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t h e d o c s |
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UNDER CONSTRUCTION |
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The premise to Nick Knight/Forever Knight is really quite simple. A vampire cop strives to become human and with the aid of a mortal coroner they work together towards that goal. One of those elements--the mortal coroner--went through the most changes as the potential series went from script to rejected pilot to late night television series. |
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The original Nick Knight script lists Nick's partner in crime as one Dr. Jack Chen and he's described as follows: "JACK CHEN, sixty, Chinese, and one hell of a forensic pathologist." The script goes on to say, "The room [the lab], itself, has an amiable, ethnic clutter to it. It's scientific without being pristine. Very much like the man who works here." Now anyone who has seen Nick Knight will tell you that there isn't a sixty year old Chinese man to be found anywhere on screen. Sometime during the course of pre-production on Nick Knight Dr. Jack Chen became Dr. Jack Brittington, a white, fiftish male. |
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The relationship between Nick and Jack is similar to that of affectionate brothers. A supportive and easy hug occurs between these two just as easily as friendly, teasing jabs do. As Jack says on Nick�s answering machine, "You need a Jewish mother," and Nick has one in Jack. |
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However, during the course of the show's shift to Toronto in Forever Knight Jack was dropped in favor of a young, female coroner named Natalie Lambert. The Forever Knight script describes Natalie in exactly the same way as Jack Chen but with the appropriate gender alterations. Jack's "ethnic clutter" is now Natalie's "feminine clutter." "NATALIE LAMBERT, attractive, late twenties" and apparently still "one hell of a medical examiner." Nick and Natalie's relationship is built on trust and is as equally supportive and friendly as Nick and Jack's in Nick Knight. |
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Another thing that Jack and Natalie share in common is that they're both ballsy enough to go head to head with Nick when he's in the middle of a guilt trip. They approach his anger head on and they don't treat him with kid gloves when they feel the situation doesnt warrant them. Dishing out tough love isn't out of the question for them. |
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Individually Jack and Natalie have their idiosyncrasies. Physically Jack comes across as stereotypical scientist. He comes across as being very mild mannered and affable. He dresses in cardigans when not in scrubs and he owns a pair of coke bottle glasses.
When standing next to each other he and Nick make an interesting pair. The leather clad, vintage car driving detective and the dedicated coroner.
Yet appearances can be deceiving and Jack is no exception. Jack doesn't take crap from anybody. He doesn't take it from Nick and he certainly doesn't take it from Schanke.
When Schanke starts to light up a cigarette in Jack's lab he is pointedly told to stop before he starts. Jack also demands that he be treated with the respect his title deserves and can be pretty curt. Some people might view Jack's reactions as finicky but it also shows that Jack knows what he wants. It also makes a nice contrast to the image he presents. |
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As a character Natalie presents some interesting challenges. One of the most obvious stylistic changes between Nick Knight and Forever Knight is its added sensuality. The addition of a female regular could easily have been an opportunity to up an unseen skin quota for the show but rather than objectify the character of Natalie, a different path was taken.
The relationship between Nick and Natalie on Forever Knight is that of friend/patient/colleague and the script never suggests anything other than that. However, there are several moments in the series opener that are open to interpretation. |
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There is a level of close physicality that is present in scenes between Nick and Natalie that exceeds that of platonic friendship. It is certainly a possibility that by making the character of Nick's mortal confidant a woman, they were grooming her to be a potential love interest without actually committing Natalie to that role. By doing so the show opens itself up to more storylines that could later be used to explore the complications that arise when the male lead is in close quarters with two beautiful women.
Also, by the end of Nick Knight one of the two female "leads" is a non issue and the role of the second one in the series, had it been picked up by the network, remained to be seen. In Forever Knight it seems that several of Alyce's personality quirks in Nick Knight were transplanted into Natalie but more on that later. |
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NOTE: This page contains screen captures from the Knight Watchman archive |
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back to 'The Characters' page |
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