Hey y'all -

I know that in the greater scheme the cancellation by Sci-Fi isn't a big thing.  And maybe part of this is that it's been a pretty crappy day for me in several ways.  But I am just devastated by the news from Shadowgram!  Feels like I've been punched in the gut.

Like you, murph, I started taping this run from episode one.  While I don't have every single episode, I'm quite bitter that I won't at least have the last episode.  Am not a huge fan of the upcoming 1841PT, but still wanted to tape enough of it to convey the main arc of that storyline.  And yes, I know I can purchase the tapes from MPI, and that they'll eventually release the DVD's but...

While I most appreciate Sci-Fi for airing Dark Shadows for so long, and so many times, it just feels like the biggest slap in the face for them to just drop the show unceremoniously so near the end of the total run.

Would it have killed them to air those last 20 or so episodes?  Really just feels like there's someone new at the network who doesn't give a crap about those of us who have been loyal viewers for lo these many years.

Guess I, too might have to stop watching Sci-Fi.

Sorry to sound like Big Baby Whiny Butt.  But thanks for listening!   Glad y'all are here to commiserate with.

Given the currently scheduled pre-emptions, can anybody guestimate on what episode number the current Sci-Fi run will end?

I am just sick, sick, sick about this!   

Although if pressed, I'd have to identify as a Barnabas/Julia 'shipper, I'm definitely on board with the Barnabas/Angelique chemistry.  The two together are really hot, and one can only imagine what those steamy nights in Martinique were like...

I think that Angelique realized all she would ever really have with Barnabas was that sexual heat.  It's true - they never could really be friends.  That's why she was so instinctively jealous of Julia.  Angie recognized that Julia had a deep bond with Barnabas (by this time on the show), born of mutual trust, respect and genuine caring feelings for each other.

With Roxanne (or the various Josette clones), Angelique's jealousy is more of a sexual nature.  It seems that it was harder for her to deal with the bond Barnabas shared with Julia.  I don't think she remotely understood a relationship like that.

Given the personalities of Barnabas and Angelique - both not dealing well with stress, not suffering any kind of disagreement, each having to have things their way (or else!); they'd have had a very hard time forging any kind of conventional, give and take relationship.  Sure, they might have given it a try if the show had lasted, but I can only think that once again, things between them would have ended disastrously.

After all, both Barnabas and Angelique are monsters.  And monsters live a life writ large!

(1) Favorite Vicki time period/storyline?  Everything up until the trip to 1795.  She was just a pluckier, more sensible heroine early on.

(2) What could/should the writers have done differently if she'd stayed on the show?  Would have loved to see Vicki turn to the dark side, or to have seen Alex Moltke play the heavy in a storyline.

(3) Who should Vicki have ended up with?  Although the two never met, I'm interested in the pairing of Quentin and Victoria.

(4) As to the parents, the theory to which Vlad alluded was that Paul Stoddard was her father, and her mother was Betty Hanscomb (she of the Sam Evans portrait).  My contribution was this: perhaps Betty Hanscomb was Jamison Collins' illegitimate daughter.  This would make Vicki a Collins family member, and perhaps make Liz feel she was obligated to look after her welfare, but not want to tell her the story of her background.

That being said, emotionally I still like the idea of Vicki as Liz's daughter.  Go figure.

(5) Would Vicki's presence have made the show last longer/be better?  Dunno.  Am guessing that the actress might have ended up playing the Daphne character, and things would've gone about the same except no Kate Jackson.  If the actual character of Vicki was still there it's hard (for me) to imagine where she might've fit into the later storylines.  Maybe she could have been the one to kill Jeb Hawkes.

[spoiler]IIRC, David Ford did leave to do something else.  A play, maybe???

Anyhoo, Sam Evans got beaten severely by Adam, and soon after died in the hospital, due in part to the machinations of Cassangelique (that pesky dream curse again!).[/spoiler]

Hope this helps jog your memory!  Enjoy watching, Patti!

CB

While I really like 1840 Quentin, and am currently (clears throat in SciFi's general direction) missing him, the prototypical Quentin that we first meet as a ghost is my fave.

First off, he's great as a ghost - really menacing.  Then we meet him in 1897, and he's a scalawag, but just jaw-droppingly sexy.  Sure, he doesn't get to do much after the return to 1969, but he was great with the Amanda/Olivia storyline and played a good nutcase in the pre-1840 story.

If I'm allowed to separate the different storylines, I'd say 1897 Quentin is my favorite.  Again, sexgod, but also he develops quite a bit as a character - making him seem much more three dimensional.

 
just had to do that - love the skeletons!

Well, of course I'm biased, being that I've chosen Cassandra as my avatar.  But to me that's such a fun storyline - Angelique showing up in that dumb black wig as Roger's new missus.  This storyline contains the beginnings of the Angelique/Nicholas rivalry, which is a riot.  Of course the whole plot (for me anyway) is inextricable from the Angelique as vampire storyline - which is just as fun, IMHO.  I just love it when despite her best efforts, girlfriend doesn't get the upper hand.  She's so much more interesting when she's frustrated and pissed.