MB, are you referring to the pilot screenplay (which to be fair, is what an actress interested in the role would have been sent to read), or the final cut as shown at the Festival?  Because in all honesty, I was quite intrigued to see what Julia would do, and I remember her being onscreen all of twice, with maybe four lines at most.  Then again it was ten years ago and my short term memory is ghastly these days--and I don't even recall the Alec Newman scene that's on Youtube from that original screening; just that I thought Newman was really quite exceptional in the role (I preferred him to Ben Cross).

Miss Hu as the good Doctor left no impression upon me at all, favorable or otherwise.

G.

Julia was such a nothing role in the version of the pilot I saw; it's hard to imagine any actress being tempted by a copy of that script. If an actress had seen some episodes of the OS or of, say, hoDS, though, she might have been tempted by those versions of the role.  It's too bad that so far as I can determine, we have no idea at all what TPTB planned for Julia in this iteration.

G.

A fan just posted this charming video tribute featuring stills and screen shots of Joan Bennett and Grayson Hall interspersed with text screens about the lives and careers of each:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOFMaMCxCyE

I thought the "Arabian nights" musical track was a nice touch.

G.

I'm just now finding myself thinking how strange it is that Collinsport had a hospital.  I never thought about this before.  I grew up on a waterfront town (on the Chespeake Bay) and the one hospital in the county was located in our town, so all the births happened there. 

In the original series and in the first episode, from what the old woman tells Vicki on the train, the last thing you would expect to find in Collinsport is a hospital... or medical center of any kind.  Since the college was in Rockport, that is where I would have expected the hospital to have been as well.

Thank you again MB for all the work you're putting in on this.  Just enjoying this so much.

The first sight I recall of Julia in this was [spoiler]a scene involving the discovery of a body; I'm guessing the body of Willie's girlfriend, but I really don't remember just whose body it was.  I don't remember a hospital scene at all.  Maybe towards the very end?  It's all so vague now. [/spoiler]

G.

To fans of the 1991 DS,

I had never heard of this early 1970s film featuring Jean Simmons (Elizabeth Collins Stoddard) as a middle aged woman aggressively courted by a delectably enthusiastic Leonard Whiting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm2DMCPUlkU

I'm wondering if the film was ever distributed in the US...

G.

MB, I would love to see that Julia capture, but it's not showing up for me.  Perhaps it is a browser issue...

I'm glad this episode got bumped because Julia's "repressed hysteric" line is a favorite moment.  And I so want to nudge her and say, "Pot... kettle?"

G.

The first mention of Collinwood comes from Tracy (Kate Jackson) as she and Quentin are driving up to the house... her line is something like, "I can't believe it's really Collinwood!" It's during the title credits sequence I believe.  I still need to see the new DVD...

Angelique was supposedly WRONGLY condemned as a Witch through the connivance of Charles Collins' wife, Laura, and Angelique's own husband, Gabriel.  Both were furious because Angelique was having a blatantly near-public affair with Charles.  The sequence that really establishes the affair is among the material deleted from the release print but recovered by Darren Gross, but (expletive deleted) suits at whoever owns the rights now (I think it's Universal, but don't quote me) refuses to shell out the paltry sum to have the restoration done.

I personally think that the events shown in the film strongly hint that Angelique Collins WAS a Witch, but it is left ambivalent at the close of the story.

In the screenplay, there were hints that Angelique's spirit was being psychically kept active through Carlotta's past life memories.  Towards the end the big reveal is [spoiler]that Quentin, as the reincarnation of Charles, also helps her to establish a foothold in the earth plane.[/spoiler]

It's interesting to note that the names Carlotta and Charles are forms of one another, and Carlotta's surname, Drake, refers to a kind of dragon which can commune through multiple elemental realms. (Carlotta is played by Grayson in the movie--you called her "Julia," lol.)

G.