User blog:TheIkranRider/My Sleepy Hollow Retrospective

I'm sure you're all aware that I happen to be a huge fan of Sleepy Hollow. Well, duh, couldn't you tell? While most of you know I follow the TV series deeply, I also came across its other incarnates. So, I'll present to you each one in great detail leading up to the series.

I believe my earliest memories were those various specials/parodies I'd seen, whether it'd be the Snickers Halloween commercial, or the brief appearance of the Headless Horseman on the intro for the Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror. I never saw the Disney version, though I did hear of it from Phantomstrider's Top 10 Darkest Disney Moments. There were numerous homages I'm sure, but those were the only two snippets I can recall right of the bat.

Then there was, of course, the Tim Burton film. Though I never saw it in 1999 during its release date. However, I did see it on TV back in 2000; I think it was Syfy but I'm not certain. Anyway, during Halloween, I stumbled across the horror flick and I remembered that I never saw all of it since I ran out of time as I started Trick or Treating; I think it was after the part when there was that church scene and Ichabod was leaving the town of restless spirits. Fortunately, by Christmas of that year, I had it on VHS. I was so ecstatic that I finally got the chance to see all of it, as well as the special feature at the end where they shown their magic behind the scenes. It was no wonder it actually won an Oscar for Best Art Direction, eat that, The Matrix! I've seen it countless times, to the point where I might be able to recite the lines effortlessly, no joke here. Sadly, I had to give it up. Nevertheless, I consider it as my favorite classic horror movie of all time that'll even surpass numerous others such as The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, even The Blair Witch!

Several years later, I managed to find an old VHS titled, "Night of the Headless Horseman," an old FOX CGI movie. It was alright, though I'd still consider the Paramount version to be far more superior. Even though the short itself was based on the original story. Then, by 2006, I came across a novel featuring "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" as well as "Rip Van Winkle" both written by Washington Irving. I did regret it giving it to a former friend from Vo-Tech who was a fan of the supernatural and demonology.

By the time when I had an AOL account which was lousy in a sense, I recalled seeing a blog that shown Ichabod's Johnny Depp portrait and said Sleepy Hollow was going to be televised. I grew very skeptical since then, and I immediately thought to myself, "Wait, Sleepy Hollow's going to be made as a television show? And can easily surpass the movie? There's no way this is real!" By September 2013, I saw an ad somewhere saying that was confirmed.... And it's awesome!!

At first, I was indeed uncertain where this was going, as I'd noticed that the story kept changing with every installment: Ichabod's first a schoolmaster, then he was a constable, and for this he's a Whig/Revolutionary. I didn't know where this was going, but after a few episodes in I began to grow into it. The characters, story, villains, special effects were all amazing! Even though sometimes I'd get confused or kind of bummed if the story goes nowhere with this "Monster of the Week" formula. I guess that was how Season 1 was immemorable excepting the finale. But by Season 2, it was a completely different can of worms as my all-time favorite segment! But by Season 3, I considered it to be the Dark Age when Abbie and Joe passed and the showrunner replaced the original. Finally, by Season 4, I really thought it'd make a comeback. That was until I found out it was cancelled on May 2017 via Internet search.

Also, I stumbled upon the Syfy original, The Hollow, one day and it sucked balls so damn hard! Curiosity really does kill the cat! And I was hoping it'd be like that other movie about Ichabod's descendants which I never got around to. Something like Hallowed Ground..? If you've been paying heed to my fic, The Lucas Legacy, you'll see why I hated it.

Regardless, by Season 2, I had this fascination with the series and began to create fics and characters for it! It was great when the show got my motor running, and much like the movie, I consider it to be my all-time favorite thriller, even rivaling over Supernatural and Lucifer. Even to this day, I praise it despite its flaws in the third season, but nothing's perfect even though it's a difficult pill to swallow reliving it. Still, I find it to be underrated, overlooked, and overhated. And how I wish that it could get a second shot by Netflix or even Fox's sister network, FX.

In conclusion, that was how I got into Sleepy Hollow as a whole. Through all its installments, I became a Sleepy Head for life, and through the movie and series they solidified me as a fan. I always yearned for the return of the series, but until then I got my own version of Season 5. Feel free to check out my stories for the show itself, and I also happen to be an occasional contributor to its own Wiki. So, that's all I gotta say in a nutshell, and while I hope I won't lose my head desperately waiting for a revival, where in the hell would Sleepy Hollow go to next?