The other Barnabas and Julia following PT 1970

[Joeytrom]

I don't think I have ever heard any mention of this in all of the years I have been in DS fandom.

When Barnabas, Julia, & Stokes return to 1971 from 1841, Elizabeth mentions the opening of the "Collinsport Historical Society", which Roger is giving a speech at.  She shows no surprise at seeing the three of them as if they were gone for months and even mentions to them that they know about the making of the CHS!

Apparently there was a Barnabas & Julia who Liz and everyone was seeing following their return from Parallel Time up until their arrival from 1841.  This time, the summer of 1970 to January 1971, everything was peaceful and nothing out of the ordinary happened for the first time in years.

Did B2 & J 2 merge with B1 & J 1 when they returned to the present and then B1 and J1 both lost the memories of Gerard & Daphne altogether, probably soon after?

[MagnusTrask]

Oh, I've brought this up several times over the years.  My idea is that since they change history to what we see on 1971, the existences of the "other" BJ&E predominate, and "our" versions take up those new lives.   I had the thought that soon they might have two sets of memories, the previous timeline and the current one.  This doesn't deal at all with what happens to the "others" physically, whether they merge with ours, or if one set or the other just sort of fade, or perhaps "un-happen".   "Our" trio might be erased retroactively so that no one ever returned from 1841... history was "now" just sort of the way it should have been "all along".

[David]

Sorry folks, it was bad writing! The show was ending, a lot of them wanted out at that point, so they ended 1840 in a senseless manner & didn't care.

[DarkLady]

True, but doesn't Elizabeth look fabulous in that fur coat!

[MagnusTrask]

Sorry folks, it was bad writing! The show was ending, a lot of them wanted out at that point, so they ended 1840 in a senseless manner & didn't care.

David.... when we talk this way, we're not talking about what the intent of the writers was.   We know that they just came up with a passable end and didn't think much beyond that.  We're speaking fictionally, assuming the DS universe to be real, and trying to make sense of it.   To do this we have to go way beyond anything they had in mind at the time.  Fandoms do this...

And I don't think 1840/41 had the worst writing or worst plotting... many other eras are very competitive in this area, including some fan-favorite storylines.    Also, there are bound to be contradictions in time travel stories.   The very idea of time travel and history-changing makes the paradoxes come spilling out....   I think this was a very interesting way of dealing with the return to 1971.    The worst, most thoughtless time stuff happened in 1968 probably, in particular [spoiler]Barnabas's coffin re-acquiring chains and transporting Barnabas back to the present from 1796.[/spoiler]

[Uncle Roger]

I've found this to be one of the most frustrating, exasperating periods in DS history. The only explanation that I've ever been to come up with is that what Barnabas, Julia and Eliot did in 1840 "reset" the present. Elizabeth remembers the reboot (and apparently forgot all about being dead) and only those parts of continuity that still fit. Our three time travelers haven't had a chance to adjust to the new, improved 1971 and still recall the original. Whether they would retain those memories.......

[MagnusTrask]

Liz doesn't remember being dead, because she never was dead.  "Now".

[Lydia]

Sorry folks, it was bad writing! The show was ending, a lot of them wanted out at that point, so they ended 1840 in a senseless manner & didn't care.

At the time at which we saw the time-travelling threesome return to their present time, the show had not been cancelled; the parallel time 1841 storyline was just beginning.  And I don't think it's fair to say the writers "didn't care" after the cancellation had been announced.  They did their best to wrap up the storyline they were in.

The writers tended to be pretty careless about tying up loose ends when a storyline involving time travel concluded.  That's just how Dark Shadows was.  I've never thought about "The other Barnabas and Julia".  In the show I don't think it matters, but it's still an interesting problem.

Liz doesn't remember being dead

That sentence is one of the many reasons to love Dark Shadows.

[tragic bat]

I agree that it was bad writing, especailly since Barnabas had I-ching'd into his coffin as a vampire but walked back into the present cured via the stairway through time.  There are consequences to things like that. Ever since they returned from 1995, the show was really all over the place, and definitely 'jumped the shark' in my assertive opinion. 

[MagnusTrask]

1840 was just another in a string of troubled storylines.   1968 was the first one that's painful to watch, for me.   They all have some DS "thing" that makes them worthwhile, though.

[Patti Feinberg]

That sentence is one of the many reasons to love Dark Shadows.

Lydia...you rock!!

Patti