I thought Kathleen, Stephanie, and Alec were fantastic in this. I don't want to comment much for spoiler reasons but dear God, Hallie!!!! Daniel Collard and KC flesh this character out SO MUCH in an hour....wow! I've got to have more of her.
Post by barnabaslives on Oct 13, 2015 16:16:51 GMT
Well, I guess it's my chance to prove I'm not a Big Finish Sycophant, lol... Personally I hate what happens to poor Hallie in this story, although that's not really a demerit because having the comment, "I really wish they hadn't done that" really does make it classic Dark Shadows in the truest sense. I've really been enjoying that Joe and Davy don't always seem quite as sado to their characters as Dan Curtis, and wasn't quite expecting things to get so intense this season.
All in all, I think it's a great success for Daniel Collard that I'm going to let him get away with it, lol. I just hope Kathleen has no regrets about this one (although I think her Facebook posts sound rather enthusiastic so I might take that as a good sign).
I guess what I think the story might have really been missing if anything really, is some mention of how these things managed to take place without Hallie's incredibly perceptive uncle being the wiser. The surprise guest was a fantastic addition but I might have wished for a little more sympathy from that character given the history of things also, but I guess these are things that the listener can fill in for themselves fairly effortlessly if they like.
All in all, I think it's a great success for Daniel Collard that I'm going to let him get away with it, lol. I just hope Kathleen has no regrets about this one (although I think her Facebook posts sound rather enthusiastic so I might take that as a good sign).
I believe the path for Hallie's character in this one originated from Kathleen herself. Daniel took the idea and ran with it and she's clearly very happy with the result - and rightly so.
Co-writer of "Dark Shadows: Bloodline" available now. Writer of "Dark Shadows: The Curse of Shurafa", and 'Last Orders at the Blue Whale' on "Dark Shadows: Phantom Melodies".
CAVEAT: Any of my posts (except where otherwise stated) are my own subjective opinion. I'm not employed by Big Finish except on a contract basis. I'm just a massive fan of Dark Shadows who gets to fangasm and write about it from time to time.
I'm with BarnabusLives. I normally love the range, but I didn't enjoy this one as much as I've enjoyed many of the other releases. Maybe it's a "chick flick" thing? I don't know, but it wasn't to my taste.
I really enjoyed this release and Hallie's introduction to listeners who haven't experienced the original series was seamless as always - what a tragic, terrifying figure. I'm not sure how I really feel about Amy and David's relationship, it makes me a little squimish (and would Quentin really be that supportive of it?)
From the ending and the podcast, it seems the next move will be another season of large cast adventures.
I'm with BarnabusLives. I normally love the range, but I didn't enjoy this one as much as I've enjoyed many of the other releases. Maybe it's a "chick flick" thing? I don't know, but it wasn't to my taste.
Post by barnabaslives on Oct 23, 2015 19:22:32 GMT
I was very intrigued by the wee update on Gerard in this... I'm not sure I'm going to get my wish granted for him to return as one of the good guys. :-)
It would be in the Dark Shadows tradition to rehabilitate Gerard Stiles. (I wish they could get Humbert Astredo back as Nicholas and maybe offer him some redemption as well.)
Nicholas Blair kind of did that in The Harvest of Souls, although as played by Colin Baker. It's a strong two-hander, and a worthy emotional follow-up from Beyond the Grave for Maggie.
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Really, what can I say about Hallie? That bitch is crazy!
Well, as Lara Parker always said when defending Angelique's actions..."Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!" and to be fair, Hallie experienced something rather bizarre and traumatic at Gerard's hands on the OS. Then, David pulled a Barnabas act and (ahem) trifled with her affections. Not nice!
Sorry for the double post! No idea how that happened, and no idea how to delete one!
If you look to the right hand side of the post, there should be a "cog wheel". Click it and one of the options is "Delete Post". If you are still struggling, let me know and I'll delete it for you.
Thank you for the instruction! I deleted the duplicate. I could have sworn I checked the cog wheel yesterday and didn't see the "delete post" option...but there it was!
This was not a short audio, but it's occurred to me that I would have liked a scene added (somewhere after the theme music) where David and Hallie explained to Amy in more detail about the ghosts of Gerard Styles' and Daphne Harridge, their possession and murders and resurrections. Sometimes the quick recap given is a bit too quick to sink in (I'm thinking of David's glib remarks to Amy in Bloodlust, something like, "Oh, I was possessed by a ghost, killed, came back to life.") I've seen the first years of DS so many times and the last few years not as much, so that part of the show is kind of hazy. It's probably confusing to newbies.
I think you might have a point that there might have been a little more background offered without too much spoilage of events in the OS, and maybe a slight shortening of the coverage of David and Hallie's relationship to accommodate it?
I believe the path for Hallie's character in this one originated from Kathleen herself. Daniel took the idea and ran with it and she's clearly very happy with the result - and rightly so.
It's a very late reply, but thanks very much for the insight, Rob. I'd been hoping to hear as much from Daniel himself in the podcast but if it came up I managed to miss it. I really appreciated knowing this in making my peace with this audio. I'm always going to wish things had been different for Hallie (and for a lot of Dark Shadows characters) but the way in which things unfolded in this story really is as perfectly plausible as unforgettable.
Just to let you know, Kathleen Cody has been interviewed for SFWeekly, in the "Bay of the Living Dead" feature, about returning to Dark Shadows in "Carriage of he Damned" and "Tainted Love".
Co-writer of "Dark Shadows: Bloodline" available now. Writer of "Dark Shadows: The Curse of Shurafa", and 'Last Orders at the Blue Whale' on "Dark Shadows: Phantom Melodies".
CAVEAT: Any of my posts (except where otherwise stated) are my own subjective opinion. I'm not employed by Big Finish except on a contract basis. I'm just a massive fan of Dark Shadows who gets to fangasm and write about it from time to time.
This was not a short audio, but it's occurred to me that I would have liked a scene added (somewhere after the theme music) where David and Hallie explained to Amy in more detail about the ghosts of Gerard Styles' and Daphne Harridge, their possession and murders and resurrections. Sometimes the quick recap given is a bit too quick to sink in (I'm thinking of David's glib remarks to Amy in Bloodlust, something like, "Oh, I was possessed by a ghost, killed, came back to life.") I've seen the first years of DS so many times and the last few years not as much, so that part of the show is kind of hazy. It's probably confusing to newbies.
Nah, I've listened to lots of DS audios without knowing the Original Series plots and I find that the bare bones quick one-line recap is EXACTLY what I want. This audio is telling its own story, so all I want is just enough of whatever back story is needed to support the new tale. If I get a scene which actually explains more background than that, then it confuses me and distracts me - as a newbie I don't know which bits of this are going to be relevant to this audio story and try to take it all in, which then muddies what story they're actually telling me now. So I think more info is actually MORE confusing to newbies - keep it tight. I hear a line like "Oh, I was possessed by a ghost, killed, came back to life." and it tells me as much as I need to know and whets my appetite to hear/see more about that later. Throw in names like Gerard Styles and Daphne Harridge and I expect this information to then be important/relevant.
Post by silverednickle on Jan 8, 2016 19:57:10 GMT
While initially I was of the camp of "I really wish they didn't do that" that impression wore off within seconds. Hallie was always a replacement for Amy. It's nice to see how the ladies each took a different path and how because of their choices, they are still similar yet so different.
I liked the little vignettes around the holidays. It sort of added to the sense of the descent. Plus who ever thought we would have Independence Day in Collinsport?
My only complaint here is really just a question. Did they really have to play the opening voiceover theme (whatever it's called) every time time shifted and David Collins read the voiceover? I wonder how it would have been to have played the mausoleum song or the seance song every second or third time instead. And maybe David could have spoken a little more melancholy, like Vicki Winters used to do.
Surely though, the *perfect* way to convey the more serialised / time-passing nature of this one play was to have mini-episodes; and each episode would start with a voice-over . (It's not David every time, is it? It's shared.)
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