History Main / DarkShadows

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-->''My name is [[TheProtagonist Victoria Winters]]. My journey is beginning. A journey that I hope will open the doors of life to me, and [[RewatchBonus 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 [[HauntedHouse Collinwood]]. A world I've never known, with people I've never met. [[BigScrewedUpFamily 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.'''

''Dark Shadows'' was a SoapOpera which ran on ABC from 1966 to 1971. While the show did have Gothic themes, it was not until six months into the first season when it gained notoriety by [[GenreShift introducing]] overtly [[SupernaturalSoapOpera supernatural elements]].

Though many soaps have since flirted with plots involving ghosts and psychic energy, ''Dark Shadows'' used almost every [[MonsterMash classic horror element]] (vampires, werewolves, zombies, magic users) as well as sci-fi tropes like TimeTravel 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 [[IdenticalGrandson identical relatives]] or [[OnlySoManyEquityMembers lookalikes]].

''Dark Shadows'' has been an inspiration for numerous other supernatural series, including ''KolchakTheNightStalker'', ''TwinPeaks'', ''TheXFiles'' and ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. One plotline even involved a vampire who gives an extended [[InterviewWithTheVampire interview about the supernatural]] to a hack writer.

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

There was also a short-lived television remake in TheNineties, as well as a BigFinish radio series. A TimBurton movie version is currently in the works, with JohnnyDepp trying to realize his childhood dream of portraying FauxAffablyEvil Barnabas Collins. The film itself is more comedic in tone, similar to early Burton films such as ''{{Beetlejuice}}''.
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!!''DarkShadows'' provides examples of:

* AbortedArc: Victoria's parentage, once the DrivingQuestion, was left unresolved once Alexandra Moltke left the show. WordOfGod says: [[spoiler: Elizabeth Collins Stoddard is her mother.]]
* ApeShallNeverKillApe
* ArtifactofDoom: the hand of Count Petofi (also AttackoftheMonsterAppendage and EvilHand)
* YouFailBiologyForever: After Barnabas feeds on Willie for the first time, a doctor examines Willie and declares his arm to have been "completely drained of blood."
* BackFromTheDead: It's a soap, so pretty much everyone. Angelique deserves special mention, though, due to sheer persistence.
* BettyAndVeronica: 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.
** On the other hand, since when did Angelique let death slow her down for long?
* BigBad: Throughout different {{Story Arc}}s, Barnabas, Angelique, Quentin, Count Petofi, [[HumanoidAbomination the Leviathans]], Jeremiah Collins, leading up to...
* BiggerBad: [[spoiler: Judah Zachery, the warlock responsible for the family curse, the titular "dark shadow."]]
* BreakoutCharacter: Barnabas.
* BrightSlap: Peter gives one of these to Vicki.
* BuriedAlive: Barnabas (as usual) and Reverend Trask as well as Elizabeth and some others.
* BurnTheWitch: Averted. Those sentenced to death for witchcraft are either hanged or beheaded. Laura ''tries'' to burn Angelique, but [[UnexplainedRecovery Angelique gets better]].
* CreepyBasement: Collinwood, The Old House and the House By The Sea.
* CreepyCemetery: Eagle Hill
* CreepyChild: David mostly but eventually Jeb when he first showed up.
** Sarah doesn't do too badly at this either.
* CreepyHousekeeper: Mrs. Johnson but also Hoffman in Parallel Time.
* CrustyCaretaker: at Eagle Hill.
* DarkerAndEdgier / BloodierAndGorier: ''House of Dark Shadows.''
* DenserAndWackier: The upcoming TimBurton film.
* DeadpanSnarker: 2012 Barnabas.
--> "(About AliceCooper) Ugliest woman I have very seen."
* DidNotGetTheGirl: Barnabas. Also, Quentin.
* DisposableSexWorker: The main portion of Barnabas's diet for a good while.
* EmbarrassingMiddleName: William ''Hollingshead'' Loomis.
* EvilHand: that of Count Petofi
* EvilIsStylish: About 95% of the villains on the show fit this trope.
* FacialHorror: the aforementioned Hand of Count Petofi did this to Quentin and to his friend Evan.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Immortal vampire Barnabas is trapped in his coffin.
* FauxlosophicNarration: 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.
-->''Vicki'': My name is Victoria Winters...
-->''Audience'': [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow WE KNOW!!!!]]
* FemmeFatale: both Angelique and Laura.
* FishOutOfWater: Barnabas in the 2012 film.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Vicki's book in 1795. Also, [[spoiler: Carolyn's dying message in 1995.]]
* FrankensteinsMonster: Even named 'Adam', like the original.
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire: Barnabas, after significant BadassDecay.
** Actually, no. Barnabas did not so much 'decay' as change. 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.
* GhostStory: Barnabas telling Vicky and Carolyn how Josette died. That he did it during a thunderstorm with the power out was a nice touch.
* GoodLookingPrivates: Lieutenant Nathan Forbes in the 1795 plot is pretty much always in his naval uniform...and [[YourMileageMayVary he wears it well]].
* TheGwenStacy: Josette DuPres.
* GypsyCurse: Quentin was the victim of same (note: Never marry and abandon a gypsy. Just. Don't.)
* HauntedHouse: Collinwood and the Old House.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Reverend Trask, who's eventually talked into a {{Heel Face Turn}} as a ghost.
* HeadlessHorseman
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler: Angelique]].
* HoldMe: Done wordlessly by Daphne and the possessed David and Hallie, when Gerard [[spoiler: who is really Judah Zachery]], kills them.
* IdenticalGrandson: Unsurprising, since actors often played different characters within the ''same'' time period.
* IdiotBall: Occasionally. Willie was handed it quite a few times in earlier seasons, and once it resulted in him getting shot.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Vicki in the 1991 {{Revival}}.
* ItGotWorse: The 1795 storyline. starts out with Barnabas awaiting his fiance's arrival, ends with [[spoiler: most of his family dead, his fiance dead, and he's sealed in a coffin for the next 180 years]].
* JekyllAndHyde: Literally, in one of the MadScientist plotlines... mild-mannered lab rat Cyrus Longworth took a potion that turned him into aggressive psycho Sam Yager.
* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Averted, as ''DarkShadows'' 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.)
* KillEmAll: The 1795 storyline comes damn close, given that the writers were essentially just playing around with a whole new cast of characters they wouldn't have to worry about after the storyline ended. Pretty much the only thing stopping them from truly killing everyone was that someone needed to live to provide future generations of the Collins family.
* LampshadeHanging: Unintentional. Louis Edmonds once flubbed a line, referring to his character's ancestors as "incestors." See MyOwnGrampa below.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia
* {{Leitmotif}}: "London Bridge" for Sarah, and both music box tunes for Josette.
** Also "Ode to Angelique" in both the 1970 parallel time plot and the film ''Night of Dark Shadows''.
*** The theme referred to as "Joanna" on most soundtracks was also (over) used in ''Night of Dark Shadows'' in scenes featuring Kate Jackson's character Tracy.
* LocalHangout: The Blue Whale.
* LovecraftCountry: Collinsport, with its seemingly endless fog and storms and hauntings.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Angelique
* MadScientist: Dr. Lang and Dr. Julia Hoffman
* MadwomanintheAttic: poor Jenny Collins
* MissingEpisode: It has ''one'', being just about the earliest soap operas 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.
* TheMovie: ''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.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Josette's death is the end result of Angelique's schemes.
* MyOwnGrampa: Almost. Laura, a phoenix who was reincarnated every few decades, ended up married to her own biological grandson. Never mentioned in the show, either due to censorship or the writers not having the best grasp on the continuity.
* NeverMyFault: Matthew Morgan claims that he doesn't want to kill Vicki, but she forced him into it. Naturally, she calls him on this.
* NeverSleepAgain: Inverted in an arc where a character turns into a werewolf and kills people in his sleep. He is able to trap his curse in a portrait, but needs to stay awake until it is finished.
* NostalgicMusicBox: Belonged to Josette.
* NotUsingTheZWord: The word "vampire" is used pretty rarely, not showing up at all until the 1795 storyline when Angelique explains her curse to Ben. This makes the scene where Barnabas reveals himself to his father by shouting "I am a vampire!" quite shocking and moving.
* OfficialCouple: According to WordOfGod [[spoiler:Barnabas and Julia]] after the series ended.
* OminousMusicBoxTune: Josette's music box, used to brainwash Maggie.
* PantyShot: In one scene an unconscious Maggie is carried by another character. Her skirt is so short that we catch a glimpse of her underwear.
** Let's not forget when Carolyn was knocked out by the Leviathans and spent the rest of the episode on a bed with her legs spread towards the camera.
* ThePeteBest: James Hall as Willie Loomis. John Karlen took over the role after a few weeks and played the character for rest of the series.
* PinocchioSyndrome: Barnabas.
* PromotedFanboy: Johnny Depp in the 2011 movie.
** Tim Burton, too.
* ResistTheBeast: Barnabas and Quentin both.
* {{Revival}}: The 1990's version.
** There was also an unfinished pilot for the WB.
* RunningGag: Reverend Trask and his grandson, Gregory, both get bricked.
* SealedEvilInACan: Barnabas again.
* SilverBullet: effective against both vampires and werewolves.
* SpookyPainting: Angelique has one. So does Barnabas. And Quentin. Josette, as well.
* StalkerWithACrush: Angelique - and how!
* StartOfDarkness: The entire 1795 storyline, for Barnabas.
* TheShowMustGoOn: Examples are too numerous to list. Barnabas' heart-wrenching dramatic pauses were reportedly just Jonathan Frid forgetting his lines.
** Perhaps the most amusing moment was the time Frid accidentally walked in on the end credits while carrying everyone's coats...
*** No, the funniest moment was when the camera caught Frid quite visibly picking his nose when he thought the camera was pointed on Robert Rodan and Betsy Durkin.
** Given that the show was "live" because at the time editing costs were off the chart there are really too many to list from bugs flying around actor's heads to people tripping. In a rare instance the actor who played Barnabas managed to get them to edit an particularly bad gaff on his part by agreeing to waive a bonus was to be paid for working extra late on an episode.
** Plus, the ''very first thing'' the show ever aired: the ABC announcer saying in an irritated tone, "Okay, I'm here. What do you want me to do?" (''pause'') "I can't see the slate!" He then proceeds to read the episode number as usual.
** In one of the better-done dramatic moments of the series, when the witch Angelique is face-to-face with the newly risen vampire Barnabas, alone and cornered by the monster she has created, simultaneously grief-stricken, terrified, and even remoreseful, as Barnabas realizes the true horror of his new status, we see a stage hand realize that he is in the camera view-zone...
* SupernaturalSoapOpera: UrExample.
* TimeTravel: To 1795, 1897, 1840 and once to the (then) future of 1995.
* TimeyWimeyBall: 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.
* TitleDrop: Near the beginning of Collection 3.
-->'''Vicki''': Barnabas likes this house more than you do.
-->'''Burke''': Yeah, all the ''darkness'' and the ''shadows''...
* TogetherInDeath: Tad/David and Carrie/Hallie in 1970, before Barnabas and Julia change history.
* UndeadChild: Sarah
* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: Tim and Rachel, for each other. ''Very'' unlucky indeed.
* VisionsOfAnotherSelf: for nearly a whole season.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse?: at one point in the 1795 flashback, Jeramiah Collins buries Angelique alive because her hypnotizing him into marrying Josette led to his death. So where the hell was he when Angelique cursed his cousin with vampirism, which in turn led to practically his whole family being wiped out?
* WhatYearIsThis
* WholePlotReference: Several {{Story Arc}}s were taken whole hog from classic horror fiction; ''Literature/TheTurnOfTheScrew,'' ''TheLottery,'' HPLovecraft, etc.
* WomanScorned: 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.
** At different times, conversations between Barnabas and Angelique seemed to imply different and contradictory things about exactly what happened in Martinique, and more importantly, who promised what to whom and who agreed to what. Sex is implied to the point of certainty, what it was beyond that was unclear, and even they could not quite seem to agree on what happened, they were not even always in agreement with their own selves about it.
* {{Yandere}}: Angelique
* YouLookFamiliar: Some have appropriately described the cast as a theater troupe. If someone's character died, there was a good chance that the same actor would be back in a few weeks playing a different character.
* YourCheatingHeart: See "WomanScorned" above.
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<<|AmericanSeries|>>

* BurnTheWitch: Averted. Those sentenced to death for witchcraft are either hanged or beheaded. Laura ''tries'' to burn Angelique, but [[IGotBetter Angelique gets better]].

* DeedpanSnarker: 2012 Barnabas.

* DensierAndWackier: The upcoming TimBurton film.

There was also a short-lived television remake in TheNineties, as well as a BigFinish radio series. A TimBurton movie version is currently in the works, with JohnnyDepp trying to realize his childhood dream of portraying FauxAffablyEvil Barnabas Collins. The film itself is more comedic in tone.

There was also a short-lived television remake in TheNineties, as well as a BigFinish radio series. A TimBurton movie version is currently in the works, with JohnnyDepp trying to realize his childhood dream of portraying FauxAffablyEvil Barnabas Collins.

* FridgeHorror: 1966: Laura Collins, a phoenix, ex-wife of Roger Collins and mother of David Collins returns to take her son back with her into the fire and ashes before rising again. 1897: Laura Collins, THE SAME PHOENIX, ex-wife of Edward Collins and mother of Jamieson and Nora Collins returns to take her children back into the fire and ashes with her before rising again. Keep in mind, Jamieson is Roger's father. Making Laura both his [[IncestIsRelative his grandmother and his ex-wife.]]

* FridgeHorror: 1966: Laura Collins, a phoenix, ex-wife of Roger Collins and mother of David Collins returns to take her son back with her into the fire and ashes before rising again. 1897: Laura Collins, THE SAME PHOENIX, ex-wife of Edward Collins and mother of Jamieson and Nora Collins returns to take her children back into the fire and ashes with her before rising again. Keep in mind, Jamieson is Roger's father. Making Laura both his [[Incest his grandmother and his ex-wife.]]

''My name is [[TheProtagonist Victoria Winters]]. My journey is beginning. A journey that I hope will open the doors of life to me, and [[RewatchBonus 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 [[HauntedHouse Collinwood]]. A world I've never known, with people I've never met. [[BigScrewedUpFamily People who tonight are still only shadows in my mind, but who will soon fill the days and nights of my tomorrows...]]''

* WholePlotReference: Several {{Story Arc}}s were taken whole hog from classic horror fiction; ''TheTurnOfTheScrew,'' ''TheLottery,'' HPLovecraft, etc.

-'''The opening narration of the very first episode.'''

* FacialHorror: the aforementioned Hand of Count Petofi did this to Quentin and to his friend Eben.

* RunningGag: All the Trasks, in the main continuity, get bricked.