the witchcraft nonsense in 1840

[Gothick]

For what it's worth, I find each of the Trasks to have some different nuances, I imagine mostly as a result of how Lacy creates each descendant of the original character, that give the different ones more interest than you have found.  My vote for the best of them all is Gregory in 1897.  He had the most developed personality, I thought, and I actually find his comeuppance to be more satisfying than the original Trask's fate at the hands of Barnabas (I realize most fans would disagree here).  I just love Judith's series of phonecalls to her hapless hubby, particularly when she informs him, "now you have all the time you need to meditate." lol!

The 1840 Trask is interesting because he isn't clergy at all--he's been reduced to running a funeral home.  One of my favorite moments is when Samantha is discussing the funeral arrangements for Roxanne and she says that "Lamar Trask" (named after Lara Parker, btw) wanted the honor of delivering the eulogy and it gave Samantha "great satisfaction" to turn him down flat.  Clearly she despises the man.

The alliance that develops between Trask and "Gerard" probably is a case of wearing out the Trask character's welcome.  But it's such fun to watch Lacy chew the scenery that I don't mind.

It's true that a number of characters in 1840 are repeats from the past.  Lazlo, Angelique's companion, is one of them.  I've wondered why we only see him in 2 or 3 episodes.  Perhaps Michael Stroka found more regular work elsewhere?

G.

[michael c]

true,

each storyline gives the character a slightly different setup. in one he runs a school and in one he runs a funeral parlour.

but essentially lacey gives the same broad performance. the seasoned viewer knows exactly what to expect when he first walks onto the set in the new time period. they always represents the same thing. i swear if he uses this expression "in league with the DEVIL!" one more time i'll scream.

incidentally why is a funeral parlour director acting as the prosecuting attorney in a court of law?

[Lydia]

even at it's worst it's still DS which in and of itself has moments of great pleasure.

So true.

Getting back to the original subject...I think it's worth remembering that the Dark Shadows characters do not live in the same universe as the one that we occupy.  In our universe, belief in witchcraft lessened as people learned more about science and about how things actually worked.  In the Dark Shadows universe, witchcraft was part and parcel of how things actually worked.  Anybody who wanted to repeal witchcraft laws might well be viewed by reasonable people as a starry-eyed liberal whose ideas, if carried out, could endanger all of society.  After all, the problem with the witchcraft trials on Dark Shadows was not that witchcraft didn't exist; it was that the wrong person was on trial.

[DarkLady]

We are currently working our way through the Midsomer Murders via Netflix streaming. The one we just watched, "The Straw Woman," takes place in Midsomer Parva, a rural English village where some of the townsfolk believe that one woman is a witch. It is a bit of a stretch, but it was first shown in 2004. So I guess Midsomer Parva has carved out a little corner of the DS universe for itself. 

[Gothick]

That is cool about the Midsomer Murders story, DarkLady.  I might have to track that one down and add it to my own Netflix queue.

And I'm sorry I upset you with my speculation about Tad/Thaddeus.  For what it's worth, I remember Midnite telling me that I was wrong about that, but I can't remember why.  It might have been because of the tombstone you mentioned spotting.

If Tad did marry and father children, we heard nothing about those particular people in the 1897 story.  It could make an interesting premise for fanfic.

G.

[DarkLady]

Thanks, Gothick, no harm done!

Midsomer Murders is currently in its FIFTEENTH (yup) season. We are close to the end of series 7 and still have quite a ways to go. Here's a link to a general site, and here's a list of all the episodes.

Tad's children: Yes, indeed, an interesting fanfic possibility. Perhaps they chose to stay in Europe. But that also makes me wonder where the Civil War Thaddeus came from.

[Midnite]

Aw, Gothick, I can't imagine I would say you were wrong-- only that I've mentioned that when Amy asked David to identify Thaddeus' portrait in the original timeline, Tad hadn't survived beyond 1840.  (I believe David told her that Thaddeus was alive during the Civil War.)  We saw a tombstone for a Jonas Collins who died during the war and was born (I think) in 1840; we weren't shown Thaddeus' grave.

But that also makes me wonder where the Civil War Thaddeus came from.

There's a discussion about Thaddeus that starts at the bottom of p. 3 of this topic...

Re: i'm doing 1840...finally

...and Joeytrom suggested an interesting possiblity on p. 4.

[DarkLady]

Thanks for the tips, Midnite. I went to that thread and found a wealth of possibilities!

[Joeytrom]

I remember that post, time has gone by- five years!

I have said before, that for me, 1840 is in another universe which the staircase sent them to.

1897 was the only time that events as mentioned pre-time travel did actually occur.

[michael c]

gosh i can't believe it's been five years since i started watching this storyline and then put it down.


i strange it took me so long to pick it up again. i guess i mustn't have been enjoying it much then either.

[Midnite]

I went to that thread and found a wealth of possibilities!

Fantastic!

[David]

OK, I got it! 1995, Summer 1970 & 1840 were all set in a third parallel time--so when they went back to 1971, there were FINALLY back in there own time where none of this ever happened. Now to write an audio drama for Big Finish to establish this as canon.

[admin note: the notion of the Big Finish dramas as canon is now being discussed in its own topic: "are the big finish dramas canon?"]

[tragic bat]

The problem I see with the Trasks is that even the first time I watched 1897, I thought it absurd that Barnabas simply let Gregory Trask live and cause such harm to the Collins family and others.  By 1840, it's even more ludicrous that Barnabas doesn't just brick him up on first sight, given the obvious and predictable damage he is likely to cause to those Barnabas is (supposedly) there to protect.  It's gotten old, but the characters themselves don't notice that fact, comment on how this all happened before, or inject some sense into the "story."   

[michael c]

i'll add this if i may...

apart from the implausibility of it, and for reasons and i cannot quite put my finder on, the DS witchdraft trials always lack their intended impact.

it was the same story with victoria's trial in 1795. it was the weak link in a very strong storyline. there's always lots of people standing around yelling, jerry lacey in particular, and they're supposed to be the big climactic scenes of the storyline, but somehow they just fall flat.


speaking of victoria i was startled to hear her name mentioned several times during this plot in reference to the 1795 trials. by this point she was so long gone and forgotten it's almost like a hearing a name from another story completely. 1840 is a long way from the hammond foundling home.

[Gothick]

In other news, I agree that the trial scenes in both 1795 and 1840 tend to be a crashing bore, IMNSHO.  I do find the 1840 scenes slightly more watchable because the actors involved are more interesting.  On the other hand, Roger Davis may be absent in 1840, but we still have to do with Addison Powell.

cheers, G.