I personally think it would improve the chances of Depp Shadows being a decent movie in its own right if both the conceptualization of the characters and the casting of the actors to play them goes "outside the box" of trying to find types to match up with who we originally saw onscreen in the 1960s series.

Let's face it--they broke the mold when Grayson Hall took birth.  Trying to find someone somehow "like" her for Julia is a waste of time.  The Kelly Hu casting *could* have given an interesting slant to the character because thinking of her as an Asian American female professional immediately gives a very different context to the character's action in the Barnabas-out-of-his-coffin phase of the story.

Similarly, I would love to see a black, or mixed-race, actress in the role of Angelique.  In fact, I was thinking about it this morning and thinking how interesting it would be if the story was told so that more audience sympathy was on the side of Angelique because she was not white and doomed to perpetual servitude and therefore had more of an axe to grind beyond Barn not wanting to marry her.  In the original portrayal of the character in 1795, they gave her LOTS of dialogue about her own perception of her lot and how she was going to "show them all."  I thought that made her much more interesting than the 1991 version where she's some kind of bat out of hell who is completely psychotic from the get-go.  It wasn't at all nuanced or layered and frankly, I found her ridiculous rather than terrifying.

Unfortunately, American pop culture is now obsessed with narratives of apocalypse and ultimate evil (for obvious reasons), so I'm not sure that a three dimensional Angelique is on the cards.  But I amused myself this morning imagining Angelique as the anti-heroine and Josette as a haughty, frigid bitch loved by Barnabas and cosseted by her family but not terribly attractive to the 21st century viewer.

I could write more but I'll stop.  I could see Philip Seymour Hoffman having a great presence as Stokes, if that character is on board (seems unlikely).

G.

I think the beginning of this episode (if I'm remembering correctly) may have been the best thing in the entire production.  FAAAbulous.

Love Jean Simmons in that hat.

G.

I liked Blackburn's *look* as Carolyn.  I know nothing about her career but I suspect a lot that people find irritating about her performance has to do with how she was directed.  I would say the same about Fyfe.  I personally find Willie very annoying.  Fyfe, from what I can recall, was allowed to bring more gravitas to the role of Ben and although Ben did not seem to get much to do, I liked him much better in that part than as Willie.

Given how extremely compressed the story was, some of Willie's odd antics in the later shows feel like padding out the show to achieve the required 45 minute running time, which seems very strange as they were trying to fit in so much in such a brief space of time.

G.

Perhaps the new craze will finally spur Paramount (or whoever currently owns the rights) to release a restored cut of Roger Vadim's Blood and Roses (1962).  It may be the most moodily evocative vampire movie of all time--certainly one of the most poetic and enchanting.

The scene in the 1795 storyline where Angelique looks in the mirror and sees herself with a bloodied bridal gown may well have been inspired by a similar sequence in Blood and Roses.

G.

Joan Hackett was one of those who died way too young.  I remember her incredible bravura performance in Bobby even though it's been something like 35 years since my one viewing of the story.

DC in some ways really was a throwback to the old days of the big studio directors. Carbon copying entire sequences in remakes seems so Old Hollywood. Of course van Sant did the same thing in his Psycho retread.

G.

Are we talking about respect, or sales?  My impression from the recent DVD reviews and all the hype around Depp Shadows is that DS has a high degree of respect and "name recognition" among more imaginative industry people, just as it does amongst more imaginative genre fans.  It's all the remarkable that this remains the case given how many years DS has been off the air.  While Star Trek has pretty much always been on some channel, in some incarnation or other, that has not been the case for DS.

I have been personally very much surprised by the endurance and vitality DS has shown as a pop culture presence.  Granted, that has a definite retro edge to it, while Trekkers are celebrating the imminent arrival of the latest movie in the series, which will unveil yet another "next generation" concept.  I do feel that the staying power of DS does show that there's a substantial number of people out there who prefer quality to the buckets of CGI glitz we get in today's entertainment.

As for people not laughing at Trekkers--what about Bill Shatner and the whole "get a life" thing?  And did you watch that movie about people whose lives revolve around Star Trek cons hosted by Denise Crosby, with the woman who attended Jury Duty in her Starfleet Uniform? 

I'm personally very thankful that the abortive Sci Fi Channel documentary which sought to portray the series and its fans as the latest freaky flavor of the decade sank without broadcast and without any visible trace!

cheers, G.

Thanks for this, Jimbo.

An OT plug for the recent DVD release of the 1964 Hammer feature The Gorgon (Peter Cushing, Barbara Shelley, Christopher Lee) which has a real DS atmosphere to it, including a love affair in the shadow of Gothic horror and a score that may have inspired some of Robert Cobert's work.

The Gorgon is part of a 4 movie set which bears a title something along the lines of "Hammer Icons of Horror."  The other films in the set include The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, Scream of Fear (which again has an atmosphere reminiscent of the original 1966 storyline on DS), and The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb which is just a bit of trivial, silly fun.

Best,

G.

Glad you appreciated the zinger, Patti.  Every still I see of that performer shows him adorned with an ever-higher pompadour.  Fascinating *raises left eyebrow a la Spock*

And MB, I imagine that the gent in question had some formidable security arrangements.  Everywhere I go in town these days I hear gaggles of 13 to 15 year old girls shrieking and twittering about that movie.  Honestly, it's enough to make one feel like Tippi Hedren. *wink*

I just keep telling myself that more pub for Depp Shadows means we're that much closer to a restored release of Night of DS.  I want those missing Grayson scenes and I want the seance with full color and soundtrack, dammit!

cheers, G.