In parallel time, Collinwood is older

[Roland]

I just noticed that in the 1841 parallel time story, one episode goes all the way back to the late 1600's to show how the "curse" came onto the Collins family.

However, in "our" time band, the great house wasn't built till the time of Barnabas more than a hundred years later.

Just another one of those quaint inconsistencies we DS fans treasure so highly!

[MagnusTrask]

Really silly that Brutus was sitting in the drawing room of a house that was that enormous in a wilderness, and that was of a style from the mid to late 1800s.  I'm given to undertsand that the Old House set was trashed at that point.

[BuzzH]

I'm given to undertsand that the Old House set was trashed at that point.

Um, no, Bramwell and Josette lived in the Old House and this scene takes place [spoiler]before Daphne dies, in the Old House.[/spoiler]

[Zahir]

There was a point when I was trying to figure out the history of Parallel Time, and one theory I had was that there were in fact three Collinwoods.  First was a house more-or-less where the current Collinwood now stands, which was built by Brutus Collins.  After his death, his will made it impossible for his heirs to tear it down, but at some point they decided to build another home nearby--the Old House.  They were possibly trying to escape the curse that way, but it didn't work.  Still later, someone (possibly Jeremiah) restored and expanded the first Collinwood into the huge place seen in 1841.

Its a theory, anyway. 

[David]

Though continuity got messed up a bit on DS over the years, this is not one of those times.
This story is set in another Universe, and has it's own, separate history that was never established
onscreen.
So anything goes.

David

[IluvBarnabas]

Have to agree with the "anything goes" theory. This was a different band of time, different Collinwood, different history and mostly different characters (many who happen to resemble RT characters though). I doubt anything about PT even remotely came close to matching anything in RT.

[BuzzH]

Have to agree with the "anything goes" theory. This was a different band of time, different Collinwood, different history and mostly different characters.

I agree as well, I don't think 1841 PT is the 'past' of 1970 PT the same way that 1840 is the 'past' of 1970.

[PennyDreadful]

I also agree with the anything goes theory.  We have no idea about history in those Parallel Time bands.  Architectural styles might have evolved differently there.

[MagnusTrask]

An 'anything goes' approach strains believability though.   I don't know what it is exactly, but even in fantasy, for me anyway, there has to be some internal logic to what's going on.    Things can't seem too 'arbitrary'.    That was the problem with PT overall for me.    They seemed to just shuffle around the elements of DS without enough thought about whether different choices could actually have led to theose things happening.

[Gerard]

My theory is somewhat like Zahir's.  Where Collinwood stood, there was an original, much smaller "mansion" that contained the cursed bedroom.  Over time, the family added to and built around it, kind of like the Winchester House.  Where did the Old House come from?  Maybe an attempt, like Zahir said, to escape the curse; maybe a place to live when construction made occupying Collinwood messy at times.  Maybe it was built by some Collins who just didn't want to live in the manor house with the rest of his family.

Gerard

[BuzzH]

My theory is somewhat like Zahir's.  Where Collinwood stood, there was an original, much smaller "mansion" that contained the cursed bedroom.  Over time, the family added to and built around it, kind of like the Winchester House.  Where did the Old House come from?  Maybe an attempt, like Zahir said, to escape the curse; maybe a place to live when construction made occupying Collinwood messy at times.  Maybe it was built by some Collins who just didn't want to live in the manor house with the rest of his family.

I also concur w/this, it makes sense.  What doesn't make sense, to me anyway, is why were Barnabas, Josette and Bramwell the so-called 'poor relations'?  I had to tackle that question in my novel and I feel that, for lack of a better explanation from the show, I came up w/a plausible reason.  

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I don't know what it is exactly, but even in fantasy, for me anyway, there has to be some internal logic to what's going on.    Things can't seem too 'arbitrary'.    That was the problem with PT overall for me.

If you haven't already read this topic, you might want to check out:

Possible Origin Of The "Rip" In Time

There are a few topics like this one that try to explain the way Parallel Time supposedly works. There's also one that mentions how the current physics of String Theory proves mathematically that parallel universes can and probably do exist (not to mention that there are actually 11 dimensions and not merely the 4 we're aware of), but that one might go into things that aren't really necessary for the purposes of this discussion. 

They seemed to just shuffle around the elements of DS without enough thought about whether different choices could actually have led to theose things happening.

Actually consider if actual choices might have brought about the shuffling of elements the writers decided upon for the PT storylines? OMG, now that's just asking DC in particular to put too much thought into things!      Trying to figure all this stuff out was always left completely to the audience - which is no doubt why we're STILL trying to figure it all out 40 years later. 

[MagnusTrask]

Buzz... Barnabas became the poor relation in RT.    Joshua disowned him.    My concentration is awful, so I may be missing something, but couldn't that part of the story have happened the same way in PT too?   Not quite the same way, but no curse, Angelique defeated, BC reunited with Josette?   After which Joshua still wouldn't forgive, his being the unforgiving sort?

I'm curious as to your idea about PT 1841 and 1970 not being in the same timeline.  Are there multiple parallel times?

How could they be sure 1995 wasn't PT?

MB... I've heard of the ten or eleven universes thing.   I'm interested but article-length things are too daunting what with the eye difficulty.... I'll look in on it.   One thought is that multiple dimensions does not at all necessarily mean parallel ones.    The other universes sharing physical space with ours could be anything.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

One thought is that multiple dimensions does not at all necessarily mean parallel ones.    The other universes sharing physical space with ours could be anything.

In String Theory, the hypotheses that there are actually 11 dimensions and parallel universes are really separate issues - and the 11 dimensions would actually exist in each parallel universe just as the 4 dimensions we're aware of (height, width, depth and time) exist here in this universe - separate universes wouldn't exist in the 11 dimensions. But to really understand all that, one would need to read up on String Theory.    Not to mention it's a discussion that goes way beyond the scope of this forum.

One of the more interesting theories for parallel universes is the one that I mentioned in the topic that I linked to in reply #11. It's fascinating to think that every time we're presented with a choice, the possibilty is that we actually make each choice and create an alternate/concurrent band of time where each choice is indeed lived out. And because there are an infinite amount of choices to be made, there are infinite parallel universes - though the bands in which the choices made correspond most closely would supposedly exist closest to each other, whereas the ones furthest away would be as different from our own universe as they could possibly be.

It's certainly fanciful but still pretty cool to fantasize that in some parallel universes DS was never canceled in 1971, it's still running on ABC, and our alternate selves might be coming to a forum similar to this one to discuss the current DS storylines rather than those from 40 years ago. 

[MagnusTrask]

Imaginings should reign supreme, yet I don't think that actual, real physics supports the whole parallel thing.