I read the Ross books but I barely remember any of them.  Wasn't there one where Quentin was disguised as a groovy, "dirty" hippie? 

I saw a copy of THE FOE OF BARNABAS COLLINS in a sandwich shop in Potsdam, NY several years ago and made a note to purchase a copy online at some point, but have never gotten around to it.  The cover photo was a beautifully accomplished shot of Barnabas.  That might have been the one where someone named Christopher Jennings was a coldly eeee-vil schemer out to work mischief on some wretched pouting, fainting ingenue.

G.

Dom I think you're right.  There was maybe one werewolf shot in one of the card series but I think it was meant to be Chris Jennings.  I never saw those cards at all back in the day.  The one with Nicholas is from that.  So I guess there were three gum card series all told; as far as I remember, I only ever saw the series with images from the 1967 Barnabas and Maggie shows, which I had never seen when I collected them.

G.

Grayson got some coverage in 16.  There was a priceless page that showed Grayson Hall at home.  The other soap mags did similar features on her.  Grayson was one of the very few cool middle-aged ladies around in that era.  Mama Cowsill, may she rest in peace, was another.

This is off topic, but for those in my age range--we all remember Mrs. Miller, "the singing Grandmother."  I found a clip on Youtube recently where Mrs. Miller shows up on a teen rock program and the kids go wild for her.  It was hilarious.  Roddy MacDowell played some Phil Spector type producer who had the singing Grandmother summoned to his office to talk about a contract.

It all feels like things that happened in a previous incarnation, at this point...

G.

The fact that more or less every time DS shows up in the mass media (outside of fandom specific sites and fora) we see a photo of Barn baring his fangs does underline the fact that in the minds of the public... it's a vampire show.

A long time ago (maybe as early as the 1970s) I finally figured out that how DS is represented in the mass media and promotional goodies, such as the Gold Key comics and the board games, is very different from the reality of the show's actual content as seen in canon (the aired episodes from 1966 to 1971). 

Even the "Marilyn" Ross novelettes present a picture of the subject matter of the show that is very much at odds with how the actual episodes are written and played.  I well remember when the novel "Barnabas Collins" was published and I bought and was reading it and some version of "who the hell is this guy?" was going through my 11 year old's mind.

G.

It really does seem as if all the best lines were cut from the final edit of this piece.

Many thanks, MB, for your continuing work on this intriguing project.

G.

I loved all the "present day" storylines.  The final one, Summer of 1970, had mythic status for many years in fandom because Worldvision had not released the final year episodes into syndication so everything that happened immediately after the moment when the regular cast were about to return to complete the PT 1970 storyline was known only through the notes and diary entries that fans had saved from the original broadcast in 1970-71. 

The plotting in Summer of 1970 is very jerky but I still think there are some wonderful moments.  To enumerate these would involve SPOILERS but perhaps, if I think of it, I will start a "Summer of 1970" thread to list some favorite scenes. 

One of my favorite moments of all from the period is when Julia confronts Sebastian at the Old House and realizes [spoiler]that he's in love with Maggie.  Grayson plays it all so perfectly, has some great dialogue, and it's a lot of fun to watch Pennock playing off her in the scene.[/spoiler]

Sam Hall's TV guide article suggests one possible plotline that could have been explored had the series done at least one final sequence in 1971.

G.

Doctor and K9, the first season of PD comes to a natural conclusion, but the door is left open for a sequel.  I was actually quite pleased that writer/creator John Logan did NOT go for the wearisomely knee-jerk predictable end of season cliffhanger.

G.