43 replies to this topic

[juppiter]

Can we do this? Rank them and say why... I'm interested in the opinions of people more familiar with this storyline than I am. I've actually only recently watched scenes from the Viki's alters storyline on Youtube. In all these years of soap watching I've never watched it before. Erika Slezak is over the top, but in a very good way.

[Dale]

The best alter by far, IMO, was Jean! If only for the very smart suits she wore! LOL! Jean was an emotionless control freak, and the smartest alter. The way she masterminded the demise of the Joey/Dorian and Tina/David relationships was genius! And locking Dorian up in the secret room for weeks was just icing on the cake.

[juppiter]

Agreed, Jean was a really unique character for soaps and the alter that didn't require Slezak to ham it up. I thought she was the most three-dimensional of the alters and her motivations for everything she did were noble and made sense, and the calm way she carried it all out made her likable instead of a villain like most characters concocting those schemes would be.

[SFK]

Jean also gets my vote. She was the best played alter. I love the way Jean handles Dorian and Andrew in this scene. Jean playing Viki >>> Niki playing Viki:

[CarlD2]

My favorite was Tori, whip-smart and very dangerous, sometimes funny, a pure sociopath. She had a part of just about every alter in her.

Edited by CarlD2, 11 February 2012 - 02:49 PM.

[juppiter]

What about the worst alter? I think Princess was pretty tragic and effective for like 2 minutes, but once you get past that she kinda just says, "Please" a lot.

What did people think about this storyline at the time? I know a lot of OLTL fans disliked Viki during the Gottlieb years when she got with Sloan, I think that was a pretty hated storyline. And IIRC, this storyline came right after Gottlieb left. It was great writing and acting, but at the same time it was a huge re-write of OLTL's past. Did that piss people off or was it overlooked?

[CarlD2]

I think Niki post-1991 or so would be the worst alter.

The Sloan/Viki story was very divisive.

I guess you'd have to go look at newsgroups of that time to get a strong opinion - I know the soap magazines liked the story. The show was not seen as being hugely strong at this point, outside of that story - the Angel Square plot in particular got criticism.

[SFK]

What about the worst alter? I think Princess was pretty tragic and effective for like 2 minutes, but once you get past that she kinda just says, "Please" a lot.

What did people think about this storyline at the time? I know a lot of OLTL fans disliked Viki during the Gottlieb years when she got with Sloan, I think that was a pretty hated storyline. And IIRC, this storyline came right after Gottlieb left. It was great writing and acting, but at the same time it was a huge re-write of OLTL's past. Did that piss people off or was it overlooked?

Watching adults play children is a pet peeve of mine, so after the initial shock and emotional impact of the Princess personality, I found her to be a little irritating. Irritating mixed with an awkward embarrassment for the actor.

I was finally watching OLTL with young adult eyes at this point. I of course knew who Clint was, but I had no particular emotional tie to him and I'm one of the few, I guess, who actually liked Sloan with Viki. I liked when they went on their little capers trying to take down Dorian. I thought they were an elegant couple. The DID was riveting, I absolutely loved it... I taped it, I rushed home for it, I hated it when I for whatever reasons ended up missing a day. Back then, I seem to remember chatting more than posting about the show. This was over at AOL's ABC channel. I really don't remember any negative feedback about the s/l itself, most people seemed to be fascinated watching the truth, and Viki, unravel. I do recall a SOD writer teasing that someday it would be revealed that Niki Smith and not Dorian was Victor's true killer. This was at least a year before this s/l and the revelation that Niki was not the only alter. I don't even recall Sloan hatred as I see more now. I think folks were more understanding of the situation given Clint Ritchie's injury.

Edited by SFK, 11 February 2012 - 05:27 PM.

[SFK]

I agree with Carl that latter day Niki was the worst. Just obnoxious, grating, and WAY too OTT.

[Skin]

Aren't all of Viki's personalities supposed to be strong fragments of her persona so they can protect her from life's difficulties? The whole reason she fragmented was because of her fathers abuse and that's why Tommy, Jean and Niki all surfaced to protect Viki from problems in her life which she couldn't handle. The whole thing that kicked off the revelation of all of her alters was the reveal that the rapist Todd was her brother. So what's the purpose of alters like Princess and Tori, wouldn't they both cause more harm then anything else? Princess was a seven year old girl, how could she protect Viki from anything? I guess she could be the innocent part of Viki but I can't imagine how she could be strong enough to "come out" and compete with stronger personalities. Tori also seemed to be a very destructive personality, how would that help Viki? I don't remember enough of the Victor personality to comment on it.

Edited by Skin, 11 February 2012 - 06:36 PM.

[Cheap21]

1. Tori
2. Niki (but only pre-2002 crapfest)
3. Jean.

Those were the only fleshed out ones. The rest were too one night to really make much of an impact

Aren't all of Viki's personalities supposed to be strong fragments of her persona so they can protect her from life's difficulties? The whole reason she fragmented was because of her fathers abuse and that's why Tommy, Jean and Niki all surfaced to protect Viki from problems in her life which she couldn't handle. The whole thing that kicked off the revelation of all of her alters was the reveal that the rapist Todd was her brother. So what's the purpose of alters like Princess and Tori, wouldn't they both cause more harm then anything else? Princess was a seven year old girl, how could she protect Viki from anything? I guess she could be the innocent part of Viki but I can't imagine how she could be strong enough to "come out" and compete with stronger personalities. Tori also seemed to be a very destructive personality, how would that help Viki? I don't remember enough of the Victor personality to comment on it.

No they arent all supposed to be strong fragments. Some are, but others are not. Tori ultimately protected Viki, by killing her abuser, effectively ending his reach and influence over her.

Edited by Cheap21, 11 February 2012 - 06:39 PM.

[CarlD2]

Tori felt that the ultimate way to protect Viki was to destroy every part of Victor's legacy. Only when Victor, his reputation, mansion, and his newspaper were gone would Viki would be free.

I really wanted Tori to return one more time, although later writers were terrible at the story. Still, I think she would have done her best to excise toxic waste like Todd from Viki's life.

Edited by CarlD2, 11 February 2012 - 06:48 PM.

[CarlD2]

I guess she could be the innocent part of Viki but I can't imagine how she could be strong enough to "come out" and compete with stronger personalities.

Princess only came out when Viki was so full of fear that nothing else could show. A strong example of this was when Jean, for the first time in many years, saw the doll Viki had had during the early years of her molestation.

[Cheap21]

Tori felt that the ultimate way to protect Viki was to destroy every part of Victor's legacy. Only when Victor, his reputation, mansion, and his newspaper were gone would Viki would be free.

I really wanted Tori to return one more time, although later writers were terrible at the story. Still, I think she would have done her best to excise toxic waste like Todd from Viki's life.

I hated that they never revisted Tori. Like last year when they had Viki trapped in her mind and visted by Jean and Niki, she should have run into Tori as well

[Skin]

No they arent all supposed to be strong fragments. Some are, but others are not. Tori ultimately protected Viki, by killing her abuser, effectively ending his reach and influence over her.

Princess only came out when Viki was so full of fear that nothing else could show. A strong example of this was when Jean, for the first time in many years, saw the doll Viki had had during the early years of her molestation.

I never got a chance to really see the full 95' storyline so I just know bits and pieces about each alter. I was under the impression Tori was an unstable woman who tended to be really damaging in Viki's life, including burning down her house and nearly letting Jessica die in the fire. I was just under the impression that each alter was created to protect the host or main personality, that's why I never got why Princess existed. I guess she could manifest herself and immerse herself in innocence/ignorance about what happened to her but still it seems quite dangerous for Viki to turn into Princess if she needs to deal with something that is threatening or endangering her -- I would imagine Niki, Tori, Jean and even Tommy would all be better alters to protect her.

Edited by Skin, 11 February 2012 - 07:03 PM.

[CarlD2]

I never got a chance to really see the full 95' storyline so I just know bits and pieces about each alter. I was under the impression Tori was an unstable woman who tended to be really damaging in Viki's life, including burning down her house and nearly letting Jessica die in the fire. I was just under the impression that each alter was created to protect the host or main personality, that's why I never got why Princess existed. I guess she could manifest herself and immerse herself in innocence/ignorance about what happened to her but still it seems quite dangerous for Viki to turn into Princess if she needs to deal with something that is bothering her -- I would imagine Niki, Tori, Jean and even Tommy would all be better alters to protect her.

Tori was dangerous but only when pressed. She was perfectly fine with living day to day life as Viki, pretending to be nice with Clint and the kids, etc. Her main goal was to destroy Victor's legacy. This meant ruining the Banner by building up a rival paper and sabotaging the Banner's reputation. It also meant burning down the mansion. She never intended to kill Jessica and didn't know Jessica would be in the house. When they began to realize what was going on, she became more violent and out of control, but again never actually harmed anyone just for the sake of doing so. The only person she ever killed was Victor.

Princess was the shattered little girl who represented Viki at that time. Niki was the persona Viki created to deal with Victor when Victor was raping her. Tommy was blind rage - all he could do was lash out with his fists. Tori represented the loathing of Victor and his legacy which had reined over Viki's entire life. Jean was the gatekeeper who felt that the only way for Viki to survive was to never, ever be reminded of the abuse, and to never feel anything.

No one in Viki's head wanted her to turn into Princess. It just happened when she lost control.

Here's an example.

Edited by CarlD2, 11 February 2012 - 07:12 PM.

[SFK]

As mentioned, all of the alters didn't serve the purpose to protect, but Princess and Victor were reflections of the real-life disorder in which the child at the time of the abuse and the abuser are usually two alters that develop.

Tommy also represented the tough big brother protector that Viki didn't have. Like Jean, who was in fact named for Eugenia, the name Tommy is similar to Tony but I think that's more coincidence. Viki didn't know Tony until adulthood. One thing I don't remember them addressing fully was the presence of the alters in Viki's childhood up until the s/l in '95. We know that Niki was around, and we know that Tori killed Victor, but I don't believe they ever touched upon the idea that the others emerged at other times in her life, in other words, whether or not they were dormant until that unfortunate evening when Dorian ate stairs.

[Scotty]

• Descriptions of each alter from Viki's Wikipedia page:

• Nicole "Niki" Smith - a devil-may-care, sexually promiscuous party girl, approximately 22 years old. Niki has appeared more times than all of the other alters combined, and is very skilled at masquerading as Viki when necessary to hide her re-emergence. Niki has had two serious relationships with Vinny Wolek and Harry O'Neill, neither of whom realized at the time that Niki was an alter of Viki.

• Tommy - A 14 year old male alter emerged in 1995, who embodied Viki's anger and rage at her abuse. Tommy usually emerged to protect Princess (another alternate personality), and once threw Dorian Lord down the Llanfair staircase.

• Jean Randolph - Jean Randolph is the calm, cool, collected and calculating caretaker of all the other alters, who took over when Viki's abusive childhood was revealed. Her name is derived from that of Viki's mother, Eugenia Randolph Lord. Jean blackmailed con man David Vickers into divorcing Viki's sister, Tina, and also freed Viki's son, Joey, from Dorian Lord's clutches by imprisoning Dorian in a secret room in the basement of Llanfair, which led Joey to believe that Dorian left him. Jean then forced Dorian to marry David to keep them both occupied and away from Viki's loved ones.

• Princess - a manifestation of Viki as a seven year old girl. She is a traumatized child who is constantly reliving the molestation by Viki's father. Protected by Tommy, the 14 year old alternate personality, who is most angry about the abuse.

• Tori - Tori emerged in 1995, approximately 19 years old, after Dorian revealed the truth of Victor's abuse to Viki. It was established that Tori was the alter who murdered Victor Lord in 1976. (It would later be revealed that Victor survived and did not die until 2003. However Dorian has planted a seed of doubt regarding that notion, suggesting that the man who re-emerged as Victor in 2003 was a fraud.) Although her declared mission was to force Viki to face the truth, she wreaked much destruction before getting around to that. Tori started undermining The Banner by feeding stories and information to rival newspaper editor Todd Manning, and she torched Llanfair, nearly killing Jessica in the blaze.

• Victor Lord - This personality is the image of her father within Viki. Very often, sexual abuse victims who develop alternate personalities develop a personality to reflect their abuser.^{[citation needed]} The Victor Lord personality only emerged two or three times, but one of the instances that he took over led Viki to attempt suicide by cutting her own wrists to "expel" Victor from her body.

[BKuzak]

My favorite was Jean also. Even now sometimes when i'm nervous about having to do something, i go to my inner Jean. Someone who can just block out all emotions and deal with stuff. She didn't care what the conquences would be, she just dealt with what needed to be done with and that was it. there was no emotions needed.

the worst for me was the Niki of 2002. It was OK at first but it just went on for too long. she was very different from what i saw of the 1980's Niki. This Niki had a mean streak and did whatever she could to be free, like trying to poison Gabby and pushed Ben out a window. Thank god Mark Derwin wanted to leave the show because i heard at the time TPTB was going to extend the Niki run a while longer.

[Khan]

Jean looks best, IMO, because ONE LIFE TO LIVE went out of its way to make Niki Smith look so ridiculous and irrelevant. If you go back and look at previous stories, however, you'll see how much more nuanced Niki was BITD, and how it was hard not to sympathize with her, even if she was just one half of Viki's fractured psyche.