Fandoms: Stand Down!

http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/

It would be funny if it wasn't so...no, actually it is funny. But also a little sad.

Fandoms gone wild have made the headlines in the UK. The 4th Annual Norwich Sci-Fi convention was the venue for a showdown between Dr Who fans and Star Wars fans. It has been widely reported from such bastions of hard news at The Guardian and the BBC, to IMBd (who knew they blogged?!?) and The Sun (nuff said). No word from Alan Partridge as we go to press.

The BBC used Stormtroopers as their lead image:

from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-22542222

While The Guardian used Cybermen:

from http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/tvandradioblog/2013/may/16/sci-fi-tribes-trekkies-browncoats

The Guardian used the brouhaha to unveil their knowledge of fandoms (Browncoats!), but rather spoiled it with this:

Browncoats spend their days arguing over the show's correct episode order, writing lesbian slash fiction about the show's female characters and clamouring for Whedon to open a Kickstarter page to fund a new Firefly movie, even though he's not really that bothered now he's got the Incredible Hulk to muck around with. (Link)

 And people wonder why fans get upset?

Still, the main thing is that the warring fandoms are going to try to make peace. From the BBC piece:

Dominic Warner, secretary of Norwich Star Wars Club, said: "It's been blown up as if it was a fight. There was no fighting."

He acknowledged there had been disputes between club members in the past, but said: "There is no bad feeling between the two clubs. We have never interfered with them.

"It does sound comical. People that dress up in costume are labelled geeks and some people laugh at us, and this just makes it even more so."

He said the two clubs were having discussions about a meeting to resolve their differences. (Link)

So there we have it. No battle, just a little turf war. Whooligans? Hardly. They wouldn't Hurt a Firefly.

And speaking of Browncoats - don't forget that the Can't Stop The Serenity Charity Screening in NEXT WEEKEND, May 21st. There are some fantastic auction items up for grabs so get your tickets now and we'll see you there!

Back on the chain gang

I found a picture of you
So, what's all about, then? Geekness, fandom, life, this business called show? While recovering I saw the Star Wars documentary, reliving the excitement, the ups, the downs, the wacky hairdos. It was a welcome distraction and had some footage I'd not seen before. Ole Georgie-boy, he knew (and still knows!) a thing or two about how to make a movie. The sheer persistence and bloody-mindedness needed to get the thing done. The compromises and the tears. And he changed the way movies were made, no doubt about it. Good business sense but still an artist. What a guy. (Still not had my copy of Star Wait, BTW).

The powers that be
And yet...there is controversy over the way things were done. Breaks with the writer's and director's guilds hurt him financially and no doubt personally, but it's hard to see how things could have played differently. Now we are lucky that the recent Writers Strike came to a fairly amicable ending and works are back in progress. The way things are going at the moment it would be good indeed to have some inspiring, uplifting productions to look forward to in Autumn (ok, Fall, if you must).

To a place in the past
For me, there is the prospect of seeing a new Joss Whedon series as it comes out! This will be a first for me. England has great TV (and I miss the BBC A LOT), but always getting things second hand was really hard. You will probably gasp to hear that we had only four (yes, FOUR) TV stations in our house. There should have been 5 but we were in a valley and couldn't get the reception. And the satellite channels were so rubbish I couldn't be bothered to have them. And we couldn't get cable because of the valley...Yes, no wonder I was so out of date (...but I still wouldn't have satellite if we moved back). Now I have over 50 channels-worth of rubbish to click through! That's progress, I guess.

A circumstance beyond our control
But Dollhouse - that will be worth it. In fact, I've been checking the boards and already we are poised to start the 'Bring back Dollhouse' petition just in case Fox pull the plug. Now, I'm not going to start an anti-Fox campaign because who knows what goes on in these big corporations. I'm sure there are many able and dedicated people working at the Network. There have apparently been a lot of personnel changes since Firefly was so cruelly squished. So hope springs eternal. The writing for Dollhouse has been going on apace according to Whedonesque and other sources, so it will be interesting to see when casting is going to start and who gets what.

When I see what they have done
Oh yes, and we might get some exclusive insights into how it's all going, but you have to keep this really, really hush-hush. I mean it! I have some insider information from the world of Joss. Yes, I am about to get hold of some authentic extracts from Joss' personal diaries! Me! Now, don't go spreading that around because the deal could still fall through. Obviously, in order to protect the innocent and save my own butt I'll have to amend them slightly, so some of the details might not be 100% accurate. I'm meeting the guy (well, I'm assuming he's a guy) downtown later in the week so I'll let you know. He's emailing some older extracts today so I'll soon know if they're going to be worth it. As soon as I can check it all out I'll start posting. Here's hoping.

Do the math

That coat looks kinda brown
Yes, I know on my last blog I promised you postulations on the Google search results 'tomorrow' but I've been ill and busy in the meantime. But I'm back now, with added phlegm. So straight into the stats. As you will see from the table in 'News from the 'Verse', Google shows a fair amount of pages devoted to Firefly, Buffy, etc. Now before we go any further, and because we are who we are, let me note the following:

1. The number of pages returned on a Google search does NOT necessarily represent the popularity or otherwise of anything
2. The shows and movies being compared differ in many respects not least the amount of time since release and numbers of follow-ups/sequels/prequels
3. Stats can be made to show anything
4. All the calculations are 'real' because I know you will check them

So you keep saying, Professor!
The first thing to note is - Star Wars TV series - who knew that was coming out next year? A new sci-fi series...interesting. But enough digressing, already! According to my calculations, Star Wars is only 4.5 times more popular than Serenity.
How do we get that figure? Well, the raw data shows that 'Star Wars Movie' vs 'Serenity Movie' gives:
1780000 / 66500 = 26.8

However, there have been six Star Wars movies released so we can divide the original Star Wars figure by 6 so now:
(1780000/6) / 66500 = 4.5

That is a stunning result! Star Wars is one of the most successful franchises of all time, netting altogether about US $4.3 billion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars ). And the first one was released 22 years ago, as opposed to 3 years ago for Serenity. Now the Internet has not been around in it's present form for all of the 22 years but you can bet you bottom dollar that some of the first web pages were about Star Wars. Certainly some of the first newsgroups were.

But what does it mean?
Of course, it means nothing. But if you can accept the dodgy premises of the calculations (come on - you can suspend your disbelief for Luke - use the Force!) it shows us that for every page written about Star Wars, there is almost a quarter of a page written about Serenity. And that gives me a new hope. With popularity like that, a new Star Wars TV series to come next year and Joss back with a new Fox show, things are looking better than they have for a long time. Probably.

Isn't it 'maths'?
I still can't quite get my head around saying 'math' instead of 'maths' - I'm from England so you'll just have to excuse me. I'm over the physical pain part when I say it, but it still doesn't seem right. But I'm in Canada now, so I must adjust. But however you say it, we mustn't be scared by the concept of math. I was for a long time (before I embraced my inner-geek), but now numbers are my friend. Just don't ask me to do any of Skytopia's impossible math questions http://www.skytopia.com/project/imath/imath.html.

Will Wheaton?
Wil hasn't updated his blog for a few days so we're going to have to assume he's taking his doctor's orders seriously and resting up. I haven't heard anymore re the Grauman's lineup and I'm still waiting for Star Wait, but all good things....