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[sc:wptop]Hello, SleepyHeads! This week we’re bringing you a special edition of Witness Prophecies, as we discuss the book, Sleepy Hollow, Creating Heroes, Demons & Monsters, by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry.
This is a wonderful companion book to the television show, Sleepy Hollow. It highlights the work done by Len Wiseman, the Executive Producer of Sleepy Hollow, and Corey Castellano, the Makeup Department Head and Special Makeup Effects Designer in creating the characters, the monsters and demons, and several of the filming locations and props used in Seasons One and Two. In 176 beautiful pages of pictures, illustrations, and tidbits about the show, we have the opportunity to go behind the scenes and get glimpses of the creative process that goes into the making of this show, and understand how and why the scenes and characters were created.
About half the book is dedicated to the “monsters” while the rest covers our heroes, their associates, and places we have seen in the series, such as the Archives, and the Police Station, and a great map of the town of Sleepy Hollow!
Len Wiseman wrote the Forward in the book, and tells us that one of the first things the show creators did was to determine what the Headless Horseman would look like – that they wanted him to be “really cool.” This was surprising because we think of Abbie Mills and Ichabod Crane as the stars of our modern day Sleepy Hollow and tend to forget that the Headless Horseman is one of the key characters in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” story, which was written by Washington Irving.
We also learn that the writers wanted to keep Ichabod Crane as the protagonist (as he is in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”) but make him a “fish out of water” and have Abbie be his “guide” to help him navigate the modern world. The writers also drew from X-Files but didn’t want them to become a parallel to Agents Mulder and Scully, with Abbie always saying “she didn’t believe,” so they gave her a demon in her past. We’ll have the opportunity to compare and contrast that idea as the X-Files returns for a limited run on January 24th. Check out the Golden Spiral Media Podcast, We Still Believe!
We also talk about Benjamin Franklin, who rubbed our Ichabod the wrong way – continually! During several of our prior podcasts, we’ve discussed how Tom Mison is a history buff and a stickler for detail. It was Tom Mison that actually told Mark Goffman (S1 and S2 Executive Producer) about Ben Franklin and the “air bath,” as a joke. The more they thought about it, the more they liked it, and they incorporated it into the story; so we are introduced to a presumably naked Ben Franklin taking an air bath as Ichabod Crane meets him for the first time! If you are interested in learning more about Ben Franklin, here is a link to a podcast entitled “Ben Franklin’s World – A Podcast about Early American History.”
This is only a “teaser” of all the little interesting facts we discuss from the book, so please listen and enjoy the discussion!
February 5, 2016 – Sleepy Hollow Winter Premiere
Sleepy Hollow is on hiatus until February 5th, when we will see the winter premiere of Season 3, with Episode 9, “One Life.”
And SleepyHeads – if don’t yet own your own copy of Sleepy Hollow – Creating Heroes, Demons & Monsters, by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry, you can order it on Amazon, by using the Golden Spiral Media link.
Feedback
Look into your crystal balls, and let us know your future “prophecies” of events that may occur in Sleepy Hollow by sending us your feedback, SleepyHeads! Our deadline is 3pm Eastern, on Saturdays! Use our Feedback page to type an email, record a voicemail, or upload an audio file, or call 304-837-2278. We’d love to hear from you! And while you’re at it, why not take a few minutes to leave a rating and review in iTunes?
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