Disc Reviews

The Crow: Stairway To Heaven DVD Review

27th Sep 2014

If you missed The Crow: Stairway to Heaven when it originally aired in the UK back in 1999/2000 (and you can count this author among those that did), then here’s your chance to grab the complete 22 episode series on DVD. Available for the first time in the UK I believe (although various European imports have been periodically available in the past).

If you think 14 or so years is a long time for a TV show to make it onto general release DVD, then you’re right. Such can be the fate of shows that do not make it past their first seasons, although most are shuffled out on sell through DVD pretty much immediately after cancellation.

To be fair to the show; Its supporters will point to the various sales, reorganising efforts and mergers that its owners were going through at the time; as full explanation for the cancellation of the show (which by all accounts was indeed doing pretty well in terms of ratings and fan reaction). I’m sure there’s a great deal of truth to that assessment, and judging the series on its own merits also supports such a notion to a degree; however, no-one cancels a bonafide cash cow, super successful show do they? So one does have to take such claims with at least a little pinch of reality.

After the fairly negative response to the theatrical movie The Crow: City of Angels a few years before; it was certainly a bold move to try adapting The Crow yet again in any shape or form; let alone the decision to make the show about the original movie’s characters and events (which City of Angels had all but avoided doing, and still failed to emerge from the shadow of the first film).

So yes, you heard correctly boys and girls; in this show, the somewhat underrated (in my opinion) Marc Dacascos (who does bear an ill-defined resemblance to Brandon Lee); plays our old friend Eric Draven, and the action begins (in the pilot episode), on that rain soaked night exactly one year after the brutal murder of Eric and Shelley in their loft apartment.

Bravo.

If you are a fan (as we are here at Filmwerk) of Alex Proyas’ 1994 movie, then you may find the first couple of episodes a little difficult to get the hang of, as they maintain a direct correlation to the events of that movie i.e. Draven comes back, discovers he has certain ‘abilities’, mopes about a bit, becomes ‘the crow’ more or less as we know and love him, and then exacts revenge (albeit of a massively less brutal kind) on the various gang members. We even get a confrontation with Top-dollar. The difficulty these first couple of episodes therefore have, is that you are constantly referencing the movie in your mind, and generating these internal dialogues with a definite ‘That’s different, that’s different, that’s different’ flavour. Happily, the nature of episodic television is that the events of a single source movie cannot feed it for very long, and sure enough the show quickly settles in to a more ‘villain/situation of the week’ for Eric to sort out, as well as the redemptive or ‘journey back’ story arc (which was also an important but sidelined aspect of the original movie).

One little gimmick they incorporated into Draven’s character is the nature of the white painted face. In the movie, you’ll recall Brandon Lee maniacally applying the white makeup and black accents in parody of the harlequin mask hanging there still. Lee’s makeup is therefore just makeup, and as it is a movie that takes place over a relatively short period of time; we don’t really worry about the need for him to re-apply it. In fact the makeup is seen to exhibit wear and tear by the end of the movie. For the TV series, I guess it was felt that it would be weird for Eric to be applying the makeup every week. Plus, they also needed him to often look ‘normal’ in public/daytime scenes etc where he needs to have the kind of interactions with other characters that would be strained by the inclusion of the makeup face. To this end; they went with the idea that Eric’s ‘Crow’ look is analogous to Wolverine’s claws, or a vampire’s fangs i.e. It is a naturally occurring state that he has some degree of control over switching on and off. This also takes a little getting used to, but it is a logical solution to a problem the movie didn’t have to deal with at all. It gets a pass on that one.

The show also differs from the film in having the character of Shelly Webster be a more proactive presence, even while stuck in limbo.

Disc Extras

Well, we don’t get a comprehensive ‘making of’ documentary, which is a shame as I think the legacy of the original film, and this production’s link to it through it’s continuation/expansion of the characters would have been an interesting watch. However, we do get a couple of Audio Commentaries with Mark Dacascos and Exec’ Producer Bryce Zabel on two of the episodes. This is where we get the most insight on the show that this disc set is going to offer.

Other extras include the following:

Gag Reel

Production Dailies on ‘Death Wish’, ‘Dead to Rights’ and ‘A Gathering Storm’

Original Score

Stills Gallery

Series Description and Press Story

Cast and Crew Biographies

Collectors’ Series Guide Booklet

Conclusion

As previously mentioned, the violence has been massively toned down when compared to the 18 certificate Proyas film. The series box set carries a 15 certificate in the UK, and is certainly not pushing that rating in any way.

One additional softening of the character that I found rather amusing (being a guitarist in another life), is that Draven’s various ‘Playing the Guitar’ scenes in the TV series, tend to feature a sort of soft bluesy noodling, rather than the screaming rooftop angst metal tones of Lee’s version. It’s all grist to the mill in trying to make the show successful and broad in its appeal I guess, but funny nonetheless.

A modern viewer will also notice that the series was shot in a very televisual 1.33:1 aspect ratio. For owners of widescreen televisions, this will mean you’ll have black bars down either side of the image unless your TV automatically stretches it out to fill the screen (which, baffling as it is to this writer; some people actually prefer). Take our advice, and just set your TV to 4×3 and watch it properly.

Finally, It’s true that any massive fan of the original movie is going to have issues with this show. However, for the most part; these issues are not insurmountable, and despite the shows early cancellation, were definitely not terminal in nature. It works pretty well, and Dacascos is a compelling presence, and dare it be said (yes it does), a more accomplished martial artist than poor Brandon Lee ever was, which helps. The show manages to put some distance between the Draven character and the tragedy of Lee’s death, and is all the healthier for it.

The only other issue that all good ‘cancelled after one season’ shows have, is that they pique your interest, and maybe even reel you in, only to then drop you in the void. We won’t mention how The Crow: Stairway to Heaven ends, you’ll just have to go buy it.

You will see below that this title has been awarded a Filmwerk star rating of three. Actually, it’s a good three and a half, but we don’t do half stars on the site. You’ll just have to ask the editor why not, or check out our podcasts.