Pre-Barnabas Dark Shadows

A group photo taken during the Liz/Jason wedding episode. Originally black & white, the photo has been colorized by a fan:

 

That would be a nice poster. Probably out there somewhere if one looked for it.

 

Except Jason isn't in it. Maybe he took the picture?

 

Isn't that Jason's head right above Carolyn's?

Maybe the old caretaker took the photo!

 

I would like to recommend The Vampire's Curse

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...uct_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1448478319&sr=1-2

retitled Curse of the Vampire, a 3.5 hour edit of the 1796 flashback. The episodes showing how Barnabas became a vampire aired for several months, but this edit omits the subplots, sidetracks, opening and ending titles in favor of one continuous, streamlined narrative. It's primo Dark Shadows, and dirt cheap on amazon.

 

Willie Loomis unchains the coffin. Barnabas "physically" appears in episode 211.

I was one of the many who RAN home from school to watch Dark Shadows. Got in trouble with my friends too! When the show made it to Sci-Fi Channel, I had a chance to revisit the show from the start. After watching the various storylines, I can understand why the show was in danger of being cancelled. Dan Curtis had some good ideas, but with Barnabas, he did pull out all the stops. Angelique - those eyes. Another woman of the 60's many of us had a crush on.

 

Sci-Fi Channel had the show in the early to mid 1990's. I taped every damn one of them. When the DVD's started coming out by Volumes, bought those. Katrina destroyed the artwork sleeves and chase cards, but the discs survived. MPI changed the sleeves and I lost the chance to replace the damaged ones. Amazon had a sweetheart one day deal, bought the coffin. That thing is HEAVY. Sixteen pounds! Only thing missing was the signed Jonathan Frid photo card. When he died, the price for that version of the Coffin went through the roof.

 

Home prices were good. Anyone could get a mansion even the Collins.

 

I wasn't aware of this one. I really enjoyed the DS "minisodes" that were on YouTube a few years back - did a nice job of cutting out the extraneous material - I assume the Curse of the Vampire does a similar thing with the 1796 story.

 

I kinda lost interest in the Adam era, but possibly my favorite era of the show is when Barnbas travels back and meets up with Quentin - those two together was a great combo.

 

There was one episode where Burke was badgering Elizabeth about how he was now so wealthy he could buy her out, even if the mansion was worth a quarter of a million dollars!!!!

 

That's the 1897 travel back in time segment of the series and lots of fans say its their favorite period of the show.
Always thought that the writers chose that year because that's when Dracula was published.

 

The show's 50th Anniversary of first airing is on June 27. Received the newsletter from Dark Shadows and the guest list of stars(no surprise) is LOADED. Shame this is so far away from me. I'd be happy just going to the convention and things within. The "extras" are a bit pricey.

 

MeTV has never aired the series, but their owner, Weigel, has run some of it in weekend binge fashion on their co-owned DECADES network. Within the past couple of weeks, MeTV's webpage featured this little section on DARK SHADOWS:

9 terrifyingly amusing facts about 'Dark Shadows' »

I'm wondering if they have some plan to rerun the series starting in late June on its 50th anniversary.

Harry

 

I bought the beautiful box set but still haven't made it to the Barnabas Years! (I know - crazy). But I do enjoy the early years. I am really enjoying Mitchell Ryan as Burke - handsome and cunning but not totally unlikable or unsympathetic.

It's a nice reminder that soaps (and dramatic programming) took their time to tell a story. Nowadays, especially in soaps, there seems to be no story arcs. There seems to be no build-up and climax.

 

Mitchell Ryan who played Burke Devlin I thought was pretty cool. They had to eventually give Mitchell the axe due to his drinking problem. He quit the booze and resumed his acting career and did alright for himself, he probably became best known for his role in the sitcom "Dharma And Greg" in the 90s. he's still around having turned 88 last January.

 

They are all on you tube as well. Here is the first one.

DARK SHADOWS 1 »

 

My wife and I were on a Dark Shadows kick many years ago - this was when the Sci-Fi channel ran the show - and ended up seeing the entire run from the Barnabas era on.

We have never watched the pre-Barnabas run in its entirety, but have caught a few isolated episodes here and there, and found them essentially boring.

There was one episode where Burke Devlin kept talking about the cannery. We played a drinking game every time he said "cannery."

 

I'd avoided this show for ages because I didn't think much of someone I knew who was obsessed with it. I even had a comic book of it as a kid but still wasn't curious to see it that much, but then I watched the entire pre-Baranabas run and was charmed and enjoyed it. I've since gotten eight volumes of the DVD starting with Willie opening that casket. Of the earlier ones though I thought the Phoenix saga was fun and they did a great job on the big finale flame-out effects. I wish I could see that painting of Laura and David in color! It really is amazing the show was as good as it was under the pace and financial circumstances. Plus while many b&w Dr. Whos have been lost we seem to have all of these, so we're lucky! It turned out that I had dim memories of the waves crashing opening with eerie music from when I was little and flipping around the dial on our giant wood cabineted tv, but other than that comic book of it I really didn't know anything before starting with episode one. All the vintage Ohrbachs clothes and next on ABC announcements kept things fun too.

 

Yeah, those ABC announcements for 'Where The Action Is'.. I wish those were still around!

 

I love the entire series from beginning to end. The pre-Barnabas episodes serve to provide context (and contrast) for the post-Barnabas ones, and just make the latter even more fun to watch. In the pre-Barnabas episodes, we don't have vampires and "parallel time", but nevertheless they are dripping with atmosphere.

 

You might have probably done it in 6, if Grayson Hall (Dr. Hoffman) could've stopped stuttering.

 

I never watched McGYVER when it was on, but caught a bit of an episode the other night and realized that Dana Elcar, who played the sheriff in DARK SHADOWS was also a McGYVER regular.

 

In the first year, blonde "Carolyn" (actress name: Nancy Barrett) had more of a rebel profile as a character and seemed to be the only *interesting* person to watch (and....gawd, she had the PERFECT "Breck" hair!). When the show went all-supernatural, she seemed to be reduced into a damsel-in-distress shrew (except; for when in a much later storyline about an alternate universe did she regain some "flair").
Also, the longtime character actor Mitchell Ryan was feisty as the prodigal mogul Burke Devlin.

 

Necro post warning:

The series was in danger of going off of the air. Dan Curtis, the producer, got the idea from his own children, to make the show "scarier" with the introduction of a new character who was a vampire.

When Jonathan Frid's/Barnabas agent told him about the role, he figured the series wouldn't last, but it would be good short term cash and a way to move out to the western USA to become an acting teacher. It's ironic, that his role would rejuvenate the show, make it a pop-culture sensation and last another four years.