas went to 1840, Roxanne Drew (the
vampire of 1970) was behind the bookcase in a chained coffin as
Barnabas promised Roxanne that he is going to change her fate....ok
What happened to Roxanne once Julia, Barnabas, and Prof, Stokes
returns to 1971? Plus, what about Angelique that lived in 1970 that
was married and widower of Skyler Rumson? No mention as I went through
the series 3 times in less then two years.
Anyone out there can connect the dots?

Nope. The timeline is so hopelessly muddled after 1840 that probably
most of what we saw previously never happened at all. Roxanne
certanily doesn't exist in 1971, and we're told explicitly that Gerard
never came there at all. And the reconciliation with and death of
Angelique in 1840 almost certainly affected storylines even further
back than that.

[Anim8rFSK]

In article

Post by Graeme

Post by flyersguy
Ok.....just before Julia and Barabas went to 1840, Roxanne Drew (the
vampire of 1970) was behind the bookcase in a chained coffin as
Barnabas promised Roxanne that he is going to change her fate....ok
What happened to Roxanne once Julia, Barnabas, and Prof, Stokes
returns to 1971? Plus, what about Angelique that lived in 1970 that
was married and widower of Skyler Rumson? No mention as I went through
the series 3 times in less then two years.
Anyone out there can connect the dots?

Nope. The timeline is so hopelessly muddled after 1840 that probably
most of what we saw previously never happened at all. Roxanne
certanily doesn't exist in 1971, and we're told explicitly that Gerard
never came there at all. And the reconciliation with and death of
Angelique in 1840 almost certainly affected storylines even further
back than that.

Well, Roxanne not existing in 1971 would certainly qualify as 'changing
her fate' :)

[Ron]

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by Ron
On one of the disc's interviews, john Karlen said they had made a
mistake with this storyline, and brother, do I really have to agree
with him.

What was the mistake they made during that story arc?

Karlen said that "Johnny" (Frid) was at his best when he was a
vampire; but he wanted out of that role, so eventually he got changed
back by Angelique and they subsequently came up with the alternate
time storyline where he could be Bramwell. That was the big mistake:
Frid's, the writer's, and everyone else involved.

Nobody-- particularly the actors-- liked that maudlin garbage; there
was no excitement, no "bite" to it. Unfortunately though, DS was on
its way out and there was no way it could be salvaged unless they had
another season, and that wasn't to be. ;-(

Ron