Dracula 2000

[Kolchak]

Yea, it does seem kind of strange how they've tried to make the vampire less of a bad guy over the years. They almost make him into a hero in some sense.

Remember that short lived TV series, I think was called "Forever Knight"? If I'm not mistaken the original pilot starred Rick Springfield in the title role, but then it was made up in Canada, where the actor who took over for Jan Michael Vincent, when JMV got in trouble back when he was making the TV series "Airwolf", played a Vampire cop in Toronto.

Speaking as a cop, I had kind of a hard time buying into that.

Questions such as??

How does he attend the police academy?
How does he go to court?
What happens if he's assigned to day watch?
What happens if he must go into a church?


etc, etc, etc....you get the idea. LOL!

But if you recall, he was doing it to pay penance for all the bad he'd done early on in his "life"

Then that show "Angel" with the guy who's now on "Bones" was pretty much the same deal, but I guess instead of a cop, he was a Private Detective.

Then you have Vampires as comedy.

There was one other movie about Vampires I kind of liked, because it came at it from a different angle and answers questions about the origin of Vampires.

It was called the "Cave", came out in 2005, and while not a typical Vampire movie it does have Vampires and does take place in Transylvania, albeit, UNDER Transylvania LOL!

I haven't seen that in a while. I also liked the SCUBA diving involved since I dive myself, but I'm not too keen on cave diving! LOL!

[Murfreesboro]

I remember Forever Knight. I liked it pretty well, but I liked the ill-fated Moonlight better.

Barnabas Collins was a superb blend of the scary, serial-killer vampire with the conflicted vampire. Because he was conflicted he became something of a s## symbol to many female viewers, who turned on to his personal torment. I think at the time that came as something of a surprise to both the actor and the writers of Dark Shadows. I guess there has always been something inherently erotic about the vampire (at least since Bram Stoker's novel, which was pretty hot stuff for the late Victorian era). These modern vampires who veer toward being the "heroes," or who at least are the protagonists of their stories, are definitely written as objects of romantic interest for the female viewers. Twilight just went too far in that direction. It probably didn't help that the Twilight series was aimed at a young audience. Consequently it was in a strange way almost puritanical--romance novels for underage girls.

Barnabas was actually scary at times, and he wasn't cast to be physically attractive. He was in his 40s and looked rather craggy. But if you watched that show long enough, he had a charisma.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I remember "Forever Knight," and I did like it. It wasn't a classic, but it was a pretty neat show. As for the issue of daylight, I think that the main character had a special type of sun screen that protected him from the day time sun. I don't know how he could walk into a church, though.

Mike

[NeverMore]

Been a while since I've seen Forever Knight so I don't remember if they explained how he got into the police force. Got to think though, someone who's been around as long as he probably doesn't have trouble forging credentials, and probably has some important contacts. Could easily pull strings to make sure he only gets the night shift.

[Kolchak]

He'd have to pull strings and forge documents. I know we're talking TV here, but in the real world you just can't up and go somewhere and just be a detective. If you're a detective in Tacoma and move to Salt Lake City or any other part of the country you must start out at the bottom and climb the ladder all over again. There is also in every state and in many countries a central repository of records and photos and fingerprints. These days its all on the computer and you can be in Hawaii and find out everything pertaining to a new guy coming from Boston.

Some larger cities have night courts, but only for minor crimes and first appearance. Considering old Nick was a butt kicker it would stand to reason he would have to go to court during the day. I know that in the first Blade movie the bad Vampire had that special SPF, sun blocker, I didn't know that Nick had it too.

Was that show on Sci/Fi? I can't remember

[Kolchak]

I remember Forever Knight. I liked it pretty well, but I liked the ill-fated Moonlight better.

Barnabas Collins was a superb blend of the scary, serial-killer vampire with the conflicted vampire. Because he was conflicted he became something of a s## symbol to many female viewers, who turned on to his personal torment. I think at the time that came as something of a surprise to both the actor and the writers of Dark Shadows. I guess there has always been something inherently erotic about the vampire (at least since Bram Stoker's novel, which was pretty hot stuff for the late Victorian era). These modern vampires who veer toward being the "heroes," or who at least are the protagonists of their stories, are definitely written as objects of romantic interest for the female viewers. Twilight just went too far in that direction. It probably didn't help that the Twilight series was aimed at a young audience. Consequently it was in a strange way almost puritanical--romance novels for underage girls.

Barnabas was actually scary at times, and he wasn't cast to be physically attractive. He was in his 40s and looked rather craggy. But if you watched that show long enough, he had a charisma.

I never watched any of the Twilight movies. How did the Vampires get around outside during the day?

[Murfreesboro]

In the Twilight series, the vampires don't have a problem with sunlight, but their skin sparkles unnaturally, like granite, so if human beings see them during bright sunlight, they will know something is weird. Consequently the Twilight vampires live in a cloudy place (Washington State) and don't go out when the sun shines.

Of course, Bram Stoker's Dracula could go out in daylight, too. It's just that his powers weren't at their highest during the daylight. I think the thing about vampires bursting into flame in sunlight comes from the film Nosferatu, where they wanted a showy visual effect.

AS for the TV portrayal of detectives, and how they falsely show people transitioning with ease from one locale to another--that is true of almost every profession they depict on TV. I remember one show where a family was traveling the country in a motor home, and whenever they needed money, they would stop in a town and the parents would get teaching jobs. That is such a crock! First you need a license, which is not necessarily reciprocated in every state. Then you have to go through a background check. But the real thing is, getting hired is tough. You basically have to know somebody. Around here you (usually) have to be kin to somebody.

And don't think that advanced degrees are enough to get your foot in the door, either. My husband has a BA and substantial course work beyond that, but no MA. However, he does have the teaching certificate. I have a Ph.D. but no teaching license. It would take a dispensation from God for me to get a permanent teaching job in a public school. The PH.D. is not interchangeable with a teaching license. Theoretically, I could teach in any college in the country, but I couldn't get hired to teach in a public school without a special, temporary license. For that to happen (and it actually did happen, once, about ten years ago), there has to be no one at all applying for the job who has the proper certification. Perhaps you can imagine how crappy the job would have to be for that situation to arise.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Lest we forget, vampires have supernatural powers. Detective Knight probably used those powers to get around all the fingerprinting, working his way up the ladder and the like. As for tv shows, every cop I know tells me that the reality of law enforcement is very far removed from what is portrayed on tv. Even today, as more realistic as shows like "Law & Order SVU" there are still a lot of inconsistancies that any real life police officer could point out in less then a minute.

Mike

[Kolchak]

Don't get me started Mike!

I don't even try and watch 99% of them. I like the TV show "Castle" because it's funny and silly.

There really aren't any cop shows that are even close to the truth. Even "Cops" is scripted to an extent.

You see the fake cops get into shootouts and then act like it was no big deal and they do it all the time.

In the real world, when you take another life, you have to live with it until the day you die. It doesn't matter if he was a murderer and was trying to kill you, you always see that face and you always wish there could have been another way to resolve the problem. On an intellectual level, you know there wasn't one, but on emotional level, you always wonder.

That's why Halloween is so cool. It's all fake, and it's all fantasy. The monsters look like monsters and you know they aren't real.

The real monsters that inhabit our world don't have fangs or wings or scales. The real monsters are much more scary. The real monsters look just like you and me.

[Murfreesboro]

My father was a lawyer and could never stand to watch Perry Mason, which was hugely popular on TV during his lifetime (he died in my childhood). He couldn't stand Perry Mason because it was so fake. I guess everyone in every profession feels that their professional world is misrepresented on TV.

Your last point, Kolchak, about the real monsters looking just like us--that's basically how my mother used to admonish me when I was a kid. She would say, "The bad ones don't have horns and a tail."

[NeverMore]

Heck, the reason I like sci-fi and fantasy so much is because I want to escape reality. If I'm going to watch a movie or TV show I don't want to be reminded of stories I can read about in the newspaper. No lawyer or cop shows for me. No way. Also probably the reason I don't pick shows apart, what I watch just isn't believable anyway. I love hearing people talk about everything that is wrong in some superhero movie. Silly rabbits.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I agree with NeverMore. I go to the movies or watch tv to escape from the real world. I do like cop shows and "Perry Mason," however, knowing that a lot of it is fake. AND, if you want to talk about cop shows that are totaly and completely what real police work is NOT all about, check out some of the old cop tv classics. Some of my favorite shows, like "Hawii 50," "Hill Streat Blues," "Starsky 7 Hutch," "Kojak" (The Telly Savalis portrayal, not that short lived remake) "Baretta," "Adam 12," "Dragnet," (Just the facts, Mam) "The FBI" and "The Rookies," just to name a few.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

There seems to be a great interest in sci fi and fantasy right now, especially fairy tales. I think many people want to escape reality. Perhaps they also, at some level, feel they can address political or social issues obliquely in those genres (thinking now more about the writers than the viewers, I guess).

The one caveat I feel about shows that depict real-life professional worlds is that, sometimes, children and adolescents get the idea they want to do what the actors on TV seem to be doing. Then they grow up and realize that being a cop/doctor/lawyer etc. isn't very much like what they saw on TV.

[Kolchak]

You're 100% right about that Murph. Just watch Nosferatu from 1922 and see what they were REALLY talking about! (so to speak, since it was a silent movie)

People want to escape AND look for the shock factor! Why do you think Miley Cyrus did that stupid dance that's making all the rounds on TV today? That's all I've heard all dad-gum day!


First Madonna and then Lady Ga-Ga and now the daughter of the Achy Breaky Heart.

[Murfreesboro]

I didn't watch that show, so all I've seen/heard is the aftermath. I gather she did something called "twerking," which I had to look up. It is a sexually provocative dance, and not very graceful, apparently. What I saw on line looks a little like a cat in heat.

I'd say the problem isn't really Miley, but the whole culture that accepts stuff like that. My mother told me that, back in the 1930s, if a man and woman danced too close together, some chaperone would come over and break it up. But for decades now, pretty much anything goes. The one year I spent teaching in a middle school, I saw 7th & 8th graders on a dance team doing very provocative moves. The girls were so innocent they didn't even know what they were doing, I am convinced. But my husband, who teaches in a high school, has told me he hates it when the dance team performs at a pep rally. He says he feels like he has to look at the ceiling to keep from being a dirty old man. What's up with a popular culture that sexualizes everything? When the teenagers from middle school on are encouraged to move provocatively in the supposedly wholesome venue of a middle school or high school pep rally, why does everyone freak out about Miley Cyrus on an awards show? Do they even know what's happening in their school systems?