Bored...jaded

I'm sticking this in the Testing section 'cause it's not exactly upbeat.  (You might say I'm "testing the waters" so to speak.)  ha ha

I'm sooooo tired of Dark Shadows.  I just can't watch any of it.  Has this ever happened to anyone else on here?  Is this a common syndrome?  If so, will it pass?  Maybe I just watched too much of it over the last few months and over-did it or something.  Anyway, it's depressing when something that provided such pleasure and much-needed escape, no longer does.

-Chairman of the Bored   

PS  About 15 years ago I ran a little BBS from my home called 'Chairman of the Bored'.  I was the Chairman.  lol  I ran it on a Commodore 64, 3 floppy drives and a 20 meg Data Chief hard drive.  (Oh wow)  LOL  It became rather popular as far as those little boards went -- always seemed to be running.  People used to upload pirated software, trade, etc.   
Anyway, I've got a C64, a 128, an Amiga 2000 and various drives down in my basement.  I wonder if there's a market for any of that old stuff.  I really need some money. 

Hi Connie! ('twas great meeting you & your son @ the fest...)

Yes, this happens to me. I'm coming off a DS dry spell (ie: bored and uninterested). The current posting of the 1897 Robservations (w/fabulous captures) & Luciaphil's column starting w/episode one has once again given me the DS itch. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no time to spare to watch my videos.

I am moving to NJ, and if I were able to take my tapes, I would definitely take the Collector's Series portion of the shows run. I do plan on buying the DVDs when they are released: Wish it were sooner rather than later. I guess I will be in a reluctant self-imposed dry spell until then. The one thing I never tire of though are pictures I haven't seen before, or captures of the like that JC posted of Julia & Barn recently.

Moving very light,
dom

PS - I don't think this is the place for this thread, but this is MB's domain/board, so I guess we can let him decide where this thread belongs.

PS - I don't think this is the place for this thread, but this is MB's domain/board, so I guess we can let him decide where this thread belongs.

Or Midnite... 

LOL

Testing 1,2,3 is for technical issues.  A more detailed description is given in a couple of places on the forums.

Sometimes I've gotten bored with DS too.  It tends to happen more in the summer, when I've lots of things going on and am running non-stop.

Always seems to help to just take a break and come back when I feel like it.  Once I've gone awhile without watching, when I come back to the show it's like *wow*.

Taking a break seems to help me see the show in a whole new light.  Until recently, I hadn't been watching DS at all.  Now I've just started with the early Barnabas episodes, and I'm in love all over again.

Oh, and I'm with Dom, btw.   I so wish those earliest episodes were available on dvd.  I really covet them...how Biblical of me!   

   I take Shadows breaks too. I used to pace myself by the SciFi channel, and now that I have a full set of the tapes, I just haven't been as urgently motivated to follow up DVD sets, although I know I will in the long run. I will probaly pick up on them again when the holiday gift season is over, as I don't ususally plop $50 on myself very often until I have all my gifts out of the way. But, as I said earlier, when the show is runnig on air, its a great way of pacing yourself and to feel part of the DS community as many of us would be more or less watching together. I think the fact that many of the early DVD releases recycled old interviews those of us who had the "Blue Series" tapes had led to a little disappointment on the DVD releases as well. Likewise, Best Buy here who had better prices initially, the $40-$50 range, went up on them and phased out some volumes I had missed, so the rhythm go thrown off for me.
     I would imagine most Shadows fans take breaks, gives us chance to follow other series for a while. The wife and I are for instance big fans of Smallville right now, and were's going through those season 1-3 box set. I would suspect with next year's 40th anniversary, many of us will go back to more regular viewing with an enthusiasm as it grows closer.

        Michael,
               Your Cousin from Virginia

Happens to me too. I just take a break from it and eventually the interest comes back.

This time of year EVERYTHING bores me. I tend to "sleepwalk" my way from Halloween to Valentine's Day.

Hi Connie sometimes i get board of DS too especially when the story is
not that good.              Love Anne

( PS ONE THING I DON'T GET BOARD OF IS THE Q-MAN)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                       YUMMY!!!

( PS ONE THING I DON'T GET BOARD OF IS THE Q-MAN)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                       YUMMY!!!

Hi Anne...

Uh oh....guess I'm in trouble then.  I'm also bored with the Q-Man.  I watch him, and....Nothing.  Zip.
No smile on my face, no "yummy" sentiments, no nothing.  Same with Falcon Crest, his films, etc.  It's been going on for weeks.  I'm in trouble here.  Maybe I need therapy.  (Or maybe I needed it before and don't now).  LOL   Oy vey.

Signed,
All washed up in Q Land

PS  The other day I saw a license plate that said "Q Baby 14".  

I can empathize, Connie. Of course, there's bored, and then there's burnout.

Not long after completing Dreams of the Dark, when the whole creative joy of writing DS was overwhelmed by the business headaches (and these were Excedrin #10 headaches), I came depressingly close to burning out. Since that time, I've yet to be able to get back into DS with the same zeal I had prior to doing the book. I haven't completely separated myself from DS by any means, but I knew some time back that, if I didn't want to get hopelessly burned out, I needed to separate myself from regular viewing, in-depth discussion, etc. To be honest, little depresses me more than the idea of losing enthusiasm for a program that was, quite literally, for almost all my life, a bit of pure magic. So I've taken something of a sabbatical from DS fandom over the last few years -- but this has allowed me to retain a spark -- perhaps more than a spark -- of fannish love for the show. I still enjoy this forum as much as any; even though I don't post much, I read most of the topics.

Some of my old love came rushing back in 2002, when I wrote The Labyrinth of Souls -- which many of you were kind enough to read and remark upon. This was something that a professional writer really should not do: spend considerable time and creative energy writing a novel that results in zero financial remuneration or mass-market exposure. Yet I was compelled to do it, and while I did, every bit of my old enthusiasm returned with a vengeance -- and this time, I was able to write DS as I truly wanted to, without compromise and without the reins of the powers that be holding me back.

I suspect, Connie -- and the rest of you who have felt "bored" -- you are simply hitting one of those cyclicle ebb points that come with being a fan of anything. Sometimes the old joy will come back, and catch you up in it; sometimes it won't; and at this point, so many years after the show, I sometimes think that the real peaks we used to feel have passed on permanently... or at least been downgraded. But you know what... in the last few weeks, when I've been on some of my long walks in the woods or through the old neighborhood where I grew up... for the first time in at least a couple of years, the DS theme is again running through my mind, and my imagination is dominated by the characters and stories that originally drew me to the show way back when. It's a great feeling, and I expect it'll come back to you too.

Wait for it happily.

--M
http://home.triad.rr.com/smrainey

I'm so glad to hear that.  I too, get bored.  I thought it was just me.  I won't watch DS for weeks sometimes... that usually happens in "the winter time".  Then, in February, I'm in love with Barnabas all over again.  I'm sooo glad I'm not the only one.

Sounds pretty healthy to me...  You'd go mad if you watched and adored DS ad infinitum. 

People used to upload pirated software, trade, etc.  

   (It's a good thing your group did this back in the '80s when BBSes were in their infancy because nowadays the whole lot of you would quickly find yourselves confined to a 6X6 cell.)

Anyway, I've got a C64, a 128, an Amiga 2000 and various drives down in my basement.  I wonder if there's a market for any of that old stuff.  I really need some money.

If there is, it's extremely limited. You might try contacting a used computer store in your area to see if they have any interest in buying some of your stuff for parts. But be warned that most won't even be interested in any of the hardware that was used in the early Pentium PCs, much less anything prior to them. 

connie,i know where you're coming from.for a long time i had a swooning love affair with the show...but anyone who reads my posts knows that i've been rather "down" on the show for the last few months because i detest the storyline i'm now viewing and sometimes don't watch for weeks.but just when i think i can't take it anymore there comes a gem out of nowhere and i'm hooked all over again.the adam story runs concurrently with the "dream curse" and while the "dream" itself is the cheesiest thing ever there are moments during the story that knocked me out.the scene just after victoria finally tells barnabas the dream comes to mind...i think alot of you know how julia reacts when cassandra feigns concern over vicki.when i saw it(after rewinding about 15 times)i im'd another fan and we talked about it for half an hour.

that said,if you're over it don't worry.it's only a t.v. show.while d.s. is my current infatuation who knows?in five years i might look back on all this and think "what was i thinking"?but i even if i stop actively watching these characters will always be important to me on some level.