Parallel Time

[TERRY308]

I really don't like PT and I'll tell you why.  I don't like the characters.   I like the people though.  Example:

Carolyn and "Will".  Will spends his time at "The Eagle", or, when she was alive, at Angelique's haunts. And, he sorta tells Carolyn what to do and when they're going to do it.  The Willie I knew and loved was this "please don't beat me" guy.  And Carolyn, oh Carolyn.  What have you done to yourself?  The Carolyn I knew and love was not in any way, shape or form be told what to do by a man. Period.

And that brings us to...Hoffman.  Has anybody noticed that her character is a bit giddy about Angelique?  When I was little, my mother used to watch old movies, she still does, but that's not the point.  I remember that she watched "Rebecca".  The story was alot like DS-PT.  The beautiful wife had died, all the man where going to see her, when she was alive, her husband had gone off to "forget" about her.  He comes back with a new wife, who is afraid of her shadow.  And there was a housekeeper.  Named.... . Danvers.  There's a scene in the movie where Mrs. Danver is showing Mrs. DeWinter, Rebecca's nightgown, that was hand made by nuns.  And Mrs. Danvers is giddy, especially when she (Mrs. Danvers) says "Look.  You can see right through it".  Meaning the nightgown.
I would have to give Ms. Grayson Hall an Oscar for this part. But that's the only one.

Anyway...Barnabas is locked in that coffin, Liz and Roger must depend on Quentin for there "allowence", Chris is a lawyer and Brono back in town.

I know alot of you will say 'they're suppose to, that's acting'.  Your are probably right.....but I still don't like it.

[Raineypark]

I understand the purpose of driving Maggie Evans away was to get her up to Tarrytown with the rest of the movie personnel.....but did they have to make her behave like such a ninny?  "Rebecca" be damned.....what wife in her right mind would put up with Hoffmann's crap?  I'd have booted that woman's keister off the estate so fast she wouldn't have had time to pack her knickers.

[Luciaphile]

You summed up my problem with this plot, Terry308. I just don't have anyone to give a damn about. Plus, I've never liked the young and stupid brand of heroine so hardly rooting for the second Mrs. Collins there or her remarkably idiotic husband (in my book, discussion about previous spouses should be de rigeur)

[jennifer]

I really don't like PT and I'll tell you why.  I don't like the characters.   I like the people though.  Example:



And that brings us to...Hoffman.  Has anybody noticed that her character is a bit giddy about Angelique?  When I was little, my mother used to watch old movies, she still does, but that's not the point.  I remember that she watched "Rebecca".  The story was alot like DS-PT.  The beautiful wife had died, all the man where going to see her, when she was alive, her husband had gone off to "forget" about her.  He comes back with a new wife, who is afraid of her shadow.  And there was a housekeeper.  Named.... . Danvers.  There's a scene in the movie where Mrs. Danver is showing Mrs. DeWinter, Rebecca's nightgown, that was hand made by nuns.  And Mrs. Danvers is giddy, especially when she (Mrs. Danvers) says "Look.  You can see right through it".  Meaning the nightgown.
I would have to give Ms. Grayson Hall an Oscar for this part. But that's the only one.

always loved this scene in the movie but always wanted to know WHAT NUNS MAKE SEE THROUGH UNDERWEAR!

Anyway...Barnabas is locked in that coffin, Liz and Roger must depend on Quentin for there "allowence", Chris is a lawyer and Brono back in town.

this never made sense to me suppose to be your counterpart
in PT so Quentin's belongs in 1897 or did Jamison this time have a son named Quentin?

I know alot of you will say 'they're suppose to, that's acting'.  Your are probably right.....but I still don't like it.

good thoughts i had a hard time with[spoiler]The Angelique/Alexis
thing and Quentin's boorish behavior[/spoiler]

jennifer

[Gerard]

Common sense would sorta dictate that the PT Maggie be a bit crustier than the NT Maggie.  After all, she wasn't just some governess - she lived in places like New York City and Europe, hardly the places where ninny, hapless victims are able to survive.  I can see her saying to Hoffman like:  "Look, lady.  I've dealt with Central Park muggers, and women trying to push their way into line at the food automat when they weren't in the best of moods after all the Pierre Cardin items on the sale's table at Bloomingdales were already snatched away, and believe you me, between the muggers and the frustrated Bloomingdale shoppers, I don't know which one is worse.  And I've had to put up with British housecleaners who think that just because they come in once a week to dust they think they own the place, and once I had to spend two hours stuck in a bus during a traffic jam in Rome filled to the hilts with Italian nuns with umbrellas.  And I'm still here, ain't I?  So don't get - ahem - "crusty" with me, or the next people you'll be waiting on is a table full of truck drivers at the Stuckey's out on Maine Route #43.  You got that?  Good.  Now send in Daniel.  Time for him to have another attitude adjustment.  I don't care if he is crying and hiding behind the grandfather clock.  Mommy's not here anymore.  Step-mommy is."

Gerard

[Raineypark]

Brilliant, Gerard....absolutely laugh out loud brilliant....Maggie Evans as Upper East Side, nanny-slapping trophy-wife.  Now THAT would have been interesting. 

[Julia99]

Oh Gerard, that would've been too much fun . .Cat fight at Collinwood!!

[Julian]

I don't know why, but it bugs me in PT that Liz is not the mistress of Collinwood.  I actually like the Jekyll/Hyde story, the character of Alexis, and daddy dearest Timothy Stokes, even though I could have done without Roxanne.  Aunt Hannah is also a good character.  For some other unfathomable reason I just don't like Julia in the role of a domestic.  I agree if Maggie had a spine the story could have been more effective, but that seems to be the way soaps were back then - remember pure, blonde Alice on Another World who was always being stepped on by evil, ,black-haired Rachel.

[Dr. Eric Lang]

I like the concept of parallel time if not the execution. Luciaphil remarked in one of her "Idle Thoughts" she found it hard to believe the PT counterparts found themselves where they were because they had made different decisions in life. But it may not have been the decisions they made differently, it may have been the decisions Barnabas made differently which changed history.

According to "The Life and Death of Barnabas Collins," in PT Barnabas married Josette like he was supposed to. They had children and he died (presumably) of natural causes in 1830. Would Collinwood then have been passed down thru Barnabas' descendants, rather than Daniel's? This would explain why Elizabeth and Roger no longer own Collinwood.

I also noticed how Liz remarked that she once had "plenty" of money and should never have let Roger handle the finances. In RT Roger did, in fact, squandor his share of the family fortune, but Liz picked up the slack and saved the family business.

What happened to Paul Stoddard in Parallel Time? Was there ever a Victoria Winters? A Mrs. Johnson? Is Dr. Eric Lang still alive and well?

So many unanswered, intriguing questions, unanswered and unaddressed, in favor of a poorly written Rebecca knock-off, not to mention the Dr. Jekyl/Mr Hyde nonsense.

At any rate, it occurs to me that PT is actually the way history was meant to be, whereas RT is actually the unfortunate parallel world of unfortunate choices. Barnabas married Josette as he was meant to and history played itself out "correctly." Notice how much more colorful PT is than RT - colorful  flowers on the table, the East Wing open and full of life and light, compared to the dark and closed off world of RT.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Even this PT Collinwood might not be the way things should be.  Even after Barnabas died, there are other places in the Collins' history which could have caused more alternate universes.  Like ... in the present, there is yet another PT Collinwood and Angelique did not die.   

[Gerard]

According to "The Life and Death of Barnabas Collins," in PT Barnabas married Josette like he was supposed to. They had children and he died (presumably) of natural causes in 1830. Would Collinwood then have been passed down thru Barnabas' descendants, rather than Daniel's? This would explain why Elizabeth and Roger no longer own Collinwood.

I also noticed how Liz remarked that she once had "plenty" of money and should never have let Roger handle the finances. In RT Roger did, in fact, squandor his share of the family fortune, but Liz picked up the slack and saved the family business.So many unanswered, intriguing questions, unanswered and unaddressed, in favor of a poorly written Rebecca knock-off, not to mention the Dr. Jekyl/Mr Hyde nonsense.

You're way ahead of me, Dr. Lang.  That's what I was thinking about.  [spoiler]Now, we know from the PT1841 story that Barnabas was pretty much ejected from the family for marrying Josette.  Several years back, we debated if the reason would've been that Josette was a Roman Catholic, something unthinkable to a staunch, New England Protestant family.  So that might explain why the family inheritance was not passed through him.  Of course, that would leave Sarah, or even Jeremiah, not to mention Daniel Collins, the cousin of Joshua.  But let's leave that for now.[/spoiler]  Let's move to PT1897.  I'm surmising that somehow Quentin Collins of that time became the main heir (I'm taking it for granted that that Quentin proved to be a more stable person, who remained married to Jenny, and impressed Edith), although his other siblings got a decent chunk of moola.  Therefore, this Quentin, the great-grandson of the main heir, would be the contemporary one, while cousins Elizabeth and Roger, descended from Jamison, got a decent chunk, but like Elizabeth said, Roger blew it when it came to managing their money.

Gerard

[Josette]

Everyone complains about Maggie in this story, but don't forget, they are basing it on Rebecca.  She's supposed to be mousy and timid and actually, given the life she's led, does show more spark than that.  And, Quentin is supposed to fly off the handle over any suggestion of anything concerning Angelique.  Sometimes in this story it doesn't always seem to make sense, but just picture it as Rebecca.

[Midnite]

Everyone complains about Maggie in this story, but don't forget, they are basing it on Rebecca.  She's supposed to be mousy and timid and actually, given the life she's led, does show more spark than that.  And, Quentin is supposed to fly off the handle over any suggestion of anything concerning Angelique.  Sometimes in this story it doesn't always seem to make sense, but just picture it as Rebecca.

The 2nd Mrs. DeWinter was shy but brave.  Maxim was older, aristocratic, also mysterious and moody, and as the story progressed became increasingly withdrawn.  PT Maggie, on the other hand, deals with nearly every situation by running from the room crying.  And PT Quentin is a brute who, at one of his lowest points, orders his wife to her room as if doling out a timeout to a child.  I find their scenes together very nearly intolerable.

[onyx_treasure]

Everyone complains about Maggie in this story, but don't forget, they are basing it on Rebecca.  She's supposed to be mousy and timid and actually, given the life she's led, does show more spark than that.  And, Quentin is supposed to fly off the handle over any suggestion of anything concerning Angelique.  Sometimes in this story it doesn't always seem to make sense, but just picture it as Rebecca.

The 2nd Mrs. DeWinter was shy but brave.  Maxim was older, aristocratic, also mysterious and moody, and as the story progressed became increasingly withdrawn.  PT Maggie, on the other hand, deals with nearly every situation by running from the room crying.  And PT Quentin is a brute who, at one of his lowest points, orders his wife to her room as if doling out a timeout to a child.  I find their scenes together very nearly intolerable.

     Can't agree with you more, Midnite.  If I were Maggie, I would have walked out after the champagne and cold crabmeat incident then would have insisted that Hoffman be sacked before I would come back.

     I find Dr. Eric Lang and Gerards comments very intriguing.  However,[spoiler]I don't know that it is a given that Barnabas inherits automatically.  Jeremiah co-owned the shipyards with his brother Joshua.  If Jeremiah had children and they inherited his portion, they may have bought the cash poor widow off.  Barnabas' heirs would have had nothing.  There is too much left unknown about PT Barnabas[/spoiler]

[Dr. Eric Lang]

Let's move to PT1897.  I'm surmising that somehow Quentin Collins of that time became the main heir (I'm taking it for granted that that Quentin proved to be a more stable person, who remained married to Jenny, and impressed Edith), although his other siblings got a decent chunk of moola.  Therefore, this Quentin, the great-grandson of the main heir, would be the contemporary one, while cousins Elizabeth and Roger, descended from Jamison, got a decent chunk, but like Elizabeth said, Roger blew it when it came to managing their money.

If we assume 1841 PT is the same PT as 1970PT, we find Justin and Flora in charge of Collinwood rather than Daniel. It's possible that if Jeremiah had lived, Joshua may have convinced him to marry Millicent. Jeremiah, Millicent and Daniel may have left Collinsport altogether. Perhaps in PT Joshua suffered financial losses and had to be bailed out by cousin Justin, who eventually inherited Collinwood for his own descendents, one of which was PT 1841 Quentin - this could be the ancestor of PT 1970 Quentin. Daniel's descendents, Liz and Roger, may have eventually returned to Collinsport looking for a handout from their rich relative, and found a place to live with him.