DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '25 I => Current Talk '05 II => Topic started by: Amy Jennings Fan on December 06, 2005, 12:35:17 AM
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Would Collinsport have a Christmas festival? What kind of festival would they have?
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Puritan New England wasn't big on Christmas. And I can't picture any of the various Reverends Trask encouraging the practice. Scrooge and Marley would have felt right at home, I think.
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I meant modern day Collinsport
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Yes, I think that modern Collinsport would have a large Christmas festival. The town was supposed to be a tourist town, and a beautiful festival in the winter would certainly attract tourists.
Misa [8_2_59]
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I would've loved to have seen a Christmas themed DS storyline....I've always liked it when shows do a holiday episode.
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Me too, I love Christmas episodes. I would have loved to just see some snow in an episode as well. C'mon Mr. Curtis, throw some styrofoam packing peanuts on the ground and have everyone wear coats! [8_2_73]
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I would've loved to have seen a Christmas themed DS storyline....I've always liked it when shows do a holiday episode.
The past couple Christmas' several of us have written a Christmas-themed Round Robin involving several of our favorites, w/a DS "twist" of course, that makes up for a lack of Christmas-themed episodes. Don't think we're doing it this year though. [santa_cry]
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And I can't picture any of the various Reverends Trask encouraging the practice.
All the more reason to have a big loud blast! Hee heeeeee! [santa_cool] [santa_evil] [santa_azn] [santa_cheesy] [santa_wink]
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I'm not a big fan of bright lights and commercial decorations in holiday parades. But there is a Chirstmas tradition that would have suited DS perfectly: the Yule night ghost story by the fire. Dickens didn't invent it himself....it was a very old tradition already.
I could picture the entire family (and assorted characters) in the withdrawing room after dinner, Barnabas telling a ghost story about the first Christmas the Collins family ever spent in America, all sipping mulled wine and eating cheese and fruit.
Would it have killed Curtis to do just ONE episode like that? [santa_angry]
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Ghost stories around a flickering fire while the rest of the house is in total darkness sounds like a very cosy Yule tradition. And if you're staying up till first light, as was the practice in days of yore, it gets people so on-edge that there's no WAY anybody's going to leave the comfort of the group round the fire to seek their own bed... all alone... in the dark!
I think a 21st century version of this could include turning on the TV and playing the episode from 1967 where Barnabas tells Vicki and Carolyn the story of Josette's death on Widow's Hill. If you absolutely had to, you could put garland and lights around the set.
G.
"Are there no WORKHOUSES?"
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"Are there no WORKHOUSES?"
I LOVE IT!!! [lghy]
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spoken of course by Alistair Sim--the ONLY Scrooge, in my book...
G.
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spoken of course by Alistair Sim--the ONLY Scrooge, in my book...
Oh, ABSOLUTELY!!! No one else ever came close.
Caught it on TV on Sunday (AMC, I think) and I was appalled that they altered the speed at which the movie was run so that they all sounded like they'd been inhaling helium. I've asked for the DVD for Christmas and I'm going to be FURIOUS if the DVD sounds like that!! [santa_angry]
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The series never had any Christmas episodes, did it? I don't remember any. But I've read some great fanfic that revolved around Christmas and on one list, there's a Xmas challenge. We just had a Thanksgiving challenge with our beloved DS characters and that was loads of fun. It would have been fun to see something on the series too but Barnabas was too busy saving his relatives from some supernatural disaster! LOL
[Chanukah9] [ChristmaS15]
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It would have been beautiful to see the drawingroom all decorated for Christmas. Interesting too to see what sort of gifts would have been exchanged.
Misa [8_2_74]
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Ah, Christmas and Dark Shadows! I too would have loved it if Christmas had been worked into a yearly episode. As I write this, something is tugging at my memory that I dimly recall having been mentioned on the forum way back when ... something about Dan Curtis having written or produced a Christmas episode for the show? Whatever can I be thinking of, I wonder ...
At any rate, I recall Christmas being mentioned only once, back during the B&W episodes when Victoria Winters was still at Collinwood. I think Carolyn walks into the drawing room and says something about her and David doing Christmas shopping in Bangor.
I'd like to have seen the Collins family in the present day singing carols around the Christmas tree and sipping wassail (or glogg - or something that warms one up!). No doubt singing carols would be a bittersweet experience for Barnabas, thinking back to his relatively untroubled life before 1795, spending Christmas with his parents and little sister. I wonder what sort of facial expressions Angelique or Cassandra would have worn while singing carols? "God rest ye merry gentlemen ... "
[ChristmaS15]
The only other Christmas reference I remember that made it on air is that at the end of one of the episodes (I just saw this on one of my tapes), I think just before the arrival of Laura (the Phoenix) in Collinsport, during the closing credits the announcer says something to the effect that "The producers and staff of Dark Shadows wish you and your family a very happy holiday season." I wonder if they did that each year? I thought it was a nice touch. Note, too, in light of some recent political controversy (some would say a tempest in a teapot) that this was nearly forty years ago, and the greeting was for a happy "holiday season" - gasp! - NOT "we wish you a Merry Christmas". Was DS ahead of its time?
I like Rainey's reminder about the old English tradition of reading ghost stories at Christmas. Having no British Isles heritage myself, this is not something I ever experienced, but it sounds delightful. (Though, come to think of it, I did read "A Christmas Carol" every Christmas Eve from about the ages of 11 to 17). I have gotten into the ghostly spirit this year, rather by chance, when I re-read H.P. Lovecraft's story "The Festival," which is set in a New England village at Yuletide. Very creepy!
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If you haven't checked this out yet, "YOU MUST!"
It's brilliant -
http://members.aol.com/abarnabas/dsxmas.html
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As I write this, something is tugging at my memory that I dimly recall having been mentioned on the forum way back when ... something about Dan Curtis having written or produced a Christmas episode for the show? Whatever can I be thinking of, I wonder ...
It was when the Museum of TV & Radio honored DS, I believe. Dan Curtis mentioned that he'd always wanted to set aside some time around the holidays to do a DS storyline based on A Christmas Carol. As I recall, the actors seemled relieved that he hadn't done it.
ProfStokes
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If you haven't checked this out yet, "YOU MUST!"
It's brilliant -
http://members.aol.com/abarnabas/dsxmas.html
This was obviously created by a sick, twisted individual! I LOVE IT!!! Bawahaaa.............. [santa_evil]
P.S. Love the "must" reference! ;)
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What the hell are all those things popping in and out of the screen? One is Q's head spinning around for some reason.
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Yeah, I know what you mean...
Did you catch the quick flash of a box of Vivran? [8_2_74]
AND, the baby's head??? What's up with that???
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Attached images require the permission of the copyright owner. Thanks!
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OK - no problem. Thanks Midnite for letting me know.
I have sent an email to the owner of the website requesting permission to use that screenshot. I will post back when I have a response.
I'm new to webposting and I didn't think twice about the screenshot. Thanks for keeping me on the right track!
~ JosettesMusicBox ~ [santa_smiley]
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You're welcome. Ordinarily I ask before deleting, but a very similar situation came up recently with the same webmaster, who promptly responded, and from China no less! Anyway, the good news is that the link to the XMas Eve ep is on this page, and the gif is available for all fans to view. I recommend all of Abarnabas' Stick Figure episodes, btw.
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As I write this, something is tugging at my memory that I dimly recall having been mentioned on the forum way back when ... something about Dan Curtis having written or produced a Christmas episode for the show? Whatever can I be thinking of, I wonder ...
It was when the Museum of TV & Radio honored DS, I believe. Dan Curtis mentioned that he'd always wanted to set aside some time around the holidays to do a DS storyline based on A Christmas Carol. As I recall, the actors seemled relieved that he hadn't done it.
Thank you, ProfStokes!
I was wracking my brain after posting that and sometime later it came to me, though what I seemed to remember was slightly different. What I thought had been posted (by MB?) was that Curtis wanted to actually do a production of "A Christmas Carol" with the DS cast that would air in DS's time slot one afternoon. In followup comments to the post, I thought that people speculated on which actor would have played which part - but my memory on this could be faulty.
[a_xmas]
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The only other Christmas reference I remember that made it on air is that at the end of one of the episodes (I just saw this on one of my tapes), I think just before the arrival of Laura (the Phoenix) in Collinsport, during the closing credits the announcer says something to the effect that "The producers and staff of Dark Shadows wish you and your family a very happy holiday season."
What episode number was this?
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What I thought had been posted (by MB?) was that Curtis wanted to actually do a production of "A Christmas Carol" with the DS cast that would air in DS's time slot one afternoon. In followup comments to the post, I thought that people speculated on which actor would have played which part - but my memory on this could be faulty.
That wasn't me - but a quick search of the forum reveals that it was ClaudeNorth:
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Just read the transcript of the webchat with Dan Curtis and I was blown away by his having wanted to present a production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL using the DS castmembers during the series' original run. That would have been incredible.
...
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How about an It's a Wonderful Life, where one of the Trasks is shown what the world would have been like if he'd never been born.......?
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It was fascinating to read through the old thread, not only for the content but also seeing familiar names of posters who are no longer active on this forum.
I had thought this conversation took place several years ago on the old VantageNet board, so I hadn't made an effort to search for it. Thanks, MB (and also for the link to the videoclip of Alec Newman in the other thread).
Retzev, I'm sorry but I can't help you out with the episode number, though I am curious about it myself. I don't have any of my complete tapes with me where I have carefully recorded all the episode numbers. This was just a blank tape on which I recorded some episodes during the last SciFi run because my complete set was already stored away. And I'm afraid I won't have time to go through the tape now to even give you a description of which episode this was because I am getting ready to leave town for a week.
Happy holidays to one and all!
-Vlad
[ChristmaS15]
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OK, I had to come back here just to say that I read through the transcript of the online interview with Dan Curtis where he talks about doing "A Christmas Carol." I don't remember having read it before, although Prof Stokes provided the link in the old thread (which MB has provided a link to in this thread). I do prefer one of our forum member's casting suggestions though, i.e. David Selby as Scrooge's nephew (rather than DC's choice - Roger Davis).
I also thought Mr. Curtis's comment on his never having known Vicki's history was quite interesting in light of all the speculations we've had online. I never knew he had said this.
-Vlad
[ChristmaS0]
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I also thought Mr. Curtis's comment on his never having known Vicki's history was quite interesting in light of all the speculations we've had online. I never knew he had said this.
In recent years DC has said many things that, well, don't exactly jibe with the facts as they actually happened (i.e. his confusing the time frames that Grayson and Sam Hall were hired on DS - and let's not even get into some of his commentary on the Burnt Offerings DVD (suffice it to say that it's pretty bad when your star has to correct you :o)). So, much of what he's said recently can no longer be accepted as gospel - particularly in light of what was originally known/published back in the day...
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Nickolas Blair and Angelique or Count Pataffi Kidnap Santa. Maybe not Pataffi sice Thiyer David would proably be the one playing Santa.
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The only other Christmas reference I remember that made it on air is that at the end of one of the episodes (I just saw this on one of my tapes), I think just before the arrival of Laura (the Phoenix) in Collinsport, during the closing credits the announcer says something to the effect that "The producers and staff of Dark Shadows wish you and your family a very happy holiday season."
What episode number was this?
Sorry this is a bit late and not quite so interesting now that the holidays are over (unless you're an Orthodox Christian perhaps).
I believe it was episode #126. [spoiler]Burke and Roger rescue Vicki at the Old House where she has been held captive by Matthew Morgan. Matthew was about to kill Vicki when ghosts called him from the hiding place behind the bookcase to the parlour.[/spoiler]
At the very end of the credits, the announcer says:
"On behalf of our sponsors, we would like to wish you a very happy holiday season. Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis production."
[ChristmaS0]