Dark Shadows Discussion Thread

[drasticmeasures]

I love Grayson Hall and Julia. She and Barnabas were the reasons I watched the show both then and now. I can never get enough of their scenes.

Victoria, I think, was a much more interesting character in the early pre-Barnabas episodes. She was dumbed down a lot later on. The same can be said for Maggie, as well. It was a shame they dropped the whole story arc about Vicki's search for her birth parents. The hints were very broad in the beginning that she would be Elizabeth's daughter, but then they veered off into other stories and never picked it back up.

[EricMontreal22]

The first Burke isn't an actor I terribly miss anyway (as awful as that is to say, considering what happened to him...)

Edited September 21, 2010 by EricMontreal22

[Bright Eyes]

Maybe it's only because George has just appeared and that I'm used to the previous actor, but Mitch Ryan is much better.

[EricMontreal22]

That's fair enough--Ryan is responsible for some of the most amusing stumbled lines on the show

[Bright Eyes]

Everyone is guilty of that though. No one freaking knew their lines on this show.

[EricMontreal22]

Of course, and that's part of its charm. I'm still only on box set two of The Beginning (I took a break for some Peyton Place) but he does seem to be most guilty at this stage...

[Bright Eyes]

I'm near the middle of Box Set #3 of The Beginnings tales. So a little ahead of you. Have you seen Anthony George in the role? If not, when you do, please post your thoughts.

Edited September 21, 2010 by Amello

[drasticmeasures]

Jonathan Frid always gets kicked around as the worst line flubber on DS, but after re-watching the early episodes, Mitch Ryan was just as bad, if not worse, than Frid ever was. lol. But what would DS be without it's bloopers.

[DRW50]

What happened to Mitchell Ryan? He seems to have had a decent career since cleaning himself up.

Louis Edmonds also had some classic duff lines. Made even more noticeable because he would so overdramatically try to make them seem like part of the script. "Oh what did I say? How silly. I meant..."

I agree that Victoria was more interesting before Barnabas. Most importantly, before she became stupid. That's one of the reasons I don't care for the 1795 story. She's so stupid in it.

One thing I hope that one-note Tim Burton and the critics who adore him realize is that the old Dark Shadows was not just a bad joke. It had some genuinely fantastic moments and a lot of brilliant actors who made their scripts into gold. I have this awful feeling that when he drops his latest "masterpiece," the critics are going to go out of their way to trash the old show to try to build him up.

[EricMontreal22]

Is that when he comes in? I have, but only in the odd independent episode, so can't fairly comment yet (I will though).

Totally agreed, although I think in general the critics are getting a bit tired of Burton, and cooling to him. He has his following, but...

[Bright Eyes]

Yup, his first episode is in the late 250's/early 260's. I'm on episode 268 and he's only been in two of them so far.

[EricMontreal22]

I didn't realize Julia arrived so soon, then. Can't wait!

[Bright Eyes]

She arrives episode 266. I've only seen her once. Her name is dropped a few episodes before.

[Scotty]

I remember the first time I watched an episode of Dark Shadows. It was back in the mid to late '90s when I was in high school. It was during summer vacation, and I was bored and channel surfing one day and ran across the show on the Sci Fi Channel. At first that theme music really creeped me out, lol. But I got hooked on the show and eventually watched it all the way through to the end.

[DRW50]

That's also where I first found DS. I watched starting around the time Barnabas was terrorizing Maggie, somewhere around the time they went to color. That was some great stuff, the buildup with Barnabas biting Carolyn and terrorizing Julia. I kind of wish they'd done more with that after 1795.

Sci-Fi Channel, I loved those bumpers they had for the show, remember those? Back when that channel actually had interesting shows and wasn't staring at its navel...