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
Replies
I've been continuing -- slowly, very slowly -- and am now up through episode 902. So let's see:
David's caught up in the Laviathan conspiracy now, which means the active participants are Barnabas, the Todds, and David. And, possibly, a guy named Strack, who Paul Stoddard made a drunken bargain with at the Blue Whale 20 years ago. Sort of a sell-your-soul deal for 20 years of riches and success, but instead of his own soul (which it didn't even occur to him he was selling at the time), he inadvertantly sold Carolyn's soul! Or for Carolyn to be a human sacrifice. Or something. It's bad news, and he's trying to get her to leave town pronto. Carolyn has no intention of leaving now that her long-lost father is in town.
The Todds have a baby, and it seems to be the Leviathan creature in disguise -- something horrible and young they have to nurture until it matures.
There's a mysterious stranger lurking around Collinwood. In the most recent episode he walked into the big house, straightened Barnabas's portrait, and hid.
That probably has something to do with a plot that's been on the back-burner for a few days: a painting of Charles Delaware Tate has been found, and Julia has it. There's a collector of Tate's work, Olivia Corey, who wants to get the portrait from Julia. She looks just like Amanda Harris, Quentin's lost love. Also, a seance was attempted to contact Quentin, but he wasn't available in the afterlife to speak, leading Julia to think he's still alive. (I'd be surprised if he wasn't the mysterious portrait-straightening stranger.)
The Leviathan threat feels really amorphous, but we'll see what it comes to. I really like the Carolyn-in-jeapoardy storyline, and am curious about Quentin & the portraits. But there's a lot of secrecy that I hope gets some payoff soon, even a disappointing one.
The Leviathans are the guys that I always thought looked like the Observers from MST3K.
This is future-Jeff, still making his way through the past back to the present. (I must take care to avoid crossing my own timeline.)
The Leviathan threat feels really amorphous...
That's an understatment.
Also, a seance was attempted...
Whoops. I already updated my "Seance Scorecard" when I watched 898.
"I may let you get as far as 980 (the end of the arc) so that I can get through it as quickly as possible."
"I've been continuing -- slowly, very slowly -- and am now up through episode 902."
78 to go!
Up through episode 904 now. Liz has been recruited to Leviathan via a trippy funhouse mirror dream, with David in a fat suit reciting nursery rhymes; Julia has recruited Chris Jennings to help find out if Olivia is actually Amanda Harris; using x-rays, Olivia has discovered a portrait painted under the Tate landscape; and Barnabas has just run over Quentin (or someone who looks like him) with his car!
Also, Barnabas apparently learned to drive.
And now, in episode 905, the guy David Selby is playing has a different name, no previous address (and amnesia), so Julia thinks he's Quentin. Barnabas is barely interested, scolding Julia for digging into it, and Julia is openly suspicious of Barnabas's change of attitude. And the li'l leviathan baby has grown spontanously to a boy of 8 or 9, to Carolyn's obvious horror. Boys are the worst.
li'l leviathan baby
Sounds like an 80's kids' cartoon.
This is future-Jeff time-tripping to the past again. Actually, I am stuck in the past. I can see through the mists of time that Rob and Tracy are/will be talking at cross purposes in August of 2024. Rob asks whether or not the animation cell Tracy posted is "a genuine Scooby background" and she replies, "I don't think so, Rob." Actually, it is a genuine Scooby Doo background; Tracy thought he was asking whether or not a Scooby Doo episode crossed over with Dark Shadows. I guess I'll have to wait until I get through the next four months or so until I can set the record straight.
904: The problem with the "Leviathan" arc (actually there are several of them) is that no one's really really in charge. Is it Oberon? The Todds? Barnabas? David? They , too, all seem to be working at cross purposes. Also, I have no problem with them making Barnabas a villain again, except Barnabas is being mind-controlled and he isn't really Barnabas at this point.
905: I guess it's not really a spoiler to say that David Selby is playing Quentin Collins, but they're going to play out this "Grant Douglas" charade for several weeks IIRC.
Up through episode 908 now. Paul has returned to Collinwood, since Liz is part of Leviathan now. Roger just came home, and was furious at Liz for letting him back in.
Paul has voiced his suspicions to Maggie, who didn't believe him at first, but begins to think something fishy is going on when she overhears Alex (former li'l leviathan baby) demand David's new transitor radio, and David reluctantly hands it over. (I'm curious whether Alex wants the radio for something nefarious, of just wants it because he's a kid and it's cool.)
Maggie may no longer have a detective partner, however. Soon after Paul told her about the leviathan conspiracy, David (presumably at Alex's direction) showed him a photo album of pictures of Carolyn growing up. This seemed to have an unusual effect on him, and he might now be hypnotized too.
It's a nice trick this show has done, making me sympathetic for a weasel like Paul Stoddard!
And Paul Stoddard is played by Dennis Patrick, who also played Paul's best friend, Jason McGuire.
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