ANALYSIS: FOREVER KNIGHT is a show I hold dear. It is one of my favorite TV shows of all-time. I got hooked on it when
I started watching it as part of Crimetime After Primetime on CBS. I would watch the episodes and even watch the repeats,
then David Letterman came along and all those shows were gone from CBS in 1994. However, that wasn't the end of FOREVER KNIGHT's
story as it quickly popped up in syndication just after Letterman started. I saw the commercial for the show on my local ABC
station and I kept hunting for when it was on until I hunted it down on late Saturday night before the midnight. I continued
my religious watching experience of the show even though somehow the last few episodes weren't shown on the local station
until sometime during the following summer.
FOREVER KNIGHT is the story of Detective Nick Knight (Geraint Wyn Davies), an 800 year old vampire, on his quest to become
human again in the city of Toronto. He has a partner, Detective Don Schanke (John Kapelos), who is unaware Nick is a vampire.
Nick is helped in his quest to become human by Dr. Natalie Lambert (Catherine Disher). However, Lacroix (Nigel Bennett) wants
Nick to accept he's a vampire. Lacroix made Nick and Janette (Deborah Duchene) into vampires. Nick has a long past with Janette
whether it is as friend or lover. Janette runs a Toronto nightclub called The Raven while Lacroix has come back into town
to convince Nick to throw away his human bonds and start again (meanwhile, Lacroix takes up a nighttime radio host gig).
The second season allowed FOREVER KNIGHT to grow as the flashbacks weren't just limited to Nick's past days as a vampire
(you see him as a mortal knight), when Janette met Lacroix, and how Lacroix was turned into a vampire. The mythology grew
and philosophy creeped in a little bit. Humor continued to seep in like the moment where Janette and Schanke are talking at
The Raven (PARTNERS OF THE MONTH). The show even had an episode about a writer who wrote like Anne Rice. Various guest stars
included Amanda Tapping (Stargate SG-1), Colin Fox (Psi-Factor) and Colm Feore (Chronicles of Riddick).
BEST EPISODES: KILLER INSTINCT, BAD BLOOD, FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS, NEAR DEATH, BABY BABY, THE FIX, CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER,
QUEEN OF HARPS, A MORE PERMANENT HELL
VIDEO/AUDIO: All 26 episodes are presented in 1.33:1 Full Screen. Colors are good. Most blacks are good. However despite
good image detail, the picture suffers from varying amounts of grain/video noise (even some dirt specks pop up) on the first
two discs just like the FOREVER KNIGHT- THE TRILOGY: PART ONE. Like I said before, Columbia/Sony should stick to only a maximum
of 4 episodes per disc and don't use 5 episodes per disc (it is like that for the first four discs). The video quality on
discs 3-6 is better and grain is less (but sometimes grain is still heavy in some shots and some episodes like in PARTNERS
OF THE MONTH). Opening titles have some image ghosting like with the season one release.
Audio is in English 2.0 Dolby Surround Stereo. No subtitle options, but there is a close captioning option for the hearing
impaired. Dialogue and all sounds can be heard clearly. Basically the show sounds like when it aired on TV.
SPECIAL FEATURES: This time, Columbia has come through with a great selection of extras from two great featurettes on disc
six and audio commentaries for 4 episodes.
ABOUT THE SHOW (19:34) has Geraint Wyn Davies and Co-Creator/Executive Producer James D. Parriott talk about how Forever
Knight came to be, why the flashbacks appeared in the first place (started as an idea for filler that could be cut from the
US versions), and comparing Nick Knight TV movie to the Forever Knight series. David Parriott defends teh ending of the show,
but he mentions hit got scaled back on the last day due to getting a call that there might be a 2 hour TV movie one day.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FANS (7:33) has Geraint and David answer questions asked by the fans. You learn Geraint came up with
the title for the show and David says FOREVER KNIGHT would be darker if the show came back today.
AUDIO COMMENTARIES: Geraint Wyn Davies and Co-Creator/Executive Producer James D. Parriott talk about the Vamp Cam (a remote
controlled helicopter with mini-cameras that crashed a couple of times) and the new sets they built (and comparing them to
the old sets from season one) on the commentary for KILLER INSTINCT. Sometimes their memories are fuzzy, but they still do
remember many details from the production of the show.
Nigel Bennett is very appreciative that people bought the DVD if you're listening to the commentary track for CURIOUSER
AND CURIOUSER. He talks about the Alice In Wonderland references that the director put in and the second season was the strongest.
He does put some production details in, but he is quieter on his tracks than Geraint and James are. He does laugh that any
mother can tell that Deborah Duchene never held a baby (the baby was fake). Nigel Bennett also does commentary for A MORE
PERMANENT HELL. Nigel makes comments like this episode was done before movies like DEEP IMPACT and how things have changed
since FOREVER KNIGHT (like in forensics on TV shows and the size of cell phones). They had to digitally remove a crew member
who stepped into the shot for one of the flashback scenes (and Nigel says technology is scary sometimes).
Gerraint and James return for the audio commentary of BLOOD MONEY. They both agree that the flashbacks made the show, point
out a cameo by the composer (Fred Mollin), and things Geraint did when he directed the episode. They hope people will buy
season 3 if it comes out to DVD.
PREVIEWS: HELLBOY DIRECTOR'S CUT, UNDERWORLD, KINGDOM HOSPITAL, THE FORGOTTEN, THE GRUDGE, GODZILLA MILLENNIUM
DVD PACKAGE ART/DISC ART: I have to say I like the art for the packaging and the discs better than the season one release.
FINAL ANALYSIS: The picture quality is improved on discs 3-6 compared to the first season release and the extras add to
the value to make FOREVER KNIGHT- THE TRILOGY: PART TWO a must-buy for FK fans everywhere.
this DVD Review is (c)1-8-2005 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com and look for additional content (and site updates) at http://www.livejournal.com/users/enterlinemedia
