If Phyllis had shown even the slightest intrest in Barnabas, she would have been doomed. 

I remember at the time thinking unfavorably that they were going back in time again and then hoping that they's get back to the present and then we got another parallel time.  I  now think that once Sam Hall and Company took over that they didn't know or care much about the original characters and story and the investment that the audience had in them.   That being said, I did like the Catherine and Branwell story but not so much the cursed room. 

I think that the whole purpose of Vickie's trip to the past was to play out Barnabas' story; therefore, even though she tried to change events she could not.  It wasn't until the Quentin storyline  that the writers came up with the idea of the heroic Barnabas changing the past to save David.   Then of course, they repeated that theme over and over.