On Being on Dark Shadows From The Very Beginning ToThe Very End

[Bob_the_Bartender]

How many times could the contemporary Collins family be threatened by some malevolent supernatural force?  First, we saw the bad ghost of Quentin Collins menacing the Collins family, then we saw the Leviathans plotting to overtake the world, and, finally, came the evil spirit Gerard "The Sneer" Stiles (a/k/a warlock Judah Zachary) out to destroy the Collinses once and for all. 

What would have been next, the truly terrifying prospect of the entire Kardashian family moving in right next to the Collinwood estate!?!

[Uncle Roger]

Absolutely! Ironic that one of the things that made DS unique led to its ultimate downfall. With all the zigzagging all over the different time periods, it was nearly impossible to form any sort of real emotional attachment to characters that might not be around long.

The David/Hallie story is just out of touch with reality on any level. The kids are really  too old for a governess and much too old for that playroom. Teenagers have been sneaking off forever and are usually acting on raging hormones.  This is never even considered, not even by Carolyn, who did her share of acting out.

It might have been wiser to send David off to college and have him come back older,  possibly played by a new actor. Perhaps even with a fiancée or wife with a few family secrets of her own.

[michael c]

lore has it that had the story returned to "the present" Kate Jackson (as who exactly??? Daphne?) would replace KLS as Collinwood governess...

my take has been governess to whom??? David was gone (and by this point would have been FAR too old for a governess anyways) and had Hallie stayed on she too would have been well into her teenage years and, again, much too old for a governess.

the series cancellation worked out for Jackson probably more than anyone. if it had continued and she been glued to the show via contract for several more years she might not have gone on to greater television stardom in the 70s.

[Gerard]

If the show had been continued in the present, it certainly would've made sense to state that David had been sent off, maybe to an exclusive boarding school.  He was still a bit too young for college, but having him attend a British boarding high school would've worked.  I imagine Hallie would've hung around and they would've found something for her to do since they needed a younger character.  Of course, it would've been utterly ridiculous for her to have a governess.  She could've attended Collinsport High.  Kate Jackson, if she stayed on, could maybe have been one of her teachers.

Gerard

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If they were really determined to have Kate Jackson play a governess at Collinwood, they could have introduced a new young character who would be living at Collinwood. Who knows who and how he/she would come to be there? And I suppose we'll never know if that was the plan...

[Uncle Roger]

The other story that went around is that the Kate Jackson character would be a secretary/companion to Elizabeth,  similar to Daphne Budd in HODS. I seem to remember the name Tracy Harridge being mentioned.

And Diana Millay said that she  would have come back as Laura.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And Diana Millay said that she  would have come back as Laura.

I've always found that fascinating. She has said that she would only play Laura, so who knows how Laura would have fit into things? 

[MagnusTrask]

I just don't understand anyone's preference for the "present" in DS.  I think they felt obligated to return to the present, but were saddled with a dull set of regular characters, the people at Collinwood, who had to be pushed off to the side and treated as one collective damsel-in-distress to be protected by Barnajulia.

I don't understand sitting through 1968, Leviathans, and PT, and present 1970 again after 1995, and not being extremely relieved and energized by the transition to 1840.  The fact that loose ends were forgotten or messed up doesn't affect the story up until those mistakes were made. 

[Uncle Roger]

Me too, MB! In retrospect, I wonder if that was a genuine plan for the show or another of Diana's somewhat fluid interpretation of the truth.

[michael c]

I just don't understand anyone's preference for the "present" in DS.  I think they felt obligated to return to the present, but were saddled with a dull set of regular characters, the people at Collinwood, who had to be pushed off to the side and treated as one collective damsel-in-distress to be protected by Barnajulia.

I don't understand sitting through 1968, Leviathans, and PT, and present 1970 again after 1995, and not being extremely relieved and energized by the transition to 1840.  The fact that loose ends were forgotten or messed up doesn't affect the story up until those mistakes were made.

the show was launched and set primarily in "the present". that was the setting, situations and group of characters the audience got to know best and invest emotionally in. as opposed to various random bunches of "time travel" characters that would all end up being killed off after three months.

what don't you "understand"???

[Bob_the_Bartender]

The way that Dan Curtis and the DS writers interspersed the time travel periods on the show with the contemporary story lines afforded the actors the opportunity to portray other characters, and remain fresh in their performances.  I believe that KLS once said that she particularly enjoyed portraying other characters in the various time periods, and not just having to portray Maggie Evans all of the time. Besides, it would have become extremely tiresome to see one current day catastrophe immediately after the other on the show for nearly four and a half years.

One criticism I've had about the 1897 story line, however, the longest time travel story line on DS, is how DC and the writers ended the story, seemingly, so abruptly.  I don't believe we ever got to learn what happened to the irrepressible Magda Racosi or to the stuff-shirted Edward or to the shrewish and miserly Judith Collins-Trask for that matter.   After nearly nine months, we never got to see what happened to these remaining 1897 era characters, who were always compelling, charming and, at times, even exasperating. 

As to Maggie's future with the Collins family, DS writer Dale Clark, in his series of superb DS novels, suggested that Maggie became Mrs. Stoddard's personal assistant/aide after David obviously became too old to have a governess anymore.  (I think that Dale also suggested that the unfailingly jittery Hallie Stokes left during 1970 to attend a high school somewhere out of Maine.)


Alas, we'll never know what might have happened at current day Collinwood after April of 1971.

[DarkLady]

I have my own theories about what happened to some of the 1897 characters, but it's pure speculation on my part.

[MagnusTrask]

what don't you "understand"???

Just what I said.  The present was dull, after the good stretch of the original 1967 Barnabas story.  I think the "present" was necessary to anchor everything happening in the past, and give us reason to care about it (with Barnabas being on a mission to help present day characters), but returning to the present always feels like defeat, and going into the past always feels like getting to play in a toy store.  The show wakes up.  Some of those present day characters were people I could invest emotion in at first, in 1966 and 1967, but they were made bland and dull later.  And it was one problematic present day storyline after another.  And early 1840 was full of great stuff.  Summer 1970 going into 1840 has to be a relief...

[Gerard]

In my version of "if DS had continued" (which I sent to some of you), because of the massive altercation of history by Barnabas/Julia/Eliot, the present would not exist.  The three would've returned to a "present" with a totally different family.  Everyone they knew and loved would be gone.  How could or would they restore it?  That was a part of my "if DS had continued."

Gerard

[michael c]

magnus,

at the end of the day you really can't "explain" a personal preference. it just is what it is.


I enjoy the "present time" episodes. but I see you're going to "prove me wrong".