If Blade doesn't last past season one...

[XBRoughneck]

...is it Sticky's fault?

I'm of the opinion that yes, if the Blade series does not continue it will be due to poor casting for the lead role.

I've talked to LOTs of people that have at least seen a good portion of at least one episode and the common theme among them is that Sticky was a poor cast for the role of Blade.

While I think he's better than he was in the first few episodes, he looks VERY green in the role.

I think his acting ability is on par with Beyonce. His fighting ability is questionable at best (even tonights episode when he was hitting the heavy bag...he looked like he was afraid to actually hit the thing...didn't kick it once) and his eyes (which IMHO are key for leading men) are not engaging enough. In essence, he appears to have been given the jobe because 1) he looks fit and 2) he's got a gruff voice.

IMHO, he's turned off a lot of potential fans of the show and he could eventually be the reason it doesn't last.

The show itself is good IMHO. The supporting cast is VERY good.

But the "star" is average at best. Everyone else on the show is carrying Sticky and IMHO that simply shouldn't be the case.

 

[MARVELous M]

Yeah I can agree with that. Sticky is ok, but he should be a lot better.

 

[Lantern Venom]

...is it Sticky's fault?

I'm of the opinion that yes, if the Blade series does not continue it will be due to poor casting for the lead role.

.

Absolutely not. No one was going to fill Snipes shoes in the first place and everyone knew it. Add to that the fact that Spike has such a small audience, and it was indeed going to be hard to fill that role. The only legit objection to Sticky is his lack of MA skills.
If Blade doesn't last it will be due to a somewhat poor time slot ( it should be on at 8 or 9, IMO ) and poor marketing. I can't fault any of the acting, production or writing. The show has been better than I expected.

 

[<(o_o)>]

Absolutely not. No one was going to fill Snipes shoes in the first place and everyone knew it. Add to that the fact that Spike has such a small audience, and it was indeed going to be hard to fill that role. The only legit objection to Sticky is his lack of MA skills.
If Blade doesn't last it will be due to a somewhat poor time slot ( it should be on at 8 or 9, IMO ) and poor marketing. I can't fault any of the acting, production or writing. The show has been better than I expected.

If the series was to come on any earlier then they would probably have to tone down all the cursing or do away with it completely. Even though they haven't used the F-Word the show itself has been pretty graphic in language that would have been edited out if the series had been shown on another network.

 

[Lantern Venom]

If the series was to come on any earlier then they would probably have to tone down all the cursing or do away with it completely. Even though they haven't used the F-Word the show itself has been pretty graphic in language that would have been edited out if the series had been shown on another network.

The censors seem to give Spike an awful lot of latitude. There is only a couple of things that I think would have been a real problem for a 9pm slot.

 

[Super_Ludacris]

The few times I've seen the show, Stick has impressed me from I normally see him. Normally dude just plays himself the crazy dude from Onyx (which aint a bad thing....)

 

[Lantern Venom]

The few times I've seen the show, Stick has impressed me from I normally see him. Normally dude just plays himself the crazy dude from Onyx (which aint a bad thing....)

I saw him on one of the music channels ( I think it was old footage ) one day while I was at the gym. I only knew him from Over There so I was surprised to see him rapping.
It wasn't long after that I saw an ad for some country CD and lo and behold, there was Whistler! I never knew Kris Kristofferson had a music career either.

 

[Super_Ludacris]

Onyx had been around since ages like 91-92. Remember they did Slam and the Slam remix with Biohazard too

 

[Lantern Venom]

Onyx had been around since ages like 91-92. Remember they did Slam and the Slam remix with Biohazard too

Seriously, I never listen to music. I haven't for years and years. I don't even have a CD collection. The only musicians that I recognize are the ones all over the news.
Still, "Slam" is kind of ringing a bell. Was it a theme song for a movie or TV show?

 

[Mr. Credible]

nope... if anything it's because there's not enough damn blade. i don't wath a show called blade to see krista.

i think sticky's fine. he looks alot better than snipes in my opinion, looks meaner, has a better grimace, better voice, and his acting is... acceptable. it's not bad, not great. actually it's pretty good on some occasions.

 

[KenK]

He's improved over the course of the series, so I wouldn't put the blame on him if the series doesn't make it to season two. Could he be better? Yeah, but you can see him making a conscious effort. A lot of rappers-turned-actors get by on personality, without really changing the way they carry themselves in speech and body language. There's a strong difference in the way Sticky is as himself, and when he's playing Blade. He drops a lot of his speech and mannerisms to play Blade in a close approximation of how you'd expect him to be played.

 

[Chris Wallace]

Agreed. He has improved a lot since the pilot. Now if they could just tighten up his fighting a little more.

 

[storyteller]

Its not stickys fault(except the forced voice). Its clear the writers have no clue what to do with blade. Blade has like 20% part in every episode(except the one where hes the focus). Then they dont want to make him the fighter he is in the movies. In essence they wanted to do a series without blade but they had do a series with blade. They need to bring blade back to his kick ass self. They need to rewatch blade 2 and keep rewatching.

 

[Chris Wallace]

I was actually thinking last night, they could just as easily have called this show "House of Chthon". It's like they needed the Blade name to sell it. As much fun as I'm having watching this show, Kirk does seem in danger of becoming a supporting character on his own show.

 

[ROBOCOP CPU001]

i would have cast micheal jai white,

 

[Chris Wallace]

Maybe.

 

[Warhammer]

I would've loved Michael Jai White, too.
Btw, It's not Sticky's fault if the series fails.

He should be in the show more than he already is.

 

[Chris Wallace]

What inspired your screen name?

 

[DarKush]

My Reasons:

1) I think Blade the Series being on Spike TV is hurting it. Spike is barely on the radar if at all, and it has put too much pressure or anticipation on Blade being a homerun. Hopefully they will chill out and let the show continue improving. But with the quick exits of other genre shows by the major networks, and with Spike not having their resources I can easily see Blade getting the ax.

The Spike lineup is far too disparate and Blade doesn't have a good lead in either. Spike hasn't really carved a niche. It claims to be a men's network, but uses a stereotypical, somewhat offensive definition of what or who men are for its programming.

USA, FX, and Sci-Fi would all be better channels for Blade. USA and Sci-Fi because of their genre content, and FX because of Blade's profanity, gore, and sexuality.

2) Kirk Jones. A lot of people dump on him, and I don't want to necessarily join in the parade. Partly because I feel he was chosen because of his lack of presence. He would be far more pliant than Wesley to deal with I assume.

I'm figuring TPTB thought it would make it easier to do an ensemble show, but the problem is that Blade is the selling point of the show and he is the reason people would be tempted to tune in and perhaps remain tuning in each week.

Making him a second banana to Krista and House Chthon was a miscalculation. Angel is a good example of a vampire-themed genre show that is an ensemble that keeps the main character front and center.

Once again, I think the TPTB wanted Blade to primarily be a silent type, swooping from the shadows with very little dialogue or emotion. That's fine for the movies but doesn't work for a TV show.

For me, Nick Knight's and Angel's struggles to redeem themselves, their occassional baring of their souls was one of the strongest parts of their shows and character arcs. I haven't seen Blade past episode 6, but I wonder if there has been much character development, or if Jones has been able to pull off an increased role if he's gotten the chance.

By the 6th episode, Jones was growing into the role, but perhaps if TPTB had chosen a trained actor to start with then it might've helped them sell the series as an authentic continuation of the Blade movies.

 

[XBRoughneck]

Agreed. He has improved a lot since the pilot. Now if they could just tighten up his fighting a little more.

I'd say they need to tighten it up more than a little. He doesn't "move" like a fighter. He moves like a heavyweight boxer, which IMHO would win him any serious battles.

He doesn't appear to be great with the swordplay.

He doesn't appear to like using his feet in combat.

He doesn't move with grace.

Those are three of my pet pieves. Sure, I don't expect him to be Wesley, but I expect him to be further along in those areas than he is.


Still, I really like the show (last nights was one of the top two IMHO...the other being the one where Blade is captured by his boys).

I'll still continue to say Sticky was a poor casting decision considering he didn't have a history with the series AND he lacked the physical traits to pull character off from the get go.

That said, if the show comes back for season two, by the end of season two he should be MUCH better.

I definitely think Sticky should use the break to improve his combat skills immensely. He's a workout hound, so spending time stretching, dancing, doing katas and such shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

Good atheletes that have a weakness will generally work on improving those weak areas during their down time. We'll see if Sticky can do the same.

Fingers are crossed for a season two.


(That was REALLY a good episode last night)

 

[XBRoughneck]

Its not stickys fault(except the forced voice) In essence they wanted to do a series without blade but they had do a series with blade. They need to bring blade back to his kick ass self. They need to rewatch blade 2 and keep rewatching.

I agree with that a lot as well. Maybe if we saw more of Blade I'd warm up to Sticky as Blade more.

I still think he's WAY to stiff in the role.

 

[tamron]

2) Kirk Jones. A lot of people dump on him, and I don't want to necessarily join in the parade. Partly because I feel he was chosen because of his lack of presence. He would be far more pliant than Wesley to deal with I assume.

That's a good point. I mean after the blowup between Goyer and Snipes had during Trinity they'd probably want the next guy to more manageable. Jones certainly seems to have a "happy-to-be-here" attitude.

I also think that portrayal had a lot to do with the casting as well. I'd bet Sticky's portrayal of Blade is more in line with Goyer originally had in mind when he wrote the first Blade. The Blade-as-samurai was more Snipes' invention than Goyer's. Mike Jai White probably would have tried to stay truer to Snipes protrayal, and that may be precisely why he didn't get it. I really wish he had though, he'd have been the best possible replacement.

 

[vibeke_T]

they should get dude from CSI

 

[Lantern Venom]

i would have cast micheal jai white,

How do we know MJW would have done it? Some actors who have a rep on the big screen don't like taking on a part that would have them tied to a certain character indefinitely.

 

[tamron]

^MJW auditioned for Blade. In the end, it came down to him and Sticky, and Sticky was chosen.