Fans of the original Dark Shadows and newcomers alike were delighted in 1991 to see NBC resurrect this gothic soap opera in prime time, with an all new cast and produced with a flair that the original could only hint at. All were dismayed when after only twelve episodes this version died a much too early death.

Amid rumors that Executive Producer Dan Curtis was hoping to produce a new film using the 1991 cast, I began to speculate on how the remake might have gone if it hadn't been axed, hence the series of stories which follows this prologue. It is not so much what *I* would do with these characters and situations if I was in charge of the show, as it is a second guessing of the show's staff writers, who themselves were revamping (hee hee!) the plot of the original series.

After months of painstaking research of the original series plot, coupled with educated guesses of where the new writers may have been headed with a second season of the remake, I believe I have a very close approximation of what might have been. And if not -- what the heck, have fun reading it anyway! So the real credit belongs to all those talented TV writers (and the classic novelists from whom *they* borrowed!). I'm just piecing this together out of fannish love for the show.

So, let us journey back to September of 1991, but in a parallel time where NBC renewed Dark Shadows for a second season. Here is the serialized novelization of that story...