1303 Echoes Of The Past

What is your rating of this story?

  • 5 This is an excellent episode! One of my personal favorites!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2 This episode was like the neutral zone. I am indifferent.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1 Bellisario would be rolling in his grave if he had one.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    4

QL Damsel

Al's Place / TVS & QR & Radio Files Administrator
Staff member
Aug 26, 2002
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Echoes Of The Past

July 23, 1983
Coventry, Maine



“Sometimes, in the dead of night, the echoes of the past can be heard. And if you listen real carefully, you just might hear them.”
For Dr. Samuel Beckett, this could very well be the last thing he hears...


Written by: Erik Dreiling

Thanks,
The Virtual Season Team
 
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Our rating system this season consists of a possible of 10 raters ! We took the average of six raters and came up with an average for that episode. Based on ratings of 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest, the average of this episode was: 9.1

The first six raters are the ones that will appear on the site here. Please be aware that some reviews may contain spoilers! Some of the comments given were:


Vince Beckett


This story is pretty creepy. Reminds me of the Halloween episode. Robert Englund would have been perfect to play Pa Baker. The epilogue keeps me on the edge of my seat.

RATING: 8.5
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Sporty

:eek A great story! It sure had trappings of one of my favorite QL episodes, THE *********. A perfect tale for Halloween! Great job! It very definitely desrves my rating of "9".

RATING: 9.0
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Gooshie

This Hallowe'en episode definitely had some "creepiness" factor to it, but I was expecting a little more substance to the story. Melissa seemed to be a little one-dimensional, only really being there to keep Sam company and to be in danger. Other than that, having the "devil" show up again was interesting - I would chalk that up to Sam hallucinating or dreaming or in some other kind of fantastical state.

The idea of the audio clips was original, but were hard to hear (though I suppose that was the point). I didn't include the multimedia in my ranking of the story, however.

Overall, this was a good episode. Nice work, Erik.

RATING: 8.0

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Seeker
What a great Halloween episode! It wasn’t Freddie Krueger-ish or even Jason-esque. Instead, I compare “Echoes of the Past” to an old black & white Vincent Price movie I watched one Halloween night several years back. I knew it was a movie and I knew how it would end. When it was over, I turned out the lights and went to bed, knowing full good and well that there was nothing under the bed that was “gonna get me” I still looked under the bed!

That’s what Erik’s story did for me. “Echoes of the Past” is a wonderfully executed subtle psychological “what’s that going bump in the shadows?” story. Pa Baker…*shivers*…that one, as far as I’m concerned, puts Freddie and Jason both to shame!

Great job, Erik! Kudos! Keep up the great work!



RATING: 10

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Zanadu
This was one of those episodes whether or not you read it in the dark or in the light you still find yourself feeling like there is something walking around you. You get jumpy and you feel the hair on the back of your neck standing up. Yeah... this is one of those.

I agree with Seeker. This is a wonderful story that you can really "see". Wonderful job, Erik!


RATING: 10

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Ziggy's Soul
I'm not a horror film fan for the most part but this story was a great ghost story. I couldn't hear the links very well though and had to go by the prose as to what they said in any case. The last link didn't work at all.

The story itself of the ghosts trying to tell Sam something was great. It would have been even better if the actual "leap in" got captured as something more on the film...that being said, I enjoyed the way the story went along. One thing I wonder about though...why canned baked beans? I mean, tuna sandwiches or something would have been much more pleasant.

As to Melissa...with the story of the house itself, it seems reckless for her older brother to bring her with him, especially since he totally believes. Then again, I guess that's part of the horror genre...after all, don't these people ever know...the killer is 'lurking' around the corner.

Anyways...great story. Keep up the good work!


RATING: 9.0

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Now, it's your opportunity to rate this particular story. Let the author(s) know how you rate this story. If you'd like to give feedback, please go ahead and leave a reply!

Thanks!
The Virtual Seasons Team
 
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I guess I'm the first reader to rank this episode... everyone else must be still filling up on candy. :b

Like a couple of the raters mentioned, I liked the connection to "The Bo0-gie-man" and how you left it up to the reader to decide if Sam was dreaming again or what. It was pretty open-ended and I like that: having definite closure isn't always a good thing.

I agree that it was a mysterious episode that gave one the willies once in a while, with nice breaks of levity. However, there did seem to be a lot of passages of time that left me wondering what happened in between.

That Pa Baker guy had me distrustful from the beginning, but I never expected him to be from the Underworld. I enjoyed reading your story, Erik. I hope to see more from you this season.

... Mike.
 
I 'echo' the comments already given. :hair

I was tempted to think that Pa Baker was actually a ghost who was going to help out, except that Robert Englund had been cast in the role, so that made me instantly distrustful! ;)

It even had me wondering at one point if somehow the evil leapers had 'possessed' the Chase family women.

Melissa going out the window in the fire reminded me of Abigail doing the same in Trilogy one, whether or not it was deliberate, it was effective.

A very appropriate Halloween episode, well done Erik!
 
This episode was a ton of fun for me to write. It had been an idea for quite some time and I was finally glad to see it hit the virtual air waves.