Well, I still think Quentin is the key here. And since he never really had a great storyline after 1897, this one could have put him front and center. Considering he already spent time in Egypt in 1897 and he was, at that time, something of a cad -- it would seem natural that some misbehavior from his past has finally caught up with him. I'd suggest that he brought home a boatload of middle-eastern artifacts (mostly plundered) and put them in storage somewhere on the estate back in 1897. Present-day Quentin needs some money for something, so he enlists the help of Professor Stokes to put some of the treasure on the market. Then the story begins. . .
I wouldn't want to see a bunch of new characters coming in to play out this storyline (ala the Leviathans), I think -- to the degree possible, it should involve the Collins family and perhaps Professor Stokes. They could probably get by with two or perhaps three new characters -- the mummy him/herself, someone of Egyptin decent who arrives in Collinsport looking for the antiquities, and perhaps a femme-fatale (good or evil, as the storyline dictates). As I said in a earlier post, maybe Laura Collins could be part of this story too.
And as someone else posted, I think they'd need to get the mummy out of those bandages as soon as possible. One or two walks through the woods in full mummy regalia early in the storyline would be enough of that. And then again, near the story's climax. The logistics of having a fully bandaged mummy walking around a small town would quuickly become laughable.
Still, I have concerns that this storyline would come across like the Leviathan story, unless steps were taken to assure that it didn't. TPTB would need to have learned from their mistakes. Dark Shadows' best storylines came from "within" the show -- usually from within the Collins famliy. Those storylines based on outsiders (and there were thankfully few), seemed to be the ones that failed -- or at least the ones that I didn't like.
Just some thoughts.
