A Fondness for Dark Shadows

Wow, I can’t remember the last time I looked at BoingBoing. Probably not 10 years, but eight maybe? Seven?

Anyway, my feed knows me and alerted me to this post by Gareth Branwyn about Dark Shadows. Like Branwyn, I have fond memories from childhood. However, I wasn’t rushing home from school, I was still too young. My memory is that my aunt would visit occasionally (she must have been a teenager then) and would want to watch Dark Shadows.

I was captivated because there was a child character named David. I think that’s also where my childhood interest in blue whales started (the Blue Whale was the name of the local bar).

In 2012 I decided to revisit the series and watched all the pre-Barnabas episodes and fell head over heels. I love that show. I especially love the pre-Barnabas episodes (though as a child I was infatuated with Jonathan Frid).

This summer I watched the 1990s remake, which I thought was a pretty good adaptation.

I think it’s all available through Amazon Prime, and there are probably worse ways to while away a pandemic than watching this one-of-a-kind soapy goth. (For some reason I especially love the introductory voice-over that opened each episode.) If you want some idea of what to expect Branwyn points to this 2019 article from Syfy covering the major plotlines that developed over six seasons.

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