I always wanted to find a "Collinwood" of my own when I was a teen. To me it represented a place where, no matter who or what you were, you were accepted. In the early '70's, there was NOTHING on television that mentioned homosexuality (and if it happened to be mentioned, it was usually negative), so I think some gay teens were attracted to a series like DS for the same reasons I was. It was easy to identify with Barnabas and his struggles just as we gays in that era dealt with our struggles. Also, we gays have always appreciated - worshipped! - strong, independent women and DS was full of them: Julia, Elizabeth, Angelique, etc. al.  I think gays being attracted to DS is like how many of my brethern are attracted to musicals - DS and musicals are these magical, bigger-than-life places where people do fantastic things! Also, DS had such gorgeous costumes and such handsome sets and we gays love the finest in clothing and decor. FInally, so many of the DS characters say such witty, wicked things - and gays always love snappy dialogue!

Oh, many, many years ago, I sent that SECRET ROOM dude a letter with a SASE to receive info on his publication. Never heard back from him - I am astonished to find out he actually published an issue!

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Another post-1897 issue has always been confusing to me: did the family realize Barnabas actually traveled through time & changed history? I remember Elizabeth thanking Barnabas shortly after he returned to the present, but did she & the others really understand what he did?

 

Also, the entire family & staff fled Collinwood (due to Quentin's haunting) & took up residence at the Old House. Now, as we all know, Barnabas restored the Old House to be an exact replica of what it was like in the 18th Century - no electricity, no telephone & I've always assumed no plumbing. It makes you wonder what the houseguests did about bathing & , uh , some other needs. Did they all have to use an outhouse? Did Roger have to stop at a filling station & shave before going to his office in the morning? Did Mrs. Johnson grow weary of cooking meals & washing dishes without running hot & cold water or did they use paper plates & utensils all those months. Maybe Barnabas allowed Willie to install a bathroom for Willie's needs. Can you imagine all those people lined up & taking their turns to use one bathroom?

If DARK SHADOWS had remained on the air, no doubt the DS cast would have been given more opportunities to play different characters - I'm sure the writers would have devised additional storylines set in the past, on parallel worlds & maybe even in the future.

What kind of characters would you all like to have seen the members of the DS repertory company play? I, for one, would have loved to have seen Joan Bennett play a more mature version of the femme fatales she used to appear as in some of Fritz Lang's films from the 1940's. I think Ms. Bennett would have made a marvelous witch on the series - I can just picture her casting spells.

Louis Edmonds & Grayson Hall as a married couple. They would be like something out of a Noel Coward play! Maybe they could be Nick & Nora Charles types investigating supernatural matters.

If Dr. Julia Hoffman had made a trip through time on her own, I would loved to have seen her encounter Jonathan Frid in the role of a private detective (a la Sherlock Holmes) investigating a crime. Thayer David, of course would have to play a character similar to Watson. I can just picture Julia falling in love with this brilliant gentleman who resembles her beloved Barnabas & then being cruelly snatched away from him to return  her to the present.

It would have been a pleasure to see David Selby play any kind of role after all those variations of Quentin Collins he did on the series. Maybe a cynical reporter who has gotten wind of all sorts of strange & bizarre incidents happening in the village of Collinsport, Maine?

I always thought Chris Pennock would have made a helluva vampire or werewolf - and made 'em very savage & bloodthirsty!

Willie, I get goosebumps thinking of DS storylines taking place during those decades!

The 1920's: Jamison Collins is an adult & master of Collinwood. We would get to meet the woman Jamison married, the woman who became mother of Elizabeth & Roger. Maybe we would find out what happened to Nora Collins - did she become another one of Collinwood's unhappy spinsters?

Can't you picture Nancy Barrett & Donna McKechnie as flappers? Heck, McKechnie was one of Broadway's most gifted dancers -her character could have even danced the Charleston at the Blue Whale!

Somehow I think the Collins family would have been involved with bootlegging, especially with the Canadian border nearby!

1930's: Collinsport in the throes of the Depression & even the Collins family isn't immune to its economic hardships. Maybe this decade was when the Collins family began shutting down various wings of Collinwood to cut down on costs.

We would get to see Elizabeth as a young woman & Roger as a boy! Maybe we would find out the fate of their mother. I always imagined Mrs. Jamison Collins battling some sort of supernatural evil & sacrificing her own life to protect the lives of her children.

1940's: The death of Jamison Collins...Elizabeth becames the head of the family & their business empire...Paul Stoddard (I bet he avoided military service during WWII by shooting himself in the foot or some other cowardly act) & Jason McGuire plot to steal the Collins fortune when Elizabeth & Paul are married...heck, maybe we would FINALLY find out the truth about Victoria Winters' origin!

Jerry Lacy would have to be another incarnation of the Trask family - and this time around the Trask character could be a crummy Nazi spy.

Hmmm...just imagine how handsome Joel Crothers would have looked in uniform!

What supernatural events happened during those decades at Collinwood? What would draw Barnabas and Julia to travel through time to those eras? You would also have to allow room in the storylines for Quentin & Angelique to appear!

I also wished DARK SHADOWS had had a trip into the past during the Civil War era. I have always thought of Collinwood being on the Underground Railroad route with all those secret tunnels & secret rooms and, once again, with Canada in the vicinity. Maybe there would be a Southern branch of the Collins family "stranded" at Collinwood during the Civil War. Louis Edmonds & Nancy Barrett could have retrieved their Louisiana accents - how wonderful Edmonds would have been as a Southern gentleman & Barrett as a Southern belle!

Quote from: mscbryk on October 16, 2007, 05:33:33 PM

i was similarly surprised during the leviathan episodes when they mentioned sam evans and jason mcguire.i really appreciate those rare nods to continuity.

I don't recall the Sam Evans reference but I suspect Jason was mentioned because of the return of Paul Stoddard

Actually, I think Sam Evans was mentioned during the Leviathan storyline. In one of the early episodes, Maggie Evans returned to the Evans cottage - she was cleaning the place up for new tenants - Maggie was renting the place out now. (By the way, this scene would feature the last apperance of the Evans cottage.) While Maggie was working, Paul Stoddard arrived (at this point, the viewers didn't know that this man was Paul Stoddard), looking for Sam Evans. Maggie, of course, told Paul the sad news about her father's death. When Maggie asked who her visitor was, the scene faded out...

Deborah Kerr was a magnificent actress - so regal, so classy, so elegant.

I'm sure as soon as she reached heaven, she ran into Yul Brynner.

I hope they'll be waltzing together for all of eternity...

Rest in peace, Deborah Kerr.

I agree with you one hundred per cent, Magnus. I shudder to think what the DS cast would be like if the series was on today. I am sure the networks would immediately fire Jonathan Frid & Grayson Hall & cast performers that are much younger & have toned & buff bodies - acting talent be damned! Soaps used to draw upon the NY theater community to cast their shows - many members of the DS cast could be seen on the stages of NYC on the evenings of 1966-1971. Nowadays I swear soap casting directors head for the local fitness clubs to cast their shows. And when you put these novices besides a sturdy soap vet, it becomes painfully obvious these pretenders can't hold their own. I don't want to declare all young soap performers as being inept but some of them can't act their way out of a paper bag. The younger DS performers always spoke of how much they learned about the craft of acting from working with vets like Joan Bennett, Thayer David - even Clarice Blackburn in her minor roles. I wonder if todays soap fledgings are as grateful working with seasoned survivors?