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Post by barnabaslives on Apr 23, 2016 3:50:29 GMT
What do Big Finish Dark Shadows fans think about the recast of Barnabas Collins in Kingdom of the Dead, Bloodlust, The Curse of Shurafa etc.? For a character whose presence was so prominent in the original TV series is it ever odd or inconvenient not to hear more Big Finish stories that would include Barnabas? Are there other instances where Dark Shadows characters have been allocated to non-original actors within a Big Finish production? I almost brought that up because I think Big Finish has probably handled recasting major characters in Dark Shadows the same way I think they've done it with Doctor Who - cautiously and respectfully - but then I wasn't sure if it's a fair comparison. Barnabas has been recast a bit ala DW actually, being the same character now in a different body. David Collins and Amy Jennings have been recast also but they were played by very young performers in the OS. I think those have worked very well, especially Amy - obviously a lot of care went into the character development there. It took me a while to feel that sure about it but hopefully the recasting of Amy has the blessing of the original actress, who guest starred in several DS audios as a different character. The very iconic Prof. Stokes was recast early on the DS range but I'm not sure if that recasting has ever been revisted since. I think a lot of fans sounded pleased with the recasting, but I struggle with it still - it might just have been that things got off completely on the wrong foot because I was avoiding story details for fear of spoilers and the character was acting uncharacteristically at the beginning of the story, so I didn't even realize who I was listening to until sometime later in the story. My brain tries to file that fact under "bad recastings" when I think it was actually a remarkably good choice for the recast. Overall though I think they've been respectful and even understandably reluctant about recasting as there are a number of memorable roles from the OS that haven't been recast, and some it seems like they're taking plenty of time with rather than have a recasting not go the best it could. It's only been the past season where Julia Hoffman has really featured in a DS audio even with as essential as Julia was on the OS, and that was done without recasting - they've been really good all throughout the series about finding ways to at least acknowledge various missing characters in the stories. The rest of it may not be the best comparison either, Dark Shadows as a monthly range is a different animal than the daily television show so there can be a big difference in how long we don't hear from a character before something seems amiss (2 weeks vs 2 years, maybe?), and by that that standard we've actually been rather spoiled with Barnabas Collins lately between Bloodlust and the past season of monthlys. The particular format might also factor in - the DS monthlies have sometimes been more like two-handers as you go back further in the range, which allows each release special focus on a particular character. I think that's afforded interesting new territory for the audios to explore, maybe that's something that's lessened any need for recasting somewhat?
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Post by redsharkJason on Apr 23, 2016 5:45:24 GMT
Thank you, barnabaslives for sharing your insightful experiences regarding recasting within Dark Shadows! I've read your posted above comments a few times over and find them very interesting.
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Post by fitzoliverj on Apr 23, 2016 14:57:28 GMT
Can't I vote for "it depends"?
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mbt66
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Post by mbt66 on Apr 23, 2016 15:27:32 GMT
Can't I vote for "it depends"? Yes I find it impossible to vote one way or another with utter conviction. I would say "No" becuase I don't think that I want to listen to an actor pretending to be an actor portraying a specific part. I also think that "necessity can lead to invention" - not having an actor available can open up other storytelling ideas. I have adored the new Steed and Mrs Peel boxset with the two leads recast, but I wouldn't mistake either of them for their television counterparts. Julian Wadham does not sound like Patrick MacNee, but he makes a very fine John Steed.
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aztec
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Post by aztec on Apr 23, 2016 18:37:45 GMT
Can't I vote for "it depends"? This..for me it depends on A) How long ago the actor/actress in question passed away B) How talented the replacement actor is (I wouldn't necessarily want a voice that sounds 100% the same, just one that very much captures the spirit of it) and C) How much BF were planning to use them.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2016 18:50:45 GMT
Ahh, is there a vote on this thread? I'll have to switch to web view or log into my pc to see it.
Can I ask people to clearly mark threads as polls - tapatalk doesn't show any poll content and doesn't let you know it's been missed out.
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Post by redsharkJason on Apr 24, 2016 6:12:36 GMT
I have adored the new Steed and Mrs Peel boxset with the two leads recast, but I wouldn't mistake either of them for their television counterparts. Julian Wadham does not sound like Patrick MacNee, but he makes a very fine John Steed. I've listened to the Dr Keel ones, but I forgot about Big Finish's version of The Avengers (as well as The Prisoner and Terrahawks) having several instances of recasting. My Emma Peel Avengers box set hasn't arrived in the mail yet. It does seem like the majority of recasting *sensitivity* emanates from the Doctor Who fans (and fair enough).
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Post by omega on Apr 24, 2016 7:05:05 GMT
What do Big Finish Dark Shadows fans think about the recast of Barnabas Collins in Kingdom of the Dead, Bloodlust, The Curse of Shurafa etc.? For a character whose presence was so prominent in the original TV series is it ever odd or inconvenient not to hear more Big Finish stories that would include Barnabas? Are there other instances where Dark Shadows characters have been allocated to non-original actors within a Big Finish production? David Collins was played by David Henesy in the TV show but Alex Newman plays him in the audios, and Amy Jennings was played by Denise Nickerson (most notable for being in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) in the TV show but Stephanie Ellyne in the audios. However in the TV show they were children and in the audios they are adults. The character of Jamison Collins was also David Henesy (the go-to actor for male child characters) in the TV show, but Jamison Selby (son of David Selby who named him after the Jamison Collins character) plays an older version of him in A Collinwood Christmas. Arthur Darvill portrays Tad Collins as a young man in Speak No Evil after being played by David Henesy in the TV show. In the TV show actors got to play lots of different characters due to time travel and Parallel Time. Kathryn Leigh Scott started out playing Maggie Evans, but over the course of the show got to be Josette DuPres, Rachel Drummond and Lady Kitty Hampshire (and all four have appeared in the audios to some degree). Nicholas Blair was played by the recently deceased Humbert Allen Astredo in the TV show, but a different actor portrays him in a couple of audios. It's quite believable in-story because it involves possessing another's body. It's Colin Baker in The Harvest of Souls, the character Gerald Conway's dead body being inhabited by Nicholas's spirit at the end of The House by the Sea. The only straight up example of a recast with the Dark Shadows audios I can think of is in The Christmas Presence back in 2006, where Toby Longworth played Professor Stokes, an academic who helped Barnabas and Julia, played by Thayer David in the TV show. The current policy regarding recasts is only recasting characters for when they are being portrayed as older or younger than when they appeared on TV, such as with David, Amy and Jamison. Fortunately there are still plenty of characters old and new to heap untold misery onto in full cast!
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Post by omega on Apr 24, 2016 7:14:23 GMT
The very iconic Prof. Stokes was recast early on the DS range but I'm not sure if that recasting has ever been revisted since. I think a lot of fans sounded pleased with the recasting, but I struggle with it still - it might just have been that things got off completely on the wrong foot because I was avoiding story details for fear of spoilers and the character was acting uncharacteristically at the beginning of the story, so I didn't even realize who I was listening to until sometime later in the story. My brain tries to file that fact under "bad recastings" when I think it was actually a remarkably good choice for the recast. Overall though I think they've been respectful and even understandably reluctant about recasting as there are a number of memorable roles from the OS that haven't been recast, and some it seems like they're taking plenty of time with rather than have a recasting not go the best it could. It's only been the past season where Julia Hoffman has really featured in a DS audio even with as essential as Julia was on the OS, and that was done without recasting - they've been really good all throughout the series about finding ways to at least acknowledge various missing characters in the stories. Julia is in some of the early Dramatic Readings back when they were more like Companion or Liberator Chronicles, portrayed through the POV characters like Maggie in Clothes of Sand or Willie in Echoes of Insanity. She's even in a scene in The House by the Sea because of how that story is told. Curse of Shurafa is the first story to incorporate her into a direct full cast.
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Post by iank on Apr 24, 2016 7:41:19 GMT
I have adored the new Steed and Mrs Peel boxset with the two leads recast, but I wouldn't mistake either of them for their television counterparts. Julian Wadham does not sound like Patrick MacNee, but he makes a very fine John Steed. I've listened to the Dr Keel ones, but I forgot about Big Finish's version of The Avengers (as well as The Prisoner and Terrahawks) having several instances of recasting. My Emma Peel Avengers box set hasn't arrived in the mail yet. It does seem like the majority of recasting *sensitivity* emanates from the Doctor Who fans (and fair enough). Not really. I think recasting Steed and Emma is tantamount to sacrilege, and despite loving the show have zero interest in the audios of it.
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bobod
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Post by bobod on Apr 24, 2016 14:39:40 GMT
I have adored the new Steed and Mrs Peel boxset with the two leads recast, but I wouldn't mistake either of them for their television counterparts. Julian Wadham does not sound like Patrick MacNee, but he makes a very fine John Steed. I've listened to the Dr Keel ones, but I forgot about Big Finish's version of The Avengers (as well as The Prisoner and Terrahawks) having several instances of recasting. My Emma Peel Avengers box set hasn't arrived in the mail yet. It does seem like the majority of recasting *sensitivity* emanates from the Doctor Who fans (and fair enough). I think though there's a difference between top-to-toe recasting on a new take on something like The Prisoner and The Avengers and slotting new actors in amongst the established ones in Doctor Who audios.
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Post by redsharkJason on Apr 25, 2016 2:46:33 GMT
I've listened to the Dr Keel ones, but I forgot about Big Finish's version of The Avengers (as well as The Prisoner and Terrahawks) having several instances of recasting. My Emma Peel Avengers box set hasn't arrived in the mail yet. It does seem like the majority of recasting *sensitivity* emanates from the Doctor Who fans (and fair enough). Not really. I think recasting Steed and Emma is tantamount to sacrilege, and despite loving the show have zero interest in the audios of it. I have a sneaky suspicion that you voted no to recasting.
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Post by redsharkJason on Apr 25, 2016 2:48:51 GMT
I've listened to the Dr Keel ones, but I forgot about Big Finish's version of The Avengers (as well as The Prisoner and Terrahawks) having several instances of recasting. My Emma Peel Avengers box set hasn't arrived in the mail yet. It does seem like the majority of recasting *sensitivity* emanates from the Doctor Who fans (and fair enough). I think though there's a difference between top-to-toe recasting on a new take on something like The Prisoner and The Avengers and slotting new actors in amongst the established ones in Doctor Who audios. That is a good clarification point that you brought up. For future non Doctor Who Big Finish considerations. I keep hoping for a Space: 1999 continuing adventures audio series. And, if a "top-to-toe recasting" of that '70s sci-fi cult classic is what it takes to bring it to fruition. Then I'm on board with that better than nothing strategy.
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Post by OneTen on Apr 25, 2016 8:15:32 GMT
I think though there's a difference between top-to-toe recasting on a new take on something like The Prisoner and The Avengers and slotting new actors in amongst the established ones in Doctor Who audios. That's where I'd draw the line.
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Post by pawntake on Apr 25, 2016 8:33:35 GMT
The 3rd Doctor adventures featuring Tim Treloar with Katy Manning were highly entertaining and great listening. Recapturing THE era of john Pertwee in fine style.(No objection with recasting from me in this range,More please!)The main bone of contention in this one seemed to focus on the narration!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2016 16:58:20 GMT
Recapturing THE era of john Pertwee in fine style.(No objection with recasting from me in this range,More please!)The main bone of contention in this one seemed to focus on the narration! I will say, having listened to the freebie part that Big Finish gave away, I did have more of a problem with the narration than Tim Treloar's performance; which wasn't actually that bad. Apart from the narration, which I found jarring, the quality of the story was not really the issue. As most things that Big Finish release are of the highest quality, production and performance wise, it was more the principle of recasting MY Doctor! (Sacrilege!) If I hadn't grown up watching Jon Pertwee I might feel differently...
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Post by mrperson on Apr 28, 2016 21:16:53 GMT
I suppose impersonation just doesn't appeal to me. [Edit: Oh, what the hell. I have $25 to spare on entertainment for a US download at the moment, so I decided to give Tim Treloar and the concept of recasting a chance....] Allright, I've listened to Prisoners of the Lake So, Treolar was obviously trying, but he just didn't sound terribly much like Pertwee. But that didn't bother me nearly as much as I expected I might. In fact, it only bothered me slightly, and then for about 20 minutes I don't think I have a problem with it, as long as we're talking about full cast audios. I wouldn't want a non-original doctor doing a pure narration story. It's always possible that he gets closer to Pertwee's voice the more he does. Even the original doctors didn't sound exactly the same in the first few recordings. My only complaint is the occasional narration, which is jarring as has been commented, but moreso just didn't seem necessary. BF has always been outstanding at painting the scene in sound for me (and I enjoy when I can fill in the details automatically in my head). Which, to summarize, means that BF has once again raided my wallet. (Early Adventures series 1 & 2 purchased....) All that said, I truly hope that recasting does not again become necessary for quite some time.
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Post by mrperson on May 3, 2016 21:54:50 GMT
Ok, the swap from William Russel ( who actually sounded quite a lot like Hartnell ) to Purves (not very close) was kind of jarring... (ie, 1.01-02 and 1.03-04)
Did Russell just not want to do it anymore? Ailing?
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Post by omega on May 3, 2016 22:47:33 GMT
A Dark Shadows one I forgot about! Judith Collins, played by Joan Bennett in the TV show, was portrayed at a younger age by Amber Benson (Tara from Buffy) in Dress Me in Dark Dreams.
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Post by relativetime on May 4, 2016 1:45:49 GMT
Ok, the swap from William Russel ( who actually sounded quite a lot like Hartnell ) to Purves (not very close) was kind of jarring... (ie, 1.01-02 and 1.03-04) Did Russell just not want to do it anymore? Ailing? I really don't think it bothers me that much, honestly. Besides that, I think both William Russell and Peter Purves capture different aspects of the First Doctor's persona - Russell captures the grumpy old man while Purves brings to life that playfulness and warmth that could sometimes be seen in the First Doctor. I love both interpretations equally!
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