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From the Editor-in-Chief:
Will The Last Person Leaving Please Turn Off The Light,
Group Therapy Apparently Goes On a Long Time, and Yet Another "Very Special" Issue
From the Graphics Editor:
The Night Of The Eclipsing Epiphany
From the Editor-in-Chief:
WILL THE LAST PERSON LEAVING PLEASE TURN OFF THE LIGHT,
GROUP THERAPY APPARENTLY GOES ON A LONG TIME,
AND YET ANOTHER "VERY SPECIAL" ISSUEWill The Last Person Leaving Please Turn Off The Light
Wow. When the Warrior Princess dies, she apparently takes as many fans with her as possible! It has been a little over two months since the last Xena: Warrior Princess episode aired in the United States. The once thriving cyberways have gone from a boomtown to a very very quiet speck on a very very small map. I feel like a turn of the century melodramatic character in a fledgling science fiction story where my group is down to our last few numbers. I am compelled to write something so in case those that come after I am dead (granted they even notice I left something), will know at least that we once were. Writing feverishly before the last candlelight burns out, I feel the coldness of solitude after living in a once rich and warm vibrant community. I have discovered that it really sucks. Being a part of the hippest and THE media de jour fan community at its zenith is heady stuff. You can get caught up in it. You can use it to power many things. You get invited to many parties. You find a place where you can go where everyone knows your name. Then, in an inexplicable moment of insanity, THEY kill off the show, literally and figuratively. It is like Wiley E. Coyote when he's chasing Roadrunner and does not make the turn on the cliff fast enough. For a moment, he is running in place in mid-air. That is how I feel. That magic second between the time Wiley knows he is not on pavement anymore, but he has not yet started the long drop down.
The long drop down. The l-o-n-g drop down. It is long and it is down. Nevertheless, we all plummet rapidly (gravity has its advantages) and before you can say to yourself "Where the heck is everyone?" we have splattered somewhere on the way. Some will recover quickly and find succor (and a new shape!) in new fandoms. Others will have splattered to the point of disintegration and will never ever dare enter another fandom again. Most will wind up somewhere between (the bell curve has its advantages), yet every single one who allowed their soul to be sold to their object of adoration, will splatter once they hit rock bottom.
I have only just started my descent down. Others went quickly, way before me, and no doubt, there will be many that will follow me. I suspect we all leave that mid-air running in place scene at the time we personally need to. On my way down, the Ghost Town feel of the Xenaverse has spooked me. Mailing lists that would get a combined frequency of hundreds of posts per day now only posts a handful, if that much. The website that amused me in my hours of boredom is coming up AWOL. The NetForum has been killed, just like Xena, and the fandom is suffering for it as well. My Xena fandom social life is drying up and I literally can see it as it recedes.
What's going on? This is the franchise that was said could rival Star Trek. Uh-huh. The body has not cooled and yet the generality of the fandom is what? Out to lunch? And they forgot to invite me? Perhaps I should look at this like a Supernova. The fandom exploded releasing all that extra gas it did not need. What remains is an intense dwarf pulsar, that might be teeny, but packs quite a wallop. It is constructed of some of the densest material known in the universe. Perhaps Xena fandom will continue in small numbers, but still be a rich and rewarding experience and contribute to the creative pool. Perhaps this shake down will make the fandom a stronger and more creative place. Perhaps this is just the delirious bantering of a Xena fan as she falls deeper into the crevice lovingly called "The Morass of the Canceled Show". Oh great, now I am channeling "The Incident at Owl Creek Bridge".
I might be miserable, but at least I can relate my emotions to popular literature and culture. After 5 years of watching Xena religiously, my "homaging" skills are very heightened.
Group Therapy Apparently Goes On a Long Time
This month is Session II of the most ambitious and most intense issues of Whoosh. I have never experienced anything quite like this. Many many people were touched by the television show Xena: Warrior Princess and many were affected by its ending. Issues 59 and 60 of Whoosh represent an incredible archive of living history capturing these times where the previously passive media of TV is now becoming an interactive media. And we were there! Xena was one of the trailblazers of this new entertainment paradigm.
Yet Another "Very Special" Issue
Just when I was about to swear off "special issues" one materialized right in front of me. Traditionally the January issue of Whoosh is a calendar issue. Each October we invite readers to vote for their top 12 choices in the given theme for the calendar. The January 2002's topic will be "Most Popular Episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess. The voting will not start until October 1st, 2001, but until then you can start thinking about what are your top twelve Xena episodes. To go along with that theme, I am calling for papers about YOUR favorite episode. What makes that favorite episode of yours so important and meaningful to you? Why that one and not one of the other 133? Convince the world that your favorite episode should be theirs as well! The deadline for submissions for the Calendar 2002 issue of Whoosh will be November 1, 2001. It is only 2 months away so hurry!
Kym Masera Taborn
Editor-in-Chief/Publisher
Executive Committee
Calabasas, CA August 21, 2001
From the Graphics Editor:
THE NIGHT OF THE ECLIPSING EPIPHANYFADE IN:
INT. RESTAURANT - EVENING
The scene is an exquisite restaurant in the Greater Los Angeles
area. It's an intimate setting, a place usually reserved for
people who enjoy great food, great wine, and great conversation
in a unique old-world atmosphere. At a table are seated a homely,
long-haired aspiring writer CENTAUR and an absolutely drop-dead
gorgeous aspiring actress AMAZON. The two have already been here
awhile, and the staff are anxious to shut down and go home. Any
resemblance to specific Centaurs or Amazons, alive or dead, is
entirely deliberate.
CENTAUR
So did you get that part you auditioned for?AMAZON
You mean the hooker part? No, I didn't get
that one. I have a different audition next
week for another part.CENTAUR
What would you play?AMAZON
A different hooker. So what have you been
up to lately?CENTAUR
Oh, this and that. Regular work is taxing enough
but I have this WHOOSH! stuff I have to
get out.
AMAZON wrinkles her nose in ever so cute a fashion.
AMAZON
What does "taxing" mean?CENTAUR
Requiring a lot of effort.AMAZON
Oh, that WHOOSH! thing is the computer
magazine, right? I don't have a computer. I
hope they pay you well for that.CENTAUR
Well, they don't really pay me anything. It's a
labour of love.
AMAZON's raven hair absorbs most of the surrounding light, save
for that which reflects in an arc from the top of her head and
follows a page-boy curve to her delicate chin, suggesting a wedge
of pale moonlight in her hair.
AMAZON
They don't pay you? You must like the show a lot.CENTAUR
Well I did like the show a lot when it was on.
I guess it had its ups and downs. But I have
friends I work with on the webzine and I met
a lot of interesting people over the years.
The series finale was quite the revelation for
a lot of fans and we're still picking up the
pieces.
AMAZON's eyes are deep pools that beckon the soul to immerse in
them.
AMAZON
What does "revelation" mean?CENTAUR
Making known something that was secret.AMAZON
I don't watch much television. This salmon is
really good.CENTAUR
Yes, they get it in specially. Well like I say,
the finale pulled the rug out from under many
people and they've been expressing their
feelings about it. A lot. It's been a great deal
of work to put everything together for these
special issues. I can't let them down.
Whoosh! is one of the few big fan sites
left for the show and I wouldn't want to just
quit and leave all my colleagues hanging. I must
admit the whole thing has been rather a bit depressing.
AMAZON's skin is the hue of a new rose and as smooth and creamy
as the richest milk.
AMAZON
Well I say people should just move on. No point
getting torn up about something you can't do
anything about.CENTAUR
Sometimes it's hard for people to lose faith in
something that inspired them and helped them
find something within themselves to make their
lives or the lives of others better. I've been
very moved by some of the responses. I didn't
think I would be. My own attitude about things
has hardened lately, but reading some of these
testimonials has been quite the epiphany.
AMAZON's movement of her arm is as graceful as a swan.
AMAZON
What does "epiphany" mean?CENTAUR
To suddenly become aware of something that is
important to you.AMAZON
Oh, then I epiphany all the time. I epiphanied
just this morning that the rent was due. I've
been epiphanying all over the place lately.
(laughs)CENTAUR
(beat) OK.
AMAZON reaches for her wineglass and sips a little merlot. The
crimson of the wine matches her lips perfectly, as if it were
predestined for the two to become one.
AMAZON
Fabulous wine. You always choose well.CENTAUR
Thank you, I like to think so. I had a fine
teacher.AMAZON
So will you keep doing this free WHOOSH!
thing?
CENTAUR gazes at AMAZON, is put in mind of Byron's "She walks in
beauty like the night..."
CENTAUR
Huh? Oh, yes, for a while certainly. There are
a lot of articles yet to write, some interviews
I have to type up, and a few more things to say
about the show and the fans.
AMAZON leans forward, lips slightly parted in a way that suggests
"yes..."
AMAZON
By the way, lately I think you've had these
certain "feelings" for me...CENTAUR
(hopeful)
Yes?AMAZON
Well, I don't have those feelings. Pass the
butter?
CENTAUR sighs heavily, crestfallen, leans forward and places head on table.
CENTAUR
Check, please?AMAZON
We can still be friends!
CENTAUR
(louder) Check, please!FADE OUT:
THE END
Bret Rudnick
Graphics Editor
Executive Committee
Hermosa Beach, California
22 August 2001
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