retzev...


i purchased "the first year" at the 2007 fest although it's copyrighted 2006. it seems like it was around for that year and then disappeared completely. i haven't seen it at a fest since. and yes, the cover is a 1966 publicity shot of louis, david and alexandra at the piano. it looks like it was taken during the same photography session as the rest of the 1966 seaview shots. it's quite well done if you can get your hands on it. have you contacted 'blue whale books'?

in terms of the 'tribute book' unfortunately i do not have a scanner so i cannot scan images of it. what i can tell you is that it's the same 8.5"-11" size as the 'first year' and about 150 pages. the cover is a color shot of a fanged and evil looking barnabas showcasing the wolf's head cane and black onyx ring. i couldn't tell you what session it's from but it looks later than 1967. the back cover is the familiar shot of barnabas, cassandra, adam and nicholas blair taunting a crouched victoria.

in addition to the chapters and interviews i mentioned above there are a fair amount of black and white photographs. most of which have been well seen elsewhere. the pictures skew heavily towards frid as well and grayson and joan. it not being a 'pomegranate press' publication it is practically void of kathryn leigh scott and light on lara parker as well. there are also numerous shots of seaview.

apparently it originally retailed for $14.95.

i'm not sure what this means but it's episode guide only covers a "syndication package" that starts with barnabas' release(the 1966 storyline is not included)and ends very abruptly in the middle of the 1897 period during the petofi storyline.

so far so good here in brooklyn patti...


i was fortunate in that i did not lose power or internet/phone service. many did. and i'm far enough inland that i was not effected by flooding.
 
still there will be no subway service apparently for several days. my workplace is closed for the day but the rest of the week would be a wildcard in terms of getting to and fro.


what i did lose for several hours was television signals. so i took it as an opportunity to watch a few episodes of DS.

I would definitely agree with you on that, michael c. I ran into Marie quite by accident while she was up there for rehearsals. She was genuinely happy to see me and introduced me to someone as her friend. They don't come any nicer than Marie.

i had a similar experience with marie a few years ago in new york. i ran into her on the street and stopped her to say hello and introduce myself as a fan. many people would have been put off by such an encounter but marie was a doll. she did seem genuinely pleased to spend five minutes speaking to a fan. i'll always remember that.


other DS actresses are shall we say, "polite"...when they've got books and cds and so forth to sell...but marie's the real deal.

the whole vampire thing has certainly been done to death in recent years...


but i don't think there has been a big-budget, star laden take on the frankenstein tale in many decades, has there? are we due for a revival? or is the premise just too inherently goofy for comtemporary audiences?

i haven't seen it yet but apparently lots of the same actors play different characters in different time periods...

sound familiar?

"I don't understand?"

How much more more successful should we expect DS to be? How many other shows have ever been done twice on TV, had a third pilot and had three movies made?  A whole lot less than haven't.

I'm very proud of the show and all it's incarnations. I think if the fan base stopped overrating it and would accept it for the 'miracle' it was and is they wouldn't be so disappointed with it's success. It is a success, isn't it?

I think a Broadway musical would be an exciting next chapter. Hopefully it wouldn't be deemed a failure if it doesn't sweep the Tony's.

like i said...

the OS was a huge success and continues to have a tremendously loyal fanbase and a significant influence on the popular culture.


but it's various offshoots have not always been successful. so my question was as to why we think that is? there's really no need for defensiveness.

the film's mixed bag reception is food for thought...


the OS had a successful, if relatively brief, five year run. however all of the attempts at retelling the story since it's cancellation have fallen prey to some sort of misfortune or another.

NODS was edited with a buzzsaw and is a disjointed mess as a result. the 1991 revival series butted heads with a war in the persian gulf and was cancelled after just 12 episodes. the 2004 series imploded on the launching pad. and the depp/burton film was largely greeted within the fandom with wails of discontent and much of the mainstream entertainment media seems to want to portray it as a "flop" whether that's accurate or not.

true there are the audiodramas and comic series in current release but it's more than fair to say those are niche products that the public at large are unaware of(and IMO they're both dreadful).


so why is it so difficult to retell this tale in a successful way? it's a great story, but is it too colossal and unwieldy to reign into a digestable story to attract the attention of a new audience? after all the OS was a daily serialized drama that gradually unfolded over years.

at the same time the show boasts a fanbase as loyal as any series could ever expect or ask for. and someone always has their eye on it for revival. so what do we think?