Image Slideshow Works, Content of Any Kind Does Not Cycle

I'm working on a test site creating dynamic display blocks based on views of specific content types. In the past I've only created ddblocks based on an image folder, which works fine. But when I try to create a ddblock that either feeds from views or a specific content type, I just get a list of the content without the slideshow cycling through.

I've hunted through the help forum and:

• Permissions are fine, I've anons can view ddblocks (tested in multiple browsers logged in & out).
• JS is working, because I can get the block to feed from an image folder in my files directory no problem.
• I saw a previous poster mention that the body can't be WYSWIG (which seems like a major usability issue), and I've tried with only text fields and still no slideshow.
• I've downloaded all the themes and put them in my subtheme; then I reverted back to Garland and put all the ddblock themes there. I can select a theme in the block config settings, but it does nothing as far as what I'm seeing.
• Caching is not turned on for my test server; I have also manually cleared cache between each step I've outlined, multiple times, and seen no change.

I am also concerned that there seems to be an active problem with security patches (this thread has not been updated in 7 months, and appears incomplete, nor has the module itself been updated since summer last year). I've eaten up most of my client's time today chasing this issue; if I don't resolve it soon, I'm going to start looking into alternative slideshows and abandon ddblock (as it appears to be abandoned already).