Characters who tempt you to fast-forward

[Charles_Ellis]

There used to a whole lot of "Mary Sue" fan fiction (i.e., fiction in which the author creates a character based on an idealized version of his/herself: hopelessly attractive, destined to either save the day or die heroically trying while winning the love and admiration from the established characters- you know, a real ego trip on paper!) in the early days of DS fandom- just look back at older issues of The World of Dark Shadows or Inside The Old House.  These girls would instantly win Barnabas or Quentin within a few paragraphs.  To see a classic MS in action, just watch the Wesley Crusher character on Star Trek:TNG- it's no coincidence that Gene Roddenberry's middle name was Wesley- even HE couldn't resist the Mary Sue seduction.

I've always wondered if Sam Hall was guilty of that with the Eliot Stokes character: a sophisticated-beyond-words heavyset man with graying hair who always seemed to have the answers like Mr. Whoopee on Tennessee Tuxedo.  Mind you, I love the character, Thayer David could never be boring in any character he played.  Thayer David had to have gray streaks put in his hair to play the character, since has was barely 40 when he first played the role.  By this time, Sam Hall already had the gray hair, and was married to the ultra-chic Grayson.  Hmmmmmm.........

[michael c]

i agree with barnabas' bride that when joan bennett is given good material to work with she usually rises to the occasion.sometimes when her characters are on the back-burner she just phones it it.

leviathan is a controversial storyline.some people absolutely despise it.but one thing i did like about it was that elizabeth was given some meaty material.liz could easily have been left "out of the loop" on this one.a clueless outsider in her own house.drifting about the periphery with a tea-tray worrying about carolyn.but she was included in the plot and i think icy "leviathan liz" had some really great scenes(although i do concede that the plotline as a whole was preposterous).

i also agree with pansity about tom jennings as a vampire.those bulging eyes.that wagging tongue.it was d.s. at it's camp worst(although i did like don briscoe in some other roles).that this plot occured concurrently with the adam storyline to me represents the moment when the show's producers decicively left the adult audience and actively persued those kids that you-know-what.later on i think the writing returned to more adult friendly storytelling.

[Pansity]

There used to a whole lot of "Mary Sue" fan fiction (i.e., fiction in which the author creates a character based on an idealized version of his/herself: hopelessly attractive, destined to either save the day or die heroically trying while winning the love and admiration from the established characters- you know, a real ego trip on paper!) in the early days of DS fandom- just look back at older issues of The World of Dark Shadows or Inside The Old House.  These girls would instantly win Barnabas or Quentin within a few paragraphs.  To see a classic MS in action, just watch the Wesley Crusher character on Star Trek:TNG- it's no coincidence that Gene Roddenberry's middle name was Wesley- even HE couldn't resist the Mary Sue seduction.

Good description of MS's.  Every fandom's got them and always did (and I still have the  ST zine with the parody story that GAVE Mary Sues their name to prove it).  I cringe when I hear MS's described as ANY character based on the author.  Nope, there are plenty of three dimentional flawed characters out there who are their author's alteregos.  Sure you have the Wesley's and the Jack Ryans (Tom Clancy's Marty Sue) -- and the Amanda Harris wish fulfillment fantasies of male writers.    But a lot more are debatable, like Indiana Jones and Luke Skywalker.  Sure, they are Lucas' alter egos, but both are far from perfect, or, at times, even admirable.  Same goes for fanfiction and created characters. Some are great, some have had their numbers filed off and have been taken pro by the fanfiction writers who invented them -- and some are just... 

I  just wish the prevalence of Mary Sue's in DS fanfiction WERE a past phenomenon.  I've gotten very discouraged with the bulk of the new fanfiction I have been finding lately.  Aside from Barnabas Julia stuff (which I have gotten a bit overloaded on over time, from sheer volume alone) there is very little of the new stuff that even makes an attempt to tell a coherent story with plausible characters.  It's the early days of zines all over again, without the filtering mechanism of an editor to weed out SOME of the worst stuff before you waste your time attempting to read it.  Sure, there are gems there -- but when it takes that much work to FIND them, many people just give up.  And with the only dedicated DS zine even NOMINALLY publishing now being WODS, which  has now gone a good many years between issues.... (The only reason I say even nominally  publishing is because Kathy R. has a story of mine she accepted about a year ago, so theoretically there is a new zine  in the works.)

Stuff like this makes me really pessimistic about the future of this fandom.

Oops in reading this over I hope I haven't run afoul of any of the rules.  I know there's to be no posting of fanfiction, but does this general discussion of the phenomenon cross the line?  If so I apologize.

[tripwire]

Anytime Crazy Jenny gets ready to start singing.

[jennifer]

Oh, and Tom Jennings as a vampire.  That tongue thing was just TOO MUCH.

 

[FireRose]

Barnabas did when he decided that Angelique was the only woman he ever loved.

It was like what? I could not have heard that correctly.

In my opinion... The writer's made her just to much of a villian to have any redeeming qualities. So for me that plot just did not work in 1840.

I have the feeling had the show continued. Angelique would have returned with a vengence.

FireRose

[Barnabas'sBride]

Oh, if we talk scenes instead of characters, that one ranks as my number one, FireRose. That gets my finger itching for the fast forward button perhaps faster than any other moment, or even character, on the show.  I can suffer through characters that annoy me,  but I can't suffer through that moment at all.

[Professor Stokes]

When I hear Quentin's Theme on the gramophone for the hundredth time. Or Pansy Faye's "boom-da-boom" theme ....GRRRR!! It gets annoying, but that passes quickly

There were times when the show got slow and repetitive. Many of the episodes with David and Amy, for example. They seemed to drag in spots.

[IluvBarnabas]

I never fast-forward any of the Dark Shadows stories or episodes (even the ones I am not crazy about), but I must say I was never found of the 1970 Parallel Story. Other than William and Carolyn (played greatly by John and Nancy) I didn't care for any of the other characters. Instead of fast-forwarding the Parallel Time story of 1970 (which I know I would no matter how hard I'd try not to except for Will and Carolyn) I decided not to buy the sets with that story....well except for 22 I did get that one, just to watch the part where Gerard and Daphne begin haunting Collinwood.

[rainingwolf]

If she were a character in fanfiction everyone would be screaming MARY SUE when Quentin fell in love with her at first sight.

One question; Where does one find much fan fiction? When I google, I don't seem to come  up with much. I'd like to read some-I've only found about 3 so far...?

[BuzzH]

One question; Where does one find much fan fiction? When I google, I don't seem to come  up with much. I'd like to read some-I've only found about 3 so far...?

Try this link, it has TONS of fanfic for tons of shows. 

http://www.fanfiction.net/cat/208/

[rainingwolf]

Thank you! What a great site!

[Pansity]

One question; Where does one find much fan fiction? When I google, I don't seem to come  up with much. I'd like to read some-I've only found about 3 so far...?

Try this link, it has TONS of fanfic for tons of shows. 

http://www.fanfiction.net/cat/208/

That's a good one Buzz.  I also dug up some more old ones.  Rainwolf, were you just interested in DS fanfiction, or did you just want to track down sources for fanfiction in general? (oops remembers guiltily that I haven't updated the links on my fanfiction site in WAY too long!)

Collins Library's fanfiction archives  has some very good stuff, but it's dormant and nothing new in ages. Apparently the owner of that and the associated group went MIA some time back. Tons and tons there to root through
http://dsfanfic.com

There's also some wonderful continuations of the series.  I know Connie posted the link to one a while back, but I can't find it in my bookmarks.  Maybe she will see this and post the link?

There's also my favorite of the continuing series, written by someone whose nom is Charles Delaware Troll
http://members.aol.com/chasdtroll/mainp.html  Plan to devote a lot of time to it, once you start reading it will suck you in and you wont be able to stop.

There's also assorted sites such as Portraits of Collinwood, which archive fanfiction:  http://www.portraits-of-collinwood.net/

And before my fest roomie KILLS me, there's her Website with fanfic for the Angelique fans: http://geocities.com/angeliquewins/darkshadows.html

And there's also the zines, which are EDITED printed anthologies of fan stories, or in some cases standalone novels.  Kathy Resch has a number of these in print and you can order them through this site: http://www.knightwriter.org/Shop/Shop.cgi?F=DS

Oops it just occurs to me that this might be seriously off topic as well as long.  .  Should this either go off board or to a new topic?

[Lydia]

(Deplorably continuing the drift away from the original topic...)  Thanks for asking about fan fiction, rainingwolf, and thanks for answering, BuzzH and Pansity.  I've been having a great time reading Hogan's Heroes fanfic, and thinking how much easer it must be to write a good Hogan's Heroes story than a good Dark Shadows one because the original HH characters are so two-dimensional and easy to peg.  (Making a gallant effort to return to the original topic...)   I guess the tri-dimensionality of the Dark Shadows characters is the reason why there are so many differing ideas on which characters tempt us to fast-forward.

[rainingwolf]

Rainwolf, were you just interested in DS fanfiction, or did you just want to track down sources for fanfiction in general?

I was looking for DS fanfic. and thank you so much for the great sites, Pansity! I'm off to read and read and read!