My thoughts on the WB pilot: [I enjoyed it, saw some strengths and some weaknesses...I believe every DS Fan should be able to see this one at least once.]
[spoiler]It was about 40 minutes long, rough draft with little or not music or sound effects. That didn't matter because the suspense was there and the horror came through very well. I loved the effects they had for introducing Barnabas Collins. He was not a good-looking corpse to start out but the decayed DEAD cadaver. It was great make-up and there is a photo of him in the Shadowgram mail version. Anyway, when Willie and his girlfriend went looking for treasures, she cut herself on something, then blood dripped on cadaver which awoke the terror they were about to face. One survived, the other did not. The walking corpse had to claim a few victims including Carolyn to restore It's body and youth. I must say that within the 40 minutes no one actor had the most screen time. They were very busy introducing each character, each had only 2 or 3 scenes. Willie was very cute, not the babbling fool they had in 1991 and not the criminal we feared in the series. It was his girlfriend's idea to rob the grave and she even threatened him [not with bodily harm but lack of her body!] After Barnabas' influence on this Willie, he didn't appear to be as nervous and frighten of his master as the JK character but again we didn't get to see too much of the relationship in this short time. I also liked Vicki's character although I'd have to get use to a blonde. Since it is during modern time, we saw cell phones and a moment of comic relief during a rainstorm. This Vicki reminded me of the earlier series character, bold, feisty, and confident. I didn't care too much for the Elizabeth Collins Stoddard portrayal because they had her too mousy and nothing like Joan Bennett's portrayal. Roger was loud and obnoxious but we don't see too much of him. He's still curt with David. Little David was marvelous, IMO, and very spooky. He had some great lines too. I didn't like how they ended the 40 minutes but no one expected this to be perfect. They awaken Angelique and she is hit head on by Vicki's car. While she sticks out of the front window, she looks at Vicki screaming, having Vicki scream, and cowering in the seat. "The End". Hmmm?? It wasn't even a final draft so they expected to do more work on it.[/spoiler]