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(From Friday’s The Oklahoman)

“Witchblade,” based on the Top Cow comic book, came to cable television in 2000. The complete series has been released on DVD.

“Witchblade” is about a New York City police detective, Sara Pezzini, who encounters the Witchblade, an ancient and powerful artifact. The Witchblade is a gauntlet that’s been passed down from woman to woman throughout time and serves as a balance between the forces of dark and light. In the pilot, it’s implied that it was once worn by Joan of Arc.

Yancy Butler (“Mann and Machine,” “Hard Target”) starred as Pezzini, and she’s believable as a hard-bitten detective. Billionaire Kenneth Irons (Anthony Cistaro) and his right-hand man Ian Nottingham (Eric Etebari) both seek control of the blade. Will Yun Lee and David Chohachi make appearances as partners of Pezzini.

Some changes were made from the comic book. The costuming of the heroine was considerably more demure than the comics. And, given the TV show’s budget, some of the elements that would have been costly to create in the early 2000s were scrapped. Despite some elements changed from the comic books (originally written by Christina Z., drawn by Michael Turner, and edited by David Wohl), comic-book fans were generally pleased with the adaptation. The presence of co-creator and Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri as a series writer helped keep the show true to the concept of Witchblade, even as particulars shifted. While the program can be slow in parts, it’s a solid police drama with interesting supernatural elements.

The DVD set contains all 24 episodes (the movie pilot plus two seasons) and bonus features.

— Matthew Price

“MiddleMan,” airing on ABC Family, is based on the comic books from Viper Comics.  See episodes, play games, and find out more about the television series at ABC Family.

Find out more about the comic books at Viper Comics.  An omnibus collection of all the comics is expected this summer.

– Matt Price

Check out the second trailer for the 2009 cartoon “Wolverine and the X-Men.”

Supervising producer Craig Kyle, head writer Greg Johnson and others involved with the new X-Men cartoon will speak about the series at Comic-Con International on Saturday, July 26 at 8:30PM PT in Room 6CDEF, where fans can be the first to see the three-part pilot.  The series will air on Nicktoons in 2009.

Marvel.com has more information:

“When an explosive event shatters the lives of the X-Men and takes away their mentor, the beaten heroes walk away from it all.
But then they’re given a rare glimpse into the future, and see a world in utter ruin, ruled by mutant hunting Sentinels. A world that spiraled out of control because the X-Men had given up.
So now the most legendary of all X-Men takes the lead - Wolverine! Reuniting these broken heroes, Wolverine embarks on the ultimate mission - to prevent the world’s destruction.
To rescue us from ourselves. To save the future.”

– Matt Price

The “Greatest American Hero” is bringing his superheroic expertise to comics.

William Katt, TV’s “Greatest American Hero,” has launched a new independent comic book company called “Catastrophic Comics.”
The first title from the company, “Sparks,” was released this week.  “Sparks” is a six-issue mini-series, 32 pages in full color and sells for a suggested retail price of $2.99. The artist is JM Ringuet, the artist of “Transhuman.” 
Sparks was co-created by William Katt and Christopher Folino, the writer/director of the cult comedy film “Gamers.” 
“Sparks” is set in 1948, as masked vigilante Ian Sparks finding himself in a noir story of self-discovery and redemption.
“My goal for Catastrophic Comics is to tell original stories, with amazing art work, that don’t suck. And I can’t imagine a better book to launch our company with than Sparks. JM and Chris have done a superb job with this gritty book,” said Katt in a release.
For more information about Catastrophic Comics, visit www.catastrophiccomics.com.
 

– Matt Price

From Friday’s The Oklahoman: 

By Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor

WORD BALLOONS

The alien takeover of earth in the hit 1983 TV miniseries “V” spurred comic books, video games and other ancillary spinoffs. Creator Kenneth Johnson returned to the world of “V” this year with his sequel novel “V: The Second Generation.”

“The Second Generation” is being developed as a possible TV movie or miniseries.

The original miniseries, a story of America under occupation seen by 80 million people, was inspired by Sinclair Lewis’ book, “It Can’t Happen Here.”

“With ‘V,’ it was very interesting, because my initial concept for ‘V’ had nothing to do whatsoever with aliens,” Johnson said. “I had been going through the works of Sinclair Lewis, who wrote ‘Elmer Gantry’ and ‘Main Street’ and a bunch of great novels. A lesser known novel of his is called ‘It Can’t Happen Here.’”

“It Can’t Happen Here” details an America overrun by fascism.

“What an interesting idea, to turn America into a state that was run by a tyranny and operated by fascists,” Johnson said, who was inspired to write a screenplay about a grassroots fascistic movement taking hold in the United States.

Brandon Tartikoff, then the head of NBC, read it, and wasn’t sure Americans would get fascism. He proposed that America would instead be under occupation by the Russians, or Chinese. Johnson said he wasn’t sure it was believable that the Chinese or Russians could sustain an occupation. Then, Johnson said, someone suggested aliens.

“Here I go again,” Johnson said. As the creator of “The Bionic Woman” and the developer of “The Incredible Hulk” for television, he was wary of being pigeonholed in science fiction. However, after considering the idea further, he changed his mind.

“The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was a great opportunity, because not only could I tell the story that I wanted to tell, about how ordinary people are changed or corrupted or become heroic because of extraordinary circumstances, but I could do it in a way where I had all this wonderful visual eye candy that would attract everyone’s attention,” he said.

This allowed Johnson to tell his story, which was “not about aliens or reptilian races or spacecraft, but a story in which the theme was power,” he said. “People who had power and abused it … and ultimately the heroes, who say, ‘This power is being abused and I have to fight against it.’”

Power returns as a theme in “Second Generation,” as does another theme, which Johnson said wasn’t originally intended, but sort of “bubbled up” as he was writing it.

“Virtually all of the principal characters in the Second Generation have at one point or another a crisis of conscience about loyalty,” Johnson said. “And loyalty is a theme that ruminates entirely through the ‘Second Generation.’”

“The Office” remains one of the funniest sitcoms on television, but has it featured a post-strike slump?

The first episode back, “Dinner Party,” had funny moments but didn’t quite hang with classic “Office” of the past. It did, however, set up the next week’s “The Chairmodel,” in which Dwight attempts to track down a model that Michael sees in a catalog and finds attractive.

I felt like things got back in stride with “Night Out,” where Michael and Dwight are back at their inappropriate best. Meanwhile, Jim makes a Michael-like move, locking everyone into the office lot late at night. Kelly’s retort to Ryan’s call for questions at an office meeting was probably the highlight of the show, the best of the post-strike episodes. Last week’s “Did I Stutter?” featured a Michael-Stanley power struggle, which felt a little out of character for Stanley. Still, the return of Darryl’s ridiculous advice to Michael about “the streets” made for a funny scene. Ryan and Toby ganging up on Jim added some dramatic tension — but do I need dramatic tension from “The Office”?

Check out “Night Out,” the high point of the recent “Office.”

(EDIT: I have made this a link instead of an embed, as, at the moment, Hulu embeds make my blog look wonky on Firefox.)

– Matt Price

Actors Bahar Soomekh, left, and Shaun Toub arrive at the 9th annual Costume Designers Guild Awards, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2007 in Beverly Hills, Calif.  (AP)

Matt Price: Tell me about your fashion background.  
Shaun Toub: I’ve been blessed because I used to, from time to time I still get offers to go back into fashion and people want to start up things with me.  But I’ve always loved fashion, and I had a men’s line at one point.  But then it became too much, and I had to decide if I wanted to do fashion or if I wanted to do acting.  And I decided on the acting.  It’s something I love, it’s something I’m always reading up on, and I want to know what’s out there. Domenico Vacca, who dressed me for the “Kite Runner,” did our clothing, and then we became friends.  And he actually dresses me for events.  He’s one of the best designers in the world right now, and probably one of the most expensive that I know of, but his clothes are just beautiful, magnificent, and I’m just blessed that I have the opportunity that I get to go play in his store.   And actually, for my character on “The Mentalist,” he does the clothing. It’s amazing, every time I wear his stuff, people are always complimenting me.   I just like it, fashion is something I like to play with. 

 Matt Price: You played Pinter, an ex-boyfriend of Elaine’s, on the “backward” episode of “Seinfeld.” What was it like being on the show?

Shaun Toub: You never know if that episode is going to be the good one, but it turned out to be a great one, and people still talk about that episode. It was a pleasure to be on it, it was a bit different, because when I was on that, they didn’t shoot it like the regular, four-camera half hour.  They did it where they shot it initially with an audience, bc of the way it was, it was very difficult because it was going backward and everything.  It was fun, the people were great, very friendly, and I still run into some of them from time to time.  “Seinfeld” is a legend, so it’s always nice to be on those shows.

MP: And I suppose you still get residuals.
ST: That’s a blessing of this business, that every day could be Christmas.

Protecting the Earth from otherworldly incursions is the mission of the secretive Torchwood Institute. This more adult spin-off of “Doctor Who” from the British Broadcasting Corp. is executive-produced by Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner; Davies spearheaded the popular 2005 revamp of “Doctor Who.”

Mixing elements from popular science fiction/fantasy shows such as “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “The X-Files” and of course “Doctor Who,” “Torchwood” manages to be generally engrossing genre entertainment.

Eve Myles portrays Gwen Cooper, a Cardiff police officer who sees the mysterious Torchwood members at the scene of a murder. She’s the entry point for viewers into the series, as she investigates the institute and eventually becomes part of the team.

Leading the team is the charismatic Capt. Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), previously seen on “Doctor Who.” Barrowman echoes Tom Cruise without the baggage, and provides a classic Hollywood leading-man quality to the production.

“Torchwood” episodes range from light to thoughtful to creepy to action-packed. Of particular interest is “Countrycide,” in which the team learns that humanity can be as dangerous as any alien race.

Extras: Multiple behind-the-scenes featurettes, commentaries on each of the 13 episodes.

– Matt Price

Look for my extended interview with Dick “Swamp Thing” Durock in Friday’s Weekend Look in the Oklahoman, but here’s a a bit about the makeup process that I couldn’t quite fit in the article:

Durock said the makeup process on the first feature took nearly four hours, but decreased to two hours on the second film.

“By the time we got to the series, which ironically was the best makeup and best costume of all of them, it was down to 45 minutes,” Durock said.  “We did it just by experience.”

Durock said on the first film, the “Swamp Thing” face is made up of 10 to 15 appliances.  But in the series, several of those pieces were condensed into one.

“We could use more of my own face and own eyes for the series,” Durock said.  

My biggest worries going into last night’s premiere episode of “Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles,” were:

1. I hope the effects aren’t super cheesy.

2. I hope the story isn’t super sucky.

The special effects were OK — not movie-grade goodness, but not so bad that they took away from the story. And what a story it was. Time-travelling, random Terminator attacks and John Conner thinking about boning a robot are all good things.

There are some lingering questions. I thought it was pretty convenient how easily Sarah Conner accepted the new Terminator into the fold. (Should we call her the T-River Tam or what?) And I thought the Tam-bot changed her prime directive from “protect John Conner” to “do whatever Sarah Conner says” awfully fast.

And what was with Sarah Conner having to be pushed by her son to stop SkyNet?

“We have to save humanity, mom.”

“Well….I don’t know….I’m awfully busy, lately.”

Regardless, this episode gets an “A” from me, though I’ll be interested to see what the new status quo is with tonight’s episode. I’d assume it’s all Terminator and FBI chasing them all the time, but I wonder if they’ll drift at all to a Monster-of-the-Week format, just to change it up?

 – Greg