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« on: September 24, 2007, 05:49:54 PM »
John Karlen as Kendrick is *luscious* but just doesn't have all that much to do. Particularly after a certain plot development. His scenes with Nancy Barrett are a highlight of the remainder of DS.
I forgot to mention that this period (really the entire final 12 months of the series, but this period in particular) was, for MANY years, a Holy Grail for fans, because up until I think around 1993, this period had never been syndicated out or shown on television in any form and what fans had to go on for it were publicity photos, stills and people's Dark Shadows Journals (also, some people had taped each episode at home and then lovingly preserved the tapes--I think those fan cassette tapes were used to replace dialogue that was missing on the master tapes, most notably in the missing episode towards the end of the series).
When fans finally got to see it again (I think on Sci Fi; if memory serves, the Sci Fi airing pre-dated the VHS release of these shows, but I could be wrong about that), it was a huge rush for oldtime fans and probably something the like of which DS fans will never see again. I think this may be part of why the reaction to how certain developments was handled in 1840 has proven so durably extreme in fandom--that, and the nature of the crowning denouement of 1840, which a lot of fans find simply unacceptable (in various ways, of course).
As for the Summer of 1970, what I don't get is why they set up such a different backstory from events as they actually staged them in 1840. I can only presume that the writers were working under their own reconnaissance and then at some point DC came in and saw what was planned and yelled, "A shipboard romance on THIS show? Whaddya think our budget is--the national debt???" Or words to that effect.
cheers, G.