Hey Willie, I think Dan "Marilyn" Ross who wrote the books had the script for episode 1 plus some notes from Art Wallace's original story bible.  The latter was published as a Pomegranate Press book, Shadows on the Wall, and does include the projected outline for the first year or so of DS as Art Wallace originally envisioned it.  I don't have the book but a friend recently got hold of a copy (it is unfortunately out of print).  The first main storyline ended with Roger being even more explicitly villainous than was the case in the aired episodes from 1966.  Laura was set to come back but she wasn't a Phoenix; she was simply a troubled alcoholic.  I think even in the first five books Ross added a number of characters who were not in the original material he was given.  From what I remember of those first five books, apart from the opening couple chapters of book one, there was very little resemblance to what aired on the series.  Even the first novel about Barnabas was  to all intents and purposes a different story and the character very different from how he appeared in the series.

A man named Jeff Thompson wrote an entire MA thesis on the Ross books.  I don't know if it was ever published.  Some here are huge fans of the books.  I read them back in the day.  I find the covers the most interesting aspect of the novels now.

G.

Ewan is so impossibly sexy.  I would love to see him portray Quentin in the next DS film even though technically he's too old now for that role.

For fans of Ewan's body, I saw a notice (forwarded from a friend) that Velvet Goldmine, the 1990s cult homage to 1970s glamrock, in which Ewan shows full frontal nudity, is going to be released on "Blu Ray."

Interesting to see Eva play this kind of role.  She's clearly well on her way to becoming a major star.

G.

Willie Loomis,

I've had similar thoughts about what Helena said.

[spoiler]If Bella plays Josette in an extended flashback sequence in the 18th century, Helena may play Countess du Pres.  And the scene to which Helena alluded may have had to do with the fate of the Countess, rather than Julia.  [/spoiler]

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out once the movie is actually released!

G.

Wow.  I wonder whether we can expect each issue to be spaced 7 to 8 weeks apart?

Thanks, Nicky!

G.

There's a great photo of Kathy with Virginia Vestoff on her Facebook photos page. It is marked "public."  I'm not friended to Kathy, and I was able to see it.  It was from a photo shoot that seems to be from late in 1970.

Best,

G.

Wow.  I keep hoping that DS fans won't behave like complete mental cases in public... and I keep getting disappointed.  This pace certain "real fans" forming an HBC "hate group" over on F-book.  Shouldn't something like that be illegal?

It makes me wonder whether some of the people in that group dress up like Elizabeth Collins Stoddard to go to work every day and board the bus announcing to all and sundry "I am the Mistress of Collinwood" (if you've seen the movie Trekkers, you'll know what I am talking about).

Football widows kvetch about football sometimes.  I'm sure HBC has had years of Johnny and Tim holing up in the living room to run DS marathons from time to time.

It means absolutely nothing about the film, the quality of her performance, her commitment to the project (it actually sounded to me as if she loved working on it), or the price of scones in London today.

And I feel like an idiot for needing to write this.  Sheesh.

G.

It's very psychedelic!  I feel as if I'm trapped in Liz's Leviathan nightmare, only it's gone all Yuletide on me!  Ben Cross looks like he's about to start singing "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch."   Love it!

G.

For the record, I for one am still excited and intrigued to see what HBC does with the role.  I've only seen a few of Helena's films.  She was wonderful in a film of the Henry James novel, Wings of a Dove, and in a Merchant-Ivory film of the E. M. Forster novel Howard's End.  I think she is very good in material with a classical melodramatic edge to it, and to my mind, that makes her admirably suited for this particular project.

But again, time will tell.  I won't have an opinion until I have seen the film.  Just saying that her participation has become one of the exciting aspects to me (I admit that I was less than enthused initially--and I foresaw her casting in this role long before anyone else I know).

G.