I've seen through episode 1084 now. The kids are getting deeper into the mystery of the playroom, centering the action on the dollhouse, seemingly the Rose Cottage everyone is looking for. (Or a replica, but I think it's the actual thing.) They tried to burn the dolls in the dollhouse, thinking that would break the spell, but that didn't work; the dolls just reappeared. And now they've gone up into the playroom to find their ghostly counterparts sitting there, reading the journal that David had started writing to record their experiences!
Meanwhile, Professor Stokes has been confronting Sebastian Shaw, goading him to come to Collinwood, which he does. He tries to use his psychic powers to understand what's going on, but just gets the music from the carousel -- which Julia heard in 1995. She calls him on it, and drives him from the house. (Also, he's being manipulated by Roxanne, whom Barnabas "fell in love" with in Parallel Time.)
Other things of note: Hallie tells Professor Stokes that groovy "is too a word" over the phone in one episode, and Sebastian is wearing a giant medallion and some fabulous leather pants. The 70s vibe has now truly kicked into gear.
(And in other news, I spotted a boom mic in an episode of Twin Peaks, and it felt like Old Home Week.)
Back when I was watching Dark Shadows for the first time (on VHS in the '90s), every fifth tape or something like that would feature a "bonus interview" with one of the cast members. I remember Kate Jacksom mentioned that, for her first several weeks on the show, she had no speaking parts. "All I did was beckon.. but, boy, I could beckon." (Episode 1078 was the first she "beckoned.")
In 1079 there was another séance. (Look for me to update the "séance scorecard" shortly.)
I have a kind of "fan fic" theory about the playroom: I like to think its a TARDIS. We know from "The Mask of Mandragora" that the internal configuration of a TARDIS can be reconfigured (so that different rooms can face "out"), and we saw Professor Chronotis disguise his TARDIS to look like a room in "Shada." Now I just have to determine why this TARDIS is sometimes there, sometimes gone, sometimes a playroom, sometimes a staircase (and, on one occasion yet to come, a closet). And whose TARDIS is it? Not the Doctor's; the chameleon circuit of his is broken. Probably not the Master's, either. I think it's the Monk's.
Speaking of Roxanne, back in 1041, when I said, "We will get to know her," I had to refrain from saying, "...both in Parallel Time and in 1970" to avoid the spoiler of "her" "return."
In episode 1081, andother "clue" (the "unfinished horoscope") comes to pass.
Yes, the "Rose Cottage" they discover in 1082 is the real thing (although, as you will soon learn, it is known as the "Magruder House" in 1970).
If you are at 1084, you stopped one episode shy of Quentin Collins' (the original one's) "theory of time travel."
And I know the Doctor and the Master, but I don't think I'm familiar with the Monk. Is he part of the pre-Eccleston mythology? or from the Capaldi era? I watch the show only in fits and starts, and I'm really bad with the mythology.
JD DeLuzio > Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)February 20, 2025 at 5:54am
Oh, I'm a long way from actually putting pen to paper. All I have right now is an idea: the "playroom" is a TARDIS. I would have to go back and chart when the room is a room, when it's a closet, and when its a stairway, then come up with a reason for the change and why it leaves from time to time. Ideally, I would like to fir this in "behind the scens" without affecting the way the story plays out on Dark Shadows whatsoever.
I don't think I'm familiar with the Monk.
The "Meddling Monk" first appeared in the Hartnell serial "The Time Meddler." He's less evil than the Master, more mischievous. He's a good foil for the Doctor, and appeared again in "The Daleks' Master Plan" (Hartnell again), which is largely missing. "The Time Meddler" is one of my favorite serials of the Harnell era, and the first time another member of the Doctor's race is shown (although "Gallifrey" is not mentioned, nor, for that matter, are "Time Lords"). More recently the Monk (played by rufus Hound) has returned to bedevil the Doctor in audio adventures from Big Finish.
Here he is with the Second Doctor:
...and here he is with Missy:
Doctor Who Reactions: "The Time Meddler" (SPOILERS)
The Watcher
1)This is very much a transitional episode - the arrival of Steven Taylor as a member of Team TARDIS, the first indication that the TARDI…
Nice! No wonder I haven't seen the Monk before -- I haven't seen any of the Hartnell episodes.
I've seen episode 1085 now: The kids get possessed by their dead counterparts and burn the journal; later, they see their counterparts beckinging them into the playroom. Quentin spends most of his time carting old books and papers down to Julia, but tries to get Daphne to tell him what's going on.
And Julia discover's Quentin's 1840 counterpart (also named Quentin, natch) had a theory that all time was accessible via space (like the staircase). Modern Quentin thinks he's a crackpot.
(ETA: There are 160 episodes left, and 313 days left in the year. I'm on track to wrap in 2025, as long as I slightly overperform from watching an episode every 2 days.)
The Baron > Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)February 21, 2025 at 12:08pm
If it was me, the closer I got to the end, the more likely I would be to watch three or four episodes a day, just to finish the thing.
And Julia discover's Quentin's 1840 counterpart (also named Quentin, natch)...
David Selby played six characters on Dark Shadows, all of them named Quentin Collins, of which 1840 Quentin is the fourth.
Quentin Collins (1897-1995) - the "main" Quentin Colins
The Ghost of Quentin Collins (1967) - I have to count this as a separate character because, in the revised timeline, Quentin never died.
PT Quentin (present day, but "parallel time")
1840 Quentin - we haven't met him yet, but (spoiler) we will
1840 Quentin's Theory of Time Travel: "There is no such thing as time. There’s only space, physical space, and it is space that measures the distance between those points which we, in our ignorance and folly, insist are points in time. All time is one point, one moment, it is ever existent and it is ever accessible, and it is physical space that can be used to make all time easily accessible."
Interestingly (to me, anyway), the blueprint they discover in this episode shows a stairway in the exact spot in which sometimes exists a playroom and sometimes a storage closet. This is more evisence (AFAIAC) that a TARDIS has materialized inside a closet. I am now more convinced than ever that it is the Monk's TARDIS. When I posted on on Wednesday I didn't yet have a clear motive in mind for the Monk, but now I think I do. When he first appeared (in Northumbria in 1066) it was to interfere with the Battle of Hastings between King Harold II and the invasion forces of William of Normandy. I think it quite possible that the Monk might be trying to introduce time travel into Earth's past just to see what would happen.
Also, what if the Monk were also somehow involved behind the scenes of "The Evil of the Daleks" (Second Doctor)? This is the serial that introduces soon-to-be companion Victoria Waterfield and is set in Victorian England (albeit in 1866, but that's not an insurmountable discrepancy given time travel). I have always thought that "The Evil of the Daleks" was the most "Dark Shadows-ish" Doctor Who serial. (Or is that just a "Neat Idea?") In it, Victorian scientist Theodore Maxtible's time travel theory has something to do with projecting images onto polished highly metal mirrors by charging them with static electricity (because like repels like in electricity and the images would likewise be repelled through time... or something). Hey, it makes as much sense as 1840s Quentin's theories. Wouldn't you like to see the two of them together in a room somewhere hashing it out?
Replies
I've seen through episode 1084 now. The kids are getting deeper into the mystery of the playroom, centering the action on the dollhouse, seemingly the Rose Cottage everyone is looking for. (Or a replica, but I think it's the actual thing.) They tried to burn the dolls in the dollhouse, thinking that would break the spell, but that didn't work; the dolls just reappeared. And now they've gone up into the playroom to find their ghostly counterparts sitting there, reading the journal that David had started writing to record their experiences!
Meanwhile, Professor Stokes has been confronting Sebastian Shaw, goading him to come to Collinwood, which he does. He tries to use his psychic powers to understand what's going on, but just gets the music from the carousel -- which Julia heard in 1995. She calls him on it, and drives him from the house. (Also, he's being manipulated by Roxanne, whom Barnabas "fell in love" with in Parallel Time.)
Other things of note: Hallie tells Professor Stokes that groovy "is too a word" over the phone in one episode, and Sebastian is wearing a giant medallion and some fabulous leather pants. The 70s vibe has now truly kicked into gear.
(And in other news, I spotted a boom mic in an episode of Twin Peaks, and it felt like Old Home Week.)
Back when I was watching Dark Shadows for the first time (on VHS in the '90s), every fifth tape or something like that would feature a "bonus interview" with one of the cast members. I remember Kate Jacksom mentioned that, for her first several weeks on the show, she had no speaking parts. "All I did was beckon.. but, boy, I could beckon." (Episode 1078 was the first she "beckoned.")
In 1079 there was another séance. (Look for me to update the "séance scorecard" shortly.)
I have a kind of "fan fic" theory about the playroom: I like to think its a TARDIS. We know from "The Mask of Mandragora" that the internal configuration of a TARDIS can be reconfigured (so that different rooms can face "out"), and we saw Professor Chronotis disguise his TARDIS to look like a room in "Shada." Now I just have to determine why this TARDIS is sometimes there, sometimes gone, sometimes a playroom, sometimes a staircase (and, on one occasion yet to come, a closet). And whose TARDIS is it? Not the Doctor's; the chameleon circuit of his is broken. Probably not the Master's, either. I think it's the Monk's.
Speaking of Roxanne, back in 1041, when I said, "We will get to know her," I had to refrain from saying, "...both in Parallel Time and in 1970" to avoid the spoiler of "her" "return."
In episode 1081, andother "clue" (the "unfinished horoscope") comes to pass.
Yes, the "Rose Cottage" they discover in 1082 is the real thing (although, as you will soon learn, it is known as the "Magruder House" in 1970).
If you are at 1084, you stopped one episode shy of Quentin Collins' (the original one's) "theory of time travel."
I'm looking forward to hearing it!
And I know the Doctor and the Master, but I don't think I'm familiar with the Monk. Is he part of the pre-Eccleston mythology? or from the Capaldi era? I watch the show only in fits and starts, and I'm really bad with the mythology.
So are many of the showrunners.
I'm looking forward to hearing it!
Oh, I'm a long way from actually putting pen to paper. All I have right now is an idea: the "playroom" is a TARDIS. I would have to go back and chart when the room is a room, when it's a closet, and when its a stairway, then come up with a reason for the change and why it leaves from time to time. Ideally, I would like to fir this in "behind the scens" without affecting the way the story plays out on Dark Shadows whatsoever.
I don't think I'm familiar with the Monk.
The "Meddling Monk" first appeared in the Hartnell serial "The Time Meddler." He's less evil than the Master, more mischievous. He's a good foil for the Doctor, and appeared again in "The Daleks' Master Plan" (Hartnell again), which is largely missing. "The Time Meddler" is one of my favorite serials of the Harnell era, and the first time another member of the Doctor's race is shown (although "Gallifrey" is not mentioned, nor, for that matter, are "Time Lords"). More recently the Monk (played by rufus Hound) has returned to bedevil the Doctor in audio adventures from Big Finish.
Here he is with the Second Doctor:
...and here he is with Missy:
Nice! No wonder I haven't seen the Monk before -- I haven't seen any of the Hartnell episodes.
I've seen episode 1085 now: The kids get possessed by their dead counterparts and burn the journal; later, they see their counterparts beckinging them into the playroom. Quentin spends most of his time carting old books and papers down to Julia, but tries to get Daphne to tell him what's going on.
And Julia discover's Quentin's 1840 counterpart (also named Quentin, natch) had a theory that all time was accessible via space (like the staircase). Modern Quentin thinks he's a crackpot.
(ETA: There are 160 episodes left, and 313 days left in the year. I'm on track to wrap in 2025, as long as I slightly overperform from watching an episode every 2 days.)
If it was me, the closer I got to the end, the more likely I would be to watch three or four episodes a day, just to finish the thing.
And Julia discover's Quentin's 1840 counterpart (also named Quentin, natch)...
David Selby played six characters on Dark Shadows, all of them named Quentin Collins, of which 1840 Quentin is the fourth.
1840 Quentin's Theory of Time Travel: "There is no such thing as time. There’s only space, physical space, and it is space that measures the distance between those points which we, in our ignorance and folly, insist are points in time. All time is one point, one moment, it is ever existent and it is ever accessible, and it is physical space that can be used to make all time easily accessible."
Interestingly (to me, anyway), the blueprint they discover in this episode shows a stairway in the exact spot in which sometimes exists a playroom and sometimes a storage closet. This is more evisence (AFAIAC) that a TARDIS has materialized inside a closet. I am now more convinced than ever that it is the Monk's TARDIS. When I posted on on Wednesday I didn't yet have a clear motive in mind for the Monk, but now I think I do. When he first appeared (in Northumbria in 1066) it was to interfere with the Battle of Hastings between King Harold II and the invasion forces of William of Normandy. I think it quite possible that the Monk might be trying to introduce time travel into Earth's past just to see what would happen.
Also, what if the Monk were also somehow involved behind the scenes of "The Evil of the Daleks" (Second Doctor)? This is the serial that introduces soon-to-be companion Victoria Waterfield and is set in Victorian England (albeit in 1866, but that's not an insurmountable discrepancy given time travel). I have always thought that "The Evil of the Daleks" was the most "Dark Shadows-ish" Doctor Who serial. (Or is that just a "Neat Idea?") In it, Victorian scientist Theodore Maxtible's time travel theory has something to do with projecting images onto polished highly metal mirrors by charging them with static electricity (because like repels like in electricity and the images would likewise be repelled through time... or something). Hey, it makes as much sense as 1840s Quentin's theories. Wouldn't you like to see the two of them together in a room somewhere hashing it out?
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