THERE’S A FLY ON THAT FANG…
Anya Martin unearths a lighter side to the gothic soap opera in DARK SHADOWS BLOOPERS & TREASURESWhen DARK SHADOWS first came on TV, I was just three years old. My parents were completely adverse to soap operas, but because it had a supernatural theme, they watched it obsessively. From it, an entire of generation of kids like me learned an appreciation for vampires, werewolves and witches, and teenagers and college students even skipped classes not to miss it.
Several years ago I had the opportunity to watch all five years of episodes again on the Sci-Fi Channel, an endeavor that reminded me how amazingly cool the series was (especially two of the plot lines which took place in other times such as 1795 and 1897). Like BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, DARK SHADOWS stole most of its plots from horror movies and novels but reworked them in ways that were clever and fresh. Well, at least up until the LEVITHAN plotline when things started going downhill to a disappointing anticlimax where all continuity was thrown out the window (kind of like SANTA BARBARA, the only other truly innovative daily soap opera unless you count MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN). Barnabas Collins was the quintessential “sensitive vampire” long before Anne Rice put pen to paper to create Louis or Lestat, and David Selby as Quentin (who, for a time, was victim of the werewolf’s curse) was sexier than I remembered!
However, along with all the things that make DARK SHADOWS fans wax poetic, there are many that make modern viewers cringe. One is the seemingly endless plotlines that like most soap operas creaked along and then seemingly charged ahead with everything happening in one jam-packed episode (imagine an era before VCRs and Tivo when if you missed it, it was gone forever). The other is the mistakes. DARK SHADOWS was taped live so there was no going back and reediting if an actor fumbled a line, a fly was buzzing around an actor’s face, a boom mike swung into a shot or even a stray crew member walked onto the set.
DARK SHADOWS BLOOPERS & TREASURES includes all of the above and more gaffes. However, I have to admit that I found myself a little bored by watching them all in a row, although others may find it hilarious. For me, the real value of the DVD was the “treasures” including music video clips combined with melodies such as the Grammy-nominated hit “Quentin’s Theme (Shadows of the Night)” and “I Wanna Dance With You,” the corny hooch song sung first by Pansy Fae and then by Nancy Barrett as Charity Trask possessed by Pansy Faye. Poor Nancy couldn’t escape from that cheesy tune, being forced to sing it yet again as Leticia Faye in the 1840 sequence. But better still is footage of Lara Parker (“Angelique”) giving a tour of Salem, Mass., some product spots, and especially vintage long-lost footage of Jonathan Frid, Joan Bennett (“Elizabeth Collins Stoddard”) and David Henesy (“David Collins”) on game shows “What’s My Line” and “The Generation Gap.” The latter really serves as a time capsule to remind us of how different the 1960s are from now, not to mention what a sex symbol Frid was. I laughed far harder than at the bloopers. These were not included in the original videotape version.
The verdict: kooky fun for anyone who enjoys the lighter side of DARK SHADOWS, whether you’re a blooper fan or not. 
