Thoughts on a new DS and the '91 series

[Matt]

I really can't comment on the '91 series, since I didn't see it when it was on and I've never had the heart to shell out money for the tapes (they're on video, aren't they?), especially after hearing mostly negative things about it. Maybe if I run into them in a video rental place or something I might check them out.

However, as far as a new series in general, I'm not sure if I'm in the minority here or not, but I always just cringe everytime I hear about the possibility. It just seems to me that while the original series was hokey in a good way, a new series would be hokey in a horrifyingly bad way. Maybe it's because I just really love the kitsch factor of the original show, with the sketchy plots and touch and go acting that seemed come along with the soap opera format. A clean, slick, prime time sort of production of the show really doesn't appeal to me at all. I guess it could work as geared to a new audience who is unfamiliar with series, but I don't think I could go for it as a viewer of the original show.  Any thoughts?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I've only heard sort of bad stuff, but, this may've been before I've seen orig. DS a couple of times.

With all due respect to the people whose comments you may have heard/read, don't believe everything you hear/read. 

I think I'd be able to enjoy something else (but I don't think I could deal with Maggie & Roger!!)

Well, the key is to not go into it with the preconception of the daytime Maggie and Roger. If it were them as a couple, I'd be the first one there with with you screaming "EUHHH! Euh, euh, EUUUUHHHHH!!!!  ", but they aren't.

Here are some screen captures from their love scene in episode #2:

Also, a clip from this scene was even used for Ely Pouget for the opening credits/theme:

PS...since my 'promo' price with digital cable is up, I called the  cable company today; I asked how much will it be, on the promo, $7.00/mo (just for one); it'll be $15.

Um - you were only paying $7.00/mo for digital cable, but soon it'll be $15? I WOULD KILL FOR A PRICE THAT CHEAP!!!!

Oh, excuse me - I lost control there for a minute. But the average cable bills around here are well over $30/mo. By those standards, it seems to me like you're practically getting cable for free. 

(Edited December 11th to remove attached Real Video of 2 minute '91 series trailer)

[Mark Rainey]

Um - you were only paying $7.00/mo for digital cable, but soon it'll be $15? I WOULD KILL FOR A PRICE THAT CHEEAP!!!! Oh, excuse me - I lost control there for awhile. But the average cable bills around here are well over $30/mo. By those standards, it seems to me like you're practically getting cable for free.

Digital Cable plus Road Runner here... $106.00/month. That's with no HBO, Showtime, or other premium movie channels.

While the 91 DS gives me a lot to complain about, it was also very entertaining in its own right, and there were occasional moments that were really, honest-to-God, authentic, no-shit-Sherlock DARK SHADOWS.

Victoria's trial was classic stuff; easily as intense as any of the "serious" TV dramas of its day. In fact, the whole journey to 1790 was quite good, and the Collins counterparts of that period were easily as good or better than in the original. (Yeah, yeah, don't start the trial for heresy without me.) I had no problem with the pacing, either. It eliminated so much of the tedium of the soap-opera format, yet still provided full-bodied characters. In my book, the good outweighed the bad two to one. Sometimes the bad was just so bad, though...[/color]

--Mark[/b][/color]

[Gerard]

It would've been interesting to see how it might have worked if, in the '91 version, Barnabas considered the Ely Pouget version of Maggie Evans as the reincarnation of his beloved Josette and had abducted her.  Undoubtedly he would've - pardon the pun - bitten off more than he could chew.

Jim Fyfe Willie:  "Barnabas, maybe it's not too late to let her go!"

Ben Cross Barnabas (voice full of fear):  "Shhh, quiet, Willie!  I don't think we're allowed to talk without her permission!  Just mix her Absolut and tonic before she really gets mad."

Gerard

[dom]

That scene (depicted in the captures) is disgusting and kinda made me sick to my stomach. I didn't get that far in my viewing of the 91 series, so it is very shocking to me, vulgar really. I hope the WB doesn't go for gratuitous sex in the new series (if it comes to pass).

[Mysterious Benefactor]

That scene (depicted in the captures) is disgusting and kinda made me sick to my stomach. I didn't get that far in my viewing of the 91 series, so it is very shocking to me, vulgar really. I hope the WB doesn't go for gratuitous sex in the new series (if it comes to pass).

Um, you make it sound like you saw a special NC-17 version of Episoide #2?   

The version of that scene that I saw was an important one that I thought was actually quite tender as well as informative. It not only revealed the depth of the relationship between Roger and Maggie and gave more hints about Maggie's "supernatural" proclivity, but explained the major thing that they had in common: Art. It also dropped tantalizing tidbits of something having happened to make Roger lose his "need to create". Sadly, though, as it stands, the series left us with more questions than answers on that front because the real story of what had happened wasn't to be revealed until season two when Laura (also played by Lysette Anthony) was due to become part of the story...

[dom]

Um, you make it sound like you saw a special NC-17 version of Episoide #2?   

Nope, just the captures.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Nope, just the captures.

Well, I suppose it just goes to show that random shots taken out of their full context can sometimes give an impression that isn't quite present in their full context. 

What a disappointment my explanation of the scene must be to anyone who hasn't seen it and might have actually been hoping for gratuitous sex because nothing like that is actually on view. (Though I do seem to recall something about more footage being shoot for that scene than was actually included in the episode... But then, that was the case with every episode. For example, all of Carolyn's bits from the finale, not to mention a shot of Maggie (possessed by Angelique) collapsing into Roger's arms in the final sequence, ended up on the cutting room floor.)

[Patti Feinberg]

MB wrote:
Um - you were only paying $7.00/mo for digital cable, but soon it'll be $15? I WOULD KILL FOR A PRICE THAT CHEAP!!!!

Oh, excuse me - I lost control there for a minute. But the average cable bills around here are well over $30/mo. By those standards, it seems to me like you're practically getting cable for free.

No MB...that's JUST for the basic converter box, which includes all the Mystery Channels, Soap, Encore.

That's on TOP of $50ish WITHOUT any premium (HBO, SHOtime, Cinemax), so $70ish is tooooo much (unless DS comes to Soap, then I'll re-sign).

Actually, the only thing about the digital I'll miss is the convenience of the display for what's on.

Patti

[onyx_treasure]

     I saw the 91 series but seeing those stills made me think I had not been paying attention.  The stills do make it look like a soft porn flick.
     I recall my favorite scene was when Angelique appears in the fire.  Willie cowers at Barnabas feet in terror like a small child wanting his parent to protect him.  Barnabas looks at the fire and Angelique's apparition with total disgust(no fear at all just extreme annoyance.)  The Angelique in the 91 series was over the top. A real hoot.
     Thanks for the screen captures and a walk down memory lane. 

[Raineypark]

My cable bill is so obscene I won't even say what it is....but it's like being hooked up to an oxygen unit...don't think we could live without it....especially the computer access.

[dom]

We used to pay 90 bucks but that was for the whole kit-n-kaboodle. Now we pay $12.95 for basic cable. And that's fine by me. We're not big TV watchers, it's almost always on but it is more background noise for us. Mostly news programs that ruffle our feathers. We yell at the TV instead of each other, lol. 

[Raineypark]

I yell at the news.....and then the rest of the house yells at me. 

[Cassandra Blair]

It's been really interesting reading everybody's comments about 1991.  Didn't know there was anyone else besides me who actually LIKED the nighttime version.  That's encouraging.  Thought the acting and character development were good, and thought the pacing was often (gulp) better than the original series.

I also really liked the idea of the nighttime Maggie and Roger together, and thought the trip to 1790 was amazing.  Agree that Ely Pouget's Maggie Evans is pretty much a different character than KLS's, but it was an interesting choice.  IMHO, Joanna Going was most affecting as Victoria/Josette, and although I'm a huge Grayson Hall fan, I thought Barbara Steele was marvelous as Dr. Julia Hoffman.  Jean Simmons was exactly what an early 1990's version Liz Collins Stoddard needed to be.  Am ambivalent about Ben Cross as Barnabas, but he wasn't really a bad choice.  Only thing I hated was the obvious sunny California setting - that just didn't work for me.

It's so intriguing to hear from MB that the proposal was for Lysette "Angelique" Anthony to play Laura.   Would have been perfect.  That's something else I really liked about the revival series: the streamlining of characters (i.e. Vicki/Josette) and the switcheroos in casting, like Roy Thinnes as Roger AND Trask.

I personally am hoping against hope that the WB will be able to resurrect the series.  I'm sure any such revamp of Dark Shadows will be more sexual than the original, and that's okay by me as long as it makes sense contextually, and they're able to invoke the sense of gothic foreboding that was always present in the original daytime series.

[Gerard]

It's so intriguing to hear from MB that the proposal was for Lysette "Angelique" Anthony to play Laura.

That would have been rather fascinating.  I recall a scene where Maggie is talking to Victoria, Victoria expressing her concerns about David's rather odd behavior, when Maggie says something along the line of "David's mother is a wit...."   Who knows?  Maybe the '91 Laura would have been Angelique returned in some form or a descendant of her.  That way, Angelique (in whatever form) would have been married to Roger in '91, in the same way that Angelique as "Cassandra"was married to Roger in '67/68, even though the '91 series made reference to David having a rather pyrotechnic ability, so somehow the Phoenix would probably have slipped in there.

Although Lysette Anthony would have made an interesting Laura, I always pictured Joan Collins revising the roll for '91.  We already know the woman is a gazillion years old and doesn't look a day over 35.  Well, mostly.  Talk about type-casting in that case, huh?

Gerard