How many different re-tellings have there been to Dracula? To The Turn of the Screw? What about Prisoner of Zenda or Frankenstein or even The Four Feathers? What makes the various adaptations of these stories worth checking out? IMHO, two things only--the actual quality of the production, and the differences from other versions.
That is how I feel about DS. I've actually seen four versions, if you count the movie HODS. Apart from the original series, and the 1991 revival, there was also the Off Off Broadway play done in the 1980s when I lived in NYC. Each was interesting, with its quirks and flaws and insights.
As far as my own notion (described above), please note I kept both elements Cousin_Barnabas so longed for. My notes for this idea did have an odd "take" on Josette's story that I didn't include above but which I include here:
Back in 1795, Josette DuPres came to Collinwood as part of an arranged marriage between herself and Jeremiah Collins. Trouble reared its head almost immediately because he met and almost instantly fell in love with Jeremiah's young nephew, Barnabas. He felt the same way about her, but there was little either one of them could do against the combined wills of their families. Finally--and unknown to Barnabas--Josette asked her maidservant Angelique if there was anything she could do. Angelique, she knew, was a powerful wielder of magic but remained reluctant to do as Josette begged--to find a way for her and Barnabas to be together. Finally, Angelique wove a spell to combine their destinies together in unbreakable bonds for all time. But she warned Josette that magic is wild, untamed and will do as it wills. The results are not to be predicted. Josette didn't care.
Not long after this, Josette was attacked by a bat and fell deathly ill. Her death sent the entire estate into mourning, but to Barnabas' shock she returned from the dead--as a vampire! She claimed him, draining his blood night after night until he too succumbed. However, by that time Joshua Collins had figured out some of what was going on. He hid his son's coffin, chaining him within. When Barnabas was rescued, all those years and decades later, he had no idea what became of Josette. And he is looking for her still...
There was all sorts of other things, but I thought to address the question "What about Josette?" in my outlined idea.
