Sleepy Hollow

The television series Sleepy Hollow is very loosely based on a short story written by American author Washington Irving. First published in 1820, 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' is the tale of Ichabod Crane - a school teacher who unsuccessfully competes with Abraham Van Brunt for the hand of Katrina, the daughter of a wealthy farmer. On the night of his rejection by the girl, he is chased by a headless horseman, and is never seen again. This leaves Abraham (who it is later implied was the horseman) to marry Katrina.

The story has been adapted to the screen many times, but with the very little success. By far the best being director Tim Burton's 1999 version - Sleepy Hollow, starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci.

That being said, I was looking forward to seeing what direction this show would take after first reading about it a few months ago. I wasn't expecting too much, but I've always been a sucker for a new sci-fi or supernatural show.

As is the case with most screen adaptations of Irving's story, the only resemblance to the original is that it is based in the fictional town of Sleepy Hollow,and that some of the characters share the same names. As I said earlier, very loosely based.

Without giving too much away, Crane and the Horseman rise from their separate graves at the same time some 250 years after they killed each other in battle. The Horseman (as is pretty standard) is after his head, and it is up to Crane to stop him. The kicker in this, is that the Horseman is actually one of the biblical Horsemen (Death), and if he gets his head back, it will somehow trigger the beginning of the apocalypse.

Naturally, immediately after his resurrection, the Horseman starts beheading people and Crane is arrested on suspicion of the murders. After his arrest, he meets Officer Abbie Mills (who witnessed the Horseman kill her partner), and realising that Crane is important, goes against her superior's orders and teams up with him to stop the Horseman.

After just watching the pilot, I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. While perhaps a little far-fetched, the premise of the story is interesting, and open to many possibilities further down the track. The production values were high. The script seemed pretty solid and the acting and interaction between the actors was surprisingly good considering it is just the first episode. Tom Mison in particular did an excellent job as Ichabod Crane.

Sleepy Hollow definitely shows lots of promise, and if you're a fan of shows like Supernatural, Grimm, Once Upon a Time and the like, I highly recommend you give it a try.

Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) is a devoted soldier for George Washington during the Revolutionary War. It's a fight not only against the British but a fight against pure evil. His battle against the headless horseman sends them both into the present. He partners with local cop Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) in Sleepy Hollow to fight evil apparitions. Her sister Jenny Mills (Lyndie Greenwood) is an unscrupulous antiquities dealer. Frank Irving (Orlando Jones) is the police captain. Ichabod's love Katrina Crane (Katia Winter) is a witch. Henry Parrish (John Noble) has a devastating relationship to Ichabod. The fourth season gets a reboot in Washington, D.C. Abbie is gone as Ichabod and Jenny joins a new group to battle tycoon Malcolm Dreyfuss (Jeremy Davies).

This show starts strong. Mison has some fun as a fish out of water. Beharie has a fun platonic chemistry with him. The plot gets more and more convoluted. By season three, the twists and turns have tied the show in knots. The constant injection of new characters left the show in a muddle. The reboot in season four actually works for me. I like the new group and I like Jeremy Davies as the new villain. It regains some stability and good momentum. However, it didn't regain the lost audience.

I just watched the pilot of Sleepy Hollow and was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it, I like the modern reboot of this classic story. I like the way they have taken the era in which the original Washington Irving story takes place, which gives a nod to the man and story itself and skillfully brings it into the modern day.

Sleepy Hollow blends in elements of magic, horror and mystery. The production values are great, the casting and acting also spot on and I love the creative license they have taken with the story. It's crazy, fun and full of surprises. One of which I really like, is the apocalyptic angle. I also really like the supernatural aspect of it, I'd love to go into more detail, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't watched it yet.

I'm glad to see the networks finally embracing genres like horror -"The Walking Dead" is a great example of how, if done well, and taken seriously, a genre TV show can be a big hit with a large demographic. I'm certain I'm not alone in being over the so called "reality TV" which is neither reality nor proper TV. I'm also sick and tired of the endless cop procedural's that seem to dominate network TV. It's time for new ideas, even if they come from old stories.

If they keep up the good writing, develop the characters properly, keep high production values and hold onto the show runner for more than one season without replacing them, I can easily see this show be a success.

****ORIGINAL REVIEW****7/10**** This is a non-spoiler review of the pilot episode.

"Sleepy Hollow" is a modern depiction of the "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", a short story by American author Washington Irving.

The name of the main character, Ichabod Crane, is preserved but his persona is very different than the book. The mysterious Headless Horseman is alive and well also, but his significance is altered in a more global way.

The main actor (Tom Mison) is very sympathetic and looks good in the part. Like his accent too. The production has high values, looks very cinematic, with good visuals and fast, interesting editing.

The story progresses rather quickly and after the first episode you will know the whole story. Not any true mysteries after that, but I do hope it'll get more interesting.

I will watch the next episodes. Most of the shows I'm watching are on seasons finale, so not so many alternatives.

Overall (for the pilot): Recommended

****UPDATED REVIEW****9/10**** This is an update review after seeing 1x08:Necromancer

After a couple of mediocre episodes, the series picks up with episodes 1x07 and 1x08 where we starting to get some real answers about what is really happening.

This was a show visually intriguing from the beginning but in the last couple of episodes becomes very artistic and might even become a classic for some of its scenes.

You really see the fight, Good vs. Evil, to become more intimate. More personal. You now see clearly aspects of this, eternal fight, that other movies and series want to avoid.

Ichabod Crane is trying to adjust to his new reality and, between some grotesque scenes and imagery, Tom Mison's performance and style makes it fun to watch!

Overall: If you are bored from all these same-o procedural police series, Highly Recommended.

Thus show started great but went off track like all others do. Icabod wasn't Icabod long he became to modern to fast and the show like charmed, in my opinion went way off track I lost interest quickly.