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Overall Rating : 6.5/10
Supplied By : Warner Home Video
Buy This DVD Set Directly : Here
Yancy Butler (Basilisk: The Serpent King)
David Chokachi (Baywatch)
Will Yun Lee (Elektra)
Anthony Cistaro
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : July. 26, 2008
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| SYNOPSIS In this adaptation of the Top Cow comic book, Witchblade is the story of a New York detective, Sara "Pez" Pezzini, whose search for justice brings her into contact with the Witchblade, an ancient, intelligent, living weapon so powerful it can battle Earth's darkest evil forces. Week in and week out, "Pez" employs her skills as a police detective to fight crime. She finds she must employ the Witchblade to combat a much greater and frighteningly organized conspiracy of evil that threatens the very soul of humanity. As Sara tries to keep the secret of the Witchblade, do her job and have a personal life, she finds that her most formidable adversary may be the Witchblade itself. |
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| THE REVIEW Creator and writer Marc Silvestri brought his dark medeval comic book saga WITCHBLADE to the small screen in this series that lasted 23 episodes, airing on TNT from 2001-2002. This 7 disc set spans the entire series run, it starts things off as it should...with the pilot movie, sometimes called a "backdoor pilot". We meet Detective Sara Pezzini, an otherwise tough cop, that is pretty straight forward. With the mysterious death of her father(whom was also a cop), at the hands of a man whom she believes to be responsible named Tommy Gallo, and the death of her best friend(She also suspects Gallo for this crime as well), she has been more determined than ever to serve justice In the pilot, she has finally tracked down Gallo and his gang of thugs at a local art museum, and when her partner Detective Woo arrive to confront them, the shootout that would occur would ultimately alter Sara's life as she knows it forever. During the shootout, Sara unknowingly comes in contact with an ancient glove-like weapon, rhat is strangely attracted to her and her alone. When not in use, the fully armored glove reduces itself into the form of a beautiful jeweled bracelet. Sara, confused about the whole thing tries to hide it from any on-looker, but no matter how much she tries to conceal it - it has a presence that is undeniable. With the Witchblade, the otherwise ordinary but seemingly confident Pezzini, inherits great powers in which she could never have fathomed - such as seeing events before the happen, and recalling thing from the distant past. But perhaps her greatest inheritance of all is the Witchblade itself, the indestructible weapon that features an extruded blade during combat. Only two seasons of WITCHBLADE ran, and both couldn't be more different with one another. In the beginning, all season long, Sara struggles with the responsibility of wielding a weapon as powerful as the Witchblade and questions why she is the chosen one. But her journey for answers is anything but non eventful. Early on in the first season she loses her friend and trusted partner Det. Danny Woo in the midst of a heated shootout, she later learns that the Witchblade can only be wielded by women of power and that the residence of the weapon previously belonged to the likes of Joan of Arc and Cleopatra, and that many are after the power the Witchblade holds....most notably wealthy business man, Kenneth Irons and his mysterious henchman, Ian Nottingham - all of this while dealing with a corrupted new Police chief as well as trying to cooperate with a rookie cop, Jake, whom is appointed as Sara's partner after Woo's Death, With each episode during this season, it seemed as if a little more was revealed regarding the Witchblade, this alone was enough to keep the viewer tuning in each week. From solving the mystery one piece at a time to wondering if Jake was trustworthy or crooked, or whether Nottingham and Irons would get any closer to obtaining the Witchblade for their own evil acts - the episodes of season 1 definitely had real staying power.(and did I mention that Danny Woo, although dead in body, is not dead in spirit, and actually serves as Sara's spiritual guidance during this season?). I for one loved the series' first season. But it is at the end of this season that the entire season takes a turn, a turn that many fans did not agree with - and apparently, neither did the network, as season 2 would be it's last. In a bizarre turn of events....at the end of the last episode of season one, Sara finds that with the Witchblade, she has the ability to turn back time - and that she does....literally. The second season starts off with a clean slate, as we now restart everything shortly after Sara acquires the bracelet. Danny is now alive and well and Jake is still on the force and on the same team, but any and all back-story introduced in the first season, now gone. Sara's nemesis Kenneth Irons is killed by Sara also early on, so the 2nd season is less focused on one set enemy, and yes, even less, on the weapon known as the Witchblade. Pezzini still utilizes it's powers, but at a much lesser extent or emphasis, even more episodes focus on Sara's relationship with Gabriel(a young local who specializes in historic artifacts), as they hunt up information on artifacts relating to suspects or individuals. Near the end of the second season, things began to become interesting again as the storylines from the "rewound" first season begin to emerge and overlap and seem to collide with one another, however making little sense. The last episode closes as we see that Gabriel bares the mark of someone who has tried to wear the Witchblade, but as failed to wield it. This abruptly leads us to believe that the story would then move on with the character of Gabriel being a key character - unfortunately we well never no how that would've played out. Very few watched WITCHBLADE when it aired(including me), but truth be told, it is/was a very good show. The writing is complex and sometimes thought provoking, that coupled the shows high production value, the show offered up an interesting and enjoyable premise. However, everything that initially made the show great, eventually was it's own downfall, as the writers' own desire to relaunch the story in the second season, seems to have been the one thing that did the show in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
SPECIFICATIONS |
Foiled slipcase over a deluxe clear plastic multi-disc box; Featuring 3 page-like holders, holding a disc on each side - the 7 disc, securely held in holder located on the inside of back cover. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
EPISODES | Disc 1 - Witchblade (Pilot Movie) - Parallax - Conundrum Disc 2 - Diplopia - Sacrifice - Legion - Maelstrom Disc 3 - Periculum - Thanatopsis - Apprehension Disc 4 - Convergeance - Transcendence - Emergence - Destiny Disc 5 - Agape - Consectatio - Static - Nailed Disc 6 - Lagrimas - Hierophant - Veritas - Parabolic Disc 7 - Palindrome - Ubique SPECIAL FEATURES - Bringing the Blade to Life - Welding the Blade - Original Casting Sessions for Yancy Butler, Anthony Cistaro, David Chokachi, Eric Estebari, and Will Yun Lee -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
OVERALL IMPRESSION OF THIS SET |
As for the set, Warner brothers has done a great job with this set. I really like the packaging, it's nice and convenient, it may be bulky for some, but it's very durable and not prone to damage like most others are. As I mentioned before, I really enjoyed the show for the most part. It's weakest points start with it's second season until it's cliffhanger series end. But ironically my favorite episode happens to be in the less liked season, the episode entitled "Parabolic", which features a hooded teenage vigilante who takes matters into her own hands ridding the city of evil. In this particular episode, it is Sara and company's job to track down and identify the seemingly faceless killer. To close, this set would make a great addition to the collections of any fan who enjoyed the show when it first aired, as well as those that have yet to discover the show. This DVD will be released on July 29, 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
STILLS |
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