Dark Shadows - General Discussion

[David T. Cole]

"My name is Victoria Winters. My journey is beginning, a journey that I hope will open the doors of life to me, and link my past with my future, a journey that will bring me to a strange and dark place, to the edge of the sea high above widow's hill, a house called Collinwood, a world I've never known, with people I've never met, people who tonight are still only shadows in my mind, but who will soon fill the days and nights of my tomorrows."

[atomationage]

Barnabas wasn't innocent.  Didn't he have sex with her of his own free will?

[atomationage]

I've seen the 1980s version more recently than the original, so I must be remembering that one more clearly.

[Pete Martell]

I thought he and Angelique had had a little something together even in the original.

[Collinwood]

Since Dark Shadows was a daytime serial and retakes weren't done, this show had more than its fair share of bloopers.  My personal favorite:  Newly risen vampire Barnabas has a confrontation with Angelique while they are standing by his coffin inside the Collins Mausoleum while a crewman watches in the background.  When he realizes he is on camera, the crewman slowly walks away.

There is a blooper DVD put out by MPI Video if anyone is interested.

[Collinwood]

In the original daytime serial Barnbas and Angelique had a fling (never stated how far things flung) while in Martinque.  Not sure if Barnabas and Josette were on a break or if they hadn't become involved yet.  Angelique wanted to start up again when she arrived in Collinsport with Josette, but Barnabas immediately said no.  The rest is soap history. 

[Thumper82003]

Just happened on this thread: My best memories of the original series are the bloopers. Baranabas enters a room, slams a door shut, supposedly locking it, it bounces open, he slams it again, it bounces open, he slams it a third time, it bounces open and a hand reach in to pull the door closed. Or, Barnabas, about to bite someone (?Angelique), mouth open, his hand reaches up to feel his fangs are not in place. Then puts them in place as if they were vampire dentures. Without the bloopers I would not have been allowed to watch the show, as I would have had nightmares. But the bloopers made it a satire, therefore not scarey.

[Collinwood]

Ah, the uncooperative doors on Dark Shadows.  Early on in the show (I think it was still 1966) Joan Bennett tried to let Victoria into the drawing room at Collinwood only to have the doors jam.  She struggled for a good thirty seconds to get the doors open.  In 1967 the drawing room doors foiled Joan Bennnett again only this time she was trying to leave.  The dramatic scene was supposed to end with Joan Bennett storming out of the drawing room only the doors stuck and the scene ended with her frantically pulling at the door knobs.

Good times.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Collinwood

[DeeJayKay]

That's partly why the remake was not so successful.  They had production values!

[SweePea59]

I think the main reason the remake was "not so successful", to put it politely, was because the character of Barnabas was not played with heart. I felt like BC's Barnabas was just plain evil. Whereas I felt compassion for JF's Barnabas who was a vampire against his will and sort of a Pinocchio. Or were you talking about the movie with JD as Barnabas? I didn't see that. There's no point. Why piss myself off like that?

BTW, I would have moved my reply into a more appropriate thread but there isn't one. There are 12 fucking threads here and not one of them is general show discussion. WTF? The only thread that should exist, IMHO, doesn't. Nuts.

[Collinwood]

On the subject of too many threads, I hear you SweePea59, but this seems to be the way they do things at this site.  Perhaps we can change things as time goes on, but for now we are in Rome so . . .

The production values were certainly different on the nighttime series and so was the overall vibe.  Daytime DS was more like watching a stage play and the viewer got the feeling of being near the stage.  Other daytime shows had the same problems with line flubs and so on, but DS had much grander aspirations than any other daytime drama so when things went wrong it really showed.  Such as--Cassandra hypnotizing some poor soul by having him look into the flame of a cigarette lighter while she cast a spell on him only to have the lighter go out in the middle of the spell.

[atomationage]

Poof!   It's easier than turning someone into a cat.   

[atomationage]

When they went  back to 1795, they kept repeating the same narration all the time with different actors.  That would have been much better if they had stuck with the "My Name is Victoria Winters" formula, since she was in many of the episodes. 

[atomationage]

Louis Edmonds seem to be having a fun time and chewing the scenery when he became Joshua instead of Roger in 1795.  It was nice that they made Clarice Blackburn into one of the family as Abigail.  The worst for me was Nancy Barrett as Millicent. 

[atomationage]

I think they showed the old portrait of Barnabas way too many times when they were trying to hit us over the head with the idea that he was the same person. 

[atomationage]

I thought Grayson Hall did a great job.  She was convincing in all her scenes. 

I almost felt sorry for Julia when she kept trying to get closer to Barnabas, and he kept spurning her.

[Rhondinella]

BTW, I would have moved my reply into a more appropriate thread but there isn't one. There are 12 fucking threads here and not one of them is general show discussion. WTF? The only thread that should exist, IMHO, doesn't. Nuts.

 

 

Yep.  Them's the rules.  Sorry.  We're actually trying to make it easier and better eventually so we don't have thousands of posts in one long thread which makes it a) difficult to find stuff; and b) intimidating to try to jump into the middle of.  Obviously for now there's not that many posters here, but we think it will pick up at the end of May when TWoP forums close.

 

I see that someone has started a General Discussion thread now, so you should be covered.  That will take the place of a bunch of individual episode threads since this show is no longer airing.  Unless there's a particular ep that you think would get a lot of discussion.  Then we could make one for that ep.  I hope that makes sense. 

[Collinwood]

*Waves at moderators*

 

So I'm new around here and all and I don't want to sound pushy, but I don't like the title of this thread.  Just don't care for it one bit.  I really enjoyed Grayson Hall on this show and think she did a great job.  Is there any way we could possibly change the name?   When I think of Dr. Hoffman, I think about the way she handed out sleeping pills so easily and was forever advising someone to have a brandy and lie down and remember "it was only a dream, Insert Name."  May I ask for the subtitle The Doctor Will Sedate You Now? Another alternative is I'm A Doctor, Drink This Medicinal Brandy.

[Sidney]

I like the title. 

 

So do I.

[Wilowy]

I saw one blooper where Barnabas was at the dungeon door with Julia and they were both peering in through the window and JF reached up and picked his nose while still staying in character!

 

I rewound it like twenty times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. It was golden, the best blooper evar.

 

Those horrible blue candles and how they would get SO MUCH bigger and smaller within one scene! But the line flubs... the line flubs were my absolute favorite. When I was a little kid, it just made those people seem more real to me, because hey, I messed up my words sometimes. So it made it even more scary to me because it made them more real. Oh, this show terrified me. I wanted to be Angelique (pre-Cassandra, that is - I started talking in her breathy/gaspy delivery and freaking out my friends) and I alternately was terrified of and wanted to marry Barnabas.

 

The horrible cakey makeup (not even on the monsters, just the normal people, and how we found later that most of them did their own), the terrible lighting... oh, WHY don't I own any of this? I need to remedy this now! 

[Wilowy]

Barnabas was such a cool cat.

 

Without Frid playing him he could have easily fallen into a campy joke, but to me, he never did. Frid's portrayal brought dignity and gravitas to a role that by today's standards would be considered kid's fare.

 

I'm an insane Buffy fan, and there was a poll a while back about the coolest vampire and of course both Spike and Angel were on it... but so was Barnabas. Guess who I voted for? 

[Wilowy]

I also thought Louis Edmonds was great as Roger. Thayer David was good, if repulsive. 

[Wilowy]

Here's an hour-long documentary about the making of Dark Shadows, and its cultural impact. Lots of Frid!

 

[Wilowy]

Angelique curses Barnabas!

 

My friends and I used to act out this scene when we were kids. :D

 

[Wilowy]

Awesome fan vid about the music box:

 

Aaaand here's the actual song:

 

[Wilowy]

Here they are, the tragic, haunted lovers, destined to always be torn apart despite their deep and true desires. A reluctant vampire and a reincarnated embodiment of his puritan fantasies. Ahh, those crazy kids. Really thought they could work it out.

 

Stupid history, with all the repeating of itself and all...

 

 

And this picture is badass.

[Wilowy]

THIS is awesome! The lighting, the makeup, the delivery, the interplay between the best two actors on the entire show? Awesome. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG4k8HmQv0Y

[atomationage]

The actors seemed to enjoy themselves in their costumes.  When they got back to 1968 they started wearing more stylish clothes for that time too.

[atomationage]

I also liked the Johnny Depp movie for the most part, especially the train ride in the beginning set to the tune of Nights in White Satin.  The rest of it was uneven.  I wonder if they will do a sequel. 

[Collinwood]

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Shadows-Treasures-Jonathan-Frid/dp/B000H1RFEQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1400630359&sr=1-1&keywords=dark+shadows+bloopers

 

If anyone is interested in the blooper DVD, here it is on Amazon.

 

ETA: It contains the famous nose picking flub.  Yes, you can own that forever.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Collinwood

[Collinwood]

Best part of that awful movie:  Jonny Lee Miller as Roger Collins.  Glad Jonathan Frid was able to do the cameo, he passed away just a few months later.

[Wilowy]

Yes! That guy became her husband. Most of the photos they took were in a trunk in her parent's attic and when she wrote her book she had all these wonderful source materials. 

[Collinwood]

*Waves to takeittotheBanks*  I see you just watched Maggie have the first dream in the Dream Curse.  As the dreams goes through other characters make sure to watch in the background for trash cans containing liquid ice to fog the set.  They are pretty easy to spot for the most part.  What I like about these bloopers the most is that the trash cans stand there in all their silvery glory.  Apparently no one had time to paint them black to fade them into the background.

[Wilowy]

Hee! Typical. :D

[Collinwood]

Yes, she is in the 1897 storyline with Quentin.  Laura is married to Edward Collins in that timeline--also played by Louis Edmonds and they have a son in that storyline.  It has been pointed out that she married back into the Collins family in the 20th century and could have been married her own great grandson because the exact geneology isn't clear.  

[Collinwood]

Just stopping by to mention that Previously.tv has Project Rewatch for shows that are now off the air or for past seasons over in the Misc. TV Talk section.   I think Sex and the City will be starting soon.  If anyone would like to do a rewatch on Dark Shadows--starting in any period, it doesn't have to be in the beginning, please express your interest.  I own the entire series so I'm onboard.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Collinwood

[Wilowy]

Thanks, Collinwood, for the suggestion. As much as I'd love to, I don't know that I could participate, not owning any of the show and it not airing at the moment. Great idea, however, and if you'd like to start a rewatch thread and have people comment as they like, that'd be fine. :)

[atomationage]

Carolyn was at her best when her mother was out of town, in an institution, or otherwise engaged.  There was another actress that played the part for one day back in 1968.  She was terrible. 

[atomationage]

Kathryn Leigh Scott seemed to gradually progress the role of Maggie, so that she became more empowered.  The actress must have had more input into the role than Alexandra Moltke. 

[atomationage]

I love the character of Victoria Winters, more than the actress liked it herself. I didn't mind her being a perpetual victim, but I really liked when she and Peter/Jeff got together.  I thought Roger Davis was terrific as her boyfriend. 

[atomationage]

Julia always had the right potion or remedy on hand for whatever was going on in the episode.  She also always had to convince other people that what they thought happened didn't really happen. 

[Collinwood]

My favorite Carolyn moments were in 1970 Parallel Time when she was drunk!Carolyn married to the writer William Loomis.  She wasn't afraid of anybody including body-switching Angelique.

[SweePea59]

I always loved when she would pull out that piece of a chandelier, say "find the center of the crystal", and hypnotize someone.

[SweePea59]

I liked both actors, but of course have a soft spot for JK who really made Willie Loomis into the Willie Loomis we all know and love.

 

When I watched the show again as an adult I felt so validated to see the other actor because even though I was pretty young when the show originally aired I thought that there had been a different Willie Loomis first.

 

I only remember seeing one episode of Cagney and Lacey where JK brought out his inner Willie Loomis. It was the episode where they were being audited by the IRS, or something to that effect. He was a nervous wreck, he was our Willie Loomis. I went nuts!

[SweePea59]

Those horrible blue candles 

I loved them!

 

I went to a DS convention about a zillion years ago and someone had edited a video tape of all of the times there was a fly on screen. And it was playing on a monitor and listed in the program like it was some big attraction.

[Collinwood]

Carolyn did appear in the future in one time traveling arc where Barnabas and Julia traveled "waaay into the future"--the year 1994.  Seriously.  They find Collinwood in a shambles and Carolyn has gone mad.  The 1970 Parallel Time storyline happens in the same time but in an alternate universe.  Professor Stokes explains how there are universes in which we are the same people but have made different choices.  There is a room is the east wing (maybe the west wing, I'll have to check on that) where the universes meet one another.  If you are in the room when the alternate universe is there, you will become trapped.  Fun stuff.  Not everyone liked the parallel time episodes, but I loved them. 

 

ETA:  Found it!  It was the East Wing of Collinwood.  Barnabas first sees the Parallel Time room in episode 969.  There's a handy book called The Dark Shadows Program Guide which is edited by Ann Wilson.  The book is published by Pomegranate Press owned by Kathryn Leigh Scott.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Collinwood

[Collinwood]

Yes, sedatives and brandy were Julia's big Go To medicines.  A cigarette smoking doctor doling out pills like candy wasn't that odd on 1960's daytime.  Keep an eye out for the medical equipment she uses from time to time.  The huge glass syringes are quite scary.

[Hanahope]

I will always remember as a child seeing a face in the fireplace fire and it scared the hell out of me.  I've seen a few episodes here and there, but I don't remember much except for the fireplace face.  One of these days, I should watch the show, just for fun.  I remember more the remake they did decades later, which last for one season.

[Collinwood]

Alexandra Moltke was unhappy with her role for quite awhile and wasn't afraid to say so.  She wasn't let go until she told the producers she was pregnant. I'm not sure of the exact time between her pregnancy news and her last tape date.  The character of Quentin was created specifically because Jonathan Frid asked for relief from constant taping.  Frid went through a period where he was on just about every episode.

[Wilowy]

Was anyone ever as popular as Barnabas? ;)