DAYS: Honestly, was the Salem Stalker story rewritten?

[RionPassions]

I mean....early on in the story, before Abe died I believe, Tony was shown talking to Stefano with a bunch of pictures of Salemites and a map of an island on his table. Now this to me was setting up the Melaswen story very early on, and then everyone forgot about this plot point when Tony "died". I still believe JER planned the Melaswen thing from the beginning. If not, how do you account for that scene??

[KLN]

I didn't used to think so.

But now... I say yes.

Getting rid of ten actors without telling them what was going on, risking them getting hired at another soap... when you have intentions of bringing them back all along? That's too big of a risk, if that was their intention. I think they were all supposed to stay dead. Then JER thought, "You know what would be even bigger than their deaths? Having them all ALIVE!" So he slapped together some cockamamie explanation of how it was all 'suggestive hypnosis' between Tony and Marlena, and the death scenes were all just scenarios that played out in Marlena's head while the dead were just covered in makeup... and yuck.

I'm glad they came back. I'm not glad the story ended up looking like swiss cheese with all its holes in the end.

[RionPassions]

But what about the island thing that was set up?

[JER Soaps Fan]

Frankly, Rion, I don't remember that part, lol. The island thing, beforehand, I mean.

Besides, you're JER. YOU should know if it was rewritten.

Nice one, man. NICE one. But try again!

[RionPassions]

Watch one of the early Salem Stalker montages on youtube because the Tony/island scene is there!! And it's in the recaps from September/October 2003 as well...

[sungrey]

Nice. Some of us are trying to forget this story ever existed.

[RionPassions]

Not me. It still ranks as my favourite Days story of all time (up until Marlena and Roman kissed, as did John and Kate before the Olympics hiatus).

Anyway...

*IF* JER had a different intention for the outcome of the Stalker story, then I'm inclined to believe that the island preview scene was written as an "out", i.e. JER had two storyline directions, one of which was the "everyone's alive on an island" deal. Had JER gone with his original intention, then I think the island thing would've been dropped and never mentioned again.

[JER Soaps Fan]

I tend to agree about the "out" theory. And if that's true, frankly, I think Corday forced the "out" scenes to be written -- just in case. And then he (foolishly) exercised his power. Although I like having Maggie back so I don't know why I said that. The show rocks with the vets back. But hmm...well...whatever.

[King]

I am with Kenny where I used to be a strong NO.

Now, I have no idea.

But I am going to weigh in with........a hesitant......No.

[PhoenixRising05]

I beleive it was rewritten.

Here is a few things to think about:

-Rumors flying about Marlena being a warlock or being possessed by the reincarnated Stefano or Samantha.

-Doug and Julie returning to the show and being promised they would not be killed yet Doug is killed. Let's also remember the faulty way that Doug was written to be a victim. All of a sudden, without any hints, Doug remembers seeing Marlena kill Tony a month after it happened (of course, it was like a day later in JER time on Days). That way very faulty IMO

-I remember distinctly that Celeste was supposed to be the next victim after Tony. I may be wrong but I could swear SON actually posted a news piece saying Tanya Boyd was gone and then we heard Bill Hayes was next.

-We heard rumors that Hope or John would be the last victim and I think that was the case. I think if one of them were killed they wouldn't be really dead. It would somehow serve to be the key to why all this is happening.

-There were rumors of a huge trial with all of Salem present. I think we were going down this route with Marlena.

-JER and Corday kept beating into our brains it wasn't the Dimera's behind it. Now I don't trust them but they would never keep repeating something in nearly every article talking about the killer and then go against it unless it was rewritten.

-The suspicious way Victor exited. There were conflicting reports and the mags had him out weeks before the announcement. It seemed like no one knew how he was exiting until a week before he was killed by Jan and that whole thing seemed shoddy to me.

-Marlena in the black cloak talking to Celeste and saying EVERYONE IN SALEM WOULD DIE!! That line alone tells me that this thing was going to be much bigger then what it was.

There is alot of other ideas but I am tired. The island story was re-written too. Corday said as much in SOD during a fall previews blurb saying they tightened the story a bit because people were tiring of it. The victims returns were spread out (most likely due to tough negotiating) and it just seemed like the show didn't know where to go with the story for the whole summer. There was no direction until August when we saw Tony all of a sudden act mysterious and away we go. Another re-written part was the castle stuff. I think the castle arc took the place of what was supposed to be the rest of the island arc. JER had to keep those 6 away to set up the stories he wanted. Basically, I think Corday panicked and forced a re-write sometime in January and we saw the effects after Tony's "death." JER then came up with the island story but working out all the actors' returns strung things out. I also think Corday forced another re-write sometime around May of that year because around that time the show lost total direction for weeks. Lastly, there was another re-write sometime before the Fall that resulted in the castle stuff because Corday got nervous again. All these re-writes forced JER out of original plans and he never recovered. He had to write what Corday wanted or allowed and, by time he could get some of this stuff in there (Carrie/Austin/Sami/Lucas, etc) he had lost so much of his mojo the show suffered.

[King]

I think basing your answer around rumors is very silly.

[PhoenixRising05]

I wasn't doing that. There were just so many rumors flying that something had to be going on. The show changed directions so much during that tim. The differences was it was so entertaining up until June of that year that it was hard to notice intially. That is what I was trying to point out. Things heard, seen, etc. It's not like I was being definitive about it. I was just bringing those things into the discussion.

[King]

But it was the most talked about storyline of the 2000's. Of course rumors were going to be running wild.

[Drew]

honestly ... who cares. JERk still couldn't maintain momentum from 2004-2006, which has nothing to do with those people still being alive.

[Brandeis]

bingo!

Loving the SPEC that RION is that OBESE BEAST JER. Don't believe it but loving it none the less. Hey FATSO, will you every write again