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Messages - Gothick

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2341
Current Talk '23 I / Re: Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Release!!
« on: September 24, 2012, 01:43:57 AM »
@Nicky, I agree.  I think Barn's killing of [spoiler]Carl[/spoiler] was one of the most unforgivable things he did.  It was all the more disturbing because they had spent over a year establishing Barn as a heroic figure at that point, even though he did some pretty awful things during that horrible Adam period.

It was a reminder that the psychotic killer who tortured Maggie Evans for months was still there, lurking beneath the surface.  As Julia would have put it--"I KNOW what you ARE."  (Always loved Grayson's reading of that line.)

G.

2342
Current Talk '12 II / Re: are the big finish dramas canon?
« on: September 24, 2012, 12:10:37 AM »
Yeah, well, where Dr. Who is concerned, I don't see the Russell Davies/Steve Moffatt et al 21st century reboot to be the same canon as the original 1963-1989 series. Obviously Auntie Beeb disagrees since they are about to roll out all the stops to celebrate the 50th "anniversary" of the founding of Who.  I haven't kept up with the 21st century stories but from what my friends report of various story developments & characterizations, I personally cannot regard it as canon.

There was an interesting event in fannish history when fans of the 1980s Ron Perlman series Beauty & the Beast rejected developments in the aired shows that were considered flatly unacceptable by fans.  Various fans rewrote the storyline to suit what they felt SHOULD have happened.  I don't know what the status of the various rewrites has been considered over the years, but I read an interesting article about the original rejection of this canon by the fans in a book on media fandom (an early one from around 1994).

In some ways a pivotal example in the DS 'verse is the Sam Hall TV guide article from '71 or '72.  For years I actually thought of this as canon.  Eventually I realized it was just Sam's thoughts about where the story could have gone had they gone on for another six months or so and wrapped up the "present day" storyline.  I have to confess I do personally think of the marriage of Barnabas and Julia as described in the article as "canon," but that's just my personal opinion, not something I would ever try to argue out with other fans.

G.

2343
Current Talk '12 II / Re: the witchcraft nonsense in 1840
« on: September 23, 2012, 07:23:34 PM »
In other news, I agree that the trial scenes in both 1795 and 1840 tend to be a crashing bore, IMNSHO.  I do find the 1840 scenes slightly more watchable because the actors involved are more interesting.  On the other hand, Roger Davis may be absent in 1840, but we still have to do with Addison Powell.

cheers, G.

2344
Current Talk '12 II / Re: are the big finish dramas canon?
« on: September 23, 2012, 06:44:37 PM »
I strongly disagree about the Big Finish shows being considered as canon.

I've already written about this several times so I am not going to beat it into the ground.  In all fandoms, ONLY the original broadcast material of a TV show is canon.  Everything else, including movie spinoffs starring the same actors who appeared in the original series, is ITS OWN canon, as a spinoff, adaptation, or what have you.

That is why we don't treat the events of House and Night of DS as canon for the original series.  Consider them as taking place in an alternate universe version of the DS of canon if you must relate it somehow.

I don't see why this definition should seem so difficult for some to accept.  Of course I am just giving the accepted definition. If you wish to re-define, go for it.  After all, the DS writers themselves frequently re-defined material established in earlier canon, resulting in the series' storylines very fractured continuity.

cheers, G.

2345
Testing. 1, 2, 3... / Re: ** BIG CHANGES COMING FOR THE NEW YEAR **
« on: September 21, 2012, 12:00:02 AM »
I finally had the chance to see the September theme today.  WOW.  Am I adoring the Original Series theme!  Just some great stuff.

Thanks, MB!

2346
Uncle Roger, I've watched the PT 1970 episodes maybe three times now and it's clear that Angelique in PT 1970 is meant to be an all out psychopath.  Our Ange was obsessed by Barnabas; the PT Ange is similarly obsessed with Quentin, but to an even more extreme degree. 

I find both PT Quentin AND Maggie to be profoundly irritating characters.  But both have moments that make me think each carries the seed of a fully developed human being within, and I like to think that once they put the events of that insane Summer behind them, they would be able to nurture one another's humanity in ways that were never possible in the presence of Angelique's vicious, corrosive influence and those she chose to populate her orbit (Bruno, Cyrus, etc.).

G.

2347
Current Talk '12 II / Re: the witchcraft nonsense in 1840
« on: September 18, 2012, 03:50:30 PM »
That is cool about the Midsomer Murders story, DarkLady.  I might have to track that one down and add it to my own Netflix queue.

And I'm sorry I upset you with my speculation about Tad/Thaddeus.  For what it's worth, I remember Midnite telling me that I was wrong about that, but I can't remember why.  It might have been because of the tombstone you mentioned spotting.

If Tad did marry and father children, we heard nothing about those particular people in the 1897 story.  It could make an interesting premise for fanfic.

G.

2348
Current Talk '12 II / Re: the witchcraft nonsense in 1840
« on: September 17, 2012, 06:32:18 PM »
For what it's worth, I find each of the Trasks to have some different nuances, I imagine mostly as a result of how Lacy creates each descendant of the original character, that give the different ones more interest than you have found.  My vote for the best of them all is Gregory in 1897.  He had the most developed personality, I thought, and I actually find his comeuppance to be more satisfying than the original Trask's fate at the hands of Barnabas (I realize most fans would disagree here).  I just love Judith's series of phonecalls to her hapless hubby, particularly when she informs him, "now you have all the time you need to meditate." lol!

The 1840 Trask is interesting because he isn't clergy at all--he's been reduced to running a funeral home.  One of my favorite moments is when Samantha is discussing the funeral arrangements for Roxanne and she says that "Lamar Trask" (named after Lara Parker, btw) wanted the honor of delivering the eulogy and it gave Samantha "great satisfaction" to turn him down flat.  Clearly she despises the man.

The alliance that develops between Trask and "Gerard" probably is a case of wearing out the Trask character's welcome.  But it's such fun to watch Lacy chew the scenery that I don't mind.

It's true that a number of characters in 1840 are repeats from the past.  Lazlo, Angelique's companion, is one of them.  I've wondered why we only see him in 2 or 3 episodes.  Perhaps Michael Stroka found more regular work elsewhere?

G.

2349
Current Talk '12 II / Re: the witchcraft nonsense in 1840
« on: September 17, 2012, 12:59:21 AM »
There WERE some great Julia moments in 1840, but the fact that Grayson was away for nearly a full month didn't help the later storyline.  I really liked Grayson's work as Aunt Julia Collins in 1841 Parallel Time... I think I am in a minority here, but her scenes really rock that storyline for me, and she was in it consistently and a lot.

I liked the initial characterizations of both Gerard and Flora.  With Gerard, I found him a lot less interesting after a certain plot development.  Flora started out as a frivolous, gushing novelist, but after awhile for some reason just became the latest iteration of the standard Joan Bennett matriarch, but without the edge we got to see in Liz, Naomi and Judith.

The 1970 mysteries WEREN'T resolved in what was shown of 1840.  We never knew just why this particular quartet of ghosts was haunting the ruined Great House in 1995, nor what special role Tad and Carrie were meant to play.  I thought there was a hint of a nasty sexual edge in Gerard's interest in David in 1970, somewhat reminiscent of the Quint character's implied paedophilia in the original Turn of the Screw novella.  The fact that David Henesy left the show during 1840 meant obviously that nothing could be done with the Tad storyline.  I've always wondered whether Tad grew up to be the Thaddeus who died in the Civil War.

I don't think the Java Queen was even mentioned in the 1840 scripts.

G.

2350
Current Talk '12 II / Re: the witchcraft nonsense in 1840
« on: September 16, 2012, 03:58:53 AM »
From a historical point of view, both the 1795 and the 1840 witchcraft hysteria plots are nonsensical.  The idea of legal execution by decapitation in 1840 adds an extra note of camp craziness to the proceedings.  At least in 1840 the trial scenes do not feature Roger Davis and do have some juicy moments, particularly with the ever sublime Humbert Astredo (although I find Dawson his least interesting characterization). 

Lela Swift was the producer of DS during the 1840 period so she gets the blame for some aspects.  But she also deserves some praise for salvaging at least some elements from the story outline foreshadowed in the Summer of 1970 period, which obviously was completely unworkable within the limitations of the DS studio.  Shipboard trysts between Daphne and Gerard?  Coastal raids by bloodthirsty brigands under Gerard's secret command?  I'd love to have a clue about the last minute switches in plan that resulted in Swift just throwing it all into the rubbish bin and forcing the writers to start over. 

To me, Virginia Vestoff deserves a lot of credit for making 1840 at least occasionally watchable.  Her performance of Samantha is actually one of the highlights of the entire series to me, although it is a highlight I revisit very seldom because I find so much of 1840 to be simply beyond the pale.

The character of Joanna was an intriguing touch, and it's too bad the actress (whose name I forget) had such trouble with her dialogue.  There were some great moments in how that story played out, particularly Samantha's confrontations with Joanna. Again, Vestoff gets the credit for making all of this play much more brilliantly than would otherwise have been the case.

G.

2351
Grayson was actually very unhappy with how her work was presented in End/Road.  She did the movie for a specific scene and it wound up on the cutting room floor.  She had also hoped that the movie would be a breakthrough role in terms of the image H'wood had of her from her role in Iguana; the movie was delayed for a year due to the director's obsessive re-cutting of the final print, and slapped with an X rating due to a couple of explicit scenes (including Harris Yulin's brief full frontal male nudity).  As a result, the movie barely registered at the box office.

Grayson's total screen time lasts about four minutes.  I happen to be very intrigued by her work in this, but it's really an item for Hall-o-holics only.

G.

2352
Calendar Events / Announcements '12 II / Re: Erica Fitz
« on: September 11, 2012, 02:15:38 AM »
How fascinating.  I kind of hope she never happens upon our boards, given some of the comments some of us have made over the years.

I almost want to write a tale now entitled, "There's something about Erica..."

Her presence on the series was much more vivid than that of Bobbi Jo.  She should certainly be invited to a DS fan event.  The Festivals appear to be dead in the water but perhaps some inventive fan will contact Erica and ask if she would like to come meet some fans at some point.

G.

2353
Calendar Events / Announcements '12 II / Re: Vampirella crossover
« on: September 03, 2012, 07:55:17 PM »
I am glad that some fans are enjoying it, but I am even more glad that Julia isn't involved this time around.

From what I remember, there was a real Crystal Cabot who was one of the doxies in Collinsport in 1796.  Angie Baby shapeshifted as Crystal's corpse at one point.  I could have misunderstood however; it's been at least a decade, and maybe more like 15 years, since I last played that episode.

G.

2354
Ooh! new Grayson and Thayer David photos? now I'm curious.

G. (off to play in the remote countryside way off the grid for a week--see y'all on Labor Day!)

2355
Hey Bill, interesting post.  For many years I had always thought that RD did the voiceover for the Night of DS movie trailers.  Then one day I happened to be listening through headphones and doubt struck me.  I checked in here with THE authority on the two 1970s DS feature films, the Honorable Mr. Darren Gross, and he confirmed that in fact it WASN'T Davis doing the v/o in that.

On the other hand, Grayson Hall mentioned in a circa 1980 interview having recently done the v/o for a commercial advertising a compilation of "The Greatest Hits of Blue Oyster Cult."  To hear THAT, I'd crawl over broken glass in a darkened alleyway.  lol.  Just another obsessed fan--and, as is well known, bitchy queen.

G.

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