DS Revival Series -- Sigh

Don't faint, anyone, but I am about to defend Lysette Anthony.

Having enjoyed Anthony's work in a number of UK productions, I don't think it's fair to judge her by the ghastly travesty of her work on the DS 1991 series.  I'm not sure whether it was miscasting so much as poor direction.  That accent alone is awfully hard to get past.  It may have been miscasting, but I think Lysette would have surprised people by how good she would have been as Laura in season 2 (I think the plan was for her to return as Laura--I know there is a book where they published the notes for the projected second season).  Without the crap fake-French accent and with hopefully better direction, I think she would have brought a smolderingly sinister quality to the part.

Agree, IN SPADES, about the OTT vampire makeup.  That stuff has become as over-used as the blacked-out eye effect for Witches casting spells on TV.  Those blacked-out eyes always make me think of this terrible film Robert Fuest directed in the 1970s, The Devil's Rain.  Ernie Borgnine plays Asmodeus.  Need I say more??

Penny Dreadful, I mostly agree with your assessment of the acting on that 1991 show.  I do think Julianna McCarthy deserves high marks for her work as Mrs J and Abigail.  She was really solid in her work for the show (to echo what Alexandra said about the original Mrs J--the Divine Clarice Blackburn!).

G.

I do think Julianna McCarthy deserves high marks for her work as Mrs J and Abigail.

Agreed, she was good in both roles, but I must say, I enjoyed Clarice's Mrs. J much better.  Not to say Julianna wasn't great in the role too, but Clarice was just so damn FUNNY as Mrs. Johnson, whether it was INTENTIONAL or not, I can't say.  But her always grumbling about having to pick up after the family and clean this or that just makes me break out in gales of laughter!  She's the freakin' MAID for god's sake!  

As far as Abagail goes, I think I actually liked Julianna better.  Clarice was good in the role, but annoying (as was her Minerva Trask--I guess after the tour de force of Mrs. J she had peaked).  Julianna was SCARY as Abagail, Clarice's just make me sigh, roll my eyes and want to bitch-slap the TV.  

I do think Julianna McCarthy deserves high marks for her work as Mrs J and Abigail.  She was really solid in her work for the show (to echo what Alexandra said about the original Mrs J--the Divine Clarice Blackburn!).

 Agreed on all counts!  Julianna McCarthy was very good.

I have to voice my agreement on the vampire make-up....well, not so much the make-up, but the red eyes and the mugging/snarling at the camera for what seemed to be forever. Overdone, IMO.

Julianna McCarthy made a great Abigail. I'll always prefer Clarice Blackburn as Mrs. Johnson, but McCarthy's Abigail worked really well for me.

the mugging/snarling at the camera for what seemed to be forever. Overdone, IMO.

That was one of the very few negative aspects of the '91 series for me. But we can thank DC for it because he loved it. And that's one of the reasons I was relieved when we learned DC wouldn't be directing the WB pilot and he was only one of three executive producers.

Agree, IN SPADES, about the OTT vampire makeup.  That stuff has become as over-used as the blacked-out eye effect for Witches casting spells on TV.  Those blacked-out eyes always make me think of this terrible film Robert Fuest directed in the 1970s, The Devil's Rain.  Ernie Borgnine plays Asmodeus.  Need I say more??

Gothick, I'm not familiar with "The Devil's Rain" so I looked it up... IMDb has a link to photographs, and there was William Shatner with pure black eyes.  Now there's the stuff of nightmares!

Anyway, I can't recall ever seeing black eyes on a witch until the first season of Buffy when Mrs. Madison was introduced in, appropriately, "The Witch".  It was consistently used on the show whenever a witch channeled great power (i.e. Amy Madison [the daughter] and the very powerful Willow), especially if it was a dark great power.  And occasionally, non-witches on Buffy had black eyes too, such as the demon played by Joel Grey.  But getting back to your comments, has it really been all that over-used?  Yes, Charmed ripped off the black-eyes effect from Buffy (so what else is new?), but by the time we saw pitch black eyes on the 2004 DS' Angelique, I thought it was still a creepy and cool effect.  

Glad to see this topic - a good friend of mine gave me the DVDs of the revival series for Christmas and my husband and I recently watched the whole thing - one episode every Sunday night.  Both of us enjoyed it so much.  It gave my husband a better idea of what the overarching storyline is for the original series, and I think he's a bit more likely to watch the older show with me now!

The biggest disappointment of the show for both of us I think, was the constant day for night shots that I guess weren't correctly remastered for the dvd release.  You could really see that California sunshine during many scenes that were supposed to be happening at night.  Just killed the Gothic mood.  And my husband remarked that since they were obviously using the Greystone Mansion for both Collinwood and the Old House, it was sometimes difficult for him to tell where the heck the action was supposed to be taking place.

On to the actors!

I thought Jim Fyfe as Willie was a little overdone, but he was lots of fun - though John Karlen will always be my fave!  Jim was also good as Ben Loomis in 1790, and I thought brought some pathos to both roles.

Likewise, Lysette Anthony was over the top as Angelique, but in this case I didn't enjoy her very much.  I know for lots of DS fans there is nothing to like about Lara Parker's Angelique, but I've always found her amusing and just riveting to watch.  Despite her smoldering sensuality (which was on the plus side in my book) Lysette was kind of one-note (to me) in her approach to role and I didn't like the character.  Still, hearing that she would have been Laura is a promising idea.

Agree with those who were loving Julianna McCarthy as Abigail - she was amazing!  And for some reason, she really made me believe that she was a woman of the 18th century, I can't explain it, but she just seemed right.

Joanna Going was particularly lovely and affecting both as Vicki and as Josette, and I really liked how they changed it to Vicki/Josette - that worked well.  Also quite liked the revamping of Maggie's character as a no-better-than-she-should-be village artist/psychic.  It gave the character something special of her own to do.  And if they'd ended up getting to the 1897 storyline, I would have loved to see that actress play Beth.

Have to say, Roger and Carolyn were both rather boring.  Carolyn especially - and it seemed to me as if the actress who played her was, I dunno, maybe high during the filiming of several episodes?

As others have said - though Barbara Steel played Julia as a rather different character than Grayson Hall (way more buttoned-up, icy and controlled), but in either series, this is my favorite character.  IMHO, Steel was as fabulous as Dr. Julia Hoffman in her own way as Grayson was in hers.

Also on the plus side were Michael T. Weiss as Joe (v. sexy), Adrian Paul as Jeremiah, Jean Simmons as both Liz and Naomi, the little guy who played David/Daniel, Stefan Gierasch (sp?) as Joshua, and the gent who played Dr. Woodard. 

My big question is where was Prof. Stokes?  I have to believe they'd have tried to bring this character on in season 2, had they not been cancelled.  Sarah Collins was a more natural actress than the little girl who played in the 60's version, and I thought Roy Thinnes Trask, though very different, was appropriately mad and vicious.

On the minus side, the character of Daphne was pretty stale and one-dimensional, and they didn't do anything with Sam Evans.  Maybe they just didn't have time.

Ben Cross generally looked right as Barnabas, but yeah, there was way too much snarling and mugging at the camera while dressed up in that hideous white make-up.  For some reason, he didn't seem as courtly as Jonathan Frid in the role, but he was a good choice for the role.  He and Joanna Going had good chemistry as a couple, and I loved this twist in the revival -

[spoiler]that when Vicki returned from 1790, she knew Barnabas was a vampire.[/spoiler]

I wonder where they would have gone with that?

IMDb has a link to photographs, and there was William Shatner with pure black eyes. 

Midnite, I couldn't find this pic of Shatner you mentioned.  Can you post a link?

BuzzH--

Here's the full page of pics, also accessible via the IMDb page for The Devil's Rain, under External Links/photographs.  Enjoy!

http://www.angelfire.com/movies/satanickeys/

My big question is where was Prof. Stokes?

He was a composite character known as Prof. Woodard and played by Stefan Gierasch.  [spoiler]He was ofted early on but later came back as Joshua.[/spoiler]

For me, the best part of the series was Jean Simmons.  She was splendid as Elizabeth/Naomi.  That being said, I have my critiques of the revival.  Of course, there were all those palm trees everywhere, palm trees, palm trees, palm trees, along the cold, weather-beaten coast of Maine.  Oh, how I hated those palm trees.  Didn't they have the cinematic technology back in '91 to air-brush them out of scenes?

The series seemed to me to be more of a remake of HoDS, even an expanded version of it, rather than of the original show.  It lacked the subtlety of '66-'71 and got right into the "meat" of a vampire on the loose, just like the movie, with cops running around with crosses and wooden stakes and a shocked community having no choice but to accept the fact that there really are such things.  Now, that works in a two-hour movie, but not on a TV series designed to carry on for several seasons.  On the original, it worked because no one, save very few, ever thought that a creature like that was on the prowl, only that it was some psychotic serial killer.  On the remake, how would they handle it?  It's not like everyone would forget that some living-dead monster was terrorizing their town and now all is hunkey-dory.

But I did appreciate the attempt, and for all its warts, I missed it when it left the air after only one season.

Gerard

The biggest disappointment of the show for both of us I think, was the constant day for night shots that I guess weren't correctly remastered for the dvd release.  You could really see that California sunshine during many scenes that were supposed to be happening at night.  Just killed the Gothic mood.

You know, I noticed that as well but convinced myself I was imagining things... thanks for brining this up.

On the minus side, the character of Daphne was pretty stale and one-dimensional, and they didn't do anything with Sam Evans.  Maybe they just didn't have time.

I never quite figured out where this Daphne fit into the family.  Was she supposed to be David's sister?


I enjoyeded readiing your observations... and I agreed with pretty much all of them!

I never quite figured out where this Daphne fit into the family.  Was she supposed to be David's sister?

Her name was conceived to be Daphne Stoddard, Liz' niece. That would have also made her Carolyn's cousin, but with no blood relation to David. However, when the prop department made her gravemarker, they mistakenly made it out as "Daphne Collins," and for whatever reason they decided to just leave it that way rather than make another. So, Daphne became a Collins of unknown relationship. 

Her name was conceived to be Daphne Stoddard, Liz' niece. That would have also made her Carolyn's cousin, but with no blood relation to David. However, when the prop department made her gravemarker, they mistakenly made it out as "Daphne Collins," and for whatever reason they decided to just leave it that way rather than make another. So, Daphne became a Collins of unknown relationship. 

She was probably another cousin from England, LOL!

BuzzH--

Here's the full page of pics, also accessible via the IMDb page for The Devil's Rain, under External Links/photographs.  Enjoy!

http://www.angelfire.com/movies/satanickeys/

Thanks Midnite.  Indeed, the pic of Shatner w/the black eyes is creepified!