Dark Shadows: Resurrection: Afterword 2

Ah! You've come to the end of the second storyline, which began all the way back with episode 1293. I hope you enjoyed it. I tried to capture the "feel" of the 1968 or 1897 story, having several subplots going on at once.

I designed most of the subplots to address the things a lot of us fans wanted to see happen in the series: Vicky discovering her identity, the return of Sarah, 1897 Quentin getting more to do in the present, the return of Maggie Evans, etc. With Vicky, I tried to "keep it real" by assuming that Alexandra Moltke would have only returned to the show if they had (a) made Victoria Winters somewhat more intelligent (After all, how can anyone go back to 1795, return to 1968, get bit by a vampire, nearly have her life force transferred into a corpse, etc. and only say "I don't understand!" as often as Pansy Faye sings that damn song?) and (b) gave Moltke a chance at playing different and more complex characters (stay tuned!). I realize that Sharon Smythe would be noticably older looking by 1971 if she were to play Sarah again, but what the hell, this IS a text-only webpage, so imagine she's Dark Shadows own Gary Coleman, eternally a little darling!

And then there's the new character of Harrison Collins. Perhaps annoyingly mysterious at first, and perhaps even more annoying if you imagine Keith Prentice in the role after we dealt with him as Morgan, but I liked the idea of switching around the time travel rescue plot that DS often did where we see someone travel into the past to save the family yet again, only this time from the perspective of the people "in the past" as opposed to the perspective of the time travelling Barnabas or Julia. And why not drop hints as to the future (or possible futures) of the family? It also provided opportunity to repeat the theme of Lara Parker being fought over by Prentice and Frid. DS often would repeat character dynamics across storylines featuring the same actors, so it's reasonable to assume this would have continued had they found Prentice some role to play in 1971.

Poor 1897 Quentin... he leaves Collinwood and his beloved Jamison, only to wander aimlessly before returning to Collinsport in 1969, and then he loses his memory! So what did he do with himself all those years? Why didn't he come back to see Jamison at any time? Well, I didn't want to get into all of that, but I liked the idea of Quentin getting a second chance with Jamison somehow...and if it wasn't with David, maybe it could be with Harrison, who could look like Jamison, and would need some sort of "anchor" in the past he travels to, someone he could trust, like Quentin... it all made sense somehow when I thought of it.

Other thoughts? I always thought Julia was at her best when she first shows up at Collinwood in 1967. There's something sinister about her, a darker side that allows her to cover Barnabas' evil actions in her quest for scientific knowledge about him, and eventually her unrequited love for him. Eventually, it was only due to love for Barnabas that she hypnotized and sedated any possible troublemaker, but Grayson Hall played a good schemer, whether it was early "I'll help you kill Dave Woodard" Julia or Magda. The prospect of an evil Julia would be great fun, turning the tables on a "good" Angelique among other things. As far as the gender issues involved with Judah Zachary possessing Julia Hoffman, well maybe it's time he got in touch with his feminine side. It was tempting to have Nicholas become romantically involved here, but then I'd venture down the road of Mad magazine inspired parody, and I might never come back!

In any case, thanks for reading my stories and taking the time to read this as well. Thanks for websurfing up my side of the street!