Have a Little Heart
From Iced Fire anims Wiki
| Have a Little Heart | |
| |
| Also known as | Heart |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action, Supernatural, Adventure, Drama, Horror, Occult |
| Format | Television |
| Created by | Jachra |
| Developed by | Jachra |
| Written by | Jachra |
| Directed by | Jachra |
| Starring | Razoric, Read, Navilee, Lana, Kuda, Talhe |
| Narrated by | Jachra |
| Country of origin | United States and Canada |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 10 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 3+ hours |
| Distributor | Iced-fire studios |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | OpenRPG |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| First shown in | April 8, 2009 |
| Original airing | April 8, 2009 |
| Status | Running |
| External links | |
| [[1] Official website] | |
Have a Little Heart (often abbreviated as Heart) is an American-Canadian supernatural drama series currently airing on the Iced Fire Channel of the OpenRPG Network, directed and partially written by Jachra, with fellow Executive Producer and co-writer Jax; it also utilizes a unique writing method whereby the main actors contribute material. The series narrative follows a group of unfortunate young teens as they try to survive in the odd little college town of Providence, Massachusetts, as they face vampires and yet more horrible forces of darkness. Quickly finding themselves outstripped by the terrifying entities that surround them, their comforting illusion of safety gone, the struggle is simply to stay alive while trying to live their lives as best they can. Originally, they were aided and defended by a group of vampire hunters led by the Rosicrucian Roger Morrison, but these erstwhile defenders may have been eliminated in a brutal attack by a powerful threat. The plot of Have a Little Heart expands on numerous topics, including Mythology, Occultism, Witchcraft, Folklore, and every day drama, creating a weird balance between the familiar and the unfamiliar, the arcane and the down-to-earth.
Contents |
Plot Overview
- Main article: List of Have a Little Heart episodes
The first season of Heart begins with the heroes blissfully unaware of the events that will come to shape their lives. Featuring five teenage sophomores attending Providence High School in the small town of Providence, Massachusetts. It revolves around their tense, brutal introduction into the dark supernatural truth of the world around them, their attempts to cope with the overwhelming social and supernatural changes in their lives, and their struggles against the ancient vampire, the Carthaginian.
Characters
Main Characters
Currently, Heart features an ensemble cast, a cast in which the principal performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance in a dramatic production. Focus may vary from episode-to-episode, but no one cast member dominates. Given that the actors provide such a role in writing, it seems unlikely that this situation will ever vary.
Among the main cast are Selena Davies and Staci Thorne. These two friends have apparently known each other for some time, and are often seen together when they aren't otherwise occupied. Selena, an attractive, energetic girl, is a member of the Providence High Girls' Gymnastics team. Staci helps out at her father's mechanics shop, and is also a member of the band Hartless, playing lead guitar and backup singer. Staci is also the only cast member who is able to drive, possessing the beat up Bandvan.
A pair of social outcasts, Jillian Gillespie and Karen Hijikawa, are the brains of the group. Jillian, whose pale skin and eyes let her stand out from the crowd, is a quiet, yet earnest young girl who nevertheless longs for social contact, even as her single mother's financial difficulties and her own shyness and predilection for conspiracy theories holds her back. Her long-time friend and fellow outcast, Karen, is a second generation Japanese immigrant, her parents fabulously wealthy and remarkably lenient. Though generally perky and kind to friends she's something of a goth and has displayed potentially sadistic tendencies.
Vivian Lafferty, a none-too-bright soccer player, rounds out the cast. Coming from the bad part of town, the Projects, she's had the misfortune to get herself involved in a gang known as the Ravens. Ignorant of the potential danger, this energetic young woman flies headlong into trouble.
Ensemble dark horse character Sarah Shiraishi has recently become a main character. The daughter of loving, yet worried parents, she is a headstrong, anti-social young girl with a oddly calm disposition. How she will interact with the others has yet to be seen.
Others
- Main article: List of Have a Little Heart characters
In addition to the protagonists, there are a number of other characters, important or otherwise, that form the full cast. Among the heroes are the vampire hunters, including Freddie, Lisa, and Jason, who, with their fellow hunters, saved the lives of the main cast members in the first and again in the second episodes, and have apparently been operating for a little over two years. Their leader, Roger Morrison, is a wealthy Boston gentleman who has been revealed to be a Rosicrucian, part of a secretive, mystical order. Regrettably, an attack by their foes led to the death of Morrison and possibly of most of his crew, aside from Freddie, who survives in a coma. Joining from that former crew is Hypatia.
Equally as important are the cast of villains. The Carthaginian is an ancient vampire, ostensibly from Ancient Carthage if his name is meaningful, who is at least 2000 years old, and has been shown to possess powerful abilities. Freshly arrived in Providence, he dominates the lesser vampires, including Jackson. Saul, a cocky, well-dressed vampire who appears to be older and stronger than the average, works with him on a highly mercenary basis, not deluded into serving him by right of strength like many of the others. A variety of other vampires work with them and prey on the living; George, a black vampire who was slain in the first episode, a female psychopath named Marianne who wants Selena as her own pet, and others.
At home are their families, who obliviously do their best to provide support or obstacles of their own. Jillian's single mother does her best to keep their little household afloat and still let her daughter live a good life, while Staci's numerous siblings give her no end of trouble.
At school and elsewhere are their friends and other mundane acquaintances. Staci's band, Hartless; Selena's gymnastics team; Sarah's friend Jennifer. Anita Williams, known by much of the cast as the Queen Bitch, is possibly the most popular girl in school, and rules over what is in or out of Providence High with an iron fist. Even Lawrence Leone, the shady proprietor of the Tattered Cover and Old Ned the crazy bum have their roles.
Lately joining the cast, as of the fourth episode "Bygones", though he had an earlier appearance in an unaired, bonus mini-episode between "Big Trouble" and "My Lucky Day", is Henry Cash, the star quarterback of the sophomore football team. Living an apparently charmed life, having always been known for avoiding injury with unparalleled luck, he comes across as somewhat arrogant, but is cleverer and more decent than he seems at first. He serves as a recurring guest star.
Production
Origins
Writer Jachra was sitting around at his computer in early 2009, communicating with his long-time friend Jax. After a marathon of supernatural television and literature, Jachra expressed his desire to create a series that would take the standard Vampire genre and turn it on its head, making the monsters into superheroes rather than following the standard tropes of angst or villainy. Production on this series had already begun in mid-2008, reportedly contracting the actress Navilee to play one of the lead roles, who later appeared in Heart. However, professional and health difficulties plagued Jachra and production ceased near Christmas 2008.
With the help of his new partner, Jachra had a new direction. It had already been decided that differences would be taken in the way magic would be handled from the original basis, and some slight differences in vampiric rules, but now the series would follow a group of high school sophomores as they uncover the world's strange supernatural side, into which they've been thrust, rather than already having known about and existed in. They would be forced to balance their normal, every day lives with the threat of supernatural dangers that just won't quit, and grow as people. Some of them, it was promised, would undergo even more dramatic changes.
While it has been suggested that the supernatural themes in the show are metaphors for the human experience, the personal anxieties of adolescence or the fears of childhood, Executive Producer Jachra has firmly denied any such thing. Every twist and turn and supernatural element and achievement is meant for its own sake, and to form a syncretistic whole that brings fascination, wonder, horror, and personal exultation to the viewer.
Executive Producers
Jachra is credited as executive producer throughout the run of the series, and, thus far, he is also the show runner, a role that involves serving as head writer and being responsible for every aspect of production. Fellow producer Jax has had little to do directly with the series as of now, providing behind-the-scenes aid and writing. It's rumored that he will have cameo appearances in episodes to come.
Casting
With an ensemble cast, finding a group of dedicated and engaging actors was difficult. The first role went to Navilee, who had been set to star in the prior production, a deal cut with her casting agency to give her time to work on the project. Razoric was brought in as a nod to earlier work with Jachra and Jax in the past, ensuring reliability. Read and Kuda, veteran off-screen performers (and Kuda already an accomplished artist) auditioned and were immediately accepted, far surpassing their competition. A dark horse candidate, Crystal, arrived on set mere minutes before production, but has since slid smoothly into her role.
Impact
Trivia
While unintended, the series has a fair bit of similarities to the series of novels Spooksville by Christopher Pike. They star teenagers in a city that outwardly claims to be normal, but actually contains supernatural elements that the cast must defend themselves against, which much of the population actually never notices despite glaring clues.
Keira Derose's Story
Have a Little Heart: Keira Derose's Story is a very short demo game meant to be on a bigger story extrapolating one of Khristianne Eessay's webisodes. It takes place a year before the show started and features Keira Derose, a college student in California who loses her boyfriend and best friend to an attack by a vampiress named Maaike. Fueled by revenge, she tracks her down to Maaike's crypt to try and dust her.
The demo is a short, DirectX display with pixelized graphics. It is not meant to be an actual game (but may instead act as a taste of future things to come by the developer, Razoric, who plays Selena).
