The Crow: Stairway To Heaven

Having read so many reviews applauding this show, I feel the need to address a few things...First and foremost, it was an absolute abortion of the premise upon which the original story was built. The mythos of The Crow (in this format) traces back to James O'Barr's groundbreaking Graphic Novel. In it he told a violent, passionate, painful story of true love, death, rebirth, and retribution. The character of Eric is *allowed* the opportunity to return to *avenge* the death of his loved one (and himself).In this show Eric is reduced to a cosmic boyscout, helping various people with their troubles while piecing together the circumstances of his death. It's practically Quantum Leap all over again. The whole point of the mythology is that a persons passion for something in their life could bring them back SOLELY for the purpose of avenging its loss. Actions outside that singular mission always end badly.The first film in the series was loosely based on O'Barr's original story. Beloved as that film was, and special/tragic as Brandon Lee's portrayal was, it was in fact a watered down version of the original story. When the second film was released many people panned it as "destroying" the series or "taking away" from Brandon Lee's performance. Here is where opinion will begin to slip into this review: They were wrong. The second film may not have been as good a movie, but it told a NEW and different story, of another persons experience, loss, and return. This show, however, purports to tell the story of Eric and Shelly all over again... and makes the aforementioned diversions from the core mythos.Yes, the third and forth films rapidly deteriorated into bad episodes of Buffy (the forth being basically unwatchable), but in my opinion it was this show that truly destroyed the franchise. I had high hopes for it when I first read about the project. The first time I saw Marc Dacascos I thought he was perfect for the role of a man living (and dying) this story. I think had they gone with a format wherein new and different stories of different people were told in short arcs (2-4 episodes per.) they could have had a great series. There was a wealth of spin-off stories in both comics and novels, many of which would have made for excellent television/film.If you're a reader, check out "The Crow: Clash by Night" by Chet WIlliamson, it is one of several novels based on O'Barr's mythos, and in my opinion the best of all the various stories since the original.