FORKNI-L
Digest - 9 Mar 2011 to 10 Mar 2011 (#2011-31)
Thu, 10 Mar 2011
There are 3 messages totalling 150 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Other Factions (WAS: Re: Joke factions)
2. When Tracy was new
3. Admin: Anybody have digests for 1993 or 4?
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Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 04:17:54 -0500
From: Greer Watson <gwatson2@r.......>
Subject: Re: Other Factions (WAS: Re: Joke factions)
I've now added a "Neck of the Week" article to the wiki:
http://foreverknight.wikia.com/wiki/Neck_of_the_Week. (Thanks, Brenda!)
After a little thought, I've also split the Pit of Condemned Bimbos from the
Pit of Condemned Bimbos *Survivalists*. (Oh, a wiki-worker's work is never
done.)
People have pointed out that the size of a faction is related, in part, to
the number of active writers. Basically, if I've got this right, this has
two effects.
(1) Within the context of war, the more people there are in the
faction who are active writers, the more members the faction can sustain
during a war, since that makes it possible to write more fans into the plot,
since plot threads can be shared out among multiple writers.
(2) The other effect, I guess, is be that--out of wartime--factions
with more writers post more stories (and other things) to their
loop/list/group, and hence attract more people to join.
Of course, Tracy Sue said:
"I recall when I first joined FK fandom, certain factions (that are
now reabsorbed) were more exclusive than others. As the founding members of
those exclusive factions lost interest in their online pursuits, the old
factions had no new blood to fill the void that they created."
But then she politely/prudently doesn't name names, so I have no idea which
factions she's referring to. (I do rather get the impression that she has
certain ones in mind!)
Here are a couple of instances that have intrigued me, though:
My impression is that, when she was first introduced, Tracy was not exactly
popular. First, she was replacing Schanke: :( Second, TPTB deliberately
hired a tall blonde for sex appeal, thus insulting all fandom. Third, she
was not only blonde, but was seen as a ditz. Would I be right in thinking
that the original Perkulators faction was not, therefore, likely to attract
a lot of members?
The Dark Perks, on the other hand, were created a couple of years
later, after the reaction to the Season 3 cast changes had died down. They
saw her as a strong character, and wrote her accordingly. (They also had a
strong bent towards humour; but that's not *necessarily* inconsistent.)
Plus, of course, they had a lot of writers, and seem to have spun off a
remarkable number of websites, one way or another.
Clearly, in their heyday, the DP were a very active faction. So
it's not surprising that they basically displaced the original Perkulators.
Since then they have themselves declined. (This would be due to GAFIAting,
I take it? I can think of a few names....)
Then there are the Natpackers. They took part in all the early wars, and
had a very nice, good-sized website. (I've seen it on the Wayback Machine,
where most of it got recorded.) However, for a while now, their role has
been taken over by the NNPack.
It has always struck me that FK fans *could* be interested in
affiliating themselves with Natalie for several reasons. They could, for
example, be in some aspect of the medical profession themselves. Or they
could see her as a strong role model, as a no-nonsense professional women
with a respected career. Or they could be fascinated by the scientific
research she's doing into the nature of vampirism. However, on the whole,
most people stick to the following: (a) a reference to her job, incidental
to a cop plot colouring a story that's really about something else; (b)
character scenes with Nick; and (c) romance, today or tomorrow, with or
without a cure.
What I guess I'm saying is, you don't see a lot of Nat-focused
stories set in the morgue that focus on her contribution as a pathologist to
the solution of a crime.
Of course, Natalie plays an ensemble role in a lot of FK fan
fiction. However, since a lot of Nat stories are also Nick/Nat stories,
there's a natural tendency for the Natpack and NNatpack to run
together--like one of thoe Venn diagrams with overlapping circles, except
that in this case there's almost all overlap and no bits sticking out.
Anyway...these are just more musings. Anyone have comments?
Greer
gwatson2@r.......
http://www.foreverknight.org/FK4/
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Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 12:19:50 -0500
From: L McDavid <mclisa1014@g.......>
Subject: When Tracy was new
Actually, Ger directed her first episode and he cast her. She had briefly
appeared before as the campaign worker who hanged herself in the flashbacks
to the 1966 Democratic Convention in Chicago. At least that's what I've
been told about Lisa Ryder's casting. Why he made the choice I don't know,
and I'm sure, since she was to be a regular, he had agreement from TPTB.
Remember Tracey's lament about not wanting to be "Babe Cop"? I'm pretty sure
that was what USA wanted and what Parriott et al. were trying to avoid.
It wasn't so much the fact that she was replacing Schanke, as that we could
tell she was supposed to be the new heroine. TPTB tried to get rid of Nat
-- they only kept her because Ger told them, "If she [Catherine Disher]
goes, I go." LC was supposed to be reduced to monologues from the station,
and Nick was going to have a new neck of the week each time. Vachon was
supposed to be the new male heart throb. Or, as one of us put it at the
time, Nick and Nat were to be the old couple (supposedly anyone over 30
wasn't intereted in buying stuff from the advertisers), and Tracy and Vachon
were the young pair (pulling all those desirable young buyers). <snort>
I'd like to be clear that even those of us who didn't care for Tracey
respected Lisa Ryder. She did the best she could in the situation. It
didn't helo, IMHO, that there was no chemistry between her and Ben Bass. I
for one never cared about their relationship the way I did about Nick and
Nat, or Nick and Janette.
McLisa
McLisa (Lisa McDavid)
"That will be trouble."
listowner, Forkni-l & Fkfic-l
mclisa1014@g.......
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Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 12:21:34 -0500
From: L McDavid <mclisa1014@g.......>
Subject: Admin: Anybody have digests for 1993 or 4?
If so, would you please look up the reports for the Dead of WInter Cons and
post them to the lists?
Thanks!
McLisa (Lisa McDavid)
"That will be trouble."
listowner, Forkni-l & Fkfic-l
mclisa1014@g.......
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End of FORKNI-L Digest - 9 Mar 2011 to 10 Mar 2011 (#2011-31)
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