DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '26 I => Current Talk '13 I => Topic started by: Patti Feinberg on May 09, 2013, 12:12:16 AM
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I have never seen the '90-'91 series (except for a brief few minutes while it was on new in '91).
When I see the various montages and other pics, everyone looks too serious; too stiff.
If nothing else, Burton, Depp and H.B.C. look like they're having some fun (as does the wonderful Michelle Pfeiffer).
I know alot of posters did in fact watch the 'original' (hmmm) re-dux '90 series. Did anyone get that impression? How about now?
Patti
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Not particularly stiff, but definitely cold. Although so much about the series is wonderful, it had a certain coldness (akin to HoDS) that made it different from the OS. Mrs. Johnson and Victoria Winters were about the only two characters who were given enough of the right material to display warmth. Well, there's Willie too, but his was the wrong type of warmth. [easter_wink]
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The characters of Willie/Ben and Millicent were written entirely for comic relief. And Carolyn definitely has a lot of fun on the series, even when she goes a bit mad. Many of the characters (primarily in 1795) are very unlikeable, though.
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The only 1790 character that I actually like is Natalie, and that is because she was allowed to do something that Grayson Hall's Natalie never did. I'm indifferent towards many and just dislike others -- Trask and Abigail are the only two I dislike for the right reason.
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Unlike in the OS, I actually found that 1790 made me dislike 1991 Barnabas even more then I already did.
[spoiler]And the way they just buried a servant in the woods without calling the police or notifying her mother, etc. really made me sick. Those detestable snobs saw 'the help' as being less then human, and took it for granted that Barnabas' word about her accidentally dying during their argument and being a witch must be 100% true without question. When they get bored with using the servant boys and girls for sex, they just dump their bodies in the woods somewhere and hire someone else. [/spoiler]
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There are quite a few things that I genuinely liked about this incarnation. I loved Joanna Going and thought that she made an ideal heroine. I also loved Barbara Blackburn, who manages to inject some much needed wit into the proceedings.
I could have done without the Pepe LePew French accents. I had no problems with Jim Fyfe's acting but I didn't care for how the character of Willie was presented. And the show never made proper use of either Adrian Paul or Michael T. Weiss.
The major problem, for me, is that Barnabas is largely depicted as a cold fish. We see that he's quite taken with Vicki but his relationships to Julia and the Collins family are somewhat vague.
I was never able to take the character seriously after a friend pointed out that when Cross went into vampire mode, he bore an uncanny resemblance to Ed O'Neill on Married With Children.
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Can't say I ever saw that resemblance. [easter_wink] But would it extend to the times when Barn was in full on snarl vamp mode (which is really the only thing I disliked about the show), because if so, I wonder what Ed O'Neill would think of that? [easter_cheesy]
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I may have posted this elsewhere but it does bear repeating. It's very difficult to do that much hissing and be perceived as masculine. [easter_evil] [easter_evil] [easter_grin] [easter_grin]
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Yeah, well, like I've said before, we can squarely blame all that snarling on DC because it was all his idea. [easter_rolleyes]
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In all honesty, I find the story interesting, and probably consider it the "ultimate" telling in terms of the DS "franchise," since the OS always left loose-ends and had inconsistencies galore. This telling has everything right in regards to the story of the main characters, but the quick-pace and lack of character development holds it back. I'm indifferent towards Ben Cross as Barnabas. His isn't a character I like. (Come to think of it, I like Frid's HoDS Barnabas better.) But his place in the overall narrative is well-done. Then again, I view Victoria as the main character in this version, and I see Barnabas as the antihero.
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I felt it was a more polished and tighter story without all the filler and repeating for the sake of soap operadom (meaning filling people in who had missed shows). Even the changes made in the 91 version were good and I really had no problem with (except for maybe Willie, hey, you can't please everyone!). But aside from that, i never found it stiff or wooden. It should have gone on for a few more seasons and I am sure would have gotten better as they went on.
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I don't know if it was "stiff" but it took itself too seriously. there was something florid and pretentious about it. like dan curtis felt he was layering "grandeur" into the story by way of smoke machines.
but then it was very much a product of it's time. it was the twilight of the big 1980's prime time soap operas and miniseries and that was reflected in it. particularly the 1790 sequence. to me it was very evocative of the 80's "bodice ripper" miniseries. I kept expecting jane seymour to show up.
still it was not without it's charms. but to me it's dated in not a good way.
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lol, thinking about what MB has reported about how DC insisted on directing Ben Cross in those "snarling Barn" scenes, I now think of Cross as DC's "snarlin' darlin'" (shades of Penny Dreadful!).
G.