Holy Moly.  I missed the discussion about the edit in set 12 and Stuart's assertion that these edits came via the Worldvision remastering.  ugh.

I had thought that the edits stopped around set 7 or 8 of the main series, but evidently this was not the case.

If MPI releases a collection of the episodes that suffered the most egregious edits in pristine form, that I would buy.  It's probably only a handful.  Perhaps the only two that have been fixed, however, are the ones mentioned.

There was a tape flaw in one of my favorite episodes, the one where a crazed Julia Hoffman comes stumbling into Collinwood ranting about Tom.  That episodes starts with Mrs J doing a great little scene about the curse on the family, if I recall aright.  Julia's scene with Roger was included on one of the gum cards.  The flaw was this loud metallic screech that apparently was the result of a mechanical defect, possibly during the original taping in 1968.  I must go check the disc release and see if a bit of that scene was snipped...

G.

Dear God!  it's going to be the size of a shoebox, but hold nearly 200 disks?  *shudder*

And how bitter could MPI make it for fans who bought the original DVD release to know they'd have to buy it all again just to get the Bathia Mapes blooper back?  btw, that isn't the only blooper that was edited out.  And I wonder whether some of the bloopers might have been included on the original blooper compilation if that was among the extras from the final DS original collection set?

G.

That's cool about the HoDS broadcast.  Presumably it will be shown in letterbox.  If anybody here watches, I hope they will post a review, and maybe some captures.

Sad about J. J. Lupatkin.  That's a name I have seen on my screen many, many times.  My condolences to J. J.'s family.

G.

Happy Birthday, gracious lady!  I miss your wit and wisdom and your wonderfully observant eye in chronicling the fortunes of the Collins family.

G.

Nicky darling I almost lol'd at your tactful hint that 180 minutes of Barnabas, Barnabas,, BARNABAS!!! might be "a bit much."  Ya think!

OTOH I watched the clip on Youtube the other day where Julia offers her blood to Old Barn.  Frid was incredible in those two episodes... I guess sometimes, he embraced a challenge.

To whom it may concern, several of the episodes on the first 7 or 8 DVD collections (from the arrival of Barnabas to, what, the end of 1795?) had "minor" bloopers and technical defects edited out.  The one I regret the most is the nasal Brooklyn voice o/c telling old Bathia Mapes "take him to the Old House!" in her dramatic attempted exorcism of Barn.  From what I recall when we discussed this (it's many years back in the Boards and my ability to manhandle the search engine here isn't up to the task of attempting to find those threads), it was the DVD authoring firm that was "routinely" "cleaning up" "materials of such age"--insert the usual cliche from the tech wallahs.

I keep thinking of more fan favorites that need to be on that disc:

Cassandra's first visit to the Old House.  "What was your major... Witchcraft?" *sneer*  "How DARE you."  I just love Cassandra's reaction everytime Barn says:  "ANNNN-geLEEEK."  Grand stuff.

The Julia Slap.  (followed by a montage of all the other times Julia bitchslapped somebody.)

Angelique in 1795 informing Ben that everything that is now Mamselle Josette's will eventually... belong to HER.

Hoffman and Angelique planning their "war of nerves" on Maggie Collins and Hoffman teeth-grittingly informing Ang: "I HATE having to take ORDERS from her!"

Any or all of the Julia/Nicholas scenes.

Naomi and Joshua the morning after Sarah dies.

I could go on... FORCING myself to stop.

G.

Thanks for that, MB.  That's amazing quality on that photo.  This version of BarnaDepp looks more Frid-like than the other glimpses we have seen, but it was the day before shooting began, so presumably Depp was still working on making the role his own.

G.

Cousin--blame DC at least in part for Barbara Steele's performance as Julia.  She actually talked about doing DS in this video interview that was included as an extra (I think on Nightmare Castle) on one of her Italian horror film DVD releases a year or two ago.  She said that Dan kept forcing her to play certain scenes very "straight" and that she was not allowed to make the character as "eccentric" as she would have wished.  It is a brief part of the interview, but it is clear that DS does not at all represent a happy memory for Barbara Steele.

I actually enjoyed her both as Julia and as the Countess... grand stuff!  Although the Countess dresses and talks like the madam of a bordello.  Interesting take on the character! 

G.

Depp in the costume ball still looks really ... Byronic.  Which could be a tacit nod to where it all began, with Dr Polidori's fantasy scenario about Lord "Ruthven" (aka Byron) and swooning over the prospect of having the life sucked out of him by this dark haired vampire beauty (male). 

It's not clear to me from the material that has been released whether Barnabas gets encoffined in the 1770s, or in the more usual 1790s.  The look in that still doesn't really work for the 1770s but could just work for 1795 or thereabouts.  At least that is how I see it.

Of course 18th century men could be notorious dandies complete with face powder, "black patches" (beauty marks), etc.  If Depp does a flashback sequence, his Barnabas in situ might wind up looking like Countess Natalie du Pres as portrayed by our beloved Grayson. lol

cheers, G.