"have we met somewhere before?"

[michael c]

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?

[arashi]

My guess is when 1795 started up, for the audience, they drew the comparisons so Vicki could go "Mrs. Stoddard!" and Joan Bennett could say "No, I'm Naomi." or something to that effect.

By the time 1840 rolled around time travel was old hat on the show so the audience didn't need to be reminded that "present day" actors also played "past" characters. As for who recognized who later on, my guess would be it was to drive a plot point.

[Brandon Collins]

I agree with arashi. The only reason Julia and Barnabas recognized Gerard, Daphne, and Roxanne was because they had seen the ghosts of the two former in the present, and Roxanne was recognized by Barnabas because she was his love interest at the time.

What's funny about this is that Barnabas and Julia recognize Angelique, no matter what time she is in. With the exception of Cassandra, whom I believe Barnabas suspected was Angelique from the get go, Angelique seemed to be the only one that they recognized in every time period she was in.