Can DS possibly come back from the dead one more time after diasterous Depp Film

[David]

Maybe in the next DS Quentin could be a vampire & Barnabas could be a werewolf!
Dr. Jules Hoffman, the best man for the job, falls in love with Barnabas as always!

[MagnusTrask]

gee...


if it's "licenced" and "official" than it must be true!

That's what I was complaining about.   This is excessive rules-following, I think.   It places abstract legalities over creative considerations.   Some company may have the money to buy a program, but that doesn't make them responsible caretakers for it.   Usually it's the exact opposite.   Even Dan Curtis seemed more like a suit than a guardian of his own program.

Once these special programs were cancelled, fandoms became their caretakers.   We "own" them, along with their creators, in any meaningful sense.

[B.Collins]

it's been awhile since i was last on here. so i hope this is the right area. but i watched the film for the 1st time last night. and i went in knowing it wasn't anything like show. and with pretty much had no expectations well they were pretty low. after watching a review on how a mix bag it is. and before i say it is. i do admit other than Liz who i thought kicked ass in the film. that at least stayed true to the show. her being the head of the house. well they Ruined Roger for one, and pretty much all the characters cept for Liz.
with our favourite Evil Witch they i think stayed true on how evil she is. though they made her even more evil which i liked. Johnny Depp did a far better job than i thought he would have done. i went in thinking he would have ruined him like he did with Willy Wonka where he pretty much played Michael Jackson. that's my take on it anyways. and he was pretty good and that i think was a plus. the film was beautiful to look at. everything about it was nice to look it. the cast looked really good. it stayed true to the show for that at least.

the  downside. uh why the comedy route? WHY? the film didn't know weather to be a gothic film/horror film where they had Barnabas killing groups of people. not something he ever did on the show. him walking around with blood on him i didn't mind that. the CGI FX i didn't mind that. it didn't look like it used that to often.

some of the fx did look like standard FX. i actually liked the ending. cept what they did with Caroline. she was pretty useless. so was pretty much everyone else cept for barnabas. and Liz. of the family.  and Maggie WTF ? so yes the film is all over the place. and oddly looking at it in the way where i knew ahead of time that it wasn't nothing like that and how Tim Burton is. leaving thoughts of the show behind and thinking of it as a stand alone film i enjoyed it. now if i had went in and expected it to be true to the show like many did when it came out i would i think have hated it.

that took me by surprise. if only the film would have kept the same tone as the start of the film and the end of it it would have been the perfect film.

[B.Collins]

and also yes i do think that IF given to the right writer and the right director who really do love the series and they are faithful to the show than yes it can be done. and don't make it a comedy either. if they want to say certain characters in the film if it's a villian of course and depending on who it is than if it's done right.

i can live with that. just as long as they give some of the original cast members from the show not just walk on roles but roles who actually speak. and are part of the film. i'm sure they'd love to come back to do another DS film. and even invite some cast that weren't in last years film.

[michael c]

i'm sure i'll catch some flack for bringing up a touchy subject but I think some(many)fans have somewhat unrealistic expectations for what level of participation the OS cast would have in any new version of the story other than small roles/cameos...


with the exception of the child actors the living cast members are now largely in their seventies and eighties. given the existing framework of the story and the established characters there isn't a lot of material for actors of that age. believe it or not even the story's "grand dame" character Elizabeth, a woman in her 50's with a teenage daughter, is now well out of reach for most of the OS actresses.


true new roles could be written. or a supporting character like doctor Woodard could be played by a man of any age. but in terms of the principal characters the OS cast is past that. we are talking about a show that premiered nearly half a century ago.

[michael c]

it is for similar reasons I can't really consider the RTC presentation or the audiodramas OS "continuity"...


the actors are 40+ years older than the characters they are supposed to be playing. they don't take that gap into account. to me it's a gaffe that's hard to overlook.

[B.Collins]

yes i know how old the cast ages are now. but a guy can dream can't he ? anyways, people always say how older actors don't get much work but some do. look at Christopher Lee he's 91 years old now. and though he doesn't take big roles anymore it isn't cause he doesn't want to it's that he physically can't do it anymore.

he tires to easily and even sitting down wears him out, in short i think after he fell 2 years ago i think it was? age it's affected him and that's why he takes cameo's now. anyways sorry for going off topic i just meant that we do have some older actors go still work.

[David]

Besides Dr. Woodard, Prof Stokes, Magda, Sandor, Count Petofi,  Nick Blair, Evan Hanley, Dr. Eric Lang, Mrs. Johnson, Abigail, are among the roles OS actors could still play.

[B.Collins]

i agree and well said. if they go back and re-do those stories. or if they do something new as well i wouldn't mind that either. not everything has to be repeats of stuff already done. the film though had some nice ideas it was just pretty much Burke Devlin taking over Collinwood. and all they did change who it was and unlike Burke who never was able to take over the whole town. they just upped the ante where Angelique did.

i'd still love to see the guy who's name escapes me at the moment he play Barnabas in the unaired pilot and he plays him in the audio plays. he's fantastic. i loved him in the Dune films. i'd love to see him get a crack at playing him in a film. Barnabas never was given an age during the show's run. which i find rather funny if you think about it.

[MagnusTrask]

Let's not have expectations of original cast members.   Let's have it be a wonderful unexpected bonus if one turns up in some new DS thing.  They've done their bit.   Fandom traditionally requires actors to make lots and lots of what are often token appearances, answering a few simple questions for the millionth time, for low pay, mainly for the novelty value of seeing them in the flesh.   Wanting to see them in new DS in cameos is the same sort of thing, and I'll say we should value quality over quantity.   As you get up in years, you want your time to be spent in a more meaningful way.

If their talents are being used well, that's perfect.  Maybe the Dr Mabuse things are an example of good ways to please fans.

Good audios where the actors can sound like the characters they're supposed to be playing still, that would be great too.

Anyway, I don't think the Depp film helped or hurt, except for the fact that no one's going to mount a DS film project right now, just because someone just did that.   It sent a ripple out there making it known that DS is "alive" still.   It only got made because Depp's a fan, but there could be other pro fans out there.

[B.Collins]

well yeah and Tim Burton is a fan as well. though i looked up what his next film is, and i was shocked it's going to be an original idea. something he hasn't done in about 10 years! not counting his claymation films.

anyways, i just hope we don't have to wait another 40 years for the next film.

[Uncle Roger]

I would welcome a new DS project, although it might be a while before we see one. Did Warner Brothers or Burton/Depp get the rights for additional projects? They may or may not want to do more DS but anyone else who is interested would probably have to work with them.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

So far as was reported, Depp is the only one who negotiated the rights with DC's heirs to do a DS film - Burton and WB have no rights to DS. And the way things tend to work, chances are Depp's deal only covered doing the film or possible films and not TV. And so far as his deal worked, it could have expired with the release of his film, it may have had an option to renew if he wanted to do a sequel, or it may expire after a set amount of years. But none of the expiration details were ever reported, so we really have no idea.

[B.Collins]

well at least when he made that deal, a DS film actually got made. i tire of hearing of various deals like this and no film or films EVER get made. at least with Depp he made a DS film. true it wasn't as good as we would have hoped it would be but it still got made. that is a good question though i wonder how long it lasts and how many films it pertains?