Cheap Dark Shadows: The Beginning Collection 1 (DVD) Price

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Customer Reviews of Dark Shadows: The Beginning Collection 1

My Name is Victoria Winters..........
The immortal words that began a legacy of fandom for one of the most bizarre, much-loved ground-breaking gothic soap operas ever made....it became most known for one of the first horror/fantasy series to introduce the idea of a guilt-ridden vampire, a tragic hero that broke ground for those who followed...like the popular Angel character in the Buffy series. <
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>Herein lies the more maligned, first year of the soap which was only in its barest means, a gothic soap made in the image of Jane Eyre....volume one begins with the first 35 episodes or seven weeks of the show, beginning with the arrival of young orphan cum governess in Collinsport, a strange Maine coastal town headed by the bizarre, dysfunctional wealthy Collins family. She has been commissioned to work at the ancestral home, Collinwood, as governess to the emotionally troubled ten year old, David Collins(played by David Henesy) by matriarch, Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard (played by Hollywood veteran actress, Joan Bennett)to benefit her alcoholic brother, Roger (played wonderfully by over-the-top actor, Roger Davis) Victoria (Alexandra Moltke)is also to be companion to Elizabeth's wild teenage daughter, Carolyn (Nancy Barrett).....these people bring a whole new meaning to skeletons in the closet! Other noteworthy characters to the cast are coffee shop waitress, Maggie Evans (the beautiful Kathryn Leigh Scott), Carolyn's boyfriend, Joe Haskell (Joel Crothers) and Sam Evans (David Ford) Subplots include the return of once falsely accused Burke Devlin (Mitch Ryan) who insists Roger Collins committed the manslaughter and the nearly psychotic episodes of the more than troubled young David Collins. Although many dismissed this early year as pointless drivel, many die-hard fans (I count myself as one!) were rabid for these early installments....there are strong character developments here and good acting....although production values are sometimes strained, lines forgotten, sets falling apart, this is an enduring classic of gothic suspense. The early episodes are a bit drawn out but I believe the stotylines that preceed the eventual addition of Dracula-like family member Barnabas Collins are a must have for all committed fans of the far-out fantasy soap.....with the fantasic prices Amazon has been shelling out on these, snatch them up now!!!

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Why Barnabas was badly needed.
The early story lines were just okay. The introduction of Barnabas Collins transformed the show into the cult classic that it is today. The price for these early storylines is way overpriced by MPI. In fairness to the true Dark Shadows fans, I think MPI owed us something better than the high price for 6 dvds. I truly felt cheated in Vol. 26 for 19 esp. Nothing against MPI, but you can`t be serious about the pricing structure of your product. In most of the dvd`d there was some type of distortion and video malfuction. I do understand it was from the master tapes. Again, the price of the dvd`s was to high compared to the quality we were given. I`ve been wanting to get that off my chest for years. I wish anyone well who chooses to buy the pre-Barnabas years. I`m not going to be one of them.

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dark shadows the beginning
In reference to the above review MPI could charge 100.00 for the series in each set and I would still buy it, it is simply an all time classic show and I remember running home from school, (screaming even at the top of my lungs) in to the living room, turning down the lights and throwing a blanket over my head when the show came on at 3 p.m. in Dallas. I have all 26 volumes and am buying what MPI is sending thru the mail on the pre Barnabas episoes. Before I become a ghost myself I am going up to Rhode Island and take a tour of Collinwood to see it for my self. Barnabas, (I felt so sorry for him despite what he did to Maggie Evans, keeping her as a prisoner in the basement of the Old House and trying to turn her into Josette Dupree) the evil witch Angelique who almost destroyed the entire Collins family in the year 1795, Elizabeth, Ben Stokes,the Evil "Rev" Trask who definatly deserved what he got in punishment and by the it way was so richly deserved, (It was not pretty in case you are wondering) Maggie Evans, David, Willie, Doctor Julia Hoffman, Jeff Clark who really is Peter Bradford, Roger, Carolyn, the ghosts of Jeremiah and Sarah Collins and Joset Dupre who threw her self off of Widows Hill, the Dream Curse and the secret room at Eagle Hill Cementary, time travel, the celler room in the Old house on the "great estate of Collinwood" where so much tradegy and grief took place ( I for one was glad to see Abigal Collins come to an "untimley" end there after what she put poor Victoria Winters thru, the Blue Whale in the town of Collinsport Doctor Eric Lang's Lab where he was "working on something" in the basement and of course Quentin and the demonic Nicolas Blair, how can I ever forget them..........