Reflections on the Lance Henriksen Blogathon

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.

What the Killer Sees: Frank Black

The concept of What the Killer Sees is to explore the killers that featured in Millennium’s rich canon, to profile the antagonists to Frank Black’s singular hero. For this instalment, though, to mark Lance Henriksen Blogathon Week, I’m putting a spin on that format. Following on from last week’s look at the Polaroid Stalker, we consider the events that prompted Frank Black himself to turn killer, and how Lance Henriksen’s performance ensured the audience could believe such a shocking transformation...

Killer: Frank Black (Lance Henriksen)

Episode: “The Beginning and the End” (19 September 1997)
Writers: Glen Morgan & James Wong
Director: Thomas J. Wright

Quote: “I guess deep down I knew this hour would come. I thought I did everything I could to stop this from happening. What did I overlook? What could I have done? And now what must I sacrifice to have her back safe?” --Frank Black

Profile: Frank Black is Millennium’s beacon of hope. In a world tainted by moral bankruptcy, tormented by eldritch evils and teetering on the verge of apocalyptic meltdown he is our best line of defence. He knows evil having seen the world through the eyes of killers, and yet time and again he emerges from his visions triumphant and catches the bad man.

Throughout Season One, Lance Henriksen asserts Frank Black as a devoted husband and father to a wholly believable family unit. Famously, Chris Carter directed Lance to invest the consulting profiler with a sense of quiet authority through a stillness and reserve that did not come naturally to Lance but which led him to find the truth of the character. As a result, and in spite of his insights into the minds of killers, Frank seems so far from truly becoming the capability he so vividly comprehends. It is thus in the contrast to this consistency of poise and carefully measured control across the previous twenty-two episodes that Frank’s transformation in “The Beginning and the End” provides such a powerfully dramatic pay-off.


Yet Frank has been taunted for so long by the Polaroid Stalker’s missives that have repeatedly threatened to break the sanctity of his yellow house and to harm his family. Back home after the fruitless search for Catherine following the Polaroid Stalker’s kidnap of her and escape from Tacoma Airport, Frank asks Peter what he needs to sacrifice in order to get Catherine back. From his words and subsequent actions it is apparent he is willing to sacrifice at the very least his own liberty, if not his life. Having surmised the Polaroid Stalker’s location, he ignores Peter Watts’ plea to wait for backup and instead makes the decision to go there alone and armed. Finally confronted by the man who has taken his wife captive, his poise explodes into a few moments of devastatingly visceral violence, and he repeatedly stabs the man until he is dead. But for the Millennium Group’s further interference, he would not so readily have evaded being called to answer for the killing.

Even in the wake of her rescue, Catherine is left feeling conflicted from having witnessed Frank’s violent actions from such close quarters, telling him, “I don't know yet if it was wrong, what you did.” “Neither do I,” admits Frank. And neither do we, the audience, even as we are forced to consider how we might react if our most loved ones were under such threat. Plenty of portrayals of such an act of vengeance would leave the audience with no doubt as to the moral righteousness of the hero but, quite apart from his statement, the line walked by Frank Black’s character in this episode is a fine one. As Lance outlines in the documentary accompanying the Season Two DVD release, “Every action has a reaction, so no matter how pure of heart you might have been about something, you’re gonna pay the consequences, or pay for it. The truth definitely shouts. It set me out on my own.” It was a brave move to take the series’ protagonist and transform his behaviour in this way as part of its reinvention of the series, and one that might easily have gone awry.


But as John Kenneth Muir noted in his recent article on “The Tao of Lance Henriksen”, Lance embodies the very soul of the roles he undertakes, “without standing back — away from the performance — and transmitting some sense of moral judgment”. In a less nuanced or more straightforward performer’s creative grasp, Frank Black’s actions in “The Beginning and the End” might well have felt forced or untrue to the character by trying too hard to sell the audience on the righteousness of his revenge. As it is we believe Frank’s transformation and, as he drives away from his yellow house alone at the end of the episode, we continue to want to follow this complex hero on his journey through the dark.

There are a multitude of reasons why, thirteen or so years later, a legion of fans still stand firm in their resolve to return Frank Black to our screens. There is the initial creative vision of Chris Carter, the subsequent involvement of some of the very finest writers, directors, cinematographers and editors working in television throughout its three year run all contributing to a superlative body of work, but above all there is the one constant: Lance Henriksen’s unique interpretation of the role. For those of us well acquainted with Frank Black, Lance so inhabited the character that it seems inconceivable that anyone else could have played him, as the executives at FOX originally requested. Evil has many faces. Hope has just one. And, thanks to Lance, the world still needs Frank Black.

Lance Henriksen Blogathon Week: My Life with Lance

I've squandered much McLean-time trying to decide on a witty and engaging collective huddle of words on the subject of Lance Henriksen. Oddly, my musing seemed to revolve heavily around nudity gags. Alas, such lazy jokes didn't seem to quite fit the tone of the piece, so rather than continue laboured forced imagined "hilarity", I figured I'd write this au naturel myself - nude. There - it's no longer a joke, it's a fact.

Amused? Repulsed? Well if I've got you past the opening paragraph, I really don't care which ballpark you decide to sit in – you're still with me, hopefully for a little longer. So where was I? Ah, Lance.

This attempt to coax, drive and pen alphabet letters into something more dignified than a swill-and-spit word mouthwash of sentences will be coherent - I promise. While focusing on Lance it will cling to me in that particular way my clothes currently do not: My personal history with Mr Henriksen.

Before Back To Frank Black and the drive to bring Lance's Millennium character back to our screens, I will have to admit not to being a massive follower of Lance. That sounds a terrible thing to say, but it's an honest one. Naturally I was a big fan of his work throughout Millennium, but before that my experiences of Lance were relatively slim – though nevertheless significant.

I first blindly encountered Lance in Terminator, but my real memory of him first comes from Aliens. Despite my penchant for the macabre as a child, having been brought up on darker British comics like 2000AD and Eagle from five upwards, I was oddly sensitive to particular horrors. There were a couple of ideas that seriously creeped me out, and I remember being told about Alien in the playground when I was just six, and that just stuck with me. I still have dreams of being six years old and the near hysterical fear about a film I had never seen – I actually dream of living that fear as a child; of what Alien could be like through the eyes of six year old me... dreams of a film I've seen more than a few times – even played the game and read the book. If that's not an example of what a stupid berk my brain is, I don't know what is.

But in that very human way, we are drawn to what scares us. And I remember seeing Aliens when I was in my teens. Now, I know many don't consider Aliens "horror", but the general template of a lot of horror (in my humbly arrogant opinion) is the “star” is the antagonistic force, not the protagonist; the people you care about aren't as important as the force that scares and kills them. However, in Aliens there are actually a host of protagonists you could actually care for a great deal – these weren't the usual canon fodder dressed up with mild personalties, food for an unstoppable enemy. For me, the starring protagonist wasn't Ripley, it was the synthetic android, Bishop.

Bishop was captivating – a fusion of counterpoints. Henriksen's synthetic Bishop played off a warm innocence against the character's cold artificial intelligence. His eyes were kind, filled with youthful honesty, set upon the face of a mature man. In the midst of the frantic horror, he was the calm in the storm. On first watch his role isn't quite as assuring given the uncertainty of synthetics in the franchise – thanks to the memorable portrayal of Ash in Alien by Ian Holm. However on repeated watches, knowing Bishop isn't a wolf in sheep's clothing, he grows on you and in a sense you feel so comfortable with the character that you believe in him – thanks very much to such a unique and memorable performance from Lance.

Bishop was, in fact, a perfect compliment to the film's survivors of Hicks, Newt and Ripley. This dynamic was so strong, they took this quartet into comic form – until Alien 3 came about and severed this partnership (in which the comics then hastily reissued the past stories with this team re-casting them as an identical group of people who weren't Hicks, Newt, Ripley and Bishop, but looked like Hicks, Newt, Ripley and Bishop – oh, the wicked web of comicdom).

The lack of Bishop in Alien 3 disappointed me, but Henriksen's work in the franchise had left its mark – he had me spellbound by his performance and his face was firmly etched into my celluloid memory archive.

That being said, I still didn't follow Lance like so many of you have done. I guess my viewing consumption didn't really flow with his output. I saw him in Scream 3 in the 90s, I don't remember catching him in anything else until... Millennium!

When Millennium came along and I saw his face on some promo photos, Lance sold me on watching it. And the promo pitches I saw were good, a nice blend of images that informed me so much of what this character was about – the sympathetic eyes of Bishop were there, but there was something deeper, something, conversely, human about this character – and this was proved true in the show itself. For if Bishop was an example of how humans ought to be in a broad utopian sense – selfless, honest, informed with a gift of kindness, Frank Black was what humans should be in a real contemporary world – once again, honest and to some degree selfless, but carrying human imperfections – some knowingly, some not so – burdened with flaws and experiences that, if we let them, can consume us. In Lance's portrayal of Frank Black I saw an actor who could carry this weight in a single look; an expression that told me this man had experience – he wasn't artificial, and he was deeply, tragically human, filled with uncertainty, hope and love.

And now I'm in a very fortunate position to know the man behind these two characters. And as Frank is different to Bishop, Lance is different to both – yet in some respects imbues facets of the two. There is a natural honesty to Lance that he carries in both of these characters – but compared to Frank or Bishop there is a really raw energy in Lance Henriksen, an unstoppable urge to get things done, to find solutions and to make the most of a situation. He doesn't let himself dwell on the negatives in life, but he doesn't ignore the pain and suffering that he knows is present – and is always willing to contribute in anyway to fight such real horror. Perhaps in that respect, you can see shades of Frank, but if with Frank there's a passive dedication to hope, with Lance it's an active pursuit. And unlike both those characters, he is a man of great wit and humour – he can seriously make you laugh. He is opinionated and informed – he will say what he thinks and in his art he puts his all into the roles he plays. Moreover, he loves his fans and followers – he watches his Facebook page avidly, never taking the support for granted – in fact, I sometimes suspect slightly bemused at why he's worthy of such support at all. I don't think it's a question he lingers on. He is very much a man of the moment who simply enjoys the fact the interaction is there.

So this is where I stand today, working along side the man for Back to Frank Black and very honoured to be his friend as much as a co-worker. But while this piece is very much about my perception of the man, I hope it can be something to you, the reader. So often we are spellbound or seduced by such powerful performers on our screen and left wondering whether that thespian mask hides a man worthy of respect. Do we see any of the artist within his art, or is his art a true deception? In the case of Lance Henriksen, I hope I can assure those who do weigh up such a question that this man is firmly in the former category. Behind the many diverse roles Lance has played is an artist who you can watch knowing he's worth your respect – and he is a man who will always wear your respect as a badge of honour.

So happy birthday to Lance this week, an actor whose honest creativity deserves such an honour roll. And with that, I bid you goodnight – I'm off to put some clothes on.
- James McLean

What the Killer Sees: The Polaroid Stalker

What the Killer Sees explores a seminal if almost entirely absent figure from Millennium's first season for this edition, a character also utilised to set an altogether different tone at the outset of Season Two. Whilst a fascinating creation in and of himself, this is also by way of lead-in for a very special edition to mark next week's Lance Henriksen Blogathon Week. More of that in due course, as for now we explore the man who took Frank Black back into the abyss...

Killer: The Polaroid Stalker (Doug Hutchison)

Episode: “The Beginning and the End” (19 September 1997)
Writers: Glen Morgan & James Wong
Director: Thomas J. Wright

Quote: “I am the first and I am the last, I am the alpha and I am the omega, I am the beginning and I am the end. And soon he will come to understand this as he works to get inside me: with me his gift is useless. I don't fit into the serial killer profile he's come to understand. Now, I am so far beyond. I wasn't from a broken home, he’ll find no homicidal triad in my childhood, no setting of fires, no bed wetting, no cruelty to animals. I’ve had a formal education, responsibility, money. Until recently, not a loner. He’ll work on the principle that behaviour reflects personality. He’ll evaluate the criminal act itself, then the specifics of the crime scene, analyse the victim—which, of course, he knows well—before attempting the development of a profile with critical offender characteristics. This will lead him nowhere, absolutely nowhere, because until now I’ve committed no crime. This is something he’s never experienced before. Frustrated, agonised, angry even, he’ll turn to those torturous photographs I'm so fond of mailing him. He’ll consider complex theories regarding grandiose subtypes of delusional disorder or even photographic paraphilia… blah, blah, blah. Ultimately he will sense none of it applies.” --The Polaroid Stalker

Profile: For so long an unseen enigma, then—in “Paper Dove”—a briefly glimpsed collaborator or director of a serial killer, The Polaroid Stalker finally reveals himself and his motivation for having taunted Frank Black for months during “The Beginning and the End”. So far as we know, The Polaroid Stalker is not of course actually a killer and therefore arguably has no place in this column. His character is, however, one that bears closer examination.

Initial considerations might seem to indicate that The Polaroid Stalker fits a classic stalker profile. The stalker is usually motivated by some kind of underlying emotional conflict with his target, who is usually female, and psychologically can be delusional or non-delusional. The Polaroid Stalker, in spite of his evident state of mind, appears to be non-delusional in this aspect, as per the FBI Crime Classification Manual; his target is Frank Black, he is very organised in terms of luring him in and there is no sexual motive at work. His photographs of Frank’s family appear to represent a symbolic threat aimed at Catherine and Jordan, the very people that Frank holds dear above all others and seeks to protect within the sanctity of his yellow house, and are addressed explicitly to him.

Ultimately stalkers do reach a point where they act towards their victims, and The Polaroid Stalker is highly organised in this respect. His abduction of Catherine and subsequent evasion of roadblocks to his hideout required intricate planning. Any suggestions of photographic paraphilia can be quickly dispelled, revealed to be little more than a smokescreen. Frank Black is his ultimate target.

In many ways, the cited quote from the Stalker himself is key to understanding his true motive. As he talks Catherine through Frank Black’s thought processes in trying to profile him, he reveals an in-depth knowledge of his craft. Furthermore, he seems to have an understanding of The Millennium Group and their sinister agenda, taunting Catherine further at one point when he asks her, “Would you die for God, then? Would you, could you? Because I won't. No, they asked me to but I won't. They're gonna ask Frank if he's willing to give his life for you.” That, coupled with the Group’s detailed file on him, seems to imply that he may have been a previous candidate, much as Frank Black is now. The Group’s design for the ouroboros even appears on the wall in his hideout. Perhaps, then, The Polaroid Stalker is another individual broken by his former connection to the Group. A former student of theology, his knowledge of biblical prophecy is apparent, whilst his rantings to Catherine foreshadow some of those of Lara Means a matter of months later. And maybe his ultimate motive is to reveal the dangers that they pose, and finally to seek his own dramatic execution at Frank’s hands.


Kills: 0

Investigation: This investigation is borne of a scenario that has actively sought out Frank Black, rather than the other way around. After Catherine’s abduction from Seattle Tacoma Airport and having failed to halt The Polaroid Stalker’s escape from the airport or via use of roadblocks, he returns home in turmoil.

The hasty arrival of Peter Watts at the airport and his subsequent conversation with Frank at his home begin to reveal that The Millennium Group know far more about The Polaroid Stalker than they have admitted. When Watts has Roedecker and his colleagues provide Frank with a new level of access to their files, this truth becomes yet more apparent.

Frank studies the history of the stalker from the Group’s files but nothing about the Polaroid Stalker fits any established pattern. Ultimately, however, he realises the profile is really all about him. And this leads him on a personal mission, one that will change his life forever.

Coming soon! Lance Henriksen Blogathon Week!

Back To Frank Black is very proud and perhaps, a little bit humbled to be co-announcing the latest, most exciting event for Lance Henriksen fans so far this year!

Alongside writer, reviewer and big Millennium fan John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Film and TV, we are announcing the Lance Henriksen Blogathon Week! A week of Lance Henriksen blogging masterminded by John himself and Nightmares in Red, White and Blue writer/producer, Joe Maddrey!

So what's this about? Well I think John will - as always - put it more succinctly thank I. He's sent us his promotion for this upcoming Blogathon week for you all to read. It's a great idea - and we'd be honoured if you'd join us in supporting John and Joe in a week dedicated to Lance Henriksen! If you're a blogger and a Lance fan, this will be of GREAT interest to you!

Over to John!

"I'm very proud and honored to announce that this blog, Reflections on Film and TV, will soon host a blogathon dedicated to the great actor, Lance Henriksen. The dates for the Lance Henriksen Blogathon are May 2 - May 7, 2011, and the event is open to any and all bloggers with an interest in this amazing talent.

The week of May 2nd has been selected for two important reasons. First, Mr. Henriksen's birthday is on May 5th, 2011, and secondly he is releasing his new biography on the same day, entitled Not Bad for a Human. The book is being published over at Bloody Pulp Books, an imprint of Steve Niles, and you can read more about the project here.

Co-hosting the blogathon with me will be the book's co-author, Nightmares in Red, White and Blue writer/producer, Joseph Maddrey. You can check out Joe's blog devoted to Not Bad for a Human, here.

I'm thrilled to have Joe aboard with me for a week dedicated to one of the greatest and most versatile character actors of his generation, and a man who has had a tremendous impact on science fiction and horror films, as well as cult-television.

I have had the good fortune to speak with Lance Henriksen a few times; once for a telephone interview featured in The Unseen Forces: The Films of Sam Raimi, and once, more recently, when he was working on Not Bad for a Human with Joe. In both instances, I got a good feeling for Henriksen's personal and professional aesthetic or credo: total commitment, total honesty, and total freedom of artistic expression.

So those are truly the only guidelines for the upcoming blogathon.

Basically, any blogger who wants to write about Lance Henriksen during the blogathon week should do so on his or her blog (as often as you like), and then e-mail me their links at the address in my contact information (on my blogger profile page) so I can lpost a snippet or excerpt of your work and link back to your blog. I'll be checking my e-mail many times a day, every day, that week, and putting up links and snippets regularly, as well as my own original Henriksen content.

As far as content is actually concerned, the sky is absolutely the limit. We're looking for film or TV reviews, lists, photo essays, poetry, videos, podcasts, birthday wishes...anything that floats your boat, Henriksen-related. There's certainly a universe of content to consider, since Henriksen has appeared in over 160 films, from westerns to action films to sci-fi and horror and also starred in three seasons of Millennium.

So please join me and Joe here for the Lance Henriksen Blogathon, from May 2 - 7. I know there are great treats in store, with special pieces by friends across the blogosophere, and hopefully the event will really kick off Mr. Henriksen's birthday celebration in high style.

Below (and also above), I have posted a few banners for the upcoming blogathon. Please feel free to copy them and post them on your blogs if you're planning to participate.

We can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!"