Need to Rant
This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but I'm about to let out a caged lion, if you're offended, I'm sorry don't take anything that I say personally.
I'm officially fed up with online fandoms. I've spent so many years fighting with people online that that's all that I do with my days. Looking back on things, I've never been in a fandom where things didn't blow up in some way or the other. Back when I posted on TheForce.net religiously I spent time battling w/ bashers (that was bad for my health - they're complete nut-jobs,) then I entered Smallville fandom - season 6 onwards. We were all pretty united in hating the direction of the series. TSCC everything started off great until the fandom split completely down the middle between the die-hard Terminator fans and the mindless Jameron shippers who just wanted to see John Connor frak his robot.
About the only fandom that never went fully manic was Legend of the Seeker. My girls over on CSS united in their love of Richard/Kahlan and enjoyed the other characters. It was me who got fed up w/ the show, not the fans.
Recently though, I've found the Smallville fandom that I used to have fun wasting hours with becoming a nasty, unwelcome place. I've realized something, for years I classified myself as a Clois fan, because frankly Lois/Clark scenes always were my favorites, particularly in the earlier seasons that were so infested w/ Blahna worship. Last season and this one have been, IMO stellar. Last year was cohesively the best season ever produced on the show. This season is unfolding rather like one of my own novels, things are getting sprinkled in storywise, and clues dropped here and there, all will be leading to a massive, explosive finale. I've realized that I'm not a Clois 'shipper. Utter mindless 'shippers are people who only watch shows to see their couples make out and be together. There are those who just want to see the characters developed well and don't particularly care if they're touchy or whatever, but ultimately, they can care less about any other characters who appear on screen - I fall into neither of those categories.
I'm all about story. To me, this season on SV has been experimental. Darkseid is insidious, we don't have a big obvious enemy. I've really enjoyed how they've explored how fear spreads and infects people. In the AU world, that is what happens when there is no hope, no faith in mankind. If you allow darkness to fully take over, no one can escape it. I've enjoyed the progression of Clark and Lois's characters. Lois has matured and Clark is so close to becoming Superman. I also LOVE Tess. I love that her icy facade is gone and we're seeing the real woman beneath her once cold exterior. I really hate the whole Chlollie pairing because I think that they could've really done spectacular things w/ Tess & Oliver this season - but oh well. I've loved the return of Lionel. I always loved Lionel, more than Lex.
I hated Blahna for so many years because she never contributed anything to the overall story, she was a stalling tactic, a damsel in distress, and poorly written. In hindsight seasons 1-3 were pretty awesome because overall she wasn't that important on the show. Goughlar's obsession w/ her went into high gear season 4 and by season 7 she became insufferable. Chloe was problematic also, she had obvious narcissistic/ Mary Sue character flaws that were never addressed and she got to leave the series smelling like a rose, even though she was morally wishy washy throughout her entire stay on the series. Chloe bored me more than annoyed me. She was an irritating itch that triggered just blow your reach in the middle of you back that you couldn't make go away. Overall that still never bothered me that much. Her arc here did what her arcs always did in the past - they bored me. There were some good things about her arc - most of them not related to her at all - but I'm not going to waste hours of energy bitching and moaning over her being there. Why? I have other shows that I watch and enjoy. Smallville is escapist, fun TV with a very pretty cast and cool FX, anyone who thinks that it's more than that is kidding themselves. It's never been Emmy material.
I'm seriously gearing up for CAMELOT and GAME OF THRONES. Then in the summer I can't wait for FALLING SKIES to premiere. We've got TRUE BLOOD and THE WALKING DEAD returning. Depending how things fall out w/ pilot season, I'll probably watch WONDER WOMAN should it get picked up by NBC. Their new pilot 17th Precinct by Ron Moore looks pretty awesome too. If Supernatural gets picked up for a 7th season I'll watch it next year and if they return, I'll watch Hellcats and Nikita, but other that, the CW is mostly off my must-see watch list.
Once SMALLVILLE is over, I'm done. I'm going to enjoy the last six episodes and that's it. I created a new multi-fantasy TV show fanboard that I'm going to work on getting up off of the ground, but other than that - I'm not getting into any more single series fandoms. The time has come for me to move on. I vowed at the beginning of the season when I got out of the hospital that after Smallville I was going to work on my novel and that's what I'm going to do. Time to create my own world to obsess over and then share with the world. A good starting point is that thanks to my accident this summer, I probably won't have the full endurance to attend Comic Con so we're going to miss this year. It's time to ween myself off of the internet and back into the real world. I still love TV and I'm excited about next year the STAR WARS saga returning to theaters in 3D, but I just can't allow myself to get as emotionally invested as I have in the past about a TV series. I just can't take the manic- bi-polarness of the fanbases that are out there.
I'm officially fed up with online fandoms. I've spent so many years fighting with people online that that's all that I do with my days. Looking back on things, I've never been in a fandom where things didn't blow up in some way or the other. Back when I posted on TheForce.net religiously I spent time battling w/ bashers (that was bad for my health - they're complete nut-jobs,) then I entered Smallville fandom - season 6 onwards. We were all pretty united in hating the direction of the series. TSCC everything started off great until the fandom split completely down the middle between the die-hard Terminator fans and the mindless Jameron shippers who just wanted to see John Connor frak his robot.
About the only fandom that never went fully manic was Legend of the Seeker. My girls over on CSS united in their love of Richard/Kahlan and enjoyed the other characters. It was me who got fed up w/ the show, not the fans.
Recently though, I've found the Smallville fandom that I used to have fun wasting hours with becoming a nasty, unwelcome place. I've realized something, for years I classified myself as a Clois fan, because frankly Lois/Clark scenes always were my favorites, particularly in the earlier seasons that were so infested w/ Blahna worship. Last season and this one have been, IMO stellar. Last year was cohesively the best season ever produced on the show. This season is unfolding rather like one of my own novels, things are getting sprinkled in storywise, and clues dropped here and there, all will be leading to a massive, explosive finale. I've realized that I'm not a Clois 'shipper. Utter mindless 'shippers are people who only watch shows to see their couples make out and be together. There are those who just want to see the characters developed well and don't particularly care if they're touchy or whatever, but ultimately, they can care less about any other characters who appear on screen - I fall into neither of those categories.
I'm all about story. To me, this season on SV has been experimental. Darkseid is insidious, we don't have a big obvious enemy. I've really enjoyed how they've explored how fear spreads and infects people. In the AU world, that is what happens when there is no hope, no faith in mankind. If you allow darkness to fully take over, no one can escape it. I've enjoyed the progression of Clark and Lois's characters. Lois has matured and Clark is so close to becoming Superman. I also LOVE Tess. I love that her icy facade is gone and we're seeing the real woman beneath her once cold exterior. I really hate the whole Chlollie pairing because I think that they could've really done spectacular things w/ Tess & Oliver this season - but oh well. I've loved the return of Lionel. I always loved Lionel, more than Lex.
I hated Blahna for so many years because she never contributed anything to the overall story, she was a stalling tactic, a damsel in distress, and poorly written. In hindsight seasons 1-3 were pretty awesome because overall she wasn't that important on the show. Goughlar's obsession w/ her went into high gear season 4 and by season 7 she became insufferable. Chloe was problematic also, she had obvious narcissistic/ Mary Sue character flaws that were never addressed and she got to leave the series smelling like a rose, even though she was morally wishy washy throughout her entire stay on the series. Chloe bored me more than annoyed me. She was an irritating itch that triggered just blow your reach in the middle of you back that you couldn't make go away. Overall that still never bothered me that much. Her arc here did what her arcs always did in the past - they bored me. There were some good things about her arc - most of them not related to her at all - but I'm not going to waste hours of energy bitching and moaning over her being there. Why? I have other shows that I watch and enjoy. Smallville is escapist, fun TV with a very pretty cast and cool FX, anyone who thinks that it's more than that is kidding themselves. It's never been Emmy material.
I'm seriously gearing up for CAMELOT and GAME OF THRONES. Then in the summer I can't wait for FALLING SKIES to premiere. We've got TRUE BLOOD and THE WALKING DEAD returning. Depending how things fall out w/ pilot season, I'll probably watch WONDER WOMAN should it get picked up by NBC. Their new pilot 17th Precinct by Ron Moore looks pretty awesome too. If Supernatural gets picked up for a 7th season I'll watch it next year and if they return, I'll watch Hellcats and Nikita, but other that, the CW is mostly off my must-see watch list.
Once SMALLVILLE is over, I'm done. I'm going to enjoy the last six episodes and that's it. I created a new multi-fantasy TV show fanboard that I'm going to work on getting up off of the ground, but other than that - I'm not getting into any more single series fandoms. The time has come for me to move on. I vowed at the beginning of the season when I got out of the hospital that after Smallville I was going to work on my novel and that's what I'm going to do. Time to create my own world to obsess over and then share with the world. A good starting point is that thanks to my accident this summer, I probably won't have the full endurance to attend Comic Con so we're going to miss this year. It's time to ween myself off of the internet and back into the real world. I still love TV and I'm excited about next year the STAR WARS saga returning to theaters in 3D, but I just can't allow myself to get as emotionally invested as I have in the past about a TV series. I just can't take the manic- bi-polarness of the fanbases that are out there.