Popular Culture Review Vol. 14, No. 1, February 2003 | Page 122

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Popular Culture Review

by The Keeper to reveal the cure for Quicksilver Madness. Simply put, a designer
“suicide” gene can be developed that can shut off the gland from secreting mass
quantities of the deadly hormone, thus allowing Darien to phase in and out of
visibility without harm (revealed in “Enemy of My Enemy”). Claire injects Darien
with the miraculous ingredient and. thanks to Arnaud, Darien is no longer con
sumed by the curse. Like Nick, Darien owes his “new life” to that most duplicitous
of all the reimaged fairy tale characters, the doppelganger trickster.
Final Comments on the Reimaged Fairy Tale Figures
Other horror and sci-fi/fantasy series have introduced some unique variations
on the aforementioned figures. Angel (1999- present) contains two pivotal female
characters: a cursed heroine, Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), who has be
come half-demon so that she can tolerate her clairvoyant visions without being
driven mad and a comical partner by the name of Fred (Amy Acker) who pos
sesses unusual mental capacities. Gene Rodclenbenys Andromeda (2000-present)
has an even stranger wise female character, a hologram/ android named Rommie
(Lexa Doig) that is a reflection of the ship’s consciousness, both in energy and
physical form. In addition, Tyr Anasazi (Keith Hamilton Cobb) Joins the Androm
eda crew as the ambivalent doppelganger trickster, traveling companion who is
always looking out for himself, even at the expense of turning in his shipmates to
the enemy so that he can survive in “Machiavellian style” to fight another day
(Nazzaro 31). And the recent cult fantasy. Special Unit 2 (2001-2002) has a male
and female pair of detective heroes, Nick O’Malley (Michael Landes) and Kate
Benson (Alexondra Lee), who are assisted in their supernatural investigations by
Carl (Danny Woodburn), a comedic, yet very wise old gnome. Future programs,
no doubt, will continue to use Forever Knight and The Invisible Man as the tem
plate for their story lines. And as long as there are tele-fairy tales to be told, images
of the vampire cop and see-through agent will continue to serve as the prototype
for new characters on these shows.
Benedictine University

James laccino

Works Cited
Bloch-Hanscn, Peter. ^'Forever Knight's Unlife to Live.” Starlog 215 (June 1995): 54-57.
Forever Knight Press Kit. Los Angeles, CA; Columbia TriStar Productions, 1994.
laccino, James. Jungian Reflections within the Cinema: A Psychological Analysis of Sci-Fi and Fan
tasy Archetypes. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998.
— . Psychological Reflections on Cinematic Terror: Jungian Archetypes in Horror Films. Westport,
CT: Praeger, 1994.
— . “The World o f Forever Knight: A Television Tribute to Anne Rice's New Age Vampire.” In Gary
Hoppenstand and Ray B. Browne (Eds.), The Gothic World of Anne Rice. Bowling Green, OH:
Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1996.