Welcome to the Dark Shadows Thread! This should bring this particular forum back to life a bit, since even tho there's only 2 ppl posting on the scrolls(maybe a 3rd depending on if I can get John on board with any additional accounts I might still have here), at least we're all fans of DS!

This is a free-for-all discussion thread about the original DS in the 60's and any comments on remakes/reboots and comparisons to the original.

I thought about starting a second DS thread where eps from the seasons are discussed in detail. I decided against it cuz that'd be a lot of seasons to cover. I'm a newbie fan watching the show firsthand and I just finished watching ep 13 of S1 and have yet to find out what happens to Roger Collins in the next ep! Anywho, I think I'll just keep this one thread and eliminate any worry about spoilers. We can just talk freely about everything while comparing acters/actresses like Jonothon Frid to Ben Cross to Johnny Depp and onward.

Watching the original made me really hate certain parts of the Tim Burton movie. I HATE the way David's character was maligned in that movie. I would have liked Burton's Victoria as a kind of "oddball" whose real name is "Maggie Evans" who as a child was thrown in an institution for having a "sixth sense." That would have been ok for a totally different story. But they turned Victoria into a kind of "David" in the Burton flick. David's character in that movie was totally meh and not interesting at all. What made the original grab me when I first started watching S1 was the depth to David's character and his communication with ghosts...plus his troubled relationship with his father Roger and the mystery behind his mother's disappearance. David Hennesy was a HELL of a child actor. I don't know what happened to him. I think John said he was doing some mundane job somewhere and doesn't make public appearances.

Victoria Winters, in the original S1 is a young woman who grew up in an orphanage, not knowing diddly squat about her parents. She gets this job very mysteriously in Collingswood as governess for David, and can't get a straight answer as to why she was hired. John said no one learns who Victoria's real parents are until the end of the last season's finale. Damn! Gotta wait that long, altho I don't mind if it's revealed here, truly. Right now, I'm kinda suspecting Barnabas as Vicky's father, which would give an interesting weirdness to Tim Burton's take, where Johnny Depp's Barnabas falls in love with Victoria, a.k.a the reincarnation of Barnabas's one true love, Josette.

What really irked me most aside from David's ruination in the Burton flick, was the idea that Angelique, a witch could just "turn" Barnabas into a vampire. Huh??? That isn't the way vampires are made??? No, you gotta BE a vampire and bite somebody, not a witch who just casts a spell. Jeez! Unless Burton was introducing a new idea of the making of vampires and the power of witches...still, it was so thrown together and odd, it didn't make sense.

**edited cuz John just told me that's "kinda" what happened in the original altho he filled in the blanks Burton left empty by saying Angelique placed a curse on Barnabas by having a bat bite him and turn him into a vampire.**

My fave part about the movie was Johnny's epic acting, which, imo, would have worked great if they'd stuck to the original story and made it serious. Jonothan Frid is amazing from the li'l bit I saw him do in scattered eps, and I doubt anyone could really top him, but Johnny gives as good as he can. What I saw of the reboot in '91...Ben Cross wasn't too bad either but I think Johnny could've given it more depth than Cross. I have yet to see Barnabas's first entrance in the original since he doesn't come until S2. I LOVED Alice Cooper in the movie, and that he still looks good enough to play his younger self. Michelle Pfiefer wasn't too bad as Elizabeth Collins, and I dunno how different her character was from the original. I think of all of them, her character was the most true to Joan Bennett's character. Carolyn as the werewolf...hmmm. It was interesting, but no build-up. Overall, the movie worked for its comedy and the acting, even if not everyone acted like the DS characters.

But enuff of the remakes/reboots. Back to the Original...

Nancy Barrett's Carolyn is sweet and endearing in her desperation to have some fun and normalcy to her life. She's torn between that and her loyalty to mom Elizabeth. There is real fear for her mother's sanity if Carolyn were to leave and get married, whatnot. There's also the jealousy of Victoria taking her place, even though Carolyn wants to be Victoria's friend and loves having someone her age in that house. Carolyn's attraction to Burke Devlin is adorable. Burke's story is intense and cool! He's also hot, I'll definitely say that, but I prefer Roger cuz he's nuttier and less "typical charmer." Alexandra Moltke's Victoria is a bonafide hottie, and Kathryn Leigh Scott's Maggie Evans is funny and cute. Sam Evans is tragic and sad, and Elizabeth is great as the mysterious sad wife waiting for a hubby that may or may never return.

It's full of suspense and I don't think any remake/reboot can ever top it.

Looking forward to seeing Barnabas enter the scene! I may need to get all the seasons in full on Amazon. Right now we just have eps 1 through 19 on YouTube, but I'm not sure if that's the whole Season 1.

More laters.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Free Madness,

i started on DS waaaaay back in the day, running home from school to watch it with friends. We joined the DS fan club & got the newsletter & stuff. i got Jonathan Frid's personalized autograph somewhere. i had Barnabas fangs, DS bubblegun cards, a Barnabas ring, a dancing lady knife (when Aristede comes along) and other DS memorabilia.

Had major crushes on Vicky, Maggie & Caroline. Stood in line waiting for "House of Dark Shadows" which is the best of the 3 DS movies.
"Night of Dark Shadows" was a big let-down. i don't care much for Burton's DS because of the script & the characters he ruined- namely Roger, David, Caroline, Willie. The way the film ended was terrible, imo. The original DS was unintentionally campy whereas Burton tried to force it way too much. Now if they'd let Johnny Depp play Barnabas dramatically as Dan Curtis had wrote him in the series, that would have been amazing.

The '90s reboot was good. Too bad it was canned cause of Bush Sr's Iraq War. It would have been nice to see how it would have played out.

Hmmm i don't wanna give too many spoilers as i have seen the entire old series a few times. The early eps without any supernatural stuff are fine- i like a good mystery and that's what makes the early eps so good. Things start kicking in in that area with a ghost and later Laura Collins (all pre-Barnabas).

I allowed John to spoil the secret of Victoria's parentage lmao. I didn't wanna wait that long. It wasn't a surprise to me that Elizabeth is her mother, considering the scenes I've seen of the two of them, and Joan Bennett's epic acting as she keeps turning away from Vicky and evading her questions. But there's still the mystery around Vicky's dad since apparently Liz Collins was in love with some dude who ran a bar at some point, altho the guy never makes an appearance, according to John. So there's no real knowing whether Carolyn and Vicky are half-sisters or true sisters.

He also told me Barnabas was Jeramaiah Collins's cousin and that Barnabas is the son of Joshua Collins. Anywho...yeah I'm loving the no-ghosts-yet suspence of the first season, with just the hint of ghosts with the slamming of the locked door and the sobbing of one of the widows, Josette or whoever.

I wish we'd been able to get to the convention this year but we couldn't afford it. That's cool cuz Johnny wasn't there and I would've missed him! I'm glad you agree with me, xc that Johnny would make an epic serious Barnabas. I think he would have. Yeah and I liked the 91 reboot and plan to get those eps on Amazon later. I didn't know the damn Gulf war was the reason they stopped it...ugh, how odd. They should do another reboot now, but be sure to make it DECENT, no crap like they do in movie reboots with cg's, Special fx's, no character or story developments lol. Yeah...Tim Burton would have been better off sticking to the story as originally told. Idk why he went the route he did...but who knows. Only the Shadow, I guess. Ba dump bump!

TOTALLY hated Carolyn in the movie compared to the original. Her moody early 70's teenager would have been fine in a totally different story, but jeez. Having seen enough of Nancy Barrett, I think, nah. Tim should've done the original. Lmao.

Oh well. We'll prolly watch ep 14 tonight..yay!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Free Madness,

Arrg, again I'm havin' issues with editing my threads and stoopid code appearing in the description of the thread. Maybe this new post'll eliminate it. I forget what I did in the Johnny thread. Oh well.

Yay! Just needed to do a new post. Code gone! Now back to biz.

They never reveal who Vicky's mom or pop is. It's hinted that it might be someone in Collinsport because of someone who wrote or donated money to the foundling home that Vicky was at in Boston. There was a portrait that Sam Evans painted that kinda resembled Vicky but he didn't recall who. Plus if i remember right, Elizabeth talked to her lawyer to have some things Vicky wanted to know remain a secret. But Alexandra Moltke said in an interview that had she remained on the show, it might have been revealed that Vicky was Liz's daughter.

i dun wanna spoil Liz's husband story but when Jason McGuire appears, things get mentioned as well as during the Leviathan sub-plot.

This year's DS con looks great with Quentin, Maggie and others there. But i can't afford a trip to NY now. Oh well.

How odd. Wonder where John got the notion it was Liz? Maybe he got that from the interviews. Oh well.

Hmm, DS con in NY, huh? That's close to us. I'll check finances. Wonder if Johnny'll be there? Prolly not, unless it happens after the never-ending divorce crap that's starting to look boringly like the drawn-out War-on-Terrier.

Ah well. Movin' on, will be back to post about ep 14. I hope Roger doesn't die, altho I already know David messed with the breaks...it wasn't hard to figure that out altho John did spill that everyone's gonna think Burke did it.

The DS con is original series ppl only.

Yeah David is creepy early on! Don't wanna cross him.

So it was 15, not 14, and we watched both 15 and 16.

Poor David!!! Omg, what a thing to have on a little boy's conscience. Still...Roger treats him like crap. Why's everyone so clueless about him except Liz and Vicky?

Liz is so sweet with David. I love Liz. She was so good to him when he was panicking in the night. But omg for a momentI thought she was gonna take his "nightmare" seriously!

"I didn't kill him! I didn't mean to kill him!"

Omgggg... What if Vicky were the one who heard that? She'd be up for days, ugh.

Roger came away from the car crash with a sprained arm and some scratches and bruises...but now he's out for blood since Liz is convinced Burke messed with the breaks. And Malloy is behind her but of course doesn't Roger flying off the handle. Ep 16 ended with Roger going up to question Vicky who SAW Burke hanging around Roger's car(bad timing on HIS end, lol.)

They're TERRIFIED of Roger all of 'em!

Not that I blame them. Would you?

John gave me the backstory on the Roger/Burke/Sam Evens history, altho it was cool when Roger finally told Doctor Reeves about Burke's five-year jail stint. Well, ten years before our story begins, the three friends went out drinking, and drunk Roger was driving but drunk Burke blacked out and forgot about it. Roger hit a guy and killed him and then he and Sam Evans framed Burke. Burke went to prison for five years, got out, and made himself prosperous. Meanwhile Sam, once a prominent artist who used Burke as a model many times, is now a total mess and alcoholic. And it don't help him OR Roger now that Burke is Baaaaaack! AND Wants vengeance!

And poor Carolyn...drawn to adventure as she is, is shamelessly flirting with Burke in front of poor Joe. Ugh! I wouldn't wanna be Joe. Carolyn is lovely, I must admit. And she has such a sweet vulnerability to her.

Vicky is like a "big sister" to her and she tried to interfere in Carolyn's going to the Blue Whale...she knows Carolyn's sweet on Burke.

Burke is a lunatic beneath Prince Charming. You never know when he's gonna snap. With Roger, you always know hehe.. Burke has sex appeal that's for sure! He hasn't shown his deep-rooted hate in a few eps, but it does make him more human altho the "tall,dark, handsome stranger" act certainly works on Carolyn!

Roger is sexy and fun, but I hate how he is with David. Dude can't parent his way out of a wet paper bag. I wonder what happened to David's mother???

I'm beginning to like Matthew a bit. He's kind of hot in a not-so-"classically handsome" oddballish way. I kinda get off on his firey temper when he's all protective of Liz, and hell-bent on doing the right thing. I wouldn't be surprised if he were in love with Liz. Wonder if that comes out laters?

Dr. Reeves...hmm, wonder if he talked himself into deep doo doo?

"I'm the one who tells everything! One day I'm gonna write a book on all the things no one wants said!" Or words to that effect. Omg the look on Roger's face when Reeves babbled all that...brrrr!

SIDE NOTE: In Burton's movie and I THINK the 91 reboot, David's mother was known to be dead. She was a ghost David talked to all the time. Maybe that's what happens later in the series...they find out she's dead. Who knows? Hmmm.

I wonder if his mom really IS dead in the Original series but David doesn't want to believe it and no one has the heart to tell him?

He talks to the "widows" like Josette and all. Does he talk to his mom yet and we'll find out about it? Hmmm, wait and see. I'm loving this mystery stuff with the ghosts in the background, like I said before lol.

Wonder if Burke'll go to jail again for yet another thing he didn't do, i.e. try to kill Roger?

Wonder if Carolyn will run off with Burke before the cops get him?

Wonder if Burke'll end up doing harm to Carolyn(I hope not but it looks a bit dodgy... )

Wonder if Victoria will end up having a love affair with someone? (Roger, maybe? Maybe she can help him give a damn about his son again? Is there any hope for poor little David after what he tried to do to Dad in a moment of intense anger and feelings of abandonment? )

And...WILL they ever find out that David toyed with Roger's breaks???

Tune in for more Dark Shadows as I look at my moolah and see if I can afford the whole S1 on Amazon!!!

Brrrr! Can't wait til Barnabas comes, and we see how HE fits into this already pretty scary family!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Free Madness,

i don't remember Dr Reeves. Probably not in the show for long.

More about the mom is yet to come.

DS didn't go by seasons like Xena or other shows. Since it's a serial it just goes on & on. They sell it by volumes of eps on dvd or there's an entire series which is pretty expensive. i bought the dvd by volume. Though it would probably be cheaper in the long run to buy the entire series then by volume.

You gotta looooong way to go til Barnabas shows up. If i remember the plot arcs in order- and this is no spoilers- it's Burke's return then the Bill Malloy story then Matthew arc then Laura and Laura/Dr Guthrie then Jason McGuire/Willie Loomis then Barnabas.

Tonite it was the end of the Julianka arc and Julianka was a hottie!

quote:

Originally posted by xenacrazed:
i don't remember Dr Reeves. Probably not in the show for long.

More about the mom is yet to come.

DS didn't go by seasons like Xena or other shows. Since it's a serial it just goes on & on. They sell it by volumes of eps on dvd or there's an entire series which is pretty expensive. i bought the dvd by volume. Though it would probably be cheaper in the long run to buy the entire series then by volume.

You gotta looooong way to go til Barnabas shows up. If i remember the plot arcs in order- and this is no spoilers- it's Burke's return then the Bill Malloy story then Matthew arc then Laura and Laura/Dr Guthrie then Jason McGuire/Willie Loomis then Barnabas.

Tonite it was the end of the Julianka arc and Julianka was a hottie!

Well I guess that soothes my mind about Dr. Reeves getting bumped off by Roger for "knowing" too much and talkin' about telling it to the world!!!

I guess I'll have to look up prices on volumes like you said...can't afford to buy a whole big thingamabob altho I thought once that I'd bought John the whole thing one Christmas. Turned out it was just a part of the Barnabas arc from 1967.

**Side note: weird date stuff in that dvd set...eps started on April 17th(John's bday) and ended on June 9th(Johnny's bday). And 1967 was the year I was born. Coincidence??? Hmmmm! Ok weird moment over, lol, back to DS. **

John told me about Laura Collins lol...so that was "kinda" spoiled even tho I tried to stop him. Oh well! Glad to know there's lots to look forward to. Would be interesting to learn more about Malloy and Matthew and yeah, Willie was the drunk servant in the Burton flick lol...what were they doing, a combo of Willie and Matthew but having Sam Evans be channeled by the same character? Then Roger the drunk...lmao. Ok enough of the Burton thingie, that would SO have been better as a different story, different family with maybe Barnabas crashing it and being all confused, wondering where the Collins's are.

Yeah...I might've rewritten it like that. THAT would have been a good comedy, since they made it one!!!!

Ok. Anywho. Ep 17 tonight...then I gotta figure out how to get those other eps. John said YouTube skips a lot of eps and since this is ongoing, "soap-opera" style..I can't be havin' that! Like Aerosmith said, "I don't wanna miss a thing!"

Yeah Burton ruined a lotta characters including Willie. Too bad a better director didn't take the movie on like Martin Scorsese, Joss Whedon or Christopher Nolan.

True, Burton got a little over-the-top sometimes, altho I hear he got rave reviews for his latest movie, which was a little more underplayed. Right now I'm blanking on the name.

After watching episode 18 last night, I think David is gonna end up spiling his own secret...poor kid is a mess! Gads, Roger is such a jerk to him. Jeez. Everyone just wants to keep David out of the Burke drama, but he's too dang smart for his own good.

And poor Vicky, in the middle of everything. Trying to calm David down, David wanting to tell Vicky but he's scared he'll be "sent away"--this time to jail. Ugh!

Wonder where Burke and Carolyn got off to? Hmmmm...

This was a good ep. Very tense! The acting in this show is better than any other soap opera around...hands down!

Tonite's DS featured Barnabas, Quentin, Beth, Magda and that little hottie Julianka for the last time methinks. i'm on Vol 15 of the Barnabas years, not sure what ep number, maybe close to 300. i bought the Barnabas years before they released the pre-Barnabas yrs on dvd.

Tonite's DS ep featured Barnabas, Quentin, Magda, Aristede, Sandor & Count Petofi. Both Sandor & Count Petofi are played by the same actor, Thayer David, who also played Prof Stokes & Ben Stokes & in the early eps, Matthew Morgan. They rarely have actors play 2 parts at the same time-line so i expect bye-bye to Sandor for good. Petofi still has his role to be played out so he'll be around awhile.

Last night's DS:

Ep 19 and 20: Liz is worried sick about Carolyn and keeps asking Bill Malloy to keep in touch with her about that. So then, Sam Evans catches up with Malloy at a bar. Sam asks what brings him there, Malloy tells him he's looking for two people: Burke Devlin and Carolyn Stoddard. Sam capitalizes on the two names together and starts asking Malloy questions about why they would be together? Malloy tells Sam basically to mind his own drunken beeswax. Eventually Malloy tells Sam Roger was almost killed in a car crash. This is while Roger and Vicky are at the hotel. Sam asks why Roger and Vicky were together in the hotel and wonders just WHO Roger is going to see? Did BURKE cause the accident? Da DAAAA...

Carolyn and Joe are seen together again in the restaurant. They argue...about Burke of course. Carolyn is obviously fed up with Joe and wants to be a free spirit.

But...it's heartbreaking when she goes home. She's heard about Roger and obviously is upset. She asks Liz how her uncle Roger is. Liz says he wasn't badly hurt, then starts questioning Carolyn about Burke Devlin, whom Joe already told her was hanging out with them in the Blue Whale. Carolyn wonders what the big deal is about Burke, and Liz drops the bomb that Burke tried to kill Roger. Carolyn demands to know how Liz can come to that conclusion. I could tell Liz didn't want to say Vicky told them all she saw Burke near Roger's car...so instead? What does Liz do but drop the entire bombshell that ten years ago, Burke was in prison for 5 years for manslaughter. Also...he said he would make the WHOLE Collins family pay for it. Carolyn is just devastated. Poor girl.

John told me later, since the spoiler thing is, at this point not a big deal...that Carolyn and Joe end up splitting, and Carolyn goes from guy to guy and has crappy luck with them. Ugh. John never said how her story pans out, and I won't ask yet, but I hope poor Carolyn gets some happiness in her life. She's earned it after all she's been through!

Roger's scene where he confronts Burke and brings Vicky into the room...chilling! Roger is sinister as hell and Burke drops his charming act and gets downright pissed. Vicky comes in, totally beside herself, and it ends up with unanswered questions. DID Vicky see Burke tamper with the breaks? No. But...Burke DID say he found the wrench on the passenger's seat. Da Da DAAAAAA!!!!!

I did ask John if anything happens to David if and when the secret is spilled. John said no, and he even said later in the series that Roger gets nicer with his son...which is cool. But David eventually tells Vicky what he did, and apparently everyone just puts it to bed or something. Maybe this is what eventually changed Roger around. That'd be cool!

Tonight will be 21 and 22! Found another slew of eps on YouTube, 20-37 so that'll be cool for the next few weeks!

Yeah Joe starts dating _ _ _ _ _ _ soon.

That's all i's saying!

i'm still watching the 1897 storyline. Barnabas is about to get into some deep trouble. They brought back that awful actor Roger Davis as Charles Delaware Tate. Most DS fans don't like Davis, me included.

I'm up to the part where Vicky found the valve in David's drawer and confronted him about it. Vicky knows now, obviously that David removed the valve from whatever the thingie is called that runs the breaks in the car--thereby causing Roger's accident. David hotly denies it--then starts fighting with Vicky to get the valve back, chasing her into her room. Vicky locks the valve in a drawer and David continues to deny it, accusing Vicky of being on his father's side all along in wanting to "send him away." David runs down to Elizabeth and says Vicky "hurt" him. Vicky comes down and tells Elizabeth about the accident. Liz doesn't believe her but Vicky says she has the valve in her drawer. She and Liz go upstairs and when Vicky unlocks the drawer--valve is gone. AAAAH!

I been hesitating on watching more eps cuz I feel bad for Vicky--she's gonna be ostracized for awhile for trying to "frame" a little boy. I know eventually David does admit it and in fact, that's when Roger becomes a more caring father. But--until we get there, Vicky has to go thru all kinds of accusations although they don't fire her.(John told me Liz almost always stands up for Vicky--that is her daughter after all. ) So at least there's that. But damn, that was upsetting! Guess one of the ghosts removed the valve to protect David. Hmmm, we gunna see some ghosts before the end of this season? Me wonders....

quote:

Originally posted by xenacrazed:
i'm still watching the 1897 storyline. Barnabas is about to get into some deep trouble. They brought back that awful actor Roger Davis as Charles Delaware Tate. Most DS fans don't like Davis, me included.

So far the only actor I'm not crazy about in Season one is the guy that plays Malloy. I dunno, he overacts or something. The rest of the actors are amazing--like I said, for a soap opera, this is first class! I used to love East Enders, that British soap opera--they could all act their butts off on that show. I thought it might be cuz British soap operas were just better and less flashy and commercial. But Dark Shadows is just one of a kind, and that's American. No wonder y'all used to run home from school to watch it!

Whoever played Malloy didn't seem like the seasoned Broadway/serials actors that made up the rest of the show. But what he lacked in acting i think he made up for in seeming authentic to the character. He had the New England accent and he seemed like a down-to-earth blue collar foreman/manager type.

Just finished vol 15 of the Barnabas era dvds. He is still back in 1897. i'm in the Count Petofi/Amanda/Charles Delaware Tate arc as it begins.

Half-way thru vol 16 now. Still in 1897. But things are heating up as Count Petofi is still the main villain but i see an end to all this over the horizon. Wonder if Kate is still watching eps?

i watched "House of Dark Shadows" movie last nite. Hsdn't seen it in many moons. It is much, much, much, much better than Tim Burton's DS film. The original cast is here & the story is great- it exists outside of the tv series. Burton never learned that the show was not meant to be campy & that it was supposed to be serious- like this film. Can't praise this movie enuff & oh my goodness was Kathryn Leigh Scott extremely hot!