DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '08 II => Topic started by: Taeylor Collins on July 27, 2008, 10:52:55 PM
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Does anyone know if JF just wanted to play Bramwell for a while or did he intend to never play Barney again if the show would have continued. Wonder how many years he had on that last contract? Does anyone know? I always figured they intended to go back to regular time if the show hadn't been cancelled.
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I don't know, but I think they wrapped things up in the present and didn't intend to go back. Well, they did have those ideas for future present storylines that ended up as that Roger Davis narrated thing (on the last DS tape). From what's onscreen, though, it seems they presented a "happy ending" for the present, besides, that happy ending has so many obvious holes in it that I think they wouldn't have dared go back and try to continue with it.
I always thought the reason for 1840 and then PT1841 was regret over having left 1897. Someone may have decided that the past just worked so much better for DS (more atmosphere, higher ratings) that they'd better get back to the past and stay there. The final episode began a new storyline in 1841PT, the neck bite. Of course that could have been our Barnabas who would later return to the RT present.
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I don't think Mr. Frid said he never wanted to play Barnabas again, even on occasion as a vampire, bu that he wanted to do more. Everyone else got to play other characters, yet he was Barnabas, Barnabas, Barnabas. Even David Selby got to play different "Quentins;" they all had the same name, but there were two others who were not his original character. In the 1840/41 storyline, Thayer David got to play - what? - forty, fifty different characters. In the 1897 plot he got to play two different ones; Grayson Hall got to play two (well, one was Julia); TLATKLS got to play two. One could even say that Nancy Barrett got to play two.
Gerard
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I agree he needed to stretch his limbs, I just wish I knew if the contract said he would never play Barney or he would play Barney after a certain number months had gone by etc. I guess no one really knows. Thanks for your comments though!!
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From what Frid has said on the subject through the years, we can all be quite certain that his contract didn't say he would never play Barnabas again. He had absolutely no qualms about playing Barnabas. Who would? Barnabas was one of the most complicated characters ever created. What actor wouldn't dream to play the role? What his contract did say was the show had to create a character other than Barnabas for him to play. And frankly, given that every other major DS actor had already played multiple roles, that was only fair...
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I agree!
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His character was the main character, though. It was a strange risk to take, to leave the main characters behind and start over with new ones. The risk didn't really pay off either, since viewers really did want Barnabas there.
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He was hardly getting anything special. Barnabas - 40 IQ points + Johnny Cash makeover = Bramwell. If he had known what the writers were going to give him, he likely would have stayed as Barnabas.
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His character was the main character, though. It was a strange risk to take, to leave the main characters behind and start over with new ones. The risk didn't really pay off either, since viewers really did want Barnabas there.
Though not necessarily all viewers wanted Barnabas there. And if one can believe what many have written throughout the years, they even found Bramwell appealing in ways they never found Barnabas. [ghost_wink]
He was hardly getting anything special. Barnabas - 40 IQ points + Johnny Cash makeover = Bramwell. If he had known what the writers were going to give him, he likely would have stayed as Barnabas.
Actually, Frid has said he found Bramwell very enjoyable to play.
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This is why, in the future, I should pick my brain for comments from the actors before I go *BAM* on the post button. [ghost_wacko]
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This discussion reminds me of my own excitement at seeing Jonathan's one-man show for the first time. I had never seen him play any other characters other than Barnabas and Bramwell, and up until that point ('91), I had never seen him out of character. My dad made me go to bed before I could see JF on one of the late night shows back in the 60s!
It seems as though towards the end of DS, JF was tired of playing Barnabas only, and from what I've read, he was anxious to spread his wings again, get back into theater work, and play different characters.
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This is why, in the future, I should pick my brain for comments from the actors before I go *BAM* on the post button. [ghost_wacko]
Eh it's okay Goober I have done the same thing. And I think I have asked a lot of "OLD" questions too. I am now trying to learn that the search feature is my friend.
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I am now trying to learn that the search feature is my friend.
[banana]
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Glad I could make you happpy with that statement Mid. And I do aplogize for posting any questions that were posted before. [ghost_wink]
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Oh, let's not be too hard on her. When I joined my first forum a few years ago, it took me a while to get the hang of things.
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No need to apologize, and you did make me happy, Taeylor. It tickles us to no end to see members learn how to use the various features, especially when it's knowledge that will help them on other sites too.
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I can certainly understand Frid's pov. On the other hand, it certainly wouldn't have been all that difficult to create another character for him to play. Bramwell was in many ways a clone of Barnabas, but suppose a genuine lookalike to Barnabas showed up in modern-day Collinwood? Someone with a very different kind of personality? Perhaps a mischievous, artistic type? And if Barnabas were somehow indisposed (trapped in Parallel Time, or staked in a secret location, or imprisoned, etc.), this lookalike might be prevailed to impersonate Barnabas!
Okay, t'would be a ripoff of Prisoner of Zenda, what's your point? [ghost_smiley]
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Thank Midnite you and everyone have been so welcoming and kind. I appreciate it.