I'm not ashamed to admit it. When I was in college, I was addicted to a soap opera, to the point where I would tape it during morning classes and come back to my room and watch it at lunch (not entirely unlike the oft-repeated "I used to run home after school to catch it" anecdotes) Of course, since nothing's ever that simple, it was a 30-odd-year-old soap running repeats on a cable channel. Now, serialized storytelling is one of the most dangerously addictive forms of entertainment known to man (due, no doubt, to the Audience's driving urge to know What Happens Next), but add vampires, ghosts, witches, and other horror elements, and I can't help but watch. Yes, I was hooked on Dark Shadows.
In my previous post, I mentioned catching syndicated repeats in the early evening during the "1897 flashback" storyline (before the timeslot was eaten by the infomercial beast), but I also got to see the film House of Dark Shadows on television as well (so used was I to the Victorian trappings of the episodes I saw, I was surprised to learn of the film's more contemporary setting.) The film told an accelerated version of the initial "Barnabas" arc of the series, but got to be a bit less stagey and a bit more bloody. (I didn't get to see the sequel, Night of Dark Shadows, until much later.)
Years passed, and along came college, on-campus housing, and paid cable. A new multitude of viewing options became available, and I soon zeroed in on one bit of something I remembered from my childhood. One station had Dark Shadows available, for two episodes daily! Sure, it was a morning timeslot, while I would be in classes, but that's what VCRs were for, right? After classes, I came back to my room to watch. Barnabas Collins, sometime vampire and former heroic figure, had reluctantly become a villain again, acting on behalf of the Leviathan cult, recruiting a local antiques dealer and his wife for the cult's nefarious needs. Meanwhile, the long-missing, once-believed-dead Paul Stoddard had come back to Collinsport to re-unite with his estranged daughter, and Chris Jennings learns of his Collins ancestry. (Did I mention Chris was a werewolf?) Oh yeah, I was hooked all through the Leviathan plot arc, with the return of Quentin and his groovy sideburns, to Angelique the witch on the side of the angels for once. And then they brought in the abandoned room that lead to the parallel timeline...
Needless to say, I could go on about it. I loved the idea of arcs in different timelines, giving the actors (many of them from the stage) chances to play different characters, though this wasn't without its strangeness (David Selby played four different characters, all named Quentin Collins!) True, the production values rivaled those of '70s Doctor Who, but the line flubs, camera bumps, and other technical mishaps added to the show's weird charm. Its cult status gained it entry into the home video market (to this day, it is the only English language daytime soap with a complete run on DVD), and production company Big Finish, primarily known for their Doctor Who audio adventures (and yes, I do own several of those), also have a range of full cast dramas and audiobooks based on Dark Shadows, featuring original cast members.
However, there is another piece of the story missing. For that, stay tuned...
