Major Fannish Events

[thefourthvine]

For various reasons, right now I'm thinking about Major Fannish Events I Wish I Could Have Seen. Now, when I say that, I don't mean the actual events, most of which are available on DVD or at least on some fourth-generation cell phone recording somewhere, but the fannish reaction to those events.

And since I can't discuss this at all without spoilers, I'm just going to say: spoilers in the post for Buffy, Star Trek: TOS, Stargate: SG-1, Star Wars. No spoilers in the post for anything that has aired in, say, the last five years.

ETA: Spoilers in the comments for everything. No, seriously: everything in the WORLD. Television! Movies! Books! Anime! Manga! Horror movies from the 1930s! The Fifth World War! The heat death of the universe! It's pretty awesome, but if you don't like spoilers, maybe the comments section isn't the place for you.



So, like, I remember when I first saw the Angelus arc - specifically, when Buffy and Angel got into bed, and then Angelus got back out again. (Or, okay, I guess technically it was Angel who staggered out, but you know what I mean.) And then again when Jenny Calendar died. I remember thinking what an unimaginable experience this must have been for true believer fans when it was first run. (And for Buffy/Angel shippers, oh my god. Your fondest wish! Followed immediately by your worst nightmare! And this, my friends, is why I would rather my OTPs never ever become canon: canon writers make 'em and break 'em, and then they're harder for us to put back together again.) And then I tried to imagine what my friends list or circle would have looked like if I had a) been in fandom and b) fandom had been on LJ or DW at the time.

I can picture the endless roster of cut-tagged posts - I was there for the last episode of Angel, and I remember being stunned by the reaction - but I can't imagine what would be inside those cut tags. Aside, I assume, from a lot of screaming.

And last night, for various reasons (Spock Spock Spock Spock Spock), I watched Killa's incredible vid Dante's Prayer. Now, let me share with you my progression with that vid:

The first time I watched it, Best Beloved had to narrate the whole thing, including telling me who Spock and Kirk were, precisely. (I had sort of vaguely thought, up to that point, that Leonard Nimoy pretty much played, like, Elrond in Space.) And there's a lot of terrain covered in that vid, including people at different ages, and worse (for me), different outfits. I think it took her about fifteen minutes to give me the shortest possible summary. (Very short version that leaves a lot out: Spock dies tragically. His friends are sad. Kirk looks like someone pithed him. Later, chronologically speaking, they go and get him back.)

I remember being surprised that she teared up at Spock's death scene, largely because if someone in this relationship is going to cry, it's going to be me. (I think that people have a default reaction to emotional excess. Mine is tears.) I cry at the funerals of people I don't know. I cry at death scenes in movies. I cried so hard at Theoden's scene outside his son's grave that Best Beloved asked me if the son was a major character in the book. ("No," I sobbed. She stared at me blankly. "Then why are you crying?" "Theoden is saaaaaad," I said, unable to explain more completely because I was, you know, weeping helplessly. Keep in mind that this was not the first - or the third - time we'd seen the movie.)

So it was a little weird, I thought, that I was the one saying, "Oh. Well, that's sad," and Best Beloved was the one surreptitiously wiping her eyes.

The next time I watched Dante's Prayer, I'd been in fandom longer, so I knew a little more. I'd also had time to process BB's explanations. So I was a little sadder. And so it went.

But this last time - well, in addition to tearing up and sniffling emotionally for some ten minutes after the vid was over (and yet being really kind of touched - OMG, Spock knew Kirk's name), I found myself wondering for the first time what Spock's death was like for the Star Trek fandom. I mean, seriously, that is painful now, and I know what's coming. Then? I think it must have hurt rather a lot. And I wondered what fannish reaction would look like if this was a current fandom - I mean, imagine if, say, Sam died with Dean pressed against the other side of the glass, helpless and bereft, and then - did people even know there would be another movie? I mean, imagine if they didn't. Imagine if that happened with Sam and Dean and everyone thought, hey, maybe that's it; if there's another season, maybe it will just be Dean Gets Revenge. Maybe Sam is gone for good. (Or Rodney. Or Merlin. Or whoever. Insert Very Important Person of your choosing.)

And I guess that did happen with SG1. (I was actually surprised, on my latest viewing, to realize how similar Daniel's temporary death was to Spock's temporary death.) But I wasn't around for it. Was there wailing? Was there gnashing of teeth? Did people go to sleep that night with a hollow pit in their hearts? If fandom had been primarily on LJ at that time (uh, was it?), would every post for days been cut-tagged with just punctuation and contain a lot of incoherent wailing?

And what about the whole "Darth Vader, Luke, and Leia: there's not enough family therapy in the universe for this one" reveal? What was that like? I mean, I can kind of imagine it now - I bet Luke and Leia shippers, should there have been any, would at minimum go off and write an alternate second movie where Darth Vader is Han's father or something. (I...would like to see that, actually. And, no, I don't ship Luke and Leia.) But I can't help but wonder what it was like then.

Does anyone else think like this? What is the big fannish event you wish you could have seen? (Seen the live reaction to, anyway.) But even more important, to help me in my fantasizing - what are the big fannish events you'll never forget? What were they like to live through?

Comments

[melannen]

Well, right now, we're all living through Torchwood: Children of Earth. Don't miss that one: it's been epic!

And of course ST:Reboot.

I got into HP fandom after book four, so I lived through Sirius is Dead in book 5 and Dumbledore is Dead in book 6 and Hedwig is Dead in book 7 (oh, and I guess some other people died in book seven, too.)

I'm waiting kind of breathlessly to see what happens when the next Vorkosigan book comes out! And the next Young Wizards book, which'll hopefully be less faily. I got into both of those in long gaps between books. (In book fandoms, every new book is a major fandom trauma. It's hard to go from that to TV fandoms where things happen! every week! and fandom doesn't explode!)

And of course the entire SW Prequel Saga, though I was never quite in the online fandom for it.

(More interesting is that two fandoms I follow - Highlander and XF - have had new movies come out since I started paying attention, and they were both mere blips in the radar of fandom, who were old hat at ignoring stupid canon by then. See also: all of comic fandom.)

[sinensis]

I remember sitting in the theater during Spock's death scene and listening to the choked sobs of people around me (I managed to cry quietly), and the feeling of stunned disbelief. I still hadn't found organized fandom at that point, but it definitely felt like I was with my comrades in grief in that theater.

I would love to have seen "Call of The Wild" hit Due South fandom when it originally aired; I discovered DS later. (Although that would probably have meant a front row seat for the Ray wars, which never sounded like much fun.)

[pollyanna]

The big event I remembered was in the X-Files when Krycek kissed Mulder. This was before LJ and the lists erupted! Even the non-slashy ones, but they were mostly in denial :-)

[thefourthvine]

I have not, in fact, missed the COE stuff. I think I am traumatized secondhand. Owwwww.

I am COWERING IN FEAR of the next Vorkosigan book. This is partly because I haven't liked the things Bujold has written lately (do not get me started about the Sharing Knife or whatever the fuck it is, or about Paladin of Souls, which made me want to HURT SOMEONE), and partly just because, as you say, a new book in a beloved series is a GREAT BIG TRAUMA. Even if you're not in the fandom.

More interesting is that two fandoms I follow - Highlander and XF - have had new movies come out since I started paying attention, and they were both mere blips in the radar of fandom, who were old hat at ignoring stupid canon by then. See also: all of comic fandom.

Yeah. Some fandoms are so brutal to their long-time loves that they just learn this instinctive canon rejection that I really quite admire.

[thefourthvine]

Ohhh. I can picture everyone crying. A sort of alone-together moment. *sniffs just thinking about it*

And, yeah. I am entirely happy to have come to dS late enough to miss the Ray Wars. ENTIRELY HAPPY. I mean, it would have been amazing to be there for Call of the Wild, except I know for Fraser/Vecchio shippers that was the final punch in the gut. I cannot think it would have been pretty.

[thefourthvine]

He - wait. What now? Krycek kissed Mulder? I. Um. Really?

[elspethdixon]

See also: all of comic fandom

The fannish rage at Marvel over Civil War/Secret Invasion/Dark Reign/rocks fall, everyone fans ever cared about dies (or is really badly written & drawn) is still going strong after over two years.

Fandom's general reaction to Battle for the Cowl seems to have been more along the lines of "meh, wake me up when Batman's back, because you are not fooling anyone, DC."

[elspethdixon]

He kissed him. On the air. Granted, it was arguably just an attempt to screw with Mulder's head, but it was still onscreen kissage.

[pollyanna]

In "The Red and the Black" (and look how I instantly remember the name of the episode ... whistles innocently). A kiss on the cheek, in what might be interpreted as a brother-in-arms kind of continental-type custom. Brothers? Phft!

[montanaharper]

If I'm not mistaken, it was Season 5, "The Red and the Black." Season 4 was really the last vaguely worthwhile season of XF, but I picked up Season 5 on DVD just because of the kiss. I was possibly a huge, huge Mulder/Krycek fan, back in the day. *g*

ETA: Of course, someone else gets there while I'm composing my reply. *g* In which case, I'll add on that ... you're better with me not confusing you with actor names, right? I'll stick with character names, then ... the director kept telling Krycek's actor to get closer to Mulder's mouth with the kisses, and they did like, a million takes before they got one where he was happy with the almost-on-the-lips kiss.

[cimorene]

The Shat talks about the decision to kill Spock and the fan reaction a great deal in his book Star Trek Movie Memories, which I highly recommend for the entertainment value. He's a hilarious dude, and a glimpse into his brain is pretty awesome. ALSO, the saga of Making Star Trek 5 (aka Shat's On Crack And Wants You To Be Too) is possibly EVEN FUNNIER than the movie itself, which is saying something. (One of the few times I've literally fallen off the couch laughing, dude. It helps having read the book first.)

[concernedlily]

I remember reading a comment that the reveal of Methos' history of being Death in Highlander was a Major Fannish Event (he'd seemed so harmless! I think ther was wailing), but by the time I was reading in the fandom it was common background in the stories and how the Duncan/Methos relationship was written and perceived. I'm not sure I've ever been in a fandom when it had such a big upset, though.

[treewishes]

I remember a year at MediaWest, which happens on Memorial Day and just after a bunch of season finales. It was the year of sidekick deaths - Blair on Sentinel; Daniel on SG1; Gabrielle on Xena, and I think one other? Anyway, they were all cliffhangers and we didn't know how/if they would be resolved.

But also clearly an indication of a trend to rile up your fanbase... I remember it as a transition for me, from starry eyed to a more jaded fan, realizing they were playing us all.

[princessofgeeks]

i have so few fandoms; i'm very serially monogamous and have only been in fandom since 2002 and only discoverd slash in 2003, so i'm such the newbie.... but I have studied the history of SG1 and yes: the fan reaction to Daniel's death in season 5 was immense. It was two pronged because there was the whole drama over the actor's dissatisfaction with how the writers/show runners were using his character, and then the whole way they wrote him out (which was actually pretty awesome, if you like angst! I think that may be why I just basically stopped worrying about character death warnings when I got into SG1. There are so many major character deaths in my canon that the fanfic has to really go dark to be as angsty as the canon.... but I digress...). and of course people knew ahead of time that Daniel was leaving the show and everyone was incredibly sad and there was this huge feud about it and a big write in campaign to bring him back. And given the way the canon is set up they have an actual mechanism for bringing him back!

i wish i could have watched TS by BS, the Sentinel series finale, in real time.

And I am still marveling over how the finale of TPM launched an ENTIRE HUGE FANDOM based on less than five minutes of canon.... amazing.

The only fandom I was lucky enough to participate in in real time was Lotrips, and of course LOTR -- waiting, as a book fan, for the last two movies to come out was so incredible. Seeing the reactions in real time, etc.

I've never managed to follow a tv show in real time. I really tried with LOST, but had to give up because of my chaotic schedule. Closed canons and DVDs, or movie fandoms with long gaps between, are perfect for me. I haven't seen Iron Man I yet -- am looking forward to investigating that.

But reading your highlights and the comments is so fun because it's a tour of fannish history! So many fandoms, so many Big Events. I didn't know that Mulder and Krycek had ever kissed, for example. So that's fun.

Thanks for being here. I always enjoy your posts so much, even when it's a fandom I barely know.

[bessemerprocess]

My dad talks about the death of Spock like it was a holy moment. He refuses to go to movie theaters, except for Trek movies, but saw it five or six times in theater.

I would have liked to have had lj for all of the original run of Babylon 5 though especially for Severed Dreams and Endgame, oh, and of course for the death of the station, which still makes me cry, even today.

I actually got an lj in response to the last episode of Farscape. That To Be Continued, it inspired so much @#$!, as to get us a miniseries.

[melannen]

I actually watched the first four episodes but I think I'm not going to bother torrenting the last one, because it sounds like it was stupid as well as traumatic. brrrr.

And you know, for all a new book is always trauma, I think it's notably different than something like Angel/Buffy, because with a new book, we all know it's coming and we've been braced for months. Some of the TV show things just happen out of nowhere. (New movies or season finales seem to fall somewhere in between: we know they will probably be evil, but we seem to have hope that they won't.)

I think the XF movie actually was mildly traumatic for the small segment of the audience that hadn't already given up on canon, and there were some wild hopes that were dashed (and people who were pleasantly surprised.) As for the HL movie - yeah, you might not've even known it was out except for the occasional MSTing.

[melannen]

Oh, you're right; I think I mostly meant DC fandom, which (at least the fic-writing contigent) doesn't seem to have much bothered with canon since, oh, identity crisis in 2004. Probably because it's been one universe-changing trauma after another ever since then. (See: the sad, strange tale of dwayne mcduffie.)

Marvel fandom is still capable of caring! So far!

(When are they just going to fire both of the editors already? *weeping*)

[allburningup]

OMG I never heard that story about the director before! Eeee!

(I'm having flashback squees to that ep now!)

[sanj]

Buffy sent Angel to hell that same summer, IIRC. It was like a fad.

[ames]

ok, I am totally going to lose any geek cred I may have ever had, but my social circle EXPLODED when Ross kissed Rachel on Friends. And then exploded years later when Monica proposed to Chandler, and YEARS LATER AGAIN when Joey kissed Rachel.

[yasaman]

Usual lurker popping in to say that I would've loved to have seen Highlander fandom's reaction to the Methos was Death revelation. He'd seemed so cute and harmless, if manipulative! And then, BAM, raped, murdered, and pillaged his way through more than a few centuries. It's one instance of interesting, earned character revelation, imo, so I would have liked to see fandom react to it in meta and fic.

I myself was around in HP after GoF on, so I got to watch/participate in the great fannish mourning of Sirius Black. That was the character death that hit me hardest in the whole HP series (and I'm still not over it!), and I remember feeling terrible about it for a whole week. I couldn't sleep the night I finished OotP.

[anyone625]

Ah, I remember that. :) alt.tv.x-files had like 5,000 posts about it and the lists/irc were going crazy. "It's not gay, it's Russian!" wahaha.

[pollyanna]

I seem to remember there was a lot of research going into Russian culture all of a sudden :-)

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

Well, besides the Harry Potter books coming out, from five through seven (as I was reading the books but not fandom when four came out), or the Stephanie Plum books back when I was in that minor fandom, the only big fannish moment I've been around for has been the final episode of Star Trek: Voyager.

Which was mostly notable for ticking off every fan who wasn't a fourteen year old boy who was only there to watch Jeri Ryan in a catsuit. Because, instead of providing resolution to any one of three or four possible romantic situations that the writers had been stringing us along for years on, they decided to take two characters with little previous interaction at all and have them tell the fans they meant the world to each other. Which, had they been giving hints or something about it for even a few episodes, would have been functional, if not popular, but as it was, it was clearly an insert to give the pretty blonde in the catsuit a future that included a love life with someone (who wasn't a hologram). So they picked the one guy she had no on-screen chemistry with, who already had plenty of on-screen chemistry with another woman, and gave her to him. Which was very fourteenth century of them.

Fandom exploded in righteous indignation. It would have been fun, if it wasn't so depressing.

[ellie]

I lived through a few, but I don't do well with trauma. A significant plot twist or death of a character can throw me right out of the story unless I'm prepared for it ahead of time.