1991 Shadows news

[Gothick]

Dear Fans,

Those who enjoy the 1991 DS nighttime series might find this note which I received from a friend of mine who has been revisiting that show.  My friend writes:

Speaking of aspect ratio issues, I have good news regarding DARK SHADOWS (1991).  It was released on DVD at least 3 times here in the U.S. with the aspect ratio butchered.  However, last year a company called TGG Direct quietly issued a box set of the series in its original fullscreen format.  Print transfer quality is excellent, and it’s great to finally see high quality prints of this show in the ratio it was intended to be viewed.  The only drawbacks are that they still failed to include the extended cuts of the first and last episodes which Dan Curtis prepared for MPI’s VHS releases.  And the color timing on the day-for-night sequences is still faulty, causing those scenes to appear far too bright (almost full daylight).  So the only releases that display those accurately are still MPI’s VHS iterations.  TGG Direct’s set appears to have gotten a very limited release, and even though it is only a year old, I believe it is already out of print.  Sealed copies are still available on Amazon, but the manufacturer is no longer offering copies, and the few copies still for sale on Amazon are going for double MSRP.  I broke down and bought one as a birthday gift to myself this year (as prices are sure to go even higher once the remaining copies sell out).  On the other hand, the same prints have recently been issued in the U.K. and Germany, and imported copies of those can be had for under $20.00.

One more tidbit before I run.  I recently dug out my personal VHS captures of the original 1991 NBC airings of the series, and isolated all of the network-specific material (promos, previews, bumpers, etc.) that were left out of the VHS and DVD releases.  I turned them into one continues DS bonus feature, and posted it to YouTube last week.  Here’s a link, if you’d care to see it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr5iiLihmxQ

Since I’m an incurable completist, I’m eventually going to post not just the promos for each episode, but all of the commercials that ran during each broadcast.  (end of his letter)

I don't know if this upgraded release of the series was reported here.  It may well have been, since I don't always pay attention to topics relating to that redaction of DARK SHADOWS.

Best,

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Very interesting, Gothick. Even though the TGG release has been discussed here, your friend provided info about the current availability of the set and his YouTube video, so that is new. Thanks for sharing. 

I do hope your friend's YouTube stuff will remain there. Back before YouTube even existed I once created a Web site with videos of a lot of the stuff he's shared and a certain fan who liked nothing better than to tattle to Jim Pierson tattled to him and before I knew it the host of the site deleted it without notification to me or asking me to do it myself. 

However, I would remind people that all of what your friend has posted to YouTube and then some has been posted here in the topics for the '91 series' Watching Project that we did back in '08. Those topics are all on the "Current Talk '08 II" board and can be easily found by sorting the board by Subject and looking for topics beginning with "Discuss: '91 Series" on page 6 and "Watching Project #2: Promo Videos" on page 10.

The commercials from the NBC run are not posted here, though. 

[Gothick]

Cool.  I completely missed the posts about the TGG release.  I remember posts about other releases and it was always the same crap prints as before.  I think I just stopped reading the topic because I presumed that the correct aspect ratio prints were NEVER going to be issued.

By "commercials," I think he must mean commercials for each week's upcoming episode. He must be even more of a diehard DS fan than I had guessed to have captured all of those.

I was living in China during the original broadcast, though my Dad thoughtfully taped the first two evenings of it for me to watch when I got home. 

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

By "commercials," I think he must mean commercials for each week's upcoming episode. He must be even more of a diehard DS fan than I had guessed to have captured all of those.

Well, if that's what he means, I have all of those as well, along with the 30 or so different ones leading up to the premiere (and many of those are also posted here). I guess that means I'm one of those "diehard" DS fans, too!!      And I also have all the entertainment shows' segments that were done on the series. Some of those were also on that Web site that was rudely deleted...

But all of that stuff was back in '90-'91 when it was easy to get copies of them. If a new DS TV series were to ever come about, I doubt there would be any way I could get or even keep up with everything done to promote it. I'd simply have to be content to live without it. 

[Uncle Roger]

There are still fans who like to run and snitch to The Pierson That Be. Oddly though, some people get the order to cease and desist while others are allowed to do pretty much anything and everything.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Well, at least back in the '90s when I'd put up that Web site, a DVD set for the '91 series hadn't been released so to be fair maybe Pierson thought a lot of the stuff I'd put up would one day become available on a DVD set. Though as we know now, none of it did. In fact, there are no extras whatsoever for the '91 series. 

And as for the people who run to Pierson, sadly, the person I'm referring to is a real piece of work because they act one way online and to your face and entirely differently behind-the-scenes and behind your back. But then, we all know someone like that, and I try my best to have as little to do with them as possible in real life as well as online...

[Uncle Roger]

Indeed we do. Probably some of the same ones. 

[Gothick]

Another extra that should have definitely been included in the TGG set was that "making of" documentary that I guess was included in the VHS set.  (It might have been a separate tape; I honestly can't recall.)  A fan did share that with me several years ago.  I finally checked Amazon just now and the TGG set is currently going for $60 to $65.

Certain fans might snitch to DCP or whoever because they want to have a market for their sale of bootleg merchandise at fan events.  Including material that was originally to be intended to be shared among fans FOR FREE. 

As the Countess du Pres might have put it--c'est la guere, cheri!

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Another extra that should have definitely been included in the TGG set was that "making of" documentary that I guess was included in the VHS set.

Believe it or not we will never see that material on DVD because apparently the person who put it all together never actually had the rights to use any of the footage and/or interviews. But then, it wasn't the first time they'd done that.

But don't get me wrong, I love that that VHS was issued. And there's some really great stuff on it. However, uh, wouldn't it be smart procedure to actually secure the rights to the material you want to use BEFORE you actually use it? But no. And supposedly now it would be a nightmare to try to clear all the rights, so that's why we'll never see it issued again...

[Gothick]

Holy Hell.  But that is fascinating on one level.

Thanks for sharing that, MB!

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Honestly, I think it's fascinating on several levels! But I'll leave it at that because I suspect most people can read between the lines and easily deduce what I'm getting at...

[Uncle Roger]

Do as I say, not as I do?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Exactly. 

[Patti Feinberg]

I was living in China during the original broadcast, though my Dad thoughtfully taped the first two evenings of it for me to watch when I got home.

CHINA??

China??

How old were you then?

I don't believe I know anyone as well-travelled as you dahling.

China!

Patti