676 replies to this topic

[Qwho]

I'd love for the WB to be serious about reviving Dark Shadows, but they'd probably do a "younger version" of it. Elizabeth could turn out to be 30 and everyone else teenagers. Not that it wouldn't necessarily be bad, mind you, just different.
Angelique is among my top three tv witches, right behind Samantha and just before Willow.

[roxygirl]

Does anyone else remember, or had the wonderful opportunity to watch this show? I've caught it a couple of times on Sci-Fi, and it's so deliciously kitschy. I saw an episode once where it looked like the girl from Willy Wonka that played Violet Beauregard (sp?) was on it. Now what can be better than that? Then, I was at the store yesterday and noticed that they have the show out on DVD now. Maybe I'll buy some if they come down in price. I had forgotten about that show until I saw it at the store. Just thought I'd post this and see if anyone else fondly remembers it.

[HellfireClubGuy]

I actually saw the entire run in 2001-2003 on the Sci-fi channel. Very cool series..though filled with many campy and cheesy special effects...and the great bloopers!

My favorite storline is the 1897 storyline, cause Quentin rocks! The 1840 and 1970 Parallel time were also pretty good.

My favorite blooper(there so many!) was in the 1897 rline..while Evan hanley was doing a satanic ritual..out of nowhere comes this person in the shadows running(right in front of the camera while being cahsed by this other guy and he said "jesus". Hillarious.!

You also have to love the uncomfortable silence whenever an acotr for his/her lines....I also seen more microphones and cameras accidentally coming out of frame then any othe rlive show..really great campy show.

Edited by HellfireClubGuy, Aug 11, 2004 @ 8:05 PM.

[Qwho]

I know there were other Dark Shadows threads around, but can't find them. Maybe they were inactive too long.

I really got hooked during the original 1795 storyline and I quite liked 1970 parallel time. 1897, while very grand, seemed to go on too long. 1840 wasn't too bad but always confused me. Barnabas got there via the I Ching which sent his spirit into his 1840 body and left his 1970 body in a coma, but when he left 1840 he walked up Quentin's time stair case with Julia and Stokes. Would his 1970 body still be there too? 1840 parallel time wasn't too bad and certainly better than the Leviathans. They were running out of steam though and and their time travels were going to have to stop anyway or they would have started running into each other.

I enjoyed the remake in the 90's and was sorry it didn't get a chance. Does anyone know what happened to the new version the WB is supposed to be producing?

[LurkerNan]

It died on the vine. The Wb decided not to go forth wit hthe idea.

In the 80's, when Dark Shadows first started in Syndication, I was so obsessed with this damn show that I taped almost every epidoes they aired. And that was three and a half years of Dark Shadows !

Psst - does anyone want those damn tapes? They're taking up a full drawer in my video cabinet, and I don't want them anymore, but I don't have the heart to tape over them. Plus, are VHS tapes that have been sitting for 20 years even watchable anymore?

[Josette]

To talk about the original series, you're supposed to post at Soap Operas. I think the original thread there has vanished. I ran a search and couldn't find it.

But the thread regarding the WB version is here.

edited to say thanks to LTG. I'm glad the original thread still existed after all.

Edited by Josette, Aug 12, 2004 @ 6:20 AM.

[TheCustomOfLife]

Plus, are VHS tapes that have been sitting for 20 years even watchable anymore?

I don't know about THAT long, but I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem. I found a copy of War and Rememberance my Dad taped off ABC in November 1988, and it was really good quality still. I would love to have those tapes. Email me.

[HellfireClubGuy]

Anybody have a favorite blooper?

[Luciaphile]

Anybody have a favorite blooper?

Roger's incestors/ancestors mixup...

[Outsider]

Anybody have a favorite blooper?

Oh Soooooooooooooooooo many!!

Off hand I say "David" walking in the great room saying "Hello DOCTOR Hoffman..Ahhh I mean Miss Hoffman" who was keeping the fact she was a Doctor a secret so she can find out who kidnapped Maggie Evans..

[daniel82]

One of Roger Davis's many characters (I think the painter who did Quentin's anti-aging portrait) had just had another argument with someone. The character slammed the door upon leaving. Davis turned to continue his portion of the scene, but the window shade attached to the door fell off about five seconds after the door was shut. Davis hesitated and looked at the shade on the floor as if thinking "Will they yell cut and let us do it again?", and after a second or two figured out he had to keep going--which he did. Barely.

When it comes to going up on lines, I think Jonathan Frid is tops on the list. He could stumble and make up lines to fill in the blanks, and others in the scene would jump in to help him along. Nancy Barrett, I believe, was the best at knowing her lines and hitting all the right marks. She also did the best job of making all her alter-egos seem like very different people.

And Grayson Hall was the worst screamer in television history. But oh, was it funny when she tried.

[Outsider]

I remember another one:

Bathia Mappes the old hag witch Joshua sent for to try to save Barnabas was standing over his coffin and the actress playing her ( Anita Bolster ) was waiting for her que to start talking but when she was que'd she had forgotten her lines and someone off camera yelled them to her then she started to say them!!!..

It was funny but you could not help but feel sorry for the poor women..

[Endeavour]

I actually have a Dark Shadows bloopers tape, which I decided to rewatch because of the discussion here. Here's a few that were pretty funny.

Barnabas and I think Jeff Clark:

Barnabas: "But tell them that you saw no one here."
Jeff: "Oh that's fine, but what am I going to tell them?"
Barnabas, after a pause: "That you saw no one here."


This one's funnier because of the dramatic pauses and way that Jonathan Frid played Barnabas.
Barnabas to Willie: "This night....must go...nothing wrong."


Barnabas to Trask: "I am defending the right of this girl to be judged innocent until proven innocent. I'm sure this idea is a little complicated for your mind to absorb."


Barnabas and the doctor on one side of the door trying to prevent Julia from making a call to the police.

Barnabas: "Julia! Remember...remember someone."
Doctor: "Dave Woodard!"
Barnabas: "Remember, Dave Woodard!"


And Quentin pulling the sword off the wall and hearing off camera the rest of the display crashing to the ground.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

And Grayson Hall was the worst screamer in television history. But oh, was it funny when she tried.

Oy. I remember an episode where Barnabas was trying to drive Julia crazy, and she screamed A LOT. (Loud nasal braying. AAAAAAH! AAAAAAH! AAAHAAAHAAH). It got really annoying after a while and I wished he'd just kill her already. I also wanted to duct tape Sarah Collins' mouth shut during the Maggie-in-the-dungeon episodes. "London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down..." Shut it!

My favorite blooper was when Julia and Barnabas traveled to 1991, and Mrs. Johnson's 1991 counterpart got murdered. As the camera moved into a closeup of her open staring eyes, she blinked. Kind of ruined the whole effect.

[Outsider]

My favorite blooper was when Julia and Barnabas traveled to 1991, and Mrs. Johnson's 1991 counterpart got murdered. As the camera moved into a closeup of her open staring eyes, she blinked. Kind of ruined the whole effect.

It was 1995 and yes it did kind of ruined the effect only because how well done those 1995 episodes were for the most part..

[daniel82]

As the camera moved into a closeup of her open staring eyes, she blinked. Kind of ruined the whole effect.

If I'm not mistaken, every one of Clarice Blackburn's characters (Minerva, Abigail, Mrs. Johnson95) were found dead with wide-open eyes. It became a running joke, especially when, like you said, you caught her blinking. But then, you also saw "dead" Elizabeth Stoddard in her coffin with her chest heaving (breathing) as the characters stood nearby.

And for sheer blooper magic, nothing topped the frequent visitations the actors received from flies. These insects were bound and determined to have their moment of network stardom, and they managed to steal scenes from much more seasoned actors. I think Jerry Lacy was "haunted" by them the most.

[Qwho]

One subtle blooper (at least I think it's one) was with the character Michael Storm played and someone asked about the time and he automatically started to raise his arm to look at his wrist, then thought for a moment and covered it with his other hand realizing I assume that they didn't wear wrist watches yet.

Another funny one was with Jonathan Frid walking through the Collinwood Foyer during the closing credits. He gets this bugeyed look on his face and runs out of frame.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Some stagehand came in and started futzing around with the curtains at the Old House once during closing credits too.

ETA: I remember the thing with Bathia Mapes, and cringed for her. That just shows that this program must have had ZERO post-production work done. How hard would it have been to edit out the voice feeding her her lines?

Edited by Etaoin Shrdlu, Sep 5, 2004 @ 6:20 PM.

[scout75]

How hard would it have been to edit out the voice feeding her her lines?

Pretty hard.

Back in the 60's, there was only one editing bay in NYC -- and since Dark Shadows was only a soap opera (hell, there weren't even Daytime Emmys back then!), it was determined not to be worth the time, trouble and expense. Simply put: nobody cared.

But you gotta remember: these shows were meant to only be seen on TV once -- period. No one could've anticipated the show's longevity...

[Luciaphile]

Sam Hall was quite expressive about the editing or lack thereof on Dark Shadows. He also had a lot to say about Dan Curtis' legendary penny pinching. A lot of other soaps were being made at similar times, and yet it's only DS that is remembered when it comes to the bloopers. Even before it was being re-aired. So I'm less than inclined to blame it on the times.

[scout75]

A lot of other soaps were being made at similar times, and yet it's only DS that is remembered when it comes to the bloopers.

Yeah, but we don't see those old soaps today -- so I couldn't tell you if there were bloopers on other shows.

As far as the explanation goes, I saw it in an interview with one of the behind-the-scenes people on one of the DVDs. Can I be more vague? I can't remember who said it.

The few times they did edit, they used the old razor-and-tape method -- and it always looked bad.

Edited by scout75, Sep 6, 2004 @ 12:03 AM.

[daniel82]

I was told that Jonathan Frid and a few of the other actors managed to get around Dan Curtis's penny-pinching, however. The "perfectionists" in the cast may have thought their performance was terrible in a scene, but Curtis was determined not to do re-shoots unless absolutely necessary. To get his chance to do the scene again, Frid would "accidentally" say a curse word or two that would practically assure a re-shooting of the scene, standards and practices being what they were at the time.

[scout75]

I'm watching Volume 13 of the DVDs and there's a great JF blooper during the Zombie Quentin arc of the 1897 SL. Barnabas and Judith are in the drawing room when they get a report of a Zombie Quentin sighting.

Barnabas has a plan to deal with with zombified cousin and walks hurriedly to the front door, saying to Judith, "I have to go back to the old house. I have to see that Magda has myrrh...and, uh...(long pause)...everything else she needs."

Even when he was at a total loss, JF was a master at keeping things going in a pretty much effortless manner.

[LurkerNan]

Well, I ended up sending the tapes to one hardy soul in New Jersey. She's gonna spend the winter curled up on the couch with her honey watching years of this stuff. And she told me that the tapes still seem fine, so I guess that stuff about tapes magically erasing themselves after 5 years or so was bunk. Thanks, Lorraine!

Thank god for media postal rates, because 70 pounds of Dark Shadows tapes are mighty heavy.. and would have been shpensive otherwise.

[under the el]

Forgive me if this info is already here in this thread, but what was the latest word on the new version that was supposed to be shown on the WB?

[Outsider]

It was a pilot for a brand new series..

But it was a bomb with test viewers so the WB gave up on the idea of bringing back the show to the anger of "Angel" fans who are still pissed off about it being canceled to make room for Dark Shadows.

As far as I know the WB has never aired the pilot..

But I've read somewhere that a bootleg copy of it was showed at one of the Dark Shadows fan fests..

[trueblue88]

Barnabas & angelique were the perfect crazy coupl.Sci-fi need to bring back DS.

[Tigger Spier]

Just finished watching DVD Collection 1 for the first time (yes, I know it's been out for three years!). I've never seen the earlier episodes before, I saw the later ones on Sci-fi, and man, what a totally different show! I could never understand what the heck was going on when they were travelling back and forth and across in time. I mean WTF? Isn't it true that they never resolved the 1970 storyline and Barnabas and Julia just disappeared somewhere in 1840 before they brought in all these new characters? So awful.

Anyways, as much as I've enjoyed watching Barnabas's introduction for the first time, the one thing that is bugging me is the missing first nine months of the show! This is so stupid! It would be like releasing "Dynasty DVD Collection 1" starting with the introduction of Alexis! Or, "Knots Landing DVD Collection 1" with the arrival of Abby! I would have loved to have seen Victoria's arrival in Collinsport, the Matt Morgan murder storyline, the Phoenix storyline, and the introduction of Jason and Willie. It would have been nice to get to know the characters and their history first, and get a feel of their lives before Barnabas arrives to change everything.

Okay, now that I got that off my chest, a couple of bloopers I noticed from Collection 1: When David talks to Barnabas for the first time, it takes David three tries to get his line right. He says "When the ocean... the water... when the sun rises over the ocean!" In a later episode, Maggie wanders downstairs into the basement at the Old House. As she hides behind a "brick" wall and overhears Barnabas and Willie plotting, you can clearly see the "brick" wall shake as she does!

Finally, is anyone gayer than that biker dude that Carolyn is dating?!!