Imagine if Dark Shadows had a cartoon in the 1970’s

Imagine if Dark Shadows had a cartoon in the 1970’s - Fan Art(icle)

Cartoon Collinwood - illustration by Eric Marshall

I wanted to launch the blog portion of the Terror at Collinwood website with something really fun to commemorate Dark Shadows’ 55th anniversary, so my friend and TaC guest co-host Eric Marshall came to the rescue with some absolutely incredible artwork! Eric is a gifted artist (and writer!) and I’m thrilled to showcase his remarkable creative efforts here!

At some point following the end of the 1991 Dark Shadows NBC revival series, and before the unaired 2004 live-action WB pilot, the idea of an HBO DS cartoon aimed at adults was floated at Dan Curtis Productions. I’ve always felt that a high-end animated series of this sort could have been incredibly cool, and I wish it had happened. Maybe it still could!

At the same time, I’ve also always wondered what an actual Saturday morning kids’ cartoon for Dark Shadows might have been like.

Our friend James Eatock is the editor and publisher of cereal:geek magazine, which is a great periodical about 1980’s animation. Eric Marshall illustrated and wrote a regular article for cereal:geek that explored what live-action 80’s movies might have looked like as cartoon shows during that era. I used to really enjoy seeing what Eric came up with in those articles, so I thought it’d be fun to revisit that idea with Dark Shadows. Instead of an 80’s cartoon, however, Eric and I started talking about what an early-to-mid-70’s DS cartoon would have been like.

Since Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek cartoon series was produced by Filmation in 1973, I imagined a similar scenario for DS - “What if Dan Curtis had pitched a Saturday morning cartoon version of Dark Shadows a couple of years after the live-action show ended?”

I asked Eric if he’d be willing to give it a shot. A few weeks later, he sent me some astoundingly wonderful Hanna-Barbera-style illustrations, which is very appropriate since Hanna-Barbera was Filmation’s chief competitor in the animation business! Maybe Dan Curtis’/Hanna-Barbera’s Dark Shadows and Gene Roddenberry’s/Filmation’s Star Trek would’ve gone head-to-head in the Saturday morning cartoon wars!

Eric’s Alex Toth-inspired model sheet illustrations really blow me away, and offer a peek at a theoretical “parallel band of time” where such a cartoon could have existed.

Eric and I went back and forth, imagining what the tone might’ve been, and we both agreed that we definitely would have preferred a more serious cartoon instead of an outright comedic one, although we did joke about including a cartoon dog based on the 60’s Whitman DS puzzle artwork, and naming the dog “Rudolfo” (which some folks in the fandom will get - lol). Eric pointed to the “Curse of Anubis” episode of Johnny Quest, but also to the gothic spookiness of the backgrounds and villains from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Yes, it’d still be a show for kids, but for Monster Kids who like ghouls, ghosts, and goblins.

So, sit back, scroll down, and enjoy these peeks at a Dark Shadows cartoon that never existed!…

Ed. Note: Eric purposely misspelled the studio name as “Hamah-BarbEric” to make it clear that these are not real Hanna-Barbera model sheets!

Barnabas Collins (“vamped-out” mode) - model sheet illustration by Eric Marshall

Barnabas Collins (non-”vamped-out” mode) - model sheet illustration by Eric Marshall

Elizabeth Collins Stoddard and Roger Collins model sheet illustration by Eric Marshall

Carolyn Stoddard and David Collins model sheet illustration by Eric Marshall

Angelique model sheet illustration by Eric Marshall

Victoria Winters and Burke Devlin model sheet illustration by Eric Marshall

Quentin Collins model sheet illustration by Eric Marshall

Willie Loomis and Dr. Julia Hoffman model sheet illustration by Eric Marshall

Maggie Evans and Joe Haskell model sheet illustration by Eric Marshall

Mrs. Sarah Johnson and Harry Johnson model sheet illustration by Eric Marshall

Adam and Professor Stokes model sheet illustration by Eric Marshall

Cassandra Collins and Nicholas Blair model sheet illustration by Eric Marshall

Dark Shadows cartoon cast by Eric Marshall - includes Josette’s Ghost, with a design inspired by her “Barnabas summons Josette back from the dead” look from the 1795 storyline.

Cartoon Collinwood - illustration by Eric Marshall

Here are two of the above images presented in black & white, a nod to the first 14 months of the live-action show.

Black & White cartoon Collinwood - illustration by Eric Marshall

Black & White Dark Shadows cartoon cast - illustration by Eric Marshall

I’m excited to add that Eric plans to continue illustrating characters from Dark Shadows as he makes his way through the classic series, which he is currently watching from start to finish! I look forward to seeing what he cooks up!

I also have a related idea for this imaginary cartoon version of DS, which will be fun if I can make it happen. More on that if and when the storm clouds align!

Stay tuned to this blog for occasional articles about other DS-related topics when I can get to them!

Happy 55th anniversary, Dark Shadows!

Barnabas Collins, Angelique Bouchard Collins, and Quentin Collins model sheet illustration by Eric Marshall