The Crow: Stairway to Heaven

The Crow flies again... on DVD...

Must be something in the water. A few weeks ago, I got the news that my NBC series DARK SKIES (co-created with Brent V. Friedman) would be released by SONY on DVD this October. Now comes the news that THE CROW: STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN a series I developed and executive produced for Polygram TV will now be released by NBC-Universal this July. Woo-hoo!

Apparently, it'll be a four-DVD box set released under the "TV Guide Presents" banner. (And thanks to writer-pal Lee Goldberg for knowing this before I did and telling me!) I've been waiting for some kind of news peg like this to hang this blog-post on because I loved that series and it was a terrific creative experience.

It started back in 1998 when I was asked to develop "The Crow" film and graphic novel franchise into a TV series by the now-defunct Polygram TV. It raised an interesting challenge:

What do you do when the incredibly violent film you are asked to adapt to a TV audience is based on cruelty, and the main character is driven by a thirst for revenge?  

My answer? You expand the premise to fully explore the nature of life after death, and you change the character quest from revenge to redemption.

And how do you handle the fact that the cult film was made infamous by the horrible on-set death of its star, Brandon Lee?

That was a tougher question because the idea behind the TV series was to use the Eric Draven character, the one who'd been in the comics and that Brandon Lee had played. My take was that, tragic as Lee's death was, George Reeves' tragic death did not prevent Christopher Reeve or Dean Cain from playing Superman, and that we would just have to proceed and hope that our own version stood intact on its own. So, besides the conceptual changes, we also reached out to actor Mark Dacascos who created a Crow/Draven character that was unique itself.

In our 22 episodes, Eric Draven’s mission grew from simply wanting to murder the people who murdered both he and his girlfriend.  He began to climb… that’s right… a Stairway to Heaven.

Although the concept of the Crow had history when I came aboard, this shift was no small challenge.  The comicbooks by James O’Barr which started it all were intensely violent, bloodsoaked revenge fantasies.  Pretty cool in their own right, but impossible to sell to a mass TV audience. The films, brought to life by several different writers and directors, were dark, brooding mood pieces, also saturated by the blood of sadistic, drug-abusing, violent scumbags. An equally difficult sell. Yet the films built upon the comics, changed the mythology to adapt to a new medium, and grew the premise in the process.  That was the only way to go.

So the TV series had to become its own manifestation of the Crow. It, too, had to grow the mythology, and adapt to its own medium. At first, a lot of fans who came to the concept by way of the comics and the movies were taken aback. They felt it was not true to the spirit of O’Barr’s creation or the performance of Brandon Lee.  Yet we knew that even if every person who read a comic or saw the movie tuned into the series, it would still be cancelled. We had to bring new people in.

We did. We brought in women by making it a series with a love story as its central premise –- a love that survived even death. That started with our opening titles where we used the famous lines from the Crow movie (delivered only by Eric) about the "soul can't rest" and re-wrote it as a poem between Eric Draven and Shelly. This was my first draft:

WE HEAR two voices – Eric Draven and Shelly Webster.

SHELLY (V.O.)
People once believed that when someone dies, a Crow carries their soul to the Land of the Dead…

DRAVEN (V.O.)
But sometimes something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest…

SHELLY (V.O.)
Then sometimes, just sometimes, the Crow can bring the soul back to put things right…

DRAVEN (V.O.)
Things can never be right, my soul will never rest, until we are together again. 

We brought in others who found our new Crow’s mission to be more hopeful than the films and, therefore, more accessible to their lives.  We cast as our lead the incredibly talented Mark Dacascos whose performance gave the Eric Draven character an entirely new dimension of sympathy and whose martial arts skills were crackling and theatrical.  We wrote stories as smart as we could, expanding the mythology to include such twists as Draven being a suspect in his own murder to making literal the previously only mentioned Land of the Dead.  Basically, we tried not to pander to the audience, but to challenge them upward.

By the way, if you'd like to read the pilot script,  here it is:

THE CROW, PILOT EPISODE.pdf

If you'd like to read the series bible created before we went on the air (and, thus, something that changed), here it is:

THE CROW, Original Bible.pdf

Finally, if you'd like to read the episode summaries of the first season storylines, you can do that, too. I kept this document up-to-date throughout that season so that other writers could see where we'd been and it kept everybody "on the same page" as it were. This is definite SPOILER ALERT territory, however.

THE CROW, Episode Summaries, Season One.pdf

A number of people should be mentioned as having been part of this process. Ed Pressman and Jeff Most are the keepers of the Crow flame, especially in the feature world. Bob Sanitsky and Stephen Gelber were the Polygram execs who were smart enough to get us up and running, then support us creatively. The production wouldn’t have happened without Gregg Fienberg who came in as Polygram’s man on the ground, but quickly became my doppelganger, seeing my vision with me, and making it happen. Gordon Mark and Brad Markowitz took it from the page to the stage. The other staff writers and producers were Chad Hayes, Carey Hayes, Naomi Jantzen, John Turman and David Ransil. A great team.

It all worked. The show found its rhythm. Although the action was always intense by virtue of Mark’s fighting talents, some of the most heartfelt scenes I’ve ever written or re-written are in this series. It worked, and it was good. By the end of the season, we had a real friendship formed between Eric Draven and Detective Daryl Albrecht (played to awesome perfection by Marc Gomes) and Sarah (played so well by Katie Stuart).

The ratings were great by syndication levels (2.7 and above). Then Polygram was purchased by Universal, and it all fell apart. Universal, you see, wanted Polygram’s music division but, having gotten out of the TV business only the year before, had no desire to nurture a new series in the tough syndication market. It was just business. The show died.

Maybe, like Eric Draven, the show will come back to life some day. I’d like that. Maybe the fact that the underlying rights are now owned by NBC-Universal (which also owns the Sci-Fi Channel) will mean something. At the very least, I'd like it if this DVD release could spark the fire that would allow me to wrap up our Eric Draven arc with a film or a limited series, using Mark Dacascos. Then, maybe, Eric Draven really could rest in peace. Anyway, as the Crow flies...

Comments

[hope]

hi i am writing cause i wish someone would pick it up and bring it back on if they can bring 90210 back like they are doin in the fall then they can bring back the crow i loved the movies and i loved the series its awsome and i was disapointed when they had canceld the show and a lot of other people i kow was also mad is there any talk about it comming back i got the set and i watch it over and over my fiance would do good as the crow cause he even looks a lil like mark and would do good as the crow

[Bea]

I am SO HAPPY this became a dvd only after eight years!!!!!!!!!
I was so mad when there was NO SEASON TWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Clement Mukosha]

Hi, I love to watch the crow movie its really an excelent movie and iam looking forward to see the new realese on the big screen I WISH YOU Bryce and Mark GOOD LUCK thank you.

[D]

Once again, showing my support for this show. Every episode, every scene, was exciting and interesting to watch week after week. Thank you!

I still hope for a second season, a full length feature or even a comic, which will either continue or finish the story. This series definately deserves it.

Thanks again!

[Jc]

Ya know. It really bugs me that they could make that terrible movie "The Crow: Wicked Prayer" and yet we didn't get to see a finale to "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven" which is a superior effort even only being a tv show. Whatever they spent to make that stupid movie they could have put into a finale movie for STH.

Anyways TC:STH is a great series I will be buying the DVD and hopefully there is a small chance we could see Dacascos come back one last time to do a finale movie for it. We can dream anyways :(

[mary brewer]

Hi,
I too am a huge Mark Dacascos fans as i see from previous
comments a lot of names from his yahoo group.... One of the
other members of the group wanted tme to ask if the
THE CROW: STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN dvd will have Spanish subtitles??.. Thanks Mary

[Rose Marie Ebeling]

Hi, Bryce;

I LOVE the series and have all the episodes on tape. Will definitely buy the DVD set when it becomes available. Mark Dacascos is my favorite actor and I SO hope that you bring him back as Eric Draven in a theatrical film and/or series finale.

Best wishes,

Romi

[Carla]

Hello Bryce:

I would love to see a finale to the series. On the "big" screen would be a nice touch. Good luck to you. I would love to hear what you and Mark would like to see done as a finale for the series. Would you change your plans if it was done on the big screen or would you stick to the original plan for it, if it was done on TV?

Another question, if the DVD's do bring interest in the series again, would you and Mark think about taking up the series again? Do you think it could possible become another Sci-fi "original series?"

Excited to hear about the DVD's finally coming out! I hope it brings good things to light for you and the series. It was truely a good series.

[Frank]

Bryce is you manage to get a hold of somebody at Universal, maybe they could have someone over there create a website for TheCrowTV.com since they own it and have a dvd to pimp. Warner Brothers put out the Australian set, which I got my hands on and they never removed the frames that mentions thecrowtv.com.

[JrsyMan]

ARRGGHHHH!!!! Why couldn't this have come out last year??? I purchased the European relase DVD set which of course entailed a secondary purchase of a PAL compatible DVD player. It was worth it though.

[Jennifer]

I was going to simply comment that I really got into the TV series, and thought Mark Dacascos was a great choice for the Eric Draven character, plus he's sexy to boot. But I just looked on IMDb, and saw the pics of him with short hair, made a connection, and--he's the guy I've been adoring on Iron Chef!!! I don't actually watch Iron Chef--I watch The Soup and they show the part where Mark announces the secret ingredient. I've been crushing on Mark again, and didn't even realize it!

[LLcruize]

Bryce, it has been a while since we last spoke. Not sure if you remember me, but myself a long with Frank were fervent supporters of the series. To this day, it stands as one of my top 5 favorite series. I have fought tooth and nail through the years to defend its merits. I too regret that it was not at the very least given a due finale. Perhaps someday that will happen.

Take care.....

[Frank]

Well Bryce hopefully Universal contacts you or you can get a hold of them. Maybe they can put a special code inside the DVD case so people could go online and download some of the songs off the unreleased soundtrack.

[Bryce Zabel]

Extras? I don't know. I have a lot of that kind of stuff, but no one has contacted me. I only found out about it because a friend e-mailed me the link in the first place. I will check into it, however. People tell me the European release had that kind of thing, but I've never seen it, nor do I know what they included.

[Frank]

Well I'll be giving my TV series website a nice update in the future. As soon as more info is made available about the box set, I'll do a special feature section on the website for it.

[Anne]

Thanks for writing about the Crow and thanks VERY much for the pilot script, the first show bible and the episode summaries. I'm sure I can find a good use for them :-)

A 4-DVD set? The European release was a 5-disc set.

Will there be any extras on it? Bloopers? Interviews? Comments? Deleted scenes? Something?
Please say yes so I have an excuse to buy the US version too.