More on Mitchell Ryan

When I wrote the obituary for Mitch Ryan, I also had a show opening that night. It was tough to write for a lot of reasons, but I found myself corresponding tonight about him and the loss, and I think it might be worth sharing.

The piece was a bear because he was a virile guy, and although he slipped into old age with exactly the kind of crusty dignity that you would imagine, it was one of those things where it was not unexpected.  Kind of like Jonathan Frid. When someone went too soon, like Chris Pennock, or they roiled away in a miasma of personal conflict, like John Karlen, the words come really easily. Mitch Ryan was different.  

I have a lot of regret about not meeting him him. We got along extremely well when we chatted. Kathryn Leigh Scott was really happy with the interview I did. Every word I wrote about his warmth and enthusiasm was genuine. The fact that we could reminisce about Louisville was a huge bonus.  I grew up in the very last years where vast swaths of Louisville institutions somehow had carried on from his childhood. I don’t know exactly where his house was down to the mailbox, but I could take you within a few blocks. And it was pretty much a house like mine.  He went to the same high school as my mom, and I had to dance delicately around the fact that it was about a decade after he graduated.  (He was eight years older than she was.) 

I mean he was just a sweetheart.  I was going to bring a book on his neighborhood (and my neighborhood) to the Dark Shadows convention in 2016. When he couldn’t make it, I vowed that I would send it to him. I never got around to it. I’m sure he forgot about the whole thing seconds after I made the offer, but it’s one of those weird human moments that just kind of hangs on my conscience.

Now, now that the play  is over, I actually have the time to sort of sit back and properly  mourn.  I honestly think he is what made the show what it was at its very core. I think he  provided the essential first mystery and sense of masculine ambiguity that propelled the series. It was the baton that Frid picked up.  

And it’s a marvelously happy life.  It’s a life where he took the kind of problem that normally dashes people forever and he simply overcame it.  Well, I’m sure there was nothing simple about it. But he overcame it. I regret that he didn’t get the role of Captain Picard. By the time Patrick Stewart took the part, he had already had a wealth of brilliant opportunities to explore acting.  And although Ryan did some great stage work, it was maybe not the same as working year in and year out with John Barton at the RSC.  That show would have been a jaw dropping vehicle for him to show and discover what he was put on this earth to do.  

But despite that, he was just the very best kind of credit to his profession, to the show, and to what we all can be.

Patrick McCray

Mitchell Ryan 1934-2022

Mitch Ryan has died. 

Normally we use euphemisms for these sorts of things. “We lost so and so.” Or, “such and such went too soon,” as if there is some more appropriate time.  But of all of the Dark Shadows cast members, none projected honest and uncompromising integrity like Mitch Ryan. It feels fundamentally disrespectful to dress it up with something other than a plain and honest fact when referring to his death.  The word is as straightforward as the character he played. And as pained.

Burke Devlin was the show’s first “troubled hero.” We absolutely wanted to get behind him, but his extremity held us back. And besides, we’re sort of trying to root for the Collins family. But there he is. Episode after episode. He’s there for Vicki. He’s there for David. He’s there for us. He was a menace. He was a friend. And in every phase, he was believable.

I can think of few other actors who could project that kind of tortured ambiguity.  It was a human mystery, and it compelled Victoria’s imagination as much as any ghost or phantom parent. He welcomed us to Collinsport in every sense, and alongside the writers, Mitch Ryan set the Escherseque moral landscape that defined the series and drove it forward. 

Mitch Ryan and Jonathan Frid shared the same, most important quality. In their performances, they were able to embody two diametrically opposed states of mind without creating a contradiction. The fascination generated by that strange and unique ability compelled viewers to keep watching, unable to guess where those men might ultimately go.

Ryan was no stranger to conflict. His exit from the show was driven by a poignant battle with alcoholism, and the evidence becomes increasingly obvious as his time on the series goes on. The struggle led to a break from acting. For most, that break would be a permanent one. It is to Ryan’s credit that he took the recovery process seriously and rebuilt his career within a few years. Soon, he was co-starring in the Dirty Harry sequel, Magnum Force, almost nabbed the role of Picard, essayed the villain in Lethal Weapon, took a memorable and recurring role on the hit series, Dharma and Greg, and played a pivotal part in the Halloween franchise. 

Easing into retirement, Ryan found continued opportunities to explore art in painting and writing, publishing his autobiography quite recently. He revived the Burke Devlin character for Big Finish Audio and framed the recent Dark Shadows rep production of A Christmas Carol with a fine narration of alternating warmth and gravitas.

I interviewed him on Christmas day seven years ago and found him to be exactly as warm and accessible as you would imagine.  He was a fellow Louisville native, having grown up just a few blocks from where I grew up, myself. We are a strange and unique breed, in the company of Tod Browning, Muhammad Ali, and Hunter S Thompson. Mitch Ryan was a fine addition to the list. A Korean war veteran, he began his career on the stage at the Barter Theater and remained loyal to live performance, even appearing in A Long Day’s Journey into Night at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1993 with fellow Dark Shadows alum, Alan Feinstein. He was a lifetime member of the Actors Studio, appearing in Wait Until Dark and The Price on Broadway. Smoothly transitioning to film, his judgment and leadership won him the presidency of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation.

Few performers have rebuilt their careers with such dignity and range. It would be a cliché to point out that his self-generated revival made him somewhat of a phoenix, but considering that he battled a Phoenix on the program, we’d be remiss not to make a note of it. He built the very definition of a worthy life, and that’s exactly the kind of personal character necessary to give Collinwood its true foundation. He welcomed Vicki and the viewers to the beginning and the end of the world.  Thanks to his work, though, that salutation may always be in the wrong order.  

Patrick McCray

Dark Shadows, The Road to Bloodline: ...And Red All Over

By JUSTIN PARTRIDGE

“Devlin...The name’s Devlin!”

Welcome, ghoulies, to a special Weekend Edition of the Road to Bloodline! Since the incoming serial is looming, I thought I would put in some more time here in my office/closet and bring this particularly fun column home, just in time for David and Amy’s wedding. A wedding I may have to work as a bar back at just to score an invite. It really is the hot ticket in town. Everyone here the CHS is talking about it. And they seem to have a seating assignment. I’m not bitter about it. No, sir. Not me. Let’s change the subject. Why did you even bring it up? That seems super rude, y’all. Maybe I have plans that night anyway! You don’t know.

Anyway, I’m putting in the extra hours here to talk about a pretty damn fun stop on the Road to Bloodline, ...And Red All Over! The return of Mitchell Ryan to the franchise AND the 50th Big Finishverse release! Delivered to audiences in October of 2015, this Cody Schell scripted tale finds Maggie Evans...sorry Maggie HASKELL absconded from her honeymoon and trapped in a remote cabin, in the middle of a blizzard no less. Complicating matters is the owner of the cabin, a man who looks exactly like one Burke Devlin! Oh, and there are also some weird men stalking them through the woods. Men that don’t have faces, only shifting ink blots where their faces should be; something ripped right out of Dave Gibbons’ nightmares. It is all very Silent Hill.

Before we get into the actual content of the episode, I think the conversation about the placement of this audio is one worth having. Here the range had been around for a bit, and had just recently wrapped up a pretty successful “event” series in Bloodlust. They had released fifty episodes! That’s not nothing to sneeze at! As a comic person I can always appreciate milestones like this. And just to double down on it, we have the added prestige of having it bloody star two MAJOR Dark Shadows staples!

I am going to do a whole separate “finale” of this current column all about the Anniversary episode that follows this audio, but I really enjoyed this one leaning into it being a “very special” episode for the Big Finishverse, centered around the return of Mitchell Ryan. Though there is a bit of a wonky fake out that the script takes around a “cousin” of Burke’s during the start of the episode, it is like Ryan never left as he settles back into the character with aplomb. Even better, pairing him exclusively with Kathryn Leigh Scott’s Maggie Haskell brings back the sparkling dynamic between the two actors, supporting the super weird and supernatural drama of the script.

And when I say this one is super weird, I gotta stress it, y’all, this one is super weird. Especially for a “50th Episode” which ideally should be pretty user friendly for the rubes that sometimes buy stuff just for the release number. Something I tooooootally haven’t done at all, no sir, not me. Why did you bring that up? It’s my business what I buy from the Collinsport flea market! Don’t you judge me! My obsessive comic buying patterns aside, Schell’s script starts odd and only gets odder, opening with a pretty much contextless fan fiction set up with Maggie being magically kidnapped from her honeymoon and trapped in a snowstorm with a dude who looks exactly like someone she used to crush on. From there, it kind of takes a few too many left turns, tying in Burke’s illicit past with money and positing that he made a deal with a sort of daemonic banking cabal called The Ink along the way. Their icon being, you guessed it, a super fancy pen. Burke just can’t ever get away from pens can he?

Exhibit A.

The Ink themselves are a really fun idea. Sweening their villainous pot is the extra creepy and atmospheric sound design David Darlington mixes into their presence in the script. I can see some listeners being slightly frustrated with the turn this story takes that mayyyybe all of the episode’s event didn’t happen, due to some sort of drugging both Maggie and Burke undergo during the tale, but to me, that added another fun layer of uncertainty to the story. Would I have loved for it to have been established fully that Maggie and Burke fought some bankers from Hell? Sure, but like Wallace tells me in the break room here at the CHS during Donut Day, “You get what you get and you don’t get upset or you are fired.” I think he made up that last part.

So, all in all, a fun story, a weird lead in to an anniversary special, and a wonderful reunion for two major Dark Shadows stars. ...And Red All Over contains multitudes! I thought it was a pretty fun weekend listen. Plus Mitchell Ryan has still got it, y’all. This one all but proves it. Sure, the uncertainty of the supernatural elements are a little frustrating, but Dark Shadows can be frustrating at times. That’s what makes it so fun.

NEXT TIME! The Final Column where we discuss the Scribe Award Winning BLOOD AND FIRE! It’s super long! I’ve gotta make more coffee! Until then, be seeing you.

---

Justin Partridge has always loved monsters and he thinks that explains a lot about him. When he isn’t over analyzing comics at Newsarama or ranting about Tom Clancy over at Rogues Portal, he is building Call of Cthulhu games, spreading the good word of Anti-Life, or rewatching Garth Marenghi's Darkplace for the dozenth time. He can be reached at the gasping Lovecraftian void that is Twitter @j_partridgeIII or via e-mail at [email protected] Odds are he will want to talk about Hellblazer.

Dark Shadows: From script to stage to television screen

By WALLACE McBRIDE

I brought home an interesting artifact from this year's Dark Shadows Festival. One of the vendors at the Double Tree Tarrytown Hotel had boxes of scripts for sale from the original series. These kinds of collectibles are usually minor curiosities, frequently copies-of-copies-of-copies that give you nothing more than a look at fundamental story construction.

But there was at least one gem buried in the stacks though: a script to episode 245 of DARK SHADOWS featuring heavy notations and a handful of pencil/ink notes by someone from the crew. #245 is an interesting episode already, but it was fascinating to read how the various parts of the story were gradually refined.

May, 1967, was an interesting time for DARK SHADOWS ... for better and worse. Mitch Ryan was nearing the end of his involvement with the show, taping his his last episode on May 25 (this episode was completed on May 23.) This is also the first script credited to Joe Caldwell, who had been contributing unofficially to the writing of DARK SHADOWS since the previous December. Caldwell wasn't the most prolific of DARK SHADOWS' many writers, but would remain with the show until 1970.

Technically, this script represents two drafts. There's the version that was approved for production, and then there's a phantom draft made up of hand-written notes scattered throughout the document. Rather than re-write the entire script for the cast and production team, dialogue was excised (and in some cases re-written) in pencil. These annotated pages were photocopied and circulated to the cast and crew.

Theoretically, you might even say there's a third version of the script, the one revised in-camera by the actors. Without the luxury of editing (DARK SHADOWS was "taped live," remember) the production was obliged to use whatever dialogue the actors spat out. And they usually get it perfect, at least in this episode. An occasional word gets changed here and there, but everyone delivers on the intention of the script even if the punctuation isn't always precise.

(There are many hand-written notes in pencil and red ink on this copy of the script, but I can't make much sense of them. A few are random numbers, while there are check marks next to portions of both Ryan's and actor Bob Gerringer's dialogue.)

This revision is dated May 18. The first dry rehearsal took place Monday, May 22, after the taping of episode 244. Presumably the cast from that episode got to go home early that day, because none of them appear in this episode.

The first script revision is at the start of the episode, during Alexandra Moltke's opening narration:

My name is Victoria Winters. Streaks of red, the color of blood, wash the sky that sets the western limits of Collinwood. It is as though the day were dying a horrible death, and the peace the sunset usually promises, has failed to penetrate the darkening precincts. The fear that the day could not disperse remains, and already mounting terror continues unchecked. And a cruelty even the dying day can not redeem smiles its harsh smile in gathering dusk.

The introduction is different in two ways. The first is a change not noted in the script, with Moltke saying "penetrate the darkness" instead of the ponderous "penetrate the darkening precincts." The line noted in boldface in the above quote was removed entirely because of an adjustment made elsewhere in the script. Caldwell originally wrote a handful of static scene openings, almost all of which were revised to ramp up the drama. As written, episode 245 begins with a "smiling" Barnabas Collins (see Moltke's voice over above) confronting a "cowering" Willie Loomis. This was changed to move the camera to the staircase of the Old House in order to show Frid descend into frame. What was taped it a lot more menacing (and active) than what was originally proposed.

While there are a few small additions to the script, the lion's share of the revisions involve removing dialogue, possibly for time. The rough (and probably totally inaccurate) rule of screenwriting says that "one page = one minute," which allows very little wiggle room for a half-hour television program. A few seconds are shaved off almost every scene by removing superfluous dialogue, and it doesn't get any more superfluous than this:

That's an ENTIRE PAGE OF DIALOGUE with an "X" through it. As you can see, nothing much was lost here ... Burke Devlin and Dr. Woodard basically regurgitate everything they said on the preceding pages. Had Caldwell been a more experienced writer, I'd argue that he wrote this page as a buffer to protect better scenes from being truncated. But that's probably not the case.

Curiously, there's a script revision that didn't make the broadcast. An early scene fades out with this ominous bit of dialogue delivered by Ryan:

"Until we find out what's going on, no one is safe. Every time I take a look at Vicki, I get a little scared. What if something happens to her?"

That was how it was written, and that was how it was delivered by Ryan (more or less.) But the dialogue had been revised to change "Vicki" to "any young girl in town," with the last line deleted entirely. Deeper into the script's margins, though, additional handwritten notes indicate "Take 2," with directions that restore the original dialogue to re-instate Vicki's name. This is why actors drink.

I noticed an interesting thing taking place as I compared the finished episode to the script: Jonathan Frid had a habit of making his dialogue better. His relationship with Barnabas Collins and DARK SHADOWS was more focused in 1967 than it would ever be again. Promotional obligations, movies, celebrity and a requirement to work almost every day of the week would later put undue strain on him, but here he's still playing a badguy living on borrowed time. Barnabas was intended to appear as a temporary heavy for the show and was set for execution later in the year. In May, 1967, he could still do his job and go home unmolested by admirers. While he would later call this period in his life "hell" (because of his problem learning to memorizing new scripts on a daily basis) I suspect he was happier on the show before the weight of the world was placed on his shoulders. This episode represents one of his most confident performances ... taped during a time when life was simpler for both Barnabas Collins and the actor playing him.

This episode also features two odd references to DRACULA, the archetype for all-things-vampire. After watching this episode I can't say with any certainty that the writers had actually read Bram Stoker's novel, because both references could easily have been lifted from movie adaptions. In one scene, Dr. Woodard politely declines a drink offered by Barnabas, but seems impressed by the vintage once he tries it. Barnabas urges him to try "just a few drops," which must have been considered too on-the-nose because it was altered to read "just a little." Woodard responds: "I'm not a wine drinker, but I must admit this is excellent."

The next is a riff on Renfield's mission statement, "The blood is the life." This time it's delivered by Barnabas:

"In a way, isn't that understandable? After all, blood is the life force. It reaches into the deepest recesses of both the heart and the brain. It is the familiar of our complete being ... to surrender even a drop of it suggests a partial surrender to one's utmost self ..."

Transferring the line "I never drink wine" to Woodard's character is a little pointless (and perhaps just a coincidence.) But putting Renfield's words in Barnabas' mouth has an interesting effect of transplanting that character's wretchedness to a traditionally unflappable monster. As the episode progresses, Barnabas continues to wax poetic in scenes that underscore the character's ambiguity. One upon a time, people didn't know they wanted any depth from their monsters until it was presented to them as a viable option. Here, Barnabas addresses his feelings about the "madman" terrorizing Collinsport and shatters the concept of "vampires" forever:

"Whoever he is -- he must certainly be at one and the same time more than a man -- and less than a man ...The truth is I loathe him -- I loathe him very, very deeply."

Those lines of dialogue quickly became the template for every self-tortured vampire to follow in his foot steps during the next 49 years. There are a few critics that want to blame DARK SHADOWS for that trend, which is about as fair as blaming The Beatles for the existence of Herman's Hermits. The idea of a vampire as anti-hero might seem a little stale today, but I can't even imagine the gut reaction people had when seeing this episode for the first time in 1967. 

Mitchell Ryan/Salome Jens/Eugene O'Neill

Those of you following us on Facebook have already figured out that actor Mitchell Ryan will be making an appearance on our podcast. What we haven't revealed is when you'll be able to hear the interview. A few scheduling conflicts have pushed production back a little later than I liked, but the good news is the episode will be available for download later today!

In the meantime, enjoy some photos of Ryan and actress Salome Jens onstage together in a pair of Eugene O'Neill plays. At the top is an image from "A Moon for the Misbegotten," which ran at the Circle In The Square Theater in New York City in 1968. Below is an image of the pair in "Long Day's Journey Into Night," a 1992 production in Garden Grove, California.

Check back later to hear the podcast!

Review: AND RED ALL OVER

By WALLACE McBRIDE

Admittedly, I might not be the best person to review “And Red All Over.”

I’ve got an emotional investment in the early episodes of DARK SHADOWS that’s a little unusual. Most of the OG fans of the series didn’t start watching the show until after it became a phenomenon, with later attempts at syndicating the show (and even releasing it to home video) completely omitting the first 200 episodes. As weird as it might seem, these episodes aired only once on television until The Sci-Fin Channel picked up the series during the early 1990s.

This is when I first started to watch DARK SHADOWS in any meaningful way: two hours every morning on The Sci-Fi Channel, beginning with the first episode. At the time, episode guides weren’t easy to find, so I had no idea when Barnabas Collins might make his first appearance on the program. It always felt as if he might arrive at any time, like an uninvited — but thoroughly welcome — guest.

This anxiety went on for more than 20 weeks before we rolled around to Jonathan Frid's debut, but there was enough going on during these early episodes to keep me occupied and entertained. These remain some of my favorite stories in the series. As I’ve said before (and will certainly say again), you can’t really understand DARK SHADOWS without seeing these episodes.

Which is why I can’t fully approach “And Red All Over” with any real objectivity. I love having Mitchell Ryan back in the fold. He’s one of my favorite character actors (a short list that also includes Ian Holm and Stanley Tucci) and it feels like a semi-miracle to have him return to DARK SHADOWS after almost 50 years. Does it even matter if the episode is any good? Would I know the difference?

Director Lela Swift leads the cast of DARK SHADOWS through the shooting of the show's first episode, June 13, 1966.

Spoilers ahead.

I like to think “And Red All Over” is one of the best installments in Big Finish’s range of DARK SHADOWS audio dramas. I was engaged throughout, and not just because I was starstruck by Ryan. It’s not a coincidence that the best stories in this series feature Kathryn Leigh Scott, who is cursed with the kind of charm and consistency that makes it easy to take her for granted (see also: Tom Hanks). But she’s terrific here. Again.

Ryan created the role of “Burke Devlin” on DARK SHADOWS in the first episode of the series. When last we saw the character, he was played by Anthony George and headed for an ill-advised plan ride to South America.  Since 1967, we’ve all had to live with the character’s dubious, unsatisfying exit for the show: The Dreaded Soap Opera Plane Crash™.

While the logline for “And Red All Over” is a little coy about the presence of Burke Devlin in this episode, there’s little suspense in the tale about his real identity. The producers at Big Finish would have to be real assholes to tease us with Devlin’s presence, only to snatch it away. So yes, this is Burke. And we find out quite a bit more about him than we ever learned on the original series.

Writer Cody Schell delves deep into DARK SHADOWS mythology, revisiting everything from Devlin’s relationships with Roger Collins, his engagement to Victoria Winters and, most importantly, his mysterious business dealings in Montevideo. Which is where things get interesting. And occasionally confusing.

In 1966, Devlin returned to Collinsport with a grudge and a sizable fortune. The origins of this fortune were never revealed, but the hints that Devlin occasionally dropped were … unsettling. Schell expands on these clues in some interesting ways, revealing Devlin’s associates as the sort of creepy crime cult you might find in a DAREDEVIL comic. The Ink (as they like to be called) is either a gang of masked criminals who use costumes and hallucinogenic drugs to terrorize their enemies, or they have access to very real magical powers. What happens in the story might not actually be happening, at least in the ways that the characters believe. Don’t be shocked if you’re occasionally confused by the constant sleight-of-hand taking place in “And Red All Over.”

Still, I have quibbles. There are times that Ryan sounds like he’s reading the script for the first time, but these awkward line readings are in keeping with the theme of the tale — for better or worse. And the sound design for “And Red All Over” is not among the best produced by Big Finish (that title is still held by 2013’s “Beyond the Grave.”) It seems like a weird complaint to level against anything bearing the DARK SHADOWS trade mark, but the music and sound effects on this episode were sometimes … cheesy.

The dreamlike/acid-trip nature of this story also complicates its resolution in a way that reminds me of TAXI DRIVER.  People still argue today about that movie’s denouement, which sees disturbed vigilante Travis Bickle getting a (totally unearned) second chance at life. Here, we find Maggie Evans reunited with one-time boyfriend Joe Haskell — who we last saw on DARK SHADOWS getting carted off to a sanitarium. Later audio dramas claimed Haskell was dead, which makes his cameo at the end of “And Red All Over” a little startling. It’s also amazingly effective, and provides a much needed happy ending for the couple. You probably think you’re prepared to hear the sound of actor Joel Crothers voice, but I assure you that you’re not.

Assuming I’m not a delusional fanboy, it’s my opinion that “And Red All Over” serves as a fitting cap for the entire DARK SHADOWS storyline. While I’m hoping for more from Big Finish in 2016, this is as good an ending as DARK SHADOWS will ever get.

Get DARK SHADOWS: AND RED ALL OVER from Big Finish HERE.

AFTER SHADOWS: Mitchell Ryan as AGAMEMNON

 
Mitchell Ryan taped his last episode of DARK SHADOWS on May 25, 1967. His first job out of the gates was a spot on the short-lived television series CORONET BLUE, a spin-off of the primetime/daytime series THE NURSES. Ryan appeared in the fifth episode, titled “Faces,” which aired July 10, 1967. I’m sure it was a perfectly fine program, but his next gig is a lot more interesting.

Ryan starred as “Agamemnon” in IPHIGENIA AT AULIS, which opened Nov. 21 that year at the Circle in the Square theater in New York City. IPHIGENIA AT AULIS was written by Euripides in 414 B.C. The story is profoundly disturbing: Agamemnon must decide whether or not to sacrifice his daughter to the gods as a preamble to setting his troops in battle against Troy. It sounds like an episode of BLACK MIRROR.



By all accounts, Ryan sold the conflict well and portrayed Agamemnon as a conflicted, flawed leader: “Mitchell Ryan's Agamemnon, part politician, part hero, part father, provided a subtly judged performance of a man of patchy conscience who wants to do the right thing, but hasn't truly got the moral equipment to know what the right thing is,” wrote Clive Barnes in the New York Times that year.

The 1967 production was pretty successful, running until the following year for a total of 232 performances. Starring opposite Ryan was Christopher Walken as “Achilles” and Irene Papas as “Clytemenstra.”

Via: The Michαel Cacoyannis Foundation

DARK SHADOWS: AND RED ALL OVER

The last DARK SHADOWS audio book of 2015 dropped this morning. "And Red All Over" reunites original cast members Kathryn Leigh Scott and Mitchell Ryan, who returns to the role of "Burke Devlin" for the first time since 1967. I've got a spoilery review of the story ready to go later in the week, as well as an even more spoilery podcast interview with its author, Cody Schell.

Until then, experience "And Red All Over" for yourself, courtesy of Big Finish Productions.

Via: Big Finish

Burke Devlin returns in DARK SHADOWS: AND RED ALL OVER

On June 27, 1966, the first episode of DARK SHADOWS premiered on ABC. The production would never again have the luxury afforded its debut episode. In addition to the location shooting that took place out of state, the cast was granted the unheard of two days of taping at the small studio on Manhattan's West 53rd Street. It was probably an exciting and terrifying time for everyone involved.

Among the actors appearing in that first episode almost 50 years ago were Kathryn Leigh Scott and Mitchell Ryan. In a few weeks, the two will be reunited in Big Finish's 50th audio drama, "And Red All Over." And the episode looks to possibly resolve a dangling plot thread from the original series: Whatever happened to Burke Devlin?

Devlin was lost and presumed dead in an airplane crash in South America. By the time Devlin — who was both the hero and villain of DARK SHADOWS when the show began — exited the series, Ryan had been replaced by the late Anthony George. Bumping off the character, even in such a non-committal way as a plane crash on another continent, was probably not that difficult a decision for the producers. Fans never warmed to George in the role, a sentiment that hasn't changed much in the years since.

Big Finish has released a trailer for the episode, which you can hear below. In it, you'll hear another familiar name mentioned, that of Joe Haskell. I have no idea what any of this means, but I'm intrigued.

Meanwhile, Big Finish is celebrating Halloween by putting one of the best episodes in the series on sale. For a limited time, you can get the MP3 version of DARK SHADOWS: BEYOND THE GRAVE for just $2.99. This is one of the boldest episodes ever produced for the line, as well as one of the scariest.




Via: Big Finish

AFTER SHADOWS: Mitchell Ryan and STAR TREK

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, "The Icarus Factor"

In which Burke Devlin boards the Enterprise-D and proceeds to get his swag all over everything.

First off, this isn’t meant to be some kind of Old Trek/Nü Trek turf war thing. I happen to like STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, but the show sometimes had its head up its ass. Most people chalk it up to Riker's Beard, the appearance of which creates a fairly clear median line in the show's seven-year run. If you randomly watch an episode on ST:TNG and see a clean-shaven JONATHAN FRAKES, the reasoning, goes, then you should change the channel. But the problems with ST:TNG go a bit deeper than facial hair fashions.

Revisiting the show recently, ST:TNG (especially the early episodes) has a weird kind of detachment, like a Zager & Evans song come to life, only with less Spaghetti Western horns. More to the point, ST:TNG is like a DAFT PUNK song in that it feels like art made by robots for humans. All of the basic components of storytelling are there … they’re just a little off. It’s escapism for replicants. And here’s what finally tipped me off:

Have you ever seen a more synthetic family portrait? Someone made this, and it was supposed to represent sentimentality in the 24th century. THIS is what we’re supposed to be aspiring to: awkward Sears catalog portraits shot in front of a green screen. (And I’m pretty sure that’s a photo of Mitch Ryan's face from HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER added into the image, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Data is the true voice of ST:TNG. He’s a contraption that looks human, but isn’t. His primary character arc involves a search for what it means to be human, and it's telling that the show's other characters don't even understand the concept. Most of his crewmates were interchangeable, save for a single (sometimes abrasive) character element. Worf was angry, Picard was confident, Yar was humorless, and Riker ... played the trombone. Yeah, that last character flourish doesn't sound like much, but it's the kind of detail that stood in for "character development" during the first few yeas of ST: TNG. It took a while for the show to evolve beyond these growing pains (i.e., it got better once Gene left the show) but the first few seasons were trite and artificial.
 
The Icarus Factor, which first aired back in 1989, falls back on the hoary old “Daddy Issues” story cliche. Will Riker and his father, Kyle, haven’t spoken for a while, and have been estranged since the death of Mrs. Riker (I don’t recall them giving her a name in this episode, but I probably just missed it. Trek is way too OCD to let a detail like that pass.) All of this builds toward some kind of “judo” match that involves Mitch Ryan and Jonathan Frakes wearing BMX pads, helmets and visors, while swinging blindly at each other with American Gladiators pugil sticks and screaming Japanese non-sequiturs at each other.

This scene made me wonder: "Do actors actually know how fucking weird their jobs are?”

The episode is wrapped up with no real emotional payoff. The two Rikers decide to put aside their differences because the credits were about to roll, and might as well have been ushered off stage by SANDMAN SIMS. Riker the Younger decides his dad’s not so bad after all, then takes his career out behind the shed and puts it down OLD YELLER style by turning down command of his own starship.

Oh, and Worf does some really stupid shit that involves letting Klingons taser him. Dude has issues.

Ryan and Frakes are surprisingly well matched as father and son. Both of them are alike in a way that doesn’t require either to study the others’ physical habits to convey familiarity. If you’ve ever seen DARK SHADOWS (and if you’re reading this, you probably have) then you know that Ryan has a unique way of entering a scene. It’s nothing like Frakes’ "Ima knock a wall down with my head" technique, but it’s close enough for horseshoes. These are two guys who really know how to occupy a scene, and it’s fun watching their natural gravities in competition with each other. This episode is worth checking out for their  performances.

Oh, and you also get to hear Burke Devlin say “Ferengies.” That’s just a bonus.

This isn't the first time the paths of DARK SHADOWS and STAR TREK have crossed. ART WALLACE, the guiding light behind DARK SHADOWS, wrote a pair of episode of the original TREK in the '60s (neither of them are especially good.) KATHRYN LEIGH SCOTT, who appeared opposite Ryan in the first episode of DARK SHADOWS (and many more after) appeared on the ST:TNG episode WHO WATCHES THE WATCHERS in season three.

(Note: an earlier version of this piece ran on BLOOD DRIVE, the Collinsport Historical Society's Tumblr feed.)