FORKNI-L

FORKNI-L Digest - 22 Jul 2002 to 23 Jul 2002 (#2002-217)

Tue, 23 Jul 2002

There are 7 messages totalling 259 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

  1. Thought for today (2)
  2. (Fwd) vampire -  heal thy self (4)
  3. Last Knight

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Date:    Mon, 22 Jul 2002 17:25:21 -0400
From:    Sandra <nitelvr@v.......>
Subject: Thought for today

I was watching Dance By the Light of the Moon today and the
a thought occurred to me as I was watching the final scene.
When LC comes in, Nick asks Janette who he is and she
tells him.  Then LC says, without any preamble, "We're going
to be friends.  For a long, long time."  No telling Nick that he's
about to be made into a vampire or giving him a choice in the
matter.

Well, I wondered about that...abruptness...on LC's part and
why he would be abrupt.  Then I remembered that in the
flashbacks with Janette she is saying things like, "The darkness
was always there, always in your heart and mind." and "Only
darkness will satisfy you."

Well, suppose it was *Janette* who got Nick's consent to
become a vampire?  Maybe she didn't explain it fully, but
wouldn't her comments above make sense if that was what she
was doing?

--Sandra, forever Knightie
--nitelvr@v.......

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Date:    Tue, 23 Jul 2002 00:26:56 +0200
From:    Lorin <vachesang@1.......>
Subject: Re: (Fwd) vampire -  heal thy self

From: "DPHEIL" <dpheil@a.......> wrote:

> Something in vampires blood not only stops aging but repairs just about
> everything

Any theories on what happens to mortal teeth when someone is brought
across?  How are fangs formed? And what happens to fillings?

One idea which was discussed on this list a while back was that the FK
vampires' fangs are hollow, and some kind of vampire 'essence' is
injected into the victim when the vampire feeds, which explains why 'Bad
Blood' Jack turned into a vampire even though he didn't feed from
LaCroix.

Now, if the fangs are hollow, that means they are a completely different
kind of tooth.  Tooth enamel is hard and brittle, and cannot just change
shape to form a new tooth.  So the 'mortal' canines would have to drop
out, and new vampire fangs grow in their place.

But the inside of teeth are formed of dentine and pulp, which is living
tissue and so *should* repair itself once the body is undead. (remember
the leper woman? and Perry's blind owner? both had defects which healed
once they were brought across).  So any teeth which are filled should
shed their fillings and become whole again.

I now have visions of ??Perry's owner?? (sorry, terrible memory for
names tonight!) sitting on the couch, hacking and coughing as she spits
out two redundant canine teeth and a bunch of amalgam fillings.

Strange how the mind wanders after midnight... <g>

Lor        vachesang@1.......
You shouldn't compare yourself to others -
they are more screwed up than you think.

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Date:    Mon, 22 Jul 2002 22:55:18 EDT
From:    KaAG@a.......
Subject: Re: Thought for today

In a message dated 7/22/2002 4:32:21 PM Central Daylight Time,
nitelvr@v....... writes:


> Then LC says, without any preamble, "We're going
> to be friends.  For a long, long time."  No telling Nick that he's
> about to be made into a vampire or giving him a choice in the
> matter.
>

Not to spoil anything for you, but if you've not seen season 2, we see more
of this encounter in "Near Death"  (that wonderful scene with Nick in a
nightie)

Karn g

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Date:    Mon, 22 Jul 2002 23:38:47 -0400
From:    Brenda Bell <webwarren@e.......>
Subject: Re: (Fwd) vampire -  heal thy self

At 06:43 PM 7/21/2002 -0400, DPHEIL wrote:

>I wonder if this "Vampire healing factor" is anything like stem cells
>or the cells are permentlly stuck on a "Default" setting
>
>When I say things like this my mom reminds me it's only a story

The thing is, it's the story of the natural interweaving of mythology and
scientific development -- and these theories and mythologies often spawn
additional scientific development. Therefore, it may not be merely a
fairy-tale story, but a story of human development and evolution.


Remember that Man has been looking for a "cure-all" and a "fountain of
Youth" since before he learned to walk upright (or so it seems). One
outgrowth of this is the legend of the vampire -- the never-dead (or
revived-dead, if you prefer); a corollary of this is the consumption of
blood, which our most common mythos (is the plural same as the singular?)
tell us is inexorably linked to life... Spiritual life.

Each retelling of the vampire legend is injected with contemporary medical
and scientific knowledge, further changing and developing a mythos that
will eventually pour back into medical research -- and possibly that
ever-elusive Fountain of Youth.

In "Forever Knight", the myth is that either in the bite or the bite-back,
a biological agent is transmitted which rapidly transforms the body's
entire DNA structure, giving it the capabilities of the vampire. Being made
for a North American and European market, the show is aimed -- no matter
how unconsciously -- at a primarily Judeo-Christian audience, most of which
has been taught either (1) that the consumption of blood is particularly
sinful, or (2) that they (must?) drink the (symbolic) blood of a
sacrificial victim (Christ) in order to be transformed into a superhuman
state (i.e., a state of Grace).
In FK, this mythical/religious blood sacrifice *may* work in one or both of
these ways (I don't recall it being treated at all in canon):
(1) The victim is the mortal sacrifice needed to keep alive and/or
otherwise appease the angry, possibly-protector god (the vampire)
(2) The blood of the vampire master parallels the Blood of Christ as an
echo of the Divine sacrifice and the Holy Communion. This represents a
*non-symbolic* Communion, where instead of Transubstantiation making bread
and wine into Body and Blood, it transforms the once-mortal into the
vampiric equivalent of a State of Grace.

In "Forever Knight", we have a retelling of the vampire legend in a way
that invokes modern medicine (some basic understanding of DNA,
protoviruses, etc.) -- which is what Natalie sees -- as a facet of the
transformation, overlaying the possibly more basic (Un)Holy Communion
(which is, I suspect, all that Nick can see at times). So we have the
beginnings of a holistic view of vampirism -- a condition that affects both
the body and the soul in specific ways, by specific means.

One of the key concepts of holistic and alternative medicine is treat the
whole patient -- his physical, psychological, and spiritual needs. We see
that this holistic approach is necessary to "treat" Nick (whether to make
him mortal/human again, or an uberVampire, or something entirely else is up
to your own interpretation). Again, it is a reflection of modern science
and modern mythos and how the two intertwine.

Now reflect the "fiction" back to "reality" and ask yourself: Is it so
far-fetched to think that when medical art will have managed to treat
humans holistically and completely, we will have reached a state of
physical and spiritual Grace in which aging, illness, and losing one's soul
(to whatever) will be a thing of the past?


Brenda F. Bell   webwarren@e.......   /nick TMana     IM: n2kye
Arctophile, computer addict, TREKker, stealth photographer...
         UA, PoCBS, FKPagan; Neon-Green GlowWorm
HugMistress of the Ger Bear Project https://members.tripod.com/~TMana/
Gerthering 3 Photos:  https://members.tripod.com/~TMana/gertherng/
Visit the Fiendish Glow at http://home.earthlink.net/~webwarren/glow/

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Date:    Tue, 23 Jul 2002 01:58:27 -0700
From:    Megan Hull <mistrydder@y.......>
Subject: Re: (Fwd) vampire -  heal thy self

 Facinating!!!  This is one line of logic I've never
seen or considered before, and it is quite the
plateful of food for thought!  Thank-you so much for
sharing your musings.  Just one question:

>uberVampire
I've seen this prefix before, and I'm not quite sure
what it means.  Care to enlighten me?
              -Megan

=====
"Eternal nights too short,
How quickly melt away,
With all the love we shared once,
Forever in a Day."

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Date:    Tue, 23 Jul 2002 01:58:51 -0700
From:    Megan Hull <mistrydder@y.......>
Subject: Re: (Fwd) vampire -  heal thy self

Bother.  That was supposed to go private.  Sorry.
                    -Megan

=====
"Eternal nights too short,
How quickly melt away,
With all the love we shared once,
Forever in a Day."

------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 23 Jul 2002 13:01:50 EDT
From:    WRDRR@a.......
Subject: Re: Last Knight

All,

I think that the only thing that *really* matters, is that there is enough
murkiness (apparently planted by GER, network etc, just in case of
syndication etc. ) for some clever writing to rescue the characters in  this
cliffhanger of all time.  Someday, after the five made-for TV movies air (I
consulted my magic 8-ball), we will all look back on the oceans of tears we
shed over LK and say, "Boy, they sure had us going!"

Casting T. F. Stone  / Caddywhacked
My FK book length at
ftp://ftp.win.net/winnet/fkvoyage/fkfanfic/deangelo_wanda/  and
V4S story
ftp://ftp.win.net/winnet/fkvoyage/fkfanfic/virtual_season/by_the_book.txt
and yes, I'd appreciate comments.

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End of FORKNI-L Digest - 22 Jul 2002 to 23 Jul 2002 (#2002-217)
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