First memories...

[Frank Godbey]

What are your first memories of Dark Shadows? Mine were of Dr. Hoffman trying to "cure" Barnbas.

[Anubis68]

wouldn't call it a first memory, but the storyline of Laura coming back as a phoenix is a really good one. Something about her son joining her in Ra's eternal fire? OOOH! and the hanging of Angelique! Always good!

Barnabas I remember clear as a bell, but some of the storylines are a little fuzzy. You know, who was plotting exactly what kinda group W bench type stuff (love Alice's Restaurant...Arlo Guthrie...tee hee). Sorry, one's mind tends to wander with age :) Anyhoo...back to forgetting things...somedays I just plain feel old. LOL! I just added Dark Shadows to the top of my queue to take a trip down memory lane and clear out the cobwebs. BTW, my daughter groaned and rolled her eyes when I did it, which seriously ups the pleasure of adding it to my queue! ;)

Also, do you remember the 2 companion movies: House of Dark Shadows & Night of Dark Shadows? I can't find them on Netflix, but would really like to see them again.

[Frank Godbey]

The DVD I just finished has Angelique putting a curse on Barnabas and a bat flies into the room and bites Barnabas on the neck. He dies and then comes back as a vampire. I thought it was poetic that his first victim was Angelique! I'll check online and see if the two movies you mentioned are available any where else.

[Frank Godbey]

Looks like House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows are on this site...

http://www.sweetmoviememories.com/_Night_Of_Dark_Shadows.html?gclid...

I don't know if they are on DVD or VHS...

[Anubis68]

thanks!

[bmwtoo]

Try your local Library I found one of them there

[Criss]

I was just a wee little man when I first saw Dark Shadows. I remember that it woudl come on sometiem aroudn my mothers favorite soaps and I woudl simply be terrorized by the image of BArnabas Collins for the rest of the day.

I remember Barnabas biting some girl and exclaiming "you leave me no choice". Being a little kid, I was haunted.

Sometime in my early 20s I started renting these on VHS to reacquaint myself. THe lfact that it was shot live really adds to the mystique and (sometimes) realism of the show, as well as some unintentional humor. The stories were generaly quite good, and the characters were also pretty well developed (I'm not a soap opera guy, so I would imagine that's the case with any of them).

THis show broke so much new ground on TV its not even funny.

[Criss]

One other thing worth mentioning...back when this was on Scifi Channel, I used to bring a VHS tape to work with me so I coudl record off the community TV. Peopel were some pissed at having to watch Dark SHadows every day for an hour...but they could not overpower my enthusiasm for the show.

[Frank Godbey]

Actually, the reruns on the Sci-Fi channel were what got me back into Dark Shadows. Thanks to Netflix, I'm able to relive what I think is a very well written "soap opera" and some of the most interesting characters on TV. It's interesting to me the different actors that are interviewed at the end of each DVD. I love the fact that Barnabas was a reluctant vampire. So many vampires in film over the past 20 years or more are usually pure evil. I think Dan Curtis was a visionary in the same way Roddenbury (SP?) was with Star Trek. I've got a Dark Shadows bloopers in my Q and look forward to it. I was watching one DVD and as the credits were rolling a prop guy was crouched in the door way like a caught kid with no where to go. Cracked me up! Love the show!

[Barnabas Fan]

Sounds like we were around the same age when we were introduced to Barnabas. He scared me too, but I made him one of my "imaginary friends" so that he'd be on my side and I wouldn't have to be so scared of him. It kind of worked, I guess. lol

[Frank Godbey]

Great image!!! I love your story...

[Frank Godbey]

Thought about this many times when TV Land first came on. I remember so many shows that I loved as a kid, but when I saw them as an adult I didn't have the same feeling about them. A few shows that I still think are great are Dark Shadows, Hogan's Heros, and Star Trek. However, Gilligan's Island, A-Team (OK, I wasn't really a kid for this one), and even many episodes of The Twilight Zone seem a little silly and even campy to me now... seems odd.

[Anubis68]

Hogan's Heroes was great campy fun and I absolutely adored Star Trek!

I fell into the A-Team trap as well. It's actually kind of embarrassing to admit that I never missed an episode when it first aired. Seeing it now is like looking at my high school yearbook. It just makes me shake my head and wonder what I was thinking. And don't even get me started on Gilligan's Island! I always loved The Twilight Zone and I tend to cut it a great deal of slack when I watch it now. Probably always will.