Dark Shadows: The Early Years

[Zone Fighter]

Episodes 1-9
Not a whole lot happens. Orphan Victory Winters accepts a job with the Collins family of Collinsport, Maine though she knows none of them, because she has the idea that one of them knows who her parents were. Many fans assume that Mrs Stoddard was supposed to be her mother but the series never actually reveals that, or anything else about Victory Winters origins. The first person Victoria meets in Collinsport is Burke Devlin . When Roger Collins learns this he panics. Why is not revealed in these episodes. Except for some strange sounds in the night, no ghosts yet.

Each episode is preceded by the statement of which episode it is and which take it is, showing a chalkboard with VTR date and AIR date. Mostly it is take 1, since they didn't stop if they could avoid it.

Bonus material: series introduction by Alexandra Moltke (Victoria Winters). After the 10 episodes there "commercials" for Dark Shadows products.

[Zone Fighter]

Episodes 10-18

Burke Devlin convinces Carolyn Stoddard that he means the Collins family no harm and she takes him home to meet with her mother and uncle. Roger is nearly killed when the brakes on his car fail. He suspects Burke Devlin, but its Roger's son who has nightmare about killing someone and keeps trying to apologize for the "accident".

Bonus: interview with Alexandra Moltke (Victoria Winters), like all Dark Shadows bonus interviews only hear the answers

[Zone Fighter]

Episodes 19-27
Rodger accuses Burke of trying to kill him. Burke denies it. Roger tries to get the constable to arrest Burke. Victoria receives a letter informing her that a private detective has been asking questions about her at the foundling home. David afraid that his father will send him away to the foundling home reads the letter. When Victoria discovers that the letter is missing she searches David's room for it, finding the missing part from Rodger's breaks. She confronts David who tries to take it from her. She locks it in her dresser. Later, she tells Mrs Stoddard that it was David, not Burke, who tried to kill Rodger. When she goes to show her the valve, its gone. David is missing as well. Carolyn shows how David could have gotten into the dresser, using the key to her dresser. They're a matching set. In Victoria's dresser, Carolyn finds a magazine with an article on breaks. While Burke is out of town, meeting with a man who has been investigating the Collins finances, Burke is plotting to take over their business, not to kill them, the constable, searches Burke's hotel room (he has a warrant). Burke learns over the phone about the search and that a small boy was caught trying to break into his room.

Bonus: same interview continues

[Zone Fighter]

Episodes 28-35

Maggie keeps David in the hotel restaurant by feeding him ice cream sundaes but when Roger shows up to collect his son, David has vanished (hidden in phone booth). After Roger leaves David vists Burke Devlin and plants the bleeder valve under a cushion onn the couch. Burke sends David to the bathroom to washup and looking where David sat finds the valve. Victoria tells Roger that it was David who tampered with the breaks. While Burke is on the phone, David, who finds that he likes Burke, tries to take the valve back but of course its not where he put it. Burke drives David home. Burke claims to have found David walking on the road. Roger questions David, the boy denies tampering the breaks, tries to put the blame on Victoria. Burke enters the room and hans over the valve, claiming he found it on the road, that David never had it, David of course backs up his story. Roger receives a phone call informing him that David and Burke left Burke's hotel room together. Burke finally admits that David was in his room but continues to say he found the valve on the road. Meanwhile, the constable has himself come to the conclusion that David is the criminal not Burke but Elizabeth lies to the constable, claiming they found out it was just an accident after all, that the break should have been replaced long ago The constable not really wanting to arrest a 9 year old boy accepts that explication though he knows better. Victoria Winters reveals to Burke Devlin that her name comes from the note left with her one she was a child "Her name is Vicky, I cannot take care of her" and the season see was left at the foundling home. Maggie's father Sam (now played by the 2nd actor to take the role) vists Burke. David tells Vicky that she'll be sorry she ever came to Collinwood.

Bonus: original TV promo & episiode 1 with original commercials (Off, Bactine, One a Day Vitamins plus Iron, Ajax, Palmolive, Rinso, Colgate and F Troop promo), starts with take 3 not 1

[Zone Fighter]

Episodes 36-44
Victory tells Mrs. Stoddard that she has decided to leave Collinsport. Elizabeth talks hers out of it. At night Victory hears the sound of a woman crying and traces it to a locked door. Carolyn tells her its a ghost. Victory does not believe in ghosts.

The manger of the Collins family cannery decides that he will get rid of Burke Devlin by proving that Burke was not guilty of the crime for which he was sent to prison, thus removing Burke's reason for revenge. He gets Sam Evans drunk and learns that it was Roger Collins driving the car that killed the man, not Burke.

Carolyn follows Burke to Bangor and meets Burke's "banker". When she mentions his name to her mother's banker he recognizes it as the name of the man who was asking questions about the Collins finances.


No bonus material, just the same ads at the end.

[Xenorama ™]

I remember watching most of these "early years" on Sci-fi about ten years ago. it was interesting, more so knowing where it was going to end up. what episode # does Barnabas actually make his first appearance in? not for a while yet, I know.

[Zone Fighter]

A hand is seen coming out of a coffin at the end of episode 209. Jonathan Frid than appears as Barnabas Collins in episode 210. So a long ways to go.

Barnabas was originally supposed to be staked after just a few episodes, but the character proved too popular to just kill off.

[Zone Fighter]

A meeting is arranged in Roger Collins' office at which the canary manager hopes to convince Roger to confess to framing Burke. The meeting is called for at 11. Roger, Burke and Sam Evans are there but the man who called the meeting is not. He's still not there at midnight. When Burke checks his home his car is there but no one answers the door. For two days he does not show up at work.

David receives a crystal ball as a present form Burke. He claims to see his father committing a murder in it. He also tells Vicky that when she dies he will not go to her funeral (true since she ultimately travels back in time and dies in a previous century before David was born).

At night Vicky and Carolyn go looking for Carolyn's missing watch. Looking down towards the ocean they see the body of man floating. Mrs Stoddard wants Roger to check out what the young women said they saw but he refuses (he's acting suspiciously but of course only the viewer notices), so Mrs. Stoddard sends Matthew, her cartaker. He claims to have found nothing but seaweed. Later, Mrs. Stoddard gets him to admit that he found the manager's body but pushed it out to sea. She phones the police to report the discovery of the body.



In these early episodes with no vampire, Roger Collins appears to be the villain.

[Zone Fighter]

It has to be different watching these episodes AFTER the Barnabas Collins episodes instead of in the order they were originally aired, because you know certain things are not going to happen.

Although the writers do their best to make it look like Roger Collins is a murderer he must not be since he's not in prison during the Barnabas episodes. In fact its easy to work out who the murder is. Its a character missing from the Barnabas episodes.

Carolyn Stoddard is not going to marry Joe Haskel, since he's Maggie Evan's boyfriend in the Barnabas episodes. Having him with Carolyn threw me at first.

Burke Devlin is played by a different actor than in the Barnabas episodes. Burke will ultimately drop his vendetta against Roger Collins, who framed him for manslaughter. Burke will die off camera in a plane crash. I always figured he's show up alive later but that never happened.

Through out these early episodes orphan Victoria Winters is trying to find out who her parents were. Sadly she never does. Many fans though assume that Elizabeth Collins Stoddard was her mother.

[Zone Fighter]

This is interesting, Mrs. Johnson became the Collins family housekeeper in order to spy on them for Mr. Devlin, believing that the Collins had some to do with her employer's death.

[Zone Fighter]

Amazing how things have changed. Now they record TV series months in advance. In 1966 Dark Shadow episodes were recorded 9 days before they aired.

For these early episodes the DVDs kept the scene of the chalkboard (not even a clapboard) showing episode information including taping date and planned air date. They didn't even have time (or the budget) to get a new chalkboard. Its cracked and held together by two pieces of tape.

[Zone Fighter]

I finally finished Dark Shadows: The Early Years

Laura Collins appeared. She wanted to divorce Roger and gain custody of David. Roger was initially all for it, not having any love for his son. When he almost loses him to a fire he comes to realize that does love him. Anyway. Laura Collins is in reality a Phoenix. Every hundred years a Laura Collins dies in a fire. One of these times she took a son with her, now she wants to do it again with David.

Sam Evans finds himself painting a portrait of Laura Collins in fire against his will. Turns out Josette Collins was trying to communicate a warning through him. Laura causes a fire which destroys the painting and burns Sam's hands.

When Elizabeth objects to Laura taking David, Laura puts her in trance which leaves her unable to move or speak. For the first time in 18 years Elizabeth leaves Collinwood, forceably removed by her own family to a hospital. When a parapsychologist hired to find out what happened to Elizabeth gets too close his car crashes and he is killed in the fire.

Roger finally convinced that Laura is up to no good agrees to tell her to leave, without David. She says she'll go but secretly tells David to meet her at an old fishing shack. The shack catches fire with Laura and David inside it. The ghost of Josette Collins contacts Victoria Winters to warn her about David and the fire. After Vicky arrives at the shack,. Elizabeth suddenly awakens shouting "David". Strangely, David miles away hears his aunt's voice. Between Vicky and Elizabeth calling his name David who is repeating to his mother the story of the phoenix comes to his senses and is not burnt up. He sees his mother die in the fire however, the next morning he remembers only that the shack burnt up destroying his fishing tackle. He thinks his mother simply left town. The remains of the shack are searched but no body is found. At the moment Laura faded away (shouting about the phoenix being reborn), Sam's hands were instantly healed.

End one story line, time to begin another. Jason McGuire, an old friend of Paul Stoddard, Elizabeth's husband shows up at Collinwood. The family cant understand why Elizabeth lets him move in and are shocked when she lets him bring a friend, Willie Loomis in. Actually Jason didn't want Willie there but once Willie showed up he couldn't get rid of him. Jason is black mailing Elizabeth. He helped her bury her husband in the basement after she killed him [or so she thinks, actually she only stunned Paul and the grave is empty.]

After Willie gets in a bar room brawl with Burke Devlin (who ended his grudge against the Collin's family once Sam told him that Roger was driving the car that ran the man over and Roger confessed the truth to Burke in front of Elizabeth) Elizabeth insists that Willie leave. Jason convinces her that he can only get Willie to leave for $500 cash. She reluctantly agrees to pay, but after she gets the money Willie has vanished.

Willie gets the crazy idea, egged on by David and Mrs. Johnson's stories, that Naomi Collins was buried with a bunch of jewels. He's chased away from the family crypt by the old cemetery caretaker, who claims there is a great evil there. Willie doesn't believe in the great evil just doesn't want any witnesses to his robbing the grave.

End of episode 209, end of Dark Shadows: The Early Years.

I think episode 210 should be included, because all it shows of Barnabas Collins is a hand, but it's not . The bonus material strangely enough, includes episode 211 with original commercials, which ends with Barnabas Collins appearing at Collinwood and claiming to be Elizabeth's cousin from England.