If done as originally intended, I think the 1795 SL would have been more difficult to keep up with. Especially so if what glimpses of 1795 they showed were out of sequence and viewers were waiting for gaps in the storyline to be filled in while keeping up with current SL's. Myself, another month of the 1795 SL would have been nice, especially early on in the SL.

Hi,

 I was inspired by David's "A Night At the Movies" thread to ask this- what films with DS cast members do you recommend watching or hunting down the dvd/video?  This doesn't include the 2 DS films.

Thanks all! 

Besides the dvd's and a few assorted videos, I have Jonathan Frid's autograph from the DS Fan Club I joined back in '68 or '69. There was also a 45 rpm record from JF as part of the fan club. I still have that.  I used to have the complete DS bubblegum card set, the one with DS scenes on one side and a slice of a giant Barnabas puzzle on the back. I believe it was from the bubblegum wrappers that I sent off for an imitation Barnabas ring. I saw that ring somewhere in the house not too many years ago, along with a few of those bubblegum cards. I still have a Dancing Lady knife like Aristede had (I think I sent off for that from a  Johnson-Smith catalogue, anyone recall those?). I don't recall if the catalogue actually mentioned DS when it was selling those knives. I either lost, sold, gave away or tossed out a lot of DS items, especially DS related magazines and the Marilyn Ross novels. To think I once thought DS would be forgotten for all time.
What was I thinking?!?!

You're reading my mind because, if the WB DS pilot is picked up as a series, it will definitely have its own section on the forum. 

That's one section of the forum I eagerly look forward to posting in! Perhaps with my mind reading ability I could even become one of those new characters on the show. 

Male- Barnabas, Quentin

Female- Vicki (only as portrayed by Alexandra),
Maggie Evans and any character KLS played

This list could change as I watch more eps on dvd and my memory of what I once watched improves.

Concerning spoilers, could there be added to the General Discussion area, a "WB Dark Shadows" (for lack of better name) forum for all discussion of the new show? That might help people not wanting to be spoiled. As Raineypark mentioned, "The number of posts that this will generate over the next 8 months will be huge, I have no doubt.  And all it will take is one person to forget to "spoiler" somthing and all that effort will be wasted."  Perhaps a seperate forum would make it less likely (hopefully) for a person to be spoiled. Threads concerning the original series wouldn't get "buried" among the discussion about the new version. Anyway, just a thought.

I love the idea of new characters and new situations- while remaining faithful to the spirit of the original series. Nothing can change how I view or feel about the original series, the '91 version didn't. I liked that version, too, what I remember of it in it's short time on air.

I would watch if they remade the original version  or made it more like the '91 model. But I'd prefer to not be able to reasonably know what's going to happen next in a certain storyline or compare  any particular scene to how it was done back in '68 or whenever. However, I wouldn't mind thinking- "How would the original Barnabas deal with this new character of the '04 version?" or "How would this new '04 situation work if it occured before the original Quentin was introduced?"  Who knows, maybe some of the original actors can portray some of the new characters? 

I agree with Raineypark that "multiple storylines are more compelling and intricate and viewers like stories to come together like puzzles."  I think there would have to be a certain number of self contained episodes as well. Or that's just my guess for an hour long show in prime time these days, though I may be wrong.