Okay, so I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now and have come up with not only my dream cast (see below), but I've actually started writing DS The Musical (I know. . .I know, I've said here that DC has no business writing a musical, but that Rupert Holmes and Robert Cobert could certainly write a good Broadway show--and since I've written my own share of musical theater pieces in the past 3*%^-odd years, I decided to give it a try, and the opening sequence is almost complete.  But y'all will have to wait until it's finished to read it.

Meantime, here's a cast I would love to have in the show (BTW, the 1790s cast will be featured only in a "dream sequence" at the end of Act One that tells the story of how Barnabas became a vampire).

Cast of Characters
VICTORIA WINTERS                        Ruthie Henshall
ELIZABETH COLLINS STODDARD      Julie Andrews
ROGER COLLINS                             Richard Gere
CAROLYN STODDARD                      Kristen Chenowith
DR. JULIA HOFFMAN                       Donna Murphy
MAGGIE EVANS                              tba
MRS. JOHNSON                              Nancy Barrett
WILLIE LOOMIS                             Bronson Pinchot
JOE HASKELL                                 Marc Kudisch
PROFESSOR T. ELIOT STOKES         George Hearn
BARNABAS COLLINS                      Hugh Jackman
DAVID COLLINS                             tba
ANGELIQUE                                   Catherine Zeta-Jones
   
1795 Flashback Dream Sequence
NAOMI COLLINS                            Julie Andrews
JOSHUA COLLINS                          Richard Gere
JOSETTE duPRES                           Ruthie Henshall
JEREMIAH COLLINS                       Marc Kudisch
ABIGAIL COLLINS                         Nancy Barrett
MILLICENT COLLINS                     Kristen Chenowith
NATALIE duPRES                          Donna Murphy
BEN STOKES                                George Hearn

Any comments?

Brian

Actually, I think Catherine Zeta-Jones would make a really good Vicki but she's a little too old for the part

I forgot about Zeta-Jones. . .she may be a little mature for Vicki--but I can really see her as Angelique--blonde wig or not!

If Harvey's not your ideal Julia, then maybe move Glenn Close over to Julia and (why not each for the stars) bring in Julie Andrews as Elizabeth!

Hmm--the possibilities of casting make me wish this show could become a reality. . .but . . . :-

I can't believe MPI would edit the tapes used for the current DVD release.  I'm just now watching the first disc on DVD # 11 and I'm quite surprised by the video and audio glitches that were left in--there was certainly no effort to edit these epsiodes!  (Thank goodness!!)

I can't speak to the Worldvision syndicated shows from the mid 1980s, but if the edits you mention were made after those initial syndicated airings, then one must assume that Dan Curtis (and maybe Jim Pierson) had some say in such edits way back when DS was licensed to MPI for release on home video in 1989.

But--since I haven't seen your tapes, and since I "wasn't there," this is only my opinion and speculation.

Brian

The vast majority of the pre-Barnabas episodes ARE available in their original video tape format--and these tapes were used to create MPIs VHS releases of those episodes.  I can't tell you at this time which episodes were "lost" and therefore only available in kinescope format--but that information is available, I believe, in one or more of the DS books published by KLS' Pomegranite Press.

Anyway--and this is just my opinion--the real question is whether MPI will release the pre-Barn eps on DVD...most likely not, since it doesn't appear they sold in abundance when released on VHS.  (Otherwise, MPI might have started the DVD collections with these early episodes.)

All I can say is that I was not a "Buffy" fan (even though I know the woman who did Buffy's stunt doubling), nor an "Angel" fan.  I think I may have watched about 15 minutes total of either series.

Will I watch the new DS?  Do you even have to ask?

Okay, so I'll answer:  YES! I'll watch it (if we're lucky enough to have a new series.)

Remake, rehash or reinterpretation--as long as something new and interesting can be brought to the screen (whether TV or Film--or even Broadway stage), then, in my opinion, revisiting favorite and/or classic works (and some not-so classic non-favorites) works for me.

I still enjoy the '91 DS show and wish it had run longer.  I think DCP would have provided us with some new and surprising storylines.

I'm looking over my DVD collection, and notice quite a few original versions and "rehashes", each of which I enjoy for different reasons.  Among them:

Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1965 CINDERELLA and the 1997 Disney version.  (But I really prefer the 1957 Julie Andrews version.)

MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM/HOUSE OF WAX;

DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE (1931 and 1941) (but I prefer DCs TV version);

DRACULA (Lugosi and Langella versions);

THE LAST MAN OF EARTH/THE OMEGA MAN

INVADERS FROM MARS (50s version/Karen Black version, which is really pretty bad, but so is the original);

Others with more than one version:  PLANET OF THE APES, THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, SOUTH PACIFIC, OKLAHOMA!, BYE-BYE BIRDIE, THE MUMMY, 13 GHOSTS, etc.

More than 25 years ago my then-boyfriend took me to see the National tour of THE WIZ.  I just "knew" going in that I would hate it, since THE WIZARD OF OZ was (and is) an institution.  Well, how wrong was I?  I loved the stage version of THE WIZ--and learned that a talented, creative production team can "make something old into a new entertainment."  (USUALLY!!  Blake Edwards did us no favors in transferring the great 1982 film of VICTOR/VICTORIA to the stage.  Likewise, the remake of PSYCHO should never have happened, nor should THE HAUNTING has been done over, especially since the focus was changed from what may or may not have been entirely in Nell's mind in the original book and film were envisioned and "seen" by the other character in the remake--sort of like Lela Swift telling DC that "we've crossed over into a ghost story" when only the audience saw Bill Malloy and his seaweed, or Sarah alone in the woods.)

That said, I hope the new version brings us something new, and something to interest this 48 year old DS fan--and that the scenes are not edited like MTV in five second clips.

I remember going into the kitchen during a commercial break [spoiler]just after Catherine was suddenly possessed ("My name is Amanda!")[/spoiler] in the April 1st episode and telling my mom that I didn't know how they could end the show the next day [spoiler]since "Catherine is possessed."[/spoiler]

Silly 14-year-old me.

I also thought maybe the whole cancellation was a big April Fools' joke on us.

I spent the biggest part of the summer following the end of the show writing my own television soap opera called "Evil Secrets," which included a Collins-like family, a vampire, a few ghosts, a witch, etc.--and even a parallel time travel section.  I wrote about 100 15-page scripts (running time would probably have been about 15 minutes, as  recall) of probably the worst plots and dialogue ever put on paper.  (Oh, wait, I've seen slasher films and Halloween sequels that were worse. . . )

Fortunately, I had a cassette tape of the last four shows that gave me a DS fix when I needed one over the next 18 years until the MPI releases.