About the Dark Shadows DVD's

[IluvBarnabas]

I don't know about anybody else, when I first get my DVD DS sets I watch them in order first, then watched them out of sequence. Now I watch one episode from 8 sets each day....maybe I'm crazy but I just love to watch my episodes that way. Do any of you watch out of sequence or strictly in order?

[Brandon Collins]

Personally, I watch them in order.

I hadn't watched DS in a couple of years, but before I went to the fest I decided to start watching it again. So I watched a couple of sets before and since I've gotten back I've been going through the rest of them. Right now I'm on set 16, and working my way towards the end.

I can't watch them out of order....well, I could, but I don't think I'd want to. I want to get to the end again so I have a better knowledge of what happens. I mean, I know a lot of the overall story and stuff, but I don't know some of the smaller details that a lot of other fans know about certain storylines.

Because DS has so many episodes, it's hard for me to remember every one, or which one I like and don't like. The numbering doesn't help, again because there are so many, and so many are the same when you're in a certain storyline. It's not like with the other shows I have--Buffy, Angel, Nip/Tuck etc, that I can just pick a set and pick a episode that I KNOW I like. Yes, the descriptions in the DVD set do help, but I like to start from the beginning and watch them all the way through (that's what I usually do with my other shows), and DS simply takes too long! lol.

This may change when I've finally rewatched the entire series again. Then I might be able to say "1897--Episode 780" or whatever.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

This may change when I've finally rewatched the entire series again. Then I might be able to say "1897--Episode 780" or whatever.

At some point with repeated viewing you will be able to pick some of your favorite eps. But trust me, as someone who has watched from Eps #210 through #1007 (the locally syndicated eps) at least a dozen times, most likely you'll never remember everything. And that's actually a good thing because seemingly no matter how often one watches DS there's always something that makes one say, "OMG, I completely forgot how good that was!" 

[Lydia]

I watch one episode per day - like taking One-A-Day Brand Multiple Vitamins.  When a day is particularly bad, I tell myself, "Hold on, you've got your Dark Shadows episode coming."  And when the day is good, Dark Shadows is the icing on the cake.

I watch the shows competely in order.  I'm currently around episode 740 (first disc of DVD volume 14), and have discovered, to my pleased surprise, that Rachel Drummond is not quite the total twit that I thought her the last time I looked at 1897.

[Brandon Collins]

I watch one episode per day - like taking One-A-Day Brand Multiple Vitamins.  When a day is particularly bad, I tell myself, "Hold on, you've got your Dark Shadows episode coming."  And when the day is good, Dark Shadows is the icing on the cake.

I watch the shows competely in order.  I'm currently around episode 740 (first disc of DVD volume 14), and have discovered, to my pleased surprise, that Rachel Drummond is not quite the total twit that I thought her the last time I looked at 1897.

I rather like Rachel compared to the boorish "I don't understand" woman that Maggie became. Rachel had the UMPH! to her. The only thing I really DETESTED about her was that I wish she had've just kneed Trask right where it hurts and told him "That's your payment"!

[barnabasjr]

I watch them in order. I can't imagine just thinking "Let's check out some Petofi!" All the really good stuff is simply spread out too far and wide.

[MsCriseyde]

I watch them in order. I can't imagine just thinking "Let's check out some Petofi!" All the really good stuff is simply spread out too far and wide.

I tend to watch the episodes two different ways. If I'm going to sit down or use my stepper and watch without any distractions, then I go through the episodes in order. (However, now that I am in the midst of the Adam storyline, I am starting to rethink that strategy.)

If I want something on television while I'm in the middle of a project like straightening up the room or sorting through papers or something that means the screen won't be getting my undivided attention, then I'll pop in a random 1897 disc. Sometimes I put one in at night and fall asleep watching it, especially when I've got something else I'm trying to drive out of my brain so that I can sleep.

[Brandon Collins]

Sometimes I put one in at night and fall asleep watching it, especially when I've got something else I'm trying to drive out of my brain so that I can sleep.

I'm right there with ya sister! My brain tends to start overloading when I finally lay down and actually have time to think about stuff. lol

[retzev]

I watch one episode per day - like taking One-A-Day Brand Multiple Vitamins.  When a day is particularly bad, I tell myself, "Hold on, you've got your Dark Shadows episode coming."  And when the day is good, Dark Shadows is the icing on the cake.

Me too - I do it the same way. Not only does it give every day a pleasant ending, it simulates the rhythm of the original broadcasts 

[Phil]

My wife and I do rock blocks - we'll watch 2-5 eps in a sitting, on weekends or after work one night. I don't want to take four years to get through them all. And we just cracked the 1968 eps, so I'm officially into episodes I've never seen before! I watched DS in the early 80s syndication (on NBC in NY, then later on NJN), and they never seemed to get into the 1795 storyline without yanking the timeslot around, and I couldn't keep track. We're digging where we are - Barnabas is flopping around his room, post-bat bite.

[michael c]

for me watching d.s. is a bit like reading a book.i immerse myself in it.

watching willy-nilly isn't that satisfying to me.

when i get a new round of dvd's i tend to watch them through once and then i watch a few select episodes again.then i move on to the next collection.

right now i'm watching the laura collins storyline so that's all i'll watch until it's done.it wouldn't occur to me to randomly throw an 1897 episode in.i like to experience the storyline as a whole.

before i got a dvd player i watched on video and i got used to the five episode structure of them.it ends up being about two hours.like watching a movie.so even after i switched to the dvd format i like to watch it in about five episode blocks.more than that and i start to feel overwhelmed by it.

[Alondra]

When I got the DVD's in late November, early December we were just starting on the 1897 storyline with the Robservations Jackie posts on her group Dark Shadows Good and Bad. So I watched through the 1897 storyline in a fell swoop, went to collection #26 and watched the second half of the 1841 parallel time storyline and all the extras that are in that collection, then came back to 1840 and watched through that and the first half of the 1841 parallel time storyline, then back to the Leviathan storyline, through summer of '70. I like to watch a full storyline at once in order. Now that I've caught up to 1840 again, I've laid off watching for a while except for two episodes a day, the 1897 episode we are doing in Jackie's group and the early Barnabas episode we're watching for the watching project here. I have a few other projects I'm working on so for now I will only watch the two episodes a day for the time being.

Alondra