Gerard, thanks for letting us know about your project. I'm sitting here exhausted just *thinking* about how much time and trouble it would take to tie up ALL the illogical and loose ends from the series!  lol!

cheers, G.

Thanks, Cathy, for the update.  Didn't it take three or four years between the initial announcements that Burton & Depp were going to do the DS thing and the actual start of filming?  I seem to remember endless griping from fans that filming hadn't started yet, over a period of years.

Best, Steve

Just be glad you can't read what I am thinking.  It is so beyond unprintable.

Magnus, the press announcement flatly says it is a remake of the first Phibes film, but nothing is said about the script and I'm sure once Burton and team get their claws into it, the result will bear very, very little resemblance to the original.

The Phibes story does have a number of Burton's favorite hobby-horse elements, so I can see the attraction for him.

G.

For what it's worth, here's the Wikipedia entry on the concept of canon as being discussed here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_(fiction)

For Star Trek, they give a definition that contrasts with the one I have given for DS.  I feel strongly that canon for Original Series DS consists of the episodes as aired, full stop.  This is the case even though I really dislike some decisions that were made in canon about character fates, notably Victoria Winters' "final" fate.  (Dale Clark's first DS fan novel was written specifically to give an alteration to this canon, which has disturbed so many fans over the years.)  Another interesting example of this is in the 1980s TV series Beauty and the Beast, where TPTB provided an ending that many (perhaps most) fans regarded as outright character rape.  I think this may have been the first instance where fannish writers provided an alternate season of episodes to what had been aired, a practice that has since become popular in Net fandom with many canceled series.

Cousin Barnabas, Roger Davis's "performances" as Jeff Clark in 1968 definitely rate as among the most hair-grippingly awful (lol) material he did on the show, so I feel your pain.

For a lot of us Ancient Blood fans (viewers during the time of the original airing), the 1968 period has its own nostalgic overlay because it was during this time that DS really hit big in mass media coverage and national awareness.  Which was why the era was recalled by some cast members as "that year of insanity."  lol!

G.

Cousin B, I honestly do not mean to be offensive--just giving my opinion--but to be frank, I found Jonny Depp's portrayal of Barnabas to be literally unwatchable.  Somehow I got through it--once.  Nothing in 1968 is on that level of dreadfulness (well, some of the Vicki/Jeff scenes come close).

Again, just my opinion.  Glad you can enjoy it to the point of having "favorite moments."  I really wish more of the Helena/Pfeiffer scenes had been kept in--the ones sans Barnabas and "Evalique" (rhymes with EEK! which is what her dye job does to me).

Going to my room to rest,

G.

I tolerate a lot of nonsense in the 1968 era for the sake of such delicious moments as:

Cassandra's showdown with Liz: "Do you know what your problem is?"  I still can't believe that that line was scripted AND delivered.

Any scene involving Nicholas and Julia.

Barnabas taunting Cassandra as "Angelique" and her inevitable response:  "Don't call me that!"

Mrs. Johnson telling Nicholas she fears the Collins family is under a curse... and Mrs. Johnson reading Harry the riot act. LOL!

Tom and Julia.

Vampilique and her various schemes.  (I really felt for her when Nicholas stopped her from goin' down on that hunky cop... CHOMP!)

I could go on, but these are just some of the gems that always make me look forward to visiting the 1968 period.

I also find the scene where Maggie tries to talk Joe into leaving town to be a surprisingly poignant moment... it definitely looks back to the period when Collinsport was just a troubled small town... not a Hellmouth-in-training.

G.

I was able to play that clip you posted just now.  I think I missed the point, but then, I always get distracted by how much like Nancy Barrett Eva Green looks as "Angie."  I always wonder if that was intentional.  Probably not, since I have never seen anyone else comment upon the resemblance, so, like so much else these days, it must all be in my own mind.

I also don't remember the tea with the tuna line.

Fun stuff!

G.

No matter how well (and how long!) the Burton-Depp Shadows redaction performed at the box office, I would bet you dollars to doughnuts that there are a lot of individuals walking around Tinseltown who, if the topic even ever comes up, angle their noses into the air and sniff, "Oh yeah, Dark shadows--another flop for Tim and Johnny."  As I've commented in a number of posts before (and I apologize for the repetition), there is a cabal in H'wood that wants Burton to fail.  I don't know what people think about Depp at this point (I saw a tabloid in the grocery store two days ago with a screaming headline about Depp "marrying" a very young looking woman who I presume is somebody other than his current wife--but I haven't been keeping up).  The Disney Lone Ranger thing looks as if it is already damaging Depp's credibility in certain circles even though the studio and Depp have done what they could to forestall such things.

I think a Shadows project focused around Quentin would be fabulous, particularly one set in the 1890s with a potential steampunk styling.  Meryl Streep would make a fabou Magda (see post in another board about Streep's Graysonesque appearance in August: Osage County). My personal choice would be Tom Hiddleston for Quentin--he's playing a vampire in the new Jarmusch film...

cheers, G.