DS 1991 30th anniversary

[Mysterious Benefactor]

No doubt everyone has noticed that in the third "Shadow Time" promo NBC brought out the sliding the strap down Angelique's shoulder clip. Though thank heavens it once again cuts off before any of -

- Angelique's heaving breast or any of her breast, for that matter, is seen.

Also, one thing I find fascinating is that not only the third but also the second "Shadow Time" promo includes a clip of Barnabas confronting Angelique with the clay figures representing Josette and Jeremiah as if it's somehow a romantic moment. Perhaps taken out of context it may look romantic, as if Barnabas is dipping Angelique -

- but in the context of what's actually happening, it's anything but romantic. Though, of course, at the point these "Shadow Time" promos were originally running the audience had yet to see the actual scene because it takes place in the in as yet unaired Ep #9 (Hour 10), so anyone seeing it in the "Shadow Time" promos had no idea of the actual context. Lucky for whoever edited it in. Although, all that being said, they do say that there's a thin line between love and hate. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I've already posted the preview for Ep #9 back in reply #64. So, among other things, here's the fourth "Shadow Time" promo, having aired on March 1st:

And here's the opening of Ep #9 as it played on the east coast at exactly 30 years ago today:

And again the recap copy manages not to get anything wrong. I wonder if someone else took control?

Enjoy! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Of all the "Shadow Time" promos, the fourth (the third with an intro scene) is my favorite - I love the expressions on the woman's face when she talks about ninja night on the VCR and the musical stylings of the Toxic Roaches - and especially when she says, "I think not."

And it may look like the clips section for the fourth promo is the same as for the third promo. And it almost is, but it's not exactly the same. Those paying close attention no doubt spotted that the clip of Barnabas confronting Angelique with the clay dolls -

-  gets replaced with a clip of Carolyn's hands caressing Barnabas' bare chest -

- which, unlike the Barnabas/Angelique clip, is romantic... 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It just recently came to my attention that the opening recap for Ep #8 doesn't play on some people's phones, similarly to how two of the commercial bumpers from the second night of the miniseries don't. I still have no idea why that is because all the videos are created/posted in the same way so it's very odd that most play but selected others don't on some phones. But so that those who can't play the recap can know what they're missing, here's a montage of the shots used in the recap -

- and the voiceover/dialogue used:

"[1]Previously [2]on Dark Shadows [3](Vicki's screams) [4]an evening seance [5]sent Victoria back in time [6]to 1790 [7](Vicki: 'Oh, dear God, what is this?') [8]where she saw familiar faces [9]including Barnabas [10]before he was a vampire [11](Barnabas: 'Is there') [12](Barnabas: 'anything you wish to tell me?') [13]Barnabas, while waiting for his [14]fiancee was seduced by [15]Angelique (Angelique: 'I decided to') [16](Angelique: 'invite myself.') [17]an evil temptress determined [18]to keep young Barnabas to herself [19](Barnabas: 'Why do you persist in this?') [20]as Victoria looked on, Barnabas's [21]fiancee arrived [22]she, too, looked familiar [23](Vicki: 'She's me.') Dark [24]Shadows next."

The numbers in brackets indicate the shot being used.

[Uncle Roger]

Everything that you've posted has been fine with my phone.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Everything also works fine on my phone. And it doesn't seem to be an Apple iOS vs. Android thing because everything works on phones running both. Perhaps it has something to do with a particular phone's browser. But even at that why would some videos play while others don't in the same browser when the videos are formatted in the same way? It's too weird...

[KMR]

  There was definitely more to the tower room encounter between Angelique and Charles before Gabriel & Co. rudely interrupted them...

I can't recall any difference between the "R-rated" cut and the official GP cut, but I suppose it's because my 14-year-old mind was so wildly traumatized that I completely blocked it out.

Interesting that back then, I still had a big "crush" (if you could call it that) on Lara Parker, which perhaps had been intensified by actually meeting and speaking with her a year ot two earlier after a local summer stock performance of The Star-Spangled Girl that she starred in in my hometown. It wasn't until much later that I realized the real attraction in the movie (among the human cast, not architecture) was David Selby. I was so blind back then...

[KMR]

But one thing that's not up to debate is that prior to airing Ep #9 (Hour 10) NBC decided to begin an ad campaign to reach out to women. Apparently this was also because the initial ad campaign mostly emphasized the vampire/horror aspects of the show and not the romance. NBC suddenly realized that if they focused on romance perhaps they could attract more women or even more women, depending on which demo analysis one wants to go with. Hence the "Shadow Time" ad campaign was born and the first promo of that campaign aired on February 25th:

I always think of DS 1991 as being primarily a gothic romance with strong horror elements, so it's curious that it took them a while to emphasize that. Although I do have to say that the "shadow time" campaign is pretty cheesy. (Yet not as off-the-wall and campy as the "two front teeth" ad!) Thanks for all of these promo postings, MB! I'd never seen them, and frankly they're kind of blowing my mind!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Preview of Ep #10:

And here's a voiceover that ran during the closing credits of Ep #9 to reiterate the move to 10/9:

(And in case you haven't noticed, I added a closing credits voiceover to Reply #8 because I forgot to include it originally.)

And here's a promo from March 5th:

And two promos from March 7th:

And then from March 8th here's a different type of "Shadow Time" promo in that most of the song's lyrics have been replaced by a voiceover:

And finally it's the opening of Ep #10 as it played on the east coast at exactly 30 years ago today:

Enjoy! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

[KMR]

And finally it's the opening of Ep #10 as it played on the east coast at exactly 30 years ago today:

Enjoy! 

What in the world is that lying on the floor just a bit away from Angelique's head as she's cursing Barnabas? It looks like a roll of toilet paper! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   THAT is FUNNY!!    It really does look like it could be -

- a roll of toilet paper!

(And it's barely even noticeable when the frame is cropped -

- like it is on most of the DVD versions of the series.)

But the truth is that during their confrontation Barnabas knocks the candles off of the table Angelique was sitting at so that's what's on the floor.

But you know, I've always said that because toilets already existed in Europe in the 1700s, it's certainly potentially possible that the Old House had them. After all, the Collinses could have afforded anything they wanted and they had easy access to Europe through their shipping enterprise. They could have easily imported the toilets and the other parts needed to installs them as well as brought over the people to install them. So, if it wasn't for the fact that within the scene we know it's a candle, it might have been a roll of toilet paper. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Some other things that I've been meaning to get into:

I'm sure most people noticed that the reworked "Shadow Time" promo is the same as the second version, it's just that the lyrics were replaced by a voiceover, no clips were replaced or added. But it's interesting that they picked that one to rework/reuse. You all know which one I would have preferred seeing come back, but I think I can understand why they picked that one and it might be because it had the more innocuous intro scene so the focus could be more on the time period change info during the voiceover. And say what you will about the campaign, but I prefer it to that promo NBC ran on February 1st, right before that night's ep (the promo that appears in Reply #40). That one just completely rubs me the wrong way and thank heavens it's the only promo NBC ever did like it and it only ran that once.

And I may have jumped the gun when I speculated in Reply #76 that after the errors in the copy during the openings for Eps #6 & #7 the one(s) responsible for that copy might have been replaced, like with someone who actually knew what they were doing because quite obviously there was an error in the opening for Ep #10. There's no indication in Ep #9 that "Angelique's wicked spirit took the form of Josette, Barnabas's fiancee...and in a moment of passion gave Barnabas the kiss of a vampire." It's always been my interpretation that what Angelique actually did was somehow cause the vampire bat to first appear to be Josette - and that's why after the attack what had appeared to be Josette transformed into its real form of the vampire bat and flew away. I mean, why would Angelique transform herself into Josette, and then transform herself into a vampire bat, only to then appear as herself after the bat had flown through the window? And worse still, footage of the bat is included in the opening's recap! But then, not only do I strongly suspect whoever was writing the copy wasn't associated with the show, but I really question if they ever even watched it so as to write an accurate summary?! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Preview of Ep #11:

And here's a promo from March 12th:

And here's a March 14th voiceover over the closing credits of LA Law:

I've pointed out how this has happened before, but I do love how they tweak the voiceovers for the promos. Here are two such promos from March 15th:

And two more promos from March 15th:

The reason that second one is so screwed up is because something wacky suddenly happened with the station during the closing credits of Hunter. Thankfully it cleared up before DS came on. And after all, in that instance it's the voiceover and not the video quality that's important.

And finally it's the opening of Ep #11 as it played on the east coast at exactly 30 years ago today:

Enjoy!