Question

[steveflam]

What was the name of a television mini series that they did first in the 60's I think and redid again in the 80's. It was about a vampire who wanted to become human, something like Shadowborn Manor? Anyone rememeber that at all?

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Sounds like you're thinking of "Dark Shadows". It was more than just a mini-series in the 60s, but a daily afternoon program which started out as a soap opera, then evolved into a Gothic romance/horror series. The star of the program was vampire Barnabas Collins; the estate was Collinwood. Production values were very, very cheap.

It was revived as a series in the late 80s, but didn't do nearly as well as the original and only lasted out one season. For a while, the SciFi Channel showed episodes of the original, black-and-white "Dark Shadows" every weekday morning, which is where I learned a bit about the show and its history.

FWIW, the old "Dark Shadows" is right up there with "Doctor Who" as one of the longer scifi/fantasy/horror TV series of all time, in terms of number of episodes produced. That's because it was on five times a week, and lasted for several years before running out of plot ideas. I've seen DVD boxed sets of the original program at Best Buy, and apparently there's more than 20 multi-disk boxes worth of episodes.


Several elements of Strahd's character and backstory -- most notably, his search for the reincarnation of his lost love -- were probably inspired, in part, by Barnabas Collins, rather than by Dracula.

[steveflam]

I agree with you on your comment about Strahd being based more on him then Dracula

[Rotipher of the FoS]

True, I'd bet one or both of the Hickmans had watched the original "Dark Shadows" when they were younger, and brought elements of that into the origins and motives of I6's Strahd.

Of course, the writers of "Dark Shadows" probably borrowed the idea for the reincarnated girlfriend from the "Varney the Vampyre" penny dreadful series from over a century before: a series that also influenced "Dracula". Basically, Barnabas got the sympathetic/romantic elements of Varney, and Dracula got the scary/gruesome ones.

So you could say that "Varney" ultimately gave rise to these qualities of Strahd, but only third-hand.

[steveflam]

Of course, the writers of "Dark Shadows" probably borrowed the idea for the reincarnated girlfriend from the "Varney the Vampyre" penny dreadful series from over a century before: a series that also influenced "Dracula". Basically, Barnabas got the sympathetic/romantic elements of Varney, and Dracula got the scary/gruesome ones.

So you could say that "Varney" ultimately gave rise to these qualities of Strahd, but only third-hand.

I have never heard of Varney before actually, looks like I'll be looking it up LOL... Thanks Roti

Steve

[steveflam]

And faster than u can Varney the Vampyre here's the first few chapters:

http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/va ... index.html

[steveflam]

Well now that I've read most of the first page there, I'd have to say that Mr.Rymer is more suited to Ravenloft than Stoker is. Wow thanks Roti
He'd of made an excellent author for Ravenloft! Maybe even P.N Elrod read his works

[Sylaire]

I'm assuming she did. Jack Fleming specifically refers to reading Varney in one of the "Vampire Files" novels (I think it's the second one, when he goes into the wannabe Van Helsing's bookstore in the flashback sequence, but I wouldn't swear to it under oath). So Ms. Elrod is definitely aware of Varney and probably read it.

[steveflam]

Thanks

[LordGodefroi]

It was revived as a series in the late 80s, but didn't do nearly as well as the original and only lasted out one season. For a while, the SciFi Channel showed episodes of the original, black-and-white "Dark Shadows" every weekday morning, which is where I learned a bit about the show and its history.

Actually, the Dark Shadows revival series started in 1991 and the only reason it didn't succeed was due to the fact that NBC was constantly pre-empting it for Gulf War coverage. (Yeah, like people are looking for war coverage on Friday nights.)

Anyway, the complete 12 episode series is available on DVD and is worth the purchase:

Dark Shadows: The Revival Series (1991) at Amazon.com