Battlestar Galactica

Last week I posted about Esquire magazine’s interview with Katee Sackhoff, and ranted about their lead question. The magazine asked her if playing bad ass Sarah Corvis in Bionic Woman was a release after playing that “goody-goody” Starbuck for the past few years. Yes, it was a stupid question and hardly worthy of a rant, but it hit a nerve with me because journalists who don’t do their research are a long-time pet peeve.

This strip from Scott Kurtz’ PvP comic strip speaks to the other half of the rant, a more recent pet peeve that has become more apparent now that I am blogging about Battlestar Galactica: xenophobic fans. Fans like the guy in the comic strip above, fans who think they own their pop culture obsession of choice, fans who actually harm their pop culture passion by shooing off new fans.

We have all seen it happen, in real life conversations or in exchanges around the Internet. Someone asks a question about the backstories in Lost, someone else shoots back that if they were a real fan they would already know the answer. Someone makes an observation about character development in Battlestar Galactica or Buffy the Vampire Slayer or ST:TNG, someone else tells them they are an idiot because everyone already knows that. Instead of welcoming new fans, sometimes scifi fans tend to want to protect a show they see as their “turf.”

Passion for a pop culture phenomenon can be a lot of fun, but fans do a disservice to their shows when they expect everyone to know as much about it as they do. This is especially true for fans of scifi and other “cult” phenomena, because those shows need viewers to continue. Shows need fans to stay on the air, as the Jericho fans have learned the hard way. People who zealously guard their scifi obsession against outsiders, only allowing the anointed and obsessed into the cult show club, reduce the opportunities for other fans to “discover” their obsession and in doing so reduce the opportunities for the story to continue.

The more people who watch and love a show the better it is for everyone. The more people who like an actor or actress the better the chances they will get cast in more projects. It is a numbers game, pure and simple. But the fact that shows and movies need more viewers gets lost in the “fanboy” debates on forums, or the bashing of fans who are “late” to the cult pop culture party.

And that is a shame, because when the party is too small … then that is when the party ends.

fanboy, fans, scifi, lost, buffy, battlestar galactica, jericho, katee sackhoff, bionic woman, esquire, interview, journalism, scott kurtz, pvp