The character of Barnabas was an accident. Dark Shadows was on the chopping block and their cancellation was imminent. So, the writers decided to go out with a bang and bring in a vampire... to afternoon television... think of the shock that would cause. He was brought in to be an evil vampire. To terrorize the town and then to be killed off within the span of a few weeks. I'm sure it all seemed like a fun joke to the writers at the time. And later, when they made the T.V. movie, Night of Dark Shadows, they played out the Barnabas storyline as they'd originally dreamed it up leaving barnabas staked and defeated. But they didn't count on Jonathan Frid's portrayal of Barnabas after he was first taken on. He was charming.
Lugosi's Dracula was sophisticated and somewhat charming, but ultimately creepy and his mannerisms were not easily confused with any human qualities. Barnabas had a past. It was a soap opera, so naturally, he had a love once. He became reluctantly evil. He didn't want to hurt Maggie, but he was tortured by a lost love and angry with what he was. The looks of painful reminiscence on his Frid's face and the puppy dog eyes won over the hearts of the lady viewers of the show and the fan mail poured in. Even after they went back to his past to see how he became a vampire and came back to the present they tried to keep him at least partly evil, but to no avail. Barnabas became a vampire hero and one of the first, I'd have to say.
Up until this point the vampire had always been portrayed as a foe to be defeated. Either as a sophisticated person able to interact with other people as Lugosi's Dracula, or as a creature in more of the Nosferatu vein. Barnabas changed all of that. Suddenly, Barnabas the vampire was championing the causes of all the good guys on the show. His situation wasn't entirely hopeless with the addition of Dr. Hoffman, but as was characteristic of Curtis, they didn't let him stray too far from the chains of his vampirism in fear of losing their biggest draw to the show. But it opened doors.
Now vampires had a chance of redemption in the movies. They could be both good and bad.
And they took it to all new levels. If it weren't for Barnabas there would've been no Blade, I think. Blade is a hybrid vampire, and why not? The image of the vampire has been very malleable throughout the years and it's all due to Barnabas.
Of course, one of the most memorable tributes to the Barnabas vampire (whether they intended it as such or not) was the show Forever Knight about a cop that works the night shift because he's a vampire and a good guy... like Barnabas.
He also had a red headed doctor friend who had an unrequited love for him and was ever trying to "cure" him... Like Dr. Hoffman. I liked Lucien the best though. Lol.
Frid's Shakespearean background gave him the uniqueness that changed everything for vampires. Cheers to my favorite vampire hero.
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