Dark Shadows DVD Collection 2

Rating:
Summary: Hopefully BETTER than collection 1!!
Review: I'm VERY, VERY DISAPPOINTED with collection 1, for EXCLUDING the ENTIRE year 0f the 1966 episodes!! Hopefully, Dan Curtis did a BETTER job on THIS "collection". Too bad, ALL of the 1966 episodes are sold on VHS ONLY!...I'll just have to wait and see!

Rating:
Summary: Hopefully BETTER than collection 1!!
Review: I'm VERY, VERY DISAPPOINTED with collection 1, for EXCLUDING the ENTIRE year 0f the 1966 episodes!! Hopefully, Dan Curtis did a BETTER job on THIS "collection". Too bad, ALL of the 1966 episodes are sold on VHS ONLY!...I'll just have to wait and see!

Rating:
Summary: in response to the comments made by "kisses 2 all"...
Review: The decision to start the dvd releases with the introduction of Barnabas Collins is the same release pattern that MPI used for the vhs releases. The first year of the show was not released on vhs until the series from Barnabas' appearance on was released. This same release structure is planned for these dvds. The truth is, the first year of the show is not nearly as interesting as the following years, and the show was in danger of cancellation before Barnabas showed up at Collinwood. I guess MPI figures it can attract more new fans by starting the dvds where the show becomes most interesting rather than alienating potential new fans by starting with the least supernatural year of the show. As long as these dvds sell successfully, I think we will eventually see every episode released on dvd.

Rating:
Summary: in response to the comments made by "kisses 2 all"...
Review: The decision to start the dvd releases with the introduction of Barnabas Collins is the same release pattern that MPI used for the vhs releases. The first year of the show was not released on vhs until the series from Barnabas' appearance on was released. This same release structure is planned for these dvds. The truth is, the first year of the show is not nearly as interesting as the following years, and the show was in danger of cancellation before Barnabas showed up at Collinwood. I guess MPI figures it can attract more new fans by starting the dvds where the show becomes most interesting rather than alienating potential new fans by starting with the least supernatural year of the show. As long as these dvds sell successfully, I think we will eventually see every episode released on dvd.

Rating:
Summary: SINK YOUR TEETH INTO THIS CULT CLASSIC (AGAIN)
Review: There are grand operas, horse operas and soap operas. But we're not horsing
around when we say that there's only one grand, gothic soap opera --- the
indestructible Dark Shadows.
Premiering on ABC in 1966, it ran for five years, chalking up 1,225
episodes. And now it's time, once again, to sink our teeth into one of TV's more
quixotic offerings. Pass the garlic, please.
And pass the DVD sets issued by MPI Home Video, dedicated folk who
have worked tirelessly to bring the series out of its forgotten shadows and into
an era of rediscovery. Each of the 5 DVD sets contain 4 discs, a chronicle of
Dark Shadows episodes --- approximately 75 hours of our favorite fanged ghoul,
Barnabas Collins, and the dark doings set in the small fictional fishing village of
Collinsport, Maine. Be forewarned, however, that as much as we have a stake in
the revival of the series, we question why MPI only included episodes #211 to
#412. (We asked the question, but they never answered. Talk about being kept
in dark shadows.)
The late '60s were an odd time in our cultural history, a kind of a
maturation into reality after the bland '50s and a precursor for the entitlement
and permissiveness of the '70s. Violence permeated our society and its
entertainment ... and escape was the order of the day. Dark Shadows brought us
to a strange set of performers playing even a stranger set of characters.
Grayson Hall and Joan Bennett came from the movies, Jonathan Frid and David
Selby came from the stage, and they were supported by actors and actresses
who had spent literally decades gracing some of the most popular soap operas
from radio and television.
Adding to the escapism was the time element. You were never quite sure
what century you were in while visiting the New England branch of Transylvania.
It could be modern-day Collinsport, or it could be the late 18th century.
Performers could be playing the present-day characters, or their great
grandparents. Still, one thing was sure: High on Windows Hill stood the family
manse, Collinswood (the name most likely came from Wilkie Collins, the author
whose gothic gems graced book stalls in late Victorian times), and, regardless of
the century, it was here that the haunted Collinses plied their depraved trade.
Dark Shadows had a narrative link in a way, but the performers never
seem to know exactly where they are, were they've been, or, most importantly,
where they were going. To be sure, there were the normal and accepted gaffs of
daytime television, such as a boom mike boinking a performer on the head or
people tripping over cables. But, there was the added zest of poor Joan Bennett
looking confused, calling performers by their real names, and trying to cover
rising panic with a look of sheer exotic boredom. Bennett made her first film well
before the talky revolution, but she hadn't seen or heard everything yet, until she
sojourned into daytime television.
As a matter of fact, the growth and development of the television show
parallels to a greater or lesser extent the growth and development of theater of
the absurd in America. The players and the set remained basically the same, but
the period and action varied wildly. And, ultimately it didn't matter where you
were, or where you thought you were, or where you thought you were going,
because you were under the spell of the Collinses, in Collinsport, and they were
in control. If the reality seemed fractured, hallucinatory and vaguely scary, well,
then, wasn't life exactly like that?
Dan Curtis, who also brought us War and Remembrance, The Winds of
War, The Night Stalker, Dracula and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (both with Jack
Palance) and the cult film Burnt Offerings, spawned the series. But the greatest
success of this veritable one-man cottage industry is undoubtedly Dark
Shadows. The brooding gothic setting, the sprawling, elephantine plot twists and
the idiosyncratic, not to say colliding, acting styles come together to create
something unique and strangely satisfying.
For the last 20 years, there has been an annual Dark Shadows Festival, held either in the Los Angeles or New York area. This year, it will be held in
Brooklyn at the end of August. An ominous press release informs us that this
year marks the final full fledged festival, the last of its line.
Knowing the denizens of Dark Shadows, we don't believe it for a moment!

Rating:
Summary: SINK YOUR TEETH INTO THIS CULT CLASSIC (AGAIN)
Review: There are grand operas, horse operas and soap operas. But we're not horsing
around when we say that there's only one grand, gothic soap opera --- the
indestructible Dark Shadows.
Premiering on ABC in 1966, it ran for five years, chalking up 1,225
episodes. And now it's time, once again, to sink our teeth into one of TV's more
quixotic offerings. Pass the garlic, please.
And pass the DVD sets issued by MPI Home Video, dedicated folk who
have worked tirelessly to bring the series out of its forgotten shadows and into
an era of rediscovery. Each of the 5 DVD sets contain 4 discs, a chronicle of
Dark Shadows episodes --- approximately 75 hours of our favorite fanged ghoul,
Barnabas Collins, and the dark doings set in the small fictional fishing village of
Collinsport, Maine. Be forewarned, however, that as much as we have a stake in
the revival of the series, we question why MPI only included episodes #211 to
#412. (We asked the question, but they never answered. Talk about being kept
in dark shadows.)
The late '60s were an odd time in our cultural history, a kind of a
maturation into reality after the bland '50s and a precursor for the entitlement
and permissiveness of the '70s. Violence permeated our society and its
entertainment ... and escape was the order of the day. Dark Shadows brought us
to a strange set of performers playing even a stranger set of characters.
Grayson Hall and Joan Bennett came from the movies, Jonathan Frid and David
Selby came from the stage, and they were supported by actors and actresses
who had spent literally decades gracing some of the most popular soap operas
from radio and television.
Adding to the escapism was the time element. You were never quite sure
what century you were in while visiting the New England branch of Transylvania.
It could be modern-day Collinsport, or it could be the late 18th century.
Performers could be playing the present-day characters, or their great
grandparents. Still, one thing was sure: High on Windows Hill stood the family
manse, Collinswood (the name most likely came from Wilkie Collins, the author
whose gothic gems graced book stalls in late Victorian times), and, regardless of
the century, it was here that the haunted Collinses plied their depraved trade.
Dark Shadows had a narrative link in a way, but the performers never
seem to know exactly where they are, were they've been, or, most importantly,
where they were going. To be sure, there were the normal and accepted gaffs of
daytime television, such as a boom mike boinking a performer on the head or
people tripping over cables. But, there was the added zest of poor Joan Bennett
looking confused, calling performers by their real names, and trying to cover
rising panic with a look of sheer exotic boredom. Bennett made her first film well
before the talky revolution, but she hadn't seen or heard everything yet, until she
sojourned into daytime television.
As a matter of fact, the growth and development of the television show
parallels to a greater or lesser extent the growth and development of theater of
the absurd in America. The players and the set remained basically the same, but
the period and action varied wildly. And, ultimately it didn't matter where you
were, or where you thought you were, or where you thought you were going,
because you were under the spell of the Collinses, in Collinsport, and they were
in control. If the reality seemed fractured, hallucinatory and vaguely scary, well,
then, wasn't life exactly like that?
Dan Curtis, who also brought us War and Remembrance, The Winds of
War, The Night Stalker, Dracula and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (both with Jack
Palance) and the cult film Burnt Offerings, spawned the series. But the greatest
success of this veritable one-man cottage industry is undoubtedly Dark
Shadows. The brooding gothic setting, the sprawling, elephantine plot twists and
the idiosyncratic, not to say colliding, acting styles come together to create
something unique and strangely satisfying.
For the last 20 years, there has been an annual Dark Shadows Festival, held either in the Los Angeles or New York area. This year, it will be held in
Brooklyn at the end of August. An ominous press release informs us that this
year marks the final full fledged festival, the last of its line.
Knowing the denizens of Dark Shadows, we don't believe it for a moment!

Rating:
Summary: Dark Shadows Collection 2!
Review: When I finished watching the first DVD collection of `Dark Shadows', I immediately purchased this set in order to see what happened to the lives of the residents of Collinwood. Now having finished watching this set, I must say that I am not one bit disappointed. The storyline were so intriguing that I saw around 10 episodes in 1 day.

Some of the plots in this collection include:
- Maggie Evan's escape from Barnabas Collins
- Elizabeth Collin's engagement to Jason McGuire
- Revelation of Elizabeth Collin's deepest secret
- Victoria Winter's sudden liking for Josette.
- Dr. Julia Hoffman finding out another secret about a member of the Collins family.

This collection will keep you entertained for hours. You will not notice the time fly by once you start watching the episodes. The cast give amazing performances in this show, and I especially like Kathryn Leigh Scott's performance as Maggie Evans. Even though this show aired in the 60s, it still continues to entertain many, which proves how good this show is! I am off to buy the next set of the series to view the continuation.