Sad news. My strongest association with Patty Duke is with VALLEY OF THE DOLLS and Anne Wells (portrayed by Barbara Parkins) is so reminiscent of Vicki Winters, to me at least, that I've always considered the movie as somehow connected to the DS Universe.

G.

I think it's all down to several things.  The surviving cast members who are interested or able to attend are really getting on in years.  I was thinking about this and realizing that if what I have read is correct, Lara will be 80 next year.  Sobering but then I myself will be 59.  and I was 10 when I started watching back in 1968. 

Thanks to WorldVision, the series isn't on the air apart from the same small packet of shows periodically run on Decades.  The cult shows that get the marketing are either prominently available such as TZ and Outer Limits, or have more active rebootings such as Trek and the Apes sagas. 

As Michael commented, the marketing angle for DS was always sub-par, at least as far as I am concerned.  The best products in terms of design and flair were the gum cards. What does that tell you?

Hadn't heard about the lunchbox--that could be fun.  Some "Blu Ray" products might have stimulated at least some interest, but home video in physical format is widely regarded as going the way of the dinosaur. I myself am going to hang onto my discs until they are pried from my dead fingers because I don't really trust the "streaming" sites to have the content I want in the way I want it.  but then, I'm antediluvian, at this point.

G.

Hi Patti,

People who knew Danvers well did call her Danny.  Besides Rebecca, this included her forever half-drunk would-be boyfriend (can't recall character's name).  The equivalent of the latter on the DS story is Bruno.

Chris Collins, played by Don Briscoe, was meant to be the estate manager on the PT 1970 grounds, but when Don became ill and had to leave, Cyrus eventually stepped into a role as Quentin's close friend who provided advice or just a friendly ear.

Two adaptations of Rebecca that I think are very much worth watching are one from, I think, the late 70s or early 80s with Jeremy Brett and Anna Massey (as Danvers), and another one from the 1990s with Dame Diana Rigg as Danvers.  The downside of the latter version is that Charles Dance was cast as Maxim but was really too old for the part, unfortunately, though I thought his acting was very good in it.

If I recall correctly, the 1990s version also has Faye Dunaway in a kind of stunt cameo role as the loudly vulgar American plutocrat who is "her" (the heroine's) original employer.

G.

A great scene.  Ange's line to Laura is really quite a put-down.

G.

Good grief.  I hope those fans can afford to hire a good lawyer.

G.

Interesting, Penny!  I wonder if this Penguin has been known to utter such lines as:  "You have betrayed me!"  Or: "You MUST!"  Or:  "Tonight must go nothing wrong!"

curious DS fans are curious.

G.

Damion was one of Angelique's lovers.  She says that fairly directly in a scene I won't otherwise go into because it's a major spoiler.  It's implied in a way that has to remain tactful due to the network standards and practices office that Angelique was sexually insatiable but perhaps emotionally frigid.

I think somebody concocted the whole Damion storyline in an attempt to come up with something for those who were not out on the movie shoot to do.  No doubt when DC returned from the shoot he informed whoever was writing this that Damion had to go.  DC could be quite dictatorial when it came to suddenly "revising" the existing storyline, regardless of how much prep and build-up there had been to certain developments.  The writers always got the blame for this, of course.

G.

Those are fab captures!  You're really making me want to see the movie again.

I was looking at the candles and reflecting that if this scene had been shot for the TV show, they would have come into a room like that, supposedly unused for many years, and found those candles lit and merrily burning.

It's implied of course that Gerard has been meeting Angelique's spirit and may have been doing so in the Tower room.  You have to pay really close attention to figure that out in the film as we have it now.

G.