Chronological Audio Listen-Through

A finale indeed! The Fall of the House of Trask sure had its fingers everywhere. I counted references and follow-ups to The Lost Girls, London's Burning (that rat! He should have kept digging ), The Wicked and the Dead, The Carrion Queen, The Poison Soul, and we get a brief update on how dear Jamison is doing (bedridden?? Oh No! ) and news that Roger and Elizabeth are doing well. This one was just all over the place! It really is the culmination of the last sixteen plays. And so many people don't last until the end... A lot of death here, and one birth! And hey, having listened to the 1973 plays before, I know who that is! I also caought the reference to Helvetica Stanhope . Also, I hadn't realized that it was, once again, Count Petofi who cursed Charity with Pansy's presence. Guy gets around, doesn't he?

Timeline-wise, should The Creeping Fog have been placed after this? When I checked the timeline thread over on Divergent Universe, it had the four 1941 plays listed in release order, but it seems that it should really have been The Poison Soul, London's Burning, The Fall of the House of Trask, and then The Creeping Fog. Though, as far as the listen through goes, it was probably better to hear them in release order, just for narrative structure...

Now, onwards to the other end of the war, with Operation Victor in 1945! Can I just say, I love the cover on this one? It's so great. Love the cheeky little Raiders of the Lost Arc references. Always lovely to hear Terry Molloy playing someone other than Davros. Various references to past Quentin audios from The Skinwalkers to Blood Dance to London's Burning and The Creeping Fog, plus some unseen adventures. Am I right in assuming that the mentioned Diabolos is the given name of The Dark Lord who has been popping up semi-regularly throughout the last sixteen plays? Pretty straightforward WWII Evil Nazi Scientist story. Good fun.

Now, we jump ahead another half-decade to 1950 and The Eternal Actress, which I had heard before. But, as it was probably the fourth or so Dark Shadows audio I'd heard after a few of the Quentin tales, I really had very little idea of who anybody was or what the significance of events were. So hey, looking forward to enjoying these through new eyes as I begin to move in to familiar territory. I've noted that, back in The Blind Painter, Mr Tate mentioned Amanda, and in London's Burning Quentin mentioned he'd come to Europe to look for her. Still not sure who Mr Best is, but it's clear he's someone rather powerful. Another in a long list of powerful movers and shakers from behind the scenes in the world of Dark Shadows. Still a very nice two-hander on the second run through.

And, now, finally, Clothes of Sand. Set in 1967, during the original show's run, we finally meet Miss Maggie Evans. I've been looking forward to this one. Lots of voices inside peoples heads in this series. Barnabas was a rather nasty screw in the beginning, wasn't he? At what point did he turn into the more noble figure seen in later audios? This play paints a rather horrific picture of a unsettling, exotic, monster, cloaked in the mask of an erudite gentleman. He and Quentin and Angelique have just sort of been stalking around in the shadows through the last hundred or fifty years or so, haven't they? Oh hey Dr Woodard, we saw his father briefly in Fall of the House of Trask, didn't we? Hmm. Windcliff. We'll be revisiting its worrisome halls many times throughout our journey. Tell me, did anyone in Collinsport have a happy childhood? One free of supernatural interference? It seems even Roger and Elizabeth had encounters with the unknown as small children, and now so to it appears that dear Maggie is no different. It's sad watching Sam Evans' slow descent into dishevelment. One of my favorite characters in the show. I can just imagine the actor reading out the lines. What is it with Josette and attracting the attention of horrifying creatures of the night? And what is it about them that makes them want to turn Maggie into Josette? A nice, powerful play.

I think I could listen to Kathryn Leigh Scott narrate to the sound of gentle piano music for days on end.

It is. Without anything really spoilery - because you know she changes - she's actually a "bad guy" from the start when she comes in, it's being "good" thats the change. I say it in inverted commas because she's more amoral than evil. She's on board for killing people to protect Barnabas' vampiric secret. She's guilty of conspiracy to murder for one of her acts at least. She also hypnotises the likes of Vicki and Maggie to hide her tracks.

She kinda gets in over her head and does show remorse for the things she has to do but yeah - she was a bad old bird at the start. She pretty much parallels Barnabas in timescale - when he stops being the "monster" and becomes more the tragic anti-hero, Julia becomes more sympathetic too.

Plus...she's alays good for a wondrfully OTT reaction shot at the end of an ep Mouth agog, massively mascaraed eyes blazing!

Srandom, what's your favorite story, story arc and character so far? It'd be interesting to hear how your choices change as you get through 1973 and 1983.

Ah, The Ghost Watcher. From the point of view of someone who's just seen Barnabas pop up on the scene in the still-black-and-white show, the news that David's been sent off to boarding school isn't a large surprise, little terror that he is, but Maggie being his governess and no mention of Victoria was a little confusing first time round. In fact, there's been little to mention of Victoria Winters at all over the last few plays set during the original run, and not much mention now. One would be forgiven for going from the audios to the show and wondering who this woman is who's doing Maggie's job of being the main female lead. Nathan's lilting accent doesn't quite fit in with the american cast. I'm curious how that goes from the point of view off a European listener, who may not be as accustomed to various american accents. I still don't have a solid mental image of Frid as Barnabas, so the scenes with him have Andrew Collins standing there in my head. The play begins with Nathan arriving on the train, the traditional opening to any Dark Shadows series; new person on the train. The play threatens to give us a new co-main character who's already well acquainted with the supernatural, though twas not meant to be. There's some beautifully haunting scenes in this one, very poignant, very powerful. It bothers me how everyone just blames Maggie in this. Makes everyone out to be kind of petty jerks. The bit with The Widow was a nice bit of world-building on the show's rich mythology. It's interesting to get the story from the town's perspective, with the Collinwood residents coming down and interacting occasionally with the townfolk, instead of the other way around, the plot focusing on the family in the house with the town occasionally interacting with them.

The Ghost Watcher works surprisingly well as a fresh start for this new series of the continuing Dark Shadows, post show. Stranger arrives on the train, meets Maggie Evans in the inn, serving coffee. We learn of the mysterious Collins family, and meet a couple of them, among them noble Barnabas, possibly a vampire. Carolyn is kind-hearted but tired of her family being blamed for everything. Roger's a bit of an arrogant so and so, and Elizabeth is the proud matron of the house. The townsfolk all know that supernatural stuff haunts the town, but like to keep their heads in the sand, for the sake of life being simpler. The sheriff has a habit of bringing in Willie for questioning when things go wrong, as the town scapegoat, and is good at downplaying the supernatural happenings of the town while "carrying out investigations". Maggie is formerly of the Collins' employ as a governess, but has been released from her services after some sort of incident that caused her a (second) visit to nearby Windcliff Sanatorium. And I think with that is most of the regulars, more to be introduced as the series progresses. We are, over the course of the hour or so, given a brief tour of the town; told the importance and legend of Widow's Hill, warned away from the supernatural hotspot that is Collinwood, shown the Inn, the store, the station, and The Blue Whale. And all through the eyes of a new person to town being guided around by Miss Evans, who knows everyone, Collinses included. And, importantly, the new face takes the supernatural as a matter of course, so we, their audio companion in their exploration of the town, also, of course, take it as writ, and don't really question it when ghosts start popping up. Yeah, it's a really good first story for a new run, encompassing the show in microcosm within the scope of a single yarn.

Getting into 1973 proper, we come across The Curse of the Pharaoh. As someone who wrote a few essays on H P Lovecraft in school and has extensively read the body of work, and that of his cohort, the blatant use of Nephren-Ka surprised me a bit. It's my understanding that Dark Shadows pastiched, not borrowed outright. Names changed, elements worked to suit the show, not absorbed in their original form. That aside, it's nice being back in Collinwood. Carolyn and Liz, goings on at the house, Stokes, Barnabas, and Julia perpetually "away in Egypt", this is more familiar territory. This moves a bit slower than the prior drama, the pace more sedate. Why is a a Naga, an Indian mythologism, on an Egyptian artifact? Apparently there was some Lovecratian plotlines going on later in the show? Talk of serpents and leviathans... Oh hey look it's Nyarlathotep. It's kind of weird hearing these explicit Mythos references in this Dark Shadows story. Cousin Quentin is away more often than not these days, and David is off at boarding school. Time travel and seances and possession, oh my! More tour around the town, but also an exploration of some of the stuff the Collins family has been caught up in over the years, in this case dealings with otherworldly beings of Lovecraftian nature. I'm sure there's a multitude of references that are flying right over my head. A slow and sedate audio, but the coverage of territory with which I am perhaps overly familiar made my mind wander a bit while making my way through it.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, The Death Mask. Hey it's Jerry Lacey and Lara Parker! Haha good stuff! It's weird listening to him not be a right bastard heheh. I take it that Cassandra is just Angelique using a different name? Ah, yes, I see this is the case. Wait, Angelique was a couple with Roger? When did that happen?? Angelique seems to have a thing for tormenting and enthralling the Trask family. This is an interesting side-step from the happenings at Collinsport. The duo of Cassandra and Tony is great. I'm glad to see that I have many more outings with these two in store. Good to see some flashback/summary to introduce new listeners to who these people are and how they relate to each other. Didn't know Tony was seeing Carolyn for a while. And now for a good old fashioned murder mystery! With a supernatural twist, I'm sure. I adore Cassandra teasing Tony. This is great. I love it. You can tell she's delighted to have some fun for a change, and you can tell that underneath all that gruff and bluster he's got a soft spot for her. I rather saw the "twist" coming, but that in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the whole affair.

These three plays seem to set up the basic outline of things to come. Intrigue down in the town, with the Collinses occasionally poking in from their fortress on the hill. Intrigue with said family from the hill, the Collinses wrapped up in some supernatural guff, with occasional interaction with the town below. And Tony & Cassandra off Scooby-Dooing it up, having supernatural adventures around the world. Looking at the run of 1970s audios, they seem fairly evenly divided amongst these three templates. Seems a good start to our new journeys through the world of Dark Shadows.

Next up, it's... oh! It's that damn pearl again! Yes we're back to The Crimson Pearl. The first Dark Shadows I ever experienced, I had no idea what was going on. Now though, the fourth or so time through, I have a much better grasp of who everyone is and what's what. I already more or less covered the audio, up to a point, in a previous post, so I'll just go over the part that I hadn't yet spoken about. Which brings us to the realm of Parallel Time. I haven't encountered this in the show yet, but, much like the Stairway Through Time or the I Ching, I understand that these are all devices used within the narrative to get us into new settings and new situations. It's interesting seeing familiar characters in completely different setups. I guess technically this part of The Crimson Pearl is set during the show's run, in this parallel time's 1970 or 71. I suppose the existence of such parallel timelines allows for the various films and alternate takes on the television show to take place all within the same cosmology. This parallel world seems a bit less supernatural and a bit more soap opera than the usual one. Sordid marriages, long lost twins that show up right as the other one passes, etc. Oh hey and now we're following up the events of The Curse of the Pharaoh! Nice! Never really got that before. Does the Blue Whale only have the one music track? Or has the jukebox just been paid years in advance and just put on perpetual repeat? I wonder if that barman is a Cunningham. I wonder if that pearl is going to to wash up on shore at some point. The Leviathans do seem to like to pop up fairly frequently, from the looks of things.

Anyway, I think that's all for today. We'll be joining Tony and Cassandra in New Orleans fighting off zombies and party goers in The Voodoo Amulet when next we meet.

So checking the wiki, I came to find out that Cyrus was a character from one of the parallel time story arcs, and was not present in the "real" timeline, prior to the audios. He was a Doctor Jekyll / Mister Hyde type character, with his alter ego John Yaeger. The way they've managed to keep the duel personality aspect of the character in the main timeline is quite clever. The Enemy Within opens with Cyrus greeting new neighbor Sabrina Jennings, Amy's older sister (in-law?). He's adorably awkward, even with the evil voice in his head. Coincidentally, they've both run here to Bangor from Collinsport, though neither of them realize it at the time. Is her brother Ned the same who's married to Carolyn in Return to Collinwood? I see Jim has been promoted to Sheriff. Oh god both of them are a lot more messed up than they first appear. A werewolf and the son of the devil. A match made in heaven (heheh). I really hope they end up together. The Jennings family just gets no breaks, does it? Vampires, werewolves, witches, curses, the whole shebang. This could have felt quite divorced from everything, but the calls home to Jim and Carolyn help keep it connected to the happenings back in Collinsport. I'm glad this one finally got a follow-up in a later play.

Oh there's that nursery rhyme again. It's going to get stuck in my head by the end of all this. It's the 1970's version of I Wanna Dance For You, it is. Mad Jack taunts Amy in her dreams as we open on The Lucifer Gambit. Oh Amy Jennings. I've really grown fond of her from both this season and Bloodlust. Professor Stokes is one of those characters that I keep hearing about second-hand or through narrated versions of conversations, like Julia, or Barnabas. I understand he was in The Christmas Presence, but recast? Why haven't they gotten Toby Longworth back in to play him again? Anyway, back to Amy. And, ah, more Cunninghams! Isobel is cousin to the Covington sisters from The Phantom Bride. You'd think Amy would have remembered the name. Hey that train conductor finally got a name! When I first heard about mysterious flames that only burn people and not the house, I had somewhat hoped that Laura was back, in some form. Dominic is a bit of a tit, isn't he? No wonder his wife's trying to kill him from beyond the grave. This one's a good (re)introduction to Amy Jennings. She randomly showed up at The Blue Whale in Beneath the Vale, and we spent some time with her sister-in-law, as well as learning about one of her brothers, in The Enemy Within. And before, we met her other brother, sort of, in The House by the Sea. Now, though, it's Amy's time to shine. We've spent a lot of time with the Jenningses over the course of these 1970s plays thus far. The family was, I gather, rather prominent in the middle years of the show, as supporting cast for Barnabas', and then Quentin's, ongoing curses. This play also starts building up the Cunninghams. We've already met John in The Creeping Fog and The Covington Sisters in The Phantom Bride, but this is the play that connects them, through Isobel, and lets us know that they've been around for a couple generations, dabbling in the dark arts to varying degrees of effectiveness. Nice to see Amy and Sabrina reuniting there at the end on the train.

Ha! We begin The Flip Side by lampshading the lack of variety in the jukebox at The Blue Whale. I'm not really sure what to say about this one. It's at once an exquisite character piece for Carolyn, giving her some self-reflection and soul searching, but also a nice look to some early events of the series. As it transpires, Jonah's father was the man that Roger hit with his car all those years ago. If that simple act hadn't happened, much of the series' many events probably wouldn't have happened, or at the very least would have happened quite differently, had Roger not been drunk behind the wheel that night. Jonah's properly terrifying in this, manipulating not just the minds of those around, but reality itself as he flips through parallel timestreams like songs on the jukebox. I appreciate the allusions to other versions of Dark Shadows, particularly some of the films. It's a nice touch that helps incorporate them into the wider multiverse of the original show, all versions existing together at the same time. And hey it's those Leviathans again. They sure do get around. Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, and Leviathans; the Collinsport staples, as far as I can tell. I appreciate that the subplots with Sabrina and Amy and various other characters continue in this one, even if they aren't the main focus of the story. I wonder if Big Finish will ever get the chance to do audios based on the films or other takes on the series. Whatever did happen to Victoria Winters? I still don't know and I refuse to look it up. I'll get there eventually. Ah the resolution. Like getting hit by a freight train. And Carolyn grows up a little. That phone call had me tearing up a bit.

Ah. Here we are. It's happening. Beyond the Grave. The first time I listened to this it was late and there was a storm on. It absolutely terrified me. Was watching my shadow for the rest of the night. Took me ages to fall asleep. Needless to say, I loved it. Mad Jack Hutchinson. What was going on around Collinsport in 1907? I love the 'technical hitches' that happen during the broadcast. And the screaming. All the screaming. This is one of those long-standing mysteries that is being mentioned for the first time but has apparently always been a part of the town, like The Crimson Pearl before it. They mention that things are centered on the cemetery, the mausoleum in particular. I wonder if Barnabas was calling out in his dreams or somesuch, though things have obviously continued on well after he woke up and vacated his former resting place. Nice to get callbacks to all the regulars from the season, and before, and connections back to Beneath the Veil. And of course we're meeting Kate for the first time, who will be back in a big way for Bloodlust. She comes off very much as a fun, if dismissive, skeptical host of this ghost-hunters type show. Poking fun at her co-host, talking over Amy (how dare she?! ), suggesting Maggie might be less than reputable due to her stays at Windcliff. Honestly, she doesn't come off the best at first, though we obviously feel for her by the end. We also get lots of little mentions and appearances of people who a regulars later, in the 1980s stuff; mentions of Ed and Susan, a cameo from Isaiah, etc. I wonder, is Isaiah meant to be the "main timeline" version of the minister from House of Dark Shadows? The deaths in this one are rather more... gruesome than usual Dark Shadows fare. There's no atmospheric music to set the tone, just radio static, juttery audio cuts, and the gun going off. The abrupt end is also rather jarring, keeping with the whole feel of the thing. It really is a great play, and it serves as the impetus for many things int he series following, both in the continued 1970s audios and the full-cast 1980s audios that follow chronologically. The concept of the very cemetery becoming a malevolent force just from all the evil happenings that have soaked into its grounds is quite novel. The very graveyard itself just wants more blood and bodies to consume. A truly horrifying experience. Great stuff. One of the best things Big Finish has ever put out.

And now, the aftermath.

I've not actually listened to this one all the way through, I am a little loath to admit. The first time, I hadn't heard The House by the Sea yet, or much of any others of them. This time though, I'm all caught up, and can't wait to hear how this plays out. It's just so heartbreaking to listen to Maggie... give up. There's no opening theme. Instead we begin with a news broadcast, denouncing Beyond the Grave as just "another sort of drama". It's a very nice bridge between the "live broadcast" of the previous outing and more... typical fare for Dark Shadows. I now understand Maggie's dislike of old clothes. Ah it's those damn Leviathans again. So Nicholas Blair reminds me a bit of The Master. Shadowy blackness that possesses a poor unfortunate. Look into my eyes. And looking up some of the actor's other DS character's, there's one that looks like someone's doing a Delgado cosplay. Baker does a splendid job here. A very introspective piece. This is somewhat of a eulogy for Jim. And whatever the opposite of a eulogy is for Maggie. And I suspect the complete wrong introduction for Blair, or who is in the show. They talk about how evil he is, or was, but you don't really see any of it here. He seems very much to be, well, Colin Baker. Not that that's really a bad thing. This was a much needed follow-up to Beyond The Grave. Not exactly ending on a happy note, but a hopeful one.

Next time we'll be tackling The Happier Dead, as Amy once again steps into the spotlight.

The Flip Side might just be my favorite Dramatic Reading. Newcomers to Dark Shadows can understand it, and it has enough easter eggs, especially relating to that first Burke Devlin story arc, to satisfy seasoned fans. It's a strong character piece for Carolyn, forcing her to assess her life and she ends up all the better for it. Parallel Time Jonah doing a Yoko Ono/Spike and using buried resentments to pull the tight knit group of the girls night apart also exposes aspects of the other character's personalities, and how they interact with Carolyn. The original song is very catchy, and much nicer than the Mad Jack nursery rhyme that has permeated this set of stories.

Surprise! Listening to The Night Whispers before moving on to the full-casts. Disclaimer: this is the first time I've ever heard Frid playing Barnabas. I'm in a holding pattern only a few episodes before his first appearance in the Original Series. I've watched the 1991 Revival, and the Tim Burton Movie, and heard the full-casts audios. So Frid is, in fact, the only Barnabas I haven't experienced as of yet. So hear we go. Hmm. He sounds a bit like Leonard Nemoy. Putting interesting images in my head. Barnabas is home, and muses over whether Angelique is really gone or not. Willie comments that it seems like the "bad things" might actually be over. Barnabas ruminates over a tale from his youth, an early brush with the supernatural, as a voice whispers to him on the wind of a stormy night. I feel for the young servant girl. And, while the first man was arguably deserving of his fate, I also feel a bit for the rest of young Barnabas' party. I wonder if Martinique is located close to Maljardin? Maybe it's the next island over. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I'm surprised Barnabas ever went back to Martinique after that. Oh, Barnabas isn't a vampire anymore? I guess Julia's experiments paid off. Also explains why Angelique has to renew his curse in The House of Despair. Karlen's pretty amazing as an actor, isn't he? The Voice foreshadows the full-casts; "The battles you will face..." "I see a Battle you can not win. A time will come when Collinwood falls to ruins, the sky turned black." Barbara Steele was barely in this. Final thoughts: Jonathan Frid has a commanding presence as this ancient man, dominating the scene, and, even free of his vampire curse, utterly destroys this foe by sheer force of iron-clad will. I have, at last, met Barnabas Collins, and he was magnificent. Setting aside the producer's timeline notes, this really is easily slotted in shortly before Strix's invasion, as a capstone to the seventies and a prelude to the full-cast audios. As good a way as any to wrap up, with the old Barnabas welcoming whatever comes next.

Now, on, to what comes next.

The last time I listened to these, I had little idea who these characters were or much of the significance behind anything. We'll see what illumination is shed, now that I've been through the rest of the audios prior.

Episode 1 - The House of Despair - Part One. Quentin hasn't been home for some nine years or so, and rides the train into town. Every series of Dark Shadows begins with someone on a train. The other passenger has such a magnificent voice. And of course, after the train, we go to the inn and get a cup of coffee from Maggie. Dark Shadows by numbers. I love it. That's how the OS began, that's how the 1970s audios began, that's how the full-casts begin. We learn about how things gradually got worse in town, and one morning the family on the hill was gone. We explain the sparse cast via lots of people leaving town. That also explains the gradually growing cast over the this and the next two seasons, as people move back into town over the course of the next two years in story time. Willie is a broken man. It's interesting that Strix is happy to just sit in the house, while the town mostly gets on with things. He even lets Willie take care of the grounds. Hey it's Ed! And Susan! A note on the sheriff being female. I wonder where Rhonda was during all this? Quentin makes an infuriated speech in The Blue Whale, before stalking off back up the hill. And we end on Collinwood, full of crows, looking down like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. All in all, not necessarily the best opener, for introducing new listeners to the town. We don't explain who Quentin is, who anybody is, we just sort of drop in an are sort of expected to be familiar with it already. Granted, at the time, I gather the target audience was people who just wanted more Dark Shadows rather than trying to pull in new people. Love that soulful piano music though.

Episode 2 - The House of Despair - Part Two. This episode sees the introduction, of sorts, of Mr Strix, as well as the revival of the witch, Angelique. Quentin remarks that he's brought Angelique back to life before. A part of the original series, I assume. Angelique gets a bit more of an expository introduction. Remarks on that she's a powerful witch, remarks that she was once a servant, her personality on full display. She's familiar with Quentin, she delights in giving Willie a hard time, she's much more fully realized than our regulars from the opening episode. We 'meet' Liz, David, Roger, Carolyn, without any ado, aside from that they're the Collinses. I may be harping on a bit about how this really isn't a good opener for a new series, but don't think I'm not enjoying it. Angelique agrees that Quentin probably should have let her rot in the earth. We get explanations on Barnabas' vampire curse, and Angelique's hand therein. Introspection and gramophones. We're getting to know Willie and Quentin well. They have finally mentioned that Quentin's around a century old, as he and Angelique ruminate on immortality. Even after agreeing to help, she still gives Willie guff, for the fun of it. We learn that Barnabas is no dead, much to Angelique's horror. We end at the table where Mr Strix and his birds sit waiting for our two intrepid immortals.

Episode 3 - The House of Despair - Part Three. A master of murder, as in crows, is an interesting character concept, that appeals to me. I feel something more could have been done with the concept. It'd be cool to have a season set in the mid-Seventies with Mr Strix, the 'humble ornithologist', lurking in the background manipulating the crows around town as they feast on the souls of the town and he drives the Collins family from their roost. I love how people spit witch at Angelique like she'll think that's an insult. In retrospect, Willie told us he was lost back in episode one, he just meant it literally. Strix tries to rip out Quentin's soul, only to find that he has none. Strix is suddenly very worried. And then he makes the monumental mistake of trying to speak to Angelique as Barnabas. Why potentially pissing off one of the most powerful witches around seemed like a good idea is quite beyond me. After throwing him to his own crows, Angelique rips out his soul and uses the left-behind body to house Barnabas, giving him new life. And a new actor. Welcome welcome Andrew Collins to the role. The shoes are large, but I think he does a splendid enough job of things. It occurs to me that there may well have been a decent amount of people in town, but that a fair amount of them may have been among the lost, present, but not really, due to Strix's influence. Angelique remarks that Barnabas' curse is to be a vampire until he loves her, not until the end of time. Barnabas remarks that it may as well be the same thing. Barnabas bites Willie in order to help save his life, but in the process it reaffirms Angelique's curse on Barnabas, fully restoring him to his vampiric form, much to his disgust, and Angelique's delight. Back in town, Susan remarks that she thinks they're going to be safe. Oh if only she knew... As we close, Quentin, Barnabas, and Angelique, the three immortals, vow to restore Collinwood to glory.

The stage is set, the regulars in place. We have the trio up in Collinwood, with Willie keeping the grounds. We have Maggie in the inn, with Ed and Susan over at the Blue Whale. That's pretty much the entirety of the regular cast for this first season. There's one major guest character for each three-episode sub-story, but that's pretty much it.

Episode 4 - The Book of Temptation - Part One. Daphne Ashbrook has a voice I just recognize. Does Maggie get her memory erased or something? Oh, wait, that was Julia's doing wasn't it? Or was that a separate event? Either way, Maggie doesn't recognize Angelique, and doesn't seem to think supernatural stuff is real when she heads up to Collinwood to give Quentin a piece of her mind. Quentin just lies really well, doesn't he? I don't see why Maggie finds it so hard to believe that Quentin called for Angelique, he could have easily arranged to meet her before coming back home, or something. I do believe I heard a fly on the soundtrack heheh. Why did Quentin leave Collinsport back in the early Seventies? And stayed away for everything bar getting rid of the Crimson Pearl? A haunted book lost somewhere in the Collins estate is a rather humble story seed, as far as Dark Shadows go. Ah Barnabas, you just can't stay away from her, can you? I take it this is the ghost of one of Barnabas' victims? Let's see, 1926, that'd be around when Jameson Collins was a child, yes? Was Barnabas up and about then? Hey wait, the ghost refers to meeting in the cellar of 'The Eagle'. Would that be the alternate timeline version of The Blue Whale mentioned in The Flip Side? I can still hear the book writing itself in the background while Barnabas talks to Maggie. And that fly again. Interesting talk of ghost ships, given what's to come. This is more like it. We've done all the introductions and backstory over the last three episodes, and now we're getting a proper yarn, intrigue, and mystery abound.

Episode 5 - The Book of Temptation - Part Two. Why they thought it was a good idea to leave Angelique alone with Maggie is beyond me. There's that damn fly again! To whoever pointed it out to me on the old BF forums, damn you! I can't not notice it anymore! Once again we're time travelling. Or something. Why isn't Quentin the one travelling back to 1926. I mean, he wouldn't be out of place there, right? Like, the servant girl should recognize him as belonging to that time period, right? Interesting conceit about the book. The words reading themselves off the page, the book consuming the reader. Getting caught up in a good book, heh. So Angelique doesn't like Maggie, because Barnabas likes her, and Angelique likes Barnabas, and Quentin is fond of Maggie, and has history with Angelique, and doesn't like Barnabas much. Have I got that right? Is this Angelique's journal or something? She seems to know more about what's happening than she's letting on. Oh, good plan, throw the book in a forgotten wing of the house and throw away the key. I'm sure that'll end well. What's with everyone and making the mistake of trusting Angelique in this? Speaking of which, it's rather sad to see how Angelique's become after the events of The Devil Cat. A bit disheartening, really. Having lived in Seattle for a bit over a decade now, I'm going to have to agree with Maggie on the tea versus coffee debate. Oh look, the tea was part of Angelique's spell, should have gone for coffee after all! It's almost as if Angelique is trying to get rid of her or something...

Episode 6 - The Book of Temptation - Part Three. Barnabas makes a lot of "I feel like a new man" double entendres that fly right over Maggie's head, and he tries his hand at flirting with her a bit, which also flies right by. Maggie tells this "new man" that coming to Collinsport was the worst move he ever could have made. He tries to be endearing and just ends up angering her. He just can't help trying to defend the family, even if he agrees with her. Ah, Angelique was using Maggie as bait. How conniving of her. So it's not her book, then. I wonder if we'll get an answer to that. Ah, I see not. The book's so old the victims don't even know why they're doing what they're doing. Hmm. I still think it might be Angelique's journal. Maggie puts her foot down. No selfless sacrifice here. A big "Sorry but sod off" from our favorite coffee girl. Good for her. I managed to catch 1808 as one of the dates read off by the voices, and I didn't hear any 1700s dates. Yeah, I think it's Angelique's book. She certainly seems pleased that Maggie's been marked. All in all, a much better outing than The House of Despair, which was, despite the action, mostly introductions, exposition, and backstory, setting things up and explaining why those not present weren't. This one though was a nice little ghost story, confined to the house, for the most part, but a gripping little tale nonetheless. And may I just repeat that I absolutely adore the music in these releases? Is there a soundtrack I can find somewhere?

Next is The Christmas Presence, and the return of the oft-mentioned Professor Stokes.

Ah thank you! I shall have to check that out.

I'm totally enjoying this thread, and maybe the best thing about it is finding that the mention of these audios already brings back tons of memories the same way discussion of the original series does for me. BFDS is now REAL Dark Shadows in that sense too. Maybe I can make time to indulge the inspiration sometime and give them all another listen.

Not sure what to tell you about Deliver Us From Evil other than I don't think the current season is interconnected enough to mandate a particular listening order. I bet it would probably be very gratifying to go from The Enemy Within right to Deliver Us From Evil (or right after Beneath The Veil also for the background on Alfie and Emma) so that things get on to their sorting promptly, but the original timing of the releases made for quite a cliffhanger, I think... So whatever you want to do would probably work fine? 

I hope I don't influence anyone's opinion of the audios with this, but I'm still not sure what to think of Stokes in The Christmas Presence. I think between the recasting and the out-of-character behavior I was too disoriented most of the way through that story the first time. That particular recasting still challenges my feelings about recastings, too - on the one hand, I think it would be fantastic to bring back some characters without having to resort to some kind of possession or body-swapping story to explain every one of the recastings, and on the other hand I don't know if The Christmas Presence is ever going to seem quite right to me without Elizabeth shrieking at least once over Stoke's inexplicable transformation into a Native American. ;-)

Can't quite figure this as I'm sure Toby Longworth is sufficiently brilliant. I still struggle with that one though - shame on me, but I think I was actually glad that The Curse of Shurafa used Stokes' voice as sparingly as it did. Quite possibly I just shouldn't have picked The Christmas Presence as one of my very first audios but I saw the name Stokes and of course couldn't resist. I wish I could get it worked out because Stokes is a fantastic character - in spite of his frequent habit of being nowhere to be found when the stuff really hits the fan, he lends a tremendously reassuring presence that there is someone else besides Barnabas and Julia who has actually has a clue to some of what's going on around them. 

Keep an eye (ear) out for another returning original cast member in The Rage Beneath.