Fandom meme

[pedanther]

Tell me you want to play and I'll pick up to three of your fandoms. Then update your journal and answer the following questions:

1. What got you into this fandom in the first place?
2. Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?
3. Favorite episodes/books/movies, etc?
4. Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?
5. Do you think more people should get into this fandom?

Memed from lost_spook, who gave me Doctor Who, The Muppets, and Sherlock Holmes.


Doctor Who:

1. What got you into this fandom in the first place?

I have literally been a Doctor Who fan as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are of fragments of Doctor Who - the Doctor being abducted in a wheelchair, the Doctor being timescooped from a boat, the Doctor being attacked by a killer rain-barrel... (And it says something about the series that, of all those memories, the one that actually happened pretty much as I remember it is the killer rain-barrel.)

2. Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?

I can't think of anything that would make me move on; it's part of my identity now.

And I don't think I'll ever do the "Ruined FOREVER!" thing, either. I just don't see how that would work with Doctor Who, where change is such a constant. The series has had its rough patches, but all you need to do is wait three years and it'll all be completely different. "This too shall pass."

3. Favorite episodes/books/movies, etc?

I don't think I could choose - there's so many excellent episodes, and even the terrible episodes mostly have something to appreciate in them.

4. Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?

Yes, indeed. I've been a member of the local Doctor Who fan club whenever I lived anywhere that had one; I still meet up with some of those people at the annual SF convention I go to. I was a member of the national Doctor Who fan club for a while, but all their events are held over on the other side of the continent, so all I got was the newsletter; that was pretty good at first, but after the internet took off it started to feel like I was paying an annual fee to reread things I'd already seen on the internet three months earlier, so I gave it up.

I got connected to online fandom when I was in university, and have stayed connected (not always in the same places - it's been a long time since I've been near rec.arts.drwho, for instance). I've dabbled in fanfiction; I think for me it's kind of an extension of the general fannish conversation, a way of engaging with other fans - a lot of the fic I've done has been responses to things other people started, rather than some sort of Unique Personal Vision.

5. Do you think more people should get into this fandom?

The more the merrier, but I think it's doing quite well finding fans on its own.


The Muppets:

1. What got you into this fandom in the first place?

The Muppets were around a lot when I was growing up: there was Fraggle Rock, and Muppet Babies, and The Great Muppet Caper, and sometimes even re-runs of The Muppet Show. And Sesame Street, of course.

2. Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?

I'm not sure I'm really in the fandom, rather than just being an appreciative member of the audience. But I expect to continue being appreciative; even if some of the more recent stuff is disappointing, there's always the old classic stuff to go back to. (Insert obligatory complaint about how long it's taking for the last couple of seasons of The Muppet Show to be released on DVD.)

3. Favorite episodes/books/movies, etc?

For episodes, I usually say the episode of The Muppet Show with John Cleese as the guest star; it's consistently entertaining, and the finale is brilliant.

The Great Muppet Caper is still my favourite of the movies.

The Monster at the End of This Book is just wonderful.

4. Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?

Not really. I keep up on the news (mostly through Tough Pigs), but I don't interact much, I'm not a member of any fan club, and I don't do fanfiction or anything of that nature.

5. Do you think more people should get into this fandom?

I can't imagine anybody whose life wouldn't be improved by more Muppets.

I hope the new movie helps more people to find them (although I have to admit that I hope those people then discover the older Muppet stuff, because the movie is not really the Muppets at the top of their game).


Sherlock Holmes:

1. What got you into this fandom in the first place?

I discovered Holmes the way most people do, through general cultural osmosis. If the question is when did I become a fan instead of just someone who occasionally reads one of the stories or watches one of the movies, I don't remember. I'm not sure there was a single moment; the way Holmes is interwoven into our culture, being a Holmes fan is more of a continuum.

2. Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?

See above about being on a continuum; I think the flame of interest may grow brighter or dimmer as time passes, but I don't think it will ever entirely go out.

3. Favorite episodes/books/movies, etc?

Basil Rathbone is the Holmes for me, due to early exposure, though I think the character Nigel Bruce plays in those films, though entertaining in his own way, isn't much of a Watson.

(That said, I have to admit there are gaps in my experience: for instance, I haven't really seen anything of the Jeremy Brett TV series, which every srs bsns Holmes fan is required to have a strong opinion of one way or the other.)

I'd also like to put a word in for the BBC radio adaptation starring Clive Merrison, which is pretty good. If memory serves, it's the only Holmes adaptation ever to have adapted every single one of the stories, and you can tell it's been adapted by somebody who knows the originals inside-out and knows how to tell a good story.

4. Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?

Not really.

I did apply to join the Sherlock Holmes Society of Western Australia when I was in university, but I never made it to a single one of the meetings; for people united by their appreciation of a time before the motor car, they had a real knack of picking meeting locations that were inaccessible without one. I'm not sure I'd have fitted in, anyway; the descriptions I've heard of how srs Holmesians carry on has always struck me as rather exotic.

5. Do you think more people should get into this fandom?

I reckon most people are already on the continuum somewhere. Being more than a casual fan probably isn't for everybody.

Comments

[seawasp]

Okay, I'll play.

"It's time to light the candles!
It's time to chant the rites!
It's time to summon Satan on the Muppet Show tonight!"

"And here's our special guest, the PRINCE OF DARKNESS! Yaaaaay!" (Kermit with his usual flailing greeting)

[pedanther]

Have you seen the episode of The Muppet Show where Alice Cooper is the guest star, and keeps trying to tempt people to sell their souls? Kermit's not interested, Miss Piggy considers selling her soul for great beauty until she finds out what Alice Cooper considers beautiful, and Gonzo is totally up for it but can't find a pen. ("I'd sell my soul for a pen! No, wait, I have other plans for that.")

Your fandoms: Doc Smith, Oz, and Saint Seiya.

[thisbluespirit]

Those were interesting answers!

Also, you mentioned Fraggle Rock again! No!! Will I never be allowed to escape from that terrifying children's TV show. :lol: (One day I must actually watch it and see why on earth it freaked me out. I am pretty sure I was far too old to be having weird terrors like that when I watched it as well.)

:-)

[arcadiagt5.livejournal.com]

OK, this could be fun.

However I am not even going to think about trying to top seawasp's comment. :)

[pedanther]

Your fandoms: Leiji Matsumoto, Robert A. Heinlein, and Card Captor Sakura.