Dark Shadows Beginning DVD Cover Art

Sounds pretty much like the artwork that's on MPI's site.

It is, except it's not the exact same shot. The one on the site has Vicki giving us a peep show, the shot on the cover shows the trench coat closed.

Hmmm - is it the same photo that was used on Volume #1 of the Collector's Series? The same photo was used as #66 in the first Philadelphia Gum Co. series of cards and as the cover of MPI's 1994 catalogue.

Hmmm - is it the same photo that was used on Volume #1 of the Collector's Series? The same photo was used as #66 in the first Philadelphia Gum Co. series of cards and as the cover of MPI's 1994 catalogue.

Yes, now that I have the VHS in front of my face, the DVD cover is pretty much a carbon copy of VHS Collector's Series Volume One. The difference is that the DVD shot is a little closer up to the image so we see less of the original (Vicki's legs are cut off at the calves) and the DVD image has a sepia tone to it. But the photos are the same and it is the one you mentioned.

The cover is of Vicki running from Collinwood on the bottom half of the case. The top half has a nightview of Collinwood that is pretty much obscured by the DS logo. An orange-ish banner with the words The Beginning in it separates the two images.

Cool!  Not to far away from my guess then! Looking forward to adding it to my collection one day

What color is the lettering on the spine?

How does the menu look/sound?

you guys who have this are making me so jealous!
i know i'm going to join the stupid club just to get these episodes.

i haven't seen them in years and no longer have some of the "collector's series" tapes.

what is the commentary from alexandra like?

Will someone PLEASE upload an image of the DVD cover?  If you do have the first set, how about scanning the complete wraparound cover and showing it here?

i know i'm going to join the stupid club just to get these episodes.

Oh don't cave mscbryk!  You've waited this long, you can wait another year.  

Will someone PLEASE upload an image of the DVD cover?  If you do have the first set, how about scanning the complete wraparound cover and showing it here?

I second that emotion  

I second that emotion  

Thirded!

I still have not gotten the dvds yet. i have just sent my 3rd e-mail complaing to mpi it should not take this long for the dvds to come!! iam so excited to see the extras if there is any!! loll

evan

My "Dark Shadows:  The Beginning DVD Collection 1"  arrived today.  It was shipped on Friday and arrived today via media mail.  Pretty quick, I think.

Here are my observations of the packaging (some of this might already have been published).  There are four discs containing 35 episodes.  The artwork on the discs match the DVD case artwork, such as was done on Collections 1-26.  There is the booklet insert, which contains a very brief synopsis of each episode.  It lists nine episodes on Disc One; nine episodes on Disc Two, with a bonus interview with Alexandra Moltke; nine episodes on Disc Three, with a bonus interview with Ms. Moltke; and eight episodes on Disc Four, with a 1966 ABC promo and Episode 1 with original commercials.  The front cover of the insert matches the DVD case artwork and the back cover has a photo of Liz and Carolyn standing in front of the window in the Collinwood drawing room.  There is a picture of Roger and David standing outside of Collinwood on the inside of the insert.  The collector's card has a photo of Victoria wearing the same coat as shown on the front of the DVD case.  In this photo, Vickie is stepping out of what appears to be metallic double doors or a metallic gate.

The biggest differences in the DVD cases are as follows.  The script "Dark Shadows" on the cover is much larger (taking up two lines) and is white.  Underneath, in a goldish banner, are the words "The Beginning" (with a unique font).  Behind the words "Dark Shadows" is a night shot of Collinwood with a prominent light in one window.  It is pretty much covered by the words "Dark Shadows."  Underneath the words "The Beginning" is the previously mentioned photo of Vickie running from the house.  It is definitely a different shot from the one on the website, but is very similar.  At the bottom, across Vickie's legs, are the words (in white) "DVD Collection 1" and underneath this are the words (again in white) "35 complete episodes plus bonus features on 4 discs."

The spine of the DVD case is black at the top and fades into a bluish color toward the bottom.  The MPI logo is at the top.  The words "Dark Shadows" are in blue.  Underneath are the words "The Beginning," which matches the same words on the front.  Above the DVD logo at the bottom are the words "Collection 1" on a goldish banner, with the numeral below the word "Collection."

The back of the DVD case is pretty much the same as on Collections 1-26.  The biggest differences are that the photo is in the upper right instead of the upper left; and there is no giant eyeball in the background, but, instead, a faint photo of Collinwood is in the upper left.  There is a small blurb about the show in general, a synopsis of the episodes in Collection 1, the list of actors, and the bonus features.  The approximate running time is listed as 14 hours.

Whew.  I think that about covers it.  I don't plan to start watching thes episodes until June 27th (the 41st anniversary), since I watch each episode on the date it originally aired.  That will give me a break between April 2nd (when episode 1245 aired) and when I start "The Beginning" episodes.  Therefore, it will be awhile before I know what the menus look like.

I could not wait any longer.  My curiosity got the best of me.  I also knew that many of you were eager to know about the menus.

Each disc begins with the FBI warning, the MPI clip, and the disclaimer about not editing the episodes' imperfections.

The menus have the words "Dark Shadows" in the upper left corner and "The Beginning" in the upper right corner.  The lower left has a link to an episodes sub-menu and link to any bonus features on the disc.  The background music is the same medley of muscial cues that is on Collections 21-26.

Instead of an animated menu, there are video clips from the series.  These appear to be edited with a reddish-goldish canvas filter.  The clips, in order, are:  a shot of Collinwood at night, Liz looking out of the drawing room window and opening it, Vickie exiting a metallic gate and crossing the driveway, Vickie going down some steps, a shot of waves and then Vickie on the edge of Widows Hill with Roger coming up behind her, Roger getting into a car and driving off, and the headlights of an approaching car.

When you click on the episodes link, there is a brief transition to the sub-menu.  The transition contains the same type of video, but of David.  The episodes sub-menu lists the episode number and original air date.  It has a still photo of Liz.

Disc Four has the bonus feature of Episode 1 with the original commercials, so there are two versions of Episode 1.

The interview with Alexandra Moltke (at least by about 3 seconds of viewing) appears to be recent.

I watched a few seconds of Episode 10 (as a sample) and saw that it contains the episode slate and announcer's voice-over.

I'm still going to wait until June 27th to begin watching these episodes.

Thanks so much for your reports I Ching! I'm very excited about these new DVD collections, and the menus sound AWESOME. Sounds like they put a little more work into doing them this time around. I hope that it doesn't take too long for them to become available to a wider market, because I don't want to join the MPI club to get them.

Where I said "lower left" in Reply 27 above (referring to the menus), I meant to say lower right.  I actually had that reply typed and for some reason it disappeared when I tried to add a smiley icon to it.  Thus I had to retype the whole thing and was a little tired by then.