Innovation's '91 DS Comic, Book 4, The Book That Never Was

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Something that I find very interesting regarding the listing of bonus interviews on The Collector's Series VHS tapes is that we've been led to believe all the interviews on the VHS tapes were put on the subsequent The Beginning Collection DVD release. But I see no listings for the DVDs for interviews with Louis Edmonds(CS #13) or Nancy Barrett(CS #17) or John Karlen(CS #41) or Dennis Patrick(CS #37) (or Clarice Blackburn(CS #25) or Lela Swift(CS #33) or Jonathan Frid(CS #45 & #49) or Sharon Smyth(CS #53)). Perhaps they're on the DVD releases somewhere, though it seems odd they wouldn't be paired on DVD with the eps they were paired with on VHS. Though I'm simply judging all this based on listings for the DVDs - I haven't actually watched the entire series on DVD.

SG #70 from October of 1994 shared what was then the latest newsletter (Summer/Fall 1994) from MPI's DS Video Club. Interestingly enough, it managed to muddy the waters even more so far as who appeared in bonus interviews when it came to The Collector's Series VHS tapes, as this portion of the newsletter shows:

(Click here for a 1700X788 version)

Rather than what all the MPI catalogues that listed them say, that Lela Swift is the bonus interview on Collector's Series #33, the above says Louis Edmonds is the interview on that tape. But considering all those MPI catalogues came out not only after, but with some, long after that newsletter, I'm going to chalk up the discrepancy to it being a misprint.

But when it comes to where did those The Collector's Series interviews go when it came to The Beginnings DVD releases, I think I've solved most of the issue because it seems that most didn't appear on The Beginnings DVDs at all because they had already appeared on The Collection DVD releases and, therefore, not always with eps they were paired with on VHS. For example, I checked The Collector's Series #17 tape, which is one of the few I still have, and Nancy Barrett's interview on that tape, which covers Eps #81-85, appears on The Collection #2, Disc #2, which covers Eps #261-270.

Shocking that DS Vampires & Ghosts and DS Resurrected were postponed to 1995 - no one saw that coming, right?

Also interestingly enough, the newsletter also mentions how those tapes were postponed.

[KMR]

And I don't know what extra footage is being referred to when it comes to the hoDS/NoDS laser disc. So far as I know, only theatrical and TV trailers for each film were included. Unless SG is considering the TV trailers as extra footage..

Yeah, I was kind of puzzled by that "extra footage" note. I guess technically the trailers (well, the NODS trailer, at least) count as having extra footage, since there's a snippet of a deleted scene.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   You know, I didn't think of it that way. Though if that is what was meant, it probably should have been made clearer. If someone bought the laserdisc expecting to get extra footage, like, say, the Hanging David scene from hoDS, and all they got were the snippets of deleted scenes in the NoDS trailers, I suspect they would have been sorely disappointed. Though those of us who love NoDS love every one of those snippets, no matter how short. But then, speaking for myself, I've never seen them as "extra footage."    I mean, nowhere are snippets in the trailer on the NoDS DVD described as "extra footage" - and it's a good thing that they're not. Possibly referring to the snippets that way in 1994, before the deleted NoDS footage had been recovered, would have been one thing - but I suspect that referring to the snippets that way in 2012, when Warner Bros. refused to allow any of the recovered footage to be included in any way on the DVD, would have prompted more than a few NoDS fans to storm Warner Bros. with firebrands and with threats to burn the place down!! Or maybe they would have staged a mock-hanging in effigy of the Warner Bros. exec responsible for not allowing the footage to be used - that seems more appropriate!! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's a solo photo of Barbara Steele that SG #70 shared from the '94 LA Fest:

And here's her CURRENT EVENTS - NEW DS PERSONNEL section:

I checked IMDb and it doesn't seem as if Deep Up There ever came out in the US. Like Julianna McCarthy's movie, it may have had a name change, but Barbara has no listings on IMDb between 1994 and 1999, so if it did come out with a name change, it wasn't in 1995. Although, as Uncle Roger alluded to the other day with regard to Michael Stroka, given that IMDb doesn't always list every credit an actor may have, perhaps it did come out but it's never been added to her credits...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I know the DS VAMPIRES & GHOSTS VHS/DVD has nothing to do with the '91 Series or the Innovation comics, however, it has popped up in this topic, so what I'm about to post isn't entirely OT.

When I read this portion of MPI's DS Video Club newsletter about the upcoming release of the VHS tape -

(Click here for a 1700X878 version)

- and I saw that it said "other surprises are planned" I wondered what they may have been because I didn't buy the VHS or the DVD. However, even though I'd never watched it, it is included in the boxed set. So I pulled out the disc it's on and watched it this morning.

Well, as anyone who has already watched it knows, the only things that are a part of that compilation are clips from the show - there are no surprises whatsoever. But then, does it come as a shock to anyone that the person behind the MPI promotions would hype/hint at something that never actually pans out? No? I didn't think so. As we should all know by now, the best thing to do is take all hype/hints with several tablespoons, if not boxes, of salt. 

AND BTW, this is the last item I'll be sharing from SG #70. And we'll be taking a short break from SGs before I get to SG #71 because it's from February of 1995. So, I'm going to be sharing some stuff from MPI's 1995 DS Catalogue first...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   I just realized - unless she went by very fast while I blinked, vampire Megan isn't even a part of the compilation - and unless they went by when I blinked, the ghosts of Peter Bradford and Dr. Woodard are also not a part of it... (Though I don't think many missed Peter Bradford.  )

[KMR]

MB, maybe the "other surprises" meant these two things: (1) not all characters listed would appear, and (2) there would also be nothing new offered! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   You might be onto something there!   

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing with the MPI tapes for the '91 Series, here's the first page of the listings for the tapes from MPI's 1995 Catalogue:

(Click here for a 1688X2192 version)

A bit of trivia for this page is that the group photo of Roger, Liz, Dr. Fisher, Mrs. Johnson and Julia is from a deleted scene that was shot for Hour 5 (Ep #4) of the '91 Series. There's also a different photo from the same scene on page 46 of PomPress' Dark Shadows Resurrected book.

And a bit of trivia for Hour 5 (Ep 4) is that it contains material that was actually shot for other eps. The scene between Roger and Liz was actually shot for Hour 3 (Ep 2). And the sequence with Vicki, David and Roger was actually shot for the pilot. More than likely the inclusion of that material is why that group scene was cut, most likely for time. Interestingly, though, Wayne Tippit's name appears in the credits even though that scene and possibly any others he might have done got cut. But the show was most probably contractually obligated to include his name in the credits even though he didn't appear.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And here's the second page from MPI's 1995 Catalogue:

(Click here for a 1688X2192 version)

And as a preview of coming attractions, just wait until I share what MPI's 1995 Catalogue has to say about the VAMPIRES & GHOSTS release. If you thought what was written about it in MPI's Summer/Fall DS Video Club newsletter was misleading, you haven't seen the half of it yet!   

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And here's what MPI's 1995 Catalogue had to say about VAMPIRES & GHOSTS:

Um, "never-before-seen bonus interview footage with Lara Parker"? Uh no - not only isn't there never-before-seen bonus interview footage with Lara Parker, there isn't even old interview footage of her! In fact, there isn't even new or old interview footage with anyone! As I said, the compilation is completely comprised of clips from the show. Nothing new whatsoever. If "never-before-seen bonus interview footage with Lara Parker" was planned (because why else would it have been promoted?), who knows what the hell happened to it?! But the sad thing is none of us should be surprised that something promised was never delivered. Nor should we be surprised that foolishly things went so far as to promote it in the catalogue but then never deliver it...

And will this actually come out November of 1995? Only time will tell...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And here's what MPI's 1995 Catalogue had to say about DS RESURRECTED:

And once again MPI promotes it with the smiling cast photo.

Would this actually come out August of 1995? Fans shouldn't have counted on it. Though at least with this promotion, what was promised was delivered, eventually...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It will be interesting to see if there's even anything about the proposed film(s) in SG #71

There is. Here's what SG #71 from February of 1995 had to say:

Pretty much the same as what was said in SG #70. And considering that by this point it had been more than a year and a half with no movement whatsoever, I'm actually quite surprised that SG still brought up the proposed film(s) at all. Though perhaps SG was still holding onto hope. But if so, will that hope last into SG #72? I suppose we'll see...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's SG #69's update regarding the Imagine trading cards:

...

But the real reason why I'm sharing this is because of what isn't said rather than what is. Notice that there's no longer any mention of a potential set of cards based on the '91 Series. (Though I suspect SG #71's update will prove far more interesting...)

I didn't bother sharing anything about IMAGINE, INC. when it came to what was in SG #70 because it was really no different from what was in SG #69. But SG #71 is quite different:

Now, where have we heard that story before? Oh, I know:

Seems like during this period producing DS merchandise might have come with a curse because there was almost a 50/50 chance your company would go out of business.    Though seriously, DS merchandise wasn't really responsible for companies ceasing operations, but apparently it didn't offset whatever problems they had.

Now we definitely knew that IMAGINE, INC wouldn't be producing a set of cards based on the '91 Series. Nor was it seemingly at all likely that the '91 comics would continue elsewhere...

Though with all this bad news, everything wasn't bleak in SG #71 regarding DS merchandise because they also announced that it was a firm go that MPI would be reproducing a replica of Josette's Music Box from the original DS...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

SG #71's video update:

Again a mention of a Lara Parker interview on VAMPIRES & GHOSTS. Once the VHS is actually released, it will be fascinating to see if the fact that the interview is not on it gets addressed or if it will be ignored like it was never promoted...
Neither it nor DS RESURRECTED will be released during the months indicated. But I'm sure you've already suspected that. Though there will be a surprise when it comes to one of them...

And it's interesting that the FOX network has (or at least had) an affiliate in Mexico. One would think, being a US network, it wouldn't have affiliates outside of the US. But apparently FOX does (or did). And it's interesting that it aired NoDS with Spanish subtitles. Though it's too bad it wasn't dubbed in Spanish because that could have been a hoot because quite often it's a case that the Spanish voice actors can really go over the top!