A short note to say I finished reading this amazing, and to my mind historic, round table discussion on DS.  Although there are a couple of brief references to house of DS, the 1991 remake, and the Burton/Depp film, these are in passing; the round table is focused upon the phenomenon of the original 1966-71 television series.  Perhaps the biggest surprise to me (and what a delightful one it was) was how much attention Joel Crothers got in the discussion.  The next biggest surprise was how *little* attention Angelique, and Lara Parker's performance as Our Favorite Witch, received.  Thayer David was not mentioned at all, except for in a special sidebar devoted to hoDS that is only available on the VW website (see link in hoDS/NoDS DVD release thread on the other board).  My nomination for the nuttiest moment, given these omissions, was when somebody spent a paragraph discussing Craig Slocum's work on the series.  It was great to see John Karlen receive very high marks from a number of critics for his work.  I thought Nancy Barrett's work should have been given more attention given just how much range she showed on the series.  I think only one of the participating critics had actually seen ALL the episodes.

I guess the last thing I would have to say is that I would have deleted all of Kim Newman's comments in favor of having the section on hoDS included in the print version of the article.  I ordinarily enjoy Newman's work, but he had only seen 2 or 3 weeks of the series and most of what he did was to express bafflement as to why anyone ever cared.

Despite my caveats, the issue is highly recommended and goes on my permanent DS shelf.

G.

I was thrilled, absolutely thrilled, to find a copy of this mag at the Harvard Coop a little earlier today on my lunch break.  The feature looks fabulous, and the issue includes some charming drawings by an artist named Belle Dee that have very much a Rankin-Bass flavor to them.  The 3 color cartoons depict Quentin and Angelique in 1897; Julia (really excellent work); and Barnabas, on the back cover of the mag.

My one complaint is there is NO shot of Thayer David anywhere in the article.  There are head shots of a number of the lead players:  Joan, Louis, Frid, Grayson, Nancy, and Joel Crothers are the ones I recall, along with production shots, candid shots outside the studio, etc.  There's an interesting photo of Frid with DC I don't recall having seen before.  It has a real Mad Men character to it--they're both smoking and both in dark suits.

Talking of Mad Men, somebody in the round table, possibly Darren, speculates that Louis' portrayal of Roger was the inspiration for another character named Roger on Mad Men.  I've seen the first season and I agree that the Mad Men Roger definitely seems to owe something to the DS Roger, except the Mad Men Roger isn't so colorfully arch and acid-tongued.

I will write more when I have had the chance to finish reading the entire round table.  Excellent, exciting work! And I am going to email Tim Lucas and request him to run a photo of Thayer David in the next issue of VW with a caption about how essential Thayer's contribution to DS was in making it as great as it was.

G.

I personally am much, MUCH more upset over WB's reneging of their promise to restore the NoDS film for the disc release than I am over anything to do with the Burton/Depp ... project. I am nearly as upset over various aspects of the handling of the October release of the films but won't go into that now.

I haven't spewed the vitriol here out of respect for the general tone of civility that MB and Midnite prefer to maintain here, but believe me, my opinions on the matter would sound right at home amongst the Collinsport longshoremen after a long day spent out in the boats.

cheers, G.

I agree michael.  It looks from the photos that have been shared as if in at least one major space, the decor of the room was provided by these giant standee posters from the Burton/Depp project.  Amanda's notes about Sharon's remarks are the first I've heard of the movie being explicitly mentioned.

It all seems quite strange...

G.

Ah, "the witching influence of the air"!  Beautiful.

G.

What a sweet photo!

G.

That's beautiful Teresa! Who is the lady next to Marie--not Jerry, on the other side of Marie?

Glad to hear you had such a lovely time.  I regret not having been there.  It wasn't good timing for me, amongst other factors.

G.

Thanks, Ms C.  Those are great photos.  I spotted Jerry Lacy but he wasn't identified--wonder why not.  And I spotted some other familiar faces in the snaps.  Looks as if that tent had a lot of empty seats even though the event was officially sold out.

It was odd to see the giant poster/standee set up for the Burton/Depp film.  I wonder if that was the only element from what one would have thought would have been this year's hot theme on evidence at the event.

And thanks again to Philippe for his very personal, beautifully written report.  Once upon a time, we had several fans on here reporting from the Festival floor.  Now you alone remain to tell the story (I think that's a quote, but can't recall from where).

Thanks, Steve