help me with my learnings

[fanbeatsman]

Firstly, massive apologies for how long it's taken me to get back to comments recently - daftly, I've been starting conversations requiring a lot of attention and mental energy while mired in the exhausting process of writing and editing a particularly bastardly article (should be done by the end of tomorrow, though, woo!). I've really appreciated

Comments

[loneraven]

Major fictional universes that span media... the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

[fanbeatsman]

Ooh, yes! Can't believe that didn't occur to me; thank you. And while I have read one (possibly two?) of the books, I think that probably counts as limited enough contact with it to come to it with reasonably fresh eyes.

[loneraven]

The different versions of it are very different, it is worth noting! I am still mostly a sucker for the radio series, however. :)

[miss_prince]

I'd really encourage you to play the text adventure version if you go with Hitchhiker's! I'd say interactive fiction is a very overlooked medium.

Unfortunately I'm coming up blank for other suggestions, but I'll think about it.

[forthwritten]

Well, if you do go for Star Wars it was kind of my first fandom. The first slash-fic site I read was the Sith Academy *waves of nostalgia* Star Wars has *lots* of tie-ins - the arguments about whether the Expanded Universe is canon or not are still going I expect, plus Lucas goes through phrases of saying "ah, fuck it, put it in" and "NO IT IS MINE ALL MINE" regarding other people writing in the Star Wars universe.

Star Trek is pretty well-established as something to be fannish about. Um. Stargate? Supernatural? Are you interested in campaign reports from Warhammer etc?

[valentinite]

Star Trek springs to mind. Though it's kind of massively huge.

Dungeons & Dragons is a game that spawned books and one gawdawful movie.

[fanbeatsman]

Star Trek's a frustrating one, because the release of the latest film is exactly the kind of thing I want to be looking at...but I'm not familiar enough with what's gone before it to be able to personally access everything it's doing, and it's so comparatively recent that even in the sf field there's not much critical work on it yet that I can work from. I'm keeping an eye out for articles and blog posts &c., though - don't suppose you've come across anything interesting written about it?

D&D is a great idea, thank you - I'm starting to get the feeling that role-playing might be one of the key concepts in what I'm doing, actually.

[valentinite]

It (Star Trek) might also have the problem of everyone trying to get something out right now as it's both popular and hugely iconic.

I haven't come across anything nice and central, and I haven't bookmarked any of the things that had one or two interesting points. Sorry. I've been consuming stuff about it just as a lifelong fan who isn't nearly as fanatic about the franchise as she was at age 12, but is still fond of it.

I just figured since you hadn't gone on and on about the new movie, it was likely something that qualified for your "unfamiliar" requirement.

The question of whether D&D requires also going back and doing Tolkein also sprang to mind. Because while both are pulling from the same mythologies, there's also a large extent to which D&D got there via Tolkein.