Ockeghem's All Things DARK SHADOWS (w/Spoilers) (1 Viewer)

[tracyedgar]

Brad, I'll add to what Mark has said by saying that this one particular storyline wrap up seems to get the fans' ire up more than any other. It does seem "out of place" and a horrible off-screen send off for the character of Vicki, who was the show's main focus in its early years. It's sloppy, but so it goes often times in the word of soap operas when or whatever reason, the producers want to wrap up a particular storyline and try to find a quick way to do it. Anyway, take heart, for as you know, in the world of "Dark Shadows", no one stays dead forever. Vicki returns in the novel "Dreams of the Dark" and in Lara Parker's upcoming fourth novel--which she's working on now.By the way, I must plug the audios by "Big Finish"--if you want the continuing stories of ALL your favorites, played by the original actors whenever possible, these are outstanding! Full-cast dramas and audiobooks. I have them all. Go to www.bigfinish.com to order them. You won't be disappointed. All us listeners are holding out hope that they will eventually lure Alexandra Moltke back as Vicki...or if she doesn't want it, maybe Betsy Durkin or Carolyn Groves. Even when they've recasted due to death or unavailability of an original actor, they've been brilliant! And anyway, recasting is par for the course in the world of soap operas!I'm going on the "Dark Shadows" cruise to Bermuda Halloween week with Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker and Marie Wallace! (Can't wait!). I will bring back any "scoop" if there's anything good and juicy to tell!

 

[Ockeghem]

"I'm going on the "Dark Shadows" cruise to Bermuda Halloween week with Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker and Marie Wallace! (Can't wait!). I will bring back any "scoop" if there's anything good and juicy to tell!"

Tracy,Lucky you! How I wish I could go. My eldest daughter and I love all things Dark Shadows, and not coincidentally, Halloween is our favorite holiday. And you're going to be with one of my two favorite Dark Shadows actresses (KLS) too! Have a wonderful time!

 

[smithbrad]

Brad, I'll add to what Mark has said by saying that this one particular storyline wrap up seems to get the fans' ire up more than any other. It does seem "out of place" and a horrible off-screen send off for the character of Vicki, who was the show's main focus in its early years. It's sloppy, but so it goes often times in the word of soap operas when or whatever reason, the producers want to wrap up a particular storyline and try to find a quick way to do it.Anyway, take heart, for as you know, in the world of "Dark Shadows", no one stays dead forever. Vicki returns in the novel "Dreams of the Dark" and in Lara Parker's upcoming fourth novel--which she's working on now.By the way, I must plug the audios by "Big Finish"--if you want the continuing stories of ALL your favorites, played by the original actors whenever possible, these are outstanding! Full-cast dramas and audiobooks. I have them all. Go to www.bigfinish.com to order them. You won't be disappointed. All us listeners are holding out hope that they will eventually lure Alexandra Moltke back as Vicki...or if she doesn't want it, maybe Betsy Durkin or Carolyn Groves. Even when they've recasted due to death or unavailability of an original actor, they've been brilliant! And anyway, recasting is par for the course in the world of soap operas!I'm going on the "Dark Shadows" cruise to Bermuda Halloween week with Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker and Marie Wallace! (Can't wait!). I will bring back any "scoop" if there's anything good and juicy to tell!

Thanks Tracy, I checked out that BigFinish site and it has some very interesting items related to DS. I will definitely check it out when we finish the series. We should complete the entire series around Thanksgiving (culminating our 20 month ride through Collinsport). Then we plan to go back and listen to all the interviews and extras. After that I might check out the audio dramas. Enjoy the cruise!.

 

[tracyedgar]

Dark Shadows[/I], and not coincidentally, Halloween is our favorite holiday. And you're going to be with one of my two favorite Dark Shadows actresses (KLS) too! Have a wonderful time!

Let me guess--is Nancy Barrett the other one? If so, great minds think alike. Kathryn Leigh Scott and Nancy Barrett have always been MY favorites--but then again, so were Maggie and Carolyn. Never mind Barnabas! LOL.

 

[Ockeghem]

Tracy,Yes, Nancy Barrett is my other favorite actress from the series. If you never read me posting about that before, then that was very nicely done!

 

[tracyedgar]

Tracy,Yes, Nancy Barrett is my other favorite actress from the series. If you never read me posting about that before, then that was very nicely done!

Nope, 100% truth here-- I never read any of your prior postings, so Nancy was a complete guess, although since she is mine also, and since I know that MANY people agree with us, it wasn't a hard guess.Actually, while I've been a member of the Forum (and this thread) for some time now--and have (infrequently) even contributed posts, I have never gone through and read all the past posts simply because the sheer number of them (65 pages now!) has been daunting to me! But, when I get some free time, I may tackle some of these old posts. I'm something of a self-proclaimed DS expert--maybe not to the degree that Charles Ellis is! LOL! But anyway, I may have something interesting to contribute occasionally!By the way, I have seen Charles in action at many of the DS Fests, and it's really amazing! The stars ask HIM for storyline help when they can't recall something--and he always knows the answer!! Pretty impressive!

 

[Mr. Handley]

I'm now up through Episode #1173. I must say that I've become a big fan of James Storm and his portrayal of Gerard Stiles. It's a shame that more fans don't talk about this portion of the series much. Between Storm and Kate Jackson, I'm finding myself pretty enchanted with the show at this point, despite the plot being somewhat draggy. I must also add that Chris Pennock has really started to impress as Gabriel Collins. And as mentioned before, the costumes during this storyline are some of the best of the entire series!

 

[Ockeghem]

Paul,Have you arrived at the point in the series where they begin to draw lots and the loser has to sleep in the 'secret' (cursed) room?

 

[Mr. Handley]

Paul,Have you arrived at the point in the series where they begin to draw lots and the loser has to sleep in the 'secret' (cursed) room?

Scott,

No, haven't encountered that one yet, but it sounds interesting!

 

[Ockeghem]

Scott,

No, haven't encountered that one yet, but it sounds interesting!

Paul,It's probably among my three or four favorite story lines from the series. Enjoy it when you get there!

 

[Radioman970]

My huge original series set arrived yesterday. Brand new, well packed for shipping. Started checking the discs and already have 1 cracked (not on a play area), many small scratches, lots of marks (like glue, what is that?), one that looks either cracked or flawed but the play area looks fine. most, so far, are unmarked. But many are.

Is this normal for this set? That's an awful lot of discs. I did watch 4 episodes yesterday but it will take a long time. Wondering if I can exchange them through MPI (couldn't find anything about this on their website) or should I return this to the ebay seller. I hate to return the whole thing if I'm bound to just get another like this.

My thought, companies should offer insurance for superhuge sets like this.

Thanks in advance for the help. Sure love this show.

 

[smithbrad]

When I received my set back when it was first released I checked every disk visually and attempted basic playback. Since then I have been watching it regularly for the last 16 months (up to disk 105). I don't recall any issues when first checked and I don't recall any as I have gone through the disks since. I'm pretty picky and especially with a set of this size I would have returned it if there were anything wrong. No cracks at all or unusual markings. If anything, there might have been the most faintest of a scratch on only a few disks, but I can't even recall that right now.

I'm not sure you will get a response from MPI. Before the big set, I had purchased a few of the collections off Amazon. During playback I came across a disk that visually looked fine but would not play and on the computer it wouldn't even identify it as a disk. I tried contacting MPI multiple times (albeit through email) and they never responded. I think MPI has the policy of only supporting stock they sold from their site. Luckily Amazon was good enough to replace it even though it was a few months past the return date.

 

[Radioman970]

@ smithbrad. Seems like I'm always getting the odd one with damage. First MASH set I got was pretty much destroyed. Dark Shadows was packed so well, but sure didn't arrive in the best shape.

ADDING: I contacted the seller. Very apologetic. They are going to send me a new one tomorrow. I asked if I could hold on to this one until it arrives so I could keep watching. No reply on that. I'm sure they will. Glad I went that route. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[Radioman970]

Seller on ebay: blor2086

They are sending out a new one and just told me to throw away this one with the damage. Now there's a excellent seller. They don't currently have any listings since the seller is taking a trip. But I'll sure buy something from them in the future as a thanks. Very humbling to get this kind of service.

(I've also got to play it forward )

 

[smithbrad]

Seller on ebay: blor2086

They are sending out a new one and just told me to throw away this one with the damage. Now there's a excellent seller. They don't currently have any listings since the seller is taking a trip. But I'll sure buy something from them in the future as a thanks. Very humbling to get this kind of service.

(I've also got to play it forward )

That's great news and provides a real peace of mind going forward with such a large set.

 

[Radioman970]

I think I can now relax and just enjoy it without worrying. Plus, makes the monthly payment on this not so hard to pay.

 

[Ockeghem]

I finally got back to some viewing of Dark Shadows tonight (episode no. 776 and no. 777). Rachel Drummond has been shot (and killed) by Judith, and Dirk Wilkins (a vampire at this point) is killed by the stake. The first time I saw the latter scene I recall that it was a surprise the Dirk was actually killed, as you couldn't help but think that his hand was going to reach out and grab his would-be killer in a fashion similar to how Barnabas reacted in episode no. 211.

 

[Radioman970]

I wish they would have put the day of the week somewhere so we can see it before watching each one. I was thinking about the waiting time for each episode. Usually a day, but after Friday housewives would have to wait until Monday. There's nothing like waiting to see what happens for stuff like soaps...and finally "finding out" on Mondays is a feeling I guess that's missing when you own the whole deal. It's similar for shows like Hercules/xena where before each commercial break there was a cliffhanger to keep you on the channel. I almost always pause at commercials break for Herc/Xena in an attempt to repeat that.

Well, since i"m on episode 9 now I'm not worried about spoilers in this thread. I'll forget it all before episode 501 or 832, or whatever. lol

 

[Ockeghem]

Radioman,One way to figure out the day of the week is to see the two-day absence of dates (i.e., the weekend) on the main menu for each disc and then work backward or forward from there. At least this is how I do it. And for the odd absence/skip in dates that you might see in the middle of a week, that could be for a holiday. This method isn't perfect, but it will help somewhat.

 

[Radioman970]

^^^ I'll definitely do that. I know it's not important to most. But I'm insanely nostalgic.

btw, everybody knows this I'm sure... but I looked on the back of the box (finally..! lol ) and they have episode 1 with the original commercials on one of the later dvds. wish I'd noticed that before. that's a nice extra. This set has so many surprises! Worth the retail price I'd say... even the damaged one.