Witchblade The Complete Series Review

Witchblade The Complete Series-Buy it on DVD July 29th, 2008

Genre: Crime Drama, Sci-Fi
Price: $44.99 on Amazon
Run Time: 1,122 minutes
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Starring: Yancy Butler, David Chokachi, Anthony Cistaro, Will Yun Lee, John Hensley, Eric Etebari
Similar to: Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Witchblade Animated Series

If you didn’t know, I am a huge sucker for anything Sci-Fi. You can look at my favorite movies and television shows and they all essentially have some sci-fi aspect to them. Since Witchblade is a sci-fi show I was really anticipating checking it out when it showed up on my doorstep. To tell you the truth I was a little disappointed by Witchblade. It’’s not a bad sci-fi show but I have seen many better sci-fi shows.

Plot

Sara Pezzini has always been a New York detective. During one of her cases though she encounters a mysterious weapon called the Witchblade (a glove that comes equipped with a blade). Sara eventually comes to realize that she was destined to wield the Witchblade. The Withblade gives the holder immense power but also a lot of danger as the evils of the world are attracted to it.

Overall I thought Witchblade’s plot was kind of hit and miss. Despite being a sci-fi show, Witchblade relies heavily on the crime drama genre at least at first. Instead of focusing on the crime drama genre I think the show would have been better off if it focused more on the sci-fi elements. This gets better throughout the series but is a problem at least early on in the series.

As you could probably tell by the fact that this is a complete series, Witchblade didn’t run very long. It ended up getting 24, 1 hour episodes. The problem with a show like this is that most shows like this need time to develop. Since the show only lasted 24 episodes it wasn’t able to grow and develop as much as it could have. With more time I think the show could have been much better.

Acting:

Overall I found the acting to be pretty good. It isn’t great but I thought the actors/actresses all brought something to their characters. Yancy Butler plays Sara who is pretty much your crabby cop type. Anthony Cistaro and Eric Etebari play Kenneth Irons and Ian Nottingham who help Sara learn more about the Witchblade. Will Yun Lee plays Danny Woo who happens to be Sara’s former partner who now is essentially a ghost. Finally David Chokachi plays Jake McCartney who is Sara’s partner at the precinct.

Visuals:

Overall the visuals were nothing special in my opinion. They don’t look bad but you can tell that quite a bit of work could have been put into the special effects since they are far from pretty. If you have ever seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer think of the first season or two and you will have a good idea what the special effects look like in Witchblade. I have been pretty harsh on the special effects but besides the special effects the visuals are pretty good.

Special Features:

The special features in this DVD set include: Gabriel’s Philosophical Insights on Selected Episodes, Wielding the Blade, Bringing the Blade to Life, and Original Casting Sessions for Series Leads. Overall the special features are pretty average in my opinion. They are essentially you classic making of featurettes along with some commentaries. If you didn’t really like the show you don”t really need to watch the special features. If you really did like the show though you probably could get quite a bit out of the special features.

Final Thoughts:

Overall Witchblade is a little above average show. While I thought it could have been better, I still enjoyed watching Witchblade. If you are a fan of shows like Charmed, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer I would suggest you look into picking up Witchblade. It’s not as good as either but it should still entertain you if you like those type of shows.

My Rating: