Customer Reviews

Dark Shadows DVD Collection 26

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Like most reviewers here, I used to watch this show after school in the 60's. I'd run home from school to get to see it twice in the afternoon, once at 3:30 on a Chattanooga station and then at 4:00 pm on my Atlanta channel. Even as a primary school student, the combination of vampires, witches and werewolves didn't scare me one bit. I was fascinated! And just as an aside, the question asked of the boys of my generation was always, "Ginger or Mary Ann?" Incomplete. It should have been "Ginger, Mary Ann or Angelique?" Angelique wins hands down!! Even at 6 years old I knew she was The Bomb!!

This DVD set still has the actors playing many different roles, some of which had no bearing on their earlier ones. It doesn't matter, the show was wonderful and was one of the most fun of any I watched during those years.

I actually rediscovered the series again in 1997 on Sci Fi and taped it religiously to watch after work. I remembered most of the story lines and enjoyed it once again.

Series purists will love this collection and wish there had been more.

I was sad when I was a kid watching Dark Shadows end ,I always thought there are more monsters to do .Now that the DVD's are coming to an end I'm saddened again .The show was a late night favorite of mine ,the charachters were never to over the top for me .I enjoyed the use of the actors in "family" roles ,playing someone from a different generation in the same family .This DVD set wraps up the last Parallel Time story and the series .The extras on this set are outstanding and really flesh out how much this meant to so many people .Having done some interactive acting at a Haunted Castle for Halloween I appreciate what the cast had to do when things don't go exactly as planned .There'll never be another show that will capture the spirit and feel of Dark Shadows .I'll go and get the Pre-Barnabas sets that are coming out ,I have only seen the 1st episode once .This is a fine ending set to a great series .

Sadly the series end left the cast back in the 1860's which is pretty much the only plot thread resolved. The DVD does have some bonus features where the writers surmise how some of the characters might have ended up in 1970.
In a way the final episodes do deal with the later day characters as the storyline is about the locked room and the family curse. Several bonus features flush out the set on disc 4. The promo clips from various television shows with Jonathan Frid were a nice feature. Dark Shadows had something rare, a nearly flawless cast that jelled together perfectly. That led to a series that rose over any script imperfections or technical errors and might help to explain why the show is still popular today.

Yes, Set No. 25 is the final set of the series - that is, starting with the arrival in the first set of Barnabas Collins - but don't forget that that Barnabas arrived in Episode 207, so there are the 206 before that. MPI has confirmed that they will follow the initial 26 sets (just as they did with the VHS series). So sfter No. 26, we can look forward to another five sets of the pre-Barnabas ... some great stuff.

For now, the end of the series brings an end to the cursed room, and the (latest) curse on the Collins Family. Or does it? When Thayer David tells us in the series' final closing monologue that a girl is found in the driveway, with two puncture marks on her neck...it's just from an animal bite. Right? Isn't it? . . .

No?

It is, as several other reviewers have noted, sad to see the end of Dark Shadows in its original incarnation, but I for one, bought Set 26 simply to be a "completist." I never really enjoyed the final plotline set in 1841 parallel time, and I really consider this storyline to be the final nail in the coffin. Yes, the writers were running out of ideas and one could argue the show "jumped the shark" several times before, but I think this is where the shark bit back. Jonathan Frid said in interviews he welcomed a different character to play but he appears tired and listless, only Nancy Barrett and Lara Parker seem to enjoy the new characters. Joan Bennett is professional as always despite not having much to do. Many of the special features have been available on single DVD's. MPI really could be accused of a ripoff by selling at the same price as the sets with 40 eps.

I too look forward to the DVD release of the pre-Barnabas episodes. I have them on VHS and the visual appearance (in stunning B&W) and more traditional soap opera dialogue are far superior to what now looks garish and grotesque in color as the series ended. I don't know exactly what happened in terms of budgeting, but the older eps had actual outdoor location shots, car chases, and some surprisingly funny one-liners from characters who became so SERIOUS once the show went completely supernatural. Roger is especially a hoot. And the flubs and bloopers everyone enjoys watching in the color eps are few and far between in the old shows too. I hate to sound disenchanted but it seems like the cast and crew got sloppy as the show went on.

Still an important part of TV history and it is cool to say one owns every episode.

Dark Shadows volume 25 winds up the 1840 Judah Zachary plot with lightning speed, and brings to an astonishing and unexpected - and tragic or bittersweet, depending on your point of view - conclusion one of the most long-lasting relationships in the series. Barnabas, Julia and Professor Stokes return to the 20th century to learn that their journey to the past has been a success: All at Collinwood are safe and well, and it is on this happy note that we say goodbye to the Collins family we have known for so long.

With scarcely time to catch our breath, we move on to 1841 Parallel Time.

Apparently I'm one of only a few Dark Shadows fans who enjoy the 1841 Parallel Time story. Although it was disappointing not to have a familiar guide to this new situation (as Vicki was in 1795, or Barnabas and Julia in 1897), the new characters played by the Dark Shadows troupe and their various problems (a curse! the lottery! no vampires or werewolves!) quickly became interesting to me.

How much younger Jonathan Frid looks, despite Bramwell Collins's dour and brooding demeanor (hello, Heathcliff!). How nice it is to see Lara Parker playing a character who doesn't resort to magic every minute to bend people to her will (she has her feminine wiles instead). How interesting to see how things might have ended up for Barnabas and Josette. How much more explicit (compared to the 1960's episodes) the plot can be in 1971 - without vampirism as a metaphor for sex, we have actual sex. Oh, all right - it's in the code of TV writing and directing of the time, but it's something. Does anybody remember the late episode of Star Trek, where Captain Kirk is sitting on the bed pulling his boots on while the lady stands at a mirror and combs her hair? There is an unexpectedly hot scene like that in Dark Shadows volume 25.

While one of the new characters is a prig and an annoyance, he is necessary for the story to play out. In some ways Morgan Collins, played by Keith Prentice, has to carry the burden of the stuffy guy normally played by Louis Edmonds, only with dueling pistols. Kate Jackson's Daphne in this plotline is a nice change from all the governesses and quite a bit different from the Daphne who was at the mercy of Gerard and Samantha in the 1840 non-parallel time plot. She has some toughness and grit, and one ends up having real sympathy for her situation.

Overall, I give volume 25 (and volume 26 with the concluding episodes) high marks. Keep an open mind and enjoy these episodes for what they are - a new direction for a well-loved troupe of actors.

I and my daughter have watched the whole series, which I watched in fits and starts as a kid. The show really was all nicely wrapped up when Barnabas, Julia and Professor Stokes came back from the past as part of the 25th box set. They had fixed everything, explained away everything and the episode had a really satisfying feel to it. I've never seen a more perfect place for a beloved series to end and yet, they kept going to the Brutus Collins story line which was seriously bad. To bring in a new character, Morgan, at this point in the series seemed weird, it having been pretty much an ensemble show for the whole run until that point. And, he was not a good actor. Of course it's hindsight, but every character they brought in for a brief stint was pretty bad. Additionally, Mr. Frid was a great Barnabas and should not have played another character, Bramwell, though I'm sure he was tired of being a vampire. Of course, if you've watched all 25 box sets, you have to get the final one, but it had the definite feel of something good that went on a little too long.

I gave my wife the whole collection of Dark Shadows when the Sci-fi channel discontinued it on cable. Since she had the collection she watched it 3 times already. The last time I watched it with her. We were in grade school when it was originally aired on TV. She would go home to watch it. And still today enjoys it very much. I never watched it until recently. It kept my attention through all of the DVD's. A lot of the time I was looking for the bloopers which came at a regular pace. If you want something entertaining this will satisfy you.

I just got box set 26,I have 1 thur 26 now and I give all of them (5 STARS). Next is 1 thru 6 the Beginning. I can't wait to have them all. This show is great.I will go back and watch this series over and over.

It's a wonderful opportunity to see again a very interesting and old TV serie and DVD system gives the chance to the dark shadows fans. In Chile this serie was put on TV in the seventy years but not completed and I am very happy right now seeing the next episodes that I never saw in that time. Thank you very much.