Blade (TV series)

Krista Starr returns from military service in Iraq to learn that her twin brother, Zack, has died under mysterious circumstances. Her investigation reveals Zack had been a "familiar" – a kind of indentured servant of vampires, who agrees to do their bidding in the hopes his "master" will eventually reward him with eternal life. Krista's search for her brother's killer leads her to face Blade, as well as Marcus Van Sciver, Zack's killer. Marcus is a powerful vampire and high-ranking member of the House of Chthon. Smitten with Krista, Marcus decides to turn her into a vampire by injecting her with his blood. Krista is then approached by Blade, who injects her with the same serum he uses to control his own vampire instincts, and offers her a chance to help him avenge her brother's death and bring down Marcus and the House of Chthon, and revealed that Zack was trying to do a sting operation with Blade. The two form a reluctant partnership.

The remainder of the series follows Krista's attempts to maintain her cover in the House of Chthon, all the while struggling with her growing predatory nature, and Marcus's (supposed) efforts to develop a "vaccine" that will render vampires immune to all their traditional weaknesses (sunlight, silver, garlic, etc.). It is later revealed that Marcus's true purpose is to create a virus called the Aurora Project that will specifically target "purebloods", the ruling vampire class, and leave the turnbloods (normal vampires like Chase and Marcus, who were once human) unscathed. With Blade's help, he eventually unleashes his weapon in the series finale.[1]

In February 2006, Spike TV had given the green light for a television series based on Marvel Comics superhero Blade as the network's first original scripted series. Spike TV executive Pancho Mansfield said "We're extremely pleased with the pilot for Blade, which delivers a thrilling action-adventure for its built-in fan base as well as a character-driven drama filled with heart-pounding tension and suspense. The series will be the first of our scripted fare as we embark on creating a greater mix of original programming for our viewers."[2]

It was announced on November 7, 2005, that rapper Kirk "Sticky Fingaz" Jones had signed to star as Blade, filling the role made popular in the films by Wesley Snipes. Sticky would go on to comment that he was not out to make people forget about the Blade films, but he also wanted to put his own spin on the character. "I think it's more my own direction, but I have to incorporate some of what [Snipes] did," he said. "That's what people are familiar with, and you don't want to change it up drastically. You might want to change the seasoning a little bit, but you want the same meat."[3]

Spike TV ordered 11 one-hour episodes, in addition to the two-hour pilot episode, to be produced by New Line Television. The pilot was shot in 2005, and production of the series began in Vancouver in the spring of 2006.[4] The show premièred on June 28, 2006 followed by the standard one-hour episodes on July 5, 2006.

David S. Goyer, who wrote the scripts for all three of the films and co-created the television series, commented that the open-ended nature of a TV series supported the kind of storytelling that will allow viewers to delve more into the inner workings of the vampire world.[3] The series picked up where the last film, Blade: Trinity, left off and added several new characters, including Jill Wagner as Krista Starr, Neil Jackson as Marcus van Sciver, Jessica Gower as Chase and Nelson Lee as Shen.

Goyer later explained, "What the series is, in a weird way, is kind of like a Wiseguy with vampires, because Jill's character is kind of a double agent working for Blade, within the vampire community, and [we're] treating the vampires sort of like the ultimate crime family. Blade realizes at the beginning of the pilot that he's not making much headway, just sort of hacking and slashing, that he needs to know more about their inner workings."[3][5]

The TV series takes place after Blade: Trinity, since certain events in the last film were mentioned in the pilot episode.[6] At the end of Trinity, Blade used the Daystar, a biological weapon that targets and kills vampires specifically; however, the Daystar has not spread as fast or as far as originally designed, as there are still many vampire houses in operation (for example, Marcus, in the second episode, mentions 12 existing vampire Houses to Krista).

On Rotten Tomatoes the series had an approval rating of 50% based on reviews from 18 critics. The site's consensus was "Blade: The Series emphasizes gore and techno music over dramatic development, making for a bland action series."[7] On Metacritic the series has a score of 49% based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[8]

Gillian Flynn of Entertainment Weekly gave it a positive review and wrote: "When gunplay, kickboxing, and throat slitting actually feel like breaks in the action, you've got a series with brains as well as teeth."[9] The Guardian wrote: "Like most genre shows, it fumbles a lot in setting up the world and characters, but stick with it: after a few weeks it hits its stride and is a good antidote to the rather soppy bloodsuckers of True Blood and Twilight."[10]

Brian Lowry of Variety wrote: "Feels more like a bland swig of plasma than the bloody romp that it ought to be."[11] Reviewing the series in 2017, Liz Shannon Miller of IndieWire was critical of the show, "Despite some interesting twists at the end, the cliches did pile up" and the absence of Wesley Snipes.[12]

The series premiere had 2.5 million viewers and was the most-watched original series premiere in Spike TV history. It was also the #1 show on evening cable TV for men 18–34 and 18–49.[13] This occurred in a year where most cable premieres were outstanding, and the series failed to hold its numbers.[14]

On September 28, 2006, Jill Wagner announced that there would be no second season of the show.[15] The next day, Spike announced in a press release that the show would not be picked up. As a response to a letter in Wizard Magazine, series writer/producer Geoff Johns stated that: "The network didn't want to cancel it, I just think Spike TV is still a young network, and the price it was costing to make...they just weren't able to do it."

Blade: The Series was the second TV show to premiere on iTunes before ever having aired on mainstream television.[16][17][18][19] The short-lived Law & Order spin-off Conviction was the first.

The pilot episode of the series was released on DVD as Blade: House of Chthon.[20][21]

The complete series was released in 2006 on a 4-disc DVD set by New Line Home Entertainment / Warner Bros., featuring the episodes revamped and alternated, with uncensored scenes considered "Too Graphic for TV".[22]

The series is available to stream on The CW's free digital-only network, CW Seed,[23] as well as on Tubi.tv.[24]

• Vampire films
• List of vampire television series

• Blade at IMDb
• Blade at TV.com
• Blade: The Series on TV Squad