Re bootlegs:  I only buy them when there's no available legit release.  IF there's a legit release, then I want that, because the quality is USUALLY so much head and shoulders above a boot (the commercial release of the 1990 DS shows that this is not always the case).

Films I have bought on boot recently include DEVILS OF DARKNESS, a 1965 British horror B-movie (great role for Carole Gray) that I doubt even had a US release back in the day, and DIONYSUS IN '69, a film of a unique living theatre production of the tragedy by Euripides that had a limited art house release way back when.  The disc I purchased came from Athens Greece and I think it was actually a region 0 DVD release, but I am not sure.

I'm currently looking for something called SIMON, KING OF THE WITCHES, which was filmed in L. A. circa 1970, and stars Andrew Prine.  It came out on commercial VHS in the 1980s and is long OP.  If I buy a used copy of the tape (the cheaper ones are priced at around $49.95) the only guy making money on the transaction is the dealer; nobody associated with the movie sees that money.  So I'm hoping I can find a bootleg DVD transfer. It's possible that a legit DVD is in the works for this film.  Andrew Prine did an interview about it in the current issue of SHOCK magazine (which I strongly recommend to fans of genre filmmaking) which makes me wonder whether something might be brewing on this front.

G.

Patti dear, Madeleine L'Engle wrote A Wrinkle in Time--one of the great children's books of the Sixties, which I've never forgotten.  There were several sequels, too, and she also wrote a memoir about her marriage to Hugh Franklin.  In the memoir she reveals that a good friend and sometime roomie of hers was none other than Cavada Humphrey, who played Madam Findlay, the medium who tried to rid Collinwood of Quentin's ghost in 1969.  According to Madeleine, Cavada Humphrey was just as flamboyant in life as she was on the screen!

cheers, Steve

Just for the record:

I don't "disapprove" of writing fanfic, putting on new skits, etc.  Hell, when I had more time, I used to churn out the fic with the best of them (albeit my production speed leaves MUCH to be desired).  I just think there needs to be a differentiation between fic/pastiche/whatever and the original, aired shows.  The latter are canon.  These are established terms widely used in media fandoms, and I think they are used because they are helpful in charting the complicated terrain of shows that have attracted as much activity on the fic front as Dark Shadows (or Star Trek/Wars).

I have to admit I'll never be able to get very excited about the concept of a remake of the series.  Too bad the WB version vanished without a trace.  It did sound like something different enough from the original to be judged on its own merits.  I'm afraid I find that very difficult to do with the edition DC produced in 1990.

G.

Belated birthday greetings to you, dear!

Best wishes,

Steve

I haven't heard or seen it (and from all accounts, Jamison is a very talented writer), but since it was not part of the broadcast series, it can't be part of the canon of DS.

It goes without saying that NONE of the "Marilyn Ross" novels are DS canon, either--thank the Gods!

Sam Hall presented his original article (in text that I don't think made it to the version on the videotape) as possibilities for the fates of the characters.  I do love the idea of Barnabas and Julia marrying, especially in Singapore...

G.

 Of course I love and adore all of it but the shows set in "the Present" (as opposed to "the Pahst"--don't you just love Joan Bennett's diction in that phrase?) seem to have a more "hardcore" DS feel to them, probably because I watched when it was first on and those clothes help bring the time and place back to me all the more vividly.

I also have to comment how impressed I am by the color and image clarity on the DVDs.  I only have one set, the one that includes the introduction of Cassandra.  On her first day on the show, Cassandra wore this coat I'd always regarded as hideous (and maybe the powers that be agreed, because she never wore it again).  Well, after watching the episode on the DVD, I felt as if I was looking at that coat for the first time, and it's actually kind of pretty!  Fior some reason the color scheme did not "read" nearly as well in the VHS as it does on the DVD.

I also love being able to see minute details such as shoe design, jewellry, those incredible hair styles, and so on through the magic of digitization.  I think Darren explained why the DVDs have a greater degree of clarity--it's something technical about how much visual information a digital format can carry as opposed to analogue tape.  Seeing is believing as far as I'm concerned, so I never paid attention to these things until I saw the proof in something I know as well as I do these episodes of Dark Shadows.

Of the historical episodes, I think my favorite costumes were in 1897, especially the amazing get-ups worn by Magda and "Pansity," Count Petofi's fur coat, Quentin's dashing ensembles including those wonderfully tight trousers, Edward's very "Late Victorian gentleman at home" wardrobe, Judith's journey from black-clad spinster to triumphant newlywed--I could go on and on.  It's just too bad they didn't give Angelique more interesting clothes for that period.  Parker wore some wonderful clothes as Cassandra.  I know I am one of the few who likes those clothes but I take comfort in the fact that Luciaphil also enjoys them.  Mscbryk, what do you think of Cassandra's wardrobe?

G.

I have them all. I was always obsessed with the music from DS (I remember being terribly excited when some DS music cues were suddenly used on Sat. Night Live in the late Eighties) so I had to get all of these.  I bought the vol. 2 through 4 ones at a store called Footlights Records in NYC many years ago.  MPI was selling them.  There is also the hoDS/NoDS soundtrack disc from Rhino, and at least one other DS music CD that had a lot of the rare 45s, including a thing that I think was recorded for a flexidisc sent to the Jonathan Frid fan club members.  It sounds as if Jonathan was standing in a linen closet when it was recorded, for some reason--the sound is very "matte" but I suppose it is a miracle it still exists!

G.