Henry Fitzroy. Mick St. John. Edward Cullen. Modern-day vampires, hits at the box-office or on the small screen. One by one I have purchased the DVD’s and books, watched and read, and discovered a new twist on my time-tested favorite detective shows. I sort of like these vampires.
Now, Edward Cullen isn’t a detective, he’s one of two main ‘teen-age’ characters in “Twilight,” a lengthy sci-fi / romance serial derived from four best-selling novels. The second movie of that series is due out this fall and I’m sure it will be just as big a hit as the first.
The “Blood Ties” Canadian television series is about a detective, although Henry isn’t the private eye at the beginning, that role was a non-vampire human being named Vicky Nelson, former police detective, present private investigator. It also features a male police detective, Vicky’s former partner, now rival to Henry for her affections.
This series lasted two seasons and could still have been at the top of the TV ratings, had not some network executives had a brain freeze and pulled it. There’s an ongoing project by their thousands of loyal fans to bring it back. I wish them success, I’d like that myself.
In “Moonlight,” a TV series on CBS, the vampire Mick St. John was indeed the private detective. That one lasted only one season but it could certainly have survived and thrived in a second, or third. That one was more of a mystery show with a sci-fi flair and really appealed to me too.
Now HBO has started yet another vampire story line, “True Blood,” in its second season. The title refers to an artificial blood that vampires can drink instead of the real thing – it supposedly comes in handy bottles like cola drinks.
The creators of the show have gotten really smart in the marketing line – they’re planning to put out a for-real soft drink called Tru-Blood (blood oranges, not actual blood) later this year. I’m sure it will sell like crazy.
This series is set in Louisiana and is a bit too everything for me. I’ve started to watch some episodes but didn’t get all the way through some of them. Too much graphic violence, too much X-rated stuff. The characters are okay, but the story line isn’t anything like the others.
I’ve wondered what it is about vampires that attracts so many people to read and watch. The supernatural element, of course, like with the X-Men movies.
The supposed eternal nature of the vampire? It’s certainly magnetic. I believe that desire is built into the human soul, the desire for eternity. The romantic, misunderstood “hero” quality of the main characters in these story lines makes them quite attractive too, of course.
Whatever the attraction, for people who say this is all make-believe, all imaginary, I have some advice. Don’t laugh at those who believe.
Just hope and pray you don’t meet one of the truly bad supernatural beings that inhabit this planet. They’re not all as friendly as Henry, or Mick, or Edward.