Quentin Collins

[TNickey2003]

Q-man poll.

[Amy Jennings Fan]

Ghost of Quentin in 1969

[Barnabas'sBride]

1897 Quentin for me. The cad, the werewolf, the immortal. 1897 is when Quentin was at his most interesting. I like how the character changes from the beginning to the end of the storyline.

[Pansity]

Great!  One of my favorite subjects to discuss -- His Quentinness! .  I chose the 1897 as well, and for about the same reasons as Barnabas's Bride -- the scoundrel, rake, textbook antihero from a Victorian melodrama is a facinating character in all his contradictions and complexities.

Again, the change in the character, the way he grows and develops, SUGGESTS many of the classic characters such as Heathcliff, Mr. Rochester and Rhett Butler, yet he remains a distinct character not a one dimentional copy of any of them.  To me -- and no offense is meant toward Barnabas and his fans --  the spoilt brat rich boy who learns thru tragedy that actions have consequences and that he is responsible for his actions is a more interesting person than a good and decent young man made victim of a curse that, by his society's standards, he did almost nothing to warrant.

I'm probably biased as I spent a lot of time active in Star Wars fandom, where a major part of the discussion and fanfiction revolves around Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, and the progression of a character toward self knowledge.  Quentin fits this model better than Barnabas or even Angelique.   For instance, there is the oft mentioned scene with his brother Carl, where Quentin is faced with a moral choice and chooses self interest.  Later, faced with the same choice with Barnabas, he chooses the right thing over the one that will solve his current problem.

The self absorbed rake becomes, by the last time we see him in 1897, a man who has been willing to sacrifice himself and his happiness to do the right thing by others.  Not a hero, not a white knight reformed in an instant of revelation, but a man who can be good or evil depending on circumstances, but whose tragedy is that he learned his lessons too late to prevent the loss of all that he learned he truly valued.

[Barnabas'sBride]

I agree with you on Quentin changing over the course of 1897. I think he's an example of very good character development on DS. As things start happening, you watch him begin to change.

Of course I adore Barnabas, but I also like Quentin a lot, and I like that he's different than Barnabas when the story gets to 1897. They didn't just copy their earlier development with Barnabas in 1795, they made Quentin a very different man and his journey is different too. I like that. I always like watching them on screen together (as enemies and as allies) because they were so different, though they were both cursed.

[Philippe Cordier]

I chose the Quentin of 1897 (inebriated).  He seemed like a real, flesh-and-blood person.  Although I also was fascinated by the Quentin who built the stairway through time - I forget which storyline, 1840?

Also liked the evil ghost Quentin of 1970, and the evil character called back by the children and Daphne Harridge (was THAT 1840?  Was he even Quentin?!?  my memory is slipping ...).

Interesting discussion about the hero's quest in the previous two comments - I have always looked at Barnabas in that role, and hadn't thought of Quentin in that way.

[jennifer]

i chose the Quentin of 1897 but as others here will agree any Quentin will do heehee
but do love it when we first get to see Quentin talk in 1897 and are trying to decide
what his game is. i love him with Judith great scenes and acting and that smile and dimples
the guy still has it he was great in that diaster ben alleck christmas movie last year


jennifer
love Quentin with Beth the best

[ProfStokes]

I voted for both Quentin's ghost (the most ominous of the ghosts to plague Collinwood, IMO) and also for human Quentin of 1897.  The latter seemed to be the most multi-layered and unpredictable version of Quentin.  Not on the original list is insane Quentin of 1995, whom I like simply because he represents such a drastic change from the swaggering scalawag we first met.  Futuristic Quentin is a broken, haunted man, and his appearances represent some of Selby's finest work on the series.

ProfStokes

[Barnabas'sBride]

I agree about insane, future Quentin. I loved how he would go from seemingly sane to this broken madness and Selby really made that work.  That whole segment was really chilling.

[Julianka7]

I also vote for 1897 Quentin.
He had more supernatural stuff happened to him
then any DS character.
He was a ghost, killed and turned into a zombie,
had his face distorted by Petofi's hand, turned
into a werewolf, partly cured by the portrait and
displaced from his body and put into Petofi's body.
!897 had so much happening. Can you tell that is my
favorite storyline? lol
 

[Midnite]

Ah, Quentin.  My favorite subject. 

I find his most interesting characterizations to be as Q-ghost (menacing yet capable of making adolescent girls swoon), the Q-man we meet in 1897 (inebriated, cuz when was the human Quentin ever sober?), and as Q-wolf, because characters who remain all bad rarely stay interesting after an extended period.  I thought the emergence of a remorseful Quentin was at least as believable and well written as the similar change in Barnabas.

I threw in Q-NoDS because I love that movie.

The mind switch with Petofi was superbly acted by both Selby and T. David, but it's no wonder that it took a psychic like Pansy Faye to keep them straight.  I mean, you have Quentin possessed by Petofi confronting Petofi possessed by Quentin and... oh, never mind.

Q-zombie seemed like an excuse for the writers to rip off "I Walked With a Zombie."

Hate hate hate modern (1970) PT Quentin.  He acted more like a Q-child than a man.

[TNickey2003]

The edit button was working today so I added Quentin 1995 as an option.

[MagnusTrask]

Respectfully, Midnite... the bodyswap acting killed it for me, despite my love for 1897 up until that point.   D Selby was not totally unbelievabvle, but Thayer was.   As great as TD ordinarily was.    He made no attempt to give up his distinctive Petofi speech.

[Shadowsfan]

By far   the 1897 Quentin was the most entertaining original charecter.  All the other incarnations were a dull Lord of the Manor role which  must have started to bore David Selby by the end.

[Misa]

I love the original Quentin! Love him as a ghost, love him as the human drunken skirt chaser, love him when he is cursed, love him when he starts to gain a conscience. What's not to love. David Selby is a great actor, and he is so hot.

Now I don't like what the writers did to him in the present; they were able to make him boring. How could they waste his character like that?

Didn't like the parallel-time Quentin either, he was too boring, but still nice to see David Selby.

I love the 1995 crazy Quentin; he was very fun to watch, and it seemed like payback for having driven poor Jenny mad. I voted before this Quentin was added to the poll, so I couldn't vote for him.

I also didn't like the 1840 Quentin. I'd have liked to have seen Jonathan Frid play this character, and have Julia and Quentin go back to fix things. Maybe then the writers could have written Quentin interesting again.


Misa