The fandom-stockings went live yesterday, I just failed to post about it yesterday. And forgot about it entirely until I had replies to the things I'd put in other people stockings and got very confused for a minute about what they were replying to.

I will post the stories I've written once the people they were written for have seen them. Instead I will talk about the lovely lot of stuff I got.

From noveltea: a happy holidays banner

From arenee1999: a Harry Pearce wallpaper

From just_ann_now: a collection of cute bunnies

From astridv: a Nate/Sophie pic

From twinsarein: a Happy New Year banner

From ariestess: a Season's Greetings banner

From livii: a very, very, very short Ian/Barbara story

From shinyjenni: a companions wallpaper

From cosmic_llin: a Four, Sarah and Harry story

The cool thing is that having said I wanted some wallpaper for my work computer, I not only got two, but they were completely different. So those two will last me a while before I get bored seeing it.

And, as just_ann_now has discovered, you can never go wrong with bunnies.

My fandom stocking is at http://fandom-stocking.livejournal.com/184304.html. After writing stuff for people last year, I have been more detailed with my likes and not just listed ships, as the form has, since I don't have ships in all the fandoms listed, and I'm always happy with gen.

I am keeping an eye on other people's stockings, so I intend to fill them for everyone I know, even if it's only a drabble.

Over dinner tonight melliyna were chatting about parent/child relationships in various fandoms and how much we loved them and how there should be more fic for it. Which, of course, suggests a ficathon is in need - a prompt based one rather than an exchange, since that requires less work and because it's quite a diverse list of fandoms. Well, will be. We came up with a list between us of:

-Elrond and Aragorn (Lord of the Rings)
-Sarah and Luke (Sarah Jane Adventures)
-Seven and Ace (Doctor Who)
-Three and Jo (Doctor Who)
-Giles and Buffy (Buffy)
-Jonathan, Martha and Clark Kent (Smallville)
-Jed and Sam, CJ, Josh (The West Wing)
-Sirius and Harry (Harry Potter)
-Ten and Jenny (Doctor Who)
-Xander, Tara and Dawn (Buffy)
-Gibbs and Abby (NCIS)
-Jack and Mickey (The Bill)
-Sarah and Lavinia (Doctor Who)

Anyone think of any more?

Edit to add:
-Teal'c and Rya'c (Stargate)
-Bra'tac and Teal'c (Stargate)
-Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars)

And people have come up with nice long lists on the LJ version of this post

Since I just added some people to my LJ friends list, since they might decide to read my LJ, I thought I'd write a quick blurb about me.

I wrote a fairly long post about my job a while ago and since that's not the most important thing about me, I won't expand on it further (unless anyone wants me to).

Mostly what I've been talking about recently is moving, since I'm moving house in just under two weeks and it's true that it's one of the most stressful things you can do. The other most important thing in my life is Rotaract, which is a club for 18-30 year olds to have fun and raise money and help the local community. Our club has seven people in it, so we all get involved with everything we do. But I'm also on the district exec and am on the committee that's running the national conference next May. So that keeps me quite busy.

Fandom-wise it's mostly Doctor Who at the moment. I seem to have become known for having a thing about Harry (if the SJA signing was any indication). But I've never quite left (if only because I'm clinging on by my fingernails) Atlantis and Lord of the Rings (with the latter I was known for having a thing about Elrond).

Two years ago I managed to get myself into roleplaying on LJ, where you do get to play fandom major characters, where I play mostly Harry (which surprises everyone, I'm sure) and if you want more of my writing about Harry, his LJ ( shot_my_shoes) is the place to find it. There's also Jo Grant, Ian Chesterton and Teal'c, who is new and scares me. A bit.

A quick note about how I use my LJ. Everything starts from the blog, which is a far better way of finding old posts. I read my LJ friends list by RSS Feed, which I prefer lots and lots and don't know how anyone can read anything on their friends list any other way. In my case friends list is a very big misnomer, it's actually a reading list. I have friends who have LJs who I don't read, for whatever reason, but there is a life outside LJ. And I rarely friends lock stuff anyway.

I realised, a while ago, that I've been doing that volunteering thing in Doctor Who fandom. I reckon I've inherited it from dad, but I can't get involved in something without volunteering. It's why I've done every exec post in my Rotaract club, am on my third year on District and am on the National Conference organising committee. I did it in LOTR fandom when I was an admin at HASA. Now in DW I've run a ficathon and was an editor for the Sarah Jane newsletter.

I've also reached a point where I just don't like DW fandom any more. As a whole I mean. I'm quite happy with my little corner(s), but the rest I just can't be doing with any more. So I've now stopped doing everything, apart from reading and writing.

While I was taking relevant comms off my LJ friends list, I had a bit of a sort out of the whole thing. I have managed to get my friends list down to 42. I took off a whole load that I'm either just not reading or haven't updated for a long time (mostly the latter, I have to say).

Because the term friends in LJ is so loaded, I just want to repeat that my friends list is a copy of the LJs I am reading in RSS Feeds. I have people on there that aren't friends and people that are friends that aren't on there. Anyone not on my friends list isn't missing out on my friends locked posts because I very rarely make any, and when I do I'll put them on my blog too, which you can ask me for a registration on, and you can use your LJ ID for that.

And while I'm here I want to plead to the people who only say what they're posting about in the LJ cut text and nowhere outside of it - please can you put something in the text of the post or the heading to say what you're talking about? Otherwise I have no idea because I don't see LJ cuts in RSS Feeds, and it also means that the page where you write comments doesn't say either.

I've nearly read all the stories in my to read folder. It doesn't help that jay_of_lasgalen will never stop writing long enough for me to catch up. She's like some sort of unstoppable machine

Making Acquaintance by bodkin_ra: First meetings maybe signify more than it would seem. Hobbits. And a wizard.

Watching The Sunrise by jay_of_lasgalen: On midsummer's day, Elrohir tries to persuade Elladan to wake up early.

The Price of Being Peredhil by jay_of_lasgalen: The Valar's gift to the Peredhil of the choice between mortality and immortality comes at a high price. An elf says farewell to his brother and twin.

Wedding Nerves by jay_of_lasgalen: A story written for a birthday request. It was supposed to be a drabble, but it grew! It shows Aragorn as King, on the brink of his wedding to Arwen. Elladan and Elrohir - of course - make their presence felt.

Far From Home by jay_of_lasgalen: Trapped by a blizzard, Elladan and Elrohir face a bleak, lonely Midwinter far from home - and they begin to question their priorities.

Thoughts From Home by jay_of_lasgalen: Elrond passes a lonely Midwinter without those he loves - but there is always hope for the future, and a wish on the Midwinter star comes true.

Comfort by bodkin_ra: Elladan attempts to cheer his brother up.

Trouble by bodkin_ra: A youngish Elladan and Elrohir manage to irritate the Lady of Imladris. Glorfindel is no help.

Size isn't Everything by bodkin_ra: As the Fellowship go south, it becomes apparent that being small doesn't make you helpless.

I don't usually write this fast, I swear but my Remix fic is in beta already. I was quite amused to see the letter from the person I'm remixing for since I'd already looked through what they'd written, so the letter to say here's where it is and what it's like was entirely superfluous. And the 'what I like' bit obviously was since this is a write for yourself ficathon.

I also worked on my Big Bang fic, which actually went quite well once I got into it. I now have 17,600 words, some of them better than others and most of them dialogue.

For this year's Back to Middle-earth Month, I'm reading. I have 24 email alerts from Stories of Arda dating back to January last year. So I am going to work my way through those, hopefully read some older ones to review for Sel, and maybe have a look at some authors I haven't read.

Since it won't be much of a B2MEM without me writing about it in here, I'm also going to talk about what I've read:

Celebrían's Special Day by jay_of_lasgalen: Celebrían also has a special day, and Elladan and Elrohir plan a surprise for her - a greater surprise than they realise.

Dragons in the Trollshaws by bodkin_ra: A peril awakes that demands all Elladan and Elrohir's attention - and requires more than skill to defeat.

The Dwellings of the Dead by nilmandra007: The lands of the Dunedain of Cardolan are ravaged by war and plague. On a scouting expedition, Elrohir and Glorfindel discover that there is more to the decimated landscape than meets the eye.

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B2Mem was trickier this year than last. Last year I wrote 25 drabbles for there_n_back. I'd have liked to have written some for their alphabetic theme this year but going to America doesn't go that well with that.

I thought I ought to write something at least, since those drabbles were the last things I wrote in LOTR, I think. I was thinking how this means I haven't done anything in the fandom for a year.

Then I realised I was wrong. It's not all about the fanfic writing. And the one thing I can point to and say I have done, since I have proof, is read. Admittedly, I'm a bit behind: I have 10 email notifications from Stories of Arda sitting in my inbox, I have Tiriel's GAFFS bookmarked and her latest is marked as unread in my RSS reader.

I have read things earlier in the year, though, and since I try and review everything I read, and SOA keeps records of this, I had a look back through what I've been reading since last March.
Read more...

There was something I read a while ago talking about looking at people's searches on google and what you can tell about them. That would bring up all sorts of interesting things about me given that I've been looking up pregnancy (for Doctor Who: The Soap Opera), torture (for Dream a Little Dream) and courting in the 1930s.

But you can learn all sorts of interesting things through fandom. If it wasn't for The Bill I wouldn't know what a doona is. And I think I've learnt more about American words through beta'ing hhertzof's fics than I did by going there.

Mind you, I've also discovered that there are no 24 hour Tescos in Ealing. Which is important for Doctor Who: The Soap Opera: The Sequel. No, really. And tonight I got all excited when I looked up about decimalisation for the sake of one line on Relative Space and found this page. I had no idea the sixpence continued after decimalisation.

Although it's not fandom per se that's the font of all this knowledge, or making me look it up, it's that I'm meeting people in different parts of the world where they do things differently, or just people that have different areas of knowledge.

It's great, I love it.

I bought a new microfilter off amazon last night, and since I needed to spend £12 more to get free delivery I might have bought the first series of Doctor Who as well. I'm now paranoid about my car, but I can guarantee next Wednesday/Thursday will be dry since that's when it's booked into the garage so they can fail to find anything wrong with it. I'm really hoping it's dry this weekend as I have a driving lesson on Sunday and a two hour drive with a car that's a pain does not really appeal.

There was a point this afternoon at work (4.30pm) that I just couldn't be bothered any more. It didn't help that I'd just been listening to a Benny audio while I wrote a database and it was so emotional I couldn't think about doing anything else. But it's also just that I'm fairly useless after about 4.30pm. Although it could have been catching cos my boss said the same thing at 5pm. And it's only Thursday. Most Friday afternoons no-one can be bothered.

A useful link: a list of fandom newsletters on LJ, as researched by me and coded by Sel. And a very long list it is too, I was surprised. Especially by the number of Harry Potter ones.

For Back to Middle-earth Month, I thought I'd work my way through my (long) list of LOTR to read emails/bookmarks/RSS feeds. I have nearly made it but it doesn't look like a lot of activity. So I thought I'd write about what I'd been reading. Although it would be easier to remember what I'd read if I hadn't been deleting the reminders as I read them!

History Lessons: The Third Age by Nilmandra: This one's been the easiest to keep up with because there haven't been that many updates in the past (quite a) few months. It's all about Elrond, so you can't go wrong with that one really But mostly, these are the stories Tolkien should have been writing - he just didn't realise how important/interesting Elrond was

Arwen's Heart by Bodkin: I started reading this when there were just a few chapters, so by the time I came back to it I had about ten to read. I was expecting to just deal with Arwen during the time when Aragorn was Estel, but it goes right up to the end of the Third Age, which was not an unpleasant surprise. Bodkin makes Arwen really sympathetic in this, and there are all sorts of other interesting things going on with other women in the story too.

A Lesser Treason and A Midsummer Night's Dream by Jay of Lasgalen: Every time I think I've caught up on Jay's stories, she goes a posts a new story or chapter. Both of these are Jay's usual twins stuff. Both really good, of course. A Midsummer Night's Dream has some great action scenes in it, A Lesser Treason has some great emotional family moments. I'm caught up now, Jay, you can finishe A Midsummer Night's Dream!

Don't Panic! by Boz4PM: Nilmandra recced this one in her LJ, so I had to go and see what it was all about. It's a realistic girl dropped into Middle-earth story. There's loads of interesting stuff in there about how they did ordinary stuff at the time, as well as loads of Middle-earth knowledge. There's a sequel but I haven't started that one yet - it took me long enough to read this one (it's quite long).

As part of Back to Middle-earth Month, the There and Back Again LJ, and HASA have been challenging people to write something based on the Tale of Years from March 3019:

In the "Tale of the Years" Tolkien tells us about what happens to certain characters each day of March 3019. We challenge you to write about the character(s) he does NOT mention.

So, I've written a drabble for each day of March, up till the 25th, and each one from a different character's point of view. Which is a hard way of writing 2500 words. And a pain to put here because I've got 25 LJ cut tags, the links for which I then have to copy back in WP.

But, I present to you, March 3019.

1st March

2nd March

3rd March

4th March

5th March

6th March

7th March

8th March

9th March

10th March

11th March

12th March

13th March

14th March

15th March

16th March

17th March

18th March

19th March

20th March

21st March

22nd March

23rd March

24th March

25th March

A multi-part post for today.

TV

I really liked Life on Mars on Monday. It's about a DCI who gets in a car accident (RTA, if we're going to go with acronyms ) and wakes up in 1973. As a DI. Poor love. It's sort of a cross between The (Old) Bill and Quantum Leap. His DCI in 1973 I hated at first but by the end he was obviously a nice guy and a bit Burnside-like and I liked him. I'm looking forward to more of it.

On the one hand I'm looking forward to Hyperdrive tonight (sci-fi sitcom, thereby Red Dwarf's succesor) because it sounds good, but I'm a bit worried that a lot of comedy on these days seems to be puerile, rather than funny. With the exception of The Thick of It, which is more ridiculous-situation funny than laugh-out-loud funny.

Feedback

There have been links to people talking about feedback on metafandom recently. I'm trying to be good and give feedback for nearly everything I read, counting reviewing it for Sel's site as feedback. The exceptions are generally ones where I honestly have nothing to say, not even I liked it because I can't decide whether I do or not. I am mostly succeeding at this so far.

The reason I'm doing it is, well, actually there's more than one. It's partly because I feel I should, I mean just pressing a button and typing a few words takes less time than reading the thing. I don't know if it's called karma, maybe, but I always feel that you should treat people, generally speaking, how you'd like to be treated back. Okay, so it doesn't always happen, esp not if you talk to me while I'm ill or stressed, but then my dad's exactly the same so I blame him. But it feels the same with feedback - I feel that if I don't take the time to comment on other people's fic then why should people comment on mine?

It's also sometimes an opportunity to have a discussion about a character or a situation, or something. And a chance to make friends. When I did Crack Van back in December I did worry at first that I was reccing stories of people that are on my friendslist, but then I realised that in some cases that's how I met them!

Generally speaking, if someone comments on a fic of mine and I don't know who they are I'll go and check them out, find out what they've written. On the basis that if they've read something of mine we must have something in common, so maybe they've written something I want to read.

Rotaract

We went to Rotary last night for our meeting. While they were eating and meeting we met, and it was very nice to sit in comfy chairs, even if they were 'a bit horizontal' as Matthew described them. I remember when I first joined and didn't know anyone that well it seemed really odd that they all knew each other really well. It doesn't now though. We were discussing Moonraker at one point (a 10 mile night hike with orienteering, also including running out of torch batteries, getting stuck in the mud and large amounts of chocolate) and someone said you basically laugh for 6 hours. I've never done it, but whenever we meet up it does consist mainly of laughing. And chocolate.

Going into Rotary afterwards was more sobering, though. They had a talk from a couple of guys who had been out to Pakistan after the earthquake. One was a journalist, the other had raised lots money (like £50,000 in a week lots) and they showed the videos they'd made out there. There were loads of buildings either flattened or half falling down. The worst thing was that the guy who had raised money is trying to build an orphange out there, and he focused on the children who had been injured, many of them had to have amputations because they hadn't got medical help soon enough. That was really horrible to see.

The trouble with seeing that sort of thing is that it immediately makes you want to help. That's obviously not a bad thing in itself (our cheese and wine quiz on Saturday was to raise money for a Shelterbox, and the usual Rotary collection at their meeting went towards that and raised £139 between about 30 people). The trouble is that you feel this way everytime and you just can't help everyone. And it's really hard to think about who you're not helping, even though you are helping someone else.

Memes

For a bit of lightness after that, these have been going round today.

You scored as Teyla. Teyla 53% Lizzy 53% Sam 40% Vala 20% Which Stargate Girl Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

I like the beautiful part!

You scored as Carson Beckett. Carson Beckett 67% Ronon Dex 67% Rodney McKay 58% Aiden Ford 50% Daniel Jackson 42% Cam Mitchell 42% Jack O'Neill 33% John Sheppard 33% Teal'c 17% Who Is Your Stargate Boyfriend? created with QuizFarm.com

It's true he does have a nice accent, although it would be better if it was an incomprehensible-to-Americans, proper Scottish accent. With no r in murder (cf The Tower).

My dad said the fatal words today: I'm doing an amazon order, do you want anything. Hmm, now let me see... My favourite shop these days is Borders (aside from the cheap shops in Poole, and The Lemon Tree, but they're more difficult to get to). I did buy Una's book. Dad suggested I get it signed - just need to remember to take it to Redemption '05 now

I meant to say something about this before, but fandom is a funny thing. Perhaps it's something to do with not being able to see people when communicating with them, but people in it, are in general, a lot more tolerant. Tolerant of race, gender, disabilities, species, I mean. It's everything else that goes downhill.

I suspect it's the extent to which I'm involved with fandoms that makes me more able to see it in some than others. Stargate, for example, is not always a nice place. I discovered the newsgroup during the fourth season and I remember what it was like. Hence the reason I don't go near the place any more. There are still people who can't believe that I am friends with Jack/Daniel slashers being as I am a Sam/Jack shipper. Well, mostly, the dark side is looking distinctly grey these days.

There was talk on another site about why slash fics are labelled so people can avoid them, but het ones are not. On the one hand it is a sad fact of life that heterosexual relationships are more accepted. Certainly when I was young they were the only relationships I thought existed, being as they were the ones portrayed in books/on TV etc. I do remember the lesbian character (Helen?) on Drop the Dead Donkey not being particularly shocking, though.

It is entirely subjective as to which pairings squick which people though. Although I remember someone mentioning Arwen/Bilbo at one point, which I don't think anyone can quite cope with. But then that's an age and species difference. It's the ones that go against our moral values that squick us, I think. Although I'm inconsistent. I'll do Qui/Obi but not Obi-Wan/Anakin and definitely not Elrond/Aragorn, which I see as a similar relationship to Qui/Obi. I'll also read Elladan/Elrohir but nor Boromir/Faramir.

I think perhaps some of that comes from wanting to reading fic about friendships between particular characters and not minding if they have sex. And also, for me, knowing that people love each other and not minding what type it is. That's certainly how I got into Qui/Obi and Frodo/Sam. Plus some really good authors writing them.

Having said that, I'll read anything funny. Which is how I got into the whole Jack/Daniel thing in the first place. I also think you can do anything, it's just that the harder stuff has to be better done. I've heard there's a Servalan/Orac one that was actually believable.

It's nice to ship with the majority as well - there's more choice of fic to read (although more likelihood much of it is bad, I suspect). I've also found it's nice to ship with the minority. Qui/Obi and Sam/Jack is definitely the majority. John/Aeryn and Sydney/Vaughn are canon (at which point they bored me, although in the case of J/A it took till the end of the series, S/V was only halfway through season 2).

When it comes to Enterprise, though, I ship for Trip/T'Pol. Now that's a minority, or certainly was at the start. I feel quite protective of this one because I saw it right from the start. I preferred their relationship when they constantly wound each other up, but then I suppose all relationships change over time.

And now I'm rambling. It may not sound like it but fandom is a wonderful place. You get to meet new people for a start. The best thing anyone ever said at a con was that everyone at their work only ever talked about Eastenders because then I knew it wasn't just me. There is a tendency to get to know people really quickly as well - shared opinions help that (and it is nice to have someone to go squee over blokes with that people at work have never heard of).

It was at Redemption '03, I think that someone pointed out that once you know you have one thing in common with someone else, you'll find a whole load more as well. Actually, it's a lot like uni, where the closest friends I had were the ones I knew from clubs and societies, rather than the ones I happened to end up living with in my first year. Although we were quite close as a tutor group by the end - there's something about having a group whinge to pull people close (not literally).

This long post is inspired by Sel (so you know who to blame). So to everyone reading this you're all appreciated 'k? Perhaps it's time again to make sure I don't loose touch with old friends I haven't spoken to for ages.

The Fandom President has been announced here. Darien and Selma would like to thank everyone who voted for them - we came a fairly respectable distance up the list for such a small fandom.

Since our new president will be providing rum for everyone this Campaign Manager is happy, as is our presidential candidate. Our vice presidential candidate is not so impressed but since we can just turn her off we'll ignore her.

Although Darien and Selma are sure President Sparrow and Vice President Norrington will do a good job (with rum or without it) they will be beginning their campaign for 2204 very soon to ensure their chance of success when they return to that time.

If you're reading this you should have voted for Darien/Selma. If not, you just need to go here and we're top of ticket 5.

This is a party political broadcast on behalf of the Time Trax party.

Darien and Selma would like to remind you why you should vote for them.

Sod it, the campaign manager has not had enough sleep or alcohol, so her brain is not currently in working order. The voting starts tomorrow, so keep on eye on this website: Fandom Escapist Election and vote for Darien/Selma.

Note: Although Darien and Selma feel that bribery is against their principles, I, their campaign manager, is perfectly happy with the idea. Just name your price and I will honour it in return for you vote.

Additional note: Although Darien and Selma value honesty, I, their campaign manager, finds dishonesty nice and refreshing. This, and the above note, may well turn out to be lies.

I was so enjoying seeing the different campaigns for the Fandom Escapist Election I just had to submit one of my own. I present to you Darien/Selma '04

Reasons you should vote for them:

• They are honest - Selma, being a computer, can't lie
• They are from the 22nd century - they won't repeat any mistakes that will happen in the next 200 years

The main focus of their campaign is crime. As a captain in the police force Darien has seen it all and Selma knows it all. They pledge to try their hardest to rid the planet of both dangerous fugitives and petty criminals.

I read some stuff about fandom earlier and it got me thinking. So, today's post will be on the subject of:

Fandoms

The first fandom I was involved with was Bugs. We had a couple of message boards, the odd site and gradually started writing some fan fiction. This was around the time of the third series, I think. A year later when the fourth came around I'd not entirely lost interest in Bugs, but enough to not be participating in the fandom stuff any more. Which is a pity. Partly because there were some great people there and partly because the last episode had a cliffhanger ending. There are plenty of stories resolving it out there, but I don't really remember enough to read them and appreciate them.

The original message boards either no longer exist, or if they do they've moved, but the place to go is Bureau 3.

The next one was Star Wars TPM. That's when I really discovered what fan fiction was. I think I was probably on half a dozen miling lists at one time, although I lurked on most, getting the hang of it all. It's still the one I've written most for. I helped with archiving at the OKEB. That's still the place I've had most contact with, and the mailing list I've actually posted to.

Then I discovered Stargate. This fandom differs from all the others in that although I have been on mailing lists etc (and posted on them) I've particpated in a RPG, gone to conventions and played on the Stargate Command (no longer exists, unfortunately) and Ausgate sites. It makes a big difference, because I've actually met the friends I've made in it.

Then there's Enterprise. This one's also different, because I'm not involved with fandom as a whole, merely with the Trip/T'Pol part of it. It's been interesting to see it grow from hardly anything to what it is now. It has been a tad quiet of late because the season 2 episodes haven't really given us anything to go on. In fact they've almost given us the opposite.

The latest one is Lord of the Rings. I didn't mean to get into it, I just read a rec in someone's journal and it all went downhill from there. I've learnt more about it, discussed topics I'd never thought I would and written fic. I've got one accepted at Henneth Annun. Fandom-wise, most of it happens there, some on mailing lists as well.

I've left The Bill till last for a reason. It began on the Official Site as a little forum and grew to become the community it is now. I first visited it a long time ago, before any other fandom and before I knew what fandom was. I lurked a little, went away came back, posted a little went away, came back and finally stayed. I have got somewhat disillusioned with the series as a whole, so now I spend time in the virtual pub instead of talking about The Bill, but it keeps me in the fandom. And it keeps me chatting with my friends, some of whom I've met at the studios, others live in Australia and I'd love to meet when I make it over there.

Fandoms I've never really got into - Buffy, Angel, Farscape. Not because I don't like them, just because I haven't. I really don't know why. Quantum Leap I've written an episode for Virtual Season 9, but that's as far as it went. Red Dwarf seems to be a category all of its own, reasons wise. Some of the others seem to mingle together, so that you end up discussing Buffy and Farscape at Stargate cons etc. But you can only be involved in so many. They have this tendency to take up time.