Laura Collins? (Possible Spoilers)

[AndreDuPres]

I've been watching the Laura plot in 1897, and I've been wondering about her past.  Jamison, Nora, Quentin, and even Edward all have remarked that Laura seems "different" and/or "changed"--was she always a phoenix or did she somehow become possessed/transformed into one in that fire in Alexandria?  I haven't seen the original 1966 Laura storyline, so I don't if this has been addressed before.

[PennyDreadful]

 I have a feeling she doesn't actually realize she's a phoenix until after she dies and is reborn in the flames.  Something must happen to her after she dies where she becomes the phoenix and is given a full awareness of her supernatural status.  It's really open to speculation since we never really see Laura in her pre-Phoenix state in either 1967 or 1897.  All we know is, she marries someone, has children with them and then mysteriously dies.  She later returns - reborn and ready to take her children back into the flames.

~Penny Dreadful~ 

[Satan]

I think Laura should have been a regular character when the show first began so we could understand her more and know how she became a Phoenix. I like the character of Laura, but she never had any time to grow as to who she really was before her Phoenix days.  I also wonder why she always married a Collins? Could there be a Phoenix curse on the Collins? Dan had the potential to a great storyline. He should have wrote more into that and went with it.

[Gothick]

The personality change is, if anything, even more definitively a part of Laura's 1966/67 story--which may be the best-produced of all DS's supernatural storylines.  It's a pity that fans who are waiting for the DVD's will have to wait several years to see these shows, but when you do--you're in for a treat!

G.

[michael c]

i'm with gothick on this one...the 1966 laura collins story is awsome!very near close to being my favorite storyline so far.

andre,it sounds like you're watching the dvds and these episodes won't be out for awhile but if you feel like investing in a few old-fashioned videos they're worth it.

i'm very excited to see laura's return in 1897.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I also wonder why she always married a Collins?

Laura did marry three Collins men that we know of: Roger, Edward and Jeremiah (though that marriage still makes no sense to me). However, we also know that she married a man named Stockbridge in the 18th century and a man named Radcliffe in the 19th century.

[Satan]

Stockbridge wasn't her maiden name? I always assumed it was.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

When it comes to Stockbridge things do get a bit tricky. During the 1967 Laura storyline we learned that all three Lauras' maiden name was Murdoch. There was the present day Laura Murdoch Collins, who married Roger, Laura Murdoch Radcliffe, who died by fire in 1867, and Laura Murdoch Stockbridge, who, surprise , also died by fire in 1767. But during the 1897 storyline the writers seemed to forget about all that history (as well as the idea that the Lauras supposedly die by fire at 100 year intervals) and there's also a Laura Stockbridge Collins (Jeremiah's wife?), whose spirit is summoned up by Barnabas. It's never actually made clear if she's a completely different incarnation of Laura or merely Laura Murdoch Stockbridge going by her married rather than her maiden name.  :-

[AndreDuPres]

Yes, I am watching the show entirely on DVD now that it's no longer on TV.  I think I'll wait until MPI starts releasing the pre-Barnabas episodes on DVD, and then I'll get them.  I hope they're worth the wait.  Overall, I'm sort of disappointed with the Laura 1897 storyline:  I *loved* her opening scenes with Quentin and Edward and the Angelique Doppleganger part, but the whole thing seemed sort of rushed and "false."  I'm thinking the earlier Laura story is much longer and better done--in 1897 you KNOW she's a supernatural creature right then and there--there's no suspense about it.

[D_Friedlander]

Laura did marry three Collins men that we know of: Roger, Edward and Jeremiah (though that marriage still makes no sense to me).

I think they just stuck that Jeremiah marriage in there so they could have an excuse for Barnabas to say "I knew Laura way back when" and play hero. Which was unnecessary in one way, because you knew Jamison survived to be the father of Elizabeth and Roger, though they never made it clear when or how Nora was supposed to have died.  For that matter, they never made it clear what her survival changed (unless they were saving that for a future plotline), except, maybe, a girl offspring was more likely to actually become a phoenix than a boy?

owever, we also know that she married a man named Stockbridge in the 18th century and a man named Radcliffe in the 19th century.

And in the same general area, too!  The Murdoch "girls" must have passed as cousins or aunts and nieces, like the "cousins from England" who kept naming their "sons" Barnabas.
(P.S. I also preferred the 1967 version of Laura.)