Dark Shadows, the 131-disc DVD set

[Sindatur]

^ AFAIK, the original series has at least a whole season go by before Barnabas even shows up.

Netflix starts with the arrival of Barnabas and I think it's in the 200s.

Yeah, this was a factoid to me. I was at an FYE and they had several sets of the DS show for sale and one or two sets contained the phrasing of such "Before Barnabas Arrives" on the packaging.

That set in the OP is massive. A fan would likely buy this to have vs really sitting down over time to rewatch 1,200 episodes. I mean crap, you'd need a flowchart to try and find episodes of interest or main focus.

Why is everyone so amazed at 1200 half hour episodes?
If you were to sit down and Watch Star Trek TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT (IE: A Complete rewatch of all the Live Action Series) that would be equivalent to just about 700 hour Long episodes, which would be 1400 episodes Dark Shadows. I just finished DS9, and when I finish UFO and Space 1999, I'll move onto another Trek show rewatch. Surely Trek fans who own all the Series plan to watch each one another time?

Dark Shadows is a Soap Opera, and only half hour episodes, so, you wouldn't be likely to grab a random episode, if anything, you might watch a Storyline period.

Not long ago, and possibly still, many Soap Opera watchers, who had to work, would tape their soaps and come home to watch 1-3 hours a night of their soaps. 3 hours is 6 episodes. So, although it may take a year or two (or more) to work your way through it all, it no different than coming home each night and watching the Day Time programming you recorded.

 

[timothy]

well don't forget that during all the star trek series they had different cast and crew on each series. where as Dark Shadows they had a set cast with special guest stars others wise it was a set cast with minor kill off's. and a big break for those who were set in the 20th cenury when they did the time travel bit which lasted a a couple season.
and they also had a book series for the series as well. and now dynamite entertainment has a comic series which is set after the series ends .

 

[23skidoo]

Why is everyone so amazed at 1200 half hour episodes?

Not long ago, and possibly still, many Soap Opera watchers, who had to work, would tape their soaps and come home to watch 1-3 hours a night of their soaps. 3 hours is 6 episodes. So, although it may take a year or two (or more) to work your way through it all, it no different than coming home each night and watching the Day Time programming you recorded.

Which may be true of shows made in the last 20 years. Dark Shadows aired 20 years before that luxury was available to the general public.

And name me one single - and I mean single, not franchise - series in which 1,200 episodes still exist, let alone are being released to DVD at the same time.

You can't because there aren't any.

No soap opera that aired before 1970 exists in complete form in any archive - not Coronation Street, not General Hospital. None of them. Dark Shadow is the only soap opera of that era to survive intact.

And even if it wasn't, you would never see a complete collection of Another World or Guiding Light episodes released. Not just for logistics reasons, but because there isn't that much interest. Not even Coronation Street warrants that treatment. The best you can ever hope for are "Best of's" which has occurred with a few shows.

Dark Shadows, however, not only spawned two remakes (the 1990s series and the upcoming movie), but a comic book (Gold Key's comic outlived the TV series by several years, plus there's been a few others), Big Finish is now doing licensed audio dramas with original cast members augmented by alumni of the Doctor Who audios, and there was a novel series. No other soap opera can claim to be as fully franchised as this thing.

So, yeah, it's pretty special and significant and outright amazing for 1,225 episodes of Dark Shadows to be made available. Even if you're not a fan it's something to respect.

Alex

 

[Harvey]

Wikipedia claims one episode of the series has been lost, partially reconstructed with the audio elements and a mix of still photos and material from other episodes. Is that still the cast?

 

[Saga]

Wikipedia claims one episode of the series has been lost, partially reconstructed with the audio elements and a mix of still photos and material from other episodes. Is that still the cast?

yeah, i watched the missing episode a few months ago. the audio is intact. the episode is framed with sequences of Lara Parker (Angelique) narrating and some still photos of the characters.

 

[Sindatur]

Why is everyone so amazed at 1200 half hour episodes?

Not long ago, and possibly still, many Soap Opera watchers, who had to work, would tape their soaps and come home to watch 1-3 hours a night of their soaps. 3 hours is 6 episodes. So, although it may take a year or two (or more) to work your way through it all, it no different than coming home each night and watching the Day Time programming you recorded.

Which may be true of shows made in the last 20 years. Dark Shadows aired 20 years before that luxury was available to the general public.

And name me one single - and I mean single, not franchise - series in which 1,200 episodes still exist, let alone are being released to DVD at the same time.

You can't because there aren't any.

No soap opera that aired before 1970 exists in complete form in any archive - not Coronation Street, not General Hospital. None of them. Dark Shadow is the only soap opera of that era to survive intact.

And even if it wasn't, you would never see a complete collection of Another World or Guiding Light episodes released. Not just for logistics reasons, but because there isn't that much interest. Not even Coronation Street warrants that treatment. The best you can ever hope for are "Best of's" which has occurred with a few shows.

Dark Shadows, however, not only spawned two remakes (the 1990s series and the upcoming movie), but a comic book (Gold Key's comic outlived the TV series by several years, plus there's been a few others), Big Finish is now doing licensed audio dramas with original cast members augmented by alumni of the Doctor Who audios, and there was a novel series. No other soap opera can claim to be as fully franchised as this thing.

So, yeah, it's pretty special and significant and outright amazing for 1,225 episodes of Dark Shadows to be made available. Even if you're not a fan it's something to respect.

Alex

No, I wasn't saying anything about someone taping the shows in the 1970s. I was merely pointing out, that people do tape their Soap Operas everyday in today's world, and watch them after work, therefore, it's not strange to imagine a fan of the show, buying the set, and working their way through it, at a pace of 3 or 4 episodes a night, just as if they were someone who taped their Soap Operas everyday in today's world.

 

[Greg Cox]

Dark Shadows, however, not only spawned two remakes (the 1990s series and the upcoming movie).

Heck, the new movie is technically the fourth remake, if you count House of Dark Shadows and the unaired CW version . . . .

House is not set within the continuity of the TV show, but is rather a remake of the first Barnabas arc . . . with a lot more blood!

 

[Gojira]

Two other compilations are being released. Dark Shadows: Fan Favorites and Dark Shadows: The Best of Barnabas Collins. I will pick up either or both of those. I loved the show back in the 60s and 70s but not enough to buy the entire series!

 

[KB24]

This is awesome, but it's tough to rebuy for those of us who are already into the collected sets on DVD.

So far Netflix Instant Watch has the first four 'seasons' listed, but that just means Collections 1-4, and that all begins with Episode 210 when Barnabas comes out. I think they did have the separate 'Dark Shadows: The Beginning' separately but I don't see it there now.

I like the individual dvd sets because I can jump around the storylines I don't like, but I think this jumbo massive set is simply all the dvds together, minus the collector book that came with the 40 some collections.

Special features so far include interviews per disc, and yeah, as P said, the episodes are only 22 minutes tops, and they pack 40 of them into the 4 disc sets already. I think this is just one big package, no changes.

I'm so surprised that there are people out there who don't know about Dark Shadows. From whence are ye?!

 

[KB24]

Tow more comps called The Vampire's Curse and The Haunting of Collingwood are out as well, dealing with Barnabas and Quentin.

I reviewed The Vampire Curse awhile ago, and other blooper videos are available from Netflix too, though some reunion shows and Scariest moment material is only available on VHS. If you guys think the DVDs are alot, you can imagine the amount of tapes there were!

I have Collections 11, 12, 13, and 14 and that only covers I think ten VHS tapes!

Anyhoo, here was the link where I explain the style and format in better detail, I hope.

http://ithinkthereforeireview.blogspot.com/search/label/Dark Shadows


It would have been cool if the massive set contained both restored movies, which I don't think are going to be released in tandem with this goofy new movie now. The lost episode is far more interesting. It gets the London After Midnight treatment using the stills and the script. A few other episodes are from the kinescope tapes, which something tells me someone will have to explain for the pups!

 

[Saga]

if i had $400 of disposable income i'd easily buy the series collection. there are some stories i'd watch over and over, like 1795 and 1897...but others like the Adam/Dream Curse...i'll never ever watch that again.

 

[timothy]

Well do you think it will be released as indivual seasons as well as the mega box set?

 

[KB24]

^Exactly, that's why I like skipping around with the dvd collections. I didn't even have those bad years on vhs.

It would be awesome if Netflix streamed the entire thing, but I imagine they might rotate the seasons as they list them.

Timonthy, they are available in Collections of 40 episodes a piece, as soaps didn't exactly adhere to seasons as we do today.