End of the Road

[buzz]

I've been watching the 1840/Judah Zachary storyline and, with three episiodes to go, I thought I'd add a few comments

SPOILERS
This storyline was well acted and had many surprises from day to day. Gerard Stiles was a great villain, even though there were so many people to hate in this period. Edith, Samantha, Gabriel, Trask of course. The writers always seem to have problems coming to the conclusion of a storyline and transitioning to the next one. The story seemed to slow down in the last few weeks, and while 1840PT needed to be introduced, it should have been done more leisurly, with less time spent on every episode towards the end. Everyone was interested in that room! Daphne is busy staring into the room while she is in a hurry to meet up with Quentin!

You know the story is coming to a conclusion in DS when everyone is killed off!

I liked the way Barnabas began to appreciate Angelique, as well as the softening of the character. It made some sense since we got a backstory that she was around a lot longer and was seduced by Judah Zachary. The other good moment was Angelique's reluctantly helping Quentin. Barnabas telling Angelique that he knew she was still selfish and could not change was a good moment. Of course A does help Quentin, at her expense - still  for selfish reasons, to try to hold onto Barnabas. An improvement, but in character.

1840PT looks somewhat interesting, but I would have liked to see the show go out in a contemporary setting. Perhaps it would have been better if the show ended a few weeks earlier, with B&J returning to 1971, as they do at the end of this storyline.

Nick Caputo                 

[rainingwolf]

1840PT looks somewhat interesting, but I would have liked to see the show go out in a contemporary setting. Perhaps it would have been better if the show ended a few weeks earlier, with B&J returning to 1971, as they do at the end of this storyline.

I agree-I think ending on a contemporary note would have been much better. Though I did like the tack on narrative where Sam Hall told how he imagined the future for each of the characters. Was that part of the original series, or something added to the dvd as a bonus feature? (Loved that Barnabas and Julia realized their love and eventually married--YAY!--it just tweaks my romantic soul!)           

[buzz]

I agree-I think ending on a contemporary note would have been much better. Though I did like the tack on narrative where Sam Hall told how he imagined the future for each of the characters. Was that part of the original series, or something added to the dvd as a bonus feature?

I believe that was tacked on to the DVD. I just saw the last three episodes in 1840 and they were good. Angelique telling the truth about her becoming a witch through Judah was well played, the redemption of Gerard, and a happy ending for a few of the (remaining) characters. Of course, Angelique and Barnabas cannot have a happy ending, though. I liked the idea of Trask dying in the parallel time room.

I still feel the perfect ending would have been Julia, Stokes and Barnabas returning to 1971, going into the empty house (as they did) and THEN having all the characters, not only Liz, but Roger, Carolyn, Quentin, David and Hallie rushing in and telling them that they are late for the historical meeting. I know this would have broke the budget, but it would have been nice for a final show. It would then end with a voice over by Thayer David saying that "For once, all is well in Collinwood.." and Jonathan's Frid's spoken rendition of Shakespeare's "Our revels now are ended.."

Maybe it happened in parallell time....       

Nick

[Bob_the_Bartender]

The Dark Shadows final 1840 Parallel Time storyline (without Barnabas, Julia, Wille, etc.) was about as "fascinating" and "engrossing" as the last season of That '70s Show (without Eric Forman and Michael Kelso) or After-M*A*S*H (without Hawkeye Pierce, Hot-Lips Houlihan, etc.), imho.     

[michael c]

i made it about half-way through this storyline and lost interest.

i enjoyed virginia vestoff's performance as samantha and other things as well but i wasn't inspired to cough up the cash for dvd collection 24.maybe some day i'll pick it up again.

i understand the latter part of this period concerns a witchcraft trial with quentin as the unjustly accused.that sounds super boring to me.vicki's trumped-up trial was plenty for me.

to be honest after 1897 i don't really understand the quentin character(is he good or bad?what makes him tick?)and storylines that feature him at the center kind of bore me.

i too would rather have seen the show go out with some resolve of the 'present day' characters.

[buzz]

ito be honest after 1897 i don't really understand the quentin character(is he good or bad?what makes him tick?)and storylines that feature him at the center kind of bore me.

My guess is that they tried to make Quentin the "bad boy" of the show, but he couldn't be too bad since he was such a popular character. Still, Selby was such a good (and likable) actor that he added something to even the poorer written stories.

Nick

[Nelson Collins]

This may have been discussed mentioned elsewhere, but was there ever any rationale given for just ending the show the way they did in 1840PT instead of "going back home to mama" as it were.

Indeed, was there any precedent at all even to bring soaps going off the air to any kind of conclusion or did they just end?

[buzz]

This may have been discussed mentioned elsewhere, but was there ever any rationale given for just ending the show the way they did in 1840PT instead of "going back home to mama" as it were.

I believe it was fairly abrupt. ABC cancelled the series and put a dame show in its place (Password, I think) since it was cheaper to produce and the ratings on DS were going down for some time. I suspect Dan Curtis and company didn't have too much time to wrap things up, although a final episode in 1971 probably could have been accomplished.

Indeed, was there any precedent at all even to bring soaps going off the air to any kind of conclusion or did they just end?

That I don't have an answer for. The only other soap I watched on an on and off basis was Ryan's Hope, which I believe was filmed in the same ABC studio and used some of the same sets as DS.

Nick C.

[jennifer]

i agree i always felt that they should have gone back to 1970
and shown all was well with the Collins family in the end it always struck me as funny
that Elizabeth and Roger never knew the truth about Barnabas
even after they came to care for him
oh well maybe they will finish the ending some day in the great beyond

[alwaysdavid]

I remember at the time thinking unfavorably that they were going back in time again and then hoping that they's get back to the present and then we got another parallel time.  I  now think that once Sam Hall and Company took over that they didn't know or care much about the original characters and story and the investment that the audience had in them.   That being said, I did like the Catherine and Branwell story but not so much the cursed room. 

[buzz]

I remember at the time thinking unfavorably that they were going back in time again and then hoping that they's get back to the present and then we got another parallel time.  I  now think that once Sam Hall and Company took over that they didn't know or care much about the original characters and story and the investment that the audience had in them.   That being said, I did like the Catherine and Branwell story but not so much the cursed room. 

I don't know if it was so much the writers fault as the fact that Frid did not want to play Barnabas anymore. You couldn't easily eliminate him in present time and have Frid take another role, so I suspect it was easier to go into another time frame and create a storyline that they could more easily play with. don't forget that Sam Hall had been writing for the show for a long time, so I'm sure, while he may not have had a lot invested in the charactrers, in certainly knew how to write them, as did a number of other writers, and quite well at times.

I've enjoyed the Catherine/Bramwell story thus far, having watched a few episodes, altohugh I agree with you about the locked room premise. It was a pretty antiquated plot.

Nick       

[MagnusTrask]

I'm always the only one saying this, but I think continuing in RT 1971 would have been impossible because of all the contradictions between what happened in 1840 and 1966-70.     History was changed so much that the events and people we knew would have been retroactively cancelled out.   

Also, I think they decided that it had been a mistake noy to leave the show in 1897, and after having gone to this much trouble to get DS back to a more atmospheric time, they weren't about to throw that away.  I think it's likely that when 1995-1970-1840 was concocted in the first place, people said, "And this time we're staying in the past and never coming back, damn it!  We're not making the same mistake twice!"

Someone asked about networks letting soaps tie up their final storylines nicely.    TV networks aren't creative organizations, they just employ creative people whom they believe can make money for them.    Once the executives decided to cancel DS, that meant they no longer cared about it.   (No video sales in the picture.)   I was impressed that they were allowed to wrap up the 1841 PT Cursed Room storyline, and before that, Barnabas's and Angelique's stories were wrapped up.    (Future now secure, no vampirism, no curse, no witch after him, BC purged of obsessive romances, even, maybe... happy ending)

I  now think that once Sam Hall and Company took over

Who took over DS when, from whom?

[buzz]

I'm always the only one saying this, but I think continuing in RT 1971 would have been impossible because of all the contradictions between what happened in 1840 and 1966-70.     History was changed so much that the events and people we knew would have been retroactively cancelled out.

Hi Magnus,

When did cpntradictions ever stop DS writers in the past? They just ignored the glitches and went full speed ahead on their next story. While I liked the time travel stories I also enjoyed a return to present day Collinwood and the characters of Carolyn, Roger, Liz, Willie and the rest.

Nick

[MagnusTrask]

I think they must have realized that there were limits to how much contradiction they could just ignore.     

[Lydia]

I think they must have realized that there were limits to how much contradiction they could just ignore.     

You're joking, right, Magnus?