DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '17 I => Topic started by: Patti Feinberg on April 22, 2017, 03:42:36 AM
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I cannot have seen the early Barn eps, especially where he's thinking, "I must eliminate David".
What? I always remember Barn being loving & protective of the various incarnations of DH.
I really HATE Barn at this point; I remember some cousins didn't like him, and I didn't understand why.
At least David's behaving less psychotic.
Can't believe it....
Patti
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Well, Barnabas was evil then. You knew that!
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Yeah, I went through that the first time I saw the series from the beginning. Blew my mind.
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he was introduced as a villain. and he was a vampire. what's so "unbelievable" about it? [easter_huh]
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Barnabas was originally, indeed, a villain. Supposedly, it was to be a thirteen-or-so-week arc. Barnabas was to bring terror and Dr. Julia (originally "Julian" - a man) Hoffman would find out what he was and the battle was on. At the climax, both characters would die and on to the next monster. Jonathan Frid, ready to move to the west coast to teach acting as a university, was told by his agent that the gig would be three months and giving him extra cash, so he delayed his move for the ca-ching. But the ratings kept skyrocketing and the original plot was altered to extend it and the rest, as they say, is history.
Gerard
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He spends a lot of time talking about doing away with people. Not just David but Maggie and Julia as well.
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And don't forget what he did to Carolyn. "Don't be afraid, my dear. I wouldn't hurt my own flesh and blood." Munch! Crunch! Screeeaaammm!
Gerard
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He spends a lot of time talking about doing away with people. Not just David but Maggie and Julia as well.
And let's not forget Burke. If Barnabas had been left unchecked, half of Collinsport would have been killed off...
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I was surprised too as I started watching in 1968.
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At a certain point in my rewatchings, it became almost impossible to see Barnabas as a positive character.
There wasn't so much of a believable transition or transformation shown, as there was a sort of lurching forward and backward and forward in morals from him. It was more like a rebooting of him, after long enough a time had passed that they thought the audience wouldn't know or remember what he was like before.
He was vicious. They really built up a sadistic and intimidating picture of him. The first definite sign of reformation seemed to be, for me, when he was trusted with the kids in 1968/9?, taking over as a godfather when Liz and Roger were out of the picture... and all I can say then is, oh, if only everyone knew who they were trusting...
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[pointing-up] You are exactly right about all of that, Magnus, particularly with regard to for every step or two that he might take forward, he's sure to take a step or two back sooner or later in one way or another!!
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It is interesting in retrospect how negative fan reaction was in December of '69 when he suddenly became a coldly calculating villain again. They did not like it at all. I still think those are some of the best shows they did...
I was shocked when I got to see the 1967 shows for the first time in early 1976 when the first syndication happened in my area. Both Barnabas and Julia were so different from the people I remembered from my viewing in the Sixties. I also started watching in June of '68.
G.
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Along the line of 'beginning' Barn, I really did not remember how much Sarah there was.
[spoiler]At least I remembered Sarah telling Barn, "If you do any more bad, I'll never see you again", or close to that.[/spoiler]
I really thought she was only in less than 10 eps, including 1795.
Patti
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I recently have introduced DS to one of my younger relatives, having talked about it (mostly) my whole life to her... You know, being a Mister know-it-all with this younger generation and their Twilight vamps and such!! Ha! But essentially saying Barn was the first vampire who felt guilty about what he did to survive, etc.
I talked to her the other day after getting thru Vol. 2 (skipping Pre-B era) and she asked me, "I thought this Barnabas guy was a good vampire?" Hahaha...
I explained that's what I refer to as the "A-Hole Barnabas era". He's MUCH nicer later on in the show!! [easter_wink] [easter_wink]
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I explained that's what I refer to as the "A-Hole Barnabas era". He's MUCH nicer later on in the show!! [easter_wink] [easter_wink]
Though it could be argued that different levels of A-Holeness remain thoughout his entire run. [easter_wink] [easter_grin] And characters like Julia and Willie would be the first to agree. [easter_azn]
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Exactly MB... Not counting his induced Leviathan lapse, you'd be best not to cross him!! [easter_shocked]
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[pointing-up]
Oh yeah MB....poor Willie and poor Julia.
He get's a 'p'ass on the Levis though....
Patti
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I cannot have seen the early Barn eps, especially where he's thinking, "I must eliminate David".
What? I always remember Barn being loving & protective of the various incarnations of DH.
I really HATE Barn at this point; I remember some cousins didn't like him, and I didn't understand why.
At least David's behaving less psychotic.
Can't believe it....
Patti
Hey, Patti! I watched the original DS as a kid but not until about 1968 and can't have prior to 1967 as we didn't even have a working TV set then. (My parents watched President Kennedy's funeral on a neighbor's set, and once a year we went to a neighbor's to see The Wizard of Oz.) Even after getting a TV, Mom forbid us watching any soap opera, including Dark Shadows, dismissing it as "sad stuff." Finally, this had to be the summer I was six, my best friend informed me it wasn't "sad stuff" and I had to watch, and my sisters and I and to some extent Mom were all soon completely hooked! I absolutely loved Barnabas, he was my major crush and first great love.
After the series ended in 1971 I never saw it again until a local TV station began rerunning some in 1982 by which time I was in college. In this case they started with the episode where Barnabas showed up. I've seen parts of the previous episodes only sporadically on other stations more recently. When it reached the part about how Barnabas wasn't going to just eliminate Cousin David, but in a way to make sure he would really suffer in the process, Mom said, "A lovely man!" (Sarcasm font.) I was just floored. I watched that program faithfully every single weekday for over two years and remembered no such thing! Dr. Julia Hoffman may have had some mistakes in her trial and error to cure Barnabas, but her treatments certainly did him good! (By the way, dig the way lady doctors were portrayed on TV then. My sister grew up to be a lady doctor!)