Forever Knight

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Name: Forever Knight
Abbreviation(s): FK
Creator: James D. Parriot
Date(s): May 5, 1992 – May 17, 1996
Medium: Television Series
Country of Origin: Canada
External Links: at IMDb (movie)
at IMDb (series)
at Wikipedia (series)
This is the full-page ad that appeared in SciFi Magazine, purchased by fans, thanking Sony for issuing the show on DVD
This is the full-page ad that appeared in SciFi Magazine, purchased by fans, thanking Sony for issuing the show on DVD

Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Forever Knight was a television series about Nick Knight, an 800-year-old vampire working as a detective in the Toronto police department, attempting to repay humanity for his centuries of preying on them. Each episode ran for 60 minutes (with commercial breaks), divided into five acts.

Show tagline: "He was brought across in 1228. Preyed on humans for their blood. Now he wants to be mortal again. To repay society for his sins, to emerge from his world of darkness, from his endless Forever Knight."

The two-part pilot for Forever Knight ("Dark Knight" and "Dark Knight: The Second Chapter") was a remake of a 1989 TV movie named Nick Knight. When turned into a series, it was largely recast, and relocated from Los Angeles to Toronto, where Forever Knight was filmed.

Forever Knight Premise

The series premiere, "Dark Knight", introduces the basic relationships in Nick's life. On the one hand, he has a vampire family: his master, LaCroix, who tries to control him; and LaCroix's other "child", Janette, who equally disagrees with Nick's quest for mortality, but is less confrontational. On the other hand, he has his current human colleagues: his partner on the force, Det. Schanke; his boss, Capt. Stonetree; and a pathologist with the Coroner's Office, Dr. Natalie Lambert, who is the only mortal in Toronto to know Nick's true nature. That the relationship between Nick and Natalie is more than collegial is clear from the start. Equally clear is the long-time more-than-friendship he enjoys with Janette. However, neither woman is, at the moment, actually involved with Nick romantically.

At the end of the two-part premiere, Nick apparently stakes and kills his master; and, for the rest of Season One, LaCroix appears only in flashbacks, dreams, and hallucinations. Season Two, however, resurrects him; and his return to Toronto foregrounds the relationship between the two men. At the same time, Nick and Schanke are transferred to a new precinct, and a new boss, Capt. Cohen.

Season Three opens with the deaths of Schanke and Cohen in a plane crash, leaving Nick with yet another boss, Capt. Stonetree, and a rookie partner, Det. Tracy Vetter. At the same time, Janette leaves Toronto; and her nightclub, the Raven, is taken over by LaCroix. A new group of vampire characters hang out at the club: the handsome Javier Vachon and his child Urs, who know the rat-drinking "carouche" Screed, who hunts his prey in sewers and alleys. However, Nick scarcely becomes more than acquainted with them. It is actually his new partner who becomes friends with Vachon—though, like Schanke, she remains ignorant of Nick's true nature.

Ultimately, Nick's closest relationships prove to be with Natalie, who has spent years trying to find a way to return him to mortality, and his master LaCroix, who has spent even longer trying to thwart this quest. Torn between them, Nick is torn between the two sides of his own nature,

See the List of Forever Knight Characters for more information.
Aside from and among its other virtues and its many (many) faults, FK (especially first-season FK) remains to this day one of the most effortlessly, unconsciously pro-woman genre shows ever. And in its own era...? Wow. Genius or miracle or coincidence, or all together. A man trying to right his wrongs. Not a few women helping make him sorry for his — and others for theirs — one way and another.

That it took the character centuries yields one set of metaphors. That he got there, period, yields another. All beautifully, horrifically, tangled up and overlapping, like in life.

— Brightknightie, DW post (excerpt), 22 September 2018[1]

The concept of vampires in the Forever Knight universe

Vampires in society

Though not the first sympathetic vampire detective in fiction (Hannibal King, a vampire private eye who similarly refused to indulge his blood lust, preceded him in the pages of Marvel Comics' Tomb of Dracula by some years), Forever Knight helped popularize the concept. As such, it is seen as a direct precursor to other vampire detective/investigator shows such as Angel and Blood Ties.[2] It also influenced shows featuring more broadly supernatural detectives, such as The Dresden Files.[2]

In common with other vampire literature of the 1990s, when AIDS was a common societal anxiety, vampirism in Forever Knight is partly approached as a disease to be overcome.[2] The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is series star Geraint Wyn Davies' favoured charity;[3] the "Bridging the Knight" fan event raised money for Casey House, an AIDS hospice in Toronto, helped in part by donations from Forever Knight producer Nicolas Gray, as well as the series' actors and crew.[4]

Vampire powers

Nick Knight, as well as several other vampire characters, demonstrates a number of superhuman abilities. As a vampire, Nick has not aged throughout nearly 800 years of existence. In most cases he is invulnerable to harm from gunshot, blunt force trauma, or blade. Vampires in the Forever Knight universe display the powers of super strength and speed, enhanced senses, flight and a degree of hypnotism/mind control. However, Nick's hypnotism does not always work, especially if the victim has physical evidence that proves opposite to what Nick would have him or her believe. Vampires in the Forever Knight universe are not reanimated corpses as their hearts beat a few times every ten minutes, as is stated in one episode. None of the vampires turn into such things as bats, wolves, mist or fog.

Two episodes reveal that vampirism in the Forever Knight universe is to some degree a psychosomatic condition. Although vampires suffer the standard aversion to garlic and combust in the presence of holy objects or sunlight, vampires that have forgotten what they are due to suffering a physical or mental trauma are completely unaffected by these things.

Forever Knight Timeline

A timeline[5] divided by both episodes and dates made retirada dos flashbacks de Nick and created by fans are available on the site FK Timeline hosted on First Unofficial Forever Knight Website by Dorothy Elggren, listing the chronology of events from Nick's human birth to his life as a detective and vampire in Toronto.

Another timeline also created from the flashbacks can be found at Flashback Timeline on Forever Knight Wiki.[6]

Forever Knight Fandom

For more information about the history of Forever Knight fandom, see the timeline.[7]

Characters

Pairings

Wars

"In FK fandom, attack is a form of affection."

FK fandom wars are unlike other fandom wars; here, they're planned and organized, with a timetable and rules in place, and are basically a giant self-insertion RPG, with fans writing themselves into the FK universe to help "their" characters win. A WarMistress/WarMaestro is chosen, and s/he decides the theme for the War and the timetable for it to happen in. Word goes out on the list that War is coming, and the factions begin organizing, each choosing a Warleader to be the point person for that faction, overseeing the faction's direction during the War.

Every individual participating in the War has to sign a "permission slip" up front, agreeing to be involved -- someone who hasn't agreed in advance can't participate, and can't be written into the War by someone else.

The War happens on FKFIC-L, and consists entirely of fiction posts. A faction that needs to "borrow" a character has to ask permission of that character's main faction, so the other faction can work that into their own plans. Other participants can also be attacked, kidnapped, etc. -- it's all part of the game.

See the full list of Forever Knight Wars for more details.

Conventions

Mailing Lists

The main mailing list for the fandom, ForKNI-L, was started by Jean Prior and Laurie Salopek on December 9, 1992, during the show's first season. Posts from 2000 to the present are archived on KnightWind's Nook.

Within a year, the main fiction list, FKFIC-L, had also been started by the FORKNI-L listowners.

The JADFE mailing list was created for adult fan fiction. In particular, no slash was initially permitted on FKFIC-L (though this restriction was soon lifted).

In 1995 a separate discussion list, FKSPOILR, was created to avoid revealing information to fans who might not yet have seen an episode. It was closed after the final episode of the series was broadcast.

In 1996, the mailing list FKV4S-L was created for discussing the Forever Knight Virtual 4th Season. The actual stories were posted to FKFIC-L.

In 1999, the Fan Fiction for Forever Knight mailing list was created on Yahoo! Groups. It remained active throughout the early 2000s.

Usenet Groups

Forever Knight fandom used to have the following Usenet Groups:[8]

  • alt.tv.forever.knight
  • alt.tv.forever-knight
  • alt.tv.forever-knight.spoilers
  • alt.tv.forever-night.spoilers

Yahoo! Groups

See List of Forever Knight Yahoo! Groups.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

Forever Knight's IRC channel was #foreverknight. This channel was available on EFNet, Undernet and DalNet. EFNet was usually the most frequented one.[8]

Journaling Communities

Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanzines

For a list of fanzines, go here. Also see Category:Forever Knight Zines.

Fiction Archives

Fanvids

Numerous Forever Knight fanvids were made using both VCRs and digital computers. These vids can be found listed here on Fanlore under the name of the vidder. The vidder(s) who made the songvids below have not (yet) been identified:

  • A View To A Kill by Gloria and Cathy
  • Easy Persuasion by Gloria and Cathy
  • Everything I Do by Gloria and Cathy
  • "Music of the Night (Phantom of the Opera)" by Gloria and Cathy
  • Self Control by Gloria and Cathy
  • Who Wants To Live Forever by Gloria and Cathy
  • You Belong To The City by Gloria and Cathy

Fan Campaigns

Save Forever Knight! was an unsuccessful attempt by fans to persuade TPTB not to cancel the show in 1996.

It was followed by Kickstart the Knight, originally an attempt by fans to get the show back on the air. When this failed, it metamorphosed into a campaign to get the show released on DVD. The Official Kickstart the Knight Web Site is still online.

  • Fkcampflyer1.jpg
  • Fkcampflyer2.jpg
  • Fkcampflyer3.jpg

Factions

The ForKNI-L-based fandom developed a number of "factions", or affiliations, starting early in the list's history. These are generally good-natured divisions, with fans "aligning" behind particular characters (and later, pairings) as their favorites. (At least once in the list's history, though, passions over affiliations were running high enough that the list moderators banned .sig affiliation mentions for a couple of weeks to cool things down and get the list back on topic.)

The first faction to be formed was the Cousins -- fans of Lucien LaCroix. This was quickly followed by the Knighties (Nick Knight), the Ravenettes (Janette DuCharme and the Raven), the Natpack (Natalie Lambert), the FoDs ("friends of Don", Don Schanke), and the Die Hards (the show as a whole; no one specific character).

From there, it grew to add nearly every character on the show (plus in one case, a popular OC from fanfic), as well as a variety of pairings.

See Forever Knight Factions for more details.
See List of Forever Knight Factions for the names of all the factions.

Challenges

Other Fan Activities

Meta & Further Reading

Archives, Wikis & Websites

For a list of fan websites, go here.

The fandom's first archive of fan fiction was known as the FTP site because authors used FTP to upload their stories. The archive is still collecting stories at a new location (stories now uploaded by the archivist). However, in size, it has been superseded by the primary gen archive, www.fkfanfic.com, hosted by Mel Moser. There is also a smaller archive, fkfanfic2.com, created in 2001 when Mel's site became inactive.

The primary adult archive (het and slash) is JADFE ("James and Darkangel's Forever Erotica"). The archive was tied into the JADFE mailing list which was advertised as early as 1996 in the Media Monitor.

The Forever Knight Wiki was started 26 December 2007, and currently has over 5000 pages.

The Forever Knight Website Archive officially debuted February 2010, and currently hosts over 50 websites, mostly former GeoCities sites.

A defunct Forever Knight Forum at The Blue Whale Pub forums site, was available from Wayback Machine version.

References

  1. ^ Excerpted from [ "You remember your love for FK when..."], post by Brightknightie on Dreamwidth, 22 September 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Booker, M. Keith (1 May 2010). Superpower: Heroes, Ghosts, and the Paranormal in American Culture. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803232891 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ "Forever Knight Series Background". www.loftworks.com. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26.
  4. ^ "Bridging the Knight - Fanlore". fanlore.org. Archived from the original on 2021-06-17.
  5. ^ "In-depth Forever Knight Flashbacks". 2022-02-24. Archived from the original on 2022-02-24.
  6. ^ "Flashback timeline Forever Knight Wiki Fandom". 2022-02-24. Archived from the original on 2022-02-24.
  7. ^ "Forever Knight fandom time line Forever Knight Wiki Fandom". 2022-02-24. Archived from the original on 2022-02-24.
  8. ^ a b From the "Forever Knight on the Net" page on Mr. Happy's Forever Knight Site
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