On Facebook? Come and play VAMPIRES! Bite, fight, feed & have some bloody good fun. It's free :-)
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows, debuting in 1966, was TV's first gothic soap opera and my first peek into the world of vampires. Jonathan Frid played
Barnabas Collins,a romantic troubled creature of the night in love with mortal Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) and also
involved with vampiric femme fatale Angelique (Lara Parker)
In addition to vampires, Dark Shadows featured werewolves, ghosts, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, both into the past and into the future, and a parallel universe.
Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride) and pop icon Madonna have both gone on record as fans of the series.As a child Johnny Depp was so obsessed with Barnabas Collins that he wanted to be him.
And how cool is this: In 2007 Johnny bought the rights to the show and Tim is now reportedly on board as director and/or writer
of an upcoming Dark Shadows movie!
Created by writer-director Joss Whedon, TV's Buffy has complex characters,
clever stories & an addictive mythology that lovers of gothic lore can really sink their teeth into. Created by Joss Whedon,
the series ran from 1997 to 2003, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers,
the latest in a line of young women known as Slayers, chosen by fate to battle against vampires, demons &
other forces of darkness. Guided by "Watcher" Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) & aided by friends
Willow (Alyson Hannigan)& Xander (Nicholas Brendon), they frequently save the world from annihilation
using physical combat, magic & detective-style
investigation. Willow eventually becomes an adept witch, while Giles contributes his extensive knowledge of demonology & supernatural lore.
At the heart of the show are the two male vampires who Buffy just can't slay ~ darkly romantic vampire-with-a-soul
Angel formerly Angelus (David Boreanaz) & wisecracking bad boy Spike aka William the Bloody (James Marsters).
Other characters include Spike's vampire lover Drusilla (Juliet Landau); shallow, sarcastic teen diva Cordelia
(Charisma Carpenter) who becomes more sympathetic & multi-dimensional as the series progresses; Xander's girlfriend &
former vengeance demon Anya (Emma Caulfield); Willow's werewolf boyfriend Daniel "Oz" Ozborne (Seth Green); & later, Willow's
lesbian lover, soulmate & fellow Wiccan, Tara Maclay (Amber Benson)
All 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are available on DVD
In
1999 Angel
was spun off as a separate series. After 3 years of passion, obsession & ultimately frustration as
Buffy's moodiest of love interests, the soulful vampire moves to Los Angeles in search of redemption.
Allen Francis Doyle (Glenn Quinn), an Irish half-human/half-demon,
assists him, passing along cryptic visions from The Powers That Be.
They are joined by Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), who at first is just as vapid & shallow as she was in Sunnydale
, but grows over the course of the series into a hero. When Doyle dies, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (Alexis Denisof) comes
on board as failed Watcher turned rogue demon hunter; he also grows
over the course of the series, into a leader and anti-hero.
In the 2nd season they are joined by Charles Gunn (J. August Richards), a young demon hunter who at first finds it
difficult to adjust to working with & for a vampire.
At the end of the second season the crew travels to the world Pylea, where they save Winifred "Fred" Burkle (Amy Acker),
a brilliant but socially awkward young physicist who gains confidence working with the team.
Connor (Vincent Kartheiser), the "miracle" human child of two vampires,
Angel and Darla, is born and grows to young adulthood very quickly in season 3.
Lorne, mild-mannered demonic nightclub owner who can "read" people and demons
alike when they sing, goes from being a minor character in season 2 to a full-fledged team member in season 4.
And then comes Season 5. In an intriguing twist, Angel Investigations moves from its offices in a funky old hotel to
the imposing headquarters of Wolfram & Hart, the evil-representing lawfirm that our heroes have been battling for years.
But the most perfect of additions to this final year of Angel is Big Bad Spike who suddenly materializes,
as arrogant and self-serving as ever but now, like Angel,
encumbered with a soul which makes his character one of the most complex and fascinating on the show.
Vampire Mick St. John (uberhandsome Alex O'Loughlin) was unwillingly turned
by his bride Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon) on the couple's wedding night 55 years earlier.
Flashbacks to 22 years ago show a fight between Mick & Coraline over a kidnapped girl.
Mick lights the house on fire & rescues the girl, leaving Coraline to the fire. Over the years Mick has tried
to watch over the girl & keep her safe & in
the present day, he struggles with his attraction to the beautiful, intelligent mortal woman that the girl
has grown into,
Beth Turner (Sophia Myles). Though Mick usually prefers a lifestyle of solitude & discretion, his best friend,
also a vampire, is
human-blood-drinking, womanizing party animal
Josef Kostan (Jason Dohring).
Unlike most of the other vampires in Los Angeles, Mick does not hunt women, children, or innocents,
getting his nourishment from his
connections at the LA bloodbank & morgue.
He is a detective by profession & since the vampires in Moonlighthave superspeed & heightened senses,
allowing them to hear very well, smell the past & psychically glimpse the future, he's a very good one.
But what he craves above all is to
be human again, & through twists & turns of plot, he is eventually given that chance, but at a very high
price, emotionally & ethically.
I still can't believe this wonderfully romantic & mysterious series was cancelled after one short season.
At least it's available on DVD
True Blood
Thanks to the invention of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed from legendary monsters to fellow
citizens overnight. But rumors of rogue vampires who still feed on human prey frighten some of the people in the
little Louisiana town of Bon Temps.
Waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin)however knows how it feels to be an outcast.
"Cursed" with the ability to listen in on people's thoughts, she's also open-minded about the integration
of vampires... particularly when it comes to Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a handsome 173-year-old living up the road.
Other characters include Jason, Sookie's brother, who has developed an addiction to V-juice
(vampire blood). Her boss, Sam Merlotte, a shapeshifter who can turn into a dog.
And her best friend Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley) who has an uneasy relationship with her alcholic mother Lettie Mae
Thornton (Adina Porter); Mom is convinced that all her problems are being caused by a demon living inside her.
Tara's cousin
Lafayette Reynolds (Nelsan Ellis) also works at Merlotte's but deals in drugs, including V-juice, & prostitution
for extra income. And when young women start turning up dead in Bon Temps, prejudice & paranoia intensify with each episode.
True Blood created & produced by Alan Ball ("American Beauty" and "Six Feet Under"), is based on the
Sookie Stackhouse book series also known as The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris.
Dark Shadows
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel
Moonlight
True Blood
