ANGELIQUE COMING SOON!

And Chris Jennings is an exclusive to SDCC!

http://www.spectretoy.com/product.html

KMR, yes you are right.  I was thinking videotape.  Stupid me.  But, here is the color FILM footage of Collinwood from Ep 297: Attached.


It looks pretty foggy, washed-out and unclear when compared to the stills, so there must have been a cheap color film used.  I guess this explains why it wasn't used beyond these first few color episodes.


And as for Laura and Liz, mscbryk, I think I just will say it again:  Laura verses Liz should have gone on forever.  Those showdowns were epic.       Too bad we couldn't have a flashback of the early days of Roger's relationship.  Liz trying to stop the wedding would be phenomenal to see. 

The exteriors of the mansions were filmed in color?

I don't see any reason why they wouldn't use them, then.  I had always assumed that they were filmed in black and white and that is why they weren't used. 

Now, I know exterior shots filmed in color - at this time in TV history - were rather difficult and the film quality could be less than stellar, but if the original shots were color, (in the words of ingenue Victoria Winters) "I don't understand." 

There are definitely many fans who would disagree that the pre-Barn eps were poorly done. In fact, for a good portion of fandom those eps are some of their favorites.

Of which I am one.  I believe that the earliest episodes were some of the most beautifully executed in the show's history.  The combination of the fantastic sets (A daytime soap with these kinds of original sets in the '60s?!) , the exceptional special effects (Josette's Ghost always looked real, whereas later on, you could tell the ghosts were green-screened in), the GREAT location shots (The exterior images of the mansion were actually film and not stills like they were after the color transition.  And where else do we see Collinsport cars and people walking on the grounds of Seaview?), and the original story/plot (Truly something out of Gothic literature) was never again replicated in the show's history.  It is evident that a lot of time was put into making these episodes nearly perfect.  Later on, the focus of the show changed and a lot of the subtleties of the original episodes were lost.  Granted later episodes required emphasis be put on make-up and more special-effects, meaning that time for such earlier details was limited and attention had to spread out to more (different) things.  In fact, because of the substantial changes that came about over the show's history, it is hard to compare the early episodes with those after the arrival of Barnabas.  The only time that the show truly comes close to recapturing the feel of the early days is during the Haunting of Collinwood plot in 1969 and parts of the 1897 flashback.  Now if only those episodes were done in black and white...

I love most parts of the series.  Most of them are so great, but the later stories differ in tone and the production of said stories was executed differently.  This makes them no less good, in my opinion, but simply makes them incomparable to the early episodes of the show.   

I have the same problem.  I just click inside the box and use the scroll on the mouse to read the rest. 

This is what I love about the entertainment industry.  There is more drama behind the scenes than in the movies themselves.   

That is true, MB.  They probably do have a limited number of words they can use, but the way it's written is just weird.  They could have described the same exact thing with less words:  "The film is about vampire Barnabas Collins who lives in a secluded mansion in a sleepy coastal town."  Maybe they just wanted to confirm that the setting was indeed Collinsport.  ;-)  When I read that description, though, I think something along the lines of A Series of Unfortunate Events, where some kids stumble upon a creepy old house and the reclusive vampire inside.   

And if we are to speculate further using this strange description, we might also be able to assume that this is the only plot detail everyone working on the film has been able to agree upon: 

"Well, we know there is going to be a vampire named Barnabas; and we know he lives in an old house in Portland..."
"Not Portland!  Collinsport!"
"Right.  Collinsport.  And then there is this werewolf ghost..."
"No!  That is in the sequel!"
"Oh.  Right.  So we have a vampire named Barnabas living in an old house in... Collinsport."   

... determine which of them would drive the car after a long night at the Blue Whale.