Past Obsessions: Pre-internet
So, last week I started reading --
No, wait. I need to go back a bit. Waaay back.
As
plonq can likely attest, when I come across some kind of media that I really, really enjoy, I get extremely obsessive about it for a time. Now, this goes beyond "really likes" a show or movie - I'm talking about obsessively rewatching or rereading things just to re-experience them, or consuming every other piece of media associated with the show/book*.
How I went about this obviously changed once the internet came along, so I've split this up into pre-internet and post-internet.
I think the first TV series that I really got into was Wildfire. It was on at some ungodly hour Saturday morning, but I tried to make sure I got up on time to watch it. I've come across a few episodes on the internet over the years and - sheesh, it was really godawful. But the main character had my name, and it had horses and I was in the middle of my big horse phase. Then I remember really getting into The Real Ghostbusters. (Not that abomination with the gorilla. Ugh. No, the good one.) I lost interest once it switched over to become the Slimer show, but the first few seasons were great. This show wasn't on at such a ridiculous hour, but I know I got grumpy if I missed it.
Then came Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers. Fantastic show, even if you watch it today, and I collected as many toys and colouring books of the show as I could afford. But that show mostly ended up being a gateway into Tale Spin. Tale Spin was GREAT. I'd started getting into planes and stuff, and this show came along at just the right time. The characters were fun, the writing was fantastic, and there was enough merchandise to get me into just the right amount of trouble with the paper route money. I remember having to eat my way through three or five boxes of Corn Pops to get these little Tale Spin figures; to this day I cannot eat Corn Pops. Bleah.
There was one more TV show that stands out as one that I simply obsessed over: Quantum Leap. I know that if I watched this show today I would strain something rolling my eyes, but when I was in high school I thought it was the Best. Thing. Ever. Science fiction! Jumping into other people's lives and messing with them/making them better! Occasional romance! I didn't miss a single episode, and rewatched them over and over. I even made audio tapes of episodes that I really liked and listened to them in my room when my parents wanted to use the TV.
In terms of movies, there were a few that I taped off of TV and watched over and over and over, to the point of wearing out the tape. First there was Top Gun: planes! hot guys! romance! It was everything my teenaged heart desired. Along the same lines was Always. I don't think it was a huge hit, but it had planes (water bombers), and romance, and paranormal stuff (the main character becomes a ghost). I think the paranormal stuff really intrigued me. Then there was The Abyss. I don't know why this one pushed my buttons, but it certainly did. Aliens! Odd environment! Romance! (Are you seeing a pattern?) I had all three of these movies on tape, and wore out the tapes when I rewound them to rewatch specific scenes that I really enjoyed... Over and over and over.
Also in high school, I read the first few books of Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles. The later books lost my interest, but the first few in the series grabbed me. I think I read my copy of Interview with the Vampire to shreds. There were a few other books around that same time that got their claws into me, but one series stands out above the rest: The Dragonriders of Pern.
One summer, around 7th or 8th grade or so, I got sick. (Or something. I don't remember. I don't think it was for very long.) My new best friend loaned me her copy of The White Dragon. She really liked the book, and if I liked that she had more books to loan me. I more than liked it - I loved it. I read the whole trilogy, read The Harper Hall trilogy, read Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern until it was falling into little pieces (I still have that copy, by the way), and as each new book came out I grabbed it and devoured it. My friend was just as obsessed, but she managed to also get her hands on The Atlas of Pern, The People of Pern (which I still consider to be a lovely art book), and The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern. We both read it all and wanted more. But there wasn't any more - we read it all!
So without knowing that it would later be called "fan fiction," we started writing our own stories... Starring our high-school selves as the main characters, of course. We (cue burning embarrassment) incorporated the guys we had crushes on into our stories, and wandered well off the canon's path in terms of plot. It was great fun for us at the time, good writing practice, and gave me the opportunity to think constantly about the books that I loved so much.
Anyway, the next titles that are starting to come up in my mind now are ones that were around after I'd gotten on the internet. It definitely changed my focus on what I concentrated on and how I went about it. Next entry!
*I am trying to draw the line between shows/movies/books that I obsessed over, vs ones that I simply just liked. For example! I really like the Discworld books, but I don't consider myself obsessive over them. In fact, there are a few that I haven't read yet, and I know there's a whole world of Discworld fan fiction that I've never even dipped my toe into: I just don't care enough to.
This entry was originally posted at http://atara.dreamwidth.org/620142.html. Please leave any comments there.
No, wait. I need to go back a bit. Waaay back.
As
plonq can likely attest, when I come across some kind of media that I really, really enjoy, I get extremely obsessive about it for a time. Now, this goes beyond "really likes" a show or movie - I'm talking about obsessively rewatching or rereading things just to re-experience them, or consuming every other piece of media associated with the show/book*.
How I went about this obviously changed once the internet came along, so I've split this up into pre-internet and post-internet.
I think the first TV series that I really got into was Wildfire. It was on at some ungodly hour Saturday morning, but I tried to make sure I got up on time to watch it. I've come across a few episodes on the internet over the years and - sheesh, it was really godawful. But the main character had my name, and it had horses and I was in the middle of my big horse phase. Then I remember really getting into The Real Ghostbusters. (Not that abomination with the gorilla. Ugh. No, the good one.) I lost interest once it switched over to become the Slimer show, but the first few seasons were great. This show wasn't on at such a ridiculous hour, but I know I got grumpy if I missed it.
Then came Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers. Fantastic show, even if you watch it today, and I collected as many toys and colouring books of the show as I could afford. But that show mostly ended up being a gateway into Tale Spin. Tale Spin was GREAT. I'd started getting into planes and stuff, and this show came along at just the right time. The characters were fun, the writing was fantastic, and there was enough merchandise to get me into just the right amount of trouble with the paper route money. I remember having to eat my way through three or five boxes of Corn Pops to get these little Tale Spin figures; to this day I cannot eat Corn Pops. Bleah.
There was one more TV show that stands out as one that I simply obsessed over: Quantum Leap. I know that if I watched this show today I would strain something rolling my eyes, but when I was in high school I thought it was the Best. Thing. Ever. Science fiction! Jumping into other people's lives and messing with them/making them better! Occasional romance! I didn't miss a single episode, and rewatched them over and over. I even made audio tapes of episodes that I really liked and listened to them in my room when my parents wanted to use the TV.
In terms of movies, there were a few that I taped off of TV and watched over and over and over, to the point of wearing out the tape. First there was Top Gun: planes! hot guys! romance! It was everything my teenaged heart desired. Along the same lines was Always. I don't think it was a huge hit, but it had planes (water bombers), and romance, and paranormal stuff (the main character becomes a ghost). I think the paranormal stuff really intrigued me. Then there was The Abyss. I don't know why this one pushed my buttons, but it certainly did. Aliens! Odd environment! Romance! (Are you seeing a pattern?) I had all three of these movies on tape, and wore out the tapes when I rewound them to rewatch specific scenes that I really enjoyed... Over and over and over.
Also in high school, I read the first few books of Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles. The later books lost my interest, but the first few in the series grabbed me. I think I read my copy of Interview with the Vampire to shreds. There were a few other books around that same time that got their claws into me, but one series stands out above the rest: The Dragonriders of Pern.
One summer, around 7th or 8th grade or so, I got sick. (Or something. I don't remember. I don't think it was for very long.) My new best friend loaned me her copy of The White Dragon. She really liked the book, and if I liked that she had more books to loan me. I more than liked it - I loved it. I read the whole trilogy, read The Harper Hall trilogy, read Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern until it was falling into little pieces (I still have that copy, by the way), and as each new book came out I grabbed it and devoured it. My friend was just as obsessed, but she managed to also get her hands on The Atlas of Pern, The People of Pern (which I still consider to be a lovely art book), and The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern. We both read it all and wanted more. But there wasn't any more - we read it all!
So without knowing that it would later be called "fan fiction," we started writing our own stories... Starring our high-school selves as the main characters, of course. We (cue burning embarrassment) incorporated the guys we had crushes on into our stories, and wandered well off the canon's path in terms of plot. It was great fun for us at the time, good writing practice, and gave me the opportunity to think constantly about the books that I loved so much.
Anyway, the next titles that are starting to come up in my mind now are ones that were around after I'd gotten on the internet. It definitely changed my focus on what I concentrated on and how I went about it. Next entry!
*I am trying to draw the line between shows/movies/books that I obsessed over, vs ones that I simply just liked. For example! I really like the Discworld books, but I don't consider myself obsessive over them. In fact, there are a few that I haven't read yet, and I know there's a whole world of Discworld fan fiction that I've never even dipped my toe into: I just don't care enough to.
This entry was originally posted at http://atara.dreamwidth.org/620142.html. Please leave any comments there.