Dark Shadows has arrived!

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I always thought that removing the Victoria Winters character was a big mistake.
The recast just didn't work for me, and maybe they just decided not to try again.

 

[Daniel Avery]

She was no longer the star, or at least the central character of the series, and I think the producers recognized that the show was now a "monster pageant" and could not maintain Victoria's cluelessness if she was going to be a central character. She'd either have to join the pageant (the way Julia did) or get de-emphasized and kept mostly in the dark the way Elizabeth, Roger, and Carolyn ended up.

It would have been ideal, however, if they could have lured Alexandra Moltke back for a few short-term gigs in the trips back in time and especially in the Parallel Time stories. She wanted to stretch and play something other than "I don't understand"....what if they'd been able to lure her back to play Crazy Jenny Collins. or cast her as Amanda Harris and made that (1897) plot actually bearable?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[darkshadows38]

Vicki was suppose to be the audience i forget off the top of my head who took her place maybe Maggie? but i never liked that the way they got rid of her. nor do i like how they treated how Joe or even Maggie Left. Kathryn Leigh Scott for example had no idea the show was even ending until she was living in Paris at the time she saw it on the news. to Quote Her, i always thought that if i ever want to go back i can because of the way Dan left it open for me because i did not die at the end of the series.

having said that the ongoing Joe for Adam is the same one that Judy from Family Matters gets He/she went upstairs and was never heard from again. but my favorite Character of the entire show is easily Quentin even if he was hired really to take some of the stress of Frid of trying to remember so many lines.

 

[tommie]

To be fair, the implication was that after Barnabas and Hoffman changed the future again, Maggie was supposedly happily alive and well. I assume they didn't give her a role in 1840 because KLS went to Paris.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I do love this.....

 

[darkshadows38]

Maggie wasn't killed in the standard Timeline so there was no need for her to go back being alive. honestly i think they got carried away with the various timelines the 1897 was such a big hit that they extended it by 6 months! so in their eyes since that was a hit and what could go wrong? even though as far as i know none of them were as big as a hit as the 1897 timeline. they spent way to much time outside the real timeline at some point i think i mean yeah i have nothing against them sometimes giving the actors different roles to do but off the top of my head i can't think of how many of them they even did? the show even ended on an alternate world as well

 

[darkshadows38]

i started watching Volume #1 again after not watching it for awhile and i started back i was on Disc #2 now i'm on disc #4. it's been quite awhile since i last watched this era of the show or the show itself. it's been over a decade since i watched it all the way through until the end of the show. i don't remember when i started with Episode #1 i'm sure i posted about it on here but i watch an episode here and than put on another show than put DS on. or i'll watch 2 episodes and than switch shows it really depends on my mood. i'm already about halfway done with this disc. i can Finally than put this back on the shelf cause it hasn't been on the shelf since Lockdown actually. so it's been nearly 3 years!

 

[darkshadows38]

i'm now on Volume 2 disc #3 which has only #1 episode left to watch. i'm on i think episode #279 now i think? they are about to have that costume party that Barnabas decides to have which really out of character especially when he was still a vampire at the time.

 

[bmasters9]

i'm not on Volume 2 disc #3 which has only #1 episode left to watch.

You might want to correct that "not" to "now."

 

[darkshadows38]

i hadn't even noticed that thank you i have since fixed it i'm on Disc #4 now episode #282. there aren't that many episodes left before it moves into Color

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I would like to see a new Dark Shadows tv series. I am surprised that there has not been more effort toward
creating one.

I didn't care for the Dark Shadows movie. The tone was all wrong. Instead of being comedic, It should have been more Gothic, more melodramatic.
Character development was below average, and the script was substandard.
I will say that Eva Green was superb.

 

[Richard Channing]

 

[Daniel Avery]

Sad news from Collinsport:
Lara Parker Dead: 'Dark Shadows' Star Was 84 (variety.com)

 

[Willie Oleson]

Apart from that one big DVD box set there are also volumes of The Early Years. I'd really love to have those episodes featuring evil David and trampy Carolyn.

 

[tommie]

Sad news from Collinsport:
Lara Parker Dead: 'Dark Shadows' Star Was 84 (variety.com)

RIP Lara. Her Angelique was just wonderful. She should've shown up on Knots as Abby's sister at one point.

 

[Willie Oleson]

A séance has been held in the great house at Collinwood...

Things are getting very spooky now that Jeremiah has died. I thought the bandages were meant to disguise a soon-to-be-revealed recast!
Sometimes it's cringey to see how unprepared the actors are and yet there's something so very appealing about them I simply had to go back to see what will happen to their characters.
It's not believable at all that two pretty ladies have the hots for Barnabas. Not to criticize his looks but he's not a Bobby Ewing or Jeff Colby.

I wasn't thrilled to go back in time but I must admit that it gives some of the supernatural stories in present-day Dark Shadows more oomph e.g. the ghost of Sarah Collins.

 

[tommie]

I like going back in time as the past always informs on the present!

Spoiler: ...

I think that's the biggest issue when they finally do the parallell time storyline - it really bears no significance to the current day Collinwood so it ends up not feeling important, while exploring the past is tantalising and could change the future (even if they don't dwelve to deep into that idea).

 

[Willie Oleson]

The old house is haunted!


The Reverend finds it all highly irregular and perplexing.

There's a big change in character for Angelique, partially because she's become the victim of Jeremiah's ghost and partially because the gracious and dignified Naomi Collins has accepted her unconditionally.
As for Barnabas and Josette there wasn't any romance to speak of which contradicts the legend as told by Barnabas '67 (I guess being undead for 200 years could make one misremember certain events) and it also makes me feel that Angelique should simply get away with it, especially since she's accepted his feelings for Josette.
She may be a witch but she's not too proud to beg and grovel.

The real problem is, of course, what will happen to our beloved Victoria Winters if Angelique's true nature remains unexposed?
Oh, and I had totally not expected Victoria to tell Barnabas about her true identity. It really came out of the blue rather than 15 episodes of "I need to tell you something" or "we need to talk".

 

[ClassyCo]

I have several of the volume sets of DARK SHADOWS the Mrs. bought for me a couple of years back for my birthday. They're still on my DVD shelf. I've yet to start watching them. I don't have the complete series and I'm skittish about embarking the journey to watching a daytime soap -- there's just so many episodes and I go through serious viewing fatigue.

These are the volume sets I have. My wife bought them at a FYE store.