Geek week

A lot of the programmes that we’ve been watching over the last year or so are not running at the moment.

In the past, you might: sigh, relive the best bits with a friend, watch them again on video (if you’d recorded them), maybe go out and buy a book related to the series.  (No wonder there are so many Doctor Who novels.)

Nowadays, those who really want to relive things can do…and it’s a slippery slope.  There are so many TV series released on DVD, as well as so many more that we’d all forgotten about, and which could be a bit of a guilty pleasure.  Lovejoy?  The House of Elliott?  The Onedin Line, even…

And then there’s the internet.  Want to read about plot lines and speculate about possible developments?  Go to Wikipedia – the kind of coverage you’ll find for TV science fiction series suggests that either some people have finished degrees in film school, and are looking for an outlet, or that they have in fact been constructing elegant mental treatise, even when watching something like Battlestar Galactica.  (We don’t.  But Dan’s mum does.  Watch it, at least.)

Want to see bits again?  Try out YouTube to see what fans have saved – or put up illegally.

Even sites like BBC News, seemingly quite innocent and worthy, come into their own if you are checking whether that crucial second series is being made.   Or third.  (You can probably identify the programmes from that.)

I have stayed clear of message boards; official fan sites; spoof sites; conventions and other occasions to meet up with other fans while wearing costumes.  There are some limits.

(Incidentally, Dan and his mum created a new category of fan for those who like Star Trek: Trekkies are the ones who do go to conventions, and redecorate their house to look like the deck of the Starship Enterprise.  Trekkites are the ones who watch reruns, discuss them, but do not at any point start learning Klingon or wearing tight lycra tracksuits.)

As we learned over the series “Firefly” (which will need its own post at some point), truly loyal fans do not give up when their programme is cancelled after one series.  They campaign with the writer and the cast to get it back, and get a full length feature film in the process.

As I have a work deadline looming, and four more essays for my course (surely not connected to my suddenly increased interest in free time activities?), I probably don’t have time to go campaigning.  Although I’m sure that someone somewhere could make more Clangers episodes if they wanted to…

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