My First Fandoms

[rj_anderson]

I think it was tzikeh who started the idea of talking about your first fandom; anyway, it was her Remington Steele icon turning up in my FriendsFriends list that made me stop and wibble. So, here's my contribution to the meme.

As I sat down in front of my parents' battered electric typewriter, I had no idea that the kind of story I was about to write was called "fan fiction", or that anyone else was doing the same thing. I only knew that I had an idea for a Remington Steele story, and I was itching to get it down on paper. And then it would be out of my system...

I little guessed that I would end up writing not just one but three Steele fics, or that the disease would then spread and afflict me with two Scarecrow and Mrs. King fics, an Airwolf fic, and then (horror of horrors) a crossover. (The latter, by the way, was where the Manimal element came in -- I dragged poor Jonathan and his friends off to a convention.*)

But anyway, it all started with Steele. And I was a raving, frothing fangirl about that show, I can tell you. I'm not even sure exactly what it was -- sure, Pierce Brosnan was good-looking, but I didn't have a G.P. for him or anything. I think it was just that Remington and Laura were so stylish and witty and generally cool. Especially Laura. I spent about three years trying desperately to look like her, walk like her, talk like her. I practiced her lines in the mirror. I even tried to raise my eyebrows and make my forehead wrinkle like hers. All very embarrassing in retrospect, but hey, I was only thirteen.

I was always very shippy about my fandoms, as the icon might indicate. Steele and Laura, Lee and Amanda, String and Caitlin, Jonathan and Brooke (although Manimal lasted less than one season, and even as I was watching it I knew deep down that it was a really stupid show). Cases? What cases? Helicopter? What helicopter? :)

Anyway, there are my first fandoms. Not my most long-standing or prolific (both those honours would have to go to Doctor Who), but fondly remembered, nonetheless.

--
*Where, as I recall, Laura accidentally stabbed Steele with a letter opener and Lee and Amanda got trapped together in a shipping crate, among other unintentionally hilarious incidents. I'm rather sorry now that I threw all those old stories out...

Comments

Holy Crap. Manimal.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Lookit all your cool '80s fandoms! I think you and I are exactly the same age.

And yeah, I had the same reaction you did - Pierce Brosnan was a hottie, but that wasn't enough to explain the insanity with which I reacted to the show. I think part of it was the concept - that she made up an imaginary friend, basically, and then he took form and shape (nice shape!) and other people could see him and ... very, very odd, when you think about it.

Re: Holy Crap. Manimal.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting point -- I never thought of it that way. Yeah, it's about having your imaginary friend come alive! How cool is that? :)

Was I the only one who really, really missed Murphy and Bernice after the first season? I was a big Murphy fan especially. And I hated Mildred -- she was so annoying.

I'm still not sure why I never got a full-blown crush on Pierce Brosnan. I mean, he's got a lovely accent, he can act, he's good-looking... though actually, he's almost boringly good-looking, which is probably what did him in for me. I always liked faces with more character. Especially around the nose (which probably explains my fondness for Simon MacCorkindale).

Re: Holy Crap. Manimal.

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

I thought the network (always blame the suits first) and the production got a little full of themselves after the first season of RS was such a hit and messed with something which didn't need messing with -- I liked the second season much less than the first, and did a slow drift away. Disappointing.

[(Anonymous)]

I missed Murphy and Berniece (Fox? Wolf?) too. Mildred bugged the crap out of me.

This seems like a good place to confess that at age 13 I wrote a Hogan's Heroes play which involved a jitter bug contest among other equally ludicrous things.

Cindie

I Never Knew...

[avarill.livejournal.com]

... You were a Remington Steele fan! Me too! And yes, I loved Scarecrow as well. It's really too bad you don't have those stories anymore, I would have loved to read them.

Re: I Never Knew...

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I would have loved to read them.

Oh dear me, I don't think so. From what I recall of the plot and execution, they were staggeringly awful. Plus they featured an OC named Elaine, an intolerably smart and sassy self-insertion character whose mission in life was to solve all the cases pretty much single-handedly so Remington and Laura (and later, Lee and Amanda -- yes, she even graduated from apprentice detective to apprentice spy) could go out on dates. *sticks finger down throat and gags self*

And speaking of the dread Elainey Sue, I have just remembered that in the one multi-crossover story it wasn't Laura who accidentally stabbed Steele with the letter opener, it was Elaine who accidentally stabbed A.J. Simon with the letter opener -- thus causing him to go light-headed with blood loss, and try to kiss her. Hee!