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In part prompted by the Pax Romana trailer, which has me simultaneously bouncing with glee, and mildly worried. Heh. SPOILERS for the ad (vaguely), and warnings for some personal issues:
Why I want Nikola to become a vampire again.
I'm very deliberately phrasing it that way instead of 'why I want Nikola to get his powers back', for reasons I'll explain later. Also, apologies in advance if the tone of this gets a little ... cranky -_-; Issues, I have them.
Firstly, I want Nikola to be a vampire again because for story reasons, I want him to be. Okay, there's the problem that he'll probably not be used as much script-wise as a vampire (which I have issues with too, for other reasons), but Nikola as a vampire has time. Nikola as a vampire is not so desperate, not so vulnerable, and not quite as likely to be killed (unless they're planning something that's really going to annoy me). Much as I love and adore science!geek Nikola, Nikola as a vampire got to go places, and do stuff, and kick bad-guy butt, and I kinda miss that. Though, admittedly, Trail of Blood was awesome ...
Second, I want him to be a vampire again because he wants to be. Because he really, desperately wants to be, and not just to get back on top, not just because invulnerability comes in real handy when you spend a good portion of your time pissing off Jack the Ripper. Nikola wants to be a vampire again because that's who he is. It's who he's spent over a century being, and wants to be again, and I want him to be too.
Nikola doesn't identify with vampirism as a set of powers he gets to use. Nikola identifies with vampires as a people, a people he was part of, and forcibly removed from, and wants to be part of again. Even at his most human, he's still getting upset at 'Akaru: Blood Demon', and personally offended at Hollow Earth's grudge against his people. As he said in the Five, the others were changed, but he came into himself. That's how he views being a vampire, not in terms of powers and strength, but in terms of who he is. Given Nikola's status throughout his life as an ethnic minority in his homeland (Serb), and then a perpetual foreigner for most of the rest of his life, an outsider ... his identification with and desire to be part of vampires as a people makes sense, and I want him to have that back.
Which leads to Third: I really, really hate the Brought Down To Normal plot when it's applied to people that aren't human. Actually, no. I hate it anyway. Violently. I have ever since I first encountered it with Q in Star Trek. Because ...
Okay. I know the intent is usually to force a character to see life as the other lives it, usually added in the case of powerful characters to a lesson on the dangers of pride and hubris. Given Nikola, that last is understandable, and given the scene with Henry in 3x08 ... but no, because it's his status as a genius that's challenged there, not his status as powerful or inhuman, so ... Anyway.
But this plot ... Regardless of how it's intended, a part of me keeps reading it as an attempt to make a character more acceptable or sympathetic by forcibly making them more like us. To physically make someone different from what they see as their people, against their will, in order to make them more acceptable to us or to the rest of the cast, to 'teach them a lesson' ... that pushes about five billion wrong buttons for me. I ... Gah! *screams in frustration* Taking a standard of acceptability, like 'human', and forcing a character into it until they learn the sins of 'pride' ... take away the word 'human', put in 'white' or 'straight' or 'neurotypical' ... The way it's used in sci-fi, where they are physically rewritten into the desired state ... How is that not an incredible violation on the part of the writers? How is that not ... how is that played for laughs?
Nikola was proud of being a vampire. Fair enough. He was one. He's allowed to be proud of it, allowed to be proud of what he was, of what his ancestors were. If he needs to learn lessons of pride, let him learn them as a vampire. Don't force him to be something he doesn't want to be just to make a point. There is ... there's a difference between teaching someone not to look down on other people for being different, and teaching someone that being proud of who you are will get you forcibly remade as something else. The way this plot is used, it's hard for me to see it as anything other than the latter, and really, really hard for me not to instinctively be horrified by it.
It's also why I have huge, huge problems with what Helen did in Trail of Blood. HUGE problems. Because she couldn't have let him keep the pupae, make himself a cure, and then destroy it? She couldn't have let him have his dream, get himself back to what he really, truly, believed he should be? Why? I mean, I understand the Ashley thing, but why couldn't she let him become a vampire again before she took the thing? Did she want him ... what, controllable? Less powerful? Not in a position to leave her? *shakes head* I don't get it. The only way I can reconcile the end of that ep is if I let myself believe that either he didn't manage to save one of the pupae at all, or she made a deal with him to remain human-ish a while longer for some other purpose, and kept the pupae for a later date. Seriously. Anything else, and I have to really, really dislike Helen Magnus.
Gah! Sorry, sorry. Issues, yes, and cranky, and possibly over-reaction, but ... this whole plot pushes big red buttons for me. I don't like it. I really don't like it, much as I enjoy seeing Nikola playing with his new powers and having fun with the Sanctuary crew ... and learning that they will help him even when he can't return the favour ... But. At the same time. Big red buttons. Lots of them. Sanctuary as a show purports to be about learning to accept the existence of sentient and valuable beings that are different from us. Using this plot, forcibly removing the difference of one character to teach him a lesson, or make him easier for people to accept ... I have problems. I have big problems. *spreads hands*
So ... I want Nikola to become a vampire again. I really, really want it, for his sake, for my sake, for the sake of what this show is about (or at least, my interpretation thereof). *grins* I want my vampire!Nikola back.
So if Show manages to renege on the promise made by that trailer, I'm going to be very unhappy ...
I'm very deliberately phrasing it that way instead of 'why I want Nikola to get his powers back', for reasons I'll explain later. Also, apologies in advance if the tone of this gets a little ... cranky -_-; Issues, I have them.
Firstly, I want Nikola to be a vampire again because for story reasons, I want him to be. Okay, there's the problem that he'll probably not be used as much script-wise as a vampire (which I have issues with too, for other reasons), but Nikola as a vampire has time. Nikola as a vampire is not so desperate, not so vulnerable, and not quite as likely to be killed (unless they're planning something that's really going to annoy me). Much as I love and adore science!geek Nikola, Nikola as a vampire got to go places, and do stuff, and kick bad-guy butt, and I kinda miss that. Though, admittedly, Trail of Blood was awesome ...
Second, I want him to be a vampire again because he wants to be. Because he really, desperately wants to be, and not just to get back on top, not just because invulnerability comes in real handy when you spend a good portion of your time pissing off Jack the Ripper. Nikola wants to be a vampire again because that's who he is. It's who he's spent over a century being, and wants to be again, and I want him to be too.
Nikola doesn't identify with vampirism as a set of powers he gets to use. Nikola identifies with vampires as a people, a people he was part of, and forcibly removed from, and wants to be part of again. Even at his most human, he's still getting upset at 'Akaru: Blood Demon', and personally offended at Hollow Earth's grudge against his people. As he said in the Five, the others were changed, but he came into himself. That's how he views being a vampire, not in terms of powers and strength, but in terms of who he is. Given Nikola's status throughout his life as an ethnic minority in his homeland (Serb), and then a perpetual foreigner for most of the rest of his life, an outsider ... his identification with and desire to be part of vampires as a people makes sense, and I want him to have that back.
Which leads to Third: I really, really hate the Brought Down To Normal plot when it's applied to people that aren't human. Actually, no. I hate it anyway. Violently. I have ever since I first encountered it with Q in Star Trek. Because ...
Okay. I know the intent is usually to force a character to see life as the other lives it, usually added in the case of powerful characters to a lesson on the dangers of pride and hubris. Given Nikola, that last is understandable, and given the scene with Henry in 3x08 ... but no, because it's his status as a genius that's challenged there, not his status as powerful or inhuman, so ... Anyway.
But this plot ... Regardless of how it's intended, a part of me keeps reading it as an attempt to make a character more acceptable or sympathetic by forcibly making them more like us. To physically make someone different from what they see as their people, against their will, in order to make them more acceptable to us or to the rest of the cast, to 'teach them a lesson' ... that pushes about five billion wrong buttons for me. I ... Gah! *screams in frustration* Taking a standard of acceptability, like 'human', and forcing a character into it until they learn the sins of 'pride' ... take away the word 'human', put in 'white' or 'straight' or 'neurotypical' ... The way it's used in sci-fi, where they are physically rewritten into the desired state ... How is that not an incredible violation on the part of the writers? How is that not ... how is that played for laughs?
Nikola was proud of being a vampire. Fair enough. He was one. He's allowed to be proud of it, allowed to be proud of what he was, of what his ancestors were. If he needs to learn lessons of pride, let him learn them as a vampire. Don't force him to be something he doesn't want to be just to make a point. There is ... there's a difference between teaching someone not to look down on other people for being different, and teaching someone that being proud of who you are will get you forcibly remade as something else. The way this plot is used, it's hard for me to see it as anything other than the latter, and really, really hard for me not to instinctively be horrified by it.
It's also why I have huge, huge problems with what Helen did in Trail of Blood. HUGE problems. Because she couldn't have let him keep the pupae, make himself a cure, and then destroy it? She couldn't have let him have his dream, get himself back to what he really, truly, believed he should be? Why? I mean, I understand the Ashley thing, but why couldn't she let him become a vampire again before she took the thing? Did she want him ... what, controllable? Less powerful? Not in a position to leave her? *shakes head* I don't get it. The only way I can reconcile the end of that ep is if I let myself believe that either he didn't manage to save one of the pupae at all, or she made a deal with him to remain human-ish a while longer for some other purpose, and kept the pupae for a later date. Seriously. Anything else, and I have to really, really dislike Helen Magnus.
Gah! Sorry, sorry. Issues, yes, and cranky, and possibly over-reaction, but ... this whole plot pushes big red buttons for me. I don't like it. I really don't like it, much as I enjoy seeing Nikola playing with his new powers and having fun with the Sanctuary crew ... and learning that they will help him even when he can't return the favour ... But. At the same time. Big red buttons. Lots of them. Sanctuary as a show purports to be about learning to accept the existence of sentient and valuable beings that are different from us. Using this plot, forcibly removing the difference of one character to teach him a lesson, or make him easier for people to accept ... I have problems. I have big problems. *spreads hands*
So ... I want Nikola to become a vampire again. I really, really want it, for his sake, for my sake, for the sake of what this show is about (or at least, my interpretation thereof). *grins* I want my vampire!Nikola back.
So if Show manages to renege on the promise made by that trailer, I'm going to be very unhappy ...
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