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brightknightie) wrote2020-12-23 08:01 am
brightknightie) wrote2020-12-23 08:01 am
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Pets in FK and HL
Something that leela_cat said made me realize for the very first time: There are no pets in all 6+ seasons of HL, but there are fairly many pets in 3 seasons of FK, for a TV show.
To be more precise, except for those with the K-immie in "Leader of the Pack," I remember no named or otherwise non-utilitarian animals in all of HL. We have many horses, of course, but the horses are strictly transportation, less thought-of than the characters' modern-day cars.
Granted that the animals in FK are also less thought-of than some of the characters' cars -- ahem, Caddy ;-) -- nevertheless, Natalie has her cat, Sidney, who appears in one episode and is referenced in 2 more (if I remember correctly). While Perry is a working dog, he is named and a character unto himself, and Nick's Ralegh is surely a pet. Tracy refers to getting a puppy as a gift for someone else. Schanke makes a joking reference to a pet dog (the line is something like, "gotta get home, kiss the wife, kick the dog").
Animals are difficult to have on set. Movies, TV shows, theaters all tend to avoid animals when not absolutely necessary to a story. And neither HL nor (much more so) FK were rolling in funding in '90s syndication. But FK's writers repeatedly referred to pets in their story universe. HL's did not.
Interesting! What do you think?
leela_cat said made me realize for the very first time: There are no pets in all 6+ seasons of HL, but there are fairly many pets in 3 seasons of FK, for a TV show.To be more precise, except for those with the K-immie in "Leader of the Pack," I remember no named or otherwise non-utilitarian animals in all of HL. We have many horses, of course, but the horses are strictly transportation, less thought-of than the characters' modern-day cars.
Granted that the animals in FK are also less thought-of than some of the characters' cars -- ahem, Caddy ;-) -- nevertheless, Natalie has her cat, Sidney, who appears in one episode and is referenced in 2 more (if I remember correctly). While Perry is a working dog, he is named and a character unto himself, and Nick's Ralegh is surely a pet. Tracy refers to getting a puppy as a gift for someone else. Schanke makes a joking reference to a pet dog (the line is something like, "gotta get home, kiss the wife, kick the dog").
Animals are difficult to have on set. Movies, TV shows, theaters all tend to avoid animals when not absolutely necessary to a story. And neither HL nor (much more so) FK were rolling in funding in '90s syndication. But FK's writers repeatedly referred to pets in their story universe. HL's did not.
Interesting! What do you think?
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Longevity of species and reminder of mortality among those they come to care for issues....
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All we humans do have a challenge with outliving our pets and other animals, but perhaps a character as long-lived as an HL immortal has such a different timescale in mind that getting attached to a short-lived animal is too much to ask.
On the other hand, that's nearly the definition of the line between an evil immie and a good immie in that story universe: one who defines non-immortal humans as short-lived nothings, versus those who value non-immortal human lives. Characters like Duncan and Cierdwyn -- and, yes, Methos, despite his best efforts -- love and love again, and hurt and hurt again, because it is ultimately worth the price. Villains don't. Should animal lives count, too, in their way, for that story point? Just pondering...
There's a C.S. Lewis line that I can't quite remember, something about seeing everyone as their imperishable eternal selves, not their passing mortal shells, and treating them accordingly... was it, "Imagine, what if everyone you meet is going to live forever, how would you treat them?" ...Of course Lewis is talking theology, not HL story interpretation! :-)
Now that I am looking for animals in the story universe, I am seeing the places that they are not, but could be. I'm not saying they need to be inserted! Only that I suddenly see a dearth in HL, and equally a comparative plenty in FK, and both were creative choices, whether on purpose or by omission...
Just thinking! :-)
no subject