Fans,
My copy of the 14th DVD set arrived last night, and despite my busy schedule, I was able to test-drive the first two discs in the set, watch some favorite scenes (gotta love Magda getting in Barnabas' face all the time--and grabbing her wig in that one scene!), and look at the set. One thing that bemused me, however, was that in the booklet that comes with the discs, [spoiler]in the short description of the episode in which Jenny is murdered by Quentin; it says "Quentin ACCIDENTALLY kills Jenny," or words to that effect.
Now, I remember having a lengthy back-and-forth with a dear friend of mine the last tme Sci Fi broadcast these shows (it was her first chance to see them since her childhood viewing) and we both commented about how typical it was of Q to claim that Jenny's death was an accident when, the way Selby played the scene, it was quite clear that Q killed her very much in cold blood.
I can't recall whether Ann Wilson's episode guide in the DS Memories book (which I regard as the best of all the various episode guides available) also implied that Q killed his ex-wife "accidentally." In general, Q's relationships with his past lovers do not paint him in at all an attractive light. He obviously hated Laura at first sight upon her return (and she cordially returned the favor---the scenes betweeen these two have to be among the finest moments in the entire series!) and was even more vicious towards Jenny.[/spoiler]The original characterization of Quentin seems to have played off the late Sixties theme of the anti-hero--something that is very much out of fashion these days. With Quentin even more so than with Barnabas, once the teeny-bopper adulation and the 16 magazine interviews began, they really seem to have softened and "rehabilitated" Q's character.
btw, on the first disc in this set, there's a great interview with Selby where he reveals that some more insistent fans were camping out in the lobby of his apartment building, demanding that he adopt them! Great stuff.
G.
