Moonlight Q & A

[SharonC]

ewh is right but it makes sense I noticed it straight away on Mick but then I spotted Josef and a few others and was like WOW what's going on, thank you ladies

[Tam]

I have a rather trivial question:

Lance and Coraline's other 'brothers', is there (canon) background on any names / last names? By canon I mean in the scripts / notes from the authors / interviews etc.?

I've noticed that online Lance tends to just be called 'Lance' or Lance DuVall. I know that's Coraline's maidenname- but are they really siblings, or only siblings in the blood (of their sire)?

[librarian_7]

Canonically speaking, there's no background. Coraline mentions they were siblings, but...it's not ever really made clear if that's by birth or by turning. (Either way, it's by blood, isn't it? )

Lucky

[Lilly]

Tam, this isn't a trivial question at all. It's been the source of considerable of debate among fans. Many believe the relationship described is that of true siblings in life. Others (myself included) believe that the seven unrelated individuals became siblings by virtue of their turning by the same sire.

I have the second revision of the script, which still varies quite a bit from the final version, but even that doesn't really spell out what was meant by the sibling relationship. There is one reference, though, that may be telling. Right after Lance drops in on them in the alley and calls Coraline "sister," there is this stage direction:

Mick looks over at Coraline. He can tell by her expression that what Lance is saying is true. He is her vampire brother.

But, even that is open to interpretation. The viewers never got a "real" answer.

[Tam]

Okay! I figured as much but I thought I'd ask the Experts!

Her vampire brother, eh?

In that case, I shall just leave his last name for whatever it may be for now (I needed it for the mag, but I will work around it). Thanks!

[librarian_7]

To me, although as Lilly quite rightly points out, it's subject to interpretation, the "vampire brother" suggests it's "brother by right of turning," not "brother by birth." Then again, Lance and Coraline look as though they could be natural brother and sister.

One other thing to consider...Mick says that to his knowledge, Coraline was turned in the early 1700s. From the dates of the French king who is mentioned in TMC, 1750-ish seems more reasonable as a date for her turning. However, Mick also describes Lance as "medieval." If he's a birth-brother of Coraline's, Mick's use of that term is at best, hyperbole. If, on the other hand, Lance is a brother because they were turned by the same sire, then he could well be considerably older than she, and consequently make Mick's statement accurate.

Of course, we're assuming here that he knows the truth about when Coraline was turned. And we also have to factor in Josef's statement that Lola was "the oldest [vampire] I've ever met," when he places Lola's age at 500. So, Coraline can't be older than Josef...and it sounds as though, if Josef has met Lance, he can't be older than Josef either.

But it's all speculation. And dependence on the scriptwriters' grasp of continuity...can anyone say, "Moonlight math"?

Lucky

[eris]

I'm pretty sure it's a typo thanks to "Moonlight Math."

There was an obvious flub when ML first aired. The spoken words said Coraline's age as 100 years younger than the transcribed crawl for the hearing impaired. The transcription was done in advance, before they altered the spoken script, so Coraline was meant to be an older vampire than she ended up being. Just like Lance was originally thousands of years old. Lola was never meant to be the "oldest" vampire Josef, nor was 500 years meant to be an unusually long life span.

It's one of the muddier aspects of canon, actually, because (barring fear of his sire) there's no reason ever given for Josef to be afraid of someone who would be younger than him.

I think a lot of the planned storyline went down hill when they came up with "The Bloodline", and they had to try and retrofit the things they already had in place to squeeze around that addition. It was a fairly obvious patch job, but that's what comes from not having proper show runners or a show bible to handle all the details to keep canon straight.

[nutmegger911]

Of course, we're assuming here that he knows the truth about when Coraline was turned. And we also have to factor in Josef's statement that Lola was "the oldest [vampire] I've ever met," when he places Lola's age at 500. So, Coraline can't be older than Josef...and it sounds as though, if Josef has met Lance, he can't be older than Josef either.

But it's all speculation. And dependence on the scriptwriters' grasp of continuity...can anyone say, "Moonlight math"?

Lucky

Okay, so speaking of ML math, here's the problem setup.

Lola is the oldest vampire Josef knows. (BC)
Lola is at least 500 years old. You know how women are about telling their age. (BC)
Josef was born in 1599 (The Ringer)
Nowhere is it stated that Josef is the oldest vampire, only the oldest vampire Mick knows. (NSTAV)
There is no hard canon regarding whether Lance and Coraline share a human bloodline.
Mick believes Coraline was turned in the early 1700's. (FdL) He also holds that it is impolite to ask someone about their age. (NSTAV) Further, Coraline has lied to Mick before *coughhumanwifecough*. (Dr.Feelgood, The Ringer)
Josef has "heard of" Lance (TMC), which implies he does not know Lance.
Mick clearly did not know Lance when he came looking for Coraline. (TMC)
Therefore Lance could be older than Josef or Lola. Even if Josef knew Lance, he could be older than Josef, but younger than Lola, as Mick did not know Lance.

Oh, and one more thing. Lance is not on the list, so no help there.

Truly a dizzying intellect.

[librarian_7]

And you forgot, Mick says Josef is "one of the oldest vampires in L.A."

Lucky

[nutmegger911]

You are right. That's why I said Josef isn't the oldest vampire. Wonder who the others are.

[eris]

How do you know Lance isn't on the list? Just because he currently uses that name doesn't mean it was meant to be his actual given name (like Josef/Charles). It's very possible that the writers intended to use Lance as one of the older vampires on the list.

Given some of his comments about Coraline, I could see him being the Marquis de Sade.

[nutmegger911]

He could be, but the name Lance does not appear on the list. So there was no clue as to a last name for Lance by looking at the list. That was my only point in that comment.

[Tam]

Thanks for the summary, NM!

Given some of his comments about Coraline, I could see him being the Marquis de Sade.

Ooooooooooooo! That's an awesome idea!

[francis]

I doubt that Lance is his real name, or even one he approves of. He's french, after all.

[Tam]

It seems short for something... like Lancelot