DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '26 I => Current Talk '08 II => Topic started by: Taeylor Collins on July 16, 2008, 12:57:27 AM
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the audio dramas. I really want to buy them if I get good reviews from you guys. I trust yall. Your hardcore fans. Who knows that the feedback is any good on amazon. I don't really converse with those people and I do yall. I appreciate it. And spoilers are fine too.
Love
Tae
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Hi Tae. I got the first "season" and thought they were awesome! I wondered whether or not I could get into the concept, but my concerns were unnecessary. It was pretty amazing hearing the familiar voices again. The stories were great and the music was fantastic. Very much worth the money. IMHO.
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I found the writing and the characterizations to be uneven. However, both get progressively better, and "The Rage Beneath" is probably my favorite story. The tone of the plays is quite delightfully eerie, and presents a more mature, dark vision of Collinsport in the future. The stories are limited by the presence of only the five original characters; the addition of recurring characters Ed and Susan Griffin adds a welcome peek into the lives of two ordinary Collinsport citizens. Most of the performances are terrific: in particular, Lara Parker fully throws herself back into the role of Angelique with relish, and John Karlen is the tormented, traumatized Willie Loomis. I think Karlen's performances are the best of the returning actors'. He has some truly wonderful, sweet scenes with Maggie throughout the series. David Selby, on the other hand, sounds mostly tired and bored; I suspect he's trying to portray Quentin as world-weary, but IMHO he overdoes it. For what it's worth, Andrew Collins does a great Frid imitation as Barnabas.
The plays benefit by Robert Cobert's original score to give them that vintage DS feel, but the original music sets the mood nicely too. Probably my biggest complaint is that the use of some of the sound effects, for instance a commonly-used echo effect, makes it difficult to understand the dialogue. I was constantly rewinding my discs and turning up the volume to catch what was being said.
On the whole, the radio dramas are fun, especially if you're the sort of fan who is curious to know what happened next after the TV series ended and you're open to the idea of alternate interpretations of the DS universe.
Feel free to PM me, Taeylor, if you'd like me to send you my detailed reviews of each play.
ProfStokes
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I have to agree with the above that the best of them is The Rage Beneath'. I have to say that I thought that KLS had the best performances consistently throughout. Karlen was really good too.
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I got a kick out of them too and think they are definitely worth buying.
I also have to agree with ProfStokes about JK. He slips so easily back in the role it's amazing, and he's fantastic at it too.
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the audio dramas. I really want to buy them if I get good reviews from you guys. I trust yall. Your hardcore fans. Who knows that the feedback is any good on amazon.
Coming in late on this one, finally got a round tuit and got myself back over here while I am recuperating from Burbank and the vacation after the fest.
I would agree with most on here. I also have a review site, and have reviewed three of the four plays (Still have a half finished write up on the 2nd one, that's not posted. It seems to be jinxed, since I keep getting interrupted and have to start it from the beginning, so I gave it a rest for a while. [peepwall] ). If you're still thinking about it and want an overview, here's the links to the reviews:
The House of Despair: http://mediafanfiction.tripod.com/jeanniesdavidselbysite/id29.html (http://mediafanfiction.tripod.com/jeanniesdavidselbysite/id29.html)
The Christmas Presence: http://mediafanfiction.tripod.com/jeanniesdavidselbysite/id37.html (http://mediafanfiction.tripod.com/jeanniesdavidselbysite/id37.html)
The Rage Beneath: http://mediafanfiction.tripod.com/jeanniesdavidselbysite/id36.html (http://mediafanfiction.tripod.com/jeanniesdavidselbysite/id36.html)
You'll also see links to the previous dramas done at the fests, of which only Return to Collinwood was made avaliable for sale (through MPI).
Jeannie
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the audio dramas. I really want to buy them if I get good reviews from you guys.
I bought the first four a few months after they were available, and was VERY disappointed in the first one. To me, the storyline discounted almost the entire run of the show--as if all of the trials and tribulations that we sat through didn't count for anything. I thought Return to Collinwood and Vengeance at Collinwood were much better in that they reintroduced us to our favorite characters and THEN delved into the plot.
I do understand that they only had a handful of the original actors and also needed to explain why Barnabas was going to sound different, but the backstory (various characters already dead) and resulting plot was very unsatisfactory to me.
I've read many glowing reviews and I agree that the actors did a great job and it was nice to hear them together again, but for me, the storyline was comparable to Marty McFly and Doc Brown coming back to the alternate "present." Where IS this??? And WHAT have you done with COLLINSPORT???
I can't report on the other storylines because after the first one was such a huge disappointment, I couldn't bring myself to listen to the rest, so this is just my two cents on the first one. The rest are still in their wrappers.
Judy
[9366]
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Thanks Judy. I will take your thoughts into account. As for where the first ep is set. Professor Stokes said it was in a nebulous future.
Nebulous meaning hazy, vagues, indistinct. And no I don't think the posters are stupid however I hadn't learned the meaning of this word before and I will admit it. I love to learn new words though. DS has actually taught me many but that is a whole different post!!