Tracy Vetter
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Tracy Vetter |
| Occupation: | police officer |
| Relationships: | Richard Vetter (father) Barbara Vetter (mother) Nick Knight (partner) |
| Fandom: | Forever Knight |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Det. Tracy Vetter is a fictional character that appeared in the third season of the television series, Forever Knight. The part was played by Lisa Ryder. Tracy Vetter is a newly promoted detective assigned to Homicide, and replaces Nick Knight's previous partner, Don Schanke.
Character Evolution
[1]Tracy is introduced in the Season Three premiere, "Black Buddha", as a rookie detective who has just been assigned to the plum Homicide Department. Sometimes dressing too casually for her job, sometimes heading off on a lead without her partner, Tracy remains on the defensive about her relationship with her father, a career police officer who is now on the Police Commission. Nevertheless, it is clear that she is not above assuming some of the privileges that come with being the Commissioner's daughter. Having said that, though, when Tracy gets into trouble, she has the guts and ability to get herself out again.[2]
In "Black Buddha", Tracy first encounters Javier Vachon, a Spanish vampire who is the sole survivor of a plane crash. The discovery that vampires exist delights her. Not only does she become friends with Vachon, she immediately spots the signs of vampire involvement in other cases that she and Nick investigate.
Character History
Tracy comes from a police family, both her father and Uncle Sonny[3] having been police officers. Initially, Tracy did not intend to become a cop; and she took pre-Law and pre-Med courses before eventually deciding to go to the Police Academy, where she graduated ninth in her class. Her mother still disapproves of her choice of career.
Fan Response
Fans initially resented Tracy deeply, largely because TPTB had decided to get rid of Nick's previous partner, Don Schanke, and written him out of the series. Dislike of the decision was exacerbated by the realization that the intent had been to replace a pudgy, plain, humorous male character with a long-legged blonde female in the hope of raising the sex appeal of the show. Tracy was perceived as a stereotypical ditzy blonde. Nevertheless, some fans created a faction for her, as factions were created for all the new characters of Season Three.
With time came reflection, and a greater appreciation of the merits of the character on her own terms. Taking her rookie status into account, Tracy is actually quite a capable police officer.
Yahoo!Groups & Fanlistings
- DP-L (Yahoo Group for the Dark Perks)
Websites
- The Good, The Bad, And The Perky[1]
- Auntie Ren's Dark Perk Page[2]
- Det. Tracy Vetter: a good cop[3] - a/k/a Cousin Kimi's Tracy page
- Cousin Mary's Tracy Vetter Page[4]
- Perkulator Page[5]
- Perktopia: A Tracy Vetter Site! (Wayback Machine copy)
Tracy-focused Factions
There are a number of groups within Forever Knight fandom who focus their interest on Tracy Vetter more than other characters. These factions interact on mailing lists and groups, write fan fiction about Tracy, and play as teams in Forever Knight Wars.
After toying with various names, the early Tracy fans settled on Perkulators as the name of Tracy's affiliation. Though a small faction, it took part in a couple of Wars before being superseded by the Dark Perkulators after Forever Knight fans had time to reflect and re-evaluate Tracy as a character.
Relationship-Focused Factions
By rights (not to mention TPTB's intent), the obvious pairing involving Tracy ought to be Tracy/Vachon. However, although a couple faction was created for them, the T & V Pack (occasionally known as the Apaches), it was never very large. Somehow the Tracy/Vachon pairing simply never caught fans' attention: the characters made good friends; but they didn't work all that well together romantically.
A few fans tried to start a Nick/Tracy couple faction, the Night Shift or Knight Shift; but again, as a romantic pairing, the two didn't work well together. Although nominally the affiliation could have been about the police partnership, there had never been a Nick & Schanke faction; and fans had no more interest in creating a Nick & Tracy faction, either.
The most common relationship-based factions involving Tracy are therefore those that couple her with other characters from the series. Much of this was done by Dark Perks; and the stories vary in the degree of actual romantic involvement. The most popular is the Tracy/LaCroix pairing supported by the CERK Perks. However, some DPs also enjoyed writing crackfic Rat Patrol (Tracy/Screed) and Raven's Cellar (Tracy/Miklos) stories.
References
- ^ Some of this material is taken from the article "Tracy Vetter" in the Forever Knight Wiki.
- ^ For example, in the episode "Trophy Girl", Tracy goes undercover without getting authorization. As a result, she is kidnapped by a serial killer. However, she gets herself free before her partner arrives; and, when he is knocked down by the killer, she grabs a gun and shoots the man.
- ^ Tracy's Uncle Sonny is mentioned in the episode "Let No Man Tear Asunder", in which it is revealed that he has a severe heart condition and is on the transplant list. His career as a police officer is confirmed by his medical records, visible on a computer screen.