"Dress Me in Dark Dreams" and "The Eternal Actress" are both up for the Scribe Award at the San Diego Comic Con. Both plays are discounted this weekend.  Big Finish is will win the award, but DS might not. They are competing against a Doctor Who title.
http://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/scribe-awards-offer

No problem!

one almost never, ever hears anyone being remotely critical of the audiodramas because of their original cast association.

One thing that has to be said about the audio dramas, they have attracted a following of fans who've never seen the original show. Go to the Big Finish site and read the posts. You don't hear about people saying I never watched DS but I read the Ross novels or the Gold Key comics. I'm not sure about the current comic series. I'm sure the Vampirella crossover was bought by a large number of people who didn't care about DS.

When I went to the festivals though, I'd hear quite a few people criticizing the CDs. Some buy them simply to have them, something I fail to understand.

it was never revealed, on the series, who Vicki's parents were. that's really the beginning and end of it.

Well..that's one way to look at it...but you don't own the rights, so really that's just an opinion. The actual beginning and end of it is, RTC exists, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. Unlike other types of media before it, RTC fits into the continuity, it has the original actors reprising their roles, and it's licensed.  So I don't see the problem.  It's an official continuation of the show, that's really the beginning and end of it. The only question is whether or not a person wants to listen to it. If you don't that's fine, but for those of us who do, we have our answer.

I loved Resolutions in Time a standalone novel he wrote in the early 80s.

no matter how many times it's "officially" sanctioned RTC was just a festival skit.

unfortunately because it never actually took place onscreen none of those questions can ever definitively be "answered".

That's an interesting opinion, and you are entitled to it. However, since the cast was officially reunited to do a licensed full cast audio production, I consider it to be canon.  You and I can argue until the cows come home (whenever that is) but in the end neither of us decides that, and the powers that be proablably don't care. But calling Return to Collinwood is certainly more than a "skit".  It's a decently written(but not up to the level of the Big Finish stories), well acted, professionally produced audio drama. Like the rest of Big Finish, it's reasonably consistent with the original series. Any continuity gaffes are less appallng than what they got away with on the show. But as I said, in the end, it's all a matter of opinion because I don't hear anyone at Dan Curtis Productions making statements about what's canon and what's not.

(people )seemed to be under the impression the quentin character would be on the canvas as if that would make any sense.

I can understand why people who saw the original series in the 60s would focus on Quentin as an integral part of DS. I too wondered where Quentin was when I saw it in syndication in '76.  My memories of the original airings were of Barnabas and Quentin. I had a Quentin postcard a friend had given me; he had a double.  I was reading the Ross novels  which were about Barnabas, Quentin, and the Scooby Doo Villain of the Month.  The Gold Key comic only regularly featured 7 characters from the show; Quentin was one of them.  Frid was not available for NODS..who did they call to fill the lead? Many of the original fans were not watching from the beginning and a huge number came in after Quentin was on the show. Every time period from 1897 on featured a Quentin.  I wondered why he was not in HODS.  He's much more prominent probably, in the minds of people who saw it in the original run. Those who watched later would see Vicky (and eventually Barnabas) as the focus of the first half of the show and Barnabas  and Quentin in the second. 

I think I recall something about the producer hoping to arrange for a DVD release. I doubt anything is certain yet.