Today
Dark Shadows reaches its 40th Anniversary.
I feel a little reflective, pondering this latest milestone.
The show went off the air nearly a decade before I was born,
and for the last decade has been a small, but significant
part of my life, writing, editing fanzines and producing
this website. Over the past few months, I've been busy working
on an official project for the anniversary, a new series
of CD audio dramas, starring the original cast. You can
read more about this at www.darkshadowsreborn.com.
It's been one of the most challenging and rewarding projects
I've ever been involved in, and I hope visitors to this site will support and enjoy the new stories.
This
is a special show. It feeds the imagination, it challenges
the audience, and even with 40 years of hindsight, the energy
and commitment the stories contain still burns brightly.
We're lucky to have it.
Here's
to the next four decades.
| Classic
Quote |
March
17 2005 |
New
to the site's homepage is the Classic Quote,
which dispenses a piece of memorable dialogue from
Dark Shadows every time you log on. However, we'd
still like to hear our reader's favourite dialogue triumphs
for the show, celebrating its most dramatic, bizarre, witty
and absurd moments. If you've got a favourite quote you
think should be included, let us know by email.
| Our
New Homepage |
October
10 2004 |
Just
a quick note about this new homepage design. This is the
beginning of an overhaul of the website's entire structure
and layout, aimed to make it more accessable and user friendly.
Other sections of the site will be streamlined and tweaked
and tweaked in the coming weeks. Let us know what you think!
| Thoughts
on the Pilot |
July
17 2004 |
Well,
it was fun while it lasted. Several months after the excitement
of the pilot's green-light, the latest Dark Shadows revival
seems sadly one ventured rather than gained.
Dark
Shadows was always going to be a tough sell in today's
television market. With a sprawling cast, epic stories and
wistful location, it's a concept that eludes any one-sentence
pitch. The format is far more a mood and atmosphere than
a situation - dress it up with all the Slayers and Capeside
teen angst you like, it was never going to be hip. Evocative?
Yes... Engaging? Sure... Hip?
Erm,
no. Dark Shadows inhabits a simpler world of fairytales
and dreams. At a time when television overall seems to be
moving back towards reality, Dark Shadows perhaps
was simply a victim of circumstance. Short of CSI: Collinport,
the chances of a reprieve are probably slim for the time
being.
Ultimately,
for a youth-orientated network like the WB, commiting to
Dark Shadows was always going to require a leap of faith
from its executives, to recognise and embrace the show's
deviation from their typical fare - not in spite of those
differences, but because of them. Yet, despite its failure,
the new production demonstrated that the innocent land of
Collinwood can even have a place in the cynical world of
the 21st Century. Maybe that fact alone is worth celebrating.
| Three
Years of Collinwood.net! |
July
8 2004 |
Happy
Birthday to us! Three years on, I'm pleased to say that
the Dark Shadows Journal Online is still going strong.
With the tidal wave of activity the WB pilot brought earlier
this year, it was a privilege to cover such an important
development for the show, regardless of its outcome. I'd
like to thank everyone who assisted with news, insight and
other resources throughout the production - hopefully it
won't be too long before we get to do it all over again!
Elsewhere,
the pilot served to give the site a massive influx of news
visitors, many of whom have continued to log on since. Reporting
on the pilot sidetracked some long-term plans for the site,
but with the recent expansion of the Episode
Guide, plus some other projects that will debut shortly,
we'll be moving full steam ahead.
Anyway,
ending this ramble, I'll just say that I'm glad I still
enjoy running the site after three years, and pleased that
people enjoy visiting it too. With the show off the air
indefinitely, hopefully it's doing something to help fill
the void.
Cheers
Stuart
| 38
Years Old! |
June
28 2004 |
No,
not us! Yesterday Dark Shadows turned 38, marking
the passage of nearly four decades since Victoria Winters
began her fateful train journey to the world of Collinsport.
To mark the occasion, we've added a special Desktop
Wallpaper design, celebrating the very first episode
- be sure to check it out!
Coming midway through a year of highs and lows for Dark
Shadows, it seems a good time to celebrate the show's
longevity. So, a toast to the all Collins family and their
offscreen counterparts, particularly our departed stalwarts
Joan Bennett and Louis Edmonds. So a tip of the hat
to all the show's original cast and crew. Just ponder how
easy it could have been for Dark Shadows to fade
away as just another mediocre daytime soap. The fact that
people embraced such a outlandish concept is surprising.
That we still embrace it today is something truly remarkable.
| 100,000
and Counting... |
August
22 2003 |
This
week, the Dark Shadows Journal Online received its
100,000th visitor since its relaunch in July 2001.
When I first started the site in 1999, it was simple affair
to promote my fanzine - I never could have envisaged it
becoming so extensive. At present, it's a privilege to be
involved in a project that receives so many enthusiastic
visitors. Thanks to everyone who has contributed and here's
to the next 100,000!
| Happy
37th Birthday Dark Shadows! |
June
27 2003 |
Today
marks the 37th anniversary of Dark Shadows' debut
on ABC-TV, in the classic opening episode depicting Victoria's
journey to Collinwood.
"With
all our ghosts, we don't need any strangers in this house..."
For
me, the opening episode is Dark Shadows at its best
- it's just so theatrical and rich, with some standout dialogue
("broomsticks and unicorns... and chauffeured cars"),
a palpable atmosphere, and thanks to Lela Swift's amazing
direction, Collinwood looks cavernous - the sets really
never looked better. Add to that a stunning turn from Joan
Bennett at her most regal, and Louis Edmonds positively
oozing sarcasm and disdain, and you simply have the perfect
start to the series. Check out our extensive behind-the-scenes
feature on this episode by clicking
here.
| 50,000
and Counting... |
November
10 2002 |
The
Dark Shadows Journal Online has clocked in its 50,000th
visitor since its relaunch in July 2001. The revamp of the
news section has been a big success, and it's shot into
the lead as the site's most popular feature, mainly due
the support and input of many fans and visitors. Our online
Mailing List has just welcomed its 500th subscriber, and
it's gratifying seeing the site enjoyed by such a large
number of fans. Thanks for supporting and enjoying the site,
and keep on visiting!
| It's
Our First Birthday! |
July
8 2002 |
As
of today, it's one year since the current Dark Shadows
Journal Online was opened. Thank you to everyone
who has supported it by visiting, offering information,
images, comments and suggestions. I'm also very grateful
to the many people who have supported the site's Amazon.com
sponsored links, offering the project a vital source of
income towards domain and webspace expenses.
In
the next few months there will be a range of new features,
including the continuation of our popular illustrated episode
guide. There will also be new multimedia, along with plenty
of other surprises. Thanks for your support and enthusiasm
and I hope you will continue to enjoy the website.
| Dark
Shadows Journal Online Relaunches |
March
23 2002 |
Regular
visitors to the site will have noticed that recently our
service has been erratic to say the least, culminating in
the site disappearing altogether at the end of October.
Since the site relaunched last summer, visitors and the
server traffic for the site has been steadily increasing.
The site's service provider, Virgin.net deemed our transfer
rate was too much and insisted that steps were taken to
reduce this. As a result, attempts were made to condense
the site drastically, with major improvements made.
However, Virgin remained unsatisfied, and chose to delete
the entire server of Dark
Shadows Journal files
- with no prior warning, and in spite of the fact that their
terms and conditions do not cite this course of action.
Since then, I've been actively pursuing an alternative host,
with a changeover finally completed in early February. The
site is now being hosted by Yahoo web services, via the
alternative hostname www.collinwood.net.
Access to the site remains available via www.darkshadows.co.uk
also, which will continue to be promoted as the site's primary
URL for the forseeable future.
The new provider brings with it a huge amount of additional
webspace, so look out for lots of new multimedia features
and the rapid expansion of many areas of the site, including
many feature reproduced from out-of-print issues of the
Dark Shadow Journal. With these improvements, along
with faster access and greater reliability, I hope to continue
to establish this site as a primary source of Dark Shadows
information on the internet.
The site continues to be run as a fan service and is not
affiliated with any official company representing the show.
If you enjoy visiting here, please consider using the site's
Online Store
- all purchases earn the site a commission fee (at no additional
cost to the purchaser) which goes towards partially offsetting
the now ongoing domain and hosting costs of the project
in the future.
Thanks for your support,
Stuart Manning
