Thanks, Michael, for that interesting report.  I agree with you about the future of the Festival in its present format.  MB had a link to a Festival post from 2003 or 2004 and I had forgotten that there was talk of ceasing the Festivals at that point.

My prediction is that *if* Depp Shadows takes off (which is a big *if* given how royally Conan and Fright Night just flopped at the box office), THAT will become the new focus of any convention or fannish activity.  People who are into the "original series" (or 1991, etc.) will become a sideline to the main event around the Depp series and its paraphernalia--action figures, video games, etc. 

It is truly fascinating to me that the original series continues to garner new fans in their 20s and 30s.  If the series were made available on one of the online channels such as hulu, think of how even more widespread the fandom would become.

But it will all seem like very small potatoes if the Depp series really takes off.

I liked how Alex, in one of her interviews for one of the MPI releases (it may have been way back in the early 1990s for the 25th anniversary) was musing about the 50th anniversary and said something like--maybe the reunion will take place via seance!  I always thought that was a fitting envoi to the phenomenon of original DS fandom.

G.

Is there a website that tells the original airdates of the episodes they are running?

If ANYBODY out there has or gets hold of copies of Grayson's episodes, please PM me through this site.

Thanks

Gothick

Many thanks, Claude North, for those astute and delightfully witty comments.  How sad that so many fans rushed to leave as the rare occasion to view "The Crucible" was offered to them.  Makes one think of a New Testament quote, but I'll spare you.  At least in this instance they were being rude to a videotape.  I still remember how painful the behavior of fans was years ago when David Selby and his acting partner presented the play Selby had written live on stage.  Imagine getting to see a play of this calibre practically for free given the low prices charged by the Festival committee for Registration.  It wouldn't have been so bad if fans had simply left, but they kept going in and out throughout what was a thoughtful, sensitive, beautifully crafted performance. 

Interesting to see that the Brooklyn Eagle in their blurb on the series plot has Barn "awakening" in 1972--the correct year for Depp Shadows, but not for the original series... which was well off the air by '72...

G.

Joey, for what it's worth, I agree with many of your criticisms of the WB 2004 pilot.  My least favorite things were Vicki's arrival at Collinwood and welcome by Elizabeth--the tone was so extremely off I still have no idea what they were doing--and the finale which was just WAY over the top.

The stuff with a bloodcrazed Barnabas hovering in the trees was very creepy, although I think it was ripped off from an earlier film (maybe directed by Tarantino? or John Carpenter?  I never saw it--I generally avoid post 1970s horror films--but I saw stills).  I did think Alec Newman made a wonderful choice for Barnabas.  I will be very surprised if Depp hits the mark to the degree that Newman did, in fact.

G.

Interesting that one of the last reported tweets implies that Jerry Lacy was there.  I didn't realize that.  Now I'm really bummed I missed out!

G.

Many thanks MB for collecting all those tweets. and those are some great photos. 

That's too bad about Nancy not being able to appear.  I hope she is OK.

G.

I always thought her favorite character was Maggie.  Her best performances in the show, as far as I am concerned were Maggie in 1966, particularly when she was setting her cap for Joe, and a few of the Lady Kitty episodes when Kitty was intriguing to snare a rich hubby at Collinwood.  Of course, once Kitty fell under the spell of the dead Josette, it was back to yawnsville and the standard mouth-breathing "W-where am I?? W-what am I doing here?" crap they made her do over and over again...

But then, I'm not much of a KLS fan or a Josette fan...

The event sounds really nice.  Thanks for the report!  What a nice treat for the fans to have Marie there, too.

G.