Hi JWS,

As I am sure others will point out, regarding the House of DS movie:
[spoiler]In the original 1967 storyline, Barnabas did attack Carolyn.  They obviously liked how the Frid/Barrett fanging chem took onscreen because they also wrote it so that Barn attacked Barrett's characters again in 1795 and in Parallel Time.  As far as kiilling off the whole family, this happened as well in PT 1970.  I know it may seem ghoulish but I kind of felt as if, at this stage of the game, they wanted to liven things up by, erm, hacking up a bunch of the family.  (Forgive my bizarre sense of humor--or, as Miss Winters would have phrased it, "How ... macabre!" [/spoiler]

All that said, I thought the HoDS film was way too much blood, fangs and violence and not enough of the character or mood stuff that was where the real magic of DS lay.

I'm frankly not optimistic that the Depp project will focus more on character and mood, but I suppose it is possible.   I am mainly looking forward to the Depp project because Warners just might FINALLY authorize spending the funds to restore the original films!  Not that I am holding my breath!

G.

It sounds like a grand show, and a wonderful tribute to one of the legends.  Peter's become something of a legend himself for those lucky enough to have seen him and his friends in their hysterical "Golden Girls hit Collinsport" skits at the Festivals...  I'll still never forget that line:  "You are about as dumb as a box of hair!"

G.

How very cool!  He mentions Sir Graves Ghastly, as well.  Sir Graves had a fabulous website that I visited a couple of years ago...

G.

This is just adorable!  I hope Jonathan Frid gets to see that picture.

cheers,  G.

I saw some of this movie on television in my early teen years and am eager to see it again, being a huge fan of Gerry Anderson's UFO series.

G.

First, to Magnus--Magda and Sandor got to live at the Old House because Magda had wormed her way into Grandma-mamma's graces as her "spiritual advisor."  The OH was regarded by the rest of the family as a wreck, since it had been abandoned after the deaths of Barnabas and Angelique.  While it is made crystal clear that Judith and Edward, in particular, despise the Gypsys (or Rom, to use one of the words more preferred by the Romanii diasporic peoples today) and Judith orders them off the estate immediately after Grandma-mamma's death, we get to see firsthand some of their ingenuity in staying put--plus, of course, dear cousin Barnabas is involved at this point.

I can't remember what I thought of her as a child (beyond always admiring the elegance and grace with which Joan Bennett invariably comported herself--to me, she WAS aristocracy), but as an adult, I do feel sympathy for Judith.  When we start to see her more devious side in the "LIttle Foxes" stuff, it adds extra layers of nuance to what is already a very complex character.  When she becomes the victim of Greggie-puss Trask, again our perception of her switches and I do feel particular sympathy for her in those straits.  Even if her own residual bigotry and intolerance were the weaknesses that made her such ideal prey for Trask.

Her return, and the denouement of her story, are just magnificent.  I'm really looking forward to watching these scenes again on the DVDs.  Despite all the endless whining and complianing about the final month or so of 1897, Judith's story in that period always has me riveted to my seat.

G.

Fans,

My copy of the 14th DVD set arrived last night, and despite my busy schedule, I was able to test-drive the first two discs in the set, watch some favorite scenes (gotta love Magda getting in Barnabas' face all the time--and grabbing her wig in that one scene!), and look at the set.  One thing that bemused me, however, was that in the booklet that comes with the discs, [spoiler]in the short description of the episode in which Jenny is murdered by Quentin; it says "Quentin ACCIDENTALLY kills Jenny," or words to that effect.

Now, I remember having a lengthy back-and-forth with a dear friend of mine the last tme Sci Fi broadcast these shows (it was her first chance to see them since her childhood viewing) and we both commented about how typical it was of Q to claim that Jenny's death was an accident when, the way Selby played the scene, it was quite clear that Q killed her very much in cold blood.

I can't recall whether Ann Wilson's episode guide in the DS Memories book (which I regard as the best of all the various episode guides available) also implied that Q killed his ex-wife "accidentally."  In general, Q's relationships with his past lovers do not paint him in at all an attractive light.  He obviously hated Laura at first sight upon her return (and she cordially returned the favor---the scenes betweeen these two have to be among the finest moments in the entire series!) and was even more vicious towards Jenny.[/spoiler]The original characterization of Quentin seems to have played off the late Sixties theme of the anti-hero--something that is very much out of fashion these days.  With Quentin even more so than with Barnabas, once the teeny-bopper adulation and the 16 magazine interviews began, they really seem to have softened and "rehabilitated" Q's character.

btw, on the first disc in this set, there's a great interview with Selby where he reveals that some more insistent fans were camping out in the lobby of his apartment building, demanding that he adopt them!  Great stuff.

G.

Hmmm--did the author of this piece time-travel back to 2006?  It mentions KLS working on a new project "timed to coincide with DS' 40th anniversary."

Thanks for sharing the link, though--and hope your convalescence is going smoothly!

G.