Unless you’ve been on the moon, fans of Lance can’t have failed to notice that last week marked the Lance Henriksen Blogathon, co-hosted by the huge talents that are John Kenneth Muir and Joe Maddrey. It was also, of course, timed to coincide with the release of Lance’s biography, “Not Bad for a Human”.
The week-long event was a huge success with a wealth of material celebrating Lance’s long and varied career to date being blogged, and John rounded it all off with a special thankyou on his blog to all the contributors. What we wanted to do here at Back to Frank Black, though, was to highlight the wealth of Millennium-related material that showcased how alive support for the series still is, and point you back to some of the highlights in case you shamefully missed any of them.
Some of that material of course came from John and Joe themselves. John selected some memorable character-led scenes for his five favourite Frank Black moments and referenced Frank Black’s “quiet tenderness” as a father in his piece on “The Tao of Lance Henriksen”, whilst Joe recalled the critical reaction to Millennium’s debut in 1996 and asserted how “we need (Frank Black) now more than ever”.
Others joined the fray too. Jane Considine wrote about Season One’s “The Well-Worn Lock” and told of how she is “mesmerised by Frank Black”. And an extensive and carefully considered article over at Musings of a Sci-Fi Fanatic reminds us how “Henriksen’s approach is subtle, restrained, complex and vulnerable, the necessities required for the mood and depth of Chris Carter’s Millennium and such an extraordinary human character”. The same blog followed that epic with a reminder of some of the striking visual imagery of Season One.
Back to Frank Black’s voice was also in evidence throughout the week. James wrote a personal piece about Lance, reflecting upon his portrayal of Frank as “deeply, tragically human, filled with uncertainty, hope and love”, whilst Troy also talked of his personal friendship with Lance and summed him up as “The Essence of Excellence”. Meanwhile my regular column What the Killer Sees inverted its usual format in order to examine Frank’s transformation in the episode “The Beginning and the End” and Lance's finely nuanced handling of the role to ensure that the audience “continue to want to follow this complex hero on his journey through the dark”. It was a wonderful week and we’re just proud to have been a small part of it.
So go, read and enjoy all over again. And, when you're done, go write a letter or two.
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