grayarcadian
Joined Jun 2004
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Reviews2
grayarcadian's rating
Bad News: For all of you who ran home after school to watch Dark Shadows when it was on TV, this show will be a review. There wasn't a chance for this generation of Dark Shadows to catch up. They also cast a cast of very different actors with some different styles to play the roles you love so much, so this is going to seem like an odd dream to you folks. Depending on you tolerance level for tinkering with classics, it might not be a wholly pleasant dream either. Here's the final checkpoint for you: Go look up a picture of Ben Cross and his IMDb record. If you can watch him play Barnabas, you are good to go and you will have a lot of fun. If there is but one Barnabas in your heart, then there's nothing worth seeing here.
Good News: For those of us whose vampire education starts with "The Lost Boys," (or even post-Lost Boys) please introduce yourself to the intense Daddy of Nick Knight and direct descendant of Dracula, Barnabas Collins. He's the centerpiece character of one of the top five most Gothic-minded shows in history.
It's a soap opera the same way the Addam's Family is a sitcom. You thought you'd hate them all and then this. In addition to the scheming for the Collins fortune, the love/lust triangles, the kidnapping, and that sort of regular soap fair, it also features time travel, ghosts, demons, witchcraft, REALLY old family vendettas, and, of course, someone trying to keep his vampirism under wraps. The original series was a once a day affair. The '90's version was a once a week affair that also felt the need (and I think rightly so) to do a little audience catch up. Overall, the effects are better than the original (considering the time and budget, go figure) and with a lot of love. I personally like the casting more than on the original, but this is one of those fan debates. Everything here is presented smoothly and more than competently.
In short - you loved the Hammer films, you want a solid history of modern Gothic culture, or if you do anything with a group called "The Camerilla," you cannot afford to skip knowing about this show. The '90's series is a better than average way to experience the pacing, moodiness, and general feel of the long running Dark Shadows serial. If you want to get more in-depth, then go and find the '60's series.
Good News: For those of us whose vampire education starts with "The Lost Boys," (or even post-Lost Boys) please introduce yourself to the intense Daddy of Nick Knight and direct descendant of Dracula, Barnabas Collins. He's the centerpiece character of one of the top five most Gothic-minded shows in history.
It's a soap opera the same way the Addam's Family is a sitcom. You thought you'd hate them all and then this. In addition to the scheming for the Collins fortune, the love/lust triangles, the kidnapping, and that sort of regular soap fair, it also features time travel, ghosts, demons, witchcraft, REALLY old family vendettas, and, of course, someone trying to keep his vampirism under wraps. The original series was a once a day affair. The '90's version was a once a week affair that also felt the need (and I think rightly so) to do a little audience catch up. Overall, the effects are better than the original (considering the time and budget, go figure) and with a lot of love. I personally like the casting more than on the original, but this is one of those fan debates. Everything here is presented smoothly and more than competently.
In short - you loved the Hammer films, you want a solid history of modern Gothic culture, or if you do anything with a group called "The Camerilla," you cannot afford to skip knowing about this show. The '90's series is a better than average way to experience the pacing, moodiness, and general feel of the long running Dark Shadows serial. If you want to get more in-depth, then go and find the '60's series.
This show, along with, "Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers," "Dungeon and Dragons," and "Pole Position," made the "must see," list for my sister and I. Don't go looking for anything deep and meaningful or any sort of anime meta-storyline here. It's just fun and great eye candy.
The basic premise is that a new wave-style teen garage band gets taken to another dimension - The Flipside - by an evil mastermind. (The show was better when Masterblaster didn't appear, really.) Over on the Flipside, the teens now appear to be animated (in a very mid-80's style) rather than flesh and blood people. The band teams up with an allergic fairy and they travel in this TARDIS-esque truck that now serves as a home base for their adventures. The plots basically focused of getting to gigs, adjusting to the oddness that was the Flipside, avoiding Masterblaster, and trying to get home.
Oh! They edited out the music videos clips in the home video releases. This is a crying shame. For those of us who didn't have cable Kidd Video showed us what we were listening to. I remember clips from Tears for Fears and Culture Club being featured into the episodes along with the young actors (not animated) putting on their own video at the end of the show.
If you didn't like the flash and dazzle of the '80's, don't bother with this show. If you liked the color and attitude of that decade, or have enough of sense of humor to at least heckle them, sit back and enjoy.
The basic premise is that a new wave-style teen garage band gets taken to another dimension - The Flipside - by an evil mastermind. (The show was better when Masterblaster didn't appear, really.) Over on the Flipside, the teens now appear to be animated (in a very mid-80's style) rather than flesh and blood people. The band teams up with an allergic fairy and they travel in this TARDIS-esque truck that now serves as a home base for their adventures. The plots basically focused of getting to gigs, adjusting to the oddness that was the Flipside, avoiding Masterblaster, and trying to get home.
Oh! They edited out the music videos clips in the home video releases. This is a crying shame. For those of us who didn't have cable Kidd Video showed us what we were listening to. I remember clips from Tears for Fears and Culture Club being featured into the episodes along with the young actors (not animated) putting on their own video at the end of the show.
If you didn't like the flash and dazzle of the '80's, don't bother with this show. If you liked the color and attitude of that decade, or have enough of sense of humor to at least heckle them, sit back and enjoy.