Witchblade
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Witchblade |
| Abbreviation(s): | WB |
| Creator: | Ralph Hemecker, Richard C. Okie, Marc Silvestri and Michael Turner |
| Date(s): | 2001-2002 |
| Medium: | Television |
| Country of Origin: | USA |
| External Links: | Official WB site |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Sara Pezzini, a New York City Homicide detective, is destined to wear the Witchblade, a semi-sentient mystical gauntlet. It's a supernatural cop show! Based on the comic of the same name, it ran for two seasons on TNT.
The ending of the first season is known as "The Great Rewind".[1] Many fans felt disappointed by the second season; others were creeped out by the fact that it was canon that part of Irons' body was in a glass ball jar on display, and that Ian Nottingham was shown caressing said jar.
Interaction with TPTB
The show's fandom was supported by Warner Bros with an official "Bladewielders" e-mail list that also generated an official, weekly episode preview; a Bladewielders forum, and several Yahoo!Groups mailing lists, including the still-active Witchblade list. Additionally, the producers of the show set up a website, Talismaniac.com, which was the name of the Internet-based business run by Gabriel Bowman, and set up Cyberfaust.net, a website mentioned in the show. Both of these sites remained under construction during the run of the series, but it showed that the producers were aware of the fannish interaction with the show on the Internet.
Fannish interaction as a whole was small from the beginning. Some of the comic book fans were unhappy with the way both the Wielder and the Witchblade itself was shown on the show, as the Wielder in the comic is a busty female (something Yancy Butler is not), and when the Witchblade manifests in the comic, it tends to rip off all of the Wielder's clothing and replace it with very revealing, alien-like, warrior-maiden armor. As a result, some comic fans called for a boycott of the show on message boards. A small concession to said fans was made in one of the first season episodes, when a similar-style armor was produced for the episode, which only resulted in many of the TV fans being divided as to which was the better armor.
The series was notable for its use of techno music to underscore the various scenes. One fan started a site to track all of the songs used in the series, including the instrumentals, and was able to get other fans to contribute both song clips and help identify the music before receiving a cease-and-desist order, which halted the uploading of the song clips but did not diminish the fannish contribution.
Witchblade Fandom
Since the initial support for the show was from official sources, fanfic as a whole was initially strongly discouraged in order to prevent the producers from any possible "bad" fannish interactions. However, non-sanctioned lists developed, including a slash list that focused in on the Ian/Irons pairing. Ian Nottingham's devotion to his boss/adoptive father gave rise to Ian/Irons slash, the most significant pairing in the fandom. Some Sara/Jake and Sara/Gabriel fic exists as well, although the canon pairing of Sara with her eternally destined lover, Conchobar, is also popular.
The show continues to enjoy "small fandom" status with a fan-based web page, Bladetv.com. Most of the fannish web sites related to the show vanished off the net by 2005. Fanfiction.net lists 550 titles of fic for the show, the largest single archive of WB fanfic on the Internet.
A Witchblade convention, Convergence, was held in Canada [need date] for which a zine was produced.
Witchblade fans also helped raise $10,000 for for charity.
Taking a page from other fandoms, Witchblade Central Station crusaded to save the Witchblade show. The site had launched a petition for season 3 well before news came down that the TNT network was not going to be renewing the show. In light of that announcement the website took out an ad in Variety encouraging other networks to pick up the show and amped up their campaign to transition from e-efforts to traditional mail-in. The effort was not successful.
Fanfiction
Digitabulum Magae by MacGeorge is a Highlander crossover and one reviewer describes it as "the only fully developed Ian/Irons story I’ve found."[2]
Mailing Lists
- witchbladefic archive link "A list for Witchblade fanfic (comic & TV show) and *comic* discussion only. TV discussion is not allowed, considering that there are plenty of Witchblade TV lists out there. Adult fanfic is highly encouraged. Slash and het are both welcome. Flaming is not allowed. A fanfiction archive will be put up as soon as I get enough fic. :)"
- TNTWitchblade archive link "Discussion group for the TNT original series Witchblade starring Yancy Butler, David Chokachi, Anthony Cistaro, and Eric Etebari; based on the popular comics by Top Cow. Discuss episodes, share pics, artwork, wav files, fan fiction or whatever else strikes your fancy. Join us! I'm gonna ask here that the authors remember to share with this list when you're sharing with others. We can only get pleasure from the sharing if something is posted to the list. And readers, play your part by feeding the authors. Its more important than you may realize. All the stories will be considered direct submissions to the multi-fandom/lists list archive, the WWOMB and as such be posted to the list archive unless they include a direct DO NOT ARCHIVE notation. Because this archive handles several hundred lists, I don't have time to notify each writer as their stories go up so I recommend you join the direct submissions/announcements list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Makebelieve if you want to be informed. I have neither the time or the inclination to moderate the posts for minor ears, joining tells the world you are over legal age. Be honest. Finally, if you spam the list I will remove it AND you without warning. We've got limited space and don't need spam in our files. I do however encourage chatter onlist. It tends to stimulate ficcies, and that's what we're here to inspire, aren't we. Oh yea, and its been requested that you include your couples in your posts, please do this. some readers would rather only read the pair they like and not wade through the rest. See ya on the flip, luvs."
- Witchblade Slash archive link "Ian....Jake....Sarah....they form the perfect triangle with the witchblade at the crux. The emotions run hot in this show. Come discuss this movie turned series. We're eager for yor opinions. We're eager for your stories. Smarm and beyond, come share the magic. I don't have the time of inclination to moderate this list for underage ears,so adults only. Be honest."
- Witchblade Chat And Fic archive link "Ian....Jake....Sarah....they form the perfect triangle with the witchblade at the crux. The emotions run hot in this show. Come discuss this movie turned series. We're eager for your opinions. Come share your general, hetero and slash stories, smarm and beyond, come share the magic. This list has a sister list on YG. The stories posted to that list will be up-loaded to the shared files here as a webpage as a way of perserving them against the new archive ceiling there, as will the stories posted to this list, cuz its just easier to find them that way instead of skimming through the posts."
References
- ^ Near the end of the first season, the producers temporarily halted production in order to allow Yancy Butler to go into rehab for alcoholism for two months. There was some concern over whether or not the show could continue without its lead actress. Rumor held that part of the reason for the way the first season ended (with a reset of the entire year's events) was so that the writers could write a second season that didn't need the lead actress nearly as much in case she relapsed. Fans rallied with support for the actress and the production, sending emails of support.
- ^ Media-cow.net: Fan Fiction and Video Recommendations, 13 June 2004. (Accessed 19 March 2011)