David and Barnabas

[MikeS]

Something else that was obviously dropped - in the very early episodes Roger hints that Burke Devlin might actually be David's biological father. Seems Laura was dating Burke right before he went to jail, and then she married Roger instead. Hmmm. David and Burke did in fact share a much closer relationship than David and Roger ever did, and Burke was a better father figure too. I think they were originally heading in this direction in the beginning.

Lots of loose threads never tied up . . . they really should have recast the character of Burke again after Anthony George left the show. Heck they had 3 Woodards and 3 Vickis so why not 3 Burkes?

I wonder if they ever would have resolved this storyline (as well as the question of Vicki's parentage) even if they had kept the characters of Burke and Vicki on the show.  At this point, more and more supernatural characters and stories were being introduced, due to the huge success of Barnabas, and the show no longer seemed as interested in dealing with the non-supernatural elements.

Personally, I enjoyed the show when there was a mixture of supernatural and non-supernatural stories.  One of my favorite periods on the show was when the introduction of Barnabas and Jason McGuire stories were being played out simultaneously.  Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[Maria_Merriweather]

I liked the show better when it was more of a spooky old house gothic drama.  

Jason Maguire was one of my favorite characters(a non-supernatural villain).  .  He and Willie were good together--there was great chemistry between them.

[Dr. Eric Lang]

I wonder if they ever would have resolved this storyline (as well as the question of Vicki's parentage) even if they had kept the characters of Burke and Vicki on the show.

It's interesting to speculate what would have happened if Anthony George had remained on the show. His exit necessitated a re-write of history, since Jeremiah lived to a ripe old age in the original version. I suspect Jeremiah and Victoria would have fallen in love and they never would have invented the Peter Bradford character. Barnabas and Burke probably would have continued to be rivals for Vicki after she returned to her own time.

 
Personally, I enjoyed the show when there was a mixture of supernatural and non-supernatural stories.  One of my favorite periods on the show was when the introduction of Barnabas and Jason McGuire stories were being played out simultaneously.  Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I agree. The best story line, IMO, is 1795, which deals with witchcraft and vampirism, but also a heavy dose of "reality," in dealing with characters and their relationships: Joshua and Naomi, Barnabas and Josette, etc. The whole Adam/Frankenstein thing seems like kiddie fare comparatively.

[HobbiesDS]

I have to go with the theory that David forgot or got over all of his fears when he was in Boston.  It was a week or so after Vicki returned to the present before we saw David.  And then with the Cassandra shock and Adam thing maybe he realized Barnabas was the lesser of the 3 evils.  Plus as someone said Barnabas was now "cured" and walking around during the day.  

*What happened to Vicki during this storyline?  She seems to be noticeably absent.  *Is this near the time when she is thinking of leaving?  Does she have another storyline other than planning on marrying Jeff Clark before she leaves??  

HobbieDS

[Miles]

More thoughts than usual from me:

LIZ IS NOT NAOMI!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG THEY KILLED HER CHAR!!!!! They Naomi-ized her!!! She's so weak now!!! UUUUUGGGGHHHHHHHH *throws stuff*[/b]

I thought Liz was being watered down as a character before 1795, actually.  She sorta went down the same path as Burke, her original nemesis, when they brought on Anthony George.  The whole, "I'll let the guy who's out to destroy my family marry my illegitimate daughter and give them a house beacuse they're so *cute* together!" thing very un-Liz-like.

Come to think of it, they did it to just about every original character.  Liz, Burke, Roger, Sam Evans and even Carolyn had their dark sides that were done away with in some form.

Lots of loose threads never tied up . . . they really should have recast the character of Burke again after Anthony George left the show. Heck they had 3 Woodards and 3 Vickis so why not 3 Burkes?

That was strange.  Its not like they gave him the classic Frank Garner/Sarah treatment, they sent him on a plane and crashed it in the amazon.  Clearly a calculated move by the shows producers, maybe they just didn't think he fit in, or maybe DC owed Roger Davis his soul and had to give him a spot.  I don't know.

I liked the show better when it was more of a spooky old house gothic drama.

I confess, I've always felt the same way (I'm such a bad DS fan ).

[Cassandra]

They simply seemed to drop the "David fearing Barnabas" storyline.  Barnabas is human now, so perhaps the boy senses there is no reason to fear him.  Children are generally very sensitive to such things.

Love, Robin

Robin, that is a wonderful explanation! With little information we have to go on regarding David's fear of Barnabas, this by far makes the most sense.

[Joeytrom]

Maybe Timothy Gordon could have played Burke after Anthony George left and there would be no plane crash.(I don't know what he looked like back then though).

The writers Pre-1795 and Post Barnabas were Malcolm Mamorstein, Joe Caldwell, and Ron Sproat.  Gordon Russell replaced MM sometime in July 1967 and Sam Hall came on a couple of weeks prior to 1795 and replaced JC.

Russell and Hall may not have liked the direction the show was in and they changed it...its not uncommon on soaps when new writers come on the scene.

[Luciaphile]

Personally, I enjoyed the show when there was a mixture of supernatural and non-supernatural stories.  One of my favorite periods on the show was when the introduction of Barnabas and Jason McGuire stories were being played out simultaneously.  Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I think if they had done this, the show would have lasted at least another five years, if not more.  But then you are preaching to the choir, MikeS

Luciaphil