I always feel now as if I'm carrying around in my head an image of Julia, as a great, classic TV character I knew from childhood, who has somehow leaked out of, or faded from, the master tapes on DS, only to be replaced by a poor copy who doesn't measure up to the original, and misses the point of the character.
I liked her as a smart, assured, original-thinking, inspired, magnetic, competent scientist and protagonist. Nothing against displays of emotion, but I didn't see this great character dissolving into tears whenever threatened, or just getting carried away by events without any control over them, and I certainly never saw her trying to hand Vicki over to vampire Barnabas on a platter.
That great moment where she was lying in wait for Barnabas when he entered her bedroom to kill her, after she figured out his secret, was a defining moment.... for the Julia I knew. Then she was redefined as a more average, tiresome cliche woman character, too often, playing the Maggie role of the terrified female who lets you know how scary everything is supposed to be... and neutral-personality helpmate and sidekick.
Most times that I see Julia, she seems wrong. I want my Julia from childhood back again.