OK, here are some of the problems I've noted when it comes to the use of time travel in DS.  The biggest one is that the writers often have people CAUSING the event that is affecting the future who wouldn't have been there the first time around!

Here are two examples:

[spoiler]  In the 1897 storyline, Angelique turns out to be the one who kills Quentin in the past, thus setting him up for being a ghost.  Yet, would Angelique have been there if Barnabas hadn't gone back in time?

The other, more serious, one involves how Roxanne can be a vampire in 1970 and not recognize Barnabas, even though we are shown that it is his love for her that inspires Angelique to MAKE her a vampire in 1840.  So who made her a vampire the "first" time around in 1840, the 1840 which bypassed Barnabas as he lay waiting for Willie to finally free him in 1967? [/spoiler]

Ouch, my head is hurting!

I would like to point out a few nagging inconsistencies about the time travel plots and to get others' input on them, but I have to confess total ignorance as to how to use the "spoiler alert" function.  I sure would appreciate some help in that area (I already went to the "Help" section above, but couldn't find anything to help me much there).

Thanks in advance.

A few weeks ago, I caught her Oscar-nominated performance in "Night of the Iguana."  She was amazing - as was everyone else in the cast (Richard Burton, Deborah Kerr, Ava Gardner etc.).  However, I was surprised to see that she did have one of those awful hysterical crying scenes for which she became so famous (or infamous) on DS.  It was one the one bad moment in an otherwise fabulous performance.

My favorite Grayson Hall scene was the one in which she went to confront Nicholas Blair at his house over something or other.  The way she sat there and pulled off her gloves while cutting him down to size was classic.  You could tell old Devilman himself had finally met his match.

And Magda, of course, was brilliant!

I'm currently watching the 1840 section and I've been noticing that whenever they refer back to Barnabas' original time, they mistakenly identify the year as 1797 instead of 1795 (only once, in one of the voiceover intros, do they get it right).

I wonder how both the writers and the actors could have gotten it wrong so often.  I mean, if I, as a mere viewer, can spot the mistake, why couldn't the people responsible for the show itself see it?

I also don't get [spoiler]how Barnabas can be the cause of Roxanne's vampirism in 1840 and yet not have her recognize him in 1970.[/spoiler]But I guess that is just one of those mind-blowing paradoxes about time-travel that are best not brooded upon to any great extent.

I know Collinwood is a big place, but how come Quentin and Beth never bumped into Gerard and Daphne in the years when all four of them were ghosts haunting the mansion? 

But it isn't just their not knowing that Barnabas is a vampire.

None of the main characters knew Chris was the werewolf or who the heck this strange Adam guy was or what was really going on with those strange Leviathans.

Only Barnabas and Julia seemed to always be fully informed about what was happening at all times.  I guess, in a way, they functioned as the narrator for the rest of us.  I just wonder if the other actors ever resented it (much like many of the actors in "Lost in Space" apparently resented becoming second bananas to Will and Dr. Smith).

I've often been struck by the fact that, even though the series takes place in the frigid state of Maine, it never seems to be wintertime at Collinwood.  Where are the snowdrifts, where are the fur-lined parkas, where are the leafless trees?  And why is it that none of the thunderstorms ever seem to bring any rain with them?

Of course, I realize that this is basically a result of budgetary restrictions, but I was wondering if anyone else ever noticed this peculiar phenomenon.