Dark Shadows Coll #9

The show just keeps getting better, plot after plot. I don't find Nicholas Blair at all androgynous in appearance, or boring. He's one of the all-time great Dark Shadows villains. There's such a presence he exudes with his dark, penetrating eyes which make you become even more engrossed whenever he's in a scene.

I loved the Adam & Eve storyline. Marie Wallace is spooky in her portrayal of the stubborn & rebellious Eve, who despises Adam & wants nothing to do with him! Some good stuff in this storyine & in the scenes of Nicholas' secluded home where Eve resides.

I love David Selby, he's a terrific actor, but I just couldn't get in to Quentin, really. I love Shadows of the Night, which is Quentin's Theme, & he's a good, solid character & fine addition to the show & any cast for that matter, however. I guess we all have our particular favorites. My favorite male villains were Reverend Trask, Nicholas Blair & Bruno Hess. I wonder if the latter two are of Italian origin, they sure look it, but haven't found anything that says either of them are. I've wondered about Don Briscoe's origin as well. He was superb as Chris Jennings & the Werewolf storyline which is coming up soon in the next couple of volumes.

In any case, I've rambled enough. For newcomers to DS, stick with it. If there's a brief period where you feel you're becoming disinterested in a certain storyline, don't lose heart, the show is the rarest form of offbeat daytime drama that has a huge cult following around the globe. There are even fan conventions to this day, & forty + years later, that's saying alot! No other daytime soap can boast having every episode available on video & DVD. There's never been a show like Dark Shadows. Barnabas is the show's focal point, unltimately, & we can't get enough of Jonathan Frid's impeccable performances. Mr. Frid is well versed at his craft & has us mesmerized & enchanted. He's a seasoned actor whose contribution to the show has excelled four decades!

There have been a couple of futile imitations, but understandably they never took off. Dark Shadows cannot be imitated, This show is one of a kind & is a classic & such things aren't to be monkey'd with.

I'm proud to have it in my collection!

The Dream Curse ended in Set 8, but the story of Adam continues as he causes problems for all the residents of Collinwood. Nicholas Blair is not a favorite of mine, I find him quite boring. I enjoyed Adam kidnapping Victoria and Angelique as a vampire. A true fan should get this Set. Only two more Sets until Victoria Winters leaves.

A perfectly watchable batch of episodes, but I found myself moving through this set at a much slower pace than previous sets. There just wasn't as much of a "got to see what happens next" quality to these episodes. It also didn't help that the "Barnabas being forced to create a mate for Adam" storyline is silly, illogical, and- even by this show's standards- completely unbelievable. I'll still buy the next set, as we still have Quentin Collins and- if longtime fans are to be believed- one or two other classic Dark Shadows characters and storylines on the horizon, but I just might take a break and backtrack to those now-available earliest episodes of the series before proceeding onto set 10.