Classic Blooper edited out on MPI DVD#6

[Mysterious Benefactor]

You can see the altered or the original version....do you think that could be a good idea?

Well, as much as I'd love to see that happen (for just SOOOO many reasons ), I'm afraid I'd stand with the fans who feel that nothing about the episodes should ever be alterred in any way - even if MPI were to make both versions available. No matter how much we may dislike a particular plot twist, one just can't go around messing with DS canon...

[Selby_D._Pearson]

Every step will be taken to prevent  this oversight from happening again. Although no dialogue was edited out of the episode in question, we want to preserve the integrity of "Dark Shadows," which means keeping in all the mistakes that are part of the show's charm and appeal.

Thank you for the clarification!

Perhaps MPI's cutting of classic bloopers will further their sales of the blooper tape (DVD eventually) by allowing them to promote it as "the only place you can see Bathia Mapes go up and other classic bloopers"?

Additionally, the missing blooper will be seen on MPI's DVD release of "Dark Shadows Bloopers" in the coming year, along with other surprises.

I just KNEW it! 

SDP

[dom]

To All Dark Shadows Fans:
Additionally, the missing blooper will be seen on MPI's DVD release of "Dark Shadows Bloopers" in the coming year, along with other surprises.

Other surprises!? Wow, I wonder what they could be? How exciting! I can't wait to hear what they are. Looks like we won't have too long a wait. I hope it's something totally unfamiliar to us all. I'll buy that DVD. I'm gonna stick with my VHS tapes for now. I'll start buying DS DVDs when they release the pre-Barn eps.

dom

[ClaudeNorth]

along with other surprises.

I'm sure I'm not the only one here who would enjoy seeing Donnie B's cigarette and soap commercials. 

Actually, a collection of commercials featuring the DS stars would be a total blast.  I believe Nancy Barrett did one for Gillette, and I would love to see Grayson's Playtex ad.

Regards,

John

[Luciaphile]

You are talking about those who are already fans of the show, many from the original run, and not a newer generation of people who are accustomed to higher production values that are seen on the air.  People in their 20s do not have a memory of "live" TV and I suspect their experience of it and its bloopers is limited. 

FWIW, I'm too young to have ever experienced live TV and was not even a gleam in my parents' eyes when DS first aired. I saw and enjoyed DS bloopers and all. I don't think I'm alone.

There have been a lot of movies and TV shows made on a shoestring that still manage to attract new fans despite (or perhaps because of low production errors).

[dom]

Actually, a collection of commercials featuring the DS stars would be a total blast.

That would be fantastic. I remember Jerry Lacey (Lacy?) in a commercial back then. I think it was a deordorant commercial. He was immitating Bogey.

dom

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I believe Nancy Barrett did one for Gillette

That was a great ad. Nancy, dressed in a blue peignoir, coming down a stone staircase in some castle, while we hear these terrible grunts and groans behind a huge oak door. She stops in front of the door to talk to the "beast" inside, who ends up to be not so beastly after his shave. I'm pretty sure it ran back in '68 because I remember seeing it for the first time during The Big Valley.

and I would love to see Grayson's Playtex ad

That one is just too priceless. After Grayson gets through snapping almost every bit of elastic on that bra, it's a wonder (no pun intended ) that the form it's displayed on is still standing in and in one piece!

[Dr. Eric Lang]

And where fixes like this can be made seamlessly with today's technology, and without affecting the duration, they should be.  It "sells" the show better to new viewers and allows older ones to enjoy the episodes the way they were intended to be seen.

I think the idea that the series can be 'cleaned up' to be made more marketable to a broader audience is debatable. As has already been pointed out, extensive repair work would have to be done throughout, and some things such as the sets and props, simply will never look any better than they already do.

On the other hand, I myself have brought the show to the attention of new viewers who had no qualms about the production quality because they became absorbed in the story line. This is the opposite of the way most TV shows work today where flash is more important than substance and looks take priority over storytelling. Many have likened watching DS to watching a live play. It is a refreshing change from anything you can see on TV today, and a welcome one.

[Ben]

I personally find the bloopers "charming," but that's not the point.  DS was the most ambitious program of its time, from its acting, production, and technical aspects.  The action was shot live-on-tape, meaning that everything we see was essentially live.  Actors were learning a script a day, shooting it once, then moving on to the next one.  Special effects were attempted using technology that was cutting edge then, primitive now.

Unlike most contemporary shows, which have the luxury of being shot and reshot to perfection (and often sterility), DS is THEATER.  I can enjoy the show on many levels -- following the imaginative storylines, watching how the actors handle the unexpected (often a real test of acting), studying how a special effect was attempted, listening to the musical score, and then just enjoying the bloopers (or Kathy Cody or Donna McKechnie whining, not necessarily in that order).

Given its time and relatively limited budget, DS was a huge accomplishment.  The only way the viewer -- old or new -- can appreciate what DS was all about is to see the show -- brilliance, warts, and all.

Ben

[Brian]

Unlike most contemporary shows, which have the luxury of being shot and reshot to perfection (and often sterility). . .Given its time and relatively limited budget, DS was a huge accomplishment.  The only way the viewer -- old or new -- can appreciate what DS was all about is to see the show -- brilliance, warts, and all.

Ben

WHAT HE SAID!!!   

(That means I agree.)

Brian

[Gothick]

Just speaking up against any kind of altering of the episodes.  Just starting on this could open up a real can of worms.
What would be eliminated next?  Roger's line about incestors, such a clever and unintended reference to the Laura storyline?  The fly landing on Barnabas' nose as he's informing Julia that she is going to die?  Quentin bumping his head on the door to the kitchen?  Greggie Trask, Minerva and Judith rushing past exorcising warlock Evan Handley as Trask lets flie the mumbled exclamation, "Jesus!"?

Good luck to the MPI technical dept for keeping track of further "improvements" of this type. Frankly, only a diehard fan would be able to recognize this sort of thing when going through the tapes.  Even I have less than perfect familiarity with some weeks of the show, and there are whole swatches of 1966-67 that I've still not seen.

G.

[Phil]

The way in which it's been fixed does not compromise the material artistically - no footage is excised and the fix is seamless, so it's sympathetic to the original material.  Technically, the episode should never have been broadcast in that state originally - it was substandard then and it's substandard today.  And where fixes like this can be made seamlessly with today's technology, and without affecting the duration, they should be.

Oh, no. I can't  go along with this. I know I'm three years late, but what the hell.

When you are revising and tampering a show of this age, what you're doing is beyond the measure of artistic merit - you are altering an historical document.  No one is blind-buying this series six sets in. If they're getting Vol 6, they've happily sat through MANY screw ups on this show, and I dare say a hefty portion of the buying audience is looking forward to them.  Did the mad slasher feel that this one blooper would put casual viewers over the edge?

It "sells" the show better to new viewers and allows older ones to enjoy the episodes the way they were intended to be seen.

The first part of that statement isn't valid, for the reasons I stated: No "new" viewer is going to get upset at a foul-up found $250 into the series.  (And even if the sales of this set weren't predicated on the sales of its predecessors, how would cutting the glitch increase sales? Is it promoted on the box? They've already bought the set by the time the fanciful recut is even (not) heard).  The second part of that statement is scary, Lucas-speak. That way lies Greedo shooting first.

No extra profit, no matter how you slice it. This was cut as a point of embarrassment/pride for someone...

[Phil]

Yeah, sorry about that. Got a bit overexcited. Glad this was resolved.

[Lydia]

an historical document.

Somewhere in a galaxy far, far away, a gallant band of Thermians is building a replica of Collinwood.  Heaven help them!

[Gothick]

Golly, many thanks to Housefly Cameo for bringing this to my attention again.  If I do get that particular DVD set, I'll be sure to hold onto the VHS of Bathia's episodes.  Those are among my top favorites of the series.

btw, Anita Bolster had a small role in the Woman in White--the 1940s version with fabulous Sydney Greenstreet (an inspiration, I always feel, for our beloved Thayer), in one of his finest roles as the sinister Count Fosco, and a minor but extraordinary role for the Divine Agnes Moorehead.  Anita only had a few lines but the eyes, the voice, the stance were all there.  Long live Bathia!

G.