TheNightling
@TheNightling
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Happy 60th anniversary to Dark Shadows!
Dark Shadows (the classic Gothic soap opera) premiered on June 27th, 1966. The show is now sixty-years-old. Dark Shadows featured a dysfunctional and wealthy family living in rural coastal Maine and found their lives entangled with vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches, demons, Frankenstein style monsters, possession, zombies, humanoid phoenixes, time travel, alternate universes, a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde style character(s), and even Lovecraftian monstrosities known as Leviathans.
The show was struggling for its first year so in desperation to save it, in episode 210 they introduced the vampire character, Barnabas Collins. Originally meant to be a temporary villain, people found him sympathetic, broody, and tragic. He shifted from villain to anti-Hero and then finally out-right hero, and sort of a monstrous guardian angel for the Collins Family and their dysfunction and predisposition to get in trouble with the supernatural.
Later in the series Barnabas would be joined by the Dorian Gray-esque immortal, Quentin Collins, as his ally and relative facing the forces of darkness together. (I swear that family mansion is probably on what they'd call a Hell Mouth on Buffy The Vampire Slayer or at the very least a convergence of ley lines.) Heavily influenced by Gothic literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Dark Shadows was very unique, melodramatic, fun, and campy but also very atmospheric and the characters took their situations very seriously.
Dark Shadows ran from 1966 until 1971. It had two tie-in movies. House of Dark Shadows (which gave a "What if" on if Barnabas Collins, the vampire, never became a protagonistic character and stayed a villain). The other film was Night of Dark Shadows, which used elements of the show in an alternate universe setting to tell a spooky seventies ghost story about the ghost of an evil witch.
In 1990 to 1991 there was a short revival that condensed several stories from the 60s show into something more streamlined for a primetime hour long drama. Where the original show didn't introduce Barnabas until episode 210, this revival had him in the very first episode and focussed heavily on the Byronic vampire anti-hero. The revival kept getting postponed for Gulf War coverage and that ruined its ratings and chance for renewal.
In 2004 there was another attempt at a revival, this time for the CW. This version featured Alec Newman as Barnabas. Only the pilot episode was filmed and the script of it is floating around online. The unaired episode eventually leaked online though of dubious quality.
In 2012 Tim Burton and Johnny Depp made a Dark Shadows movie that, much to some fan disappointment, was more of a parody in the style of the 90s Brady Bunch movies rather than a spooky Gothic Horror drama.
Warner Brothers has just revealed that they are working on an animated revival of the classic series. Here's hoping it's more true to the original and not a mean-spirted, Adult Swim-esque spoof. I think we're all tired of those. I also hope the new show sets right a long forgotten wrong. The show's original writer was Sam Hall, husband of actress Grayson Hall. Grayson Hall's character, Dr. Julia Hoffman (A sort of female Dr. Van Helsing) was meant to eventually be revealed as the person Barnabas was truly meant to be with and they were supposed to have a Happily Ever After but the show got canceled before they could do that.
For some reason most adaptations after the original series portrayed Dr. Hoffman as a villain instead of as a strong, independent, woman that Barnabas came to rely on for help and counsel in regard to other supernatural threats, often calling out her name in panic and confusion the way Ozzy Osborne used to for his wife in The Osbornes.
Dark Shadows was also one of the first TV series to ever depict alternate universes / alternate timelines. In the show they called them "Parallel time."
Dark Shadows (the classic Gothic soap opera) premiered on June 27th, 1966. The show is now sixty-years-old. Dark Shadows featured a dysfunctional and wealthy family living in rural coastal Maine and found their lives entangled with vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches, demons, Frankenstein style monsters, possession, zombies, humanoid phoenixes, time travel, alternate universes, a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde style character(s), and even Lovecraftian monstrosities known as Leviathans.
The show was struggling for its first year so in desperation to save it, in episode 210 they introduced the vampire character, Barnabas Collins. Originally meant to be a temporary villain, people found him sympathetic, broody, and tragic. He shifted from villain to anti-Hero and then finally out-right hero, and sort of a monstrous guardian angel for the Collins Family and their dysfunction and predisposition to get in trouble with the supernatural.
Later in the series Barnabas would be joined by the Dorian Gray-esque immortal, Quentin Collins, as his ally and relative facing the forces of darkness together. (I swear that family mansion is probably on what they'd call a Hell Mouth on Buffy The Vampire Slayer or at the very least a convergence of ley lines.) Heavily influenced by Gothic literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Dark Shadows was very unique, melodramatic, fun, and campy but also very atmospheric and the characters took their situations very seriously.
Dark Shadows ran from 1966 until 1971. It had two tie-in movies. House of Dark Shadows (which gave a "What if" on if Barnabas Collins, the vampire, never became a protagonistic character and stayed a villain). The other film was Night of Dark Shadows, which used elements of the show in an alternate universe setting to tell a spooky seventies ghost story about the ghost of an evil witch.
In 1990 to 1991 there was a short revival that condensed several stories from the 60s show into something more streamlined for a primetime hour long drama. Where the original show didn't introduce Barnabas until episode 210, this revival had him in the very first episode and focussed heavily on the Byronic vampire anti-hero. The revival kept getting postponed for Gulf War coverage and that ruined its ratings and chance for renewal.
In 2004 there was another attempt at a revival, this time for the CW. This version featured Alec Newman as Barnabas. Only the pilot episode was filmed and the script of it is floating around online. The unaired episode eventually leaked online though of dubious quality.
In 2012 Tim Burton and Johnny Depp made a Dark Shadows movie that, much to some fan disappointment, was more of a parody in the style of the 90s Brady Bunch movies rather than a spooky Gothic Horror drama.
Warner Brothers has just revealed that they are working on an animated revival of the classic series. Here's hoping it's more true to the original and not a mean-spirted, Adult Swim-esque spoof. I think we're all tired of those. I also hope the new show sets right a long forgotten wrong. The show's original writer was Sam Hall, husband of actress Grayson Hall. Grayson Hall's character, Dr. Julia Hoffman (A sort of female Dr. Van Helsing) was meant to eventually be revealed as the person Barnabas was truly meant to be with and they were supposed to have a Happily Ever After but the show got canceled before they could do that.
For some reason most adaptations after the original series portrayed Dr. Hoffman as a villain instead of as a strong, independent, woman that Barnabas came to rely on for help and counsel in regard to other supernatural threats, often calling out her name in panic and confusion the way Ozzy Osborne used to for his wife in The Osbornes.
Dark Shadows was also one of the first TV series to ever depict alternate universes / alternate timelines. In the show they called them "Parallel time."
