Meme - because 1 day into my holiday is totally early enough to be bored
Comment and I'll give you three fandoms, for which you must answer these:
01: What got you into this fandom in the first place?
02: Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?
03: Favorite episodes/books/movies/etc.?
04: Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?
05: Do you think that more people should get into this fandom?
requiem2adream gave me La Cage Aux Folles, The West Wing and Quantum Leap.
La Cage Aux Folles
01: What got you into this fandom in the first place?
Long, mildly complex, and slightly boring story. At some point in the last five years... no, wait, I can time it more closely than that - it was about the time that Brokeback Mountain came out (pun not intended) so sometime in 2005. And, yes there is a certain amount of significance to that, it's not an entirely random reason for me to remember. So anyway, sometime in 2005, I was watching one of those interminable countdown programs, god knows which one, but it was counting down musicals. Anyway, somewhere in this countdown was La Cage Aux Folles, which they showed some clips of etc etc and mentioned that it was one of the first shows to portray a gay couple in an overwhelmingly positive light. This was at the time when everyone was going on and on about how Brokeback Mountain was breaking barriers and amazing because it was the first mainstream gay film and so on and so forth, and I remember thinking, er guys... you really haven't been keeping up have you? So anyway, all this got noted down by my brain, and La Cage Aux Folles got tucked away in the corner, on the list labelled "Shows I'd Quite Like To See Eventually Someday."
Fast forward to this summer, and me and bethan_b_bad are in London for the day, deciding what to do. I was aware of the revival of La Cage, but only on the periphery as it were, because of the whole Oh, God, No, Graham Norton in a muscial?!!! thing, and I'd seen them on the royal variety. Bethan had been to London not long before, and had considered seeing it then, having thought from the posters that it looked fun, and having discovered that they had bes remaining tickets on the night for £20. She had ended up seeing Waiting For Godot because, well, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Anyway, this left us in London, wanting to see a show, and both with vague ideas that seeing La Cage would be a good idea. It was. I was, quite simply, blown away by the show. We were in the middle of the stalls in a packed house on a Friday night, with no idea really what to expect, besides that it was about a gay couple and set in a drag club. My God, I still can't find the words to express what it was like seeing that show for the first time. I laughed, I cried, I cheered. It was everything. The entire cast were wonderful, especially Roger Allam and Philip Quast, and anyone who has spoken to me at all in the last 6 months or so knows just how spectacular I think they are. Only once before have I wanted to march right back into the theatre and see the show again right away, and that was Les Mis.
The rest, as they say, is history. I saw the show four more times, including seeing Roger Allam and Philip Quast's last night on the Saturday, and John Barrowman's first night on the Monday. I've watched the original French film with subtitles, and the sequel without (playing guess the plot is *fun* - something about spies. And possibly hats). I've discussed the show till I'm blue in the face, then I've turned round and had the exact same conversation again. I've talked about the show with Kai Owen and George Takei. I've talked to someone at a convention, not because I'd seen the show they were from (Blake's 7), but because I remembered they'd been in the show.
TL, DR: I sort of accidentally went to see it when I had a spare evening in London and have been hooked ever since.
02: Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?
I think that my love for this show will last a lifetime. I certainly will try and see it again with Douglas Hodge before it closes out, but I'm not sure I'm going to find the time. I will see it any chance I get, and will compare every production to my first. I love the plot, the characters, the music and I can't see how that will change.
03: Favorite episodes/books/movies/etc.?
In case you haven't guessed already, the Quast/Allam production is, and will remain, my number one favourite incarnation of the show. It was just so... so... affecting. Joyous. Perfect in every respect. John is good and all, but Allam will always be my Albin.
I know I'm gushing with superlatives, but it's only because words are inadequate to describe how I feel about this show.
I cry at books, movies, shows fairly often, but normally it's all about context, and just listening to a recording of a particular song very rarely does the same. I realised the other day that there are three people I have found who can make me cry just listening to a recording cold. Philip Quast and Roger Allam are two of them. There is a level of emotional investment in the characters that you can't help but be swept up in. No one else comes close.
04: Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?
Honey, I *am* the fandom. No, seriously, I've looked, but have been unable to find any real fandom of the show. There are fans of specific actors, but no one really rocking the La Cage love. I have written a couple of fics based on the show, and a rather long essay bout why I love it and comparing the two shows I've seen. I don't know why, its such a wonderful show. All I have is me, writing stuff, and ridiculously long discussions with all my friends who got dragged to see it.
05: Do you think that more people should get into this fandom?
See, now here you find my big dilemma. Yes, I think everyone should see the show, it deserves to have a fandom all of it's own. BUT and, it's quite and important but, I don't want the fandom to start now. Not when it will be utterly populated by rabid Barrowman fans, who only saw the show in the first place because he was in it. I want people to love Quast and Allam as much as I do. I want people to see the show as it should be played. Again, I'm not knocking John and Simon, they were very good, superbly good, but the show they performed was not the show I fell in love with. I want there to be a fandom for that window of time where it was perfect, I want to read fic and know that the character portrayals that it's based upon are the ones that I love. I know that I should just be glad that more people are seeing the show, that people who wouldn't necessarily go to the theatre are seeing, but there you have it. I'm selfish and I want everyone to love my boys as much as I do.
Lauren... you got me talking about La Cage again. All that, all that up there. That's your fault that is.
The next two won't be quite so epically ranty, I promise.
The West Wing
01: What got you into this fandom in the first place?
Bethan made me do it. She made me watch the first few episodes. Then I borrowed the first season off her. Then I torrented the second. Then I bought the complete series boxset. Basically, between January and March this year I mainlined the entire series, all 155 episodes.
02: Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?
I think it's a fandom that I'll keep returning too. For example, having not watched an episode in ages, me and Chris had a mini marathon on Friday night. And just recently I've been revisiting fic as well.
03: Favorite episodes/books/movies/etc.?
Too many to pick - The Pilot, Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, Celestial Navigation, Six Meetings Before Lunch, What Kind of Day Has It Been, In The Shadow of Two Gunmen, The Midterms, Noel, The Stackhouse Filibuster, Two Cathedrals, Isaac and Ishmael, Night Five, Dead Irish Writers, Posse Comitatus, 20 Hours In America, Inauguration, Life On Mars, Commencement, Twenty Five, 7A WF 83429, The Dogs of War, Jefferson Lives, The Supremes, Access, No Exit, Gaza, Memorial Day, NSF Thurmont, The Birnam Wood, Faith Based Initiative, A Good Day, Things Fall Apart, 2162 Votes, The Ticket, The Debate, Running Mates, The Cold, Election Day, Requiem, Transition and Tomorrow being some of the episodes that stand out. (Although some of them are because they make the Josh/Donna shipper in me squee dramatically)
04: Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?
Not really, I read Josh/Donna fic from time to time, and I always take my boxset with me, in case I get the urge to watch it. I've had ideas for fic, but never got to commiting them to paper. The fandom isn't really active anymore since the show finished about three years ago.
05: Do you think that more people should get into this fandom?
People always need to watch intelligent, witty drama with well developed characters and interesting plots, as well as TV that doesn't talk down to them, and The West Wing is all of those things. Plus, Aaron Sorkin's writing means the shipping possibilities are endless. Seriously, I made a graphic once of the ships that were either canon (and I liked), that I actively shipped, or that I could see where they were coming from. It was mad. Hang on...
See?
Quantum Leap
01: What got you into this fandom in the first place?
I honestly can't remember. I used to watch it from time to time, and veryberry_19 liked it as well. All I know is that I really got into it the summer between sixth form and uni, the Great Summer of Doing Nothing, when I had no job, no money, and the longest summer I've ever had. They were repeating it every day on ITV3 or 4, so whenever I was in and it was on, I would watch it. Later still, I randomly decided to start reading the slash fic. It was one of those DVD sets on the list that I promised myself I would buy when I had graduated Uni and had a job and money, and not before, but then I saw season 1 for cheap, and bought that and then later season 2.
02: Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?
Again, I come back to it. I won't think about it for months, then I'll splurge on fic for a week or two, or mainline a whole bunch of episodes. Plus, now there's SB day to celebrate (the anniversary of meeting Scott Bakula), so that keeps my interest in the series alive.
03: Favorite episodes/books/movies/etc.?
Gosh, err, most of the "firsts" are quite good - the first time Sam leaps into a black man (The Color of Truth, the first time he leaps into a woman (What Price Gloria), etc. Also the Halloween episode that was All A Dream, Or Was It...?(The Boogieman) I also like Good Morning Preoria (Sam is a DJ), Another Mother (Al being adorable with children!), MIA, and both parts of The Leap Home. There are still episodes I haven't seen, or haven't seen for years and forgotten, some of which I really want to see, because they are very good.
04: Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?
Again, the fandom is a bit dead really. Getting hold of decent fic can be hard, as this was a pre-web, zine era fandom mostly. There a some good ones around though. I've started writing a bit of an epic crossover, but I've written, ah, the first part. Maybe one day I'll finish it.
05: Do you think that more people should get into this fandom?
Yeah, I love the show. It had cheesy 80s effects and cheesy 80s plots, but really it's more about the characters than the science fiction. The sci fi is just a plot device to allow them to tell interesting stories, and that it manages, especially in the earlier seasons.
01: What got you into this fandom in the first place?
02: Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?
03: Favorite episodes/books/movies/etc.?
04: Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?
05: Do you think that more people should get into this fandom?
requiem2adream gave me La Cage Aux Folles, The West Wing and Quantum Leap.
La Cage Aux Folles
01: What got you into this fandom in the first place?
Long, mildly complex, and slightly boring story. At some point in the last five years... no, wait, I can time it more closely than that - it was about the time that Brokeback Mountain came out (pun not intended) so sometime in 2005. And, yes there is a certain amount of significance to that, it's not an entirely random reason for me to remember. So anyway, sometime in 2005, I was watching one of those interminable countdown programs, god knows which one, but it was counting down musicals. Anyway, somewhere in this countdown was La Cage Aux Folles, which they showed some clips of etc etc and mentioned that it was one of the first shows to portray a gay couple in an overwhelmingly positive light. This was at the time when everyone was going on and on about how Brokeback Mountain was breaking barriers and amazing because it was the first mainstream gay film and so on and so forth, and I remember thinking, er guys... you really haven't been keeping up have you? So anyway, all this got noted down by my brain, and La Cage Aux Folles got tucked away in the corner, on the list labelled "Shows I'd Quite Like To See Eventually Someday."
Fast forward to this summer, and me and bethan_b_bad are in London for the day, deciding what to do. I was aware of the revival of La Cage, but only on the periphery as it were, because of the whole Oh, God, No, Graham Norton in a muscial?!!! thing, and I'd seen them on the royal variety. Bethan had been to London not long before, and had considered seeing it then, having thought from the posters that it looked fun, and having discovered that they had bes remaining tickets on the night for £20. She had ended up seeing Waiting For Godot because, well, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Anyway, this left us in London, wanting to see a show, and both with vague ideas that seeing La Cage would be a good idea. It was. I was, quite simply, blown away by the show. We were in the middle of the stalls in a packed house on a Friday night, with no idea really what to expect, besides that it was about a gay couple and set in a drag club. My God, I still can't find the words to express what it was like seeing that show for the first time. I laughed, I cried, I cheered. It was everything. The entire cast were wonderful, especially Roger Allam and Philip Quast, and anyone who has spoken to me at all in the last 6 months or so knows just how spectacular I think they are. Only once before have I wanted to march right back into the theatre and see the show again right away, and that was Les Mis.
The rest, as they say, is history. I saw the show four more times, including seeing Roger Allam and Philip Quast's last night on the Saturday, and John Barrowman's first night on the Monday. I've watched the original French film with subtitles, and the sequel without (playing guess the plot is *fun* - something about spies. And possibly hats). I've discussed the show till I'm blue in the face, then I've turned round and had the exact same conversation again. I've talked about the show with Kai Owen and George Takei. I've talked to someone at a convention, not because I'd seen the show they were from (Blake's 7), but because I remembered they'd been in the show.
TL, DR: I sort of accidentally went to see it when I had a spare evening in London and have been hooked ever since.
02: Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?
I think that my love for this show will last a lifetime. I certainly will try and see it again with Douglas Hodge before it closes out, but I'm not sure I'm going to find the time. I will see it any chance I get, and will compare every production to my first. I love the plot, the characters, the music and I can't see how that will change.
03: Favorite episodes/books/movies/etc.?
In case you haven't guessed already, the Quast/Allam production is, and will remain, my number one favourite incarnation of the show. It was just so... so... affecting. Joyous. Perfect in every respect. John is good and all, but Allam will always be my Albin.
I know I'm gushing with superlatives, but it's only because words are inadequate to describe how I feel about this show.
I cry at books, movies, shows fairly often, but normally it's all about context, and just listening to a recording of a particular song very rarely does the same. I realised the other day that there are three people I have found who can make me cry just listening to a recording cold. Philip Quast and Roger Allam are two of them. There is a level of emotional investment in the characters that you can't help but be swept up in. No one else comes close.
04: Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?
Honey, I *am* the fandom. No, seriously, I've looked, but have been unable to find any real fandom of the show. There are fans of specific actors, but no one really rocking the La Cage love. I have written a couple of fics based on the show, and a rather long essay bout why I love it and comparing the two shows I've seen. I don't know why, its such a wonderful show. All I have is me, writing stuff, and ridiculously long discussions with all my friends who got dragged to see it.
05: Do you think that more people should get into this fandom?
See, now here you find my big dilemma. Yes, I think everyone should see the show, it deserves to have a fandom all of it's own. BUT and, it's quite and important but, I don't want the fandom to start now. Not when it will be utterly populated by rabid Barrowman fans, who only saw the show in the first place because he was in it. I want people to love Quast and Allam as much as I do. I want people to see the show as it should be played. Again, I'm not knocking John and Simon, they were very good, superbly good, but the show they performed was not the show I fell in love with. I want there to be a fandom for that window of time where it was perfect, I want to read fic and know that the character portrayals that it's based upon are the ones that I love. I know that I should just be glad that more people are seeing the show, that people who wouldn't necessarily go to the theatre are seeing, but there you have it. I'm selfish and I want everyone to love my boys as much as I do.
Lauren... you got me talking about La Cage again. All that, all that up there. That's your fault that is.
The next two won't be quite so epically ranty, I promise.
The West Wing
01: What got you into this fandom in the first place?
Bethan made me do it. She made me watch the first few episodes. Then I borrowed the first season off her. Then I torrented the second. Then I bought the complete series boxset. Basically, between January and March this year I mainlined the entire series, all 155 episodes.
02: Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?
I think it's a fandom that I'll keep returning too. For example, having not watched an episode in ages, me and Chris had a mini marathon on Friday night. And just recently I've been revisiting fic as well.
03: Favorite episodes/books/movies/etc.?
Too many to pick - The Pilot, Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, Celestial Navigation, Six Meetings Before Lunch, What Kind of Day Has It Been, In The Shadow of Two Gunmen, The Midterms, Noel, The Stackhouse Filibuster, Two Cathedrals, Isaac and Ishmael, Night Five, Dead Irish Writers, Posse Comitatus, 20 Hours In America, Inauguration, Life On Mars, Commencement, Twenty Five, 7A WF 83429, The Dogs of War, Jefferson Lives, The Supremes, Access, No Exit, Gaza, Memorial Day, NSF Thurmont, The Birnam Wood, Faith Based Initiative, A Good Day, Things Fall Apart, 2162 Votes, The Ticket, The Debate, Running Mates, The Cold, Election Day, Requiem, Transition and Tomorrow being some of the episodes that stand out. (Although some of them are because they make the Josh/Donna shipper in me squee dramatically)
04: Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?
Not really, I read Josh/Donna fic from time to time, and I always take my boxset with me, in case I get the urge to watch it. I've had ideas for fic, but never got to commiting them to paper. The fandom isn't really active anymore since the show finished about three years ago.
05: Do you think that more people should get into this fandom?
People always need to watch intelligent, witty drama with well developed characters and interesting plots, as well as TV that doesn't talk down to them, and The West Wing is all of those things. Plus, Aaron Sorkin's writing means the shipping possibilities are endless. Seriously, I made a graphic once of the ships that were either canon (and I liked), that I actively shipped, or that I could see where they were coming from. It was mad. Hang on...
See?
Quantum Leap
01: What got you into this fandom in the first place?
I honestly can't remember. I used to watch it from time to time, and veryberry_19 liked it as well. All I know is that I really got into it the summer between sixth form and uni, the Great Summer of Doing Nothing, when I had no job, no money, and the longest summer I've ever had. They were repeating it every day on ITV3 or 4, so whenever I was in and it was on, I would watch it. Later still, I randomly decided to start reading the slash fic. It was one of those DVD sets on the list that I promised myself I would buy when I had graduated Uni and had a job and money, and not before, but then I saw season 1 for cheap, and bought that and then later season 2.
02: Do you think you'll stay in this fandom or eventually move on?
Again, I come back to it. I won't think about it for months, then I'll splurge on fic for a week or two, or mainline a whole bunch of episodes. Plus, now there's SB day to celebrate (the anniversary of meeting Scott Bakula), so that keeps my interest in the series alive.
03: Favorite episodes/books/movies/etc.?
Gosh, err, most of the "firsts" are quite good - the first time Sam leaps into a black man (The Color of Truth, the first time he leaps into a woman (What Price Gloria), etc. Also the Halloween episode that was All A Dream, Or Was It...?(The Boogieman) I also like Good Morning Preoria (Sam is a DJ), Another Mother (Al being adorable with children!), MIA, and both parts of The Leap Home. There are still episodes I haven't seen, or haven't seen for years and forgotten, some of which I really want to see, because they are very good.
04: Do you participate in this fandom (fanfiction, graphics, discussions)?
Again, the fandom is a bit dead really. Getting hold of decent fic can be hard, as this was a pre-web, zine era fandom mostly. There a some good ones around though. I've started writing a bit of an epic crossover, but I've written, ah, the first part. Maybe one day I'll finish it.
05: Do you think that more people should get into this fandom?
Yeah, I love the show. It had cheesy 80s effects and cheesy 80s plots, but really it's more about the characters than the science fiction. The sci fi is just a plot device to allow them to tell interesting stories, and that it manages, especially in the earlier seasons.