Who else likes the 1960's/1970's better than the Time Travelling?

[Para L. Time]

Greetings All!

I am currently in the middle of viewing 1897 for the very first time! I am a relatively "new" fan of the show, starting with DVD Collection 1 last August, buying a new set every month, and am now up to DVD Collection 14. While I find the show interesting and enjoyable, 1897 no exception, I find myself in the same predicament as I did upon viewing 1795 last winter: When are we going back to the Sixties?

Of course, I KNOW there's about 5 months left until the return to 1969 (I've read all the Episode Guides and understand mostly all of the major plots of the show except the last year which still complete baffles me--maybe I'll understand 1840/1841 better when I actually see it!). But I miss the 1960's family! I did not see the show when it was new, or even in the Seventies or Eighties, so I don't have the same boredom/nothing new feeling viewers must have had back then with the "mundane" every day lives of the Collinses in "present" day. Living in the 2000's, there is a certain fascination with the show, because to me (at least) 1966-1970 IS a trip to another time!

I love the Sixties! The "octopus" hairstyle that Carolyn sported in Collection 1! The many micro minis of Maggie Evans! The "rockin'" Blue Whale music played every time a character went there! The creepy, black-and-white, non-colorization! Modern women: DOCTOR Julia Hoffman, with her chic haircut and "chicer" clothes! The Collinses of "present" day themselves: Do I "care" about Judith or Naomi? NO! I want to see what happens to Elizabeth! Will she ever find another man? Will Carolyn finally do something with her life? Will David stop getting into trouble? Will David ever go to school with kids his own age? Will Roger ever come out of the closet? Will the family ever find out Barnabas is one of Living dead? Will Chris Jennings ever have a "normal" life?

Sadly, I do know the answers to these questions, but back in the Sixties, viewers did not. I think it is a shame that the show never really moved forward and showed these people grow and really change. Instead, starting with 1897, we are treated with a new story every six months to "prepare" ourselves for another Time Travel Excursion. The Collinses family of 1969/1970 is left in a sort of vaccuum where everything remains the same until the next evil/spirit/other dimension comes along. There is no breather between storylines. And also, I would have LOVED to have seen what the 1970's would have held for these people. Carolyn actually growing up and finding an interest in SOMETHING after the death of her husband; David going to school and starting to date; a BRAND NEW villain/supernatural being on the show who WASN"T a vampire/werewolf; good lord, how about just hearing funky Seventies music at the Blue Whale!

Does anyone else feel the same? Do you also wish the show had stayed in the "present" for longer time periods that it actually did?

[Barnabas'sBride]

Oh, most definitely.

But I adore 1795 and 1897, and disliked all of the other time traveling stories. Post Leviathans, that's all it is, really: time jumping and more time jumping. It got old for me fast. And it got harder and harder to care about the characters because they kept changing them. I honestly have a hard time enjoying much of the show post-Leviathans because of PT, 1840, and 1841PT.

DS struck gold twice with the 1795 storyline and then 1897. But the third time wasn't the charm, IMO. It was just at the point where it was tiring, IMHO.

[Sandor]

I, too, preferred the 60's storylines to the time travelling ones. There were aspects of 1897 and 1795 I enjoyed (and you often got the feeling that the cast embraced the period costumes, sets, wigs, dialogue, etc.)... after all, without 1795, there'd be no Reverend Trask or Angelique, and without 1897, we'd have no Magda & Sandor. Yet when the DS tapes first became available many years ago, I skipped the 1795 story altogether for my collection... and not just because Don Briscoe had yet to join the cast

 

[David]

Well, 1795 & 1897 are brilliant, but the arrival of Barnabas
in 67, the Angelique vampire story, the haunting of Quentin/Beth in 68 had many, many magical moments
and were often riveting.

I agree with Sandor that Briscoe was one hot looking dude!
He made me want to howl at the moon!

David   

[IluvBarnabas]

There really hasn't been a Dark Shadows storyline I haven't liked (except 1970 Parallel Time) but I always got a kick whenever the characters went back in time. I thought it was fascinating watching the actors play different characters and love the fancy costumes.

I love present time but some of the stories did drag a bit for my liking (the Adam story, Elizabeth's fear of being buried alive for example). But I loved the early episodes with Barnabas' arrival, the werewolf story, and am probably one of the few who did like the Leviathan story.

However I just adore the time-travelling stories, whether it be 1795, 1897, 1840 or 1841....I don't think any of these eras had a dull moment in therm.

Just my opinion.

[Janet the Wicked]

Sixties. Definately the best. I especially love the location shooting around Newport.

[Sunny_Collins]

A very warm welcome to you, Para L. Time! 

You bring up some good points. It would have been interesting to see what happened to Liz, Carolyn, David and all the rest, but in a way it's not so bad, because we can always create new scenarios for them. 

I also enjoyed the music at the Blue Whale even though I know it annoys some people.

[David]

 

The Music at the Blue Whale was the cat's meow, daddy-0!
Can you dig it?

David

[retzev]

to me (at least) 1966-1970 IS a trip to another time!

I'm with you, Para L.

I like the time-travel, but I prefer the present-time episodes. I'm still on my first go-round like you, so I can't really comment on which plotlines are better, I just enjoy the surreal contrast between the '60s fashions/styles and the traditional Gothic trappings of the storylines, the sets, the brooding music, etc.

[Cousin Barnabas]

I love the time travel stories!! 1795 and 1897 are my favorites, I did not care so much for Parallel Time or Parallel Time 1841. As a matter of fact I was always upset that DS ended in 1841PT. Those characters I had no attachment to. And then the final scene with [spoiler]Melanie being carried in with wounds on her neck and Stokes suggesting a vampire was on the estate as the camera shifts over to Barnabas' portrait was all wrong!![/spoiler]  The PT Barnabas was not a vampire, in PT he had a normal life, married Josette and had a child (Bramwell)

[Gerard]

What an interesting topic.  I loved the 1795/96 and 1897 storylines, of course, but I also did enjoy the adventures set in "modern" times.  That doesn't mean I really liked all of them; I did not care for the whole Adam thing at all.  But it was always good to see the original characters doing "modern" things.

I sometime wonder if the decision to do time travel, to show the Collinses of the past, was to bring up the ratings.  Maybe not at first.  The whole concept of telling the story as to the how and why of Barnabas' vampirism was fantastic and very integral to the overall developing show.  Ratings, I'm sure, definitely went up.  And then came the whole Adam thing, set in the present.  Maybe I'm one of the few who found it disappointing compared to what we had just gone through 175 years earlier, but then maybe other viewers' interest might've wained as well, so something had to be done.  Along came 1897.  Like I said, I really enjoyed it; I can see why DS hit its highest ratings during that plot.  But I also ADORED the "build-up" to it with Quentin and Beth haunting Collinwood.  It was just all so "modern."  I wish it would've lasted longer.  After 1897 came the Leviathans.  Now, I enjoyed that story, but many did not, and the ratings took a tumble.  It's obvious they rushed through it when that realization came just to end it and along came Parallel Time, devised it seems to get most of the main characters out of TV Collinwood and to movie set Collinwood.  When that was over, the producers and writers, maybe concerned about those ratings again, decided to do another time travel to the past since it always worked in bringing more viewers in before.  So, to me, the show changed, from having intact, set-in-present-time stories, to the present time just being a set up for another voyage in time.  Get through it and get back to the past; pull out those costumes and candles.  The thing is, with 1840 (which I didn't care for), it was just a rehashing of 1897 with some 1795 (the witchcraft trial) thrown in; nothing new, same old same old.  So, to me, DS "evolved" from various stories to just one idea:  have some spooks run around in present day for six weeks or less, and then send Barnabas (and Julia and whomever else booked passage) to the past to get rid of those spooks.  When that was done, do it all over again.

Gerard

[Joeytrom]

1897 was a great storyline but it was 8 months long and I couldnt wait for the show to return to the present.    You could plainly see they were stretching things out by using the "I Ching" as a plot itself.  I would rather have the climax be where

[spoiler]The death of Quentin is prevented and David is released from Quentin's ghost.  Though it would mean there being no Petofi to the story.  Barnabas was the show's hero, he should have been the one to stop Beth from shooting Quentin.[/spoiler]

If they did want to do a third time travel story they should have waited a year or more to pass as they did from 1795 to 1897.

[Lydia]

I'm currently around the beginning of 1897 in my Daily Dose of Dark Shadows.  I haven't watched much past September of 1967; I rarely could get home from school in time when it was originally on.  (I was in a carpool with kids who had extracurricular activities, and by the time I was old enough to get a driver's license, Dark Shadows had been canceled, so there was no point.  I didn't get a driver's license until I was 24 years old.)  I'm thoroughly enjoying the layered feeling to the show:  "In this room where Edward, Judith, Quentin, and Carl are arguing, a hundred years ago Naomi told Joshua that Sarah had died, and 70 years from now Elizabeth and Jason will stand before the judge to be married."  "In this room where Magda is sassing Barnabas, a hundred years ago Barnabas and Angelique were married, and 70 years from now, Sam Evans will paint Barnabas's portrait."  I love the fact that it's all higgledy-piggledy - you don't see it in chronological order; you go hopping and skipping between time periods.  It makes the history of the wild and wonderful (I've just been in West Virginia, so the adjectives come easily to mind) Collins family into a fascinating mosaic, instead of a plodding straight line.  If the series hadn't been canceled, I'd have been thrilled to watch it for years more, but as it is, I love the variety of fan fiction that is made possible by the fact that nothing was wrapped up.

[michael c]

i'm with those who prefer the "present time" episodes to the ones set in the past.

i just like those characters the best.also the juxtaposition of the dark,heavy,gothic setting and the jauntiness of the clothes is one of the most visually arresting things about the show for me.it's quite surreal.

for this reason i liked both the leviathan and the 1970 parallel time storylines even though they were unpopular.

i loved both the 1795 and the 1897 storylines(i haven't seen 1840 yet)but i always looked foreward to the return to the present time.

[stefan]

I like parts of both. I think it made sense that since Frid/Barnabas became such a popular character that the writers might want to give some history on his story. I feel that Frid seems extremely comfortable in the 1795 story.  His Shakesperean background probably made him at ease with the historical part, 1795 clothing and elegant dialogue without modern slang or affectations. Except for the witch trial and the writers insistence that Josette remain a dumbskull about Angelique - 1795 runs along just fine and smooth. I happen anyway to love history but even for me 1897 is a bit ponderous and hopelessly monotonous (dark and stormy alll the time).
The early 1960's black and white DS is excellent but I still prefer it after the arrival of Barnabas. I'm not so fond of the 60's hippy quality of the later modern shows. Too many love beeds and it seems the only part of DS that appears "dated" - for me anyway.