who is buying 'Dark Shadows' on DVD? (1 Viewer)

[Burn Rourk]

I belong to a couple of 'Dark Shadows' fan forums, and surprisingly, I'm the only member that has bought more than the first set. I have up to set 12, and I plan to pick up 13 and 14 as soon as I get caught up with some other collections. 'Dark Shadows' and 'Sesame Street' were the two "never miss" shows from my childhood. (Born in 1974, I grew up on DS re-runs, not the initial airing.)

From what I can tell, the other DS fans have spent lots of time and effort assembling a sizeable VHS collection, and simply don't want to start all over again. I guess rediscovering a staple from my childhood so late, after the dawn of DVD, was a lucky break.

How many of you have the complete series on DVD so far? How many of you are "going all the way" to the end of the series? I'm on board, for sure.

 

[Steve Phillips]

I've got sets 1 through 7 so far. I'll buy them all eventually. Luckily I never bought the VHS versions.

 

[Burn Rourk]

By my count, there should be 25 sets in all. Releases are past the half-way point, believe it or not. This may be my first DVD set to take up more than one shelf in my living room. (Eventually I expect 'Doctor Who' to force me to build a new wing to my house, but I digress...)

I hope, once the series is wrapped up, MPI goes back and releases the pre-Barnabas episodes they skipped. They may be boring by series standards, but I'd like to have them and watch them regardless for "history's sake".

 

[Randy Gray]

I started buying them (I got sets 1 & 2) until I read in another thread that beginning with set 6 or 7 I think, some episodes were edited. I understand that the VHS versions are UNEDITED but some of the DVD's are. If MPI would come up with a solution to this problem I'd buy every one. Other companies make mistakes and offer a fix for it but I've yet to hear of any such fix for Dark Shadows. Except of course to buy BOTH the VHS AND DVD versions, and who wants to do that?

Randy

 

[Matthew Green]

Um...Are they by seasons? I might buy a volume IF they were by seasons...

 

[Richie C.]

I agree. I am on board for the whole collection. I have up to Set #14 so far and have #'s 15 and 16 on order. I really hope they stopped editing episodes! Does anyone know for sure if they did or not? I don't have the VHS to compare...

 

[Claude North]

I started buying them, but stopped when I heard about the edits. Particularly irritating is the "correction" of one of the show's most famous bloopers. In this episode, an off-camera voice is heard cueing an actress on her forgotten line. On the DVD, a music cue is dubbed in to cover the off-camera voice.

MPI has acknowledged this, but their response was essentially, "We're planning a "Bloopers" DVD that will have the scene as it originally aired."

Regarding the question about the sets being season sets, DS was a soap opera and ran 12 months/year without reruns, so there are no seasons, per se. Each set contains 40 episodes, or approximately 2 months.

As for the pre-Barnabas episodes, which are a lot more enjoyable than they are given credit for, I believe the plan is to release them after they release the last episodes.

 

[Ric Easton]

I've never been into this show, (Though my babysitter was!)but just out of curiosity, how many pre-Barnabas shows were there? Is it hard picking up the series from where they start? I did enjoy the shortlived series on NBC in the early 90's. Is this thing hard to watch unless you're already a fan?

Ric

 

[Steve Phillips]

DARK SHADOWS was a daily soap opera, so you can't really divide it into "seasons". Each set contains 40 consecutive shows, or 2 months worth.

The math works out to 30.6 sets in all. (1225 episodes, divide by 40 in a set = 30.625

The first set begins with show # 210, the introduction of Barnabas. MPI started their VHS releases there too, and then went back and released the earlier shows later. The plan is to do the same for DVD.

It took me 14 years, but I did end up finally seeing all 1225 shows between PBS re-runs, VHS rentals and Sci-Fi Channel airings. I'm glad I never got the VHS tapes (250 of them!) as the DVDs are a much better value. MPI recently switched to slimmer packaging as well, so the sets don't take up as much space.

The series is paced like a 1960's soap opera, so many modern viewers won't have the attention span to sit through it. The earlier shows, though atmospheric, are a bit slower than the later ones. Once they supernatural elements were pumped up, the pace of the show picked up considerably. I've always liked it, it never bored me, but if you have constant channel surf mentality, I'd skip it. Basically, the 1991 NBC version compressed about the first year of the series into 13 shows, so it moved along much faster.

You won't have any problem picking up with the intro of Barnabas though. MPI has a 15 minute recap of the earlier show plotlines included at the beginning of the first set.

 

[Burn Rourk]

David VP - I never owned the game, but I have eyeballed it many times on ebay.

They have some very classy 'Dark Shadows' collectible dolls on the way. I tried to post a link to some Toy Fair pictures of the prototypes, but for some reason the forum won't let me post a link until I've posted 15 times. I'll be back later with pictures when I've posted more.:frowning:

 

[Charles Ellis]

I have ALL of the VHS tapes and have bought all of the DVD releases to date as well. One last wish- to have "House of Dark Shadows" and the restored "Night of Dark Shadows" (well, as soon as it finally happens!) on DVD, letterboxed with commentaries by Dan Curtis, Sam Hall, some of the actors and other extras!

 

[Steve Phillips]

Has anyone else purchased the new CD called DARK SHADOWS: RETURN TO COLLINWOOD? It's an all new 2 hour radio drama that is a sequel to the original series set in the present day, and features much of the original cast. Sadly, Jonathan Frid didn't participate, so no Barnabas (though he is referred to).

I liked it, it is well produced and it was fun to see what the characters are up to in 2004. It sets things up for more quite nicely, too. I don't think the story would have been at all suitable had this been a TV movie sequel, but for the "theatre of the mind" I thought it was very worthwhile.

I think you can only get it from MPI right now but it should be in stores at some point.

 

[Burn Rourk]

Sounds cool! I haven't heard of that. I'll have to check it out.

I know that there was a little stage performance done by the attending actors at a DS Convention a while back. I wonder if this is a recording of that performance.

 

[Steve Phillips]

It's the same play, but not an recording of the live event. The CD is a professionally done studio version.

 

[Paul_Scott]

got a question for the DS afficiandos here-

i recently got a yen to see this series agian so i picked up sets 5 and 6 and plan to pick up set 7 soon. from my limited familiartity with the show, these eps encapsulate the series flavor as well as any.
thing is, i'm enjoyin them so much i want to get some more sets, but i do not want to collect every single one.
if you could only pick 7-10 more volumes of this, which ones do you think i should go for? which should i skip.

 

[Charles Ellis]

Try buying used DVD sets on eBay- they're much cheaper.

 

[Steve Phillips]

I think the show "jumped the shark" with the never ending 1897 storyline, (but I think I'm in the minority there.) If I could only buy so many sets, I'd quit at as that story begins, as to me after that it is all downhill and retreads, etc.

 

[Gregory V]

I have not seen any cuts on any of the episodes. The scene with someone feeding the line to one of the actresses (or at least the one I know of) was there in all its glory during the 1795 storyline, when Bathia Mapes was trying to exorcise the demon out of Barnabas. So are all the falling scenery, the mobile trees in the woods that get caught on those long dresses in the stories set in the past. Also in one of them Angelique about knocked over a tombstone with the swish of her cape. Whoever said they were cut is mistaken. I am up to Vol. 19. I intend to get them all. Even the pre Barnabas episodes, which someone at MPI told me would PROBABLY be released after the rest of the series, just like they did with the VHS releases. MPI is very good about presenting uncut episodes.

 

[Steve Phillips]

In case anyone didn't know, the entire 1991 revival series will be out on DVD in October according to tvshowsondvd.com

 

[Robert Crawford]

The next personal attack by any member in this thread will result in their posting privileges being removed.






Robert Crawford
HTF Administrator