TLV Abridged: Scene 5 - Flying - Part 2

TLV Abridged: Scene 5 - Flying - Part 1

TLV Abridged: Scene 4 - Just a Little One - Part 3

TLV Abridged: Scene 4 - Just a Little One - Part 2

TLV Abridged: Scene 4 - Just a Little One - Part 1

TLV Abridged: Scene 3 - "You're Human!"

This is a sort-of all-in-one scene and there is no discernible cutoff point, so I'm gonna do this all in one.

Info on Bats

For more educational programming while still being on topic:

Enjoy this good overview of bats! :)=

TLV Abridged: Scene 2 - Vampkill - Part 1

TLV Abridged: Scene 2 - Vampkill - Part 2

Happy Holidays from TLV Obsessed!

Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice, Happy Kwanzaa, happy anything! Whatever you celebrate, celebrate! It's the time of year for peace on earth, goodwill to men, and taking a break off from school.

Apologies for the lack of Christmas-themed fun as I didn't plan this in advance, but maybe next year.

Happy holidays!

Rudolph and Tony - I'll Look After You

The only problem with this one is the downer ending, but other than that, it's good.

TLV Abridged: Scene 1 - Just a Dream - Part 3

TLV Abridged: Scene 1 - Just a Dream - Part 2

TLV Abridged: Scene 1 - Just a Dream - Part 1

Due to length concerns, scene one will be a multi-part affair. Expect to see this fairly often, as some scenes are quite long.

Without further ado, I give to you, THE LITTLE VAMPIRE Abridged!

The Little Vampire Abridged

Plans are underway to abridge The Little Vampire, following the example of daesgatling over at Once Upon a Time Abridged, which means that soon, I will be capping and writing away. I suppose I should preface now that I don't own the movie (except on DVD), the characters, the movie's concept, or anything really but my own speculation-rich headcanons, available for reading throughout the blog. The words the characters say will be my own creation, which means that very likely they will sound OOC (out of character). I will try to retain their original personalities as much as possible, but given this is an abridged series in the vein of the aforementioned, the characters will also be aware of their roles in the plot, various plot holes, and other story-related oddities that crop up (because much as I love this movie, and in spite of the nostalgia effect, I notice these things, and I notice them especially when I have to pay attention to the movie by going through it piece by piece for a recent related fanfic project). Following the format of daesgatling, this means the movie stills won't be mine, either, though I will be going on a scene-by-scene basis rather than episode by episode.

So in sum, I own nothing but the dialogue I will use. Just to cover my own backside as I go into TLV Abridged.

Important Translations

Since some of us obsessives wonder exactly what they're saying or showing us at various points throughout the movie.

To begin: the chant:

"Ab ovo, in toto,
Nil desperandum,
Sine die."

In the most literal sense:

"From the beginning, completely,
Never despair
Without a day."

In essence:

"We have come full circle,
And now we lose our despair,
For now we embrace the day."

Also, the motto on the McAshton crest (the translation of which (and part of the subsequent notes) I found on an Ask somewhere):

"Sola Animo At Maniforti" translates to "Alone in spirit but with strong hand" ("alone" is feminine while "spirit" is masculine, and given the motto is first seen on a woman trying to help a vampire (possible sympathizer?), it can be reasonable to assume that she, or an ancestor, behaves as both (Boudicca, anyone?)).

And "Caveat Vamptor", translated in-universe as "Let the vampire beware" by Rudolph. This little bit implies that vampires and certain humans have been at war/interacting for centuries, possibly millennia, long enough for curses against them to be developed and perfected by three hundred years prior to the events of the movie. This again leads me (at least) to wonder exactly how long vampires have been around and who (or what) created them, but there is absolutely no way of knowing for sure (unless the books have any sort of clue, but I'm no closer to reading them than I was a few weeks ago).

The Characters With Only a Few Lines (or None)

By this, I'm referring to Von and Elizabeth, though there are other characters in the movie that could fall into this category as well, such as the caretaker (who doesn't even get a name), and Tony's teacher, Mr. Boggins. The McAshton boys have slightly more lines than these two, so belong to more of a "minor character" level.

Von Sackville-Bagg

Von is my personal enigma (if you know nothing else about me, I obsess over Von more than I crush on Gregory). He's the one that speaks up when the Stone of Attamon is in danger, and he's the one that dives to catch it. He also turns a woman into a vampire (he probably intended to kill her) because she got too curious. But besides being highly protective of the stone, what is he like? He has a tenor voice, which suggests to me that he is gentle by nature, and given that he tries to hold off the hunters while Elizabeth escapes with the amulet, I'd guess he's protective of the people he loves, as well. In general, he sounds like the greatest uncle in the world, and it's a shame we don't see enough of him to make a more definitive call on this.

Elizabeth Sackville-Bagg nee McAshton

This woman does not speak at all, but it's because of her that we have the plot to the movie in the first place. She's the reason the stone is in Tony's room, which triggers his powers and suddenly enslaves him to such compulsions as telling God and the free world what he dreamed about the night before. She's the woman that gets too curious about the stone, and perhaps because of Von's morals, or because he fell in love with her, or both, he didn't kill her right off but instead let her turn into a vampire. But not a lot can be said about her character-wise. She has the sense of duty to her husband drilled into her such that she takes up his cause of protecting the stone, and she is generally a good person, looking to keep an injured, lost, lone man warm and look out for him that way, I guess. But beyond that, what can we say? We don't know how she heard of Von, if she fell in love with him when she heard he was handsome (don't get me wrong, he is), if she heard simply that he was an injured man in need of help and she wanted to help him, none of that. Tony's visions follow the path of the stone because that's what the vampires are looking for, so we don't see Elizabeth's life or actions before this. We don't even get to hear her speak. We couldn't guess how integral she is to the plot as we know it from the part she has in the final cut, which is essentially that of an extra.

Update #2

Logic of The Little Vampire is complete! The entire series is now available for reading and comments and possibly even more insight. The saying goes that two heads are better than one. So if you are reading this, please read through those and comment with your thoughts.

Also, just a reminder, the list of ways to know you're obsessed with this movie is live and ready for comments and additions, as well, and a third character study post is on the way.

Update

My "You're obsessed with The Little Vampire when..." page just went live, so is listed on the side of the page in that section, right above the start of the Logic of The Little Vampire series, which, I'm pleased to note, is coming near its conclusion, as well. There are only three parts left to write up, and then my masterpiece (so far) will be complete! And fully ready for reader enjoyment, of course.

"You stay away from that guy. He's crazy."

Crazy like a fox, if you ask me. Rookery is a piece of work, and this is the character study post which will examine every component of what makes him such, though this has been touched upon in Logic of The Little Vampire Part 2.

A Tongue of Silver

As I have been going through the movie in chunks, I was almost forced to pick up on one particular element of Rookery's character that my mind has glossed over consistently in years of watching in single sittings. Rookery is highly manipulative. He invites the cemetery caretaker for drinks and then regales him with little bits and pieces about vampires and magic and local legend and family history, scaring the poor man half to death. The rest of the half is covered when Rookery plays on the caretaker's sense of responsibility toward the graveyard and gets him to descend into a subterranean chamber after a vampire. He coerced the man into allowing himself to become bait, getting Rookery the biting he needs to convince Lord McAshton to fund him. Once Lord McAshton is convinced, however, Rookery learns more about "his worries", and uses them to gain access to the McAshton mausoleum, the lord's pocketbook, and possibly free reign about the village, as he  has no problem drilling dozens of holes in search of an unmarked grave. Rookery knows for a fact that Elizabeth McAshton is deader than dead, but he still plays on the worry that this might not be the case after all in order to get what he wants. During this process, perhaps unbeknownst to him, he put the idea in the lord's mind that his employee's son is one of the undead and must be dealt with accordingly. But then, Rookery would probably have been pleasantly surprised by the news.

Inquisitor

By this, I mean "torturer and heartless killer". On two occasions, Rookery tries to kill Tony, first by running him over with his behemoth of a truck, and the second time by trying to shut him up in a coffin and leave him to suffocate. To the vampires, he is considerably worse, actively causing them excrutiating pain (the "torturer" part of the equation) by lowering a giant, bright light into their cavern in the middle of the night and turning it on, backing them all into a corner as they slowly get crispy fried. As he had the means to explore this cavern during the day, it is in no way inconcievable that he could have gone down there during visiting hours and staked the vampires in their sleep instead, if he truly is so hell-bent on killing them (pardon the pun). But this is apparently too humane for him, and he takes sick pleasure in listening to the vampires scream in pain as they are roasting alive. In fact, he is only shown actively trying to stake the vampires once, and he takes several warning shots first to show them he means business (if he means business, this is debateable). Everything else he does is for the sake of getting the stone and having fun along the way, though his idea of "fun" is disgusting and deplorable.

Fantastic Racist

This man, for no reason at all, despises vampires and thinks the only thing they are good for is being sent to hell, a sentiment he expresses no less than three times throughout the movie. He regards vampires as "filthy" and "things" (in the same sentence no less) even though this universe clearly establishes that vampires used to be human and still retain nearly all of their human characteristics and make efforts to be as human as possible while they wait for the chance to become human again. Rookery simply doesn't care about any of this and goes on about his merry way, manipulating, torturing, and trying to kill in order to achieve his goals.

Family Dynamics

Having been going through the movie in chunks over about two weeks, I've picked up a few things. This is the first of several posts which will detail them, as I come to them and as I put them together in the most cohesive fashion possible.

The first major topic is how the two major family units in the movie act within themselves (which is to say, inter-family interactions within the Thompson and Sackville-Bagg families). (TL:DR at the bottom of the post.)

The Thompsons:

Members: Working father who is always doing something work-related, stay-at-home mother who is trying to keep everything together, son who is slightly depressed and dealing with something he doesn't quite understand.

Robert "Bob" Thompson: This is one of those guys who asks someone who is currently speaking English (albeit with a thick accent and through sobbing) to speak in English. However, when he isn't hard at work on the golf course for his boss or anything even remotely related to that, he is busy immersing himself (superficially) in the culture surrounding him. He knows what to call the police in local slang terms, considers people who aren't himself and his family "foreigners", and seems to really enjoy golf (to be fair, he must if he wanted to be a golf course designer when he grew up). He regards anything even slightly unusual as "weird" and unfit for his son to be around ("Enough weirdness going on around here, no wonder he's having nightmares."), and he considers an "obsession" with vampires to be abnormal. In fact, he is very conditional about his son. He is proud when Tony is interested in golf, his work, or coats of arms, but he is upset (to varying degrees) when Tony's focus is on the undead and his recurring dream, or when he hears that Tony has basically made a fool of himself at school for the umpteenth time since they moved in. Though he does try to convince Tony that he doesn't think the boy is crazy at one point, it plays off as more of an effort to save face so Tony doesn't know what he's been thinking (though Tony can very easily guess). Also spends afternoon tea (which is wife most likely prepared) doing paperwork.

Dottie Thompson: She is a very loving mother, and I suspect (personally) that she is trying to make up for the lack of effort put in by her husband when it comes to Tony. She is considerably more understanding about Tony's nightmares and finds it distasteful to have his "obsession" be brought up in public, perhaps for fear that he will be harshly judged. She sincerely appreciates the works of art his dreams have spawned (and it should be noted that Bob clearly does not), and is generally much more nurturing to Tony throughout the movie. She is also the one to call the cops after their son has been missing for several hours. When it comes to Bob, she is snappish with him in defense of Tony on at least two occasions, the first when they are called home after Tony disappears the first time, and the second during her argument with her husband on Saturday night. I'm starting to wonder if their marriage has hit a few rocks (and conflicts over how to raise kids can be some very big rocks).

Tony Thompson: This poor kid is caught in the middle of an almost unseen struggle between his parents and seems unhappy at home, evinced most clearly when he tells Rudolph that his parents "have their moments" of being nice, which is to say, usually things aren't all sunshine and roses in the Thompson household. Rudolph, with his manners, decides to drop a clearly touchy subject and moves on to what he's going to do for the rest of the night. Compounding Tony's troubles are his recurring dreams about vampires and whatever compels him to discuss these dreams in class when it's plain as day that they contribute to his constantly getting picked on and in trouble with his teachers. To make matters even worse, the movie establishes that he lives in a world that thinks he's a headcase. Therefore, Tony is a bit reclusive, possibly confides chiefly in his mother, and is more than willing to declare a vampire his best friend, after said vampire saved his life, and after that selfsame vampire tried to kill him. Tony is desperately lonely and struggling practically alone in a world that doesn't understand or care to understand his experiences.

The Sackville-Baggs:

Members: strict father of three who does mean well (under a lot), loving wife and mother who is actually quite crafty in getting around her husband, rebellious older brother who still supports family's goal, adventurous younger brother who also supports the cause, and hopeless romantic youngest sister.

Frederick "the Great" Sackville-Bagg: Tall, imposing, aristocratic in bearing and a little bit isolationist in ideology, but he is also highly aware of vampire protocol, especially the protocol he sets for his family. For instance, even though his bloodlust is evident when he first meets Tony, he instead tells Tony to leave. For another case, which is explained in Logic of The Little Vampire Part 2, once it is revealed that Tony has visions and can share them with vampires, no other vampire makes a move to attack Tony, and Frederick even starts to develop trust in the boy. Also, like any father, he is trying to keep his children doing anything harmful to them, including associating with humans who would hunt them down as soon as befriend them, and he is deeply upset because of Rudolph's friendship with Tony and what he believes it has done to the family. But just as often as he comes into conflict with other members of the Sackville-Bagg family (namely his sons), he does everything in his power for the greater good of the family and even blames himself when he feels he's done wrong by his clan, namely when waiting impatiently for Tony and Rudolph to return from their quest for the Stone of Attamon and he states that he "left [their] fate in the hands of two small boys" and declares that he "won't even ask [their] forgiveness. [He doesn't] deserve it." Imperfect though he may be, he is much more aware of it than, say, Bob.

Freda Sackville-Bagg: As strikingly beautiful as she is crafty, she loves her husband and three children and is very similar to Dottie in regard to her relationships with them. The only notable difference is that she and Frederick are closer and have a stronger relationship than the Thompson couple (I suppose being dead for three hundred years does that to you), and she knows what she can get away with when it comes to getting Frederick to change her mind. She doesn't need to be argumentative; she simply needs to drop her voice a little, get close, get the tone just right, and Frederick is puddy in her hands. This same trick works on Robert Thompson later on in the movie, to much greater success.

Gregory Sackville-Bagg: Rebellious, impetuous, and deadly. Personally I don't put it past Gregory to have stolen the clothes he's currently wearing, regardless of his reasons, or being responsible for a few mysterious deaths over the centuries. He either cannot or chooses not to control his bloodlust to the point that he attacks two humans and succeeds in biting one, and for whatever reason, be it that he is sick of being chased around by vampire hunters or that he truly does believe this, he feels that vampires should be taking control of their situation, challenging humans to hunt them down rather than running from them. He allows Rudolph to wordlessly (or nonverbally, as the case may be) berate him when he has a lot on his plate, but he does heed his brother's wishes, especially for Tony's safety. Rudolph is the one to get him to back off Tony, and he succeeds before it ever comes out that Tony is a sympathizer. He also, rather reluctantly, sticks around after Rudolph tells him to and shuts the wicker basket lid on him (which makes me wonder exactly what their dynamic is: did Rudolph turn his brother? Are they just that close? Perhaps Rudolph simply gave him the idea to take the amulet from their father). Just before that, he expresses curiosity/concern about what Rudolph is up to before being essentially shot down. Gregory does take the amulet, and he does the make the Call, proving he does ultimately share his family's goal of regaining their humanity. In short, a rebellious punk kid, older brother, and (semi)dutiful son all rolled into one.

Rudolph Sackville-Bagg: "I was only taking the road less traveled." This one line sums up his entire personality: he spies on humans in efforts to learn their ways, he pokes around potentially dangerous places (such as a castle in which a family has taken up residence), and has his own ideas about where the Stone of Attamon could be (though his father never listens to them). He and his sister Anna are affectionate with each other, and he jokes with her on one occasion (about daywalkers, discussed in the Like Some Daywalker post). He is derisive with his brother when the latter makes a mistake and willing to withhold information from him on a separate occasion altogether, though the latter only accounts for spoken conversation, as vampires are telepathic (for some reason this is treated as a goof, but I'll go into that later). He still manages to be on good terms with his father, though he wanders off on occasion at length enough to worry both of his parents sick to death (again), and he is the first of his family to befriend Tony (after trying to kill him and then saving his life, of course). In fact, he is the reason Tony enters the equation in the first place in terms of the main plot. Without Rudolph, the movie would be about Tony having dreams and being bullied.

Anna Sackville-Bagg: Anna gets away with snide remarks and becoming smitten with Tony upon meeting him (which is treated rather lightly, given she's about seven, appearances-wise), and the former especially indicates that she's the "baby" of the family. She is almost hopelessly romantic, believing in chivalry and giving elaborate declarations of undying love to Tony at every available opportunity, which sets up the perfect opportunity to feel sorry for her: that moment when her brother and the object of her affections essentially walk out in the middle of her recitation of her poem. Still, she perserveres, which speaks to the power of love indeed. Maybe there's something to be said for mental ageing in a case like this.

This turned into a character study of nearly every major character, now that I think back on all this work, though my main focus was originally how they interact with each other within their family units. As that is an extension of an individual's personality, then perhaps this was necessary. In any event, TL:DR version: The Thompsons are fairly solid as a family, with a possibly slightly depressed son who manages to turn his life around on making a friend, a somewhat sketchy marriage, and all the changes that come with moving to the other side of the world. The Sackville-Baggs have been at it longer and are better at it. They each know how the other works and how to circumvent whatever strategies another might use for whatever reason or situation. However, all of them work toward the same goal, and it is one of the key factors that keeps the Sackville-Bagg unit together.

Here's to the Brothers

And here is a post dedicated to my favorite relationship in the movie: that between Gregory and Rudolph, and it's such a shame we don't get to see very much of it.



 

 

 

 

 

 

Hearts of Olden Glory

As stated in my last video post, I would try to upload my Hearts of Olden Glory video, and here it is. To me, Hearts of Olden Glory is the definitive The Little Vampire song, about hope and a whole group of people finding a place in the world again, truly quite beautiful, in my opinion.

The Little Vampire - Book of Golden Stories

So I finally found this video after forever and realized I'd posted a link to it on my LiveJournal a long, long time ago. I was reminded by watching a clip from a Maven of the Eventide episode (over there on blip.tv, if you wanna go check her out; she reviews vampire movies) wherein some of the Buffy opening was showing, and that book shot is used in the very opening of this video, why I'm not entirely sure. Of course, the timing of this isn't the greatest, but the song does fit the general storyline of the movie (I prefer Hearts of Olden Glory myself, and I think I'll post that sometime, too) and it's the video that introduced me to Runrig and forever linked its music with The Little Vampire in my mind. So anyway, here's The Little Vampire set to Book of Golden Stories by Runrig:

Vampire Characteristics

A list of characteristics organized by Appearance, Weaknesses, Supernatural Powers, Reproduction and Feeding, and Setting Characteristics. The full table is on Wikipedia and details everything from folklore to Twilight, but for purposes of the blog, all that will be listed here is what pertains to The Little Vampire specifically.

Appearance:

The Little Vampire (1985 Series): pale, with fangs, reflection, and shadow, are alluring (no mention of whether they appear on film or not)

The Little Vampire (2000 Movie): pale, with fangs, reflection, and shadow, are alluring (again, no mention of film)

Weaknesses:

The Little Vampire: stakes are fatal, sunlight is fatal, decapitation, drowning has no effect, fire, silver and garlic have no effect (garlic probably just smells awful to the enhanced olfactory system), holy water, can cross running water, can enter homes uninvited, are not obsessed with numbers and needing to count things

Supernatural Powers:

The Little Vampire: are immortal, have enhanced strength, senses, and speed, have unnatural healing abilities, can fly and shapeshift, have psychic powers, are telekinetic, are not pyrokinetic (cannot control fire), can climb anything and occasionally hang from the ceiling to sleep

Reproduction and Feeding:

The Little Vampire: infertile, biting turns victim into mindless vampire, do not reproduce by transfusion, reproduce via having the victim drink vampire blood after being bitten (which implies that vampires actually have blood), are not inhabited by demons, no notes on diet or effects on their victims, though here it should be noted that they subsist on cows and in the movie, their bites do have the effect of (slowly) turning their victims into vampires, mindless or otherwise

Setting Characteristics:

The Little Vampire: no known progenitor, source is a magical amulet formed from a piece of the Comet of the Lost Souls which was apparently used to turn them into vampires (implied by Wikipedia, not me, not the movie), no Dracula or other supernatural creatures seen (though one of the books is titled The Little Vampire Meets Dracula; I'd have to read it, though, to see if little Rudiger is watching a movie, reading the book, or meeting the vampire in the flesh), can have non-vampire lovers, do not rest exclusively in coffins ("Just as long as the sun can't find me." --Rudolph), nothing on any society or organizations, hidden from the human world

Little Vampire Timeline

I  just worked this out today, and I'm pretty excited about it.

The events of The Little Vampire start on a Wednesday, or at the very least late Tuesday night, when Tony awakens from the latest in apparently a long string of nightmares. Here's the whole timeline:

Late Tues. Night/Early Wed. Morning: Tony awakens from nightmare, wakes parents, umpteenth time.

Wed.: Tony gets driven to school by Dottie, gets into fight, blurts out nightmares in class (agan, umpteenth time)

Wed. Night: Parents go to party, Rudolph lands in Tony's room, attacks Tony but then they become friends after saving each other's lives, Tony goes flying for the first time, babysitter worried sick, parents called, parents come home, Tony safe, Rudolph stays the night.

Thurs.: Tony gets into fight with McAshton boys (again), goes golfing with Dad

Thurs. Night: Tony finds Rudolph missing, laments, finds Rudolph comes back, manipulates hapless vampire into taking him flying again, tells about his dreams, learns the events actually did happen and could happen again, gets found out by Rudolph's family and chased off, gets attacked by Rookery, falls into crypt, shares vision with Rudolph's dad, is sent home but he and Rudolph take a detour to terrorize Tony's bullies

Fri.: Tony treats bullies like shit (has them carry his stuff, etc.), Bob's presentation interrupted, afternoon tea, Tony learns about crest

Fri. Night: Rookery baits caretaker, Gregory (older brother) bites caretaker, Rookery shines huge light in crypt and nearly kills all the vampires, Tony saves them, takes them to nearest barn, allows them to stay in his celler, helps them get settled in, Anna teaches Tony to whistle and gives him a dead rat

Sat.: Tony goes with dad to work, runs into Rookery and follows him and Lord McAshton around McAshton's place and the mausoleum, falls into empty grave, gets shut in there by Rookery while latter bullies lord into keeping quiet, Tony whistles, Rudolph and Anna wrap selves up in tin foil and head off to save the day, they find the real grave but not the stone, Tony has another vision, Rookery overhears revelation, Gregory makes Call, Anna goes to cliffs while Rudolph and Tony go back to Tony's place, tear up his floorboards, and find the amulet right when Rookery bursts down the door, Rookery kidaps Tony but runs into vampire cows, headed by Rudolph, off to save the day again, Tony escapes, they get the stone to the vampires, everybody happy, Rookery shows up riding a blimp and picks a fight, Tony's parents (brought there by the vampire parents via hypnosis) fight back and plunge him into the sea again, Tony makes wish, then stands sadly where all his friends used to be Also: Lord McAshton comes to Bob claiming Tony is a vampire, Bob tells the guy to buzz off, vampire caretaker attacks Lord McAshton, both disappear off the face of the earth

Some unspecified time later: Tony sees human vampires who don't recognize him, but he whistles and they do, life is all happy as he gets to catch up with his friends

And that's basically the when part of the setting. The entire plot takes place in less than a week, and when you think about it, this kid basically gets put through a wringer. He's on a hard core time crunch to find a magic stone the vampires have been looking for for three hundred years, he's being bullied, he's got serious daddy issues even though his mom is trying her best to mitigate that situation, he's just moved and they're still unpacking (so this can't have been happening for very long), not to mention the hell Rookery puts him through. It's a miracle the kid isn't psychologically damaged in some way from all this pressure. Maybe he is and we don't know about it. I don't know, but that's something to explore in another post, or possibly a page.

Like Some Daywalker

"You're the nervy one, sneaking off like some daywalker."

--Anna, to Rudolph

Anna makes this comment in a throwaway fashion, but I'm curious. What is a daywalker? This concept is of course never touched on again, so I can't write a proper page about it like I did Tony's sympathy powers, but still?

The term implies a vampire that can go out in the day, hence "daywalker", but this could mean anything. The universe clearly establishes that it's possible to be an ex-vampire, so could this be a daywalker? I read somewhere that the vampires are capable of having relations with humans, meaning there is a chance of having hybrids (called dhampir by Eastern European cultures). Could this be a daywalker, as it is in Blade?

Furthermore, what is a daywalker's place in vampire society? Given that it's treated snidely by Anna, and Frederick finds it distasteful for her to say such a thing, the status of the daywalker doesn't seem to be a good one. Perhaps vampires think themselves better than daywalkers, and daywalkers are essentially second-class citizens in vampire culture.

Or maybe Frederick finds it distasteful that Anna is treating the daywalker concept so lightly, which therefore means that daywalkers are a sort of ideal, which lends credence to the theory that they could be ex-vampires, myth or otherwise.

Curse this movie, for not settling this.

Maybe the books will, if I can ever read them.

Symptoms of Sympathy

I'm currently working on rewriting a LiveJournal series I wrote a while back on this beloved movie, and the piece I'm writing right now details what exactly makes Tony (or any sympathizer for that matter) so special. For a condensed list in case the article is TLDR for you, and to help me think, here is a list of signs that you may have a sympathy for the undead:

1. You start having really strange recurring dreams
2. You feel the need to tell people about these dreams
3. You may occasionally start having visions, or sharing visions with any vampires you happen to meet
4. You want to help the vampire that just attacked you, against all logic
5. A vampire hunter mistakes you for a vampire
6. As soon as you share a vision with a vampire and/or other such incidents occur/become public, all vampires in the immediate vicinity stop attacking you
7. The vampire hunter still tries to kill you even after he learns that you are, in fact, a normal human being
8. You want to be a vampire, against all logic and even when told it's a bad thing
9. If you are told you should fear vampires, you quickly dispatch the notion almost as soon as you meet one
10. You feel bizarre compulsions which tell you to:
• help vampires/save them from hunters
• tell God and the free world about the dreams and visions you've been having over and over again
• stand up to guys many times your size when they threaten your newfound vampire friends, and they have weapons
11. You find yourself longing to be around vampires almost constantly, or during all night hours
12. You have magic/psychic ability beyond what is considered "normal"

If you experience any of these signs, you may, in fact, be a sympathizer, though don't jump to conclusions. If you experience any combination of these, or even all of them, GET THEE TO A CEMETERY! Track down your local vamprie clan at once and offer assistance. If they attack, share a vision with them and explain to them what you've been going through. If Item #6 happens as a result, then they know you're telling them the truth.

And that's a condensed version of what it means to be a sympathizer. For the full version, check out the page on the side of the screen over yonder there.

The Little Vampire Obsessed Revival

Okay, if this were a church revival, it would get a hell of a lot more attention.

That out of the way and filling my quota of witty (if less than age-appropriate) remarks for the day, on to more serious matters. The author of the original The Little Vampire Obsessed, which will go in the Links section of this blog, is now incommunicado, it seems, but she (he?) did once suggest that I should be a sort of co-founder for that blog. Of course, I have no idea how that works, and now I'm faced with no other choice but to revive the blog, because it's been pretty much static for almost a year now. Therefore, here you'll find everything The Little Vampire (the 2000 movie, as well as some material from the two series (1985 and 1993 respectively) and the books (which I haven't read and can't find in the states to save my life)) all in one place.

That's my reason for this blog, and I hope to be more attentive to it than I am to my other online escapades (save LiveJournal and Fanfiction.Net) and more attentive than the original author was to his/her effort. Of course, the original still remains posted, so as long as that's true, you can still check it out. Just click that link right over there, on the side of the page -->

The movie's a bit different from the books and the series, let me get that out of the way first. First difference is the language: the movie is in English, and the books and series are originally in German. Second is the setting: the movie takes place in Scotland, the books and series in Germany. Third is the plot: As I understand it, the books and series have nothing to do with the vampires wanting to turn human (and the vampires are half their age in the books as they are in the movie), but instead them trying to avoid local vampire hunter Geiermeier (Rookery) and live peaceful lives and go generally unnoticed. And Rudolph's befriending a human gets him banished until the vampires throw a party that forgives everything. (Wow, vampires have a culture. Imagine that.) The movie goes a bit like this:

Tony Thompson moves to Scotland because his dad has to build a golf course for a Scottish lord. Once there, he starts having nightmares about a clan of vampires getting attacked by a vampire hunter and losing their amulet to the sea, and one of their own who dives to catch it. Of course, for whatever reason, Tony blurts all this out in school, and the end result is that he sounds insane and is bullied rather frequently (actually daily) by the lord's grandsons (which makes me wonder where their father is in all of this, but I digress). One night, a vampire flies into Tony's room, looking to escape Rookery, and mistakes Tony for a vampire initially. The vampire tries to attack Tony but is too weak to do much, and must be taken to a barn to feed on a cow. Tony gets nearly splattered by Rookery in his behemoth of a truck, the vampire (named Rudolph) saves his life, and it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Tony then spends the rest of the movie getting revenge on the bullies and helping Rudolph and his family find the missing amulet that will restore their humanity (which would give Rookery what he wanted in the first place, which was no more vampires, but in order to move a plot forward, one needs an antagonist. Again, I digress).

So that's the long and the short of the movie, to give a little background about this movie that I love so much that I'm willing to start a (largely unnoticed, I predict) blog about it, resurrecting another largely unnoticed effort done by another such devoted fan. Like him/her, I also have high hopes for this piece. I have plans for vids of all sorts (the movie included, as well as fanvids and vids of Runrig, which this movie led me to, and I can show you how), links to related pages and some not so related pages, fan art, fan fiction, etc. I suppose you could say the effort is to bring together into a (semi)cohesive format the entire body of knowledge on this movie, though odds are I won't come anywhere close, because for every two thousand people to watch a movie, there are two thousand and six interpretations (writers, producers, editors, and directors included in that latter figure). But I can try.

Now, look. I know this is a fourteen-year-old movie, and just one at that, and also this isn't Twilight or True Blood or Interview With the Vampire, but I can say with perfect certainty that this movie changed my life and gave me direction and purpose for longer than I can remember clearly. I have a deep love for The Little Vampire, and as I once wrote in a personal document, it is my "eternal and constantly present guide through life". I know this sounds like I'm taking things a bit far, but it's true. The Little Vampire led me to Runrig, which led me to Gaelic, which it is now my passion to learn and become fluent in. It also led me to Scotland, where I now hope to one day live, if only for a year or so. It helped instill in me a lifelong love of the vampire and Halloween. All of these are things which define me as a person at this point in my life, and it's almost inconcievable to me that I would be any of these things without The Little Vampire to thank for it. And I would also like to thank Gregory, for being the first of several slightly older men that I would develop crushes on and/or date.

"Any and every excuse for loving that movie is welcomed here," so says Thriscara, the originator of TLV Obsessed, and even no excuse at all, in my book. You can just love a good movie. People do that all the time. My job here is to provide as much information and quality material as possible and bring it to one place in hopes of helping others and maybe gathering a following (you never know).

So here there will be vids, fan art, fanfiction, fanfiction concepts, screencaps, good music (I think, at least), commentary on the movie and any related materials, and possibly a photo gallery as well. If anyone has any material they'd like posted here, please email freakygeek@solution4u.com or PM me on Fanfiction.Net at www.fanfiction.net/~tjguard (though for pictures and videos, the email is probably your best bet) and please know that I will be watching for spam, weirdos, and general anomalies of all sorts, so if you're a prince from Nigeria, forget it.

So enjoy and drop a line with anything good if you've got it!