Strange Paradise Info

Trivia of the Week - January 23, 2012

2012-01-23T13:34:00.002-06:00

At right is a photo of Holly's bedroom from episode 41. This was the first time that Holly's room at the chateau on Maljardin was shown, despite Holly having been on ths island since episode 10.

Photo of the Week - January 23, 2012

2012-01-23T13:30:00.000-06:00

This week's photo comes from episode 25, and features Paisley Maxwell as Mrs. Marshall. In this episode, Vangie (the Conjure Woman) tells Raxl that there is another evil spirit at work as the camera fades into this shot of Elizabeth Marshall. This is the only remnant of a plotline that would see Mrs. Marshall possessed by the spirit of Tarrasca, a witch and contemporary of Jacques Eloi DesMondes.

By the time this episode was aired, this supernatural plot thread was turned into the much more conventional plot thread of Mrs. Marshall desiring Jean Paul Desmond and his wealth.

Trivia of the Week - January 13

2012-01-13T13:36:00.008-06:00

Name Change

In some early broadcast documentation, ads, and press releases, the character of Dr. Alison Carr was called Dr. Alison Grant. The last name of Grant was never mentioned on screen, though.

Photo of the Week - January 13

2012-01-13T13:15:00.007-06:00

This week's photo comes from Episode 10, and features Colin Fox as Jean Paul Desmond in the midst of being possessed by the spirit of Jacques-Eloi DesMondes.

Initially, the producers had actor Colin Fox dress in period dress to indicate his possession, but due to the number of times Jean Paul was to be possessed and the time it would take to change costumes repeatedly, the producers simplified the possessions, indicating the change by the presence or absence of Jacques' ruby ring on Jean Paul's left hand.

Although the change of costume was dropped, Colin Fox did appear once more in full period dress to indicate possession, in episode 22. This was most likely done to facilitate a flashback sequence later in the episode.

Happy 2012

2012-01-13T13:08:00.002-06:00

Greetings Everyone and Happy 2012!

Welcome to the first in what will hopefully be a regular series of posts featuring some tidbits from the Strange Paradise archives.

As some of you may know, I run strangeparadise.net as a labor of love and something I do in my free time. Unfortunately, with a new job, going back to school, and general life 'stuff,' free time hasn't been something I've had a lot of lately, and when I do have spare time, often the business of designing new web pages (which is fun but very time consuming) isn't the first thing that springs to my mind.

However, I do think about Strange Paradise quite a bit, and I have been thinking of the best way to showcase some of the wide variety of materials that are in the Strangeparadise.net archives without waiting to build the web pages around them, so starting now I will be debuting two new features here that will hopefully help a lot.

The first will be a Photo of the Week post, showcasing some of the various photos relating to Strange Paradise. Basically, these photos could range from screen captures from particular episodes to behind the scenes photos, to location photos, to images of archive items related to Strange Paradise. You never know what might show up!

The second feature wil be weekly trivia, featuring some tidbits, bloopers, continuity errors, and behind the scenes anecdotes from the SP Archives.

I hope everyone enjoys the new items, and please feel free to drop me a line or post a comment.

Here's to a great new year!

Some Sad SP News

2011-05-25T00:52:00.003-05:00

A brief update to bring some long overdue news. I had intended to put this up on the website last year, but as usual life got in the way. I have finally gotten around to writing up a tribute to original Strange Paradise cast member Paisley Maxwell, who died in August of 2010. Ms. Maxwell was one of the people who brought the Maljardin storyline to life, and on a personal note was one of my favorite interviewees.

Check out my brief tribute right here.

Brief Update

2011-05-25T00:49:00.002-05:00

Sorry all for the delay in updating the website. Sometimes, as we all know, life can get in the way of important things like Strange Paradise! I wanted to let everyone know, though, that the delay is only temporary.

Recently I was unfortunately one of the latest victims of our bad economy and lost my job that I had had for the past 11 years. Naturally it came as quite the shock and my efforts have been directed towards finding more gainful employment. I am happy to note that the outlook seems promising, so hopefully I will be able to get back to some updates very soon!

Some More Archive Items

2011-03-23T20:43:00.005-05:00

Another update for everyone as we bring out some more interesting items from the archives. This time around you'll find some press releases, behind the scenes photos, and even a surprise artifact left over from the early days of Strange Paradise. Check out our new pages for August and September 2009 here and here.

Updates? Yes!

2011-03-22T19:49:00.004-05:00

Some more updates for everyone - a little less than I had anticipated, but it's a case of quality over quanitity this time. First up is a whole new month of archives. Check out some behind the scenes memos and a cool behind the scenes photo in our July 2009 archives here.

Second, some new happenings in our interview section, where we've added a brief but interesting conversation with actress Anne Butler. Anne Butler? Who's that? Well, find out right here.

Archive Photos Updated

2011-03-13T19:41:00.003-05:00

A diffrerent kind of phot update this time around, with some new photos added to both the cast and crew behind the scenes photo sections. Check out some images of Trudy Young, Cosette Lee, Production Assistant Lara Cochrane and more!

Cast Updates are here.

Crew Updates are here.

More Photo Summaries

2011-03-13T19:34:00.002-05:00

Hot on the heels of yesterday's update comes another set of photo summaries, this time covering episodes 34 and 35. Ennjoy them here.

New Photo Summaries Up

2011-03-12T20:13:00.002-06:00

Some more photo summaries are now up for your viewing pleasure. Check out new photo slideshows for episodes 26-33 here.

A New Website Section Opens!

2011-03-09T20:51:00.003-06:00

Our writer interview section officially opens with an interview with former Dark Shadows writer Joe Caldwell who, along with fellow DS writer Ron Sproat, was called in to work on Strange Paradise by incoming producer Bob Costello. Check out his recollections of his brief time on the series here.

Twitterfied

2011-03-08T15:51:00.008-06:00

Yes, that's right, we're on Twitter now - follow us by clicking on this image, or find us on Twitter at @SPnetWebsite.

Another Archive Update

2011-03-07T11:24:00.002-06:00

A new archive update? Well, why not? This time we've dug up five new items, including a couple of interesting photos and a tidbit from the final three weeks of the Maljardin storyline. Check 'em all out here!

New Items Added to Website

2011-03-05T19:03:00.002-06:00

A veritable cornucopia or archive goodness comes to the website as we add new pages for March, April and May of 2009. Check out 13 new items, including behind the scenes photos, program logs, articles, ads and more! View it all here.

Archive Updates

2011-03-03T19:12:00.003-06:00

Some new archive updates for this week - we're still catching up but we've got a lot of information to share, so check out the new updates for February 2009 right here.

Archive Updates

2011-02-28T13:33:00.003-06:00

One of my favorite parts of Strange Paradise research is uncovering interesting items to put on our archive pages. I will be updating these pages more and more in the coming months, as there is a lot of catching up to do, but for now check out two new archive items - one for January 26, 2009 and one for February 2, 2009:

Site Updates

2011-02-28T13:14:00.002-06:00

Not much new on the site just yet, but for those interested, you can check out the new photo slideshows for episodes 21-25 here.

Book Update

2011-02-28T13:09:00.002-06:00

For those of you wondering about the status of the print edition of the Strange Paradise guide, I just wanted to let you all know that the book will eventually come out, but I have put it on hold in favor of completing the website. I've done this for several reasons:

With my current other commitments, it's much easier to work on a few web pages each week rather than try and create entire chapters for the book. This way there will be steady progress
Much of what you see on the website will be included in the book, and in some cases (interviews, for example) the website will have even more information
The website is more immediate, both for myself and for everyone who is interested in it

Thanks for the patience, everyone, and I hope that you continue to enjoy all that will be on offer!

New Developments

2011-02-26T19:29:00.002-06:00

Strangeparadise.net is back, sort of. After a long basence due to lots and lots of goings on in my personal life, I have finally decided to try and integrate work on the website back into my routine. It's oneof those things that just kept nagging at me, and I felt quite guilty about abandoning all of the work that had been put into it, so with a new year and a new outlook I'm going to be slowly but hopefully steadily updating the website.

Stay tuned for more information and updates!

Project Updates

2009-04-14T10:00:00.002-05:00

My apologies for the lack of information lately. Part of it was intentional, as I too ka break from designing the website, which is good mentally, but also bad in the sense that once you stop something it's hard to restart it. However, I wanted to let everyone know that updates to the website will begin again shortly. However, they will be more infrequent as I am now concentrating more on the book. Thus, although you may not see a lot of developments on the web, rest assured that things are going on behind the scenes.

Ironically, for a show that had such a short televised life, there is a lot to tal kabout concerning Strange Paradise, which gives me a lot of material to sort through!

Coming Up

2009-02-01T12:51:00.003-06:00

First off, many thanks to everyone who took the time to email me with their comments about the website. I appreciate all of the kind words, and it's the fact that people are enjoying the site that keeps me going.

Also, I hope everyone had the chance to take a look at the special materials we added concerning epsidoe 171, the formerly missing episode of Strange Paradise. If anyone hasn't checked them out, you can take a look here:

The Missing Episode

and of course you can check the previous post for the slideshow of the episode.

And now, a brief update on what's coming up on the website. In the next week I hope to open up one more major section - the Cast and Crew pages. In this section is where you'll find details about members of the cast and crew as well as interviews with some of the many people we've talked to about Strange Paradise.

Without giving anything away, I can tell you that this section will be featuring two interviews (one cast member and one crew member), neither of whom have spoken publicly about Strange Paradise before, so stay tuned!

Additionally, I will be updating the Script to Screen article for the pilot, taking readers almost line by line in comparing the scripted pilot to what eventually aired, and I will also be adding a new article to the history section.

Please feel free to check back regularly to see what's new!

The Missing Episode

2009-01-27T22:03:00.004-06:00

As some of you may know, for many years the syndicated broadcasts of Strange Paradise have been incomplete, with one episode proving elusive.

As originally broadcast, there were a total of 195 half-hour episodes of “Strange Paradise.” Over the years, the show has been rebroadcast numerous times, both in the United States and Canada. Since at least the mid-1970's one episode, episode 171, has been missing. Until recently, why episode 171 was missing, and its ultimate fate, were unknown. However, a recent discovery at a film storage warehouse resulted in the possibility that the Strange Paradise story could be complete once more.

Strangeparadise.net is happy to report that episode 171 has been recovered and has been archived in a digital format, allowing the Strange Paradise story to be complete again for the first time in over thirty years.

In a web exclusive, strangeparadise.net has put together everything you need to know about episode 171, including the history of its disappearance, the story of its rediscovery and, for the first time anywhere, a complete synopsis and photo gallery. For all of the details, please click on the link below:

www.strangeparadise.net/missingepisode.html

Additionally, for a limited time, strangeparadise.net is proud to present a full slideshow of the entire episode. Please click on the link below to view it. Please excuse the white text on the light backgound. It is a peculiarity of the program used to create the slideshow. Enjoy!

Big Update Tomorrow

2009-01-25T20:29:00.000-06:00

Just as a heads up, a big update will be coming tomorrow. It's not necessarily a big update in terms of content, but it should be interesting nonetheless...keep an eye out for it!

New Sections!

2009-01-25T20:09:00.006-06:00

Strangeparadise.net is happy to announce that not one, not two, but THREE entirely new sections are now online for your perusing pleasure. Do you want information on the minute details of the Maljardin storyline? We've got it. Do you have a burning desire to take a look at Irene Hatter's kaftan up close? We've got that, too. Do you want to find out the behind the scenes stories that didn't make it onto TV? Yep, we've got the goods there, too.

Click on the links below to check out our three newest sections - History, Photos and Trivia. All are works in progress, but for now everyone can get their fill of trivia for all 65 episodes of the Maljardin storyline, read a summary of the Show in the history section, and take a gander at full episode galleries for episodes 1-5, plus samplings of behind the scenes photos of the cast, crew and production. There's also a miscellaneous photos section, too, so enjoy!

What's New?

2009-01-20T12:47:00.003-06:00

So what's new in the archives? Well, quite a bit really. Since December 1st there have been a number of new items added, with the most recent being a recent shot of Casa Loma, the site used for the exteriors of the chateau on Maljardin. Also new to archives is possibly the earliest mention of the show in the Canadian press, in the form of a Toronto Star column from April 30, 1969.

Other tidbits of note include a later photo of Jack Creley (Laslo) sans his hairpiece, a photo of Irene Hatter's ubiquitous kaftan robe, and some documentation relating to the weekly production costs of Strange Paradise and also regarding the CBC's agreement to provide Krantz Films with blank videotapes for the dubbing of the program.

You can check out all of these items in our archives section by clicking on the link in the previous post. If anyone has any suggestions on what they'd like to see, please let me know. I have lots of stuff to showcase, and I'd be happy to add anything that someone is interested in.

Keep checking back for some more updates to the site in the coming days.

Coming Soon

2009-01-19T20:03:00.004-06:00

Just a brief update on what's soon to come on the website. First off, the Archives pages are being updated, complete through January 19. As always, the archives feature an eclectic blend of items, from newspaper articles to promotional photos to behind the scenes documentation about "Strange Paradise" - feel free to check out our updated archives section, and remember to check back as the archives feature new items each week. Click on the link below to go directly to the Archive section:

Updates to www.strangeparadise.net

2009-01-19T19:33:00.008-06:00

Updates are progressing at strangeparadise.net. As the site is being designed "on the fly," it may seem like not a heck of a lot is going on, but rest assured that lots of thingsare happening behind the scenes. The main reason that updates can't yet be seen online is that I like to have entre sections set up before I upload the content so everyone can see it. Thus, although sections have been steadily updated, nothing has been uploaded yet. Rest assured, though, there will several updates soon.

To whet everyones' appetites, here's a quick screenshot of a sample section that is currently being worked on:

The New Blog

2009-01-16T00:20:00.002-06:00

Welcome to the new Strange Paradise blog. I hope to keep everyone updated as to what's going on "behind the scenes" with both the book and website. As I don't normally like to upload pages in progress, it can sometimes appear that not a heck of a lot is going on with the website. However, that's actually not the case. There is quite a bit, and I hope that this blog will help keep everyone up to date...