Lance et compte
Encyclopedia
Lance et Compte is a series of Quebec
téléroman
s revolving around a Quebec City
ice hockey
team. The series aired from 1986 to 1989 on the Radio-Canada
network, and revival series on TQS in 2001 and on TVA from 2004 to the present.
The first season was filmed in both French and English, the English version appearing on CBC Television as He Shoots, He Scores. It was the first television series to air simultaneously in English on CBC and in French on Radio-Canada. (An earlier series, La famille Plouffe
, had aired on both networks, but not simultaneously; the English version aired approximately a year behind the French series. Each episode of Lance et Compte, however, aired in English as He Shoots, He Scores in the same week.)
The series was scripted by Réjean Tremblay and Louis Caron for the first season, and by Tremblay and Jacques Jacob after that. Following the end of the regular series, a number of television movies continued to air into the 1990s. A new generation of the series started to air in 2001 and a movie is set for 2010.
s, tells the story of the fictional National Hockey League
team Le National from Quebec City, and its players. The main protagonist is Pierre Lambert, the young, handsome player drafted by Le National from the Trois-Rivières
Dragons junior team.
In the first series, Pierre Lambert is selected to play for Le National de Québec, his boyhood team, along with his best friend Denis Mercure. During that year, Pierre learns how to control himself in the pro level and how to deal with hockey and his love life.
The second series is focused on the World Cup of Hockey. Pierre Lambert is selected to play for Team Canada but personal issues make him play at a very bad level. Pierre has to deal with those issues in time to help Canada win the World Cup. The theme of Soviet
hockey players wanting to flee their country and play in North America is also included in the series.
In the third installment of the series, Le National de Québec are dealing with big financial difficulties and with an injury plagued Pierre Lambert, the future in Quebec is in doubt. Pierre Lambert and his friends will have to start winning and find a way to keep Le National in Quebec.
hockey expression, equivalent to the English He shoots, he scores. Something the show was known for is its somewhat occasional risqué love scenes. The team Le National is a direct copy of the real-life Nordiques
, up to the logo (the Nordiques have the lower case letter N as symbol; the National has a capital N). The Dragons are themselves a copy of the Trois-Rivières Draveurs
from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
. Copies of real organizations are common in Québécois téléromans. Examples: La Presse newspaper is L'Express in Scoop and the Sûreté du Québec
police force is the Sûreté nationale in Jasmine. However in the TV movies that aired immediately following the original series, the real junior team names are used including the Trois-Rivières Draveurs
and the Shawinigan Cataractes
.
as Cogne et gagne, with France French
dubbing. A well known incarnation of Lance et Compte is the series of parody sketches of Rock et Belles Oreilles
dubbed Snappe pis Bourdonne.
Several TV movies have been made in the franchise and were showed on TVA from 1991 to 1992.
A new generation of the original series started to air in 2001 with a new breed of players (and presence of the original characters) and aired on TQS. Since 2004, three more series have been aired on TVA and a fourth is currently under production also to be aired on TVA.
Lance et Compte: La Nouvelle Génération focuses on a new star named Danny Bouchard. Pierre Lambert is now retired and the agent of Bouchard. Le National de Québec are playing very poorly for years now and if the team continues losing they might yet again be threatened to move out of the city. With the help of the new coaches, Le National have to find a way to win and fast.
La Reconquête focuses on the love life of Danny Bouchard and Marc Gagnon. Bouchard is rapidly turned into a man he is not by his new mistress Valérie Nantel and could result in a dramatic ending. Marc Gagnon also has to find a way to deal with his emotions as he still has feelings for his ex, Suzie Lambert.
In Lance et Compte: La Revanche, Pierre Lambert's son, Guy, is called up by Le National de Québec in the middle of the season. In his first game he injures and kills a player from the Montreal Canadiens
with a body check into the boards. The series primarily focuses on his trial and his love life but also on the revenge of Annie Girard, Danny Bouchard's widow, towards his mistress Valerie Nantel. The theme of steroids in sports has also been included in this installment.
Le Grand Duel, the show's seventh season aired on TVA in Fall 2009, it focuses on the rivalry between Montreal
and Quebec City
it also includes Suzie Lambert's battle with breast cancer
. The theme of child sexual abuse
in minor hockey is also included in the series.
A movie called Lance et Compe: Le Film (Lance et Compte the Movie) will hit the theaters on November 26th, 2010. It will focus on the crash of the team bus between Roberval
and Quebec City. Réjean Tremblay confirmed that at least half the team will die from the crash.[1
TVA confirmed that an 8th season of the series will air in 2011, it will be named Lance et Compte: La Déchirure and will be a direct follow up to the movie.[3
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
téléroman
Téléroman
A téléroman is a French-language dramatic programming television series, similar to a soap opera or a Spanish language telenovela, in Canada. In France, the téléroman genre is known as feuilleton télévisé...
s revolving around a Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team. The series aired from 1986 to 1989 on the Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada is a Canadian French language television network. It is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, known in French as Société Radio-Canada. Headquarters are at Maison Radio-Canada in Montreal, which is also home to the network's flagship station, CBFT-DT...
network, and revival series on TQS in 2001 and on TVA from 2004 to the present.
The first season was filmed in both French and English, the English version appearing on CBC Television as He Shoots, He Scores. It was the first television series to air simultaneously in English on CBC and in French on Radio-Canada. (An earlier series, La famille Plouffe
La famille Plouffe
La famille Plouffe was a Canadian television drama, more specifically a téléroman, about a Quebec family that first aired in the French-language on Société Radio-Canada in 1953. The show was created to fill a void in francophone television in Canada...
, had aired on both networks, but not simultaneously; the English version aired approximately a year behind the French series. Each episode of Lance et Compte, however, aired in English as He Shoots, He Scores in the same week.)
The series was scripted by Réjean Tremblay and Louis Caron for the first season, and by Tremblay and Jacques Jacob after that. Following the end of the regular series, a number of television movies continued to air into the 1990s. A new generation of the series started to air in 2001 and a movie is set for 2010.
Synopsis
The very popular cult series written by Réjean Tremblay and well known novelist Louis Caron for the first season (later replaced by Jacques Jacob), is one of the many distinctive Quebec téléromanTéléroman
A téléroman is a French-language dramatic programming television series, similar to a soap opera or a Spanish language telenovela, in Canada. In France, the téléroman genre is known as feuilleton télévisé...
s, tells the story of the fictional National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
team Le National from Quebec City, and its players. The main protagonist is Pierre Lambert, the young, handsome player drafted by Le National from the Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières, Quebec
Trois-Rivières is a city in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada, located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence Rivers. It is situated in the Mauricie administrative region, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of Bécancour...
Dragons junior team.
In the first series, Pierre Lambert is selected to play for Le National de Québec, his boyhood team, along with his best friend Denis Mercure. During that year, Pierre learns how to control himself in the pro level and how to deal with hockey and his love life.
The second series is focused on the World Cup of Hockey. Pierre Lambert is selected to play for Team Canada but personal issues make him play at a very bad level. Pierre has to deal with those issues in time to help Canada win the World Cup. The theme of Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
hockey players wanting to flee their country and play in North America is also included in the series.
In the third installment of the series, Le National de Québec are dealing with big financial difficulties and with an injury plagued Pierre Lambert, the future in Quebec is in doubt. Pierre Lambert and his friends will have to start winning and find a way to keep Le National in Quebec.
Background
Lance et Compte is a common Quebec FrenchQuebec French
Quebec French , or Québécois French, is the predominant variety of the French language in Canada, in its formal and informal registers. Quebec French is used in everyday communication, as well as in education, the media, and government....
hockey expression, equivalent to the English He shoots, he scores. Something the show was known for is its somewhat occasional risqué love scenes. The team Le National is a direct copy of the real-life Nordiques
Quebec Nordiques
The Quebec Nordiques were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association and the National Hockey League...
, up to the logo (the Nordiques have the lower case letter N as symbol; the National has a capital N). The Dragons are themselves a copy of the Trois-Rivières Draveurs
Trois-Rivières Draveurs
The Trois-Rivières Draveurs were a junior ice hockey team playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. They played at the Colisée de Trois-Rivières, in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. The team was originally known as the Trois-Rivières Ducs and were a founding member of the QMJHL in 1969...
from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League...
. Copies of real organizations are common in Québécois téléromans. Examples: La Presse newspaper is L'Express in Scoop and the Sûreté du Québec
Sûreté du Québec
Sûreté du Québec or SQ is the provincial police force for the Canadian province of Québec...
police force is the Sûreté nationale in Jasmine. However in the TV movies that aired immediately following the original series, the real junior team names are used including the Trois-Rivières Draveurs
Trois-Rivières Draveurs
The Trois-Rivières Draveurs were a junior ice hockey team playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. They played at the Colisée de Trois-Rivières, in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. The team was originally known as the Trois-Rivières Ducs and were a founding member of the QMJHL in 1969...
and the Shawinigan Cataractes
Shawinigan Cataractes
The Shawinigan Cataractes are a junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The team is based out of Shawinigan, Quebec. The Cataractes have been previously known as the Shawinigan Bruins until 1973, and were called the Shawinigan Dynamos from 1973–78.The Cataractes play their...
.
Incarnations
In addition to its English airing in Canada, the show was adapted in FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
as Cogne et gagne, with France French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
dubbing. A well known incarnation of Lance et Compte is the series of parody sketches of Rock et Belles Oreilles
Rock et Belles Oreilles
Rock et Belles Oreilles, often referred to as R.B.O., was a Québécois radio and television comedy group that was very popular in the essentially French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec during the 1980s. Its name was a pun on the name of the famous Hanna-Barbera blue dog character Huckleberry...
dubbed Snappe pis Bourdonne.
Several TV movies have been made in the franchise and were showed on TVA from 1991 to 1992.
- Tous pour un
- Le Crime de Lulu
- Le Moment de vérité
- Le Choix
- Envers et contre tous
- Le Retour du chat
A new generation of the original series started to air in 2001 with a new breed of players (and presence of the original characters) and aired on TQS. Since 2004, three more series have been aired on TVA and a fourth is currently under production also to be aired on TVA.
Lance et Compte: La Nouvelle Génération focuses on a new star named Danny Bouchard. Pierre Lambert is now retired and the agent of Bouchard. Le National de Québec are playing very poorly for years now and if the team continues losing they might yet again be threatened to move out of the city. With the help of the new coaches, Le National have to find a way to win and fast.
La Reconquête focuses on the love life of Danny Bouchard and Marc Gagnon. Bouchard is rapidly turned into a man he is not by his new mistress Valérie Nantel and could result in a dramatic ending. Marc Gagnon also has to find a way to deal with his emotions as he still has feelings for his ex, Suzie Lambert.
In Lance et Compte: La Revanche, Pierre Lambert's son, Guy, is called up by Le National de Québec in the middle of the season. In his first game he injures and kills a player from the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
with a body check into the boards. The series primarily focuses on his trial and his love life but also on the revenge of Annie Girard, Danny Bouchard's widow, towards his mistress Valerie Nantel. The theme of steroids in sports has also been included in this installment.
Le Grand Duel, the show's seventh season aired on TVA in Fall 2009, it focuses on the rivalry between Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
it also includes Suzie Lambert's battle with breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
. The theme of child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
in minor hockey is also included in the series.
A movie called Lance et Compe: Le Film (Lance et Compte the Movie) will hit the theaters on November 26th, 2010. It will focus on the crash of the team bus between Roberval
Roberval, Quebec
Roberval is a city on the south-western shore of Lac Saint-Jean in the Le Domaine-du-Roy Regional County Municipality of Quebec, Canada. With a population of 10,544 in the Canada 2006 Census, it is the third largest city on this lake after Alma and Dolbeau-Mistassini.It is the seat of the...
and Quebec City. Réjean Tremblay confirmed that at least half the team will die from the crash.[1
TVA confirmed that an 8th season of the series will air in 2011, it will be named Lance et Compte: La Déchirure and will be a direct follow up to the movie.[3