Dark Shadows

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I’d like to start this continuation of the Dark Shadows discussion from the old board with a look at some of the new and upcoming Dark Shadows audio stories from Big Finish Productions. There aren’t nearly as many Dark Shadows audio adventures as there are Doctor Who ones, but the Doctor Who series has been around longer. The Dark Shadows audios are a mixed bag. The first release was a full-cast sequel titled “Return to Collinwood”. Later they began to release a series of interconnected sequential stories grouped in short “seasons”. More recently they’ve been going back to the timeline of the original television show and telling interstitial one-shots. As the Dark Shadows series seems to be catching on, Big Finish seems to be ramping up their production schedule. “Curse of the Pharaoh” was released in September, and the next four are set for monthly release beginning in January at a special subscription rate.

CURSE OF THE PHARAOH:

“Curse of the Pharaoh” stars Nancy Barrett (reprising her role as Carolyn Stoddard) and Marie Wallace (perhaps best known as “Eve” on the TV show) in a new role, famed Egyptologist Dr. Gretchen Warwick. The story doesn’t specify, but I assume it takes place shortly after the end of the series original TV series, circa 1970 or so. Both actresses are kind of rusty and sound as old as they are, not as young as they (Caroline, anyway) are supposed to be. Barrett was always a better actress than Wallace, and that remains true. Wallace’s shortcomings are spotlighted in this “dramatic reading” in which she plays other bit parts, most of the male (Bob the bartender at The Blue Whale, Eliot Stokes on the telephone, Carolyn’s father in flashback), which she performs in a gruff kind of storybook voice as if reading aloud to a child. The story itself is a sequel to the unpopular “Leviathan” television storyline. If you’ve never heard a Dark Shadows audio and thinking of trying one out, there are better ones to start with than this.

KEY: OB = Old Board; UR = Un-Reviewed

Return to Collinwood - 169

SEASON ONE:
S1.1 The House of Despair - 1
S1.2 The Book of Temptation - OB
S1.3 The Christmas Presence - 264
S1.4 The Rage Beneath - 7

SEASON TWO: Kingdom of the Dead - 7

DRAMATIC READINGS:

1. Angelique’s Descent-Pt. 1 - OB
2. Angelique’s Descent-Pt. 2 - OB
3. Clothes of Sand - OB
4. The Ghost Walker - OB
5. The Skin Walkers - OB
6. The Path of Fate - OB
7. The Wicked & the Dead - OB
8. Echoes of Insanity - OB
9. Curse of the Pharaoh - 1
10. Final Judgment - 1
11. Blood Dance - 1
12. The Night Whispers - 1
13. London’s Burning - 2
14. The Doll House - 30
15. The Blind Painter - 87
16. The Death Mask - 88
17. The Creeping Fog - 89
18. The Carrion Queen - 89
19. The Poisoned Soul - 96
20. The Lost Girl - 96
21. The Crimson Pearl - 114
22. The Voodoo Amulet - 129
23. The House by the Sea - 170
24. Dress Me in Dark Dreams - 154
25. The Eternal Actress - 162
26. The Fall of House Trask - 163
27. Operation: Victor - 166
28. Speak No Evil - 166
29. The Last Stop - 166
30. Dreaming of the Water - 167
31. The Haunted Refrain - 167
32. A Collinwood Christmas - 167, 264
33. The Phantom Bride - 167
34. Beneath the Veil - 167
35. The Enemy Within - 167
36. The Lucifer Gambit - 167
37. The Flip Side - 167
38. Beyond the Grave - 168
39. Curtain Call - 168
40. The Harvest of Souls - 170
41. The Happier Dead - 168
42. The Carriage Damned - 168
43. The Devil Cat - 168
44. The Darkest Shadow - 173

SEASON THREE: Bloodlust - 170-172, 181, 269

45. Panic - 173
46. The Curse of Shurafa - 173
47. In the Twinkling of an Eye - 173
48. Deliver Us from Evil - 173
49. Tainted Love - 173
50. ...And Red All Over - 175

Echoes of the Past - 176

Blood & Fire - 176

Haunting Memories - 177

Phantom Melodies - 178

Dreams of Long Ago - 178

THE TONY & CASSANDRA MYSTERIES:
The Mystery at Crucifix Heights - 179
The Mystery of La Danse Macabre - 179
The Mystery of Flight 493 - 180
The Mystery of Karmina Sonata - 180

SHADOWS OF THE NIGHT:
Trio - 180
Honeymoon from Hell - 180
Retreat -180
1:53 AM - 180

MAGGIE & QUENTIN - THE LOVERS' REFRAIN:
The Girl Beneath the Water - 180
The Sand That Speaks HIs Name - 180
The Hollow Winds That Beckon
The Paper to the Flame

GOTHIC PAPERBACK LIBRARY

1. Dark Shadows - p183
2. Victoria Winters - p183
3. Strangers at Collins House - p183
4. The Mystery of Collinwood - p184
5. The Curse of Collinwood - p184
6. Barnabas Collins - p185
7. The Secret of BC - p185
8. The Demon of BC - p185
9. The Foe of BC - p185
10. The Phantom of BC - p185
11. BC vs. the Warlock - p186
12. The Peril of BC - p186
13. BC and the Mysterious Ghost - p187
14. BC and Quentin's Demon - p188
15. BC and the Gypsy Witch - p188
16. B, Q and the Mummy's Curse - p188
17. B, Q and the Avenging Ghost - p242
18. B, Q and the Nightmare Assassin - p244
19. B, Q and the Crystal Coffin
20. B, Q and the Witch's Curse
21. B, Q and the Haunted Cave
22. B, Q and the Frightened Bride
23. B, Q and the Scorpio Curse
24. B, Q and the Serpent
25. B, Q and the Magic Potion
26. B, Q and the Body Snatchers
27. B, Q and Dr. Jekyll's Son
28. B, Q and the Grave Robbers
29. B, Q and the Sea Ghost
30. B, Q and the Mad Magician
31. B, Q and the Hidden Tomb
32. B, Q and the Vampire Beauty
33. House of Dark Shadows - p241

ROB STAEGER: p189

NEWSPAPER STRIPS: p241

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Something fairly significant is about to happen right around the bend (548). 

[Tracy of Moon-T]

Yeah, Cassandra / Angelique doesn't follow orders real well. 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I saw episode 546 today, and a couple notable things happened:

1) Angelique was thwarted from killing Adam with an ax by Nicholas... so she goes downstairs to kill him with voodoo, and Nicholas thwarts her again. And as punishment, turns her human! 

2) Now expecting to die in the morning, Angelique visits Barbabas, and has a frank conversation, confessing she IS Angelique, she'll die in the morning, and asking why didn't Barnabas love her? Then she pulls a gun on him, making this her third murder attempt in 20 minutes. (Or her FIFTH, considering her first two were bank shots that would take down both Adam AND Barnabas!)

3) Most interesting to me, this is the first time Nicholas mentions that he and Angelique both serve the same master...or that he has a master at all. If the Dark Shadows people were ever considering Nicholas to be the actual devil, here's where that notion is officially thrown out the window.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

And now I've seen through episode 548. And, yeah, a LOT has happened. Angelique aged 200 years, and she had one last chance to spare her life -- she had to get Barnabas to forgive her. He didn't, and she died sitting in his chair at the Old House. 

Nicholas gives word to Roger that she's left and won't be coming back. He also stops at the old house to pick up Angelique's body. (For what? Who knows...)

Barnabas and Julia take a look at the portrait of Angelique, which had changed into an old woman when she did. Now she's completely vanished from the painting. Barnabas exclaims "I'm free! I'm FREE!"

Also, Vicki's yellow nightgown makes her look like a marshmallow peep.

[JD DeLuzio]

Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:

Also, Vicki's yellow nightgown makes her look like a marshmallow peep.

Which is always a good look in a gothic soap.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I've seen through episode 552 now. Now that Cassandra is dead, we're very Adam-centric. Nathanial is posing as Adam's friend, instructing him to take what he wants... which results in him assaulting Carolyn. She needs Professor Stokes to get him out of the house, NOW. Meanwhile, Adam leaves on his own when he learns from Stokes that he's a Frankenstein monster. (First, he tries to kill himself, but he's stopped by Harry Johnson, of all people.) He then goes over to the Old House, where he pressures Barnabas to create him a Bride. Barnabas says he can't do that -- he's not a doctor. (He is, however, Dr. Acula.) So Adam decides to turn up the heat by kidnapping Vicki, who's recently gotten engaged to ....yaaaaaaawn... oh, some boring guy. 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Saw episode 553 last night. I thought it hilarious that Vicki recognized the room Adam was holding her hostage in. She doesn't exactly say it outright, but definitely has big "I've been locked up here before" energy.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

The next big development is coming up in 556.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I've seen through episode 557 now. Angelique is back, as a vampire -- under Nicholas's control. And she nearly killed new handyman Tom Jennings, who Barnabas is worried will also become a vampire! Meanwhile, Adam uses Vicki's ring as proof that he's holding her hostage in order to extort Barnabas and Julia into building him a bride. They suspect Professor Stokes is behind the scheme, but it ain't so!

Also, Angelique nearly ate a cop: Find someone who looks at you like Angelique looks at a handsome state trooper full of tasty O-positive.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention. Angelique visited Vicki in captivity and was gaslighting her into thinking she was back in 1795. That's wild! 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

And now, up to episode 560. Vicki's been released by Nicholas (with no memory of her captivity; she thinks she was at the Old House for an hour or so, and then came directly back; so much for the 1795 gaslighting!). Barnabas and Julia are going to make Adam a bride, but Willie's not into grave robbing (which is strange, since that's exactly how Barnabas came back to life). Also, Nicholas is interested in Maggie, and decides to get Joe out of the way by having Angelique bite him on the neck. (I'm guessing he'll become a thrall and not a vampire himself, but we'll see!)

[The Baron]

Perhaps that incident is what turned him against graverobbing.

Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:

 Willie's not into grave robbing (which is strange, since that's exactly how Barnabas came back to life).