MEME - Answer # 3

[debris4spike]

deborahw37  asked me in this MEME yesterday

Is JM your first fandom? If not who/what else have you been a fan of in the past and why? 

When I first read the question I thought that it was a fairly simple yes/no answer - but then it made me start to think so I have but a bit of a ramble under a cut!!

When I was 5 I saw Thunderbirds - and my first ever love was born ... Scott.  I still love Thunderbirds and still think Scott is best.   However I don't think this qualifies, does it?

When I was 11 - 18 I was (as a lot of you know) a victim of bullying, so didn't get to do the girl-friend / fandom / squeeee thing that most do.  However I had favourites actors and favourite shows ... Such as -

Cary Grant
John Mills
Steve MacQueen
Gene Kelly
Pete Duel (Alias Smith and Jones)
Anthony Andrews (Danger UXB)

As you can see no one particular actor - but mostly good looking guys who could really act ... ring any bells ...mmmmm ... James!!!!

In 1974 (ish) I satrted watching M*A*S*H on late night TV when baby-sitting.  That became the first series that I got hooked on.  I used to do anything to watch it - even changing the date of a Church Business Meeting, which my parents were horrified about, when they realised what I had done.  Remember - in those days, no videos.  When the last episode was due to be aired, I had a video, but it also co-incided with a Christmas meal 12 of us from college had organised.  They re-arranged the date without asking me, as they knew that I would be upset about missing the show live!  I still love M*A*S*H and have the DVDs in my collection.

In 1978 a new Sci Fi series started on the BBC ... Blake's 7.  That was the first time that I watched both a series and a male character with equal interest!  However, although I liked Avon, I never wanted to watch Paul Darrow in anything else.  I am still a member of Horizon, the fan club, that I joined in 1990 when they re-released the 52 episodes on video.  Yes, I have the videos and have made firends locally ... as well as one of my f-list through love of the series.

From then on it was the odd series I watched and enjoyed; until Star Trek Voyager, which I really got into - but again, only the series.

Over the times the actor have really stayed the same with very few changes.

However 8 (ish) years ago my friend Toni used to tell me to watch this great TV series - and I said, "No, I don't want to watch vampires and witches"  ... Yes, you guessed it!  I then had her 2 daughters stay for a wekk and they asked would I mind if it was on - and I said that it was fine.  Season 6 ... Hells Belles .... I walked into the lounge to offer the girls a cup of tea and looked at this girl in green talking to this drop-dsead gorgeous guy .....

So deborahw37, here begins my real first fandom.   I started watching the series and for the first time ever looked for something on the internet, not being on-line I had to borrow a friends computer.  I started looking for the back-story line.  Then ... shock ... horror the series ended - I then found out that it was a repeat of 6 that ran into 7.  Now I needed to see all the series - and however much I enjoyed it, it was Spike I was watching.  I then got on-line and started looking at where to look and bound BloodShedVerse ... and realised there were others out there who loved the show.

So James gave me - Spike, the internet, stories (and yes I ended up doing something I had been told by teachers never to do -) writing, Andromeda, Ghost of the Robot, LJ, friends.  

So, yes, he was my first true fandom ... I have watched his episodes of Smallville ( a series I don't follow), Shadow Puppets (a genre of film I don't like), I have been to concerts for the first time, I have been relaxed enough to make friends ... which is probably the most amazing thing when I think about it.

So - Thanks for asking, it has reminded me again how much this fandom means to me!!

P.S. - Sorry for the long ramble!!