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A Conversation With Ralph Hemecker, Part Two
(Executive Producer/Writer) April 2001
Q: What is a pretender?
A: A pretender to the Blade is somebody that feels entitled to the Witchblade or feels that they deserve it, but really is not worthy to be a wielder of the Witchblade . . .A pretender of the Witchblade is somebody who doesn't possess the grace and nobility to be worthy of wearing it.
Q: Most cops are taught to trust their instincts. Can Sara trust hers and should she?
A: Well whether or not Sara can trust her instincts is part of what she deals with as a result of wearing the Witchblade. . . .Because the Witchblade has changed the way Sara sees the world it makes her question her instincts and her perceptions quite often. So that's one of the ongoing challenges for her is 'can I trust my instincts or not?'
Q: Aside from the nice things that you said about Yancy, what makes her an incredible police officer?
A: Well one of the things that makes Yancy Butler a credible police officer is, you know, she's tough. She can throw a punch. She can run. She's very intense. I mean if you were guilty of homicide and you had somebody like her bearing down on you, you'd worry. So I think that on that level Yancy brings a lot of authenticity and a lot of grit to the role, more so than a lot of the other actresses might.
Q: I also, in reading all the episodes, I notice that each individual episode is in itself a crime and justice story. What are the advantages of that?
A: I think one of the advantages of having self-contained episodes is that the audience gets a sense of closure at the end of each episode. Now there will be ongoing. . . the mythology of the Witchblade will evolve throughout all of the episodes. That's one of the nice things about self-contained episodes is although in each episode people will learn more about the Witchblade and Sara's destiny and her past, they also get a story that comes to an end. And that's one of the neat things, that's one of the interesting things about telling the story of the Witchblade is we have these cop stories but we also have this ongoing Witchblade mythology that evolves through the show. And a lot of times the two storylines converge, they intersect, and I think that's one of the interesting aspects to the storytelling in this television show.
Q: Did you make a conscious decision to shoot each episode as an individual feature?
A: We pretty much decided that we'd like to make each episode stand alone so that somebody who didn't see the first two or three or whatever could just turn it on and say, 'oh, okay, I can follow this.'
Q: How does the show fall into the category of great drama?
A: How does the show fall into the category of great drama? I think that the show has a great dramatic potential because of the intensity of the conflicts between the characters and because of the issues that they deal with.
Q: What does a show like this say about strong female leads?
A: I think what a show like this says about strong female leads is 'look out fellas.'
Q: And finally, how closely will this show follow the comic book?
A: Well I think that what we've tried to do in adapting the comic book into a television format is to stay true to the essence of the comic book. I mean, the guys at Top Cow really created an intriguing, bizarre world and we're trying to plumb that world as much as we can within the context of dealing in real time and space with real people, which is different than doing it on a flat page....The comic book is a rich broth to draw upon and I think that we're staying true to the essence of it while changing it in some ways to make it work for television.
Q: Last question for you. I know how excited you are about the show; I can see it in your body language.
A: Oh good!
Q: What haven't I asked you that you want to get out there, that you want people who are going to tune in to know?
A: One of the things that excites me about the show is that it really is unique. I think there's just a combination of subject matter, characters, the way the stories are told that is gonna really give audiences a different kind of episodic television experience. And I think that it's a very strange, very cool show. I mean it's definitely -- it's weird, in a good way.
Q: How do you come up with the titles for the episodes?
A: A lot of titles for the show are one word titles like "Thanatopsis", "Parallax", "Maelstrom" and they're all relevant thematically to the content of that particular show. And sometimes they are a little bit esoteric in the fact that every so often somebody's gotta go back to their dictionary, like we did, to figure out what it means.
Q: How do you hand out scripts? How do you decide on when to let the cast know what's happening next?
A: We hand out scripts when we feel like they're close to being production ready. And the cast usually is maybe one or two episodes ahead but they don't know where it's ultimately all going and I don't think anybody totally does.
Q: Thank you very much.
A: Thank you guys.
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