User Reviews

I saw the series when it initially aired on TNT, and I found it fresh, exciting and captivating. The combination of pure escapist fantasy and cop drama worked well in this incarnation. Yes, it was strange, but strange doesn't mean that it wasn't entertaining. By juxtaposition of an ages-old metaphysical history against Sara Pezzini's attempts to cope with that in the framework of her contemporary physical world, it created a whole new universe for the writers to dabble in. I believe that people who enjoyed "Sliders" "Farscape" and "Quantum Leap" would have enjoyed this show, as well.

All good drama contains conflict, and in this case the conflict was manifest in Sara's efforts to reconcile the mundane and the metaphysical. At first a hard-bitten cynic, we see Sara slowly and begrudgingly grow spiritually and emotionally as she begins to accept and embrace her destiny as the current bearer of the Witchblade.

I was introduced first to the TV series, and then I want back to check out the comic: yet I found the series more accessible. At points during the series you were left wondering along with Sara if she was hallucinating or having visions of events that actually happened--which helped build tension in the storyline.

I also didn't object to the ending of the third X-Men movie, even though it strayed from the comic-book lexicon. The important thing is that within the context of that story, it made sense, and helped move the plot forward effectively. It makes no sense to attempt to bring comic-book characters to the big screen, if all you're going to do is regurgitate the comic-book legend exactly as it appeared in print. An effective re-imagining actually takes old characters and makes them fresh and relevant again, as in the re-imagining of the Superboy legend in the Smallville TV series. I've read the Superman and Superboy comics growing up, which were mostly kind of corny. Smallville has taken the development of young Kal-el and made him contemporary and interesting again.

If a film or TV adaptation of a story originally told in graphic novel or comic book format stays true to the spirit and intent of the character, and changes are made to improve the dramatic flow in that direction, then those changes should be embraced as a welcome improvement, and not dismissed offhandedly from the dogmatic perspective of it straying from the comic, or being too different.

One of those productions that just flat-out got lost in the shuffle. Butler caught a lot of eyeballs in the 90s counterpointing JCVD in Hard Target, but this oddball production (filmed in Canada, BTW, to keep costs down ... DUH!) may end up being remembered as the high-water-mark of her career. To do a proper job playing the female cop that accidentally dons the sacred relic, the witchblade, you need to be equal parts action-hero, stunt woman, romantic lead, and just plain sassy. Butler delivered the goods. The production values were very high for an off-the-books indie, and there were some standouts in the casting, especially Anthony Cistaro as a super-villain who made the most bizarre requests seem reasonable (in the tradition for example of a Bond baddie) and Eric Etebari, who used as especially soft-spoken delivery (like Stephen Amell in Arrow) to contrast a predilection for action. The short-lived series also features one of the greatest "resets" ever seen in a TV series, a sort of time travel riff which allows the hero, Butler, to undo all the damage done in the first season by invoking the witchblade, and essentially start over. Never saw that one before, but it was memorable.

I watched Witchblade with great hopes as there is not much in the way of really good Scifi/Fantasy on TV these days, but I was sorely disappointed. Nothing ever got explained, everybody got killed off, and then "They" said "Oops, sorry", and went back to the beginning. Yancy Butler was very good as Sara, and the rest of the cast was worth watching, but all in all I wish I had those eight or so hours back. I could have read a good book.