3 Trasks

SPOILERS....

Hi everyone! In thinking to the 3 Trasks of the Dark Shadows series (The Reverand, Lamar, and Gregory), who do think was the best villian? The Reverand (did they ever say his first name) was, of course, a pastor/witchhunter, Lamar was a mortician/witchhunter, and Gregory was the headmaster of Worthington Hall.

I always hated Lamar the most because he was the exact replica of his father, a fanatic. Also, he was the one who killed Angelique.

Personally, I thought the Trasks were the best villians on the show. All three were such hypocrites. What are everyone else's thoughts on these characters?

-Lindsey

i hated Gregory the most beacuse he killed his wife
and framed someone else! i felt he was the most evil!
The Rev was just a fanatic and I feel truly believed he was doing the right thing! lamar killed Angelique in the heat of the moment where Gregory plotted things to make himself rich and was a cold blooded killer! They were great but i liked Nickolas and Count P too as great villians![evilb]
great question!

jennifer

Gregory tops my list as the bottom of the barrel.  I've always felt that the human villains on this show were more threatening and more horrifying than any of the proper creatures of the night, and Gregory possesses the worst qualities of any character that I've seen on this show.  

While Rev. Trask I (perhaps he, like Sheriff Davenport, had parents with no creativity in the name department but plenty of plans for their son's future career) was cold and hypocritical, not above manipulating justice to get his way, he did believe that he was serving the will of God.  Lamar, I suppose, had a reason to feel bitter (after his father's strange disappearance) and to act the way that he did.  Personally I liked him more and felt that he was a better character when he was merely a self-righteous undertaker than when he fell into the familiar witch-hunter pattern.  However, Gregory was motivated solely by his own greed.  Murder, attempted murder, child abuse, and who knows what else--his crimes were committed without remorse.  As a reverend, he was supposed to be a man of goodness, but subverted his position in the worst ways.  Moreover, he just plain gave me the creeps in his looks and attitude.

ProfStokes

I'd rated them :
#1 worst- Gregory Trask.
Had his wife killed with Evan's black magic using an innocent person. Was cruel to anyone in his care,
including children! Drove Judith crazy, again using
Evan's evil magic. He pretended to be so holy too.
He was a rotten father. And liar.

#2 rotten-Rev. Trask persecuted innocent people as
witches. Pretended to be man of god when he was
really evil and just out for himself.

#3 awful-Lamar Trask. I've only seen bits and pieces
of this story line. But I know he did kill Angelique.

(I'm adding in a 4th Trask.)

#4 bad-PT Trask- To tell the truth I haven't seen all
this story line. All I know about him is he was most
likely a killer.

The Rev was just a fanatic and I feel truly believed he was doing the right thing!

Hmmmmm.  Jennifer, I'm afraid I have to disagree.  I think that a man who mindlessly persecutes innocent women he doesn't even know is more dangerous than a man who kills a specific woman for a specific reason and frames someone else to save his own hide.

I know this has nothing to do with Dark Shadows in the 60's, but we're here discussing it in 2002......I think religious fanatics are the most dangerous people on earth.....but then, dozens of people I love (including my husband) were at work in Manhattan on 9/11.

As far as the 3 Trasks go....The Reverend is the only one I've ever seen in action....but Jerry Lacy is brilliant in the role, that's for sure.

Raineypark

Without a doubt I thought Gregory in 1897 made the best villain. He was much more multi-dimensional than the other Trasks, and I agree with what ProfStokes has already written on this subject.

(SPOILERS)






One of my favorite scenes with him was when he met Amanda Harris. You might recall that Tim was trying to set Trask up and used Amanda as bait. She went to Gregory under the pretense of needing some "soul" saving. The way he leered at her was priceless. We never saw the other two Trasks acting so overtly sexual. Maybe The Rev. in 1795 and Lamar got off on their power trips but they didn't openly ogle the ladies with such obvious lacivious intent.

Jerry Lacy was a terrific talent in all three roles.

One of my favorite scenes with him was when he met Amanda Harris. You might recall that Tim was trying to set Trask up and used Amanda as bait. She went to Gregory under the pretense of needing some "soul" saving. The way he leered at her was priceless. We never saw the other two Trasks acting so overtly sexual. Maybe The Rev. in 1795 and Lamar got off on their power trips but they didn't openly ogle the ladies with such obvious lacivious intent.

Jerry Lacy was a terrific talent in all three roles.

It's because the Rvd. Trask "didnt understand physical love," just as Joshua wasn't "a sentimental man."   LOL

Jerry Lacy is one of my fav actors, though. I haaaated him as Trask in 1840, but I loooove him as Tony right now.  

By all means, Gregory.

Gerard

Hmmmmm.  Jennifer, I'm afraid I have to disagree.  I think that a man who mindlessly persecutes innocent women he doesn't even know is more dangerous than a man who kills a specific woman for a specific reason and frames someone else to save his own hide.

I know this has nothing to do with Dark Shadows in the 60's, but we're here discussing it in 2002......I think religious fanatics are the most dangerous people on earth.....but then, dozens of people I love (including my husband) were at work in Manhattan on 9/11.

As far as the 3 Trasks go....The Reverend is the only one I've ever seen in action....but Jerry Lacy is brilliant in the role, that's for sure.

Raineypark

I don't know Rainey i don't like religious fantics either
but he felt she was quilty ! wait till you see Gregory
as Prof Stokes so elegantly puts it!

sorry to hear your husband was in danger those pieces of crude came into my townand started their despisable acts here on a flight that my father sometimes takes
i know they claim to be doing it for Allah but hope they are all burning in hell

jennifer

Good topic!

For me, it's kind of a toss up between Gregory & The so called Reverend Trask. Both were hypocritical as far as I could see. I would have been a little more leniant towards the Reverend, (as a few people here have pointed out that he felt what he was doing was right) - BUT, the fact that he had that lying, blackmail thing going with Lt.Forbes, changed my mind on that.  Taking advantage of another man's weakness', such as greed, power, position, and then using them to his own advantage, was more like something the devil himself would do. Doing this only leads me to wonder just how sure Trask actually was in believing that Victoria Winters was the real witch, for a truly confident man would never have had to lower himself to resort to blackmail & lies.

Gregory Trask didn't fare any better either. He lowered himself by indulging in black magic with Evan Hanley, then has an innocent man kill his own wife just so he could marry Judith out of greed. After that he drives her crazy enough to have her committed to an asylum for awhile, while he's sitting home at Collinwood living in luxury, and all the while trying to chase after young women, such as Rachel Drummond & Amanda Harris and Lord knows how many other young women out there. He was especially cruel to the children in his school so child abuse was definetely up there on his list. What a guy!! After awhile he even made Evan Hanley look like a saint!

As far as Lamar Trask goes, I really don't remember much about his character, except that he killed Angelique, and that he had feelings for Roxanne.  

All in all, I felt that Jerry Lacy did a great job in portraying all three of them.

The only good Trask is a DEAD Trask!

That being said, I'd have to vote for Gregory as the most despicable of the Trasks.  I believe him guilty of sexual child abuse (God knows what he made Rachel do both as a child and adult), wife killing, duplicity and possibly even incest with daughter Charity.  There was something about their relationship that made me feel slimy all over.  I felt better about her vampire-victim relationship with Barnabas, to tell the truth!  He utilized black magic, forced Tim to kill, lusted for young women (his open lasciviousness for Amanda and Rachel was almost comical, but very effective), and ensconsed himself at Collinwood after making Judith insane.  What she does to him at the end of 1897 is one of my favorite comeuppances!

Love, Robin