I'm sure many here know that I LOVE Dark Shadows. We are in the process of watching the original series. I know they redid it in the '90s (that I have not seen yet) and they just came out with the movie with Johnny Depp (again, I have not seen yet). I just can't imagine anyone but Jonathon Frid as Barnabas.  Any other fans out there? What are some of your favorite characters, favorite story lines? etc. etc.


Cat

I remember the soap but never watched it. Back when I tried watching it, it scared me  ;D ( I was only a kid at the time)
I just googled it and noticed the show finished in 1971. So it makes sense I saw it as a kid only. 

I remember the soap but never watched it. Back when I tried watching it, it scared me  ;D ( I was only a kid at the time)
I just googled it and noticed the show finished in 1971. So it makes sense I saw it as a kid only.



It is now out on DVD. We rented it through Netflix.



Cat

It is now out on DVD. We rented it through Netflix.

Cat


Did you watch it when you were young as well? Or just recently when it was released on DVD. If you did watch it when you were young (we're of similar ages, I think), did it not frighten you a little?

Did you watch it when you were young as well? Or just recently when it was released on DVD. If you did watch it when you were young (we're of similar ages, I think), did it not frighten you a little?



I don't actually remember being frightened. I do remember coming home from from school and watching it. Yes, I LOVED it-even though I didn't remember any of the story lines. Then they started to replay the show back in the late '70s-early '80s and I started watching them again-but never really saw the entire series. Years ago, I noticed that they were selling a few eps on VHS. Yes, I bought a couple. It was kind of strange to buy these VHS tapes because they were sort of disjointed. Then, the Sci-Fi channel started to play them. Again, I started to watch it but once again I didn't see the entire series-UNTIL Netflix came along. I still haven't seen the entire series-YET. I am working on it.



Cat

This is one that I am going to HAVE to get the dvds. I can remember watching it as a little girl but I don't remember the details. I just remember it was different than the soaps that my Gma would watch.

I haven't seen the Johnny Depp version yet-will have to see that too.

I got a DVD on netflix, watched a few episodes. It was pretty cool and interesting, but I didn't feel compelled to keep watching after the first couple of hours.

I was talking with my folks on the phone over the weekend and mom mentioned how much she loved Dark Shadows back when I was a wee rodent. She mentioned it after I brought up "The Walking Dead" and how it was sorta a horror soap opera, which, of course, Dark Shadows in its own way was as well.

I used to watch it when I was a kid, it was the only Soap that my mom watched.

I even had a Barnabas Collins model when I was a kid.

http://www.prestoimages.net/store30/rd4905/4905_pd1331899_th1.jpg

I also remember watching the remake in the early 1990's, and got it from torrent a year or so back and watched it again, was good but it ended it's run far to soon.

I have absolutely no interest in watching the movie however.  I was looking forward to seeing it, but once I realized they turned it into a comedy I absolutely lost all interest.  Why is it that every "remake" that Hollywood is putting out seems to feel that they need to take an old TV series (no matter how serious) and turn it into some kind of screwball comedy?

Land of the Lost, Dukes of Hazard, The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, it seems like every one is worse and worse and worse.  What comes next, a screwball comedy version of Little House on the Prarie?

I used to watch it when I was a kid, it was the only Soap that my mom watched.

I even had a Barnabas Collins model when I was a kid.

http://www.prestoimages.net/store30/rd4905/4905_pd1331899_th1.jpg

I also remember watching the remake in the early 1990's, and got it from torrent a year or so back and watched it again, was good but it ended it's run far to soon.

I have absolutely no interest in watching the movie however.  I was looking forward to seeing it, but once I realized they turned it into a comedy I absolutely lost all interest.  Why is it that every "remake" that Hollywood is putting out seems to feel that they need to take an old TV series (no matter how serious) and turn it into some kind of screwball comedy?

Land of the Lost, Dukes of Hazard, The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, it seems like every one is worse and worse and worse.  What comes next, a screwball comedy version of Little House on the Prarie?



We started watching the series through Netflix but then they didn't have the ENTIRE series and we had to watch in limbo to find out what happens. Pissed me off. But then I discovered it on torrent. So, we are still watching the original. when we are done, I MAY decide to check out the 90s version. I am in the dilemma about the movie. I want to see it but I don't want to see it at the same time.  :-\\


Cat

I used to watch it when I was a kid, it was the only Soap that my mom watched.

I even had a Barnabas Collins model when I was a kid.

http://www.prestoimages.net/store30/rd4905/4905_pd1331899_th1.jpg

I also remember watching the remake in the early 1990's, and got it from torrent a year or so back and watched it again, was good but it ended it's run far to soon.

I have absolutely no interest in watching the movie however.  I was looking forward to seeing it, but once I realized they turned it into a comedy I absolutely lost all interest.  Why is it that every "remake" that Hollywood is putting out seems to feel that they need to take an old TV series (no matter how serious) and turn it into some kind of screwball comedy?

Land of the Lost, Dukes of Hazard, The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, it seems like every one is worse and worse and worse.  What comes next, a screwball comedy version of Little House on the Prarie?
It's funny, I'd never seen Starsky and Hutch as a kid so when the movie came out and I refused to see it, I got a disk on Netflix and I was surprised to find out the original show was a pretty serious, and actually pretty good, crime drama. Remaking "Land of the Lost" as a comedy I guess made some sense, since the show did have comedic elements. (I'd have preferred they remake it as a GOOD comedy, but oh well.) But remaking Starsky and Hutch as a comedy just makes no sense.

What they're really doing is creating a new genre: They're parodies, but they keep the original title. From a marketing point of view I get why they want to poach all the old 70s and 80s shows:

A. They're known quantities. You don't have to spend a lot of money on advertising to explain a new idea to moviegoers.
B. They have demographic appeal (in theory) to two demographics: the parents who loved (or hated!) the shows as kids, and today's kids, who've probably gotten an earfull about this stuff over the years from their nostalgic parents.

I think the decision to make them broad, unbearable comedies rather than try to preserve the tone of the original shows is that the producers and execs probably assume the kids wouldn't take the movies seriously if they were loyal to the original, because the kids probably don't take the originals seriously. (Which is a weird assumption to make because, hey, when I was a kid I loved Blondie and the Three Stooges, which was as old then as Starsky and Hutch is now...) I also think there might be a genuine disdain for television among hollywood execs, and possibly a disdain for the entire era of the 70s and 80s as well. Not everyone is as in tune with that as we are, there are a lot of people out there who think if it's old, it automatically sucks.

What they're really doing is creating a new genre: They're parodies, but they keep the original title. From a marketing point of view I get why they want to poach all the old 70s and 80s shows:


And that is really what they are, and nothing else.

Yea, LotL had some comedic elements, but it was also pretty serious at the same time.  They colvered a lot of serious subjects as well, as well as recreating a lot of old stories (like "Stone Soup").

And it was written by a lot of the same people that wrote for not only Star Trek, but serious Sci-fi.  David Gerrold (Trouble with Tribbles), wrote the series bible, and many of the regular contributors were Larry Niven, Theodore Sturgen, DC Fontana, and Ben Bova.

"Dramedy" is really much closer, as it included a lot of science content in a light and entertaining way.  Heck, I doubt that most of my generation would have known many of the dinosaur names if not for that show.

If they want to do parody, just do what the Porn industry did, and append "Not" in front of it.

http://cdn.pophangover.com/wp-content/uploads/not-cosbys.jpg

At least that would be honest.

I have pretty much given up watching any remake, since far to many of them have been horrible.