I'm quite sure that as long as the surviving cast members are willing to show up, there will continue to be DS fan events around the country.  There's been an event that's been happening every year around Halloween at Lockwood Mathews House in Norwalk, CT for several years now, for instance.

I also think it might be fun for fans to think of getting together just to socialize and share the weirdness that is DS.  That, for me, is why I kept going back.

The NYC Festivals have turned into cattle calls in recent years.  I would prefer something a little more intimate and low-key, myself.

Gothick

Hmmm, it looks more like royal blue to my color-blind eyes.  I like all shades of blue and purple, so it looks sweet to me.  What I don't like is that the "Dark Shadows Forums" logo now looks squished.  And Collinwood looks as if somebody (Gerard Stiles, perhaps) stuck the house on a giant rack and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d... I'm sure it's because I have my computer set at 9696 x 6969 or something like that...

Gothick

Mrs. Johnson definitely is NOT a Leviathan.  There's a line that I am afraid I find wickedly hysterical when the Leviathan Leader (don't you wish they'd given him a title, something along the lines of, oh, I don't know, The Great Naga???) babbles something like "And I'm gonna kill that housekeeper... that Mrs. Johnson.  I never could stand her!"

Paul is not a Leviathan, either, and proves to be rather a thorn in their side.  This plot thread was dropped when Dennis Patrick had to go make a movie.

Barnabas explains at some point that certain people have a "genetic structure" which resists absorption into the Leviathan consciousness.

Gothick

Well, the vol. 136 shows will be aired on Sci Fi in a week or so, so only bother if you don't get the channel.

I believe the first episode on this tape was the longest episode in DS history, guest starring the fabulous Marsha Mason and a gent whose name escapes me, but who appeared on some other show or movie quite recently.

Gothick

References to the 1932 Karloff film The Mummy remind me that I recently screened the commercial Universal VHS of the film released several years ago.  Although I had heard that they had not struck a new print for the home video release, it was a definite improvement over my old video taped off the television.

I was struck while watching it at a certain resonance between how Boris Karloff moved and his facial expressions in this, and Jonathan Frid's performance as Barnabas on Dark Shadows.  Particularly in the original 1967 storyline and in the episodes on view now where Barnabas is evil again.  I'm not at all saying that Jonathan Frid was influenced by Karloff or modeling his performance upon Karloff's work; just that there's a certain resonance between the two.  I think the strength of Frid's work is very much in his non verbal moments, such as the cunning look he gets on his face when Julia rushes into his arms upon his return from 1795 to the Present.  He played those moments so beautifully.  If a remake of the original Mummy tale had been proposed in the early 70s, he would have been a brilliant choice to play Im-Ho-Tep/Ardath Bey, though, of course, he probably would have turned the role down.

Gothick

Julia darling, what good taste your friend Sandor has.  Of course, I already knew YOU had good taste, darling...

In that scene, Chris is wearing a jacket and I think Julia first undoes a couple buttons then does them up again.  I can't remember specifically what happens.  It gave me a chuckle. She actually looks very motherly rather than the opposite as she fusses over him.

I think the scene is one volume 136 of MPI which is one of my FAVORITE tapes (and the Mysterious Benefactor knows why!).  I think that is still a couple weeks off.

Gothick

Does anybody else out there think that Chris is looking hotter than ever these days?

Something about the outfits they gave him to wear and how he's combing his hair, which he's grown out slightly ... He looks good enough to eat!

There's a scene coming up where Julia is playing with Chris' coat buttons.  I always wonder whether Grayson was toying with just ... undressing him right there on the set!  Sam referred to Briscoe somewhere or other as "too handsome" and I'm afraid he may not have appreciated the onscreen chem between his wife and the gorgeous young actor.

Ah, to be back in 1969, taking a moonlit stroll through Central Park and having Don Briscoe glide up on his skateboard, shirttails flying in the breeze.

Gothick the Romantic