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lowkeyI didn't always write fan fiction, or even think about writing fan fiction, or give in to my inner fan girl*, or even read fan fiction.
Cowboy Bebop is a great show. Naturally, age tarnishes most things**; since I saw it years back, some of its shine was worn off. I don't find Vicious as übercool as I once did, and I've grown to despise Steven Blum's amazing but amazingly-overused voice.
But for what it was at the time of my life that I saw it, it was the greatest thing ever. I happened to find it by chance one night, really late on Cartoon Network, only a few weeks after my family moved and we first got cable. My mom liked it, too, but she'd get off of work just a little too late to watch it, so we'd record each episode on a VHS tape, and my mom and my brother and I would watch it when she came home.
It's a great show. It also has a great, terribly bittersweet ending, which in my mind, concluded masterfully. Wikipedia's claims that "Spike's fate at the end of the series is left open-ended" are wishful thinking; in fact, it wasn't until I read that statement five minutes ago that it ever occurred to me that he might have survived.
So: the story was over, and I had very little interest in continuing it. But that didn't mean my interest in the series was over, not at all. The music was incredible, and there were so many small Easter eggs to uncover. Fueling my quasi-obsession (which wasn't really that big; it was the late 90s and there wasn't much else to do on the internet, srsly) were two great fan sites, both of which are still up, if dormant: The Jazz Messengers, and Somewhere Down the Crazy River.***
Big Big Truck's Somewhere Down the Crazy River scratched all of my budding fandom itches: great wallpapers, great artwork, introductions to great music. I credit BBT for introducing me to Spiritualized - Won't Get To Heaven (The State I'm In), which (though I forgot it up till the time I wrote this piece), is so much the Spike song, it isn't even funny. I am, however, to this day disappointed that Belle & Sebastian - This Is Just a Modern Rock Song was nowhere as cool as I was originally led to believe. Also worth mentioning was my introduction to Dire Straits - "Romeo and Juliet," which is damn good, too.**** And then there's BBT's really amazing Failed Experiments In Video Editing AMV.
But also featured on her website was a collection of Bebop fan fiction, written by one Agent Orange. At the time, I was inclined to revile pretty much all fan fiction.***** But on a lark, I decided I'd read a few of the stories and... hot damn. I mean, I still probably haven't read all of AO's work, and I don't think I actually read every word of "Freaks Flock Together" (even if I remember the scene where they're up on the roof). But basically, up to that point, AO's stories were the best things I had read on the internet. Quite simply, they're everything a fanfic should be: well written, true to the characters, unique, but not so unique that anything seemed amiss, and capable of fleshing out something that was missing or absent in the original.
For instance: at the time, I remember there was alot of hate for Julia, that strumpet that got our man Spike killed. I don't think I really shared in it, and I definitely didn't once I read "The Reluctant Jezebel". In the series, Julia is a massive cipher; for how much pull she had on the show and how little screen time she had, she might as well have been a black hole. We sorta have to accept on faith that she's cool enough for Spike, and that she's really worth dying for. AO made me believe it, or at least made me believe that Spike would die for her. And the "you can tell if people have slept together based on body language" thing has stayed with me till this day.
Another: I never really liked Faye, or at least I didn't until almost the end of the series, "Hard Luck Woman." But the Faye parts of "Sentimental Journey" (particularly 12 and 13) made me like her a little more. And the "death on Christmas" thing is really pretty Faye-like.
Ironically, AO did such a good job that I didn't end up thinking more highly of fan fiction. I just ended up deciding that AO's work was canon, which I guess is the best compliment a fan fiction author can get.
And that, if their particularly well written, you carry the weight of their stories a long time.
* Being a guy, I'd say "fan boy," but in my experience, that term comes loaded with alot of negative connotations. I am far better described by the gleeful exuberance + shipping/subtext glasses that come with fan girl territory.
** Except The Rocketeer. And maybe The Shadow, but I first saw that one in college, so I don't think it counts. Sorry, Billy Zane, but The Phantom doesn't cut it; that said, the movie pretty much shipped Sala and Diana (with their contrasting black/white outfits!), so there's that.
*** And also The Real Folk Blues, which sadly has gone away. If my memory serves me correctly, it had an excellent gallery chronicling the different Easter eggs you could find throughout the series.
**** But it took The West Wing to really drive home how awesome Dire Straits is. Also: whhhaaattt that's Dulé Hill?
***** CoughexceptforthatreallyhotseriesofAndromedafemslashficswhereitturnsouttheEurekaMaruhasafemaleavatarthathooksupwithRommiecough
After credits bonus: And if Spike did end up surviving, the way Wikipedia wants to imply he might have... well, then, it went down exactly like it does in "The Ballad of John Doe."
Also: I still have never seen the episode "Boogie Woogie Feng Shu."
Cowboy Bebop is a great show. Naturally, age tarnishes most things**; since I saw it years back, some of its shine was worn off. I don't find Vicious as übercool as I once did, and I've grown to despise Steven Blum's amazing but amazingly-overused voice.
But for what it was at the time of my life that I saw it, it was the greatest thing ever. I happened to find it by chance one night, really late on Cartoon Network, only a few weeks after my family moved and we first got cable. My mom liked it, too, but she'd get off of work just a little too late to watch it, so we'd record each episode on a VHS tape, and my mom and my brother and I would watch it when she came home.
It's a great show. It also has a great, terribly bittersweet ending, which in my mind, concluded masterfully. Wikipedia's claims that "Spike's fate at the end of the series is left open-ended" are wishful thinking; in fact, it wasn't until I read that statement five minutes ago that it ever occurred to me that he might have survived.
So: the story was over, and I had very little interest in continuing it. But that didn't mean my interest in the series was over, not at all. The music was incredible, and there were so many small Easter eggs to uncover. Fueling my quasi-obsession (which wasn't really that big; it was the late 90s and there wasn't much else to do on the internet, srsly) were two great fan sites, both of which are still up, if dormant: The Jazz Messengers, and Somewhere Down the Crazy River.***
Big Big Truck's Somewhere Down the Crazy River scratched all of my budding fandom itches: great wallpapers, great artwork, introductions to great music. I credit BBT for introducing me to Spiritualized - Won't Get To Heaven (The State I'm In), which (though I forgot it up till the time I wrote this piece), is so much the Spike song, it isn't even funny. I am, however, to this day disappointed that Belle & Sebastian - This Is Just a Modern Rock Song was nowhere as cool as I was originally led to believe. Also worth mentioning was my introduction to Dire Straits - "Romeo and Juliet," which is damn good, too.**** And then there's BBT's really amazing Failed Experiments In Video Editing AMV.
But also featured on her website was a collection of Bebop fan fiction, written by one Agent Orange. At the time, I was inclined to revile pretty much all fan fiction.***** But on a lark, I decided I'd read a few of the stories and... hot damn. I mean, I still probably haven't read all of AO's work, and I don't think I actually read every word of "Freaks Flock Together" (even if I remember the scene where they're up on the roof). But basically, up to that point, AO's stories were the best things I had read on the internet. Quite simply, they're everything a fanfic should be: well written, true to the characters, unique, but not so unique that anything seemed amiss, and capable of fleshing out something that was missing or absent in the original.
For instance: at the time, I remember there was alot of hate for Julia, that strumpet that got our man Spike killed. I don't think I really shared in it, and I definitely didn't once I read "The Reluctant Jezebel". In the series, Julia is a massive cipher; for how much pull she had on the show and how little screen time she had, she might as well have been a black hole. We sorta have to accept on faith that she's cool enough for Spike, and that she's really worth dying for. AO made me believe it, or at least made me believe that Spike would die for her. And the "you can tell if people have slept together based on body language" thing has stayed with me till this day.
Another: I never really liked Faye, or at least I didn't until almost the end of the series, "Hard Luck Woman." But the Faye parts of "Sentimental Journey" (particularly 12 and 13) made me like her a little more. And the "death on Christmas" thing is really pretty Faye-like.
Ironically, AO did such a good job that I didn't end up thinking more highly of fan fiction. I just ended up deciding that AO's work was canon, which I guess is the best compliment a fan fiction author can get.
And that, if their particularly well written, you carry the weight of their stories a long time.
* Being a guy, I'd say "fan boy," but in my experience, that term comes loaded with alot of negative connotations. I am far better described by the gleeful exuberance + shipping/subtext glasses that come with fan girl territory.
** Except The Rocketeer. And maybe The Shadow, but I first saw that one in college, so I don't think it counts. Sorry, Billy Zane, but The Phantom doesn't cut it; that said, the movie pretty much shipped Sala and Diana (with their contrasting black/white outfits!), so there's that.
*** And also The Real Folk Blues, which sadly has gone away. If my memory serves me correctly, it had an excellent gallery chronicling the different Easter eggs you could find throughout the series.
**** But it took The West Wing to really drive home how awesome Dire Straits is. Also: whhhaaattt that's Dulé Hill?
***** CoughexceptforthatreallyhotseriesofAndromedafemslashficswhereitturnsouttheEurekaMaruhasafemaleavatarthathooksupwithRommiecough
After credits bonus: And if Spike did end up surviving, the way Wikipedia wants to imply he might have... well, then, it went down exactly like it does in "The Ballad of John Doe."
Also: I still have never seen the episode "Boogie Woogie Feng Shu."
