"Bye, bye, Aunt Agatha, but really, nobody's going to miss you...!"
And so a better story emerges, or doesn't because, like with most things, "Nobody knows anything..."
I do get mildly irritated, however, when iconic characters get the chop for no very good reason, or to try and create a bit of a "buzz" around something, or, more cynically, just to increase the circulation or the ratings or the box office, depending upon the medium in which you are working.
When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle shoved Sherlock Holmes off the Reichenbach Falls, it was because he wanted an end to him, but, partially because of the outcry (but, I suspect, also because of the pay cheques and the fact that nothing else he was writing was ever quite THAT successful - which is also, incidentally, why I believe Harry Potter WILL be back one day...) he brought him back and he went on to have a further career up until and beyond his life as a Sussex Bee-Keeper, and that particular Great Detective was able to fade away so that we can still believe, if we want to, that he's out there somewhere, solving his crimes and doing his bit for King and Country.
I'd rather believe that than find him coming to a pitiful end on his deathbed with all his faculties fading. Sherlock Holmes should never be seen in his dotage, or losing his marbles, in my humble opinion, because he's meant to be there, in his prime, combatting the worst villainy that the Empire could produce.
When Agatha Christie did finally bump off Poirot (You didn't know that? Sorry, perhaps I ought to have put up a spoiler warning there...?) it was probably a fitting end to a long and distinguished literary career, but I really didn't like it all that much, to be honest with you, and I notice that in contrast, Jane Marple is still out there in literary limbo with her fate unknown, which is somehow far more comforting, unless you're a villain, that is...
You see, I really don't like it when they bump off iconic figures in books and television and films, especially if it's done as a cheap bit of opportunism, but also when you know that it's bringing along with it a bit of false jeopardy.
Science Fiction is particularly poor at doing this because the audience simply know that with a bit of jiggery-pokery and mumbo-jumbo our hero or heroine is going to be alive and kicking by episode two of next year's run, given that their character's name is in the title, unless the contract negotiations really break down and then, like Marley, doornail resemblance awaits them and a "mysterious, never-before-mentioned-or-seen relative who just happens to share their name might turn up at just the right moment instead.
Captain Kirk has now become such a massive and iconic part of popular culture that I always thought that it was a mistake to have him bumped off in that "Next Generation" film in which he appeared. Given the number of follow-up books featuring the character resurrected, it seems that quite a few people agreed with me on this, but then, in the original ten films, it's hard to think of one where something or someone important to the mix didn't get obliterated (usually the Starship Enterprise itself) in an effort to make each film "different" or "more iconic" than the last.
Interestingly, when it was done best, it was because the character of Mister Spock was supposed to be killed off forever, only for the producers to build the next two films around bringing him back from the dead, but it proves the point that when it's done poorly, it can look very poor indeed, like the "homage" to that scene played out in the new film which somehow manages to play far worse than in the original, convinces no-one, and somehow just serves to show how well it was done the first time around.
Superman, Batman, Kirk... In many ways these characters ought to be the immortals of popular fiction in American culture, and yet they're forever being announced as being killed off, only to be resurrected in another form like "New Coca Cola" or any other "new, improved" nonsense which turns out to just be more of the same, but just a little bit worse.
I still haven't really recovered from the fictional death of Inspector Morse and I, for one, still think that it was a bit of a mistake for the author to actually go through with it. Somehow, to me, it's now very difficult to watch all of the other Morse episodes without thinking of his ultimate fate and wondering whether he should be bothering, and that he should go off and enjoy himself instead, and maybe have a pint or three, because it's really not going to end well for him.
Sometimes, it's simply better not to know.
It does, of course, all come down to how much investment that you personally have in the character as to whether you care very much. After all, they are only creatures of the imagination, and some people take a positive pleasure in knowing that their favourite soap opera characters are going to come to a sticky end sometime soon, whilst I can't understand why anyone would want to watch anything new if they know exactly how it's going to unfold before it even begins.
Some people, of course, just revel in witnessing the misfortunes of others, in life as well as in fiction, but for me, especially when it comes to the great detectives, I'd rather that they didn't go out in a blaze of glory, but remain quietly doing what they do best, out there somewhere, putting away the villains and keeping the rest of us safe.
Nigel Pargetter
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