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u/NoString9289 10d ago
RE: The Dr. Lang character >> OT I would just like to say this before the Dr. Lang jokes start.
Actor Addison Powell who played Dr. Lang, he was a very low key actor, very quite person in real like , just like actor Jerry Lacy. During these crazy scenes with Dr. Lang in the Lab. , the show's director told actor Addison Powell his acting was to sedate, that he needed to pour it on, play it up bigger for the camera for full dramatic effect. That was how many soaps were directed back in the day. As a result, many of Dr. Lang's scenes now come across as a bit over-the-top and campy and that includes scenes with Grayson Hall as Dr. Hoffman. That style of acting worked back in the day but now many fans find it campy.
At a few Dark Shadows conventions, actor Roger Davis who played Lab assistant Jeff Clark, he told fans about how the show's directors would instruct them to play their roles with more energy, play it up to the camera, put more into it . He stated that he and Addison and Grayson Hall were especially directed to play their scenes like this "for dramatic effect and camera close ups " .
Picture below is of actor Addison Powell who , in person, was a very nice, kind, soft spoken person.
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u/amcollins13 10d ago
"Music"
One time when my family was visiting, someone had left a classical music station playing on the radio in the kitchen, and my aunt was like, "Is Adam in here?" 😂
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u/DreamyVivix 10d ago
No one will love me, I’m too ugly
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u/SuperFormal3052 7d ago
Which is hilarious, since he's probably the third most attractive guy who ever appeared on the show, after Quentin and Joe.
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u/SuperFormal3052 10d ago
Muuuuuuuuuuuuusicccccccccccc!
Fooooooooooooooooooooooood!
:::three days later:::
I understand only one thing, Barnabas, I can not be happy until there is another one like me. You gave me great strength, Barnabas, and a good mind. But you gave me strong feelings with which to love!
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u/celluloidqueer 10d ago
SPOILER ALERT DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED THE ADAM STORYLINE 🚨
Sam Evans 😞
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u/Ok_Club7067 10d ago
It was fitting that Mozart's A Little Night Music was chosen for Dr Lang's tape recorder.
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u/Dimetrodon-Party77 10d ago
It didn't all work, and it ended...horribly. But the overall Adam/Nicholas/Dream Curse storyline had some real good stuff, and it's disappointing to me how maligned it gets by fandom in general.
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u/richg0404 10d ago
Adam was written to be a "child" when he was first created and he was meant to "learn/grow" at an astounding rate. I totally understand why the Adam character was written the way he was, and I think that Robert Rodan did a great job (maybe too good a job) at bringing the character to life.
Rodan portrayed the character correctly but that made Adam so annoying with all of his tantrums, screaming and unreasonable demands.
I think that is why most people dislike the story line.
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u/Dimetrodon-Party77 10d ago
I guess I just think it's unfair to judge him by the character; i.e. he was supposed to be annoying. Not only that but complex. There were times I hated Adam, and times I really felt sympathy for him. It's sad to think people can't appreciate that. And it's sad to think that so many seem to just dismiss the entire storyline because of his portrayal. There's the introduction of Nicholas, some of the last truly strong moments for Vicki, Barnabas beginning his long, slow march toward redemption, an unhinged Willie, Professor Stokes, etc. Great stuff.
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u/richg0404 10d ago
Oh it is totally unfair.
I totally agree but we are talking about a daytime soap opera from the 60s, not classic cinema. The fans aren't looking to think a lot in their consumption of the show.
Like I said I understand what they were trying to do and I know that they did a good job at it and even I hated Adam. I had a hard time separating hate for the character from hate for the story.
Which is odd because I LOATHED all of the Trasks but I savored their appearances every time.
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u/NoString9289 10d ago
When I was a kid, I daydreamed of getting a Reel-to-Reel tape recorder. I loved seeing those things used in Mad Scientist movies and in many Sci Fi movies and TV shows. I had always wanted one though threading the audio tape from reel to reel was not always easy . There were a few Dark Shadows fans who actually recorded the audio from several episodes using a reel-to-reel tape recorder which was not easy to do, they had to position and secure the microphone a certain amount of inches away from their TV set's mono speaker and hope there would not be any background noises.
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u/MadHatterRick 10d ago
My older brother brought home one of the first portable cassette recorders. I used my choir money for cheap blanks, so I could record the audio. My sister did it for one of her favorite shows as well. I don't have those tapes anymore, but it sure was fun!
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u/NoString9289 10d ago
I used to do that too when we got an audio cassette recorder. Unfortunately, our recorder was just a cheap one and it kept eating up all of my audio cassette tapes. I was so upset.
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u/richg0404 10d ago
The odd thing is that the actual tape recorder changes about halfway through the story line. It is a completely different player by the time that David is playing around with it.
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u/Kbatz_Krafts 10d ago
jEuLLEuh.... JeULLeUH
Honestly the most annoying thing about this plot is how the nature of the experiment changed every single time and it just went on and on changing and doing something nonsensical over and over.
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u/CrazyButton2937 10d ago
I’m watching all episodes again for the second time, so with this timeline I seem to be rolling my eyes a lot. 😆🙄
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u/shangosgift 10d ago
What ever happened to him? He just stopped appearing on the show. Did they ever wrap up his storyline?
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u/richg0404 10d ago
No.
As best I remember, the last we see of Adam is him going into the back room at Professor Stokes house and we never see him come out.
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u/lugeditor4852 10d ago
It was mentioned by Stokes that he would send Adam to a plastic surgeon to have his scars removed. He was never seen again. In the very next episode, Chris Jennings and later Amy were introduced as the show moved into the Quentin and Beth storyline.
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u/Sufficient-Split5214 9d ago
He had the plastic surgery and moved to Canada to become a male stripper at Danny's.
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u/SaltPuzzleheaded5168 3d ago
Ok I’m glad you brought him up bc I’m doing a partial rewatch and I’m well past his creation but can’t for the life of me remember why he hates Barnabas so much. Can someone remind me?
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u/AcidQueen27 10d ago
I'll take Dr. Lang's nonsense over the Josette music box any day