Potions

Day 93: There is a decided film-noir air to January so far, today marking the passage of another of my favourite entertainers, Alan Rickman. Although most people know him for his role as Severus Snape, my introduction to him was in "Galaxy Quest" where he played a burnt-out actor from a sci-fi television show who is mistaken for his character by a group of aliens. They abduct him and the rest of the series' crew, having taken the fictional episodes for "historical documents" and expect the team to rescue them from the villainous Sarris. "Star Trek" fans either love or hate "Galaxy Quest" for the way it spoofs the show and Leonard Nimoy's protest that "I Am Not Spock." The character of Alexander Dane is perceived to be science officer Dr. Lazarus, and Tim Allen's character of Jason Nesmith is in turn believed to be Capt. Peter Quincy Taggart by the aliens.

That said, Rickman's portrayal of Snape is a tour de force, balancing villainy against heroism in just the right proportions for the character. It could not have been an easy task to maintain the duality of the character, yet Rickman did it extremely well. Some of us were not fooled by J. K. Rowling's red herrings, not for a minute. From the first book on, I suspected Snape of being a double agent. As a writer, it was what I would have done with the character. I had one brief moment of doubt when Dumbledore was slain, but a hint given in the latter part of the fifth book supported my faith that all would work out in the end.

Suffice it to say that following the loss of David Bowie whose "The Man Who Fell To Earth" is, in my opinion, one of the most profound films of the modern era, Alan Rickman's passage saddens me equallly. The position of Potions Master can never again be adequately filled.