DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '14 II => Topic started by: Bob_the_Bartender on October 13, 2014, 08:02:19 PM
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Hey, gang,
Over the four plus years of Dark Shadows, there were a few items that seemed to eventually just fade from our view:
1. Maggie Evans' blond hair just "transformed" to KLS' natural brunette color one day in the Collinsport Inn Coffee Shop. [hall_shocked]
2. Barnabas' stylish hat, which he had on when Mrs. Johnson answered the door in April of 1967, was gone within a day or two (at the most). [hall_huh]
3. Nicholas Blair's seemingly trademark gray, three-piece-suit was gone by the time he returned to oversee the Leviathon plot for world domination, and replaced by a navy blue, double-breasted suit. (Maybe this was a good thing, when you consider that the suave warlock's original gray suit must have become "slightly" worn and somewhat "aromatic" by the time that Nicky B. returned in 1970.) [hall_rolleyes]
4. And, finally, John Yeager's "somewhat" prominent proboscis just seemed to transform into a normal schnozolla after a couple of days. I've often wondered if the truly brilliant Dr. Cyrus Longworth was able to perform a rhinoplasty procedure on himself while he was in his alter ego state? [hall_huh] [hall_wink]
Can you think of any other facets of DS that seemed to just disappear as the show progressed?
Bob
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Those are good, Bob! The one that comes to mind for me is in 1840PT, when we meet Catherine and Morgan. It turns out that he's supposed to be a painter with a studio, but after this one and only mention, we never see or hear about Morgan's artistic career again.
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Dark Lady, you reminded me of a character from that storyline who abruptly vanishes with no explanation. There are two appearances by Samantha Drew. We learn very little about her. She was Justin's nurse and is an old friend of Catherine's. And she didn't care much for Morgan. Which makes her a good deal more perceptive than most of the other characters.
[8_1_209]
[baticon] [8_1_209]
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There are disappearances that aren't so mysterious, where there was no particular reason for the character or thing to hang around, and others where something or somneone was set up as being important, then disacarded.
I keep forgetting that Gerard pops up in PT 1841. He and Samantha may just have been token drop ins for novelty value, but Gerard looked as if he was going to be important, then was gone.
There is of course Evan Hanley's extravagant and transparent wife.
[candle_in_skull] [candle_in_skull] [candle_in_skull]
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once the main character suddenly became a creature who could only exist at night most of the ordinary "daytime" sets...the Collinwood kitchen, the diner, the cannery offices...were jettisoned.
replaced by crypts, basement laboratories, and the 'old house' as a main location.
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Maybe Samantha and Gerard ran off together in PT, since that was impossible in RT.
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Lawyers tended to disappear with no explanation, better then most male doctors fared anyway, like Richard Garner, Frank Garner, & Tony Peterson. Also, Chris Collins in PT 1970.
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Disappearing characters is not always a bad thing. The eternally unpopular Ned Stuart is never seen after 1897. No one seems to miss him, including Sabrina.
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Disappearing characters is not always a bad thing. The eternally unpopular Ned Stuart is never seen after 1897. No one seems to miss him, including Sabrina.
You are technically correct. He is never SEEN again LOL. He does appear in Return to Collinwood. Apparently he also has a personality overhaul. His behavior is totally different!
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Perhaps he finally grew up? [hall2_wink] [hall2_smiley] [hall2_wink]
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Perhaps he finally grew up? [hall2_wink] [hall2_smiley] [hall2_wink]
Actually I've argued that very point to others. A lot of time has passed. I think he worked through many of his demons, just like people often do in real life. Still, the change was not explained or even remarked upon. That's a bit of a plot hole.
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Interesting. We are given very little background on Ned's character (and not very much more on Sabrina), so really anything is possible. It's odd that some fans can accept some of the most bizarre stuff on DS (not the supernatural stuff but Maggie the waitress I'd somehow qualified to Briscoe a governess) but disallow that characters can change over the years.
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It's a bit strange seeing a change in character without having the dots connected for us, as far as how he/she changed. That's not necessarily a mistake. We don't or shouldn't need everything spelled out for us. It's unsatisfying, though, not to have seen the transition. [candle_in_skull]
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It's beyond bizarre at the very end of the show that Kendrick Young (played by John Karlen) comes to Collinwood to solve the mystery of his disappearance, then winds up leaving without ever really talking about Stella for the last few weeks of his time there.
I always wonder who took care of Julia's fish in the aquarium in her office... If I recall correctly, the aquarium was moved into a lounge type space which was where Chris first went to see Amy (or Molly, as her name originally was).
G.
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It's beyond bizarre at the very end of the show that Kendrick Young (played by John Karlen) comes to Collinwood to solve the mystery of his disappearance, then winds up leaving without ever really talking about Stella for the last few weeks of his time there.
[spoiler]Kendrick does find out about Stella's fate. He discovers that she was killed by Melanie when she was possessed. Because she was not in control, he's able to forgive her.[/spoiler]
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The whole thing with Vicki wanting to live in Seaview Terrace after marrying Burke, and Barnabas finding the monogrammed handkerchief may have been a last ditch effort to explain Vicki's origins, but because of 1795 it was never explored again. Then again, it could have just been filler.
It didn't really disappear, but as the series progressed, the Blue Whale in its various incarnations was shown less and less. I remember seeing it a few times in 1840, but I don't think it was in 1841PT.
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At the first Festival back in 1983, Ron Sproat said there were plans to address Vicki's parentage in 1968. Alexandra's abrupt departure killed the idea.
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Doctor and K9:
[spoiler]I always thought that Quentin was the one who killed Stella. David Selby suddenly had to be hospitalized about 2 weeks from the end of the series, and I always thought that the mystery was left unsolved because that was the solution they had for it and they couldn't come up with anything else. The idea that Melanie was the culprit was, IMO, a red herring.[/spoiler]
G.
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Not a theory that I had ever heard before, Gothick. But I like it. [8_1_202]
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It would have given 1841PT Quentin a little more to do rather than just being another generic Quentin. If I remember correctly he spent some time in prison, but the exact nature of his crime was never revealed.
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I think it was manslaughter. I remember him saying something to Daphne about killing someone who spread stories about the Collins family.
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I thought Ned and Sabrina were 1968:
[spoiler] They came to 'see' Chris, and we are fed the werewolf story [/spoiler]
What about the ?family? crypt, which (ha-ha) houses:
Laura
Stockbridge
Murdoch
yada
yada
YADA
YADA
.....get it....?
And, I may be forgetting, but do we see The Blue Whale
[spoiler] after Barn goes back AGAIN to 1796 and 'encounters' Nathan Forbes[/spoiler]
Also, I always forget the name of the 'mansion', which Elizabeth is I believe going to give Vicki as a wedding gift (can't remember who she's marrying), but can't, because yada stay in the family....
Patti
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We see the Eagle/Blue Whale once in 1840/1841PT. Kendrick Young meets Gerard Stiles there. As in 1840/1841RT, Gerard has psychic powers, and Kendrick hires him in an attempt to find out what happened to his (K.'s) sister Stella.
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We see the Eagle/Blue Whale once in 1840/1841PT. Kendrick Young meets Gerard Stiles there. As in 1840/1841RT, Gerard has psychic powers, and Kendrick hires him in an attempt to find out what happened to his (K.'s) sister Stella.
PT Gerard always strikes me like a practical joke on the producers' part! After an achingly long set of storylines orchestrated around this one character, and then after their having gone to PT without him, suddenly they drop him in... then they yank him away again! I wonder if there was promotion around it, then it fell flat....?
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Maybe he just had one more appearance on his contract. They might have been deciding whether or not to call him back.
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Aside from the business with Kendrick and a brief mention of a past relationship with PT Daphne, Gerard is never heard from again. His function as the friendly neighborhood psychic is turned over to Carrie Stokes.
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PT Samantha also disappears abruptly. In that case I figured it was simply that Virginia Vestoff's schedule got way too busy to cross town to do the show. She was appearing in 1776 simultaneously with working on DS for at least a few weeks or months as I recall.
G.
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They must be able to plan ahead and get assurances from actors, at least somewhat, that they'll be available later. DS couldn't have been considered just a job that can be forgotten about if something better comes along... if it was, the producers should have had a way of protecting themselves from actors drifting off prematurely...?
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perhaps some actors had some sort of informal agreement with Curtis that allowed them to come and go as they wished. Karlen certainly seemed to have had such and arrangement...
but really the only way to get "assurances" of their future availability is to get them under long or short term contract. off-contract "day players" are free to come and go as they please and take whatever work they find most suitable. if an abrupt departure left DS in the lurch they producers were free to recast or write the character out of the storyline, and perhaps a "bridge was burned" and the actor not asked back, but that actor was under to legal obligation to the program.
and in terms of "something better coming along" daytime soap work at the time was not particularly lucrative or prestigious. even the actors themselves have quipped at their somewhat meager wages. so other film, stage or television work might have actually been more desirable to them at the time.
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Another aspect of 1841pt that just vanishes (though we never saw her in the first place ) was the Woman in White. She was supposed to appear prior to the passing of a member of the Collins family. After Justin dies, she is never mentioned again. Even when people started dropping like flies. Was she out of a job once the patriarch died?
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I'll go with live outdoor (or location?) footage. Frequent in the first ear, then, not so much. I wonder if it is documented what episode we last see any?
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Is there any outdoor footage once the show goes to color?
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Interesting (an very smart) point, Unc, and a good place to start. I have a (false, probably) memory of a Collinwood shot where the leaves are moving slightly but even if true I still wouldn't consider that live footage in the way we are talking about. I went to wiki but it wasn't listed.
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The first color ep had the outside of the Blue Whale, tinted. I don't think any outside footage was shot in color, but there might have been some more of the b&w shots tinted.
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I have a (false, probably) memory of a Collinwood shot where the leaves are moving slightly but even if true I still wouldn't consider that live footage in the way we are talking about.
Not a false memory - we definitely see a color shot of that in the opening of several eps. [hall2_smiley]
As for when the last location footage is seen, I'm pretty sure there's a list in one of the PomPress books of all the location shots seen and in which eps. If no one else looks it up before I get a chance, I'll try to post the number of the last ep...
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The first color ep had the outside of the Blue Whale, tinted. I don't think any outside footage was shot in color, but there might have been some more of the b&w shots tinted.
The outside footage was filmed in color. The live shots of Collinwood, the Evans House, and the Blue Whale in the color eps weren't tinted from black & white. Post 1795, I believe the filmed footage is of waves and Widows Hill and lightning storms (oh my).
Matthew's kitchenette in the caretaker's cottage disappeared, making way for a fireplace to accommodate the Phoenix.
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If it was all shot in color, the outdoor footage, that makes it doubly strange that they stopped using it when they went to color. In that first color episode, that early familiar external shot of the Blue Whale looked as if something crude was done to it to bring some bit of color into it, so it would match the color videotape. Maybe it was just a bad shot.
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The list actually has the shot of the Blue Whale from Ep #295 as the last bit of location footage used on the show.
The last bit of footage to feature one of the actors/characters appears as part of Ep #275 when Nancy Barrett/Carolyn is seen walking along the shore.
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Thanks for posting your findings, MB, and for putting forth the effort.