perhaps this is just me however...

i was home yesterday and on a lark watched several episodes from the 1897 storyline(which i haven't seen in years).

what i was struck by was how fresh and crisp and energized everyone seemed(including the writers).it seemed as if the show was in an "expansive" period.

to me the 1840 storyline seems like the show in decline.i can't really put my finger on why but it just feels sort of spent.the actors a bit tired.that's how i felt about the storylines after parallel-time and the brief trip to 1995.was everyone just plain exhausted after the movie and the constant change in time period that ran across the 1970 episodes?

jonathan and especially grayson seem really burned out after running aroung like chickens with their heads cut off for the last several months.there's not alot of nuance to their work here.it's like going through the motions...parallel-time was the last time i think grayson must have felt challenged by the scripts and did some of her finest work ever as hoffman...but when she's just screaming "barnabas!!!" all the time it's kind of boring.

without joan bennett in a pivotal role the period lacks for me as well.as the owner of rose cottage flora gets alot of mentions(much like liz late in the series)but not much screen time and little to do with what she got.

not to say that there isn't much to like here but my overall impression is that the whole thing is winding down and everyone knew it.

love the r.d. floatie.

if i'm correct here he is in his jeff clark incarnation and has just seen the ghost of reverand trask...which he immediately forgets!

what follows this incident is a jeff/vicki bicker session of epic proportions.

i have no doubt that quentin...then as now...had no shortage of adult admirers.

but sometimes i do think the writers took storyline shortcuts that they thought kids(as opposed to more discerning adults)wouldn't pick up or care about.this is one of those instances.

i have my own peculiar quirks with the show.vampires and witches i don't question...but mundane things like episode-to-episode plot continuity and well thought out character placement matter big time.

they do a few very annoyingly inconsistent things with quentin in 1970...

several people(besides barnabas and julia)do remember the quentin hauntings even though the changed history means he never died.

in one scene shortly after barnabas returns to the present(from 1897)liz comes over and thanks him for whatever he did to rid collinwood of the ghosts and tells him how glad the family is to be back home...meaning that the haunting did take place and the family had in fact moved out of collinwood.

shortly after david spies julia talking to "grant" and immediately equates him with quentin.he's under the leviathan influence at the time and for reasons i can't recall decides to scare amy with grant...and when she sees him she too thinks it's quentin.

then,in a maddening lack of continuity,just a few months later during the gerard hauntings david and quentin carry on as if they had been best friends for years and quentin even remarks about how david had been wanting to borrow his camera(or something of the sort)for "over a year".

the writing for quentin in the present is very,very sloppy and inconsistent.because he had become such a "teen idol" apparently they thought they didn't need to write a plausible storyline for him and the show's adolescent audience would neither notice nor care.

i've been watching 1840 and i'm totally noticing that the show plays fast-and-loose with when and where whatever character happens to be doing a bit of time travel does and doesn't recognize a character played by an actor from the "present".

in 1795 of course poor vicki mistakingly recognized everyone she met there as a person she knew in the present...a phenomenon she foolishly called out and which caused her no end of misfortune.

i haven't seen 1897 in awhile so i forget exactly how this played out there.

however when "present time" barnabas shows up in 1840 he does not for instance seem to note in any way that flora looks like elizabeth(or,for that matter,his mother naomi),daniel roger,leiticia carolyn and so on...but he instantly recognizes quentin who isn't even the quentin he knows but one who inexplicably looks and is named the same.both he and julia recognize gerard,roxanne and daphne but no one else.

angelique also notes the resemblance between the trask of 1840 and the one she knew in 1795 but again doesn't equate anyone else she encounters with people she knew in another time

i wonder how the writers came up with who recognized who?

it's way too cool to cry "foul".

"bust" is a women's magazine(not a fanzine)and the photo shoot was intended to illustrate women's fashions.

even "barnabas" serves almost as window dressing and only appears in two pictures."roger" and "quentin" would have been superfluous and the clothing is too girlish for "julia" and "liz"(no tweed suits featured).

just have fun with it.

"...natalie and josette were thoroughly shocked to discover a book in vicki's room that was called...

...'Extreme Governess:A Survivalists Guide'...how to navigate the world of haughty secretive employers,psychopathic charges,insulting waitresses,homicidal caretakers,attempted beheadings,undead suitors,envious love-starved blood specialists,domineering fiances,time travel,witch hunters,shootings,hangings,kidnappings,campy low-budget dreams,squat shoes,sleeveless dresses and other tips on how to survive the most treacherous occupation on earth."