That's really interesting. The "Blade is the least human character here" That actually is a brilliant idea that could have had a lot of really great possibilities if someone ran with it. That's really what comes out of this review - there are multiple BRILLIANT ideas presented, that they just mis-handle.
Glad I am not the only one who remembers the Blade series from Spike TV. I liked Kirk Jones as Blade. He was meaner than Wesley Snipes. Dude ENJOYED killing vampires. Awesome video. Thanks.
The biggest problem is that everyone seems to look at David S. Goyer as the go to guy for most things comic book related. He's a hack writer, who just goes through decades of source material, takes a bunch of "moments" and "scenes" and "scenarios" and forgets that you need an actual story to piece them together. And there's no rush on Blade Trinity. The only good thing about it was Ryan Reynolds. Everything else is crap.
I hope you one day take a look at The Strain. Despite it's very not sexy vampires, it does do an interesting job of blending a pandemic drama with some of the old school mythology. Plus if you want some bad ass vampire hunters, then I would say you can do much worse than David Bradley as Abraham Setrakian.
Had this show been made today on Netflix, it probably would have stood a better chance of getting a second Season. Kind of a shame. But oh well. Bring on the MCU reboot.
It's kind of a shame most of the fight scenes were sort of disappointing. I find it really frustrating how often Madhouse skimped out on the choreography.
Chris Chen What exactly do you mean by "disappointing"? If you mean that Blade seemed to rely to heavily on his Deadly Sword Techniques, then I might agree with you a little bit.
Honestly, I think this show is basically the "real" Vampire: The Masquerade series and if you removed Blade from the story then it would be an excellent V:TM series. You don't really need Blade to be enjoyable and it could have been good without the connection to the Snipes series. Krista and Chase are great female character who I thought you'd like. Ditto, Skiver is a great character. Evil but believable.
+darkservantofheaven more importanty... which clan or sect would BLADE belong to?? : o Well, I suppose he would be one of the "independents" - a doomsday-sect of his own! I do think a character like Blade, or character-S like him, would make for an interesting addition to Masquerade - unless that's already a thing? Basically, Vampire serial-killers whom believe themselves to be doing a noble thing. (or does he? at times I'm not so sure Blade cares if it's right or not... Vampires killed his mother, ruined his life and struck him with the hunger - he wants vengeance so bad that it's burnt his very soul...)
There is. He´s called Tariq. It´s basically Blade. An Sabbat Assamite Thin Blood(thru ritual) that nowadays startet to kill all vampires. They even used Wesley snipes face for tariq's artsy picture in children of the night. and skiver is sooo camarilla it hurts
Why am I the only person in the world who would like to see a Blade and Werewolf by night team up movie. Or better yet, have a Netflix series that showcases the gothic monsters of the Marvel Universe like N'Kantu the living Mummy or the Man-Thing!
You're not the only one! = ) I'd love to see a Netflix Marvel-Monsters series! Long unlive the Legion of Monsters! Man-Thing! Werewolf by Night! Morbius the Living Vampire! Satana!
+Teague Hansberry - sure! They could make for interesting characters - Patsy would be a good pov-character for the audience, and would open up the romance-angle with Hellstorm. +ULGROTHA - yes!! I'd love to see a kind of reimagining of the DARKHOLD-storyline! Wherein Drac' uses the book to become god-like, but in the end, Dr. Strange fries him, but the Montesi-formula is lost with the loss of the Darkhold. (for those wondering... in Marvel mythology, most Vampires originated during the last days of Atlantis, in a ritual wherein a guy called Varnae was turned into the first vampire - using a spell from the Darkhold - the source of black magic in the MU, written by the Elder-God Chthon - a familiar name from Blade: the series.)
I don't believe this was based of the movie continuity bc blades parents were alive in the show for some reason in a flash back when in the movies his dad was not there and his mom became a vampire before he was born then left and he was raised by the old white dude whisler
It does take place in a sorta alternate timeline to the movie. Remember, in Blade Trinity, the virus was suppose to wipe out all vampires in the planet in time. The show just said oh it only wiped out the vampires in that one building. The dad is just never mentioned in the show, but his gf in the show was not the mother who was bitten. He dated a nurse who helped him raise Blade, she was in the show.
I loved that series. Krista was my girl. One of the best female leads periods in my eyes, hated when Marcus took over. The actress guested on Teen Wolf too, would have loved to see her in more. Blade the Series was also some of the first live action stuff that Geoff Johns worked on (a comic book writer who has written quite a bit of Arrowverse and a lot of animated stuff).
Ah, this is the perfect video to warm up to after freezing my ass off waiting for my landlord to come unlock my door because I forgot my house keys when I left for my exam.... it’s been a long morning
In all honesty, I don't think they even wanted it to be about Blade. They just wanted the network to think it was. I spent the whole season happily watching The Krista Show (feat. Blade), and thinking it was probably a good choice while Sticky developed his acting chops without having to carry too much right away. (Maybe they learned from watching Boreanaz thrown in the deep end the first season of Buffy?) The "look at all these white people in Detroit" (which was Toronto, BTW - it was one of the first series we saw out of there in ages) angle wasn't a good look, but I was mostly there for the dynamic between Krista and Chase. And I wasn't alone - scuttlebutt at the time (stated outright at one point by Jill Wagner on MySpace, though she deleted the post shortly after) was that Spike cancelled it because too many women were watching. It's certainly objectively true that their overall numbers were perfectly respectable; it's just that not enough of those numbers were the target demographic. I wonder to this day how it might have fared on a different network. And then, of course, watched a similar story play out with Blood Ties on Lifetime. (Which had the gall to market the back half if its original 22-episode order as a second season.) *sigh*
Ok, as a woman who personally watched some of the content from Spike, it seems pretty petty to make such a big deal of it marketing itself as a channel for men. For one, most of the content on there is stuff that generally doesn't appeal to women (with obvious exceptions). Second, it's not like it came out during a time where there wasn't TV for women, or for that matter where there weren't antithetical stations that marketed toward appeal of a female demographic. And of course the most important point: marketing toward one demographic doesn't prevent the opposite demographic from also using the item being marketed. It's not like they magically prevented women from ever watching the channel. It's the same concept as with "chick flicks": it's marketed toward women because they know that on average it will appeal to women more and men less, but beyond maybe some snide comments from some ass holes, nothing is preventing men from seeing them.
Her point is that with female oriented media there is a purpose for it's existance, seeing as media was and still is mostly male-dominated and these movies and shows were at least trying to tell stories which most popular media didn't care about portraying because "Men will be alienated". A men's channel, on the other hand, takes media which is already geared heavily toward men and says "how can we make this even more man-friendly?". I'm not saying these "Mancave" channels are inherently bad (in anything else than explicitly reinforcing gender stereotypes with their marketing anyway), but they are kind of ridiculous.
Gender stereotypes are merely the norm of demographics, and like the original commenter said, that doesn't exclude anyone else from enjoying it. The advertising for Spike was clearly tongue-in-cheek, and if people are insecure about that, they need to grow up. The network hasn't existed for years and failed due to their key demographic (Men aged 18-34) not enjoying what their network did to the original content they aired. Blade was the highest rated series on their network and they clearly didn't finance it like a serious production. I liked the show and hoped it would continue. It deserved one final season to actually finish it's storyline. I just discovered Maven's channel, and I enjoy what I've seen. However, tone down the gender politics and feminist rants about how men control everything. It isn't true, it's petty and has nothing to do with the content of the goddamn show. Why are you starting off with this nonsense before you even talk about the show? Are you trying to poison the audience's view of the show before they even see it because of your own subjective opinions? Other than that, I liked the video. Keep up the great work. Edit: (20 minutes later) I've now seen the rest of the episode, and the Feminist ranting runs throughout the entire thing. God, that was hard to sit through. All her complaints prove that the marketing was aimed at the right demographics, since she disliked all the things me and everyone I know who own the season and the follow up film The House of Cthon enjoyed. Too bad.
Hearing you talk about Crista, that she would have made it on to your Top 10 List of best female vampires if you had known about her while making it, makes me long for the time when there will be so many new (and maybe old rediscovered) well-written female vampires that you just have to make a new list. :)
A interesting idea would have been teaming Blade with Buffy. That would have been interesting but maybe it would have been no different than the Buffy and Angel team ups.
John Smith Eh, Blade is more emotionally distant and remorseless than Angel. At least Angel has had moments of humor and charm in his own series. Blade is a killing machine who likes to get straight to business. He has the charm of a wooden plank, but he’s badass. I’m comparing him to Angel btw, not Angelus. I could see Blade looking at Buffy as if she’s a rookie at first glance, due to her age. Of course she would prove him wrong.
The reason Blade doesn't let out his emotions is because he found his balance. The meditation scenes contribute to that as well. He lost his mother then she tries to kill him which turns him against forgiving his mother and she's an even bigger reason he hates vampires. He thinks his father turned against him which he won't forgive him for either. He doesn't want to change because he found his balance through meditation and finding joy in killing vampires in a very over the top way. Same with familiars. This series uses Blade's personality in a unique way and a definitive way that the Punisher's movies and the show do not. Making a protagonist who's so far gone in the mind that to him he's the sane one looking down confused at other people. Also, the movies never had a cure. They're a delay. The chick from the first film was injected with essence of garlic that showed she was slowly turning but she did make a cure for her. And she's most likely been terminated after giving Blade a new serum because we never see her again. The second film, Blade injected a detox in Whistler which is kinda forgotten have way the the film cause he never shows a struggle. Even until the third film. Also Blade: Trinity isn't garbage!
Its decent and would have had big potential in a second season but they didnt gave it a chance they should focus more on blade charavter development like crista is the big chance for blade to see that there are vampires that also fight for the good guys but he always stays so cold in the tv series which becomes boring after time if they would allow to change blade and his emotions it would target a bigger audience
Wow, I missed the TV show. Is it better or worse then the TV show adaptation of The Crow? lol "It had key 'Blade' elements in place" OMG, can I have some key-blades? ;)
I liked the series, I admit it wasn't perfect, but I liked it. I felt like Christa was one of the few "T.V. show characters" that didn't suck. Alot of shows have them, especially when it's a war you know the want to be audience surrogates. But Christa was a compelling enough character she didn't seem forced into place. Plus she was capable on her own. I also feel like the show earned it's drama, unlike alot of shows where they hype up emotional stuff and make it big just because it is. With Blade you got the feeling this was all part of a machine, the story of Marcus was just a gear in it. I also freely admit I like Blade Trinity. The story is interesting if a bit dumb. I will admit Dracula is under utilized. But I feel like the Chemistry makes it sort of worth it. Hannibal, Whistler, and Blade working together is amusing to watch. I also feel like it shows Blade isn't alone, and shows some character progression. In the first one, he was forced to work with a person. In the second, he had no choice. In the third he's more willing. I also feel like blade trinity is the "What if humans found out about vampires" thing carried to it's ultimate conclusion. Think about it, most movies with vampires, we see humans try to fight vampires in a field where the vampires are the alpha predators. Stakes to the heart, decapitation, etc. When in reality humans became the top of the food chain because we invented guns and such. If a true predator was out there, and well known, why wouldn't we make a biological weapon that targeted them?
I do like how most vampire stories even admit that’s why Vampires need secrecy. Even the most powerful vampires know that if humans found out they existed they would be fucked. We outnumber them like 6 million to 1. Humans would wipe out the vampires quickly. Even something like X-Men. Casual fans would say the X-Men’s greatest villain is Magneto. Fans who read the comics know it’s the sentinels. Whenever a mutant terrorist, like Magneto, does something truly fucked up and like 90% of humanity is pissed off at the mutants, you tend to see that the humans become very good at hunting and hurting even the most powerful mutants, with the expectation of possibly Dark Phoenix.
Yeah, I remember catching this in rerun after it had been cancelled and being intrigued by it. It's not perfect by any means and it pales in comparison to a show like "Angel" but then again, the first season of that show wasn't exactly stellar either-until Joss Whedon finally decided what he was going to do with the concept. As you said, Krista and Marcus were interesting characters and the vampires as crime families while not entirely original is still rather compelling if done right. The show had a lot of potential and it's too bad it didn't find a home on a more significant networks. It might have developed into something extremely worthwhile.
The biggest thing I remember about this show was on the DVD they had a prolonged scene of a couple in a motel room having sex and it lingered on them for like a good 40 seconds before Blade throws a guy through their wall. Cuz SPIKE TV: MADE FOR MEN!!!!
The anime version of blade was not actually the first animated adaptation. His first animated look was in the 1994 spider-man cartoon which was pretty good
The Spider-Man 90’s animated series is pretty much where most of the Blade lore came from that casual fans know. Whistler doesn’t exist in the comics (even to this very day) he was created for Spider-Man TAS played by Malcolm McDowell. Him being a Dhampir also came from the cartoon. In the comics he wasn’t a vampire or even a half breed. Hell, his whole gimmick in the comics is that he was immune to vampirism. He couldn’t be turned or hypnotized. If anything the Wesley Snipes movies were more an adaptation of the Spider-Man TAS version of the character than it was the comic book version.
I’d really love to get your take on the Anno Dracula series by Kim Newman. I think it’s an incredible world he’s created and I’d love to hear what u think.
When it comes to Blade, I always wondered, was there a reason the vampires could't bite numerous pregnant women and end up with an army of day-walkers loyal to them? Surely such a force could take out Blade in a jiffy.
I'll have to give it a watch seems kinda interesting, even having Blade stand by in the final act is interesting if it comes back to bite him hard enough in the theoretical second season.
I remember being surprised by how much I enjoyed the series. I'm wondering how well, or otherwise it has aged. I hope it isn't like the original House of Cards.
Soo... TV Blade (sans Blade) sounds like Kindred: The Embraced, but violent. Makes one wonder what a modern day World of Darkness/Vampire the Masquerade (tv) show would look like, what kind of network/online platform that could potentially produce & distribute it, and what the vampire-as-metaphor would be in these turbulent times.
1. I read recently that Wesley Snipes initially wanted to play T'Challa, and I wonder how history would have played out if we'd gotten the first Black Panther film in the 90's. What issues surrounding the black community would it have touched on? Would someone else have played Blade as a result? Would we still have gotten the Chadwick Boseman Black Panther film? 2. It's weird that Marvel has done more anime than DC-- there's been at least 4-5 Marvel animated films or TV shows, while all DC has done is a compilation Batman film and an upcoming AU Batman animated film.
They should use Blade the same way they use Mad Max, as a competent loner with past trauma who unwittingly wades into a clusterfuck and through the course of the narrative helps the actual characters achieve their goals before disappearing into the end credits. Blade doesn't need character development. Not long-term development, anyway. Just an occasional relapse of empathy every now and again, instead of using the character to explore a post-apocalyptic diesel-punk hellscrape - you use Blade to explore the seedy underworld of off-brand White Wolf shenanigans.
Does it say in the show when exactly it takes place? I always assumed it took place between the first and second movie, cause that's the period when Whistler was MIA while Blade was still hunting vampires.
Some addictions can be overcome, people who haven't smoked for decades for example usually don't start again, and if they do most of the time the reasons lie elsewhere.
I love your channel, have you ever seen "Being Human"? It's a UK TV show (they did a US remake but I do not recommend it). Vampires are only 1/3 of the plot of season one, but they take over the show pretty quickly after that. I definitely highly recommend it!
Maven of the Eventide u are a lucky lady. I have never seen such a beautiful leather or leather looking jacket in my life. Thank u so much for the info!💖
I love scores like that! We have a NR here in STL, I'll definitely give them a look. JCPenny of all places was my HSGoth go-to. And for real though, of course I watch because I appreciate your awesome thoughtful reviews but frankly sometimes just as much for outfit inspiration! You're always gorgeous and that jacket is FIERCE.
Great review! While I've never really got into the Blade movies or TV shows, this does sound interesting. The characters you described sound really fleshed out. Honestly, the way you were talking about Krista made me think the show should have been about Krista and taken Blade out entirely. Would make MUCH more sense given how little Blade does here! Quick side note. One of the characters from the episode Bloodlines (the one you were talking about) one of the actors was SPD Red Rangers Jack Landors from Power Rangers SPD! Weird coincidence! Lastly, is it just me or when Elisa was talking about "Houses", did Harry Potter come up? I mean, there's purebloods and halfbloods. Maybe it's just me. Keep up the great reviews :)
Oh my, no more networks for men! Ok I didn't even know Spike was still around, had no idea that there was a Blade TV series, and I even forgot that Spike was "FOR MEN!!" in the first place since, you know, it kinda sucked program wise. It's funny what you forget when you don't care about something right? ........Oh my god I forgot about my kids!
“Yes, I’ll review Blade: Trinity eventually, but ... Have you SEEN it? Worst Dracula ever!” Actually, I haven’t seen it! What’s so bad about this Dracula? (Looks it up) Wait, he’s played by Dominic Purcell? The brother from Prison Break?? What was the casting director smoking???
While these recent reviews have been great in seeing these not as talked about shows or books....but I’m still waiting on that daybreakers review.....someday....or I should just see to her patreon.either way it must happen
Because of your review I had to check it out! For those also looking, right now you can find it streaming free on the CWSeed website/app (Roku, Amazon Fire Stick), which also has Moonlight and some other good offerings. And as always LOVELOVELOVE the outfit!!!
I'm still just waiting for you to talk about the CBS series Moonlight from 2007. Always been my favorite Vampire series, and I wanna know what you think of it.
Any love for Moonlight? Mick St. John, Josef Kastan, their beautiful bromance? I had a DVD set of the first season given to me by a friend who was about to throw it out. Surprisingly decent.
Hmm. Well, I'm surprised! I might need to check out this series someday! Sounds like another vampire show that had promise only to be extinguished after a season. Just like Kindred. ...Well, I liked Kindred.
The good thing about this show being forgotten is that I was able to get the entire show for 3 pound fifty pence. Thanks for reminding how silly, yet enjoyable it was.
Thought this show was really good could of better maybe if it went on longer we could of got some better writers to make Blade for more like a person like he was in the movies but its also dependent of the actor and Sticky Fingerz does the job like you said on being mad and a hardass but not sure if he can be an emotional Blade. Really wish they didn't cancel it nothing worse than a show ending on a cliffhanger.
enjoyed your review (the first time i've seen your channel). yes, i've subscribed. have you ever been to Whitby? i'm sure you know it's got a strong connection to Dracula fiction. a nice place to visit... :-)
That's really interesting. The "Blade is the least human character here" That actually is a brilliant idea that could have had a lot of really great possibilities if someone ran with it. That's really what comes out of this review - there are multiple BRILLIANT ideas presented, that they just mis-handle.
Damn, she makes that red leather work!
You are damn right!
darkservantofheaven I know, right?!
Neo-Xgray87 awww yeeeeaaaah baaaabbyyyy
Glad I am not the only one who remembers the Blade series from Spike TV. I liked Kirk Jones as Blade. He was meaner than Wesley Snipes. Dude ENJOYED killing vampires. Awesome video. Thanks.
The biggest problem is that everyone seems to look at David S. Goyer as the go to guy for most things comic book related. He's a hack writer, who just goes through decades of source material, takes a bunch of "moments" and "scenes" and "scenarios" and forgets that you need an actual story to piece them together. And there's no rush on Blade Trinity. The only good thing about it was Ryan Reynolds. Everything else is crap.
I often wonder if David S. Goyer was a V:TM fan in which case Blade may not be the impressive creation of worldbuilding it is.
Ryan Reynolds is crap.
I'm curious for your take on the UK show Being Human.
She's mentioned it before, but never at length.
EDIT: I just checked her Pateron. Reviewing long series like Buffy or Being Human is a stretch goal.
I hope you one day take a look at The Strain. Despite it's very not sexy vampires, it does do an interesting job of blending a pandemic drama with some of the old school mythology. Plus if you want some bad ass vampire hunters, then I would say you can do much worse than David Bradley as Abraham Setrakian.
Ah I agree. I was sad when it ended. Great fucking show.
Had this show been made today on Netflix, it probably would have stood a better chance of getting a second Season. Kind of a shame. But oh well. Bring on the MCU reboot.
ToylandChairman666 and if this show had gotten a second season they would’ve introduced Moon Knight which would’ve been awesome
or maybe introduce Morbious from Spiderman
I hope you WILL do the Blade Anime, Maven. Out of all the Marvel Animes that Studio Madhouse did, their version of Blade was my favorite.
Gabriel Drake Deacon Frost is scary in it. And the show shows us plenty of different strains of vampires all over the world.
Gabriel Drake Agreed.
It's kind of a shame most of the fight scenes were sort of disappointing. I find it really frustrating how often Madhouse skimped out on the choreography.
Chris Chen What exactly do you mean by "disappointing"? If you mean that Blade seemed to rely to heavily on his Deadly Sword Techniques, then I might agree with you a little bit.
FACTS
I have to admit, I totally wrote this series off as a cheap cash grab with no reason to watch. Now I feel like I need to give it a look. Thanks?
Blade: The Series is annoyingly good for a premise which should, by no means, have been anything but schlock.
Honestly, I think this show is basically the "real" Vampire: The Masquerade series and if you removed Blade from the story then it would be an excellent V:TM series. You don't really need Blade to be enjoyable and it could have been good without the connection to the Snipes series. Krista and Chase are great female character who I thought you'd like. Ditto, Skiver is a great character. Evil but believable.
oh yea, I feel this is the spiritual successor to Kindred the Embraced, only superior
so is Skiver an anarch? or a really ambitious member of the Cammerilla?
+darkservantofheaven more importanty... which clan or sect would BLADE belong to?? : o Well, I suppose he would be one of the "independents" - a doomsday-sect of his own! I do think a character like Blade, or character-S like him, would make for an interesting addition to Masquerade - unless that's already a thing? Basically, Vampire serial-killers whom believe themselves to be doing a noble thing. (or does he? at times I'm not so sure Blade cares if it's right or not... Vampires killed his mother, ruined his life and struck him with the hunger - he wants vengeance so bad that it's burnt his very soul...)
Predabot Predabot hes a dhampir or thin blood of an unkown assimite blodline....
There is. He´s called Tariq. It´s basically Blade. An Sabbat Assamite Thin Blood(thru ritual) that nowadays startet to kill all vampires. They even used Wesley snipes face for tariq's artsy picture in children of the night. and skiver is sooo camarilla it hurts
Why am I the only person in the world who would like to see a Blade and Werewolf by night team up movie. Or better yet, have a Netflix series that showcases the gothic monsters of the Marvel Universe like N'Kantu the living Mummy or the Man-Thing!
You're not the only one! = ) I'd love to see a Netflix Marvel-Monsters series! Long unlive the Legion of Monsters! Man-Thing! Werewolf by Night! Morbius the Living Vampire! Satana!
What about Ghost-Rider and Hellcat?
+Teague Hansberry - sure! They could make for interesting characters - Patsy would be a good pov-character for the audience, and would open up the romance-angle with Hellstorm.
+ULGROTHA - yes!! I'd love to see a kind of reimagining of the DARKHOLD-storyline! Wherein Drac' uses the book to become god-like, but in the end, Dr. Strange fries him, but the Montesi-formula is lost with the loss of the Darkhold. (for those wondering... in Marvel mythology, most Vampires originated during the last days of Atlantis, in a ritual wherein a guy called Varnae was turned into the first vampire - using a spell from the Darkhold - the source of black magic in the MU, written by the Elder-God Chthon - a familiar name from Blade: the series.)
"The First Network for Men"? In the UK in the mid/late 90s we had a channel called "Men and Motors". It was soft porn and car shows.
Jayfive276 they wanted their very own WE. Talk about ambition.
Or Hallmark, or Lifetime.
I did love this series - you are right it was about Krista not Blade. It sucked that it ended on a cliffhanger :(.
I don't believe this was based of the movie continuity bc blades parents were alive in the show for some reason in a flash back when in the movies his dad was not there and his mom became a vampire before he was born then left and he was raised by the old white dude whisler
It does take place in a sorta alternate timeline to the movie. Remember, in Blade Trinity, the virus was suppose to wipe out all vampires in the planet in time. The show just said oh it only wiped out the vampires in that one building. The dad is just never mentioned in the show, but his gf in the show was not the mother who was bitten. He dated a nurse who helped him raise Blade, she was in the show.
I loved that series. Krista was my girl. One of the best female leads periods in my eyes, hated when Marcus took over. The actress guested on Teen Wolf too, would have loved to see her in more. Blade the Series was also some of the first live action stuff that Geoff Johns worked on (a comic book writer who has written quite a bit of Arrowverse and a lot of animated stuff).
Yeah, they really made Dracula pathetic in Blade Trinity. Frost as the “Blood God” was more intimidating, which should not be the case.
Ah, this is the perfect video to warm up to after freezing my ass off waiting for my landlord to come unlock my door because I forgot my house keys when I left for my exam.... it’s been a long morning
Kenzi Bat no kidding
That sucks. I hope your exam went okay.
chrissysky01 Thank you, my dear, it did. Turns out I got a 93! :)
In all honesty, I don't think they even wanted it to be about Blade. They just wanted the network to think it was. I spent the whole season happily watching The Krista Show (feat. Blade), and thinking it was probably a good choice while Sticky developed his acting chops without having to carry too much right away. (Maybe they learned from watching Boreanaz thrown in the deep end the first season of Buffy?) The "look at all these white people in Detroit" (which was Toronto, BTW - it was one of the first series we saw out of there in ages) angle wasn't a good look, but I was mostly there for the dynamic between Krista and Chase. And I wasn't alone - scuttlebutt at the time (stated outright at one point by Jill Wagner on MySpace, though she deleted the post shortly after) was that Spike cancelled it because too many women were watching. It's certainly objectively true that their overall numbers were perfectly respectable; it's just that not enough of those numbers were the target demographic. I wonder to this day how it might have fared on a different network. And then, of course, watched a similar story play out with Blood Ties on Lifetime. (Which had the gall to market the back half if its original 22-episode order as a second season.) *sigh*
You don't think they wanted the show to be about a character from a popular franchise? I don't even know where to begin with this comment.
I agree completely! It wasn't a show about Blade all the character development was with the other characters.
Ok, as a woman who personally watched some of the content from Spike, it seems pretty petty to make such a big deal of it marketing itself as a channel for men.
For one, most of the content on there is stuff that generally doesn't appeal to women (with obvious exceptions).
Second, it's not like it came out during a time where there wasn't TV for women, or for that matter where there weren't antithetical stations that marketed toward appeal of a female demographic.
And of course the most important point: marketing toward one demographic doesn't prevent the opposite demographic from also using the item being marketed. It's not like they magically prevented women from ever watching the channel. It's the same concept as with "chick flicks": it's marketed toward women because they know that on average it will appeal to women more and men less, but beyond maybe some snide comments from some ass holes, nothing is preventing men from seeing them.
Her point is that with female oriented media there is a purpose for it's existance, seeing as media was and still is mostly male-dominated and these movies and shows were at least trying to tell stories which most popular media didn't care about portraying because "Men will be alienated".
A men's channel, on the other hand, takes media which is already geared heavily toward men and says "how can we make this even more man-friendly?".
I'm not saying these "Mancave" channels are inherently bad (in anything else than explicitly reinforcing gender stereotypes with their marketing anyway), but they are kind of ridiculous.
Gender stereotypes are merely the norm of demographics, and like the original commenter said, that doesn't exclude anyone else from enjoying it. The advertising for Spike was clearly tongue-in-cheek, and if people are insecure about that, they need to grow up.
The network hasn't existed for years and failed due to their key demographic (Men aged 18-34) not enjoying what their network did to the original content they aired. Blade was the highest rated series on their network and they clearly didn't finance it like a serious production.
I liked the show and hoped it would continue. It deserved one final season to actually finish it's storyline.
I just discovered Maven's channel, and I enjoy what I've seen. However, tone down the gender politics and feminist rants about how men control everything. It isn't true, it's petty and has nothing to do with the content of the goddamn show.
Why are you starting off with this nonsense before you even talk about the show? Are you trying to poison the audience's view of the show before they even see it because of your own subjective opinions?
Other than that, I liked the video. Keep up the great work.
Edit: (20 minutes later) I've now seen the rest of the episode, and the Feminist ranting runs throughout the entire thing. God, that was hard to sit through. All her complaints prove that the marketing was aimed at the right demographics, since she disliked all the things me and everyone I know who own the season and the follow up film The House of Cthon enjoyed. Too bad.
Hearing you talk about Crista, that she would have made it on to your Top 10 List of best female vampires if you had known about her while making it, makes me long for the time when there will be so many new (and maybe old rediscovered) well-written female vampires that you just have to make a new list. :)
You don't mess with Wesley Snipes unless you're the IRS
The best thing about this show, by far, was Charlotte. That kid managed to out-Claudia Claudia.
The problem was they tried to have a live action Blade series without the real Blade. Showtime made the right call.
Yami Yugi: Why is everybody in the show a fuckin' vampire?!
I can't look at Sticky Fingaz in this series and NOT think of his second-to-last boss fight from Def Jam: Fight For NY...
Michael Scally You're not the only one!
Honestly i would love a revivel or reboot of this series, with some minor retooling this show could be amazing
I actually want to watch this now?? Thanks for turning your viewers onto the series, I'm kinda excited!!
A interesting idea would have been teaming Blade with Buffy. That would have been interesting but maybe it would have been no different than the Buffy and Angel team ups.
John Smith Eh, Blade is more emotionally distant and remorseless than Angel. At least Angel has had moments of humor and charm in his own series. Blade is a killing machine who likes to get straight to business. He has the charm of a wooden plank, but he’s badass. I’m comparing him to Angel btw, not Angelus. I could see Blade looking at Buffy as if she’s a rookie at first glance, due to her age. Of course she would prove him wrong.
Blade did have some funny moments like his fist bump.
The reason Blade doesn't let out his emotions is because he found his balance. The meditation scenes contribute to that as well. He lost his mother then she tries to kill him which turns him against forgiving his mother and she's an even bigger reason he hates vampires. He thinks his father turned against him which he won't forgive him for either. He doesn't want to change because he found his balance through meditation and finding joy in killing vampires in a very over the top way. Same with familiars. This series uses Blade's personality in a unique way and a definitive way that the Punisher's movies and the show do not. Making a protagonist who's so far gone in the mind that to him he's the sane one looking down confused at other people. Also, the movies never had a cure. They're a delay. The chick from the first film was injected with essence of garlic that showed she was slowly turning but she did make a cure for her. And she's most likely been terminated after giving Blade a new serum because we never see her again. The second film, Blade injected a detox in Whistler which is kinda forgotten have way the the film cause he never shows a struggle. Even until the third film. Also Blade: Trinity isn't garbage!
Your review made me give this show a chance and I must admit I liked it a lot more than I thought it would
Its decent and would have had big potential in a second season but they didnt gave it a chance they should focus more on blade charavter development like crista is the big chance for blade to see that there are vampires that also fight for the good guys but he always stays so cold in the tv series which becomes boring after time if they would allow to change blade and his emotions it would target a bigger audience
The muppet treasure island reference made my day!
Instead of Trinity couldn't you're next Blade review talk about the animated series, I think we'd all enjoy that.
Oh god, please do the anime at some point! That anime was actually pretty badass!
You made me sad Blade: The Series only made one season. :( Great vid, as always! :)
Wow, I missed the TV show. Is it better or worse then the TV show adaptation of The Crow? lol
"It had key 'Blade' elements in place" OMG, can I have some key-blades? ;)
I liked the series, I admit it wasn't perfect, but I liked it. I felt like Christa was one of the few "T.V. show characters" that didn't suck. Alot of shows have them, especially when it's a war you know the want to be audience surrogates. But Christa was a compelling enough character she didn't seem forced into place. Plus she was capable on her own. I also feel like the show earned it's drama, unlike alot of shows where they hype up emotional stuff and make it big just because it is. With Blade you got the feeling this was all part of a machine, the story of Marcus was just a gear in it.
I also freely admit I like Blade Trinity. The story is interesting if a bit dumb. I will admit Dracula is under utilized. But I feel like the Chemistry makes it sort of worth it. Hannibal, Whistler, and Blade working together is amusing to watch. I also feel like it shows Blade isn't alone, and shows some character progression. In the first one, he was forced to work with a person. In the second, he had no choice. In the third he's more willing. I also feel like blade trinity is the "What if humans found out about vampires" thing carried to it's ultimate conclusion.
Think about it, most movies with vampires, we see humans try to fight vampires in a field where the vampires are the alpha predators. Stakes to the heart, decapitation, etc. When in reality humans became the top of the food chain because we invented guns and such. If a true predator was out there, and well known, why wouldn't we make a biological weapon that targeted them?
I do like how most vampire stories even admit that’s why Vampires need secrecy. Even the most powerful vampires know that if humans found out they existed they would be fucked. We outnumber them like 6 million to 1. Humans would wipe out the vampires quickly.
Even something like X-Men. Casual fans would say the X-Men’s greatest villain is Magneto. Fans who read the comics know it’s the sentinels. Whenever a mutant terrorist, like Magneto, does something truly fucked up and like 90% of humanity is pissed off at the mutants, you tend to see that the humans become very good at hunting and hurting even the most powerful mutants, with the expectation of possibly Dark Phoenix.
Yeah, I remember catching this in rerun after it had been cancelled and being intrigued by it. It's not perfect by any means and it pales in comparison to a show like "Angel" but then again, the first season of that show wasn't exactly stellar either-until Joss Whedon finally decided what he was going to do with the concept. As you said, Krista and Marcus were interesting characters and the vampires as crime families while not entirely original is still rather compelling if done right. The show had a lot of potential and it's too bad it didn't find a home on a more significant networks. It might have developed into something extremely worthwhile.
The biggest thing I remember about this show was on the DVD they had a prolonged scene of a couple in a motel room having sex and it lingered on them for like a good 40 seconds before Blade throws a guy through their wall. Cuz SPIKE TV: MADE FOR MEN!!!!
Badass red leather jacket plus Edwardian-style ruffle? YES PLEASE, WANT!
I LOVE this Blade!!! I have the 1st AND only season. I wish.....a network would please pick this up! And continue where it left off at please!!!💞
The anime version of blade was not actually the first animated adaptation. His first animated look was in the 1994 spider-man cartoon which was pretty good
The Spider-Man 90’s animated series is pretty much where most of the Blade lore came from that casual fans know. Whistler doesn’t exist in the comics (even to this very day) he was created for Spider-Man TAS played by Malcolm McDowell. Him being a Dhampir also came from the cartoon. In the comics he wasn’t a vampire or even a half breed. Hell, his whole gimmick in the comics is that he was immune to vampirism. He couldn’t be turned or hypnotized. If anything the Wesley Snipes movies were more an adaptation of the Spider-Man TAS version of the character than it was the comic book version.
I’d really love to get your take on the Anno Dracula series by Kim Newman. I think it’s an incredible world he’s created and I’d love to hear what u think.
When it comes to Blade, I always wondered, was there a reason the vampires could't bite numerous pregnant women and end up with an army of day-walkers loyal to them? Surely such a force could take out Blade in a jiffy.
….I’ve wondered this for so long..
I been a fan for a while and love you for your comments on the story of this.. ty
great review and perfect start to black history month
The girl who played Charlotte was an excellent actress. WEHT her?
But I WANT my Man Channel! *cries uncontrollably*
Entertainer13 sorry, you get The Paramount Network now
But now I have to read booooooks!!!! *dies*
Just going to leave this here..
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WE_tv
@Alex M *Guesses that you're having a seizure*
I wished you talked about When: Mr. "I have no super powers and stuck babysitting the gumpy guy".
I'll have to give it a watch seems kinda interesting, even having Blade stand by in the final act is interesting if it comes back to bite him hard enough in the theoretical second season.
I remember being surprised by how much I enjoyed the series. I'm wondering how well, or otherwise it has aged. I hope it isn't like the original House of Cards.
Correction:This Blade was played by ZIPPER MAN!
Soo... TV Blade (sans Blade) sounds like Kindred: The Embraced, but violent.
Makes one wonder what a modern day World of Darkness/Vampire the Masquerade (tv) show would look like, what kind of network/online platform that could potentially produce & distribute it, and what the vampire-as-metaphor would be in these turbulent times.
you know, you dont have to talk about blade trinity, in fact please dont.
nerdbreath No, she has to talk about it. In order to conclude the movie trilogy's story.
i know i know , i would just spare her and us the pain , But sometime one have to suffer for art
I am in love with your jacket!
That red leather jacket 💟 💟 💟
83croissant I love that jacket!
1. I read recently that Wesley Snipes initially wanted to play T'Challa, and I wonder how history would have played out if we'd gotten the first Black Panther film in the 90's. What issues surrounding the black community would it have touched on? Would someone else have played Blade as a result? Would we still have gotten the Chadwick Boseman Black Panther film? 2. It's weird that Marvel has done more anime than DC-- there's been at least 4-5 Marvel animated films or TV shows, while all DC has done is a compilation Batman film and an upcoming AU Batman animated film.
Think they would've butchered a 90's Black Panther.
I want your coat so bad. Holy fuck that is coat is awesome and you look so badass wearing it.
I’m so sad there is no longer a channel for us.
They should use Blade the same way they use Mad Max, as a competent loner with past trauma who unwittingly wades into a clusterfuck and through the course of the narrative helps the actual characters achieve their goals before disappearing into the end credits. Blade doesn't need character development. Not long-term development, anyway. Just an occasional relapse of empathy every now and again, instead of using the character to explore a post-apocalyptic diesel-punk hellscrape - you use Blade to explore the seedy underworld of off-brand White Wolf shenanigans.
What song is playing in the background please tell me :(
Oh man... not the only man channel (or as me and the bros called it mannel).
Well at least it gave us that show.
Also, that red jacket is awesome.
For me that series haved more potential then all others vampires series I mean this spike tv series
It's still really weird knowing that it's Sticky Fingaz playing Blade.
I had no idea there was a TV series. It's like every time I think I saw every Blade movie-thingy another one pops out.
Does it say in the show when exactly it takes place? I always assumed it took place between the first and second movie, cause that's the period when Whistler was MIA while Blade was still hunting vampires.
It takes place after the third because they mention Daystar failing. And Whistler dies in that movie (for good this time).
Oh, I guess I missed that. It's been ages since I watched the TV show. Also, I totally squeeeeed when you responded to my comment. :D
We might not have SpikeTV anymore but we still have CBS
How is filming in Vancouver, Canada cheaper then Filming in Detroit,Michigan?
Some addictions can be overcome, people who haven't smoked for decades for example usually don't start again, and if they do most of the time the reasons lie elsewhere.
Adding a young Whistler to the mix was a pointless retcon and I don't know how Goyer forgot his own work 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️
I love your channel, have you ever seen "Being Human"? It's a UK TV show (they did a US remake but I do not recommend it). Vampires are only 1/3 of the plot of season one, but they take over the show pretty quickly after that. I definitely highly recommend it!
Girl I love your jacket! Girl I need your jacket!!! Where did u get it?!?!😍🙀💖
Nordstrom Rack! Like 5 years ago... It was 75% off! It's probably the most "expensive" item of clothing I own (though I got it cheap).
Maven of the Eventide u are a lucky lady. I have never seen such a beautiful leather or leather looking jacket in my life. Thank u so much for the info!💖
I love scores like that! We have a NR here in STL, I'll definitely give them a look. JCPenny of all places was my HSGoth go-to. And for real though, of course I watch because I appreciate your awesome thoughtful reviews but frankly sometimes just as much for outfit inspiration! You're always gorgeous and that jacket is FIERCE.
I hear people giving this show a lot of shit, but I have got to say that it has a lot of good elements to it, and it does some interesting things.
I am so glad you are back to doing regular reviews!
Great review!
While I've never really got into the Blade movies or TV shows, this does sound interesting. The characters you described sound really fleshed out. Honestly, the way you were talking about Krista made me think the show should have been about Krista and taken Blade out entirely. Would make MUCH more sense given how little Blade does here!
Quick side note. One of the characters from the episode Bloodlines (the one you were talking about) one of the actors was SPD Red Rangers Jack Landors from Power Rangers SPD! Weird coincidence!
Lastly, is it just me or when Elisa was talking about "Houses", did Harry Potter come up? I mean, there's purebloods and halfbloods. Maybe it's just me.
Keep up the great reviews :)
what is that red jacket that maven is wearing
I'm really enjoying your thought-provoking analysis.
Also I would love to throw sunglasses at you.
Every time David S Goyer write something my comment is: "Some motherfuckers always try to ice skate uphill!"
Still better than twilight and true blood
One thing the Blade Trinity review to look forward to is one more leather suit on Maven and her awesome comments.
Oh my, no more networks for men! Ok I didn't even know Spike was still around, had no idea that there was a Blade TV series, and I even forgot that Spike was "FOR MEN!!" in the first place since, you know, it kinda sucked program wise. It's funny what you forget when you don't care about something right?
........Oh my god I forgot about my kids!
“Yes, I’ll review Blade: Trinity eventually, but ... Have you SEEN it? Worst Dracula ever!”
Actually, I haven’t seen it! What’s so bad about this Dracula? (Looks it up) Wait, he’s played by Dominic Purcell? The brother from Prison Break?? What was the casting director smoking???
"Bug Faced Baby Eating O'Brien"
AYE
While these recent reviews have been great in seeing these not as talked about shows or books....but I’m still waiting on that daybreakers review.....someday....or I should just see to her patreon.either way it must happen
AND FROM DUSK TILL DAWN THE SERIES!!
I hate it when other characters overshadow the main character in his or her own show.
Because of your review I had to check it out! For those also looking, right now you can find it streaming free on the CWSeed website/app (Roku, Amazon Fire Stick), which also has Moonlight and some other good offerings. And as always LOVELOVELOVE the outfit!!!
Was that "examine their layers" or "examine their lairs"? :o)
... Both...
I'm still just waiting for you to talk about the CBS series Moonlight from 2007. Always been my favorite Vampire series, and I wanna know what you think of it.
Any love for Moonlight? Mick St. John, Josef Kastan, their beautiful bromance? I had a DVD set of the first season given to me by a friend who was about to throw it out. Surprisingly decent.
I forgot this show existed probably because I never watched it
Time to buy the dvd
So this is torchwood but with vampires?
Hmm. Well, I'm surprised! I might need to check out this series someday! Sounds like another vampire show that had promise only to be extinguished after a season. Just like Kindred.
...Well, I liked Kindred.
All is good. Blade is back in the MCU and all will be good again.
The good thing about this show being forgotten is that I was able to get the entire show for 3 pound fifty pence. Thanks for reminding how silly, yet enjoyable it was.
I for one can only like something that tell us "Blade trinity never happened"
Thought this show was really good could of better maybe if it went on longer we could of got some better writers to make Blade for more like a person like he was in the movies but its also dependent of the actor and Sticky Fingerz does the job like you said on being mad and a hardass but not sure if he can be an emotional Blade. Really wish they didn't cancel it nothing worse than a show ending on a cliffhanger.
Also, this Blade is nowhere NEAR as good as Wesley Snipes' version. They made this Blade too human: too easily hurt, to prone to error, etc.
What? The movie blade messed up constantly.
Shows a clip of HHH when describing what Spike TV used to be which is funny because he's the only good part of Blade: Trinity
I remember kinda liking this show back in the days. Not a much a Buffy or anything but it was a solid watch.
enjoyed your review (the first time i've seen your channel). yes, i've subscribed. have you ever been to Whitby? i'm sure you know it's got a strong connection to Dracula fiction. a nice place to visit... :-)
Richard Roundtree had a busy 06 being in this and starring in the first season of Heroes.