Thoughts of the Festival...

[BuzzH]

You know cousins, we're less than six weeks away from our annual "family reunion" and I've been sitting here in my nice air conditioned office (it's 110 outside!   ) thinking alot about seeing everyone and how excited I am to be going etc...I remember when I first starting going to these things back in the 90's how pumped I, and my friends, would be to see a star wandering around the hotel before the Fest began, and now I think how we instead get excited to see each other arriving from our far away homes for a weekend of fun and too much drinking!     Seeing the stars now, and I mean NO disrespect when I say this, it's just more a 'matter-of-fact thing, is more like, calmly, "Oh, look.  There's Lara, or Diana, or KLS" etc...On the other hand, seeing them is kinda like seeing old friends too. 

[Phil]

I've never been to one, am thinking of going, but it's the same weekend as a horror fest closer to home. But there's another reason I'm hesitant: spoilers!

I am only recently rediscovering the series (was a loyal NJN watcher in the 80s), and there are hundreds of eps I'll be viewing for the first time as I build my dvd collection. (I don't think I made it past Old Man Barnabas back then....) As such, I think there is much that'd be lost on me at the fest. Believe it or not, the main reason I'm considering going is to see the WB pilot!  And possibly House Of Dark Shadows (does anyone know if they're showing a film print or just a tape?)

So if you're feeling recruit-ish, sell me on this fest!

[Lydia]

sell me on this fest!

I've never been to a fest.  I can't go to this year's; I have other things already planned.  I figure if I did go, I'd spend an awful lot of time feeling like nobody, because I am truly lousy in crowds.   Especially in convivial crowds.

But if I could go, I would.  Just for the atmosphere, just to see it once, just to be there for the 40th Anniversary Fest.  Who cares about the details?

[retzev]

...there's another reason I'm hesitant: spoilers!

Welcome, Housefly Cameo! And I'm glad you brought that up - this will be my first fest and I'm worried about spoilers, too. I haven't seen the entire series through, so I'll have to sit out the reenactment of the final episode, and I'm also concerned that the discussions with the stars, etc. will be laden with spoilers  :-

Any thoughts, recommendations from fest vets?

[ProfStokes]

Most of the questions at the Q&A sessions with the stars are non-storyline specific--who was your favorite character to play, how did you get your job, how did they do such and such an effect, do you still talk to Jonathan Frid, etc?  Most of the "why did so-and-so do what to whom in such and such an episode" come up in the fan panel on Sunday morning.  You shouldn't be at risk of getting too spoiled during the Festival.  Also, the final episode only reveals the fates of the 1841 PT characters, so if your main concern is avoiding spoilers about the real time DS characters, you have nothing to worry about.

The nighttime movie screenings (e.g. HoDS, The Wolfman, etc.)  are always from a videotape with the image projected onto a screen, not from a film print.

ProfStokes

[Mary]

So if you're feeling recruit-ish, sell me on this fest!

Oh yes, you've got to see the WB pilot -- it's awesome!  (JMHO -- LOL!) And don't worry about spoilers, just come and hang out and meet new friends!  You'll have a blast!

[BuzzH]

the final episode only reveals the fates of the 1841 PT characters, so if your main concern is avoiding spoilers about the real time DS characters, you have nothing to worry about.

Do tell professer, I hadn't heard they were doing this.  As a devoted 1841 PT fan, I'd be very interested in this.  Are they going to have some original offering of what happened to Bramwell, Catherine and company AFTER we leave them at Collinwood?

don't worry about spoilers, just come and hang out and meet new friends!  You'll have a blast!

Hear, hear!  Not very likely any eps will be spoiled for you, they rarely show them at the Fests anymore and they don't do the Video Room where they would show continuous eps all weekend anymore anyway so you should be fine.  When I went to my first one, in 1990, I thought I'd ONLY go to one and see what it was all about, but certainly didn't expect to go year after year until 2006!  I did take a few years off, got a little burned out on Fests, but came back in 2003 and haven't regretted it.  It's awesome to see your friends, some of whom I ONLY see at Fests (like the Professor above), so it's worth it.  Even if you come alone, you'll make friends, how can you not when you're standing in line for hours waiting for autographs, LOL!  You just start chatting w/your neighbor about DS and voila!  Instant friend.  I came to my first Fest alone and by the next one, 1991 in LA, I had about a dozen or so friends to hang out with.

[Midnite]

the final episode only reveals the fates of the 1841 PT characters, so if your main concern is avoiding spoilers about the real time DS characters, you have nothing to worry about.

Do tell professer, I hadn't heard they were doing this.  As a devoted 1841 PT fan, I'd be very interested in this.  Are they going to have some original offering of what happened to Bramwell, Catherine and company AFTER we leave them at Collinwood?

Just what occurred on the show.  Here are the announcements:

ShadowGram Update #149

Several of the guest cast members participate in a staged reading of the scripts from DS Episodes #1 and # 2.

which became:

ShadowGram Update #151

---- Several guests will re-create the very first DS episode and the final DS episode live onstage on Sat., Aug. 26. Portraying characters first performed by their co-stars are David Selby as Roger Collins; John Karlen as Burke Devlin; Lara Parker as Victoria Winters; and Marie Wallace as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. Other guest cast to be announced.

ShadowGram Update #153

Sunday, August 27
...
4:00 Guests - Dark Shadows Cast Presents First & Last Episodes Live On Stage

They already changed the events schedule, lol.  

[michael c]

i wouldn't worry too much about spoilers coming from any of the stars who are attending the festival.

as kathryn leigh scott has said in her books she cannot remember the progression of a single storyline.a couple of years ago i made the foolish mistake during a panel discussion of asking her a very specific question(whether or not she remembered the riddle used to escape her cell during her imprisonment by barnabas "one,two away they flew...")and needless to say she couldn't(i'll bet many of us can).

most of us probably know more about the show's various plotlines than they do.

even stranger was an encounter i had with diana millay.i asked her which of her two storylines on the show was her favorite.the 1966 one or the 1897 one.she told me flatly that she had no idea what i was talking about.when i reminded her that she appeared on the show twice(nearly three years apart)she told me that she couldn't remember anything about the show at all an in fact had never even seen most of it.

so spoilers probably won't be a huge factor.

[CrazyJenny]

Hm.... for some reason I haven't gotten the last two Shadowgram emails.  Too bad they don't have Betsy Durkin doing Vicky.  That would have been a hoot but I guess it was too "obvious".  I'm looking forward to seeing who the other actors will portray.

[BuzzH]

even stranger was an encounter i had with diana millay.

What, a strange encounter w/Diana Millay?  Say it isn't so!     (she's a pisser that one, LOL!)

when i reminded her that she appeared on the show twice(nearly three years apart)she told me that she couldn't remember anything about the show at all.

Well you probably caught her between incarnations and thus she'd have no memory of something she did in one of her previous lives, LOL!     I know, I'm evil!     Somebody smack me!   

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Somebody smack me!

 

Consider yourself smacked...

[BuzzH]

Somebody smack me!

 (admin: slap)

Consider yourself smacked...

ROTFLMAOPIMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That is hilarious!    BTW, I probably should say that even though I give Diana grief here on the boards, I actually like her very much, she's always very nice to me and even remembers me at Fests. 

[Phil]

Can I buy tickets once I'm there, or do I need to order them in advance?

[BuzzH]

Can I buy tickets once I'm there, or do I need to order them in advance?

You canget them there, but since it appears this Fest could draw quite a large crowd w/it being the 40th (and the fact that the host hotel has been sold out of Fest Room Rate Rooms for months), I'd send money to the Maplewood address now to be sure you get a ticket.  Same is true if you want to do the bus trip and/or banquet.