Damon Dark
| Damon Dark | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Adrian Sherlock |
| Starring | Adrian Sherlock |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| No. of episodes | 50 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Channel 31 Melbourne |
| Original release | September 1999 – June 2010 |
Damon Dark is an independent public access TV series and web series from Australia about a heroic and obsessive investigator of UFO incidents and other strange cases, created by Australian writer, actor and film maker Adrian Sherlock. Damon James Dark became a dedicated alien investigator after a close encounter during his teenage years. He is associated with both the secret service and friendly aliens, including a character called Vincent Kosmos (an alien time traveller) and Trans-Dimensional Control (an alien law enforcement agency). The character of Damon Dark has appeared in a 5-week TV series on Community TV 31 in Melbourne Australia, a self-published novel ("Biodome") on Amazon's createspace platform and a long running web series on YouTube. He has also been involved in related web series "Young Damon Dark" and "Vincent Kosmos." He has also been the focus of a one actor stage drama. The character of Damon Dark has been played by Adrian Sherlock, Bruce Hughes, Aiden Sherlock and Jack Knoll. Damon Dark is a loner, dresses in black, has a huge experience of aliens and their technology. Damon is characterized by his high intelligence, idealistic moral outlook and wry sense of humor. His best friend in the series is the long-suffering Gary Sutton, played by actor Robert Trott. Damon Dark began in 1999, with a five-part weekly series on Melbourne's Community TV 31, (although the pilot was shot in 1996 and the show had been in development since 1990) following a screening of a 65-minute version of the story "Maddox" at the 57th World Science Fiction Convention (Aussiecon Three) held in Melbourne. The series was later revived as a YouTube webseries which inspired several related webseries, including "The Young Damon Dark Adventures" in which the character is played as a teenager, and Vincent Kosmos, (created by and starring Chris Heaven, an Italian actor and musician) about a renegade alien character who is a friend of Damon.
The character was also featured in an unsold TV pilot in 2000 which was independently financed but made with the hope of acquiring a professional television sale. Adrian Sherlock[1] has written most of the Damon Dark stories. The Young Damon Dark series, however, was written by Jack Knoll.
History
In 1996, Sherlock created a semi-professional TV pilot episode called Damon Dark: "Timeslip". When this was not picked up by TV networks, he made a continuation titled "Maddox" for community TV, through ERA (Eastern Regional Access) a branch of Community TV 31 in Melbourne, beginning production in 1998. The pilot and subsequent four episodes were first broadcast on the local community television station Channel 31 Melbourne from September to October 1999.
In 2012, Damon Dark became a stage play in Australia, titled "Damon Dark, UFO hunter." The play was promoted through the Geelong Performing Arts Centre and premiered at the Woodbin Theatre Geelong on July 14, 2012. A subsequent performance took place on July 21.
A second TV pilot was produced in 2000, with a different cast and a professional television director involved. Again, the pilot was not taken up.
Damon Dark moved to YouTube in 2006 as a web series, featuring Adrian Sherlock in the title role. At the peak of its popularity the web series achieved around 260,000 views. Adrian Sherlock became a YouTube Partner and the channel was often in the top 100 "directors" from Australia on YouTube. Adrian Sherlock later deleted this channel and switched to TheDamonDarkChannel, later personalising it as simply the Adrian Sherlock channel. According to the AustLit project, there are 47 published episodes.[2]
In December 2008 Damon Dark returned to broadcast television in Melbourne, with "Terror 9/11". The web series version of Damon Dark led to many related web series such as Vincent Kosmos and Young Damon Dark created by fellow YouTubers. In 2014, the Damon Dark character was killed in the YouTube episode The Final Choice. This episode was billed as the conclusion of the Damon Dark series.
Damon Dark has been favorably reviewed and its influence on related web series noted in the book Internet Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Television by Vincent Terrace, which documents the rise of internet series as a new medium of entertainment. books.google.com.au/books?ISBN 0786479930
Prominent Actors
Damon Dark was the first television to feature Niobe Dean.[3] The actress later became a professional, appearing as Sally Kirk in Neighbours amongst other roles. Another Neighbours actor to appear in the series is Andrew Dunn,[4] an actor who had also appeared in the movie Chopper. Both appeared in the Damon Dark serial "Maddox", Andrew Dunn taking on the role of Simon Maddox, the main villain.
Although Adrian Sherlock directed two of the original three stories himself, the second, "Maddox", was directed by Karl Siemon, who has since gone on to become a professional cinematographer with five movies to his credit including Radio Samurai, Razor Eaters and Hotel Motel.[5]
List of broadcast television episodes
| Episode | Title | Production date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Time-Slip" | 1996 |
| The first completed pilot episode. D-6 Agents Damon Dark and Candy Ryan (Susan Leigh Anderson) arriving at their HQ after returning from a UFO case and losing contact with their superiors. They are shocked to find their own murdered bodies in their office, and Agent Patrick (Rob Philips), now under alien control, is the assassin. It transpires that they've passed through a hole in time into the next day. They manage to return to the previous day and face their would-be killer. But he has also followed them from the future and now there are two Patricks! The plot was inspired partly by the UFO episode "Timelash" and the Twilight Zone episode "Death Ship". | ||
| 2,3,4,5 | "Maddox/It's After Me" | 1998/9 |
| A three part-story, Maddox and It's After Me (a fourth and final instalment) comprised this story. In Maddox, Candy has been replaced by Agent Veruca Stone (Niobe Dean). Damon and Agent Stone (Niobe Dean) investigate the bizarre death of Veruca's boyfriend, Agent Jason Tanner, of a brain storm, caused by an alien implant. They discover Simon Maddox (Andrew Dunn) a powerful Media mogul, is helping the aliens to take control of the government with mind control signals, using the mobile phone network. In the follow-up episode which concludes the series, It's After Me, the alien creature who Maddox was working with uses shape-shifting powers to try to kill Damon so it can take his place. We learn about Damon's childhood fears and relationship with his mother (Faye Douglas), which the alien impersonates in order to get close enough to try to kill him. | ||
References
- ↑ http://www.innersense.com.au/mif/master_list.html
- ↑ Austlit. "Damon Dark". austlit.edu.au.
- ↑ http://home.iprimus.com.au/niobe/Actor.htm
- ↑ "Andrew Dunn". IMDb.
- ↑ "Karl Siemon". IMDb.