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

[Tracy of Moon-T]

We're getting caught up. Our current episode is full of Adam being a petulant child, an overgrown pain in the a**. I remember feeling sorry for him in the beginning, pride when he was learning and developing a personality, and anger that no one ever teaches him how to behave as an adult. He's a huge, hulking toddler who uses violence to get his way. 

[The Baron]

Hmm, who does that remind me of?

Tracy of Moon-T said:

 He's a huge, hulking toddler who uses violence to get his way. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

But Adam has big hands.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I feel the same way about Adam. He could have gone far if he stayed with Professor Stokes. 

I just saw episode 610...notable for the brief glimpse of the past, a scene between murderous mistress of the thesaurus Danielle Roget and Peter Bradford, who she killed her husband to run off with, and he spurns her. I assume this scene took place after Vicki was executed for witchcraft. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"...notable for the brief glimpse of the past"

We'll see those from time to time for a while until [SPOILER] the show returns to 1796 for an entire week [END SPOILER]. Don't hold your breath waiting, though... that won't be for quite some time yet.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I've seen through episode 612 now. Joe's recovering at the Old House, but Nicholas sends Harry Johnson to kill him. (We also see Mrs. Johnson for the first time in ages!) Nicholas wants Joe dead because Maggie's concern for him is standing in the way of her marrying him. Meanwhile, Eve has confronted Jeff about being Peter Bradford, and now knows about his engagement to Vicki. That can't be good. And in Barnabas news, Angelique has bitten him again, and he looks so weak in the next scenes I wonder if she's turned him back to a vampire.  He sounded very ominous when he noted it was "almost dawn."

Also, Maggie wears what looks like a quilted comforter as a skirt. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

This one? (Of course that one... which other dress could it possibly be?)

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

This must have been bought as a when the costumer got drunk after being told they'd be shooting in color from now on, and would have to re-dress the entire cast. "Color? I'll show 'em! I'll show them ALL!!"

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

I'm sure I saw someone wearing something like it in an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

[Tracy of Moon-T]

My dad bought my mom a zipper sleeping bag *thing* that could be snapped at top into sleeves. This was in the late 70s. It was patterned similarly and my mom, sister, and I laughed ourselves silly that Christmas. It was hideous but he was so proud of himself for getting her a warm present. 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I've seen through episode 613 now -- in which Barnabas tries to use the medicine to  poison Joe, Julia stops him, Julia analyzes the medicine and tells Barnabas there's poison in it, and calls him out on his nonsense. Maggie visits for a bit. Shirtless Joe Haskell overhears about the murder plot, and goes downstairs to strangle Barnabas with a curtain pull. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

On Marie Wallace: Most of the lead actors on Dark Shadows played multiple roles over the life of the series, but I tend to associate them with whichever role they played first. Otherwise, I sometimes associate them with whichever member of the Collins family they played in the sequences set in the past. For Marie Wallace, that would be "Mad Jenny Collins" who [REDACTED]. I'm not real wild about either Eve or Jenny, but I think Wallace's best role was on the Big Finish audios in which she had a recurring role as Jessica Griffin, co-owner of The Blue Whale. In that role, she served much the same function Maggie Evans did in the coffee shop in the early days of the TV show.