Parallel Time 1970: The Aftermath

[markyboo]

  Have any of you wondered what happen to the characters in the 1970 parallel time universe after Barnabas & Julia teleported back to "our" world? Over the years I've written numerous  stories (only in my mind!) on the fates of those characters.

Obviously Collinwood would have been uninhabitable after the fire & the family would have probably moved into the Loomis House (PT's Old House) while Collinwood was being renovated. Perhaps Quentin would have decided to completely modernize the interior of Collinwood - it would be his way of a fresh new start for the family. Can you imagine Collinwood with some of that modular furniture that was so popular in the 1970's? And modern art displayed around the mansion?

I would imagine Quentin & Maggie would have taken in poor, heartbroken Roxanne who would be pining for her beloved Barnabas. She would continuously visit the parallel time room in hopes of catching a glimpse of Barnabas. Perhaps, to her horror, she would have witnessed some of the destruction of Collinwood in the late summer of 1970 when Gerard's zombies were destroying the house. I would loved to have learned more about Roxanne especially her connection to the mysterious  Claude North.

Feeling sorry for her, Quentin invites Hannah Stokes to come & live with the family. And, in true soap opera tradition, Timothy Stokes survived the fire he set at Collinwood. Stokes would go into hiding, biding his time & plotting his revenge. Perhaps his face could have been disfigured by the fire & he would be forced to wear some sort of mask. Why this would give the DS writers a chance to do their version of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!

Chris Collins could fall in love with Roxanne Drew...Buffy Harrington could return to work at Collinwood...while living at the Loomis House, Daniel & Amy could stumble upon some supernatural mystery...wasn't Trask the butler still alive at the end of PT-1970? Maybe he would try to worm his way back into Collinwood...Sam Evans, a wealthy artist in this timeband, could visit his daughter & her new family...and, of course, we would have to meet to meet the PT versions of such characters as Joe Haskell, Burke Devlin, Dr. Eric Lang, Mrs. Johnson, Phillip & Megan Todd, Hallie Stokes, Nicholas Blair, and Victoria Winters (maybe she could be the illegitimate daughter of Quentin's father - the result of an affair he had with Julia Hoffman!)

And then one night a gentleman arrives at Collinwood claiming to be the real Barnabas Collins, quite unhappy at someone who recently visited the estate claiming to also be Barnabas Collins! Then the angry spirit of Angelique Stokes Collins - furious at this lookalike of her old enemy - curses him to become a vampire!

[MagnusTrask]

PT Barnabas died in the 19th century.   Didn't Roxanne and Angelique's room get destroyed by the fire?   She was trapped and must have burned to death, I thought, and I think that part of the house just wasn't there anymore in PT after the fire.

[markyboo]

I was under the impression that Quention or Julia later saw Roxanne in the PT room. Didn't Quentin see Roxanne wandering around the room calling for Barnabas & Julia begged him to keep it a secret. At any rate, Roxanne was out in the hallway during the fire. Maybe she eventually fled the house - I would imagine there were also sorts of entrances & exits in Collinwood & with her special powers , I'm sure Roxanne would have been able to figure out an escape route. And maybe the a Parallel Time Barnabas Collins did indeed exist -  a descendant of the 19th century Barnabas who had successfully kept his existence a secret. It's fun to imagine WHY he would have done that! He might have had his secrets just like "our" Barnabas!

[IluvBarnabas]

SPOILER ALERT:


I seemed to recall Alexis say the PT Sam Evans drowned in a boating accident. The only way he could have come back would have been as a ghost....which isn't impossible since this IS Dark Shadows after all.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Some very interesting ideas, markyboo. 

Didn't Quentin see Roxanne wandering around the room calling for Barnabas

He did indeed.    Though the person in your scenario who definitely didn't escape the fire was Timothy Stokes. We know this because the opening voiceover for Ep #1061 specifically says that he "died in the flames." And that's too bad because it would be a lot of fun to imagine him wreaking more havoc in PT. 

[loril54]

. And maybe the a Parallel Time Barnabas Collins did indeed exist -  a descendant of the 19th century Barnabas who had successfully kept his existence a secret. It's fun to imagine WHY he would have done that! He might have had his secrets just like "our" Barnabas!

He would have to have been the ancestor of Bramwell and Catherine Collins and wouldn't he have been a cousin on Quentin.  If I remember nothing was ever said of ancestors except for the child that Catherine was carrying.

[Midnite]

SPOILER ALERT:


I seemed to recall Alexis say the PT Sam Evans drowned in a boating accident. The only way he could have come back would have been as a ghost....which isn't impossible since this IS Dark Shadows after all.

Yep, Angelique said he mysteriously drowned while sailing on the Collins' yacht, and that Quentin's father committed suicide soon after-- another PT thread that was dropped (and further evidence of the dysfunctional union of Mr. & Mrs. Quentin Collins of PT).

[MagnusTrask]

As for voiceovers, I've noticed that sometimes they'll announce something as fact in the voiceover, and then in the plot it will turn out never to have been true.    They're not above lying in the voiceover, if it creates suspense... which it doesn't; it's like crying wolf.

Anyone can make up a PT Barnabas if he/she likes, but he wouldn't have been an ancestor of Bramwell's, but a brother. 

PT Lang.... maybe he was town mortician, putting people into the ground rather than digging them up.  Maybe he barely could speak above a whisper.   Maybe he was a brilliant actor.

[Gerard]

When I did my Charles-Delaware-Trollish just-for-fun version of stories and plots had DS continued, I did one about a return to present-day PT.  The vortex reopens, but when Barnabas looks through the doors he sees only an empty field.  PT Collinwood is gone.  He also sees Angelique - his Angelique - now a completely reconstituted force-for-good somehow being trapped there (of course, they're both in love).  She appears confused and frightened.  To rescue her, he passes through.  Since she isn't aware of all those irritating, little problems her now-deceased PT version caused and not knowing exactly what is happening or where she is, and considering the fact that Quentin, Maggie and others have spotted her, thinking she's their Angelique back to create more trouble, she's a hunted woman.  Anyway, Barnabas tries to figure things out.  Quentin (and Maggie) are thrilled to see him again.  Barnabas also manages to "smooth" things out regarding who this Angelique is.  However, things aren't rosey.  Quentin had the burned-out remnants of Collinwood razed to the ground.  He and Maggie, along with Daniel, now live in the Loomis House.  Things are tense between the couple, both claiming that the other is trying to gaslight each other.  Roxanne shows up, hoping to rekindle their romance, only to discover he's in love with his own Angelique.  It's all a mess.  Barnabas decides to solve the mystery of who is the culprit and who is the victim - is it Quentin or Maggie?  He discovers the truth, especially as things begin to turn deadly.  It is Daniel who's doing it.  Driven to insanity by what had happened several years earlier, wanting revenge for having been denied his mother a second time, he seeks to destroy his father and step-mother.  He's packed off to a hoo-hoo house (the PT version of Wyndcliffe?), Quentin and Maggie are reconciled and decide to move away from Collinsport, probably to New York City, and Barnabas and Angelique return to Normal Time, leaving behind a despondent Roxanne promising that someway, somehow, she will again find Barnabas.

Gerard

[markyboo]

  Gerard, I love your story ideas! However, I did chuckle when you said Barnabas, looking into the PT room, sees only the empty land Collinwood once stood on. I then picture Barnabas stepping into the East Wing room in our universe & when he is teleported to PT, he lands smackdab into a field of poppies a la THE WIZARD OF OZ!

[MagnusTrask]

i always thought the PT room was on the second floor..is it?    If so, he'd be stepping into thin air, one floor above the ground.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

As for voiceovers, I've noticed that sometimes they'll announce something as fact in the voiceover, and then in the plot it will turn out never to have been true.    They're not above lying in the voiceover, if it creates suspense... which it doesn't; it's like crying wolf.

Well, yes, they definitely make references to ways in which certain aspects of the plot *might* turn out, though perhaps they don't actually. But that's just a way to tease the audience - and that sort of ploy does successfully create suspense. And, yes, they'll also make references to what might be a belief at some point in a plot, but which might later turn out to have been deliberate misinformation given to a character or characters because they had been lied to - in which case it wasn't so much that the voiceover was "lying," per se, as it was reporting the facts as they were strongly believed to be within the plot at the time (like, say, Barnabas' belief that the Leviathans held Josette prisoner, but they only used that lie as a ploy to keep Barn under their thumb) - and that sort of "lie" is always explained within the plot in which it occured. But I've never honestly noticed where a statement made in a voiceover to, say, establish an offscreen plot fact (like, say, that PT Stokes was dead) because there hadn't been the time or need to establish it onscreen was contradicted. Or where a voiceover's clarification of a character's motivation was contradicted. Or where the voiceover built up that something was indeed going to absolutely happen only to have it not happen. If you're aware of instances like that, I'd love if you could cite some examples. 

[Gerard]

i always thought the PT room was on the second floor..is it?    If so, he'd be stepping into thin air, one floor above the ground.

It was, Magnus, but I just factored in that the PT vortex could also impact not only on time but on space, so hence it would open straight onto an empty field. (Hey, if the DS writers would often come up with cockamammie concepts to answer practical questions, why couldn't I!)

Markyboo, I could also picture Barnabas passing through into the empty field and stepping right into a pile of deer doo-doo.  With a disgusting look on his face, his eyes rolling back in frustration, he tries to scape it off with the bottom of his cane.

Gerard

[arashi]

PT Lang....   Maybe he barely could speak above a whisper.   Maybe he was a brilliant actor.

LOL! Now that's a suspension of disbelief I'm not sure I can handle.

[markyboo]

  ...Or Barnabas could land right on top of an evil witch who has taken control of Collinsport. This results in the evil witch's death. Her shoes suddenly vanish from her feet! A delighted Roxanne appears & implores the villagers of Collinsport to come out of hiding & celebrate the evil witch's demise & honor Barnabas!

Can't you just picture Barnabas running around in a pair of ruby red slippers?