Blade: The Series

Blade (also known as Blade: The Series), was a TV series originally debuting on Spike TV in 2006; and Bravo in the UK in 2007. The series was based on the Marvel Comic’s character of the same name, and in many respects was a continuation of the film series. The show was developed by David S. Goyer, and produced by Avi Arad; both of whom worked on the film series too.

The show, whilst being a somewhat continuation of the film series, does have some changes from the films; with the big one being the different cast. Most of the characters in the show are brand new, but Blade remains. This time however he was played by Onyx member Sticky Fingaz, instead of Wesley Snipes. The main body of the cast after Sticky Fingaz include Jill Wagner, Nelson Lee, Jessica Gower, and Neil Jackson who plays the series lead villain; Marcus Van Sciver.

The shows main plot focuses on military war veteran Krista Starr (Wagner); who after returning home from Iraq, discovers that her brother was murdered. Whilst investigating his death, she discovers that he may have been involved with Vampires, acting as a familiar to some of them. This in turn leads her face to face with Blade, who recruits her to go undercover in the House of Chthon, a powerful Vampire House; with it’s Detroit branch being run by Marcus Van Sciver. As the series develops; Krista learns more about how the wealthy vampire houses run, plus gets into a rivalry with Marcus’s assistant, Chase (Gower). Meanwhile, Blade, with the help of his ally Shen (Lee), work at trying to stop Marcus’s grand plans for the vampire race, whilst also dealing with shadows from Blade’s own past!

The show was a short lived one with only one series of 13 episodes being produced. For thirteen episodes though, it was quite delicately detailed; giving an insight into how Blade’s business is run and his personal life. It also featured a run in with an old acquaintance (played by Bokeem Woodbine), plus the story of a Detroit detective (played by Larry Poindexter) investigating some of the strange goings on in the city. Meanwhile, Krista begins to learn more about how the wealthier vampires live, and their mind boggling projects and hierarchy. This all came to an epic conclusion as heroes fought villains, whilst leaving a tantalizing open-ended conclusion (in the hope of a second series).

Blade: The Series was one of my favourite TV shows at the time (I still have the DVD boxset). Since early on I was hooked and watched each episode with indulgent excitement. Plus it had a cool opening theme (provided by Ramin Djawadi), and some epic fight scenes too. It was a show I hoped would have a second series, and for nearly 10 years I continued holding on hope for!

As more and more superhero TV shows are made, it’s fun to look back on what came before; and what came before was this nice little gem of a TV series which was both tense and dramatic whilst still providing the thrills and blood spills that the film series provided before it. If you get a chance; give it a go, you might be in for a pleasant surprise! Keep a particular lookout for the opening bike chase!