The problem I see with the Trasks is that even the first time I watched 1897, I thought it absurd that Barnabas simply let Gregory Trask live and cause such harm to the Collins family and others.  By 1840, it's even more ludicrous that Barnabas doesn't just brick him up on first sight, given the obvious and predictable damage he is likely to cause to those Barnabas is (supposedly) there to protect.  It's gotten old, but the characters themselves don't notice that fact, comment on how this all happened before, or inject some sense into the "story."   

The 1840 witchcraft trial was ludicrous, and a very inappropriate recycling of the 1795 storyline (with an extra dose of camp added in.)  You're right that we were supposed to take it seriously, care, and, apparently, sit in suspense as to how everything would turn out.  I managed none of the above.   I feel for you, I was turned off by this ten + years ago when I saw it in the scifi run, and I wouldn't be able to stomach it at all today.  It is too bad that David Selby wasn't given an actually distinct character here, though many of the regulars were playing devolved, degenerated, and generic caricatures of people that were once compelling characters earlier in the series. 

That was quite a photograph of the two of them at the beach...having read the article, I really don't care either way, about Johnathan's sexuality or the quality of the article/author itself.  No one is going to be forced to resign over it, people will gossip (though not on this message board) and thankfully the dead can't be offended...the end. 

Interesting idea, Barnabas’s party.  Get together a bunch of people who see each other every day, and expect them to whoop it up.  Granted, there will be costumes, but that takes you only so far.  Granted, liquor will take you a little farther, but liquor takes the Collins family a little farther every day.  Maybe Barnabas should hire a clown.

Yes, you're right.  In HODS we see a giant costume party with dozens of guests, and it works.  While both this one and the (even more pathetic) PT costume party are really just DOA and go nowhere.  An adult family playing dressup. 

I wish we could have seen flashbacks to the days before 1897 when Laura, Jenny, Quentin, Edward, Carl, Judith, Edith etc. all lived together as one dysfunctional extended family in Collinwood.  I can imagine them all seated around a dining room table with plenty of barbed words and eccentricities on full display. 

I like the fact that 1991 was going to bring Laura in (note there was also going to be a Jeff Clark/Chris Jennings type character played by the same actor who previously portrayed Joe Haskal and Peter Bradford who would probably have been a love interest for Viki.)  But it seems understandable that if you are going to focus on Barnabas, Angelique, and other horror elements, the manslaughter storyline is too long and too banal to include.  Of course he wasn't in the Burton film!  Neither was Pansy Faye, Nicholas Blair, or dozens of other characters we could name from the over one thousand episodes that couldn't all be crammed into a two hour long film. 

Maybe if any remake lasted long enough, it could be brought up in some way as character development for Roger, but it would probably be a very different Burke Devlin anyway.  But I don't see him as film-fodder either. 

It doesn't actually sound like the deleted scenes will be cut into the film, but just included seperately?  That's too bad... 

Wow, a lot of comments!  I definitely agree that it was a mistake to recast Burke Devlin.  His foundation storyline was already over, and having a different actor come on to play a completely different character with the same name just didn't work.  They could have said that he went away on buisness or something. I do think George was much better as Jeremiah.  It's too bad to read that Frank Garner was gone because the actor wanted a payraise.  He and Viki were so good together, maybe there wouldn't even have been a jeff clark if Frank stayed on. 

I agree Cousin Barnabas, Burke #2 was so hung up on being conventional and straight laced, I don't think he would even have liked Mitch Ryan's Burke, and he seems out of place at the Blue Whale.  I can imagine him saying to Viki one day (in a whining, nagging, complaining manner) "can't we just stay home?" 

Burke was correct about Barnabas, but as Viki yelled at him several times, "is this how you're going to be when we're married?"  He never really found out about Barnabas, but was so sure that he was right anyway.  I don't really see any good option for Viki in this love triangle.  Sadly, that fact didn't change when Jeff Clark came into the picture.   

MichaelC does have a good point, seeing Burke #2 act so agressive and hostile to Julia and Barnabas doesn't hold up too well considering that the storyline didn't have it's original (HODS) ending.

Lydia, I really don't think that most of these lines would have been written the same for Mitch Ryan.  I think (and hope) they would have maintained character consistency even if they had thrown him into a romance with Viki.  I'm sure Anthony George may have been a nice guy, I just don't like his performance here. 

Buzz was actually a really nice guy, I wouldn't have minded seeing him stay on.