Thank you all! It was a great day.

Thank you!

I've never come across anything close to the simmering rage directed at the Depp film with the revival or any of the more recent spinoff media...

I've seen attitudes of dislike or indifference but nothing like the lynch mob mentality aimed at the film.

Yes, that's true. I'd have to say indifference is the dominant attitude among those who do not care for the audio series. Indifference and annoyance. I have at least two friends who feel they have to buy them even though they will not listen to them! Why? Because they have to have EVERYTHING DS!! Ok....

Personally, I was only invested in the Depp film because I'd hoped it would be the catalyst for the restoration of NODS. Once I got that, the film, good, bad, or indifferent was just a bonus. Turns out the restoration never happened.

As for the film, I have never seen a film I have loved and hated as much as that one. If you strapped me to a meter, you'd see portions I think are brilliant. I love the talk Barnabas and Victoria have on the balcony as Alice Cooper plays. I hate the "love scene" with Angelique. I love the bits where he's adjusting to the 20th Century. I hate the part where he gets vomited on. I hate all the parts in which he is advertising that he's a vampire. Burton could have at least kept the essence of who Barnabas is, the guy with a "hang-up" hiding the secret. I loved the opening. I love the confrontation with Julia. I hate the oral sex; it cheapens the character. I watched the film many times in the theater and have it on DVD/Blu-ray. I've only watched it a few times at home. That seems to happen whenever I buy a film.... Once I own it and can watch it "ANYTIME" I rarely do!

There's a large section of fandom that considers anything other than the original series to be blasphemy.

I have seen the same attitude leveled towards the audio dramas. I remember a lot of fans were incensed when Barnabas was recast, even though it was explained through a plot device. I can understand some people who claim they can't follow audio because it's not visual. We've become a very visually oriented society. But many fans have harshly criticized them without listening to them. I find it oddly ironic that they appear to be more successful in the UK than they are here.  Many of the overseas fans have never seen the OS and are checking it out because of the audio dramas.

I am loving Bloodlust!

The cliffhanger could have been worse. We could have been left on the gallows with the trap sprung (or however they had it set up) and cut to credits. While the old time fans would have known how it turned out, it would have still been extraordinarily frustrating to be cheated out of the resolution. Instead we were left with a relatively mild cliffhanger, a hint of things to come but following the satisfactory conclusion of a complete arc.

Counting down the days!!!!

I think with that site they consider a soap is any show that's serialized or has a continuing story.

LOL that's the majority of the shows on TV today!!