pj1228

So I watched the first 4 episodes of the German dubbed version of FK's season 3. Here's what I noticed so far:

The most outstanding difference is of course that we get to hear Schanke's voice talking back during the phone call in Black Buddha - Part 1". I think of it as a nice additon.

Then there are some rather slight and some rather obvious changes in the translated text. Some of it is nice, others make me wonder, why did they do that.
Part of the Nightcrawler monologue from Black Buddha - Part 2 (What a piece of work is a man...), in which he is originally quoting from Hamlet, he's quoting Mephistopheles from Goethe's Faust in the dubbed version. While I find the text equally fitting, I wonder why did they do it? Is it because Faust is more familiar to German audiences than Shakespeare? They did the same change in season 2's Father's Day by the way.

A really strange translation is also in Black Buddha - Part 1 when Nick enters the Raven in search for Janette. Lacroix tells him originally that he now broadcasts from "a little booth in the back". In German he says that he now broadcasts from Janette's bedroom. Either he must have done some major renovations or Janette's bedroom was poorly furnished - LOL. There's no mention of the rather uncomfortable "strip on Friday Night", which makes the whole take-over of the Raven less sleazy and sets a total different atmosphere I think.

When Nick asks Lacroix about Vachon in Black Buddha - Part 2, in the dubbed version Lacroix mentions something about a famous typewriter by the name and mocks Nick about not paying attention to TV quiz shows.

Other than the Schanke part, these are all differences I didn't notice when I watched the dubbed version the first time over 25 years ago, when I wasn't so familiar with the original text yet. They become quite obvious now.

My German season 3 DVDs arrived today. Yay!

I've finished a new story and could use a beta reader. Anyone volunteering?

It's a Lacroix/Natalie romance, adult rating, about 9000 words.

I continued writing, but then decided to make a cut earlier and save the rest for a sequel.

It's nice to see that some of the old Forever Knight locations are still there, some almost unchanged, others quite altered. Here are some sites how they look today.


Toronto at sunset

96th precinct



The building that was used for the external shots of the 96th precinct is still a library.

The morgue





The building is still there, however the morgue has moved to a different location. Oddly there're still remnants from the coroner sign.

Nick's loft





Nick's loft has undergone major renovations already many years ago. An entire storey has been added to the building. But they put the original water tower back on top.

The Raven







The Raven has changed owners several times, but the building is still there, including its original door. During the filming of FK, it was an actual nightclub called Fluid Lounge. Then the interior was completely stripped and renovated. It became a sports bar called The Fifth. Recently it reopened as a Mexican restaurant with a quite interesting interior design.

BCE Place



BCE Place from Games Vampires Play is still there, although it's now called Brookfield Place for a while.

CN Tower



And of course the CN Tower is still there in all its shining glory.

I watched the first episode of the new series Interview with a Vampire. I decided to not regard it as a remake of the movie, because as I found the movie just perfect, any remake can only result in disappointment. So instead, I will rather regard it as a series on its own. And I was right to do so because the most obvious change is the character of Louis. While in the books and the movie Louis was a sensitive man from the 18th century, owner of a plantation, the series is set in 1910 and Louis is a man of colour, a business man who owns a brothel. Contrary to the Louis from the movie I did not find this Louis very likable in a way that I would care what happens to him. I'll see if that first impression changes as the series continues.

Overall, there were quite a lot of things I did like about the series. First of all, it was a delight to have the classic vampires back, i.e. no walking in daylight and no sparkling or some such nonsense. Also the fangs are just like they should be.

Lestat is wonderful! The UFfer in me rejoiced in the open display of the attraction between the men. Lots of inspiration for future FK stories here. :) The old familiar arguments also often heard between Nick and Lacroix put a smile on my face. The seduction of Louis was quite nicely done and easy on the eye.

As a non-native speaker, my personal problem was that I had extreme difficulties understanding both main characters. Lestat uses a very thick French accent and Louis has a southern accent, both of which I find hard to understand. Clearly not the clear speech of Canadian stage actors I'm more familiar with. It got better later into the episode when I had some time to get used to it. I might understand more when I watch it a second time. So I wouldn't be surprised if I misinterpreted things for simply not understanding what was being said.

In any way, I'm curious how it goes on.

Is anyone else watching the British series A Discovery of Witches? I happened upon the second season, started watching it, was immediately hooked, but realised that I had no clue what was going on without having seen the first season. So I got myself the DVDs of the first season, which didn't disappoint my expectations.

The series is based on the All Souls book trilogy by Deborah Harkness, which I plan to acquire next. It's about vampires, witches and demons. Usually I'm not so fond when there are other supernatural creatures besides vampires, but here it works very well.

While the lead vampire is attractive enough to hold my attention, it's in particular the many supporting characters that I find fascinating. Many having a Lacroixan quality in their agendas and behaviour. In addition there are strong female characters consistent with today's time.

And it's visually awesome with locations in Oxford, Venice and France, among others.

The vampires needed some getting used to at first. Unlike the classic vampires, they can walk in daylight and they don't have fangs. However, like FK vampires, they can experience a person's memories when they drink their blood. And there are the familar quarrels of a father being concerned that his son doesn't feed properly, a vampire who regrets his past and several other dialogues that bring a smile of recognition to my face.

There's lots of romance as well as suspense. I highly recommend it!

On June 27th, I had my personal 25th FK anniversary! I had meant to post this then, but ended up missing the date.

On June 27th, 1994, I ended up watching my first episode of Forever Knight. Coincidentally it was the episode 1966, which premiered on German televison that night. I remember being impressed by the depiction of German history (up to then North American TV rarely showed German history beyond 1945), a coroner of female gender (many have followed since, but Natalie was one of the first), the artful transition from present time to flashbacks and forwards again (something I also appreciated in Highlander), and the overall atmosphere of the show.

This first episode I had seen endeared me enough to make sure I got to see the remaining episodes of season 1.

Little did I expect at that time that FK would have such a tremendous impact on my life, and continues to do so still after 25 years.
Here's a run-down of the good things I attribute to FK:

• I met many wonderful people along the way world-wide, many of whom I now consider friends
• FK improved my English considerably (reading all the wonderful fan fiction made me actually fluent in the daily language)
• FK got me into writing FKfanfic myself.
• FK deepened my interest in history
• Canada became my favourite vacationing spot (I had a soft spot for North America before, already since childhood owing to the adventure books I read about the indigenous people, but that's another story)
• FK prompted me to visit Wales in order to find out how a certain name is properly pronounced. ;)
• FK prompted me to visit the theatre regularly.

I was interested in travelling, history, and theatre before, but FK brought it all together.
I'm so grateful for all the wonderful experiences FK has brought me for a quarter century.

There were 3 participants requesting FK in this year's fandom_stocking. Here's what I wrote: Oddly, all stories are set in season 1 and none has Lacroix in it. How could that happen???

Best Intentions (PG-13, Gen, 1781 words) for wendymypooh
Characters: Schanke, Nick, Nat
To show his gratitude for saving his life, Schanke intends to do something special for Nick – with unforeseen consequences.

Starry Night (G, NN, 1223 words) for chamilet
Characters: Nick, Nat, Schanke
Nick takes Natalie to a special place for star gazing.

The Trouble with Henry (PG-13, Gen, 1656 words) for lightbird
Characters: Janette, Natalie, Alma
A dead body at the Raven forces Janette to an unusual course of action.

Special thanks to my beta-reader dlyt for the great help.

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I received the following gifts:

FOREVER KNIGHT

Lacroix icons from enviropony

Amending Gifts, a drabble by senmut

Nick icons from frappe_mermaid

Letting Him Go, an UF tale by cousinshelley

LUCIFER

Icons from tarlanx

A Hope in Hell from cornerofmadness

STAR TREK

Kirk icons from leesa_perrie

MISCELLANEOUS

Theater recommendations from lightbird and saekhwa

New Year's wishes from twinsarein

I'm thrilled that we've got 8 requests for Forever Knight this year at fandom_stocking.

And quite a variety of factions: I've seen UF, IB, NN, gen and more.

Stuffing is scheduled through January 5. I'll try to put something into each of these stockings, but I cannot promise that I'll be able to meet the deadline. Might end up with a placeholder and the promise of later delivery in some cases.

fandom_stocking is active again and I'm going to paticipate. My stocking is hung here.

The timeline is available here and the sign-up post is here.

Currently there are four people requesting FOREVER KNIGHT.

Come and join the fun!