Parallel Time

[BuzzH]

Well, so far I'm liking this plotline too.  A few thoughts:  Quentin is an ass, don't like him at all!  Talk about a petulant temper meister!  All he does is yell and scream, not at all the charming Quentin of RT.  Even though I *am* enjoying this plotline, I must say, w/the exception of Alexis, I don't really care what happens to anyone.  I do feel bad that [spoiler]Alexis will eventually be killed by Angelique.[/spoiler]I guess that will change as the plotline goes on, but knowing these ppl have no connection to OUR Collins clan, it's hard to care.  At least when they go back in time we're talking about ancestors to our cousins. 

[Gothick]

I love the setup of Parallel Time--the new look of the sets and costumes, the initial scripts with all those juicy scenes, Hoffman's scheming froideur, Roger's bitchy zingers, a bitter, cynical Carolyn, a dowdy and regretful Liz.  Alexis is a great character, too.  I do agree with you that neither Quentin nor Maggie (in my opinion) starts out garnering much sympathy from me, and by about two thirds of the way through, I don't care a toss what happens to either of them.  [spoiler]There are some fabulous characters introduced later on, notably Aunt Hannah portrayed by the wonderful Paula Laurence, who more or less covers Grayson Hall's disappearance from the storyline during the period when they were filming the movie, and deliiciously sleazy low-life, mad scientist/occultist Tim Stokes--Thayer David at his most magnificently seedy.  I think Thayer had some of his best scenes in all of DS during the final weeks of PT.[/spoiler]

I hope you continue to find something to enjoy in this storyline.  I think of it as something of a romp for the actors and, in some ways, for the writers as well.

G.

[Barnabas'sBride]

I guess that will change as the plotline goes on, but knowing these ppl have no connection to OUR Collins clan, it's hard to care. 

This is probably my first problem with parallel time. I couldn't care less about what happens to any of the people in it. But I also think I feel that way because I find them all uninteresting....I see parallel time as a lost opportunity. I prefer real time and wished they would've stayed there, but parallel time could've been used to tell a more creative "what if" story, IMHO. Instead we get Angelique, who, yet again, can't get a man without spells and manipulation (they just replaced Barnabas with Quentin) - and Maggie, the victim. The only two parallel time characters I find remotely interesting are Will and Carolyn, and they're not in it long enough to matter.

I have to say, despite my dislike for the Adam and Leviathan storylines, I prefer them both to parallel time, because at least the familiar favorite characters are there, even if many of them are used poorly. I'm much more invested in them.

If they had to go into PT, I'd prefer it if they had taken it in a different direction - say, show what it would've been like if Barnabas hadn't been released. You could have had Willie & Jason and possibly Burke & Victoria, and Julia as the hardnosed doctor who never had a vampire to soften her up. Maggie could've remained the wisecracking waitress.The Collins family could've been front and center again, and you could place Barnabas in the middle of that and have different things occur than what did in regular time.

[BuzzH]

This is probably my first problem with parallel time. I couldn't care less about what happens to any of the people in it.

Funny thing is, although, so far, I don't care about the PT characters in 1970, I *did* care a *lot* about the 1841 PT plotline!  Figure that one out folks, LOL!  

[michael c]

much like leviathan 1970pt was a late storyline i was fully prepared to dislike but ended up getting a kick out of anyways.

while i didn't "care" about the characters in the same way i do about their real time counterparts the fact that they were played by familiar faces gave me enough to hold my attention(at least after the filming of the movie was complete and the main cast returned to the storyline).

the whole cyrus/yeager thing was a snooze for me.liz,roger and carolyn went underused(again,the movie)and quentin and maggie were as annoying as hell.

but i did think that lara parker was given a great opportunity here.her scenes with grayson hall both as hoffman and rt.julia crackled.i also liked her scenes with kls.her few scenes with louis edmonds brought roger and cassandra to mind.those two had interesting chemistry.i also enjoyed the buffie harrington and hannah stokes characters alot too.when nancy barrett returned to the storyline her final episodes were amazing.

[spoiler]as much as i didn't care for sabrina stuart in general i found her fate to be sad and unfair.she's really one of the show's ultimate victims[/spoiler]

flawed to be sure...i really did want more of the main cast...but i enjoyed it in the end.

[MagnusTrask]

Buzz... as they increasingly just ditch reality for another reality, it does become more difficult to care.     Every time they had difficulty coming up with ideas toward they end, they just wiped the slate clean, and started over.   When you're presented with too many alternate realities, your ability to suspend disbelief gets interefered with.   That's my memory of the late days of DS, from childhood.     I couldn't keep track of whatever reality it was supposed to be at any given moment, and no one seemed "real"... only potential alternative people, not real people.

That means they viewed the history of the RT characters as something holding them back.     Shaking everything up by creating a new reality is something that might have appealed to tired producers and writers "on paper", but I don't think it helped.    Then you have to still exhibit imagination and come up with fresh stories.   I think the history is something that should and could have been exploited.    It didn't hold them back.   They would have had to violate the "stability" of characters' RT lives, maybe kill someone off occasionally, but that's not the worst thing in the world.

[jennifer]

i don't know buzz the whole concept of PT annoys me anyway (hey what if my PT
counterpart has a much better life LOL)but i hated Quentin in 1970PT wished
Maggie just left and took him for his money

jennifer
Hoffman was good though

[BuzzH]

More thoughts: So far I like Trask, it's refreshing to see a Trask character that, so far, is not an ass.  Hope he stays that way.  I think Buffie is AWESOME!  Realy like her.  Also like Hannah Stokes.  Too bad these characters/actress's didn't show up in RT.  I know that Elizabeth Eis briefly appeared in Leviathan, but her character there sucked.

I like the sets too-Cyrus' lab is too cool and like Buffie's room too--like that her bed is inside the window box w/the curtains there so she could, if she wanted, close them up and have a Ebenezor Scrooge bed.    Bruno is still a pimp w/the clothes too.  

[spoiler]Angelique has just killed Alexis so that's sad, I really liked Alexis and feel bad for her.  It was like, for me, RT Angelique killing PT Catherine (1841).  Didn't like it.[/spoiler]

Looks like the movie shoot in almost over as some ppl seem to be drifting back, first David Hennesy and then Barnabas, Will and Carolyn.  [spoiler]Wish though that Barnabas could have met Alexis before she met her fate[/spoiler]  Oh well...

So far I like the Cyrus/Yeager stuff too.  Find it interesting that when they bill Pennock though, he's Christoper when he's Cyrus, and Chris when he's Yeager.  Wonder why they did that...

[AndreDuPres]

I LOVE Parallel Time 1970!  It's one of my favourite plots on the show--maybe because Lara Parker is in it so much.  Anyway, I think she did a superlative job with the PT Angelique character, quite different from her real time counter part and much more frigid.  The end of the "dinner party" episodes, [spoiler]when Maggie is almost driven to suicide as Angelique's face appears in her portrait via chromakey,[/spoiler] is a particularly effective and creepy scene.

[BuzzH]

quite different from her real time counter part and much more frigid.

I haven't yet personally seen much of PT Angelique, but watching the DS Addict's videos and seeing the 'promo' one for PT, that Angie definately seems a lot angrier than our own RT Angie.  A different take on the character I suppose. 

[Gothick]

I thought that PT Angelique was a psychotic sociopath, full stop.  And, clumsy as Cass/Angelique often was in her spellcraft, PT Angelique's spells had all the finesse and control of a chainsaw on acid.

I didn't really get that PT Angelique was angrier; just completely out to lunch.  I wish [spoiler]they had done more with the storyline that hinted that Hoffman and Ang had been lovers at one time.  There were several hints about that during the first week of PT shows, but it was dropped when everybody came back from making the movie; probably because they realized they would never be able to get anything more explicit past the network's censors.

I thought it was interesting that in our time, Julia Hoffman fell in love with Barnabas and more or less helped him redeem his humanity.  The result of PT's Hoffman's love for Angelique went in the opposite direction--if anything, Hoffman encouraged Angelique to indulge her own monstrous ego and swollen vanity to excess.  There was one scene in the later part of the storyline where this is shown more or less explicitly, but I don't think you have gotten there yet, Buzz.[/spoiler]

G. 

[Misa]

Quentin in Parallel Time was not an interesting character, and I just didn't like it that they kept having David Selby play all of these different characters who were all named Quentin.

I think that Parallel Time would have been more fun if they had done it with our Quentin going through, instead of Barnabas. This would have given Jonathan the time he needed to be in the movie.

I also would have preferred that Angelique [spoiler]have used Alexis' lifeforce, instead of Roxanne's.[/spoiler]They could have used Donna W. as our time Willie's Roxanne then, or they could have used Elizabeth Eis for Willie's Roxanne. I know I never cared for Barnabas falling for Roxanne.

Anyway, I wish they had stayed in normal time too, and forgot about Parallel Time. Also wish they had, had David Selby play Quentin, our Quentin, and not all of the wierd, boring Quentins.

Misa

[Misa]

Just got to thinking about Angelique/Alexis, and having Alexis used as the lifeforce again, it could have been interesting to have had Barnabas fall for her. At least this would have made more sense then having him fall for Roxanne.

They could have Barnabas meet Alexis, and fall in love with her. Then "Alexis" would have to pretend to be in love with him. This would explain his wanting to save the lifeforce much better. His falling in Love with Roxanne, just because she was pretty was really lame! There are lots of pretty girls out there, is he so simple that he falls in love with women just because of the way they look? He knew nothing about Roxanne, she could have been very undesirable for all he knew. Maybe she was a prostitute.

Anyway, as I said, they should have introduced some of these characters into regular time, and forgotten about Parallel Time.

I also think that if they wanted to do the Gerard Stiles ghost story, they should not have gone back to 1840. This was already done in the Quentin ghost story. They should have had the ghost story scarier, and had the RT cast perform a successful exorcism. At least that would have been different.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

There are lots of pretty girls out there, is he so simple that he falls in love with women just because of the way they look?

That IS a rhetorical question, right? 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I LOVE Parallel Time 1970!  It's one of my favourite plots on the show

I love 1970PT too. I find the interactions between the characters (yes, even Quentin and Maggie) to be absolutely fascinating. 1970PT is actually one of the DS storylines that becomes richer with repeated viewings, and I find that my enjoyment of it only increases each time I watch it.

As for PT Quentin, he's a deeply troubled and tortured character. But the thing is that it isn't until almost the very end of the storyline that we fully understand why that is. So, it's only natural upon first viewing to possibly find him boorish and bossy, if not downright insensitive. And, of course, even after the explanation for his behavior is given, it doesn't necessarily mean all of his actions are forgivable - but they are all understandable. And it's really quite interesting on subsequent viewings to see all the hints and clues - as in this scene from Ep #1027 in today's slideshow:

1970: Ep #1027 - Quentin tries to explain to Maggie that he's struggling
very hard to free himself from and to understand 'certain things.'

- that are laid down long before that final explanation for his behavior is revealed.