‘THE DEATH MASK’ (DS)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Tony Peterson reunites with Cassandra Collins
Please forgive me for not being a ‘Dark Shadows’ expert here.
In 2014, I checked out the ‘Dark Shadows’ audio story ‘The Devil Cat’. The reason why I checked it out was because it had Sarah Sutton (Nyssa in ‘Doctor Who’) making a guest star appearance as Miss Emma Simon in the story. I enjoyed ‘The Devil Cat’, despite not knowing much about ‘Dark Shadows’.
I currently own ‘The Devil Cat’ in two forms. First, as an individual CD release from May 2014, and as part of ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’ download release from October 2017 by Big Finish. ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’ has five audio stories in total, which feature the two titular characters.
As well as ‘The Devil Cat’, there are also the stories ‘The Death Mask’, ‘The Voodoo Amulet’, ‘The Last Stop’ and ‘The Phantom Bride’. It’s only fair that I check out the other four audio stories in ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’ before I revisit ‘The Devil Cat’ as a download via the Big Finish app. 🙂
For those unaware, ‘Dark Shadows’ is an American gothic soap opera TV series that was transmitted on ABC TV from 1966 to 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials and tribulations of the wealthy, psychotic Collins family of Collinsport, Maine. It involved vampires, werewolves and witches. 😐
Unlike ‘Star Cops’ and ‘Timeslip’ where they’re short-lived as TV shows, I decided not to bother with checking out ‘Dark Shadows’ as a TV show before checking out the audios. Mainly because there are so many episodes to check out from! The original ‘Dark Shadows’ series comprises of 1,225 episodes in total.
Also, I’m not really one for gothic horror. I’m okay with checking out a gothic horror ‘Doctor Who’ story now and again, but I tend to steer clear from anything horror-related. It’s not my thing. But then again, it was intriguing to check out ‘Dark Shadows’ in its audio form via Big Finish Productions.
Unless someone can point me in the right direction on how I should check out the ‘Dark Shadows’ TV series, I’m not really in a hurry to watch it. Maybe I might change my mind about that when it comes to checking out other ‘Dark Shadows’ audios with ‘Doctor Who’ stars in them, but it’s rather unlikely.
‘Dark Shadows’ has had some revivals over the years, including another TV show which was released in 1991. There’s also the 2012 film directed by Tim Burton, featuring Johnny Depp as one of its stars, but I’ve never seen the film and I know that not so many people are kind to it as a film adaptation. 😐
Jerry Lacy as Tony Peterson in ‘The Death Mask’.
Big Finish have been producing audio productions of ‘Dark Shadows’ since 2006. These range from dramatised readings to full-cast audio productions. The ‘Dark Shadows’ audios also feature the actors who played the characters from the original TV show. They include Jerry Lacy and Lara Parker.
As I have a lack of ‘Dark Shadows’ knowledge from not seeing the TV series, I’m going to do my best in judging the audios featured in ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’ in terms of whether they stand well on their own as audio productions compared to being tie-ins to the actual TV show itself here. 🙂
With that said, let me share with you my thoughts on the first story in ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’ called ‘The Death Mask’. This was released in May 2011 and it features Jerry Lacy as Tony Peterson and Lara Parker as Cassandra Collins. This happens to take place after the 1971 storyline. 😐
I’ve no idea what went on in the 1971 storyline from not watching the TV series, but judging from what I’ve heard in the audio so far, I can make some deductions. Tony Peterson happens to be an attorney whilst Cassandra Collins happens to be a witch who ruined Tony’s life quite some time ago.
Cassandra also goes by the name of Angelique. In a sense, ‘The Death Mask’ does provide a good introduction to Tony and Cassandra as characters. Even if you haven’t seen the TV series beforehand, you do get a sense of knowing who Tony and Cassandra are through the story’s writing.
Speaking of which, ‘The Death Mask’ is by Mark Thomas Passmore, who provides his first contribution to ‘Dark Shadows’ in Big Finish, I believe. He would later write the audio stories ‘The Voodoo Amulet’, ‘The Phantom Bride’ and ‘The Devil Cat’ that star Tony and Cassandra’s characters.
The story’s director is Darren Gross, who’s directed a lot of the ‘Dark Shadows’ audios for Big Finish. I believe most of the ‘Dark Shadows’ audios are directed in L.A., especially when they concern the American actors who work there. I don’t think that they would come all the way to record in the UK.
The reason why I bring this up is because ‘The Death Mask’ is a pure dramatised reading featuring only Jerry Lacy and Lara Parker as their characters. Jerry Lacy does most of the narration as Tony Peterson and often plays a few guest characters with different voices. This was illuminating to hear!
For the most part, Lara Parker plays the character of Cassandra. She doesn’t play any other female characters alongside Jerry Lacy as Tony. It almost makes the story like a ‘Companion Chronicle’ in ‘Doctor Who’ where the main star reading the story would be joined by an actor playing a character.
The reading/performance by Jerry Lacy as Tony is very clear and easy to follow. You’re able to get into his character when he’s visiting the home of millionaire Harrison Pierce. You get to know who Tony is as a character, especially when he reunites and interacts with Cassandra Collins’ character. 🙂
The story of ‘The Death Mask’ is about a murder taking place on an isolated island where millionaire Harrison Pierce’s party happens. Very soon, the guests at Harrison Pierce’s party are killed off one by one. The deaths themselves connect to a mysterious ‘death mask’, also called the Veil of Accosher. 🙂
It was fascinating to hear how Tony and Cassandra interacted as characters and how they investigated the murder mystery together. Initially, Tony doesn’t want to be around Cassandra. She must have done something terrible to him when controlling him using her witch-powers in the past.
I can’t claim to have a full understanding of what went on between Tony and Cassandra in their past together from the TV series, but it’s nice how Mark Thomas Passmore provides hints of what happened in the audio. Their interaction also feels down-to-earth, much like a soap opera drama. 😀
It seems that Cassandra was attending Harrison Pierce’s party to collect the Veil of Accosher ‘death mask’ on behalf of people she works for. Not sure who those people are, but it must be someone important from the TV series. Maybe it’s one of the Collins family that Cassandra belongs to here. 😐
By the story’s end, it’s revealed that Tony is recounting the events of what happened in ‘The Death Mask’ in his office. I wonder if Tony does that for every story he has in the ‘Dark Shadows’ series. Cassandra visits him and it’s implied she and Tony could do some investigative crime-solving again. 🙂
‘The Death Mask’ is a good opening story in ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’ of ‘Dark Shadows’ audios by Big Finish. I enjoyed the two-hander aspect of the story with Jerry Lacy and Lara Parker as their characters. This changed once more actors got cast in the ‘Dark Shadows’ dramatised readings.
I’m pleased that all five parts of the Tony and Cassandra story arc by Big Finish are included in one collection as a download rather than as a CD box set. I’m currently looking forward to checking out the other three stories in ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’ before I can revisit ‘The Devil Cat’ tale.
After ‘The Death Mask’ in ‘The Tony and Cassandra Collection’, there’s a trailer for the ‘Dark Shadows’ audiobook called ‘Anqelique’s Descent’ with Lara Parker.
‘The Death Mask’ (DS) rating – 8/10
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