Barnabas is one strange vampire

[Roland]

I'm currently nearing the end of the pre-1841 storyline.  Even though there is a vampire loose in the area (Maggie has currently come under this person's spell), Barnabas never seems to have to satisfy his cravings for blood at all during this period.  Heck, even the dogs have stopped howling when he comes around.  I find it interesting that, even though Barnabas is a full-fledged vampire, the writers seem more than willing to have him NOT act much like one when it is inconvenient for him to do so.  Are we to assume that Barnabas is simply heading towards the docks for a midnight morsel whenever he feels the need and that the writers simply aren't showing this to us?  Or can vampires go a LONG time between meals?

Just wondering.

[PennyDreadful]

He must have been feeding offscreen.  My theory is that he was visiting neighboring towns too.

Hey, just because they didn't show Liz, Roger, Carolyn and David eating post-1966 doesn't mean they didn't eat from 1967 to 1971 right?

[michael c]

once barnabas goes from being the villian to the guilt-ridden "anti hero" they really down play his daily cravings for blood.

it's still there and it comes up periodicaly as a plot twist(think megan todd)but it's not the focus of the character.he certainly didn't do really repulsive things like drain barnyard animals of thier blood as the character did when he first appeared.

i just finished the 1970 parallel-time storyline and while barnabas is a vampire here(remember the whole reason he stepped into the parallel-time room in the first place is because his cravings for blood were intesified at the time and he sought relief)he bites a few characters early in the plot but then they sort of drop it because he's the good guy here and it doesn't really come up again until roxanne.

b.t.w...
[spoiler]be does bite buffie harrington but they just sort of abandoned her and that part of the plot.did barnabas and julia leave someone under the vampire curse loose in parallel time or when barnabas leaves that time were those under his power released?[/spoiler]

[michael c]

He must have been feeding offscreen.  My theory is that he was visiting neighboring towns too.

Hey, just because they didn't show Liz, Roger, Carolyn and David eating post-1966 doesn't mean they didn't eat from 1967 to 1971 right?

that's true penny.
in the 1966 episodes they feature the kitchen at collinwood and of course the diner and the characters do in fact eat.it's strange that once the show goes supernatural they stopped that.

did proffessor stokes actually consume cheese in the evening to help him unwind or did he just talk about it?

i was surprised during the parallel-time episodes to see the kitchen and when maggie and quentin first return to collinwood from thier honeymoon hoffman has set a table for them in front of the fireplace.being evil of course she served angelique's favorite.some sort of crab thing i recall served in a fancy silver chaffing dish type thing.

[tripwire]

I bet the owners of the local Chinese all you can eat buffet in Collinsport looked on in horror as they seen the 66 El Dorado pull up and seen the portly Professor getting out. They could only hope that he was heading for the local five and dime for school supplies instead of making a B line for their front door. But no such luck, and to their disbelief, there was that tall scarred up dude with him, wearing that wreaking green sweater that he had worn the first time he had come in. They remember that first time, the Professors "foreign" friend, and how singlehandedly he ate up all the profits for an entire week. They still recall this guy as the one that didnt just get plates of the chicken chow mein, that he took the entire tray from the table, and not being able to eat fast enough with a fork, just used his hands and shoveled it in with a goofy and gleeful expression on his face. They recall Stokes trying to get the fellow to slow down, but to no avail. The gorging, they recall, lasted a good 2 hours before they finally left, even the Professor looking a lot heavier than before he had entered. "Lock the door, lock the door, hurry up. Pull the curtains down". Just in time, as the Professors hand felt the resistance of a locked door, and the foreign guys cursing tirade finally subsided, they watched as the Caddy pulled out of the parking lot.    

[jennifer]

I bet the owners of the local Chinese all you can eat buffet in Collinsport looked on in horror...

oh trip i'd love to sitting next to them
but it does seem at times Barnabas is more thristy than other times
and i love the title heehee

jennifer

[MagnusTrask]

That was Prof. Eliot Creosote (RIP).

[Gothick]

For quite some time, whenever watching the Summer 1970 episodes, I found it quite strange that Barnabas not only never fed, he never even really alluded to his bloodlust.  I've sort of put it together that Jonathan Frid really hated what he called "the fanging" and I think that DC agreed to let the writers ignore this aspect of Barnabas' character for entire periods. They did bring it back in high style with his arrival in 1840... apparently, this was followed by his walking off set one day and having to be talked into coming back on the show.

In a March 1973 interview, some fans asked Grayson Hall if it was true that Frid no longer wanted to play Barnabas.  She corrected them and said that what was true was that he no longer wanted to play a vampire and was adamant about that.  The role of Bramwell was created for the actor in Parallel Time 1841 to satisfy his desire to play "something other than Barnabas."  The original script for the second DS movie was a Return-of-the-Vampire scenario featuring Barnabas again, and Frid flatly refused to do it, which resulted in the story involving Quentin, Tracy, and the Jenkins battling Angelique's spirit.

I thought DS was just as interesting when Barnabas wasn't an active vampire, but as usual, I am in a minority.

cheers, G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I thought DS was just as interesting when Barnabas wasn't an active vampire, but as usual, I am in a minority.

Well, if you're in that group, I'm definitely in it with you. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I think DS is just as interesting when Barnabas isn't even around. I enjoy the pre-Barn eps, the stretches of eps when Barnabas is absent (like when he's supposedly been staked in 1897 and chained in his coffin in 1970PT) and 1841PT. I thoroughly enjoy Barnabas - but I also find so many of the other characters just as compelling, and often I haven't even noticed that Barnabas didn't appear in a stretch of eps unless/until someone posts about it on the board.

Truthfully, though, throughout my years in fandom I've come to notice there seems to be two major camps of DS fans: those who are attracted to DS because of Barnabas and seemingly only (or at least chiefly) because of Barnabas - and those who seem to be attracted to the whole package. Neither group is "better" than the other. And neither is the "truer" DS fan. After all, any aspect of DS that makes anyone a fan is just as valid as any other, and any and all fans are to be wholeheartedly welcomed and embraced. It's just an interesting phenomenon.

(Actually, there's also another group: the fans who enjoy DS in spite of Barnabas. But they tend to really be in the minority.  )

[Raineypark]

(Actually, there's also another group: the fans who enjoy DS in spite of Barnabas. But they tend to really be in the minority.  )

To the best of my knowledge, I'm a minority of one on THAT score.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

To the best of my knowledge, I'm a minority of one on THAT score.

No, you're not alone - I've definitely come across others. But you're certainly one of the more outspoken members of the group. 

[MagnusTrask]

It's far more interesting to have a cured Barnabas than a vampiric one, because that's what set the tone for DS as a unique, original, compelling program: the totally unexpected medical treatment, instead of priests and whoever running around with stakes and battling against "evil", a redeemed vampire as the (?!) hero.    Horror movie makers don't get the need for some sort of hopeful element to the story, to balance out all the gore.

But what's even more important is the need for change, sometimes radical, horrifying changes in the story and in the characters' lives.  There has to be the risk that BC will have his new life taken away, and for the risk to be credible, it has to happen once or twice.

For me, the value in BC being made a vampire again in the Leviathans storyline is not that it's somehow better or more "enjoyable" in some way to see him as a vampire.   It's not.   (And it's not as if we DO see him as a vampire really, if he's not showing any signs of it, never feeding.)   The value of it is that it's a tragic outcome for Barnabas.     It's great for dramatic reasons.   I hate to see him LEFT as a vampire for long periods, though. 

I don't like to be judgmental like this, but respectfully, JF really had no business turning his nose up at the core activity involved in being a vampire, the part he was there to play.     Maybe they wanted to just leave him that way indefinitely though, and then I'd have had a serious problem with it.    Maybe biting meant big ratings.   He'd become a monster, possibly, and the drama would suffer.    Come to think of it, that must have been his concern.      So maybe he thought, fine, I'll let them make me a vampire again (DC et al), but without feeding, so we get the drama of it, without the gimmicky stuff some of the less thoughtful kids would be tuning in for.

Mr. Frid is winning me over without even being here.

[jennifer]

i like the show with or without Barnabas but have to say
i like him cured better and working with Julia

jennifer

[BuzzH]

i like the show with or without Barnabas but have to say
i like him cured better and working with Julia

Hear, hear!  Me too!  Their 'dynamic dual' routine is da shit!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

(Actually, there's also another group: the fans who enjoy DS in spite of Barnabas. But they tend to really be in the minority.)

To the best of my knowledge, I'm a minority of one on THAT score.

You know - it occurred to me today that you could start a "We Hate Barnabas But Love Dark Shadows" fan group. And you could even advertise for members in the various fanzines and on online boards. 

Of course, you'd no doubt also receive loads of responses from fans asking how you could ever hate Barnabas. But something tells me you'd be more than able to deal with any of that.