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Post by Trace on Apr 25, 2019 5:32:22 GMT
Good observations! One other thing we didn’t mention, but I’m sure you’ve heard it before: in the beginning, it was very much a gothic soap, with only supernatural “hints”....but it was not intended, at that time, to go ‘full-on-supernatural”. When that happens, much later, the pace picks up considerably! However, those early gothic-toned eps really pay off as you get to know our core characters and their motivations, and contrary to what you will read in MOST info about the early year, the keen observer will notice that the supernatural was ALWAYS there, right from the start. Many people start with the Barnabas episodes, around 210. I think that’s a mistake, as the supernatural stuff begins wayyyyy before that, and you will shortchange yourself by skipping it. Your DS memory is impeccable! The way it's divided up on Prime is Episodes 1-209 are in a collection called "The Beginning," and then from 210 to the end are in another! This all works out rather nicely for me -- when I tackle a show or book/comic series, I hate skipping anything, so I'm very very happy to be able to start at the start. Yes, I have either been blessed or cursed with a photographic memory!
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Post by Digi on Apr 28, 2019 2:00:42 GMT
Up to episode 25 now. Boy am I ever glad these are all available for me to binge through at my own pace....the show's pacing is quite slow right here, and if I was only watching it twice a week, I'd probably have quit by now. But when I can sit down and watch two, three, six at a time, it flows much more manageably.
So some scattered takeaways so far: - having no familiarity with Victoria from the audios, it throws me off a little that she's the central character - I don't much like Elizabeth - Carolyn is a total flake, but it's funny so it's forgivable (and it totally lines up with audio Carolyn) - Roger is a terrible, terrible father - David is a weird little kid (which is perhaps understandable, given his father) - I'm kind of totally in love with Maggie - Burke Devlin really is a smarmy SOB...but I'm amused that everyone thinks he's responsible for Roger's accident when he's totally innocent - I really like how the flow of time happens...like, the first day runs for about 4 episodes, then the second day is about 15 episodes, etc. I don't really watch soaps so I have no idea if this is par for the course, so it's rather new to me - I was expecting the odd dialogue flub, but I wasn't expecting there to be quite so many of them - I laughed out loud in episode 24 when the deputy clearly walked into whatever the camera was standing on, and then there was audible muttering conversation from behind the camera - "governess" is such a weird word. I've really never heard it in any other context than Dark Shadows (I've only ever heard "nanny") - "foundling" and "foundling home" are even weirder. I mean, I could tell what it meant right away, but it's bizarre to me that this was the choice of word rather than "orphan" or "orphanage." This appears to be a phrase that has fallen into disuse these days, but I had genuinely never heard it before
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Post by Trace on Apr 28, 2019 3:28:22 GMT
Good observations! I enjoyed reading them! Yes—no one comes from a “foundling home” anymore...or becomes a “governess”. Is the difference between “governess” and “nanny” that one is also a private tutor/teacher, while the other is strictly a live-in babysitter?
Yes, I loved Maggie right from the beginning. Carolyn too. David was a little monster, but you’re right—Roger’s fathering skills left a lot to be desired.
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Post by silverednickle on Apr 29, 2019 19:19:31 GMT
There used to be a time where the very privileged whose family chose to employ someone to care and educate their children would usually go through the following roles chronologically (I am generalizing hundreds of years within a list of roles):
wet nurse, nanny, governess, tutor, and then professor (sometimes at a physical college/university, sometimes still at home).
A nanny might have worked with children until they were maybe 8 and a governess until say 15. Think of it very loosely like primary and secondary school.
Dark Shadows is over fifty years old and to be fair heavily leans into the gothic tradition, which adds at least another fifty years. Some of the dialogue was intentionally dated, some has become dated, and yet many themes and characters oddly remain timeless.
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Post by newt5996 on May 7, 2019 2:30:44 GMT
I'm at 1029 and to be perfectly honest Parallel Time as a story, while fun, really seems to be going on far too long. The Cyrus/John storyline in particular lost quite a bit of steam and now they're just adding this Maggie gets kidnapped and Cyrus/John is in league with Angelique because why not. It was nice of them to introduce a counterpart for Stokes and he's at least a little fun here, even if Hannah Stokes was then dropped. The biggest issue here is that there really doesn't seem to be a need for Barnabas to be in this storyline: it started with an idea that PT Angelique is a witch so Barnabas thinks there's a relation with the 'regular' Angelique. That was kind of dropped and while Barnabas has been appearing he's kind of just been attempting to unravel the Alexis/Angelique mystery and warn Maggie. They don't really do much with Buffie as under Barnabas' power. Also the PT Hoffman is kind of underused.
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Post by Digi on May 7, 2019 12:02:43 GMT
Been a little busy for the last week or two, but have managed to get up to Episode 48. - It's pretty common on the show, but Joan Bennett stumbles over her lines a LOT. Feels like way more than any of the other actors. - The flow of time feels strange. It feels like it's been ages on the show -- even some of the dialogue seems to treat the character interactions like these 48 episodes have taken months -- but paying attention to the in-show details (and cheating a little by reading the DS Wiki's timeline) I'm only up to about the fifth day since Vicki's arrival in Episode 1. - Burke trying to ruin the Collinses by sneakily plotting to buy up everything they own really really reminds me of something that you'd see in Dallas from either JR or Cliff. Though I suppose, being made 15-20 years earlier, this would have been the precursor, not Dallas. - Really liked the big buildup to the Burke/Roger/Sam/Bill pow-wow, and then Bill doesn't show up? Where I'm at right now everybody seems to be wondering where Bill is, so I wonder.... - Not to be crude, but Carolyn, oh man. You can practically see her getting....er.... aroused....when anyone so much as mentions Burke Devlin's name. Joe Haskell deserves better (thank goodness he seems to have done so by the time of Bloodline!) - Burke sent David a crystal ball? Er, okay. LOL - This show needs more Maggie
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Post by Digi on May 10, 2019 12:13:57 GMT
Bit more free time...just finished episode 70. The ghost of Josette Du Pres/Collins!! The series's first honest-to-goodness supernatural thingy!!
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Post by Zagreus on May 15, 2019 13:55:59 GMT
Is DarkShadows.tv viewable on mobile devices? I've got jury duty for the next month or so and that might be a nice way to fill breaks and bus rides.
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Post by DoctorScoffman on May 17, 2019 23:21:53 GMT
I have decided that after literal decades of attempts, I'll probably never sit down and watch all 1245 episodes without taking an extended break, so I came up with another method that works for me. My method is possibly unusual and definitely nerdy. I would not recommend it for someone not fairly familiar with the show. In my case, I've seen most of the first 600ish episodes and a handful of later episodes, but I also have read synopses and recaps for about 30 years, so I have fairly strong (but not perfect) knowledge of what happens during the various eras. I have it on Amazon Prime (as well as the coffin box). Amazon breaks it into 32 batches total--the post-Barnabas series is broken into 26 batches (labeled Seasons 1-26), and the Beginning is broken into 6 batches (labeled Seasons 1-6). Whenever I want to watch an episode (usually one a night before bed, sometimes more often), I go to random.org, pull up a random number between 1 and 32, and watch the first episode in that batch that Amazon doesn't show as "watched" yet. If I have time/interest in watching multiple episodes that night, I just keep on with the next episode in the same batch (vs. going to a new batch), so sometimes, I get a one-off episode, sometimes, I get a little string. It is fun because I never know what's coming up next. And if I ever come to a slow storyline (or even a "not slow" storyline but one that I've seen many times over the years), I'm only there for an episode or two before I hope away to another random adventure in Collinsport. This is a fun approach for me, but--again--I would only recommend it for someone already familiar with the show! It also means I suck at threads like this where people share their start-to-finish journey; my journey looks more like a dartboard
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Post by Hieronymus on May 23, 2019 23:37:10 GMT
Episode 365 - OK that is definitely NOT how I expected the seance to end.
{Spoiler} I knew the series occasionally delved into past events, but did not expect modern-day characters to time travel to the past (and vice versa).
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Post by DoctorScoffman on May 24, 2019 4:26:42 GMT
Episode 365 - OK that is definitely NOT how I expected the seance to end.
{Spoiler} I knew the series occasionally delved into past events, but did not expect modern-day characters to time travel to the past (and vice versa). Oh, I am so amazingly happy for you that you had not had that twist spoiled beforehand! Even the viewers of the time (likely) knew about it because there was an ad at the end of the episode a week or so before telling them that [spoilery character] was going to [spoilery event]. What a great treat that would be to come across that episode unsullied with spoilers!
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Post by Eiphel on May 26, 2019 18:26:32 GMT
I forgot how relatively early that major twist happens. Whilst episode 210 is obviously the watershed moment for the show, 365 is the beginning of possibly the most iconic storyline.
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Post by Trace on May 27, 2019 0:13:33 GMT
You know what I love most about that? DS had gone to color a while earlier—but the Old House was always depicted in somber, muted color tones. Even after Willie has done some major renovating. It’s just dark! When Vicki first arrives after the seance, the lighting of the Old House sets (even the bright, shiny new colors outside the front door)....you just knew she (and you) had entered a whole NEW, young world!
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Post by Rob Morris on May 27, 2019 8:59:55 GMT
And the whole idea of using the cast as a rep company playing their incestors was genius.
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Post by Digi on May 27, 2019 10:51:44 GMT
And the whole idea of using the cast as a rep company playing their incestors was genius. Beautifully accurate typo
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Post by Rob Morris on May 27, 2019 11:22:47 GMT
And the whole idea of using the cast as a rep company playing their incestors was genius. Beautifully accurate typo I thought it would be appreciated by the truly devout. Gotta love a Dark Shadows line flub.
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Post by Digi on May 31, 2019 2:38:36 GMT
Milestone! I just finished episode 100, hoorah.
Kinda hoping the show gets rolling again soon, it feels like it's been spinning its wheels for a while now.
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Post by DoctorScoffman on Jun 4, 2019 3:00:58 GMT
Milestone! I just finished episode 100, hoorah. Kinda hoping the show gets rolling again soon, it feels like it's been spinning its wheels for a while now. The show does kind of spin its wheels around that point. But it's funny. At least for me, once I see some of the later episodes where things can go at a much faster pace, it makes me appreciate some of the slower, wheels-spinnier bits, particularly just relishing the character moments.
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Post by silverednickle on Jun 4, 2019 20:31:57 GMT
Milestone! I just finished episode 100, hoorah. Kinda hoping the show gets rolling again soon, it feels like it's been spinning its wheels for a while now. Don't worry, things start to heat up around Christmas when a mother comes to visit her estranged son. Honestly though, one of my favorite episodes is after a major plot resolution and the different characters catching up, happy things are resolved, and also aware that things will likely change. It's a complete filler episode, but wonderfully optimistic.
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Post by newt5996 on Jun 5, 2019 3:57:15 GMT
Just finished 1060 meaning goodbye Parallel Time! It was quite fun while it lasted by the end, especially once Roger went all murder crazy and pretty much killed the entire cast. Angelique and Timothy Stokes made a fun pair of villains and the final episode ending on Collinwood burning to the ground with only Maggie and Quentin left alive was a satisfying end. The Cyrus/Yaeger stuff was a bit of a drag and seemed almost endless at points, but once he was out of the picture Angelique was allowed in the spotlight once more so that's a plus. It is a bit sad that Denise Nickerson won't appear again and Roxanne Drew was a bit too bland. She only existed to be Barnabas' love interest and didn't have enough time to get character so really there isn't much to her.
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