Witchblade - The Complete Series | 
 enlarge | Actors: Yancy Butler, Eric Etebari, Anthony Cistaro, Will Yun Lee, David Chokachi
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $69.98
Buy New: $44.99
You Save: $24.99 (36%)
New (24) Used (7) from $41.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 99
Format: Box Set, Color, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 7
Running Time: 1122
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 1
MPN: 1000015962
UPC: 012569681453
EAN: 0012569681453
ASIN: B00170LCWC
Theatrical Release Date: 2001
Release Date: July 29, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
WITCHBLADE: THE COMPLETE SERIES (DVD MOVIE)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 47 more reviews...
 I am angry August 21, 2008
PArt of the attraction of the series was the blending of the soundtrack, the music with the drama. Now the Music simply many times doesnt fit. I am angry if I had known beforehand I wouldnt have ordered the DVD set blind but waited for some real reviews. I was (am) grateful that finally witchbade has been released on DVD but now I am asking myself if I was blinded by fond memories of the series
 Not what I remember August 20, 2008
I was excited to finally get Witchblade on DVD. I loved the show when it was on TV 8 years ago then something happened...8 years. I can't comment on the music being taken out as I don't remember every song that was in each episode but that didn't take anything away from the show. The writing took it away...I liked the build up to episode eleven then wow! Talk about "Jumping the Shark" to the extreme. Completely wrecked the show and I can now see with clear eyes why it was given the pink slip. That was right up there with the famous Dallas dream it all didn't happen episode. Still hard to believe I liked this show as much as I did. It's possible my tastes have changed or TV sci-fi shows have gotten better since this was on. Either way its not what I remember.
 Heroine of the Ages August 19, 2008
The Good Things
*Excellent amount of action and special effects.
*Excellent filming style. It's very vivid and has a lot of unique imagery. Very different than any other show I know of.
*Good stories.
*Good characters; good acting.
The Bad Things
*Soundtrack was changed from the original broadcasted version. I don't mind so much, since I've never seen it on TV before. But knowledgable fans may be dissapointed.
*Some special effects look a bit fake (then again, this show is getting old).
The Questionable Things
*Some parts (largely in the pilot episode/movie) have an extremely hyper strobing effect. Can be seen as either stylish or irritating.
This is a very different, unique, and vivid comic-book inspired TV show. So much so, that it surpasses most others and can be considered one of the best. There is hardly anything unlikable or dull about it; its simply great. Highly reccomended to everybody.
The DVD has excellent image and sound quality. It is in widescreen. It contains a few featurettes and commentaries on selected episodes.
Also be sure to check out the anime version. It's pretty darn awesome too!
If this review has not been helpful, feel free to leave some feedback, so I can improve.
Witchblade on DVD - Perhaps a hidden gem? August 18, 2008
Well I am going to stick my neck out and say I think the above is quite possibly a real gem - I have just finished watching it on DVD and was really impressed with the story and character development, and was also surprised with the picture quality too! The DVD Box-Set has all 2 seasons compiled in one set.
PQ (Picture Quality)
The DVD is presented in matted widescreen conversion form its original 4:3 format - surprisingly many of the scenes are of very good quality and it appears to have been well done in most cases. The panoramic scene setting views seem to have suffered, the quality was poorer with some pixilation, artefacts, and similar, and the occasional close up shots of statues and buildings looked to have been stretched to 16:9 so looked distorted. However all shots of actual cast and action scenes and so on were clear and almost always very good quality. I played the discs on my New Zealand purchased PS3 (despite them officially being coded R1 - so they are Region Free) and used the PS3's upsampling to 1080p for my Samsung 50" HD Plasma DP getting a very tidy image, especially close ups of people & faces, etc. For a remastered 2001 TV series I was pleasantly surprised with the Picture Quality result, and with the quality of the actual writing/material/acting it was well worth the few imperfections. Displaying SD material up onto a full HD display normally highlights issues in the quality of the SD material and this set came through very well..
SQ (Sound Quality)
Although sound quality was not super-fantastic, it was still very good and I generally found it very satisfactory and there were sufficient ambience and surround effects in the remastering to immerse you in most scenes - although I think overall this is the weakest area of the DVD production. The Series on the DVD itself has a very good score of music (IMO) from a variety of artists and genres and they set both mood and pace very well and have a unique distinctness similar in ways to the early Buffy episodes & Firefly for example.... However other fans of the original TV broadcast version of the show have noted a change to the musical score.
CONTENT
I originally only saw 2-3 odd random episodes of Witchblade when it screened here in New Zealand many years ago and found it disjointed and difficult to follow - but now I have seen the full content of both seasons in sequence I understand, especially with the major event at the end of Season 1 - it really has a very rich and complex story with a couple of distinct twists or unexpected events that as a result make it important to view the episodes in sequence and missing a few breaks the continuity. I had always been a bit ambivalent to this series because of the above experience with the original broadcast but having taken the punt to order a copy of the box set from Amazon I have certainly not regretted it and would rate this one of the most enjoyable sci-fi/occult/fantasy type TV shows produced to date that I have viewed. The DVD set has all 24 episodes (including the 90 minute premiere) providing almost 19 hours of the show plus some special features. The special effects in many cases are fantastic quality for a TV Series that screened in 2001 (& 2002) and compare very favourably, if not better, to much of the similar effects used in The Matrix (released in 2000), as another reviewer has noted. My only less than 100% positive comments would be regarding the erratic character of Ian Nottingham, which seems disjointed and as other reviewers here have said seems to suffer from a mix of bad acting and/or inconsistent writing; a similar (but much lesser) issue with Jake McCartey in the later part of the second season; and a minor issue with the last 2-3 episodes of the second season, which while they are still a high quality in general there is a subtle but noticeable change in the scripting, which just takes a bit of the Oomph out of the pace of the show - up until those episodes both seasons move reasonably fast and are intense, full of action, building intrigue & suspense, and more - the last 2-3 episodes just seem a bit slower, and a bit slower and more self-contained than the previous 21-22 episodes, so one wonders if there was a change of writers or if perhaps the writer(s) knew the show wasn't to be renewed and lost focus (although there is clearly no attempt to 'close off' the story or have a dramatic finale - so it is just left hanging with a bit of a non-descript ending).
Overall I also enjoyed the little subtleties too, like the pop-culturish jokes (e.g. one about subjecting people to reruns of South Park made in the context of someone being crazy/insane), and other references to the world as it was in 2001-2002, and as others have mentioned the quality of the acting is surprisingly good overall...
Overall this is an excellent high quality series from a content perspective, and the production of the DVD set appears to be very good overall too (barring the comments above). A must have if you are a fan of this series or a fan of these type of shows - if you liked Heroes (at least Season 1 anyway) you will probably like this, as much of the time in both seasons it has that same fast paced 'save the world' feel present in Heroes S1, with also a very strong conspiracy 'alone against the world' desperation in season 1.
P.S. It has been commented that some of the music is changed from the original - as I did not see the full broadcast of the show on TV originally I cannot comment on that. Personally I found the musical score generally very good.
Witchblade - worth the waiting August 14, 2008
Hello there,
This week I got the long awaited Witchblade DVD-series at home. It was worth the waiting. What took you guys so long, from Warner Brothers? But he, I don't want to complain. Witchblade is worth seeing over and over again. The magic tale, the nice effects, the good acting and the good looking Yancy Butler as Sara Pezzini - the witchblade (carrier).
Thanks Amazon for this product.
And for the guys who still have an illegal copy - bought for too much money and poor quality: Buy the real thing, and eat your heart out!
Greetings from Amsterdam, Dieter Mooijer
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