I still think people are making way too much out of this.
First, there's the talk of Dan Curtis' "vision." Well, he betrayed that with the '91 remake. With a huge budget, huge sets, and a few big-name stars (mostly miscast, save for Jean Simmons), bad writing, et. al., it was not the DS those of us who grew up with remembered. Still, because it was DS, I enjoyed it. I was saddened by its cancellation. We have folks here who did not like HoDS (and NoDS). They consider HoDS Hammeresque exploitation and their stomachs rumble when they see it. That was also Dan Curtis "vision," and we have DS fans who feel betrayed by it. And those of us who grew up with, and loved and still love, his original "vision," had to put up with tons of faux pas'. So why did Dan Curtis allow them? To make money. But DS continued on, and so did we.
Second, others have ideas about DS that others might not agree with. There's the whole thing about Barnabas dealing with being blind-sided by 20th century lifestyles and technology as displayed, even if in a comical manner in the JD/TB version. Some don't like that. Others don't. I do. Others do. I was contemplating writing a "novel" that would reconstrust his initial release and having to deal with that. I think it's important. I do. Others don't. S.E. Hinton, in her DS novel alluded to it. I'm a Stephen Kingish kind of guy. I enjoy watching how ordinary people deal with extraordinary situations.
Third, like I posted before, DS evolves. One cannot expect DC's "vision" to be kept biblically true. It had far too many holes. The '91 version was an evoution, for good or bad. The '04 version (which most us have not seen, including me), was an evolution, for good or bad. This '12 version is an evolution, for good or bad. And if there's fun to be made of DS, so what? I was at a DS festival, and rabid fans like me asked the honorable attendants on stage comical questions about the stuff that happened. It was a fun an enjoyable time. So get over it. DS fans know how to find things to pick at and make fun of it.
The only thing I don't like is that Jimmy-Boy was involved in this movie, in whatever way. He grates against me, because all he's concerned about it money, money, money for the DC estate. He thinks he can run the whole show. Initially, when the trailer first aired, it was posted numerous times on things like youtube and were then quickly taken down. Now, it's satuated youtube. Maybe that's too much for those who want money, money, money to keep up with. I'm not saying who's responsible.
Let's just wait and see the movie. It's less than one-and-a-half month away. If I could put up with Willie Loomis being morphed from a tragic character in the original to half of the Laurel and Hardey team (via Dan Curtis' "original vision") in the placid '91 version, I can put up with Barnabas being upset at watching Karen Carpenter on a knobbed TV set. The latter makes far more sense than the former, even if the former was Dan Curtis' distortion of his original "vision." Dan Curtis disrtorted the original vision many times and we put up with it. Why should everyone be upset with Depp's/Burton's version?
Gerard
P.S. I have friends who "couldn't stand" the original DS. When I showed them the trailor, they became infatuated, and now they want to watch the original. They are scouring youtube and anything else. They've become obssessed with the original. One friend of mine always thought Barnabas was made a vampire by another vampire and not by the witch Angelique. Now he wants to absorb anything and everything he can find on the original. All my videos and DVD's are now on loan to him and other friends.