Major Fannish Events

[thefourthvine]

For various reasons, right now I'm thinking about Major Fannish Events I Wish I Could Have Seen. Now, when I say that, I don't mean the actual events, most of which are available on DVD or at least on some fourth-generation cell phone recording somewhere, but the fannish reaction to those events

Comments

[hannahrorlove]

Seeing that Joss Whedon hates joy through the movie Serenity is pretty high on the list.

More personally, the very end of Six Feet Under had me crying for almost a half-hour, with about ten of those minutes being after the episode ended.

[thefourthvine]

I've seen a couple vids for Six Feet Under that had me crying. I don't think I could stand any part of the series.

And I know what happened in Serenity, even though I've never seen the movie - seperis linked to a vid that showed that sequence. I had no idea who those people were. But that woman's (um, I don't remember her name, because I have never seen Firefly and only remember two names, but, you know, Wash's wife) voice, the way it sounded - I ended up crying. *sniffle*

[azdaja_dafema]

Oh Six Feet Under. My heart broke.

[hjcallipygian]

I first saw Serenity at a screening at the San Diego Comic Con, with Joss Whedon in attendance. Once the film was done and everyone was done cheering and Joss stood up at the front, my friend yells out, "Joss, you bastard!" and then the name of the character.

[musesfool]

Becoming 2 - Buffy sending Angel to hell and running away from Sunnydale - is what got me to log onto alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer for the first time. It was pretty intense, from what I recall. I wasn't on the newsgroup for the earlier stuff, though I kind of wish I had seen the reactions live.

[thefourthvine]

Wow. Yeah, I can see that that one must have been a biggie. I mean, I watched it on DVD, and I knew she came back, but. Still. It was...memorable.

[musesfool]

I figured she'd be back, but Angel! I wasn't even a B/A shipper, but the fact that he'd got his soul back and went to hell anyway! That she'd known and had to do it! I didn't know he was coming back and I cried like a baby.

That was a great episode.

"That's everything, huh? No weapons. No friends. No hope. Take all that away... and what's left?"

"Me."

I still get shivers from that exchange.

You can still rile up some Buffy fans by talking about Xander's Lie. That was a major topic of conversation on the newsgroup that summer. That, and what was the song at the end of Becoming 2? (Full of Grace by Sarah McLachlan, in case anyone doesn't know. *snerk*)

[thefourthvine]

Wait. What? I thought Xander's Lie happened in season six, not two. Have I been thinking of the wrong thing all this time?

[darthfox]

I think about this all the time, and it is why I am so vehemently anti-spoiler (for myself; I wish other people wouldn't seek spoilers, but it's ultimately their business). I grew up knowing that Vader was Luke's father. I have tried to get my head around the level of shock that must have been, and then the three years of wondering whether it was true, with no internet -- I mean, it's like the fact that my three-year-old almost-niece knows how to operate the DVD player, right, the world is just a different place -- and I will never have that. I've always known Vader was Luke's father. My friends got into Buffy while I was studying abroad, so I've always known Angel was a vampire (that's the Buffy one that I think of - not the Angelus thing, but the dude being a vampire in the first place, which was foreshadowed Jossily but not actually revealed until a few episodes later, I believe). I've always known what "Rosebud" meant. And so on.

Those are spoilers of inevitable circumstance. I was spoiled for The Sixth Sense by someone

[thefourthvine]

for myself; I wish other people wouldn't seek spoilers, but it's ultimately their business

See, and that's exactly why I want spoilers so much for myself. For one thing, if I'm really surprised, I'm unlikely to figure out what's actually happened. If I'm really upset or scared - well. We had to go back to Fellowship of the Ring, because I blanked out during the first big battle sequence and couldn't remember anything that happened after that. (Battles like that - with hand-to-hand weapons, but armies - scare the holy crap out of me.) If I know, there's a good chance I'll be able to take in whatever's happening. So for me, it works better that way.

But I can see why you wouldn't want them for yourself. Totally.

I was spoiled for The Sixth Sense by someone else's carelessness, and I saw it anyway, but my bitterness at not ever seeing that movie as a mystery is considerableI heard that some people got spoiled by a trailer? I don't know. I saw it blind, without even knowing there was a major twist. (Same, for that matter, with A

[dzurlady]

When Gandalf died I was utterly gutted. Mum would read it to delurker and I before bed each night and when Gandalf died she couldn't get us to bed for ages we were so shocked and upset. I think she encouraged us to keep going though (I can't really remember) but for whatever reason, we kept reading and read the whole thing. I'm glad it happened that way, though, because when he came back it was a moment of such revelatory joy and sheer happiness. I'm glad I wasn't spoiled for it, and glad that I experienced it back then, because I was younger and never even thought that kind of thing might happen so it was a pure glorious surprising moment of utter joy

[tieleen]

Exactly. And the movie/book writers are so clearly thinking, 'Well, this one can die for emotional manipulation plot reasons, they're not the main point anyway,' even while they kill off what's usually the most worthy character in the whole thing.

[christycorr]

Ha, Luke and Leia, that must've been awesome.

God, I can't begin to imagine how Lord of the Rings fans reacted when Return of the King first came out. Or Sandman fans, when The Kindly Ones came out. On a smaller scale, I also didn't watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog until a few months after it got put up, but I've heard brilliant things about people's reactions to Act III, and I wish I'd seen it at the time, too.

But yeah, I really wish I'd seen the reaction of Buffy/Angel shippers after 'Innocence,' too. And I suppose in the future no one will be able to picture the utter madness that was the release of Deathly Hallows, but I was here for that, so yay!

[thefourthvine]

I was here for Deathly Hallows, too! Although, I actually thought books five and six had even stronger reactions, but, yeah, book seven: wow.

uh, very late reply, as I only just got linked to this post

[athenemiranda]

God, I can't begin to imagine how Lord of the Rings fans reacted when Return of the King first came out.

My mother used to talk about enduring the 14-month wait between the publication of The Two Towers and of The Return Of The King, hanging to the last eight words of The Two Towers for dear life; ironically the memory of her saying that is what spoiled me when I first read LOTR, aaargh.

[seperis]

Buffy's death at the end of season five. I was in X-Men at the time and online in AIM and was sobbing in a chat room hysterically. The worst part is, I'd always watched Buffy, but I'd just started reading Buffy/Spike by Rivka and MustangSally, so I was just gutted. So there were a lot of us being hysterical.

Rose at the end of Dr. Who series 2. I still can't watch that. I watch around it.

I would have loved to have been around for:

Due South, the Victoria arc. Holy God, I fell apart spoiled and knowing what I'd see. That was gutting.

I'll need to read ohter people's responses. I know there are others, but seriously? Even thinking of Buffy makes me whimper in memory.

[darthfox]

Yes, that's another one, Victoria! I've been drinking bourbon (thanks, RTD) and forgot about it. But, yeah, I already knew what was up with her by the time I saw it, and sometimes when I watch it (rarely, because it's hard) I try to imagine what it must have been to think she really was just cleaning the kitchen, and she was a victim running scared, and then be completely stunned when she gets Jolly in the car.

Speaking of things we can't watch at all, though, to this day I haven't been able to watch "The Sentinel, by Blair Sandburg". And The Sentinel wasn't even any good, but that episode, man, the few times I've heard the opening voice-over I've had to turn it off. Which, if I'd been in the fandom at the time, I'd at least have not known what it was before I got there, so I'd have seen it. Once. :-P

[kattahj]

I watched the Victoria arc unspoiled as a teen (this was before I found fandom), and I think certain nuances of how badly she betrayed him escaped me, because I was saddened but not very upset. (Well, okay, the very end, with a HIATUS RIGHT WHEN FRASER IS LYING WOUNDEED, was quite peeving.) OTOH, I might also have been affected by having watched so much Young Riders and similar shows, where guest starring love interests screwed the boys over pretty much every other episode. I figured that was what love interests did. :-)

[thefourthvine]

Ummm. Just for the record, is Rose at the end of DW series two when she, you know, leaves? I need footnotes to my spoilers sometimes.

And I never made it to season five, so I never thought of Buffy's death, but, yeah, I can see it must have been HOLY OWWWWW in real time. (I've also never watched the Victoria arc. Hi! I am a great big wimp!)