Dark Shadows (TV series): Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|''My name is [[The Protagonist|Victoria Winters]]. My journey is beginning. A journey that I hope will open the doors of life to me, and [[Rewatch Bonus|link my past with my future]]. A journey that will bring me to a strange and dark place. To the edge of the sea, high atop Widows' Hill. A house called [[Haunted House|Collinwood]]. A world I've never known, with people I've never met. [[Big Screwed-Up Family|People who tonight are still only shadows in my mind, but who will soon fill the days and nights of my tomorrows...]]''|The opening narration of the very first episode.}}

 

 

Though many soaps have since flirted with plots involving ghosts and psychic energy, ''Dark Shadows'' used almost every [[Monster Mash|classic horror element]] (vampires, werewolves, zombies, magic users) as well as sci-fi tropes like [[Time Travel]] and alternate dimensions.

The show was also notable for having storylines taking place in different time periods and parallel worlds, allowing the same actors to play [[Identical Grandson|identical relatives]] or [[Hey, It's That Guy!|lookalikes]].

 

 

The show's musical score was considered notable, receiving a Grammy nomination and spawning a top 20 Billboard hit.

''Dark Shadows'' is one of the only soaps of the era to boast a nearly complete archive. All but one episode survives intact, most as the original color videotapes, with a handful as black-and-white kinescopes. (An audio track exists for the "missing" episode, which was mated with publicity stills for later commercial release and syndication.)

 

 

* [[Aborted Arc]]: Victoria's parentage, once the [[Driving Question]], was left unresolved once Alexandra Moltke left the show. [[Word of God]] says: {{spoiler|Elizabeth Collins Stoddard is her mother.}}

* [[Anachronism Stew]]: Oddly enough for a show not only set, but created, in [[The Sixties]], the series, with few exceptions, seems to be almost completely oblivious to technological and social changes, particularly after the first season or two. The aversion of this trope by [[The Movie]] makes this glaringly obvious.

* [[Ape Shall Never Kill Ape]]

* [[Artifact of Doom]]: the hand of Count Petofi (also [[Attack of the Monster Appendage]] and [[Evil Hand]])

* [[Betty and Veronica]]: Barnabas Collins is torn between the memory of his fiancee, Josette du Pres, a Betty type, and the Veronica type (to the max) Angelique, the witch who gave him the vampire curse. At the end he gets over his torch for Josette, and avows to Angelique that he loves her. She is then killed, and Barnabas ends up with neither.

** Sam Hall in one of the articles of the TV Guide claimed that, had the show continue, Barnabas {{spoiler|would have married Julia and find his cure to turn him human. Both would have end up living in the Far East. There's a casual reference of their journey together away from the family danger was referred in ''Return to Collinwood''.}}

* [[Bigger Bad]]: {{spoiler|Judah Zachery, the warlock responsible for the family curse, the titular "dark shadow."}}

* [[Breakout Character]]: Barnabas.

* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: Immortal vampire Barnabas is trapped in his coffin.

* [[Fauxlosophic Narration]]: At the beginning of every episode in order to attempt to set a gothic mood. Originally done by Victoria, but others started joining in especially after she left the show.

'''Audience''': [[I Know You Know I Know|WE KNOW!!!!]] }}

* [[Femme Fatale]]: both Angelique and Laura.

* [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire]]: Barnabas, after significant character development. In one of the better done sequences, we see Barnabas Collins the man regain the upper hand over Barnabas the Monster, when he refuses to be party to murdering a man to gain freedom from his curse.

* [[Ghost Story]]: Barnabas telling Vicky and Carolyn how Josette died. That he did it during a thunderstorm with the power out was a nice touch.

* [[The Gwen Stacy]]: Josette DuPres.

* [[Gypsy Curse]]: Quentin was the victim of same (note: Never marry and abandon a gypsy. Just. Don't.)

* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: Reverend Trask, who's eventually talked into a [[Heel Face Turn]] as a ghost.

* [[Headless Horseman]]

* [[Hold Me]]: Done wordlessly by Daphne and the possessed David and Hallie, when Gerard {{spoiler|who is really Judah Zachery}}, kills them.

* [[Identical Grandson]]: Unsurprising, since actors often played different characters within the ''same'' time period.

* [[Love Makes You Crazy]]: Angelique

* [[Mad Scientist]]: Dr. Lang and Dr. Julia Hoffman

* [[Missing Episode]]: It has ''one'', being just about the earliest soap opera to be recorded for posterity. Also, the aired film versions of several early episodes are lost and they survive only on Kinescope, with noticably lower picture and audio quality.

* [[The Movie]]: ''House of Dark Shadows'' and ''Night of Dark Shadows'', neither of which took place in the main continuity. ''House'' was a more grisly retelling of the introduction of Barnabas, whereas ''Night'' was barely connected at all, essentially retconning all characters and lore for a new story.

* [[Revival]]: The 1990s version. There was also an unfinished pilot for the WB.

* [[Running Gag]]: Reverend Trask and his grandson, Gregory, both get bricked.

* [[Silver Bullet]]: effective against both vampires and werewolves.

* [[Spooky Painting]]: Angelique has one. So does Barnabas. And Quentin. Josette, as well.

* [[Start of Darkness]]: The entire 1795 storyline, for Barnabas.

* [[The Show Must Go On]]: Examples are too numerous to list. Barnabas' heart-wrenching dramatic pauses were reportedly just Jonathan Frid forgetting his lines.

* [[Timey-Wimey Ball]]: To save the present family from the ghost of Quentin Collins, Barnabas travels back to 1897 to save the living Quentin. Once he returns, the family, especially Amy and David, still has memories of Quentin's ghost, despite the fact that, with history changed, Quentin is now still alive and has lived away from Collinsport for decades.

* [[Title Drop]]: Near the beginning of Collection 3.

'''Burke''': Yeah, all the ''darkness'' and the ''shadows''... }}

* [[Together in Death]]: Tad/David and Carrie/Hallie in 1970, before Barnabas and Julia change history.

* [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]]: Tim and Rachel, for each other. ''Very'' unlucky indeed.

* [[Visions of Another Self]]: for nearly a whole season.

* [[What Year Is This?]]

* [[Woman Scorned]]: It's heavily implied that Barnabas and Angelique had sex. It's not clear whether this was before or after he became engaged to Josette, but Angelique got the short end of the stick either way. These events were the catalyst for Angelique's hatred for the Collins family.

* [[Yandere]]: Angelique

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Vampire Fiction]]

[[Category:Soap Opera]]

[[Category:Supernatural Soap Opera]]

[[Category:Trope Makers]]