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|prevep=[[The Path of Fate|←]]
 
|prevep=[[The Path of Fate|←]]
 
|nextep=[[Echoes of Insanity|→]]
 
|nextep=[[Echoes of Insanity|→]]
|bottomimage=bf-wicked1.jpg}}'''The Wicked and the Dead '''is an audiobook released by [[Big Finish Audio Dramas|Big Finish in]] January of 2008.
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|bottomimage=bf-wicked1.jpg}}'''The Wicked and the Dead '''is an audiobook produced by [[Big Finish Audio Dramas|Big Finish Productions]]. It was released in January 2009.
  +
==Back cover==
  +
''“Sometimes a devout man must do evil in the name of the greater good...”''
  +
  +
Collinwood in the year 1897. The Reverend Gregory Trask has been walled alive inside Quentin’s room in punishment for his crimes against the Collins family and is close to death. But as his loneliness degenerates into madness, a stranger appears to him with an intriguing offer. An offer that might set Trask free... or condemn him to the darkness forever.
  +
 
==Synopsis==
 
==Synopsis==
  +
'''''Teaser'''''
After [[Gregory Trask]] is walled up in Collinwood, he is visited by the ghost of his late brother-in-law, [[Carl Collins]].
 
  +
  +
[[Gregory Trask]] wakes, finding himself alone in [[Quentin Collins]] room at [[Collinwood]]. He hears a grating sound. He opens the door from the room and finds its been walled up with brick and mortar, apart from one final brick. Through the opening, the face of [[Judith Collins]] peers at him laughing. The final brick is slid into place completely sealing the room. He hears a manic laugh.
  +
  +
'''[Opening Theme]'''
  +
  +
The [[ghost]] of [[Carl Collins]] appears in the room. It taunts Gregory, but he is unfazed. Gregory recalls a time when he had cleansed such evil before.
  +
  +
In the winter of [[1871]] in [[Derby, Connecticut]], Gregory is called for to help repent the sins of a coven of [[witches]] known as ‘suffragettes’. He has them committed to an insane asylum.
  +
  +
Carl scolds Gregory for sending his sister Judith insane in the name of getting his hands on the Collins fortune. Carl invites Gregory to play a game. Carl places three [[tarot cards]] on a table. Gregory turns over one of the cards. It is the 'Tower of Destruction’ card. He turns over the second card to reveal the face of [[Angelique Collins]], the practitioner of the black arts that walked the corridors of Collinwood. Carl declares the final card will decide Gregory’s fate. It is the ‘Death’ card. Gregory attempts to bargain with Carl, if he lets him leave this room Gregory will find Carl’s killer. Carl asks him about his stepmother.
  +
  +
A local preacher named [[Elias Trask]] adopted Gregory. Through Elias’ strict guidance Gregory found a righteous path. Elias married schoolteacher [[Matilda Bentham]] in [[1859]]. Where Elias saw virtue in Matilda, Gregory saw vice and was determined to save his father at any cost. His father’s salvation came in the arrival of seafarer [[Samuel Lear]] the following year. One morning Gregory stands before his father’s congregation and tells of how Matilda has been adulterous with Samuel. Matilda claims to have only given spiritual guidance to Samuel and that Elias himself has been in houses of ill repute. Considering her accusations blasphemy, the congregation turn on her, and Elias thrusts her down on the alter calling for the demons inside Matilda to emerge. Matilda is banished from the community and his marriage to Elias annulled.
  +
  +
Carl tells Gregory that Matilda was innocent, and that she was Gregory’s first victim. Carl reveals that it was Gregory's murderous influence that drove Judith to lock Gregory inside this room. Carl’s features melt away and transform into that of a snarling demon from hell.
  +
  +
Gregory wakes. He suspects Carl’s ghost to have been a dream. However, Carl’s ghost is back before him. Gregory cries for Judith to let him out. Judith tells him that she has left a gift for him, that of a revolver containing a single bullet. Gregory pleads for Carl to have mercy for him. Carl suggests another game. He places a blood red rose down before Gregory and covers the rose with a white sheet. Carl whisks away the covering to reveal a severed head. It is that of Elias Trask. It tells him it is disappointed with Gregory. Gregory pleads for Carl to take it away; Carl lays the sheet back over the head. Carl asks how Gregory’s father died and what his secret was.
  +
  +
December 31st, 1859. Gregory hears the sound of raised voices. Elias is arguing with a woman. Gregory enters the room. Elias strikes the woman violently across the face. Gregory realizes the woman is his mother. Elias casts her out bidding her never to return and forbids Gregory to ever have contact with her.
  +
  +
Carl insinuates that Elias was Gregory’s biological father, the product of a sinful relationship. It was syphilis that killed Elias given to him by the woman who bore Gregory. Carl gives Gregory an ultimatum, choose which cursed [[Collins family]] member shall have their suffering ended and in turn Gregory will earn his own deliverance. Gregory cannot do it, he never will, Gregory vows that when he gets out of this room he will hunt them one by one and destroy all of them. Gregory pulls out the cross that hangs around his neck and exorcises Carl’s spirit. Carl recoils in agony, his face melts away to reveal the demon within. The demon vanishes, leaving Gregory alone. Gregory bangs on the door for someone to let him out. No one comes. Gregory stares at the revolver Judith has left for him. Realizing the bullet within it is his only escape he fires it killing himself.
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  +
Carl welcomes Gregory home and laughs manically.
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  +
'''[Closing Theme]'''
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  +
==Memorable quotes==
  +
 
==Dramatis personae==
 
==Dramatis personae==
 
*[[Jerry Lacy]] as [[Gregory Trask]]
 
*[[Jerry Lacy]] as [[Gregory Trask]]
 
*[[John Karlen]] as [[Carl Collins]]
 
*[[John Karlen]] as [[Carl Collins]]
  +
  +
==Background information and notes==
  +
*Producer [[Stuart Manning]] confirmed on his [http://darkshadowsnews.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/audio-dramas-chronology.html blog] the following dates for the events of the play:
  +
**c1855: Ten year old Gregory Trask is adopted by Elias Trask.
  +
**1859: Living in Massachusetts, Elias Trask marries Matilda Bentham.
  +
**1860: Gregory frames Matilda Bentham.
  +
**1861: Civil war begins and Gregory and Elias begin preaching in the western territories.
  +
**1865: Gregory and Elias settle in Salina, KS.
  +
**1868: Elias Trask dies.
  +
**c1870: Gregory leaves Salina as his church falls empty.
  +
**1871: Gregory leads a witchhunt in Derby, CT.
  +
**1897: The ghost of Carl Collins appears to the dying Gregory Trask.
  +
*This play confirms that the skeleton David and Amy find in Quentin’s room in [[1968]] was that of Gregory Trask.
  +
  +
==Bloopers and continuity errors==
  +
  +
==Official website==
  +
*[http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-wicked-and-the-dead-142 Big Finish Productions: The Wicked and the Dead]
 
[[Category:Big Finish Audio Dramas]]
 
[[Category:Big Finish Audio Dramas]]

Revision as of 08:08, 11 September 2012

The Wicked and the Dead Gallery
The Wicked and the Dead
Number

7

Type

Dramatic Reading

Timeline

1897

Writer

Eric Wallace

Director

Darren Gross

Music

Nigel Fairs

Sound Design

Nigel Fairs

The Wicked and the Dead Gallery
We have 2 images of Dark Shadows The Wicked and the Dead

The Wicked and the Dead is an audiobook produced by Big Finish Productions. It was released in January 2009.

Back cover

“Sometimes a devout man must do evil in the name of the greater good...”

Collinwood in the year 1897. The Reverend Gregory Trask has been walled alive inside Quentin’s room in punishment for his crimes against the Collins family and is close to death. But as his loneliness degenerates into madness, a stranger appears to him with an intriguing offer. An offer that might set Trask free... or condemn him to the darkness forever.

Synopsis

Teaser

Gregory Trask wakes, finding himself alone in Quentin Collins room at Collinwood. He hears a grating sound. He opens the door from the room and finds its been walled up with brick and mortar, apart from one final brick. Through the opening, the face of Judith Collins peers at him laughing. The final brick is slid into place completely sealing the room. He hears a manic laugh.

[Opening Theme]

The ghost of Carl Collins appears in the room. It taunts Gregory, but he is unfazed. Gregory recalls a time when he had cleansed such evil before.

In the winter of 1871 in Derby, Connecticut, Gregory is called for to help repent the sins of a coven of witches known as ‘suffragettes’. He has them committed to an insane asylum.

Carl scolds Gregory for sending his sister Judith insane in the name of getting his hands on the Collins fortune. Carl invites Gregory to play a game. Carl places three tarot cards on a table. Gregory turns over one of the cards. It is the 'Tower of Destruction’ card. He turns over the second card to reveal the face of Angelique Collins, the practitioner of the black arts that walked the corridors of Collinwood. Carl declares the final card will decide Gregory’s fate. It is the ‘Death’ card. Gregory attempts to bargain with Carl, if he lets him leave this room Gregory will find Carl’s killer. Carl asks him about his stepmother.

A local preacher named Elias Trask adopted Gregory. Through Elias’ strict guidance Gregory found a righteous path. Elias married schoolteacher Matilda Bentham in 1859. Where Elias saw virtue in Matilda, Gregory saw vice and was determined to save his father at any cost. His father’s salvation came in the arrival of seafarer Samuel Lear the following year. One morning Gregory stands before his father’s congregation and tells of how Matilda has been adulterous with Samuel. Matilda claims to have only given spiritual guidance to Samuel and that Elias himself has been in houses of ill repute. Considering her accusations blasphemy, the congregation turn on her, and Elias thrusts her down on the alter calling for the demons inside Matilda to emerge. Matilda is banished from the community and his marriage to Elias annulled.

Carl tells Gregory that Matilda was innocent, and that she was Gregory’s first victim. Carl reveals that it was Gregory's murderous influence that drove Judith to lock Gregory inside this room. Carl’s features melt away and transform into that of a snarling demon from hell.

Gregory wakes. He suspects Carl’s ghost to have been a dream. However, Carl’s ghost is back before him. Gregory cries for Judith to let him out. Judith tells him that she has left a gift for him, that of a revolver containing a single bullet. Gregory pleads for Carl to have mercy for him. Carl suggests another game. He places a blood red rose down before Gregory and covers the rose with a white sheet. Carl whisks away the covering to reveal a severed head. It is that of Elias Trask. It tells him it is disappointed with Gregory. Gregory pleads for Carl to take it away; Carl lays the sheet back over the head. Carl asks how Gregory’s father died and what his secret was.

December 31st, 1859. Gregory hears the sound of raised voices. Elias is arguing with a woman. Gregory enters the room. Elias strikes the woman violently across the face. Gregory realizes the woman is his mother. Elias casts her out bidding her never to return and forbids Gregory to ever have contact with her.

Carl insinuates that Elias was Gregory’s biological father, the product of a sinful relationship. It was syphilis that killed Elias given to him by the woman who bore Gregory. Carl gives Gregory an ultimatum, choose which cursed Collins family member shall have their suffering ended and in turn Gregory will earn his own deliverance. Gregory cannot do it, he never will, Gregory vows that when he gets out of this room he will hunt them one by one and destroy all of them. Gregory pulls out the cross that hangs around his neck and exorcises Carl’s spirit. Carl recoils in agony, his face melts away to reveal the demon within. The demon vanishes, leaving Gregory alone. Gregory bangs on the door for someone to let him out. No one comes. Gregory stares at the revolver Judith has left for him. Realizing the bullet within it is his only escape he fires it killing himself.

Carl welcomes Gregory home and laughs manically.

[Closing Theme]

Memorable quotes

Dramatis personae

Background information and notes

  • Producer Stuart Manning confirmed on his blog the following dates for the events of the play:
    • c1855: Ten year old Gregory Trask is adopted by Elias Trask.
    • 1859: Living in Massachusetts, Elias Trask marries Matilda Bentham.
    • 1860: Gregory frames Matilda Bentham.
    • 1861: Civil war begins and Gregory and Elias begin preaching in the western territories.
    • 1865: Gregory and Elias settle in Salina, KS.
    • 1868: Elias Trask dies.
    • c1870: Gregory leaves Salina as his church falls empty.
    • 1871: Gregory leads a witchhunt in Derby, CT.
    • 1897: The ghost of Carl Collins appears to the dying Gregory Trask.
  • This play confirms that the skeleton David and Amy find in Quentin’s room in 1968 was that of Gregory Trask.

Bloopers and continuity errors

Official website