My "Dark Shadows: The Beginning DVD Collection 1" arrived today. It was shipped on Friday and arrived today via media mail. Pretty quick, I think.
Here are my observations of the packaging (some of this might already have been published). There are four discs containing 35 episodes. The artwork on the discs match the DVD case artwork, such as was done on Collections 1-26. There is the booklet insert, which contains a very brief synopsis of each episode. It lists nine episodes on Disc One; nine episodes on Disc Two, with a bonus interview with Alexandra Moltke; nine episodes on Disc Three, with a bonus interview with Ms. Moltke; and eight episodes on Disc Four, with a 1966 ABC promo and Episode 1 with original commercials. The front cover of the insert matches the DVD case artwork and the back cover has a photo of Liz and Carolyn standing in front of the window in the Collinwood drawing room. There is a picture of Roger and David standing outside of Collinwood on the inside of the insert. The collector's card has a photo of Victoria wearing the same coat as shown on the front of the DVD case. In this photo, Vickie is stepping out of what appears to be metallic double doors or a metallic gate.
The biggest differences in the DVD cases are as follows. The script "Dark Shadows" on the cover is much larger (taking up two lines) and is white. Underneath, in a goldish banner, are the words "The Beginning" (with a unique font). Behind the words "Dark Shadows" is a night shot of Collinwood with a prominent light in one window. It is pretty much covered by the words "Dark Shadows." Underneath the words "The Beginning" is the previously mentioned photo of Vickie running from the house. It is definitely a different shot from the one on the website, but is very similar. At the bottom, across Vickie's legs, are the words (in white) "DVD Collection 1" and underneath this are the words (again in white) "35 complete episodes plus bonus features on 4 discs."
The spine of the DVD case is black at the top and fades into a bluish color toward the bottom. The MPI logo is at the top. The words "Dark Shadows" are in blue. Underneath are the words "The Beginning," which matches the same words on the front. Above the DVD logo at the bottom are the words "Collection 1" on a goldish banner, with the numeral below the word "Collection."
The back of the DVD case is pretty much the same as on Collections 1-26. The biggest differences are that the photo is in the upper right instead of the upper left; and there is no giant eyeball in the background, but, instead, a faint photo of Collinwood is in the upper left. There is a small blurb about the show in general, a synopsis of the episodes in Collection 1, the list of actors, and the bonus features. The approximate running time is listed as 14 hours.
Whew. I think that about covers it. I don't plan to start watching thes episodes until June 27th (the 41st anniversary), since I watch each episode on the date it originally aired. That will give me a break between April 2nd (when episode 1245 aired) and when I start "The Beginning" episodes. Therefore, it will be awhile before I know what the menus look like.
