Ben 10 vs Barnabas Collins

If you've owned a television at any point during the last decade, it's a safe bet that you've seen something written by Eric Wallace. His writing and producing credits include THE FLASH, TEEN WOLF, Z NATION, EUREKA and BEN 10: OMNIVERSE. When a fan noted on Twitter that Wallace included a sly nod to the late, great Dwayne McDuffie in the BEN 10 episode "From Hedorium to Eternity," Wallace also confessed to slipping in a number of DARK SHADOWS references in the episode, as well.


In addition to his television credits, Wallace's work also includes the DARK SHADOWS Big Finish audios "The Wicked and the Dead," "Kingdom of the Dead" and "The Lucifer Gambit." He was a guest on the CHS podcast way back in 2013, and graciously contributed an essay to us commemorating the 50th anniversary of DARK SHADOWS. You can read it for yourself HERE.

My curiosity piqued, I saw down this morning to watch "From Hedorium to Eternity." Two-thirds of the way through, the number of DARK SHADOWS references had thoroughly scratched my itch. (BEN 10: OMNIVERSE also proved to be a sharp, funny series that I want to see more of.) My original plan was to make a note of  the references for an "annotated" blog post about the episode, and then "From Hedorium to Eternity" entered its final act. The episode's villain revealed himself and ... well, you can see a picture of him at the top of this post. I don't need to tell you who that is. (Or, at least, who he looks like.)

I hate spoiling the big reveal, so to compensate I'll stay mum on the rest of the DARK SHADOWS references in the episode. If you want to watch it, all eight seasons of BEN 10: OMNIVERSE are streaming on Hulu, or you can purchase the episode individually on Amazon HERE. "From Hedorium to Eternity" is the first episode of season eight, FYI.

(Random note: I'm a shameless "voice actor" (i.e. "actor") groupie, so it was also exciting for me to hear Tara Strong, Greg Cipes, Corey Burton and Phil LaMarr in this episode.)

Dark Shadows: A 50th Anniversary Appreciation

Dear Aspiring TV Writer:

I understand you want to know the secrets to writing great characters and great dialogue. Okay. Here they are. Pick a great show you’re obsessed with, a show your mom won’t let you watch as a kid because it’ll give you nightmares. Then watch it anyway. Once you’re a teenager and that same show becomes available on your local PBS station, record episodes of the show on crappy cassette tapes. Listen to those tapes over and over and over again until you’ve memorized every word, every comma, every pause in a lengthy soliloquy for falling set designs and repeat the process endlessly. Finally, when the entire boxed set becomes available on DVD in a collectible “coffin” edition, buy the whole thing and watch all twelve-hundred-odd episodes over again. Twice. In a row. Just because you can.

Oh, and most importantly… love every damn second of the process.

That’s what I did. Yes, somewhere in my parents’ basement those stacks of DARK SHADOWS bootlegged audio cassettes remain intact, ready for an impromptu revisiting. They primarily cover the “Dream Curse,” “Adam and Eve,” and early “Whoa, Chris Jennings Is A Werewolf!” storylines, because those were my favorites at the time.

I listened to those tapes so many times. It was common to sometimes fall asleep to the rhythms of my favorite characters’ speech patterns: Dr. Hoffman’s nasal insistence on perfection. Reverend Trask’s spit-flingling prognostications of hellfire and destruction. Barnabas’ aching laments of melancholy over doomed romances. Ah, good times.

That’s why DARK SHADOWS is more than just my favorite TV show of all time. It’s literally the show that’s responsible for driving me to become what I am today. A TV junkie who is lucky enough to get paid to also write it.

It seems like yesterday when I had a major crush on Donna Wandrey (still do). And yes, the relationship between Barnabas and Julia never stopped breaking my heart. (Isn’t unrequited love the best?) I loved the 1840 storyline so much that I wanted my own “Head of Judah Zachery” prop. Someday.

But I was equally excited every time the name “Gordon Russell” scrolled by during the show’s end credits. Even at a young age, I was starting to figure out that tons of my favorite episodes were being written by the same guy. Or gal, in the case of Violet Welles and the 1897 storyline. That’s not to say I didn’t also love episodes from Sam Hall, Ron Sproat, Malcolm  Marmorstein, Art Wallace and the many other wonderful scenarists that contributed to the show. Gordon and Violet (and later Sam Hall) were simply the ones I noticed first.

What was it about DARK SHADOWS that made me sit up and take notice of the words that lay beneath the veneer of bats, tombstones, and severed telepathic heads? Truth. As insane as the stories sometimes became on the show, there was always genuine emotion at the heart of the characters’ daily conflicts. You could hear in the actors’ voices how much they relished the juxtaposition of supernatural hijinx with grounded situations like dealing with a cheating fiancée (it’s okay, Josette… I know you were under a witch’s spell), the premature death of a loved one (R.I.P. Jeb Hawkes) or having to deal with the ongoing realization that the person you love doesn’t think of you in “that way” (Oh, Julia… I’m so sorry…).

Listening—and watching—Barnabas and the rest of the Collins clan deal with these very real, very grown-up feelings exposed me to the essence of good dramatic writing before I even knew who Aristotle was.

After truth, let’s not forget my other favorite aspect of great DS dialogue: hyperbole. I’m talking about hyperbole that rivals Shakespeare in its intensity, if not always in its execution. But then I’m guessing old William made mistakes, too. Fortunately for him two-inch tape had yet to be invented.

I know what you’re thinking. Hey, Eric, this show is fifty years old. Surely, you don’t watch DARK SHADOWS anymore. I’ll bet there have been a dozen or more shows that have influenced you just as much in the intervening years, right? Sure. There’s THE X-FILES. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. DR. WHO. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. 24. GAME OF THRONES. Each of them are TV milestones in their own right and huge fonts of continued inspiration for me today.

But there’s still only one show that moved me so much that just hearing it—listening to syncopation of script, direction and performance over and over in the dark—was enough to impress permanent shivers on my spine, shivers that continue to resonate with me and drive me to keep writing every day. That’s the power of DARK SHADOWS. Fifty years later, I still can’t get enough.

So get thee to your television or laptop or black box wireless thingy, Aspiring TV Writer. Find your muse. Oh, and listen, ahem, watch DARK SHADOWS. You’ll be glad you did. Just like me.

ERIC WALLACE
Writer/Co-Executive Producer, TEEN WOLF

PS - Happy Anniversary, Collins Family!

Review: DARK SHADOWS, THE LUCIFER GAMBIT

It might be time for Big Finish to embrace the inevitable and let Collinsport move away from the early 1970s.

At the moment, age isn't a problem for every DARK SHADOWS actor involved in the Big Finish series, but time has a way of forcing the issue. Listening to THE LUCIFER GAMBIT, it was a little unnerving to hear NANCY BARRETT playing a flirty young Carolyn Stoddard. There was no masking the age difference between her and the actor playing Collinsport's new sheriff, and the effect was unintentionally creepy. This might sound a little unfair to Barrett, but it's the situation that's unfair. The DARK SHADOWS phenomenon forces the original cast to return to their youth, swimming against a current that gets more resistant each year.

Ironically, the latest episode of Big Finish's DARK SHADOWS series is centered on people coping badly with fading youth. In THE LUCIFER GAMBIT, Amy Jennings returns to Collinsport after an extended absence, a little bit older and a great deal wiser. After intercepting a telephone call meant for an absent Prof. Stokes, Amy answers a cry for help that leads her into a supernatural domestic squabble between a dead woman and her living husband. And that's about as much as I can say without wading further into spoiler territory.

Written by ERIC WALLACE, who previously wrote the DARK SHADOWS audio dramas THE WICKED AND THE DEAD and KINGDOM OF THE DEAD (as well as MR. TERRIFIC and TITANS for DC Comics,) THE LUCIFER GAMBIT is one of the more energetic episodes of the series. It involves a bit of deception, an interesting new monster and a few threads that connect it to the year's other DARK SHADOWS mysteries. It's difficult to discuss in any great detail without spoiling the proceedings, but it's a fun story.

Where things begin to fray around the edges are with the casting decisions. There are no bad performances here, but the chemistry between the actors often feels wrong. STEPHANIE ELLYNE does fine work as Amy Jennings, replacing DENISE NICKERSON for whatever reason. I wish I could say the casting change made me miss Nickerson, but it didn't. SHEILA STEAFEL is also fun as the episode's villain, and it's an impressive feat of planning that allows for brief appearances by NANCY BARRETT and LISA RICHARDS. There's a lot of added value here for DARK SHADOWS fans.

But the differences in ages, both real and fictional, throw off the proceedings on more than one occasion.  Barrett sounds her age when she's flirting with the younger actor; Steafel also sounds her age while playing a character married to a much younger man. One is intentional, while the other is an example of reality creeping into the story. This is further confused by the dangerous obsession with youth that drives the plot. This dissonance doesn't feel intentional, but it certainly feels weird.

Now, I'm not suggesting we change the locks and give the original cast of DARK SHADOWS their walking papers. On the contrary: I think it's time to put their experience to better use. Listening to this episode, I wondered what it would be like to hear Barrett playing the matriarch of Collinwood in the present day. This led to questions about the fates of Maggie Evans, David Collins and yes, even Barnabas.
A leap forward to the present might even dull the sting of recasting actors we've lost over the years. Or, at least, explain their constant absences from the series.

Granted, this would probably create a dozen other problems, such as trying to figure out how things like smart phones would function in the kinds of stories told by DARK SHADOWS. But maybe it's time for that.


THE LUCIFER GAMBIT is available on CD and digital download from Big Finish.