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The modern trend toward so called Urban Fantasy mostly annoys me. Elves, fairies, and the like should be left where they belong, safely in the distant past or on other worlds entirely. The same holds true for vampires, werewolves, and so on, if not more so, even though I understand that using them in modern settings is the basis for much of the Horror genre. Vampires in general annoy me, but I think this is mostly attributable to Anne Rice and her ilk. Terry Pratchett, on the other fang, has fun with them - see Carpe Jugulum.
However, Forever Knight is a little different. Different enough that it was actually worth the effort. A vampire on a quest to become human, working the night shift (of course) as a police officer in downtown Toronto. Alright, it's not exactly 100% original (recall Highlander), but it hasn't been done much and never before on TV (the Highlander series came after).
The writing was generally good and the characters interesting. They did tend to push the envelop of believability now and again, but it was generally well done. The flash backs (a la Highlander) also tended to work well in context.
He takes garlic pills - it's obviously just an allergy, right? - and does other little things here and there to try to combat the vampire within, but he doesn't hesitate to use those funky supernatural powers in the pursuit of his duty to serve and protect. I don't recall how they got around the intense dislike of religious symbols, but it's been a few years since the show went off the air.
Not SF, not Fantasy, not even really horror except in the strictest possible way that it "has to be" because it's got a vampire as the main character. Well, he's not just the main character, he's the hero. And he's a good guy. Score one for the undead.
One of the few really good Canadian genre shows produced since... ever, I guess. One of the few really good Canadian genre shows. I'd be up for a DVD collection of this one.
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Page last updated: 22 Apr 2003.