<i>Forever Knight</i> and <i>The Invisible Mam</i> Television Retellings of Jungian Fairy Tales

Noted mythology scholar and psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, considered fairy tales to be as old as recorded history. Down through the centuries, very little has changed in each fairy tale's story line or the major characters contained therein. Some of the more salient figures integral to the overall plot include: the hero, the wise old man, the fool, the trickster, and the maiden. The hero, typically portrayed as a male warrior, undertakes a quest to find a sacred object (or treasure) that will help him transform his kingdom to a more utopian paradise. In his Journeys, the hero encounters the wise old man who possesses the hidden knowledge that the hero requires to fight the principal enemy (Jung 218-222). The wise one also induces self-reflection in the hero so that the latter can question the reason for his existence as well as the real purpose behind his travels (i.e., is the goal a self-serving one or truly befitting the larger community?). While engaged in this soul-searching, the hero is often accompanied by a loudmouth sidekick, or fool, who approaches life with a child-like simplicity and frivolity. Together, the hero and fool advance into enemy territory, using the wisdom of the old one as their only guidepost. The pair eventually encounter the trickster, who is often portrayed as a malicious creature that can shape-change into such ominous creatures as the wolf or raven, thereby eluding capture quite easily (Jung 255). Moreover, the trickster can mesmerize his intended victims into believing they want to be with him forever. In fairy tales, the princess maiden happens to be the trickster's most common prey. It is the maiden's innocence and virginity that the trickster ultimately desires, and so he tries to possess her both in body and soul so that she can be the queen of his netherworld. Thus, the hero is faced with the greatest challenge of all: to defeat the trickster so that the maiden can be rescued before she is completely converted to the dark side (239-40). Sometimes, fairy tales end on an unhappy note with the maiden becoming the trickster's consort and the hero obtaining his grail object without the female at his side. Elements of the Jungian fairy tales have been successfully translated to the small screen over the decades, particularly within the horror and sci-fi/fantasy genres. Two contemporary horror and sci-fi series will be the focus of this manuscript as they have reshaped the image of these fairy tales into a workable model for future programs to follow within the respective genres. Both Forever Knight (1992-1996) and the latest incarnation of The Invisible Man (2000-2002) have not only modernized the fairy tale characters, but have also created more multidimensional (and definitely interesting) plots with these characters. Among the “reimaged” figures to be analyzed are: the cursed heroes, Nick Knight and Darien Fawkes; the comical partners, Detective Don Schanke and Special Agent Bobby Hobbes; the wise young women. Dr. Natalie Lambert and The Keeper; and the doppelganger tricksters, Lucian LaCroix and Arnaud de Fehrn. The television hero of today is portrayed as an angst-ridden character who has acquired a power that is regarded as both a blessing and a curse. This power enables the bearer to accomplish a number of superhuman, almost miraculous feats. Unfortunately, its use over time exacts a heavy price on the hero as it causes a degeneration of the overall persona. The only way that the cursed hero can save his/her self is to find a cure for the affliction. While the quest for this “personal grail” might be an impossible dreamto actualize, the searching for it allows the hero to be transformed to the mythicproportions of past wairiors (laccino. Psychological 65-69). Forever Knight's cursed nobleman hero is appropriately named Nicholas Knight (Geraint Wyn Davies), a thirteenth-century vampire who wants to regain his mortality and live a normal existence after taking so many lives across his protracted timeline. He, therefore, becomes a present-day cop working the graveyard shift to battle all sorts of evil in the streets of Toronto, Canada. As one press release proudly announced in its promotion of the show, “See a vampire take a bite out of crime” (Forever Knight Press Kit). Nick hopes that by protecting and serving humanity in his role as a police officer, he can come that much closer to redemption for all his past sins. So he commits his special abilities (i.e., super strength. flying, sharp vision, and acute hearing) for the good of others rather than his continued self-gratification. But Nick is not entirely free from the savage bloodlust of vampirism. Starting with the series' pilot, “Dark Knight,” he fights the irresistible urge to drain his archaeologist friend. Dr. Alyce Hunter (Christina Reeves), of all her blood so that he can gain enough strength to fight the master vampire trickster, Lucian LaCroix (Nigel Bennett). While Nick does not give in to the “blood craze,” the story ends on a pessimistic note: LaCroix has converted Dr. Hunter to one of the undead, suggesting that Nick cannot save his closest companions from lives of eternal damnation. This theme resonates in one of the later episodes, “Dead of Night,” in which Nick is haunted by the image of his dead wife, Alyssa(Kari Matchett). Nick recalls that on their wedding night he wanted to bring Alyssa over to the other side; unfortunately, he did not succeed and instead killed her. The guilt that Nick carries over his bride's death pursues him wherever he goes. And even though he apologizes to the ghost of Alyssa, he can never make amends for the crime he has commited against his oh-so-trusting beloved. As Starlog writer Peter Bloch-Hansen notes, a vampire like Nick Knight will never be able to enjoy a happy, “fairy tale” heroic lifestyle, so long as the curse hangs heavily over his head (55-56). The fatalistic finale, “Last Knight.” has Nick turning on the only one who has been working on a cure over the past few years to save him, namely the wise woman scientist. Dr. Natalie Lambert (Catherine Disher). Even after eight centuries, Nick still cannot control his bestial side and allows the addiction to consume him, at the expense of taking the life of another friend/lover. The only way he can be released from this forlorn existence is by being staked in the chest by his mentor, LaCroix. Although the “father” expresses an unwillingness to do this to his “son,” he finally relents and grants Nick his wish to end his agonizing immortality. Definitely, Forever Knight's cursed hero has numerous flaws and imperfections contained within his nature. Yet, the hero also has a noble aspiration to be something better than he currently is. Perhaps Nick Knight truly reached what he always wanted: namely, humanity through the death of his vampiric self. Upon first inspection. The Invisible Man bears little resemblance to the vampire series. Small-time crook and unlikely hero, Darien Fawkes (played tongue-in-cheek by Vincent Ventresca), is part of a secret government experiment designed to create an invisible agent who can infiltrate any terrorist situation and defuse it. Implanted with a gland at the base of his skull, Darien, through sheer will, can cause it to release a hormonal-like substance referred to as Quicksilver that can bend light and ultimately make him undetectable for brief or more extended periods of time. As with most scientific advances, however, there is a negative side-effect to secreting too much Quicksilver in his system; the hormone acts as a “cerebral inhibitor,” degrading Darien's higher brain functions and allowing his more primal impulses to take over. Starlog critic Ian Spelling explains that Darien cannot remain invisible for too long or he “runs the risk of going mad and turning evil. He requires a steady stream of counteragent shots by his government handlers [to keep himself sane and alive]” (74). So as the pilot story line unfolds, we see another type of cursed hero who has acquired a gift that he does not want and who eventually undertakes a quest to rid himself of the affliction, making his journey distinctly different from those of traditional fairy tale heroes. Like Nick's bloodlust, once the “Quicksilver Madness” possesses Darien, he cannot help himself and soon gives in to his violent and aggressive shadow side. Even his eyes turn a bloody red, similar to a vampiric metamorphosis. The series' opener has him savagely turning on his ex-girlfriend, Casey (Rebecca Chambers). A follow-up teleplay entitled “Tiresias” also depicts Darien throttling his new secret-agent partner, Bobby Hobbes (Paul Ben-Victor), under the influence of the Quicksilver addiction. He next attacks the boss of The Agency itself, The Official (Eddie Jones), while in his altered and deranged state (refer to “The Other Invisible Man” teleplay). Ventresca as Fawkes best describes his cursed condition as “another person looking back at him in the mirror…a walking id” that freely gives in to his every unconscious desire. In an episode sandwiched midway through the second season, “The Three Phases of Claire,” a fevered Darien actually gels invisibly intimate with the callous, wise woman of the Agency (aka The Keeper), suggesting that he has latent, yet very strong, sexual feelings for the scientist who administers the regular doses of the counteragent. And while our cursed hero does not die from the Quicksilver Madness at the end of the series' run, he is left with a nullified gland that could at any moment start the deadly secretions all over again (as reported in SCI FI Channel News 16 and seen in “The New Stuff' finale). And so Darien's quest might indeed end on a tragic note like Nick's, without a fairy tale cure lingering on the horizon. The television hero is clearly depicted as a lonely and frustrated individual in search of the impossible cure to his existential state, but he is not without friends. One such companion joining the cursed hero on his small screen adventures is the comical partner who has battled an assortment of foes “in the trenches” for a good portion of his life. Middle-aged and street-wise, the partner has the capacity to enjoy life to the fullest, even in the midst of such adversities. As neo-Jungian Carol Pearson mentions, the comic-as-heroic partner “knows how to play the moment for all it's worth in joy and experience, and even enjoys the more negative parts of life if only for their drama. He is the part of us that allows for hope when there is no positive sign forthcoming” (224). One might conclude that without the presence of the comical partner, the cursed hero would not be able to face his burdens so bravely. Thus, the hero requires the services of the comic to effectively complement what is lacking in his overall personality and to make his condition a more endurable one. For this reason, the status of the fairy tale fool has been elevated to a new level: that of an equal to the cursed hero. Both Forever Knight and The Invisible Man contain two such comical partners who are introduced in the opening teleplays, respectively Detective Schanke (John Kapelos) and Agency Operative Hobbes (Ben-Victor). A Polish-Italian Catholic, homicidal detective who rarely plays by the book, Donald Schanke represents the “human counterpoint” to Nick Knight's vampiric series the that is so of that his presence a good for the when there a good of heavy in the Some of the to at a in his in the pilot “Dark going out to his in Toronto, to give his becoming a and working for his in the he can see good being as a after his for a police on his never seen by becoming intimate with a female vampire at The and his the very next and in with Knight when he to from for the of an episode of the after almost two Schanke finally figures out that Nick Knight might be one of the there are of under the such as his partner blood in a and never the of his But when he actually Nick through the and as he a heavily the television fool two and two and with the only Knight is a It the will of the master to Schanke that he has reached an and that he to his The of Donald Schanke on Forever Knight have of any vampire series to but when the to this comical partner at the start of the season, the fairy tale and to the the presence of the comical partner to him through the our hero Nick much more to both and in the Agent Bobby on the other would remain a partner in The Invisible its two run, that the tongue-in-cheek of the series would be and of Hobbes across in the pilot as a who is a of such as The Invisible Man at for more a he still that the to be from any number of who would the the reason he to be the he is more like a of Starlog Hobbes as in Darien side. In a Hobbes would not have Fawkes as his Darien is new to this and so Hobbes has to him into all the and the way to do take an in their first both Fawkes and Hobbes are in a to their Hobbes the that the making out in the are to which Darien come man, into each not the pair out and start at the only Darien can is Hobbes has the capacity to in the midst of which him an to the Invisible would on the personality of Bobby find out that Hobbes is from his and is on a steady of to him through the as well as life in he an of time his to the he has it the and he has been a secret type of existence in his is a who has a of companions much to the of his partner Fawkes and when all is and Hobbes does have a for Darien like is to his life on the line for the cursed hero (as seen in for and for presence to The Invisible Man to be a much like a that the every and to an fairy tale story As in this latest the fairy tale role of the maiden has been for contemporary of a being by the trickster, she has a who is not of or The end is that the woman proudly her male and is with the wise knowledge to cure the hero of his curse. It be that the in Forever Knight and The Invisible Man are both respectively Natalie Lambert and The who are using their in an to the to their And while their are for the most these wise young never give and remain to the for the of the series. the other Dr. Lambert and The are that very little is they have as though they have a tragic And they have their of tragic that is past is that her in a police her and she a the Even is The The we do have is seen through the invisible eyes of Darien who her of the of The Agency lives in a with her only companion being her she to to in her while and she by the of to the she has as a of one of its from a tragic experiment under her there is any for each of these it is the hero of the While Natalie and keep their feelings at they do In the and Dr. Lambert on that special of the and Nick on the And the and Darien has as Starting out as they have to the both of make in of a Hobbes who their of out of Three Phases of It is that the wise young for the cursed heroes. the are the focus of their and Both and want to be normal so that they can start to a with Thus, they any number of to rid Nick and Darien of their a series of with from his and to his and elevated doses of A in his has to be more with Darien of the Quicksilver gland will most cause his only one person has the to on Darien's his but the has been killed in a terrorist on his (as in the pilot So what with is a way of the by his into Darien's brain so that the personality can for an which be long enough to the to the does not is that the take on a life of their and that the gland has Darien a more of Thus, the is not within the time to an A turning is reached in both series when and find a way of the curse with a Like the Jungian old man who the hero with a that will him with the power to succeed on his quest the contemporary of this make it for Nick and Darien to as at for In “The is able to a that with the vampire and it regular Nick is able to in and consume and without however, an side-effect to the Nick requires the hormone in and doses or the vampiric urge will as by Nick's eyes turning an has no but to the to keep his impulses under in is able to turn the Quicksilver gland by an that will Darien's from that brain The is able to Darien's but it is not it will eventually So for one Darien is able to a normal before the is out of his In a follow-up Darien to be an to counteragent with his eyes turning a different in this an of the Quicksilver And while to come with a The Invisible Man ends like Forever with wise young woman being able to create an substance on her to the cursed affliction. Both the of the doppelganger trickster to help find their from the fairy tale the character of the doppelganger trickster is in each series as the cursed or He the as the hero, yet the negative power as it him to a the of than the doppelganger trickster wants to the hero to his way of and The hero typically with a the trickster for the latter is a of what he can if he his shadow side. Thus, the that the cursed hero is in the he has with the doppelganger trickster (laccino. For Nick and Darien, the presence of Lucian and Arnaud de to be a in their lives and a of all the in the in Forever Knight's LaCroix is as much a multidimensional as the cursed hero, the doppelganger trickster first his in the pilot “Dark Knight,” he is not very that Nick has a protecting the very that to be the of all than to this to his (and LaCroix to Nick in a very first by him with a of and by a into his While these the the the first season, the to rid the of his the second and years of Forever however, LaCroix a major personality in how he to He becomes a more to his that one Nick will come back to the vampiric and explains that his character has come to the that the out of his so that the latter the of his has to be an by becoming Nick and more of a and two can more like normal the end Nick will come to with the of his existence and who he Bloch-Hansen Although Nick his quest he the presence of the master vampire in his life and even in to the trickster's show, The allowing LaCroix to him in the is as much for his as the Nick the vampiric self die so that his soul can be in the next LaCroix the that the trickster finally that is his curse and that he has the power to it from his by the hero a truly noble The Invisible doppelganger trickster, many with Forever to personality Arnaud is depicted as a in the He not only Darien's but almost in Darien too when he his base of Darien's unwillingness to the terrorist after Arnaud has killed his the trickster his of In later teleplays, Arnaud a on Darien, much like LaCroix does with Nick and to He the of and is able to The Invisible Man that he in has and is still working on the of the Quicksilver While his to Darien to his cause ultimately he never gives And when Arnaud the of himself for he becomes even more with turning Darien over to the dark side. the end of the series' run, Arnaud is by the Agency and is by The to the cure for Quicksilver a can be that can the gland from secreting of the deadly allowing Darien to in and out of without in of Darien with the miraculous to Darien is no by the curse. Like Darien his to that most of all the fairy tale characters, the doppelganger Other horror and sci-fi/fantasy series have introduced on the two female a cursed who has so that she can her without being mad and a comical partner by the of who possesses has an even wise female a named that is a of the both in and In the as the doppelganger trickster, companion who is always looking out for even at the expense of turning in his to the enemy so that he can in to fight another And the Special has a male and female pair of detective heroes, Nick and who are in their by Carl a yet very wise old no will to use Forever Knight and The Invisible Man as the for their story And as long as there are tales to be of the vampire cop and agent will to as the for new characters on these

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