i finally got the mailing today.i can't wait.i do think i'll skip the day trip and i can't handle the "banquet with the stars" either.

there are a few appealing new merchandising options and a few lame-o ones as well.the "dark shadows the first year" book looks cool because i love those episodes.the "limited edition" coin purse however i think i can nicely live without.who comes up with some of this stuff?

i beg to differ buzz.

the pen in fact has it's own wing at the smithsonian institute in washington d.c..

a fitting tribute to it's monumentality.

i agree...

[spoiler]that the first barnabas/carolyn bite was the most shocking in it's implications.she was his own "flesh and blood" and it made for a huge change in carolyn's personality.carolyn's scenes with julia during this period are among my all-time favorites.[/spoiler]

another topic got me thinking.

barnabas inarguably became the show's trademark character.the juggernaut behind how this whole thing has been packaged and marketed since his introduction to the world in 1967.

he's the focus character.but not necessarily the focus for everyone who watches the show.as was discussed on another topic some here like the show equally when barnabas isn't a vampire,or when the character disappears for periods of time,or even when he's not around at all.the other characters are of equal importance.

quentin eventually joins barnabas in "icon status" and the whole show revolves around them in some way.
now i like barnabas and he becomes the glue that holds this whole unweildy thing together but he's not the be-all-and-end-all for me.the same thing goes for quentin.

in fact i think i always watch the show with the female characters as my focus.i'm not sure why but i find them more compelling.am i in the minority totally here?

not that i can't appreciate the considerable charms of joe haskell or chris jennings or willie loomis but...

...vicki,elizabeth,carolyn,maggie,mrs.johnson,julia,laura,angelique.those are the girls that really pique my attention.when they're onscreen i'm usually riveted.even relatively minor characters like buffie harrington and hannah stokes hold my attention(those wild orhbach's rags don't hurt either).

i remember when i was watching the 1897 storyline and when jenny and laura were gone and joan bennett and kathryn leigh scott went on their extended vacations for awhile the story focused primarily on barnabas,quentin,aristede and petofi.i think in a few episodes only male characters appeared.this got really boring for me.

as soon as joan or alexandra or nancy or clarice walk into a scene i get the warm and fuzzies.

does anyone else have any preference for the male or female characters?or are all of them of equal importance?

jason(to himself):"she expects us to believe that thing is real???good god it looks like she has a tarantula pinned onto the back of her head!"

another intersting thing about parallel time(apart from it being a parallel time)is that in alot of ways it seems more "normal" than real time collinwood.

apart from angelique(and barnabas when he shows up)the family doesn't seem to have been plagued by centuries of supernatural shenanigans.no vampires chained in coffins,pheonixs' on the 100 year cycle or werewolves on the prowl.since angelique had only married into the family perhaps a dozen or so years earlier(judging from daniel's age)was the collins family in this time band essentially free of curses?

the familie's finanaces seem to have been in better order here too.where as real time collinwood is rather frowsy and threadbare here it is,i believe i'm quoting someone here,"bright and flowery and well ordered".there is apparently a full staff.besides hoffman and stokes there is talk of unseen chambermaids,gardeners and cooks.interestingly this was the only time period on the show that didn't have a governess of some sort.i do wish they had explained why elizabeth and roger had been the "poor relations".those characters needed a better backstory.

i thought that the chris and amy collins characters were totally unnessesary.i wonder if they were just finishing out don briscoe and denise nickerson's contracts?

i re-watched a few episodes and i was reminded of how forced and contrived the whole barnabas and roxanne thing was.i didn't buy it for a second.i think the writer knew that the barnabas/josette thing was played out and hoped viewers would go for this.

robert rodan:"joan..nancy...i know it's an idiotic storyline.but i'm just the hired gun."