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Messages - Gothick

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5221
Current Talk '05 II / Re: The 2004 WB Pilot
« on: August 08, 2005, 04:47:31 PM »
Just a line to say many thanks to MB for that fascinating exegesis on the pilot.  It does sound like an amazing bit of film.  I like your description of the touch, so reminiscent of Dracula, of Barnabas hanging upside down on the outer wall of Collinwood--magnificently Gothic.

The articles I saw around the time of the pilot's rejection made it pretty clear that the series was caught in the cross-fire of some sort of political upheaval among the suits at the WB.  They made all that hoo-ha about switching away from dramatic series and into the "reality" sludge.  I don't follow it enough to know whether they made a volte-face on that decision but they certainly do seem to be still pumping out the sudsy teen soap operas (my housemate is a Smallville addict and I often spot the latest commercials for those endless, glossy things).   Anyhow, regardless of the statements made by various suits, it was pretty clear to me--if ANYTHING is clear in Horrorwood--that the rejection of DS had everything to do with upper-echelon executive politics, and NOTHING to do with the quality of the actual product, which sounds quite respectable.

On an unrelated topic, I wonder whether the Lost in Space pilot has been screened at the LIS convention and whether it turned out to be as good as the DS pilot.  Odd about both those shows coming so close to revival in the same year.

goodbye-ee-ee,

G.

5222
Current Talk '05 II / Re: If DS got re-edited?
« on: August 03, 2005, 05:39:58 PM »
Those of us who are really diehard fans don't want ANY editing. We want every minute of the series AS AIRED.  It's fun when they occasionally manage to retrieve outtakes, as well (check the blooper video for a great one involving Grayson and Jerry Lacy).

It was upsetting to us that some scenes were snipped due to "video glitches" or some other excuse in the first few DVD sets.  Apparently this happened because MPI sent the shows out for clean-up.  They obviously meant well but there was quite an uproar from the fans who know these shows like the back of their (fill in favorite member).

I think those who just watch the show casually find this sort of thing odd, but hardcore DS'ers do tend to put the FANATIC into FAN.

Best, G.

5223
Current Talk '05 II / Re: The 2004 WB Pilot
« on: August 03, 2005, 03:49:31 PM »
There were several attractive young men in that cast.  I'm pleased to hear that the director did not neglect some of the obvious opportunities that, um, arose (?).  And after all, this was a pilot for the WB.  I sometimes call it the "candyboy" network because of those endless shots of pouting, doe-eyed young men endlessly rolling about in the throes of soap opera angst.  Madge, cue the suds!

Did everybody have to leave their cellphones in a basket at that showing?  I've heard some hilarious stories about the security overkill at some of these events.

G.

5224
My sweet Lady, everybody from the Tapioca Goddess, to Hallie Stokes (shrilling helplessly HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU ARE YOUUUUUUU???) *bleat bleat*, to Pepe Herself wishing me a glorious birthday! AND Smooches from Midnite, too! what more could a retired gentleman quietly eking out the remainder of his days in holy contemplation ask for??

Thanks, everybody, you're all the best!  I'm going to be away from tonight through next Tuesday, so forgive me if I don't respond to any further greetings.

hugs, Gothick

5225
Current Talk '05 II / Re: The July 25th Episodes (Spoilers!)
« on: July 26, 2005, 04:16:37 PM »
I'm thinking of the July 25 captures as "the musical series" because the first couple of images reminded me so strongly of specific musicals.

In the first one, Burke and his visitor seem to be performing "I whistle a happy tune" from the King and I.  And in the one with Liz, Carolyn and Vicki, it's "How do you solve a problem like Maria" from the Sound of Music (Joan Bennett would have made a GREAT Mother Superior).

Thanks for the FABULOUS fun, MB!

G.

5226
Current Talk '05 II / Re: The July 3rd Episodes
« on: July 25, 2005, 08:39:46 PM »
I was watching July 3 and 4 1967 episodes last week and in one of them, you could see the big stand-up fan outside Liz's bedroom window making the draperies billow.  It was fun.

Also, Carolyn's birth year was given as 1946 which means the character was meant to be 19 or so when the series began.

Liz was born in 1917 so she was supposed to be fifty in the Summer of '67.  That feels very odd to me because as of tomorrow, I will be three years away from fifty, yet I don't feel nearly as "old" as the Mistress of Collinwood!

G.

5227
Calendar Events / Announcements '05 II / Re: To All Fest Attendees...
« on: July 25, 2005, 03:47:51 PM »
I second that emotion! Hope you all have a lovely time.

Gothick

5228
Caption This! - The Werewolf-Quentin's Ghost / Re: Episode #0674
« on: July 19, 2005, 08:50:45 PM »
Julia: Barnabas, what are you saying?

Barnabas: (in Ed Sullivan voice) I'm saying that next in tonight's shoo, we present live from London, England--a very talented young man and his friends--Eric Burdon and THE ANIMALS!!

5229
On today's IMDB there's a short notice about a lawsuit Roman Polanski is mounting against the magazine Vanity Fair.  A quote:

Polanski told jurors it was the most upsetting article about him he's ever read, because it suggests he did not care about his wife. He told the jury of nine men and three women, "This was the worst thing ever written about me. It's absolutely not true. I was in shock when I read it. But I think it was particularly hurtful, because it dishonors my memory of Sharon. It's all lies. That's not the way I behave. Still I had some honour. Still I have it now. Sharon was sweet, bright, brilliant. She had a great sense of humor. She was in my eyes the perfect woman." The 71-year-old gave evidence from France via video link for the case to avoid extradition to America, where he's wanted for questioning on child sex charges dating back to 1977.  (end quote)

Despite the jokes made back in the day about her putative lack of acting ability, I thought Tate had a rare, luminous quality that makes her few roles very memorable.  Her performance in Eye of the Devil was one of her finest.  Apparently there is a short film that was made about her work on the movie.  Would be fun to see sometime.

G.

5230
Current Talk '05 II / Re: The July 16th Episodes (Spoilers!)
« on: July 18, 2005, 04:45:14 PM »
Oh, but GH is marvelous in that scene where Julia and the "pig" first meet!

Thanks for the pointer.  I'll take care to listen closely!

G.

5231
Calendar Events / Announcements '05 II / Re: OT...Dracula on AMC
« on: July 18, 2005, 03:39:27 PM »
Hey Arashi, Anthony Corlan actually played a vampire in the 1972 sleeper Vampire Circus (released by Hammer but has a very different flavor from the studio's usual product).  It's not officially available in the US but I bought a gorgeous, letterboxed bootleg on eBay--the colors were really beautiful, and Corlan wasn't the only lovely man in the cast.

Best, Gothick

5232
Calendar Events / Announcements '05 II / Re: OT...Dracula on AMC
« on: July 17, 2005, 11:46:59 PM »
I got to see a video of the Louis Jourdan version many years ago, and I'd love to see it again.  The ending is the closest to the book ever filmed, I believe.

Apart from that, some of my other favorites:

The Lugosi Dracula--the first fifteen minutes or so show you everything you ever need to know about Gothic horror.

The Jack Palance Dracula; some wonderful moments.

I think of the Hammers my current favorite is the 1969 Taste the Blood of Dracula, because it's been so beautifully restored on DVD, and Anthony Corlan (aka Higgins) makes a lusciously beautiful hero; Ralph Bates has a wonderful bit in the beginning, as well.

I've been meaning to screen again the Lee version directed by Jesus Franco, El conde Dracula.  I last saw it in the mid Seventies.  Klaus Kinski's disturbing realism in the part of a viciously deranged Renfield stood out.

G.

5233
Rainey is right... small town biddies would never have the sense to realize that regardless of his past history, Willie Loomis had a hot, HOT ass!

winking and smiling, G.

5234
Current Talk '05 II / Re: Acting natural
« on: July 17, 2005, 11:15:31 PM »
Christopher Isherwood in his novel The World in the Evening has a section where two of the characters discuss "camp."  I believe that this predates Susan Sontag's much better known Notes on Camp.  The Isherwood novel is one of the first mainstream texts to discuss what began life as a very gay concept (I am using the word "gay" here to refer to homosexual people and our culture, not "stupid" as has become the meaning of the word in  high schools and chatrooms around North America).

In it, Isherwood distinguished between high (or highbrow) camp, and low camp, as saying that high camp is like a production of the Tschaikovsky ballet Swan Lake--so stylised as to have a certain ridiculous grandeur, which only really "works" if everybody involved performs their parts with the utmost seriousness.  Isherwood would have argued that something like a production of Swan lake by les ballets trocaderos de Monte Carlo (a celebrated all male ballet troupe with some brilliant dancers in their own right) was low camp if not burlesque because they are deliberately "sending up" the material.

I think the increasingly outre storylines of Dark Shadows required a more "elevated" stylistic positioning of actors and direction.  There is also the factor that so many of the people involved in DS had worked either in theatre or from a tradition (such as Fifties Playhouse 90 or Studio One type anthology television) that was more informed by theatre.  In my opinion there is an over-emphasis today on "naturalistic" performance due to the fact that it requires far less technique to bring this off than a really stylised performance of complicated material such as the typical DS script presents.

Besides, YOU try and find a "natural" way of saying this line:  "Nobody and nothing will stop me from letting everyone know exactly What You Are!"

G.

5235
Current Talk '05 II / Re: The July 16th Episodes (Spoilers!)
« on: July 17, 2005, 11:04:08 PM »
I'll never forget the weekend that I spent wondering whether Julia was going to be left "to rot" in that secret room for the rest of time.  I also remember my sister making fun of Grayson's histrionics.  Talk about trying my nerves!

I remember well that wonderful scene between Victor and Aristede.  Great subtext there between the two.

I also love the scene where Julia reads Cass' beads.  And there's more fun to come when Julia begins her series of "showdowns" with Nicholas a bit later on in the story.

I'm such a dope--I missed that line about "poor" Olivia and her lice.  Ah, an excuse to view another episode again!

That's a beautiful shot of Angelexis and her fab, mod Peter Max dress!

G.

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