#the sentinel (1996 tv)

[destroy-some-evil]

I saw @heretherebedork response to an ask about what non-BLs people should watch and the Sentinel came up as one everyone should watch. I completely agree and to see if in the year 2024 I can interest some more people to maybe give an old show from 1996 a chance - I have complied a bunch fic recs for people.

I actually got into the fandom by first reading LitGal's summary here back in the early 2000's after the show was off air, read a whole bunch of fanfic, and then watched it. There is also a Fanlore page here.

The Sentinel was Omegaverse before Omegaverse. I miss having the Sentinel AU in fandoms. It hits many of the same notes as Omegaverse but has a different beat. There is scenting, there is bonding, there is imprinting, depending on who's writing it - there is D/s just integrated into the way Sentinel and Guide behave with each other.

A lot of my old favorites are lost but a small selection of my favorite Sentinel fics and AUs:

Control Issues (186028 words) by LitGal Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: The Sentinel Rating: Explicit Warnings: Rape/Non-Con Relationships: Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg Characters: Jim Ellison, Blair Sandburg, Simon Banks Additional Tags: Alternate Universe: Sentinels and Guides are Known Summary: In a world that knows, loves, respects, but doesn't trust its Sentinels, Jim is determined to hide his abilities. He won't submit to a guardian ad litem having custody of him in a legal system that ranks him on the same level as a child. He will not give up his control, not to anyone.

Guidelines: Beginnings (20238 words) by LitGal Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Sentinel Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Blair Sandburg, Jim Ellison, Simon Banks Additional Tags: Sentinels are Known Series: Part 1 of Guidelines Summary: Jim is a sentinel who failed the U.S. Sentinel Program under questionable circumstances. Blair is the graduate student challenging the entire philosophy of the Sentinel Program in a world already nervous in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. The USSP would just like to see both men disappear. Unfortunately for them, neither Jim nor Blair is planning to give up easily.

(If LitGal wrote it, I'll read it. So I'll only rec these two from her but seriously just go through everything.)

Alpha and Omega By Panik & The Candied Yam

Roman!AU

Summary: Four years after the third Punic War, wounded Roman war hero, Geminius Virius Eleusis, finds his dull life of exile shaken by the arrival of an itinerant Greek labourer.

The First Sentinel (AKA The Ultimate Caveman!Jim Story) (1947 words) by elaine Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Sentinel Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg Additional Tags: Alternate Universes, Humor, Series, Fanon Series: Part 1 of Five Ways Jim and Blair Never Met in Past Lives Summary: The first sentinel claims his guide in spite of language difficulties and much misunderstanding.

A Dish of Lime-Vanilla Ice by Scribe

Summary: What if you met your true love at the end of their life, when yours was just beginning? 144K

(They are soulmates, Your Honor! Reincarnation!fic. This fic also lives rent free in my mind.)

Harbor of My Heart (82523 words) by Romslinger Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Sentinel Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg Additional Tags: Alternate Universes, Drama, First Times, Romance, AU, Angst Summary: An Alternate Universe novella where Jim remained in the Army and Blair made a much different career choice after a personal tragedy.

(also a kid!fic)

The Accidental Guide (14918 words) by 852_Prospect_Archivist Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Sentinel Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg Additional Tags: Alternate Universes, challenge, Drama, First Times, AU, Angst Summary: Jim wasn't looking for a guide, but then he met Blair Sandburg.

Destiny's Bond (40093 words) by 852_Prospect_Archivist Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Sentinel, Stargate SG-1 Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg Additional Tags: Crossovers: Other, Drama, AU Summary: While on a mission with SG-14, Dr. Blair Sandburg finds his destiny.

Jeeves and the Uncommon Senses (83211 words) by Mice Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Jeeves and Wooster, The Sentinel Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Bertie/Jeeves Characters: Bertram Wooster, Reginald Jeeves, Aunt Agatha, Aunt Dahlia, Bingo Little, Angela Travers, Tuppy Glossop, Oofy Prosser, Tom Travers, Claude Wooster, Eustace Wooster, OCs, Blair Sandburg Additional Tags: Angst, h/c, Alternate Universe - Sentinels Are Known, Spirit Animals, Sentinel/Guide Bonding, Mashup, Crossover, unexpected special guest stars, AU Summary: An accident triggers unexpected changes in Jeeves’s life -- and in Bertie’s.

Observations on Sentinels and Guides in Victorian London (89181 words) by RyuuzaKochou Chapters: 13/13 Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (2009), The Sentinel Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Lestrade (Inspector), Mrs. Hudson Additional Tags: Sentinel Senses, Sentinel/Guide Bonding, Action/Adventure, Hurt/Comfort, Awesome, Romance, Alternate Universe, Crossover, Alternate Universe - Fusion Summary: A Victorian era AU where Sentinels and Guides are members of everyday society. Starring Sentinel! Holmes and Guide! Watson.

Imperfections: Chicago by Dasha

Chapters: 3/3

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Characters: Constable Benton Fraser, Constable Margaret Thatcher, Detective Raymond Vecchio, Detective Stanley Raymond Kowalski, Sgt. Robert Fraser [ghost]

Additional Tags: AU

Summary: Who tracks a wolf 30 blocks through downtown Chicago? That's just not normal...

I also used to have a bunch of Stargate Atlantis with John as the Sentinel and Rodney as the guide. It was a series by ladyholder on livejournal including the The Unlikely Guide and The Unwilling Sentinel. Just adding at the end in case anyone has links to them.

[destroy-some-evil]

Yes, everyone should watch the Sentinel. Or if you don't care about spoilers and just want a quick run down. Read LitGal's summary here. OR the Fanlore page here.

And if that is too long, let me put it this way. The Sentinel was Omegaverse before Omegaverse.

The Sentinel walked so Pit Babe could run.

Top 5 non BL shows? Doesn’t need to be a het drama. Just any show that is not BL

Hard choices considering how far I watch.

Or I can just go ~back in time~.

So like... all the Star Treks? Well, not all, Original Series, Next Generation, parts of DS9.. all non BL, all fantastic.

I do have a very old and very deep soft spot for a lot of older shows like Man From U.N.C.L.E which I watched a lot as a baby slash fan and loved and adored.

OH, The Sentinel? Everyone should watch The Sentinel for the sake of getting a bunch of fanfic based on the idea of guides and sentinels. Y'all, we have lost so much fandom legacy in losing that. A character overwhelmed by his overpowered senses and the singular person who can save him from his own attention to detail!? Y'all, come on.

Uh. Should I be focusing on more modern stuff, lol?

Midnight Museum: It's not technically a BL. It might as well be one but it's not. Love this show, love these boys, want more of it and want it to be a BL.

The Devil Judge: Not technically a BL. Gayer than most BLs but not actually a BL.

Oh No! Here Comes Trouble: I mean, again, not technically a BL. Do still want a second season just for hugs.

Warp Effect: ... It's not BL. It's just queer.

Hazbin Hotel: You know what? Screw it. I like this show.

[egsparks]

I find it kind of funny but at the same time extremely amazing how the fan-fiction trope “Sentinels & Guides” is SO popular and spans on so many different fandoms. Yet I’m pretty sure only 5% (or even less) of the people have seen the TV show The Sentinel (1996) from which it’s originated.

[weresilver]

As my friend described, The Sentinel (1996) really is just Autism & ADHD solidarity in tv show form.

[classicmarvelera]

Captain America: Making of a War Hero into a Symbol of Hope

We all know that Captain America debuted in a title named after him by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1941. He was seen punching Hitler right in the face but many may not know that this was done well before the US had decided to enter World War 2. In fact, at the time, the US was more concerned about its Pacific theater than the Atlantic. Nevertheless, Timely publishes the issue and Captain America gets established as a war hero from the start, who alongside his sidekick Bucky, is fighting fascism in continental Europe which is falling to the Reich like a house of cards

Cap at the time is the symbol of Freedom, anti-fascism, or as he would later be called the Sentinel of Liberty but there was one thing missing at Marvel. The House of Ideas lacked an inspiring figure like Superman among its flagship characters. The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Invincible Iron Man, and even the Avengers had issues with themselves as well as with each other but a figure whom readers can look up to was something not present. Cap remained a 'man out of time' when he gets discovered by the Avengers but it takes a decade for writers to get him accustomed to the realities of America that were haunting the country from the streets to the Oval Office (Thank You, Jack Kirby and Steve Englehart)

Well into the bronze age era of comics, and under Jim Shooter's reign of the bullpen, a young J.M. DeMatteis shows his potential for storytelling with his first assignment of Captain America no. 261 which would introduce Nomad to the readers for the first time. This issue was supposed to be a collaboration with the real-life Captain America TV movie starring Reb Brown but Jim had other ideas. Issues 261-263 would find Steve Rogers going to California to meet Galactic Films for the upcoming movie about him (in Earth-616) but his real mission was to investigate Nomad's activities on the streets of LA which would turn out to be a deep conspiracy by one of his oldest arch nemesis

After becoming a regular writer on the Captain America series, DeMatteis, Mick Zeck, and John Beatty wrote a story that was way ahead of its time. Today's resurgence of the far left in the world and in the US and the reactionary rise of the far right was being seen by comic book writers like DeMatteis way before many had thought of it. Surprisingly it was a feeble populist villain by the name of Everyman doing the talk, not the Red Skull

In the story, the disenfranchised youth who looked up to Everyman realize their mistake of choosing 'despair over hope' but what causes them to see this is the humility Cap showed despite being spit at multiple times (literally). His eagerness to listen to the young, to the future of the country and their grievances with America, the American Dream leads to a change of heart

This single-issue story would showcase Cap in a different light. Steve Englehart had given Cap a rude awakening that patriotism can't come at the expense of truth and justice in Secret Empire. He showed Cap's disillusionment with the powers that be in America. DeMatteis took the opposite route to show Cap what's corrupting the country's future, and giving rise to the 'enemy within' who can cause anarchy. It wouldn't be wrong to say that Christopher Nolan's Bane (Dark Knight Rises) reminds us of Everyman but what's important to remember is that it was J.M. DeMatteis who warned us before anyone else did

This story is just the tip of the iceberg. The entire run by DeMatteis is one of the most underrated as it gets overshadowed by the works of Jack Kirby, Steve Englehart, and Mark Gruenwald. Like his works for Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, his work for Cap remains one of the best runs ever

[wolfepirat3]

I love having niche interests

Theres a show made in 1960 that you cant watch anywhere except on a flashdrive that can only be accessed by climbing through paris catacombs??

Hell yeah i know that shit

I also love physical media of said shit

None of my friends have any clue what the shows/movies/bands i talk about and its a blessing and a curse

But i love having physical media

(peep the collection)

(IF ANYONE KNOWS WHERE I CAN WATCH THE SENTINEL 1996 TV SHOW PLEASE TELL ME ITS NOT ON ANYTHING AT ALL AND THE DVD IS EXPENSIVE AS HELL)

The only downside is how hard it is to find where to watch some of my fav shows

Okay thats it, lmk if you like any of these things because i am dying to have someone to talk about these with (esp the tagged ones)

[tinypi]

thank you @kathastrophen for the tag! i would listen to your pöschi rant any day

Rules: List five topics you can talk about for an hour without preparing any material, and tag five (or more) people!

open access publishing

okay this one is easy because this one's my job! i've literally held presentations of various length about this topic, in german and english, with and without slides. i've also drunkenly ranted about this at parties so i have the range. i will pull out license agreements at the drop of a hat and tell you exactly where an academic publisher is trying to fuck you over with an NC-license.

2. scooby doo

baby's first online fandom. i think this one is also made a lot easier just by there being So Much of scooby doo, in very different ways. there's a great video on youtube about the scaleability of the franchise and how it can perfectly go from basically for toddlers (pup named scooby) to, at least approaching, genuine horror. it's fascinating and, as a bonus, some of it really sucks! and that's where a good rant becomes great

3. German Crime Shows

this one i'm borrowing from kathi but like. yeah. i think i can easily fill 15 minutes with just talking about how they fucked stuttgart's dynamic over with some of the worst and most oddly-placed episodes i've ever seen. and that's just one city from one of the shows!

4. volleyball

this would start as a genuinely passionate love declaration and then after some talks about techniques, positions, and the japanese national team i would 100% just go into inter-team gossip. but i think if you're on a sports team and there is no gossip, you're doing it wrong

5. the mystery of cascade, the city that does exist, kind of

admittedly i actually doubt this could fill an hour (without me repeating myself a lot), but it is a topic i am willing to rant about at the drop of a hat. what is this topic you ask? well, in the 1996 tv show The Sentinel our protagonist works for the Cascade PD in Washington. the cascade pd is big enough to have its own major crimes unit. we see plenty of shots of cascade, it even has its own university - rainier university, clearly named after the nearby mount rainier. this city does not exist. there is no rainier university. it's very common for a show to make up a city to take place in, i think that's perfectly fine. the problem is that no source anywhere ever calls it "the fictional town of cascade", because it does exist, or it did, until it got annexed into a different town in 2007 because it was THAT SMALL. why did they do that. why, instead of placing the show in a real city of an appropriate size or just coming up with an entirely new one, did they do That. JUST MAKE IT SEATTLE

ben's already got a tag so i'm pulling in the sewer crew plus another dutchie: @breaddo @weidli @egirlgarak @papercutdoctor (no pressure on any of you!)

[wipbigbang]

Round 2 Of Artists Claims For The Regular WIPBB Are Open! Round 2 lasts until July 31st! You may claim 3 fics this round!

This is one of the fics open for claiming...

The Sentinel (TV 1996) #142 Title: Death Loop Pairing/Characters: Jim Ellison & Blair Sandburg Rating: Mature | M Warnings/Tags: Graphic Violence Temporary Character Death Summary: Blair is trapped in a death loop. Every day, he wakes up, and the refrigerator is broken, and he is killed at some point in the day, resetting it again and again. But this is not from his perspective; it's from Jim's.

The list of remaining fics and the link to sign up are below!

[lboogie1906]

Bokeem Woodbine (born April 13, 1973) is an actor. He portrayed Joshua, Jason’s troubled brother, in Jason’s Lyric. He won a Black Reel Award and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics’ Choice Television Award for his role as Kansas City enforcer Mike Milligan in the second season of Fargo. He portrayed Daniel in Underground and Herman Schultz/Shocker in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

He was born in Harlem. He attended the Dalton School, before transferring to the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. He is a lifelong martial arts practitioner having studied Hapkido and Shaolin Kung-Fu.

He entered show business at age 19 as a stand-in and extra in Juice. He made his TV acting debut in “Love Off Limits”. He has worked on Strapped, Crooklyn, Panther, and Dead Presidents.

In 1996 he appeared in Shakur’s music video for “I Ain’t Mad at Cha”. They worked on Gridlock’d. He appeared in The Sopranos as New Jersey Gangster rapper Massive Genius.

He was featured in Battery Park and played Dr. Damon Bradley in City of Angels, which earned him a nomination for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He appeared in the Wu-Tang Clan’s music videos “Protect Ya Neck II (The Jump Off)”, “Gravel Pit”, and “Careful (Click, Click)”. He portrayed saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman in Ray.

He could be seen in Bones and The Evidence, as well as Blade: The Series. He appeared in A Day in the Life, The Last Sentinel, and The Butcher. He became a series regular, as Leon Cooley, an inmate on Saving Grace. He appeared in Black Dynamite and Devil. He appeared as a police officer in Southland (2011). He next appeared in Total Recall and then Riddick.

He starred in Unsolved. He played Sheriff Domingo in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

He married Mahiely Woodbine (1999)​ and they have two children. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[rangers-arecool]

The Sentinel / Tolkien crossover

Verse Info

The Sentinel

American TV Show

Ran between 1996 - 1999

Across 4 seasons

Canon

A Sentinel is someone who has hyper-acute senses, acute to the point of dangerous “zoning out”

A Guide is someone who prevents “zoning” because of empathetic or psychic abilities

Mundane - someone with normal senses

Zoning out - getting hyper fixated on something i.e. like on the smell of blood

Non-canon (although most class it as canon since 90% haven’t seen the show)

Facts about both Sentinels & Guides(everything mentioned below is based around the LOTR/Hobbit verse so alter if needed)

Most tend to work in occupations where they can use their abilities to help people. This would be like: the Rangers, soldiers, healers etc.

95% of Sentinels & Guides start coming online gradually between 10 & 20 years old. This allows them to learn about their abilities in a less dangerous setting

The remaining 5% of Sentinels & Guides come online instantaneously, normally due to serious or life threatening danger

Typically the Dúnedain, Elves and Dwarves gain the most Sentinels & Guides, for they tend to be the wanderers

Most Sentinel/Guide pairings are within their own races, either romantic or platonic

There are some who have found their Guide/Sentinel in another race, although this is very rare

Facts about Sentinels

Sentinels can range from being online with only one sense i.e. Hearing to all five - Touch, Hearing, Smell, Sight & Taste

Some sentinels are able to pull themselves out of a light zone but most tend to fixate (zone) to a point that could become dangerous or fatal if not pulled out of it

Warriors, fighters, leaders - rarely found working in a place of healing as their skills are more useful elsewhere

Can be possessive and many aren't a fan of being alone

Facts about Guides

Are just as, if not more, dangerous than Sentinels due to their empathy

Normally healers or working in a occupation that allows them to utilise their empathy

Many young Guides are buffered by their family members until they either find their Sentinel or their mental shields are strong enough to not be overwhelmed by their empathy

Racial Differences

There are very few Sentinels within the Shire - most are within the Took family to no surprise. Although the Fell and Long Winters brought a lot more Hobbits online as Sentinels

However one is rarely far from a Guide and it is rare that they will leave any Sentinel in distress, no matter the race

Dwarves are the opposite to the Hobbits, for they have more Sentinels than Guides

Unlike the Men and Elves, most Dwarf Sentinels don't need a Guide to manage their senses.

Dwarves with 4 or 5 senses aren't common but they are most at risk of falling into a zone and needing a strong enough Guide to pull them back out

[thegreatestcarmen]

My 100 OTPs Challenge

Day 16: Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg

From The Sentinel (TV series, 1996-1999)

The first sentinel & the guide. A superpower cop and his partner. Height difference. Rommie/Best friends/husbands.

[destroy-some-evil]

DS FIC REC - Crossover Fic

I have decided that since it's Wednesday it is crossover day. Lets start with what I consider the OG crossover fandom for due South:

The Sentinel (1996 TV show)

Funny thing is I remember reading a decent number of due South/Sentinel crossovers back in the late 2000's but I can't seem to find them anymore and the ones I can find are more Sentinel focused then due South focused.

Mini Sentinel Primer: A sentinel is a person with heightened senses and high protective instinct. Because of their heightened senses there is a risk that they might get overwhelmed and lost in those senses and need a guide to ground them.

So many of Fraser's habits which are attributed in the show to him knowing survival skills (such as licking things and sniffing things to figure out clues) can be easily translated to Fraser being a sentinel that the crossovers were bound to happen.

I do have two fic recommendations:

The first recommendation doesn't really require any knowledge of the Sentinel TV show than what I provided above.

Imperfections: Chicago by Dasha

Summary: Fraser was a damn good cop. Well, an incredible cop, actually, and a sentinel besides. And Canada left him to be guided by a wolf and put him on statue duty outside the Chicago consulate rather then, oh, for example, treating him with a little respect and letting him solve crimes in the Yukon where he'd be really efficient.

or using the Wayback Machine

https://web.archive.org/web/20170314094159/http://soulcake.skeeter63.org/chicago.html

The second recommendation would require more knowledge of the Sentinel TV show which if you don't already know a pretty good summary of it is here.

SVS-13: The Mountie Who Fell to Earth by Josephine Darcy

Summary:

While on an investigation, Jim and Blair stumble across a Chicago cop, a Mountie, his pet wolf and a murder. Eventually the gang is led on a wild ride across the Canadian wilderness in pursuit of a demented religious freak. Can Jim and Fraser save their partners before it's too late?

SVS is the Sentinel Virtual Season. I read it with no previous knowledge of SVS fics and still enjoyed.

[deprivedmusicaljunkie]

Renegades Fancast! Part 1 - Sketch's Team

So right after finishing the third episode in season one of Sherlock, I decided to make a fancast for Renegades on a whim. There's a lot for tlc, but I haven't really seen much for Renegades, so, here goes! Feel free to dm me any suggestions because I desperately need the help.

Sketch's Team (you're here!) - The Council - The Anarchists - Extras

Nova Artino/Insomnia/Nightmare

Auli’i Cravalho

Age 21 (2000)

Mom: Native Hawaiian

Dad: Puerto Rican, Portuguese, Chinese, Irish

Voice of Moana

I’m not sure how well she’ll do with the toughness of Nova’s character, but then again, I’m not super familiar with her other roles. Maybe she has played someone similar to Nova before?

Paris Berelc

Age 23 (1998)

Half-Filipina, half-white

Mostly starred in shows directed at kids, so I'm not sure how well a young adult movie will fare with her acting range.

There’s a distinct Nova-esque feel to her face? I can picture her fighting the Sentinel and wearing a Renegades outfit!

Points for racial accuracy?

Adrian Everhart/Sketch

Caleb McLaughlin

Age 20 (2001)

Starred in Stranger Things

Overall, he looks like a sweet person and would probably pull off Adrian!

Miles Brown

Age 17 (2004)

Starred in Black-ish

Not sure how well the public will take the news of his casting since he’s underage and Nova’s actress will probably be an adult, but by the time production starts he’d definitely be over eighteen.

He looks like a really nice guy but he has to lose the damn mustache *skull emoji*

Looks kinda like the image of Adrian I had in mind. Just give him some glasses and he'll be all set!

Ruby Tucker/Red Assassin

Anya Taylor-Joy

Age 25 (1996)

Starred in The Queen’s Gambit and Last Night in Soho

She looks relatively young, could pass for a teenager.

I’m not sure whether they’d use a wig or dye Ruby’s hair, but she’s blonde so that’d make the dyeing process easier.

PLEASE THIS WAS AN ACTUAL THOUGHT I TOOK INTO CONSIDERATION—

Sabrina Carpenter

Age 22 (1999)

Famous singer and actress

Has that playful Ruby energy

She also looks relatively older, but I think she’d pass as a teenager.

also she has blonde hair so it’d be easier to dye

Oscar Silva/Smokescreen

Marcel Ruiz

Age 18 (2003)

Puerto Rican

Oscar’s race wasn’t specified in the books (he’s described as having “light brown skin”) so I just did that.

He looks like a teenager! Huzzah!

Marcel also has a really mischievous face. Like he can definitely pull Oscar off.

Nathan Arenas

Age 16 (2005)

Mexican

*inhales* he’dbeanadultbythetimeproductionstarts

He also looks like a teenager and has a boyish quality to him, which I really like for a character such as Oscar.

Furthermore, I may or may not be into the long hair...

Danna Bell/The Monarch

Chloe Bailey

Age 23 (1998)

Famous singer and actress

She’s not as big on acting as her sister is, but I feel like she fits the role of Danna more than Halle, looks-wise.

China Anne Mcclain

Age 23 (1998)

She starred as a superhero in the tv show Black Lightning.

I dunno I really like her and she’s used to action scenes from being in Descendants movies (please this is a selling point i promise).

[sentinelmania]

852 Prospect Archive

quotes from fanlore: 

852 Prospect was an archive for adult fanfiction based on the TV show The Sentinel. While it accepted both het and slash adult stories, the majority of the stories on the archive were slash, reflecting the fandom.

The original Sentinel Slash Archive, starting in 1996, was manually updated and run by Michelle. In 1997, when the archive had not been updated for over six months and Michelle could not be reached, Merry, Nita and several other fans started an Interim Archive on Tripod using copies they had of the some of the existing stories, adding new stories regularly as they were posted on the Sentinel fiction lists. Nita became the chief archivist shortly after the Interim Archive was created. A server meltdown took the original archive down in 1998 or 1999.

By November 1999, the Interim Archive had moved to a more permanent home on squidge.org. It was renamed 852 Prospect, and became the primary adult archive in the fandom.

Nita stayed on as archivist, mainly solo with occasional help from other fans, until July 2004, when she handed it over to alice ttlg.

852 Prospect started out like all archives of the time: manual. The archivist and her helpers had to add each story by hand, coding all the links on various navigation pages. astolat wrote the first Automated Archive script for 852 Prospect while it was still on Tripod, making it the first automated fanfic archive on the web. (note: astolat later developed AO3)

In 2012, archiver began working with the Open Doors committee of the Organization for Transformative Works to import the archive to the Archive of Our Own.[4]

The import encountered several delays due to performance issues on the Archive of Our Own,[5][6] but the collection was created in January 2013 to allow 852 Prospect authors to manually import their works if they wished.[7] The rest of the 852 Prospect archive was imported to the Archive of Our Own on May 10, 2013, making it the second classic fic archive to be rescued by being imported into the Archive of Our Own.[8][9] All story links on the original 852 Prospect archive now redirect to their imported counterparts on the Archive of Our Own (with the exception of stories that have been deleted by their authors).

(Note: that’s the reason why some stories have modern tags and warnings and some have only the original ones from the old archive or even none. Since it was an adult archive and back then normally only adults had access to a PC and internet this wasn’t a problem.)

Some stats:

"The archive was started 10/1/96. From that date to the end of June '97, we have 250 stories archived. The rest of these numbers run from July 1 to June 30 of the years mentioned.

1997-98 - 251 stories

1998-99 - 1272 stories

1999-00 - 979 stories

2000-01 - 773 stories

The archive is named for the fictional address where the two main characters of the show live: 852 Prospect Ave., Apt. 307, Cascade, WA 98765, USA.

[nepf-ufrj]

Interview with Moonbeam Predilections, the creator of The Fanfiction Terminology.

Moonbeam Predilections is an important figure in the fanfiction community, she has participated in the trajectory of fanfiction since the 90's, when fanfic left the paper and started to show its presence on the internet. She was the creator of Fanfiction Terminology, a glossary of terminology from the fanfiction community that many new fans, and even veterans of this world, turn to when they need to. It is free for use in research and studies. NEPF interviewed her about her history with fanfic and what are the important aspects to consider when defining fanfiction.

Glossary is available at the end of the post.

Versão em Português aqui!

#1 - How did you first get into the world of fanfic?

My very first fandom was The X-Files. I had been an avid fan of the show since the premiere in 1993, faithfully watching it every Friday night. I did not know it at the time, but I was also faithfully shipping Mulder/Scully as well. In 1995, my father got the internet hooked up to our family computer. I had nearly always had a computer in the house as my father used them for work, so immediately dived into stumbling my way around the dial-up modem. My first three days online were spent in a chat room - where I promptly got involved in my first wank session, ha! - before someone mentioned The X-Files mailing list. This of course peaked my interest and so I typed in the DOS commands (it would be a few weeks before we'd get our first graphic user interface internet browser, Netscape being quite new at the time) to check it out.

At first I only read stories. After a bit, I started commenting back to the authors. I made friends. Eventually I tried writing my own story. It was 1996, I was a teenager. I, of course, wrote a Mary Sue fic. One of my new friends offered to beta-read and post the story for me to the mailing list. That friend was already what we'd call an 'old timer' today. She'd been active in fandoms since the 1970s and knew what she was doing. But she took the time to patiently usher in a young newbie. Within a few months, I was posting on my own (and had thankfully moved on from the Mary Sue fic) and getting my own feedback. It was amazing and wonderful!

After a few more months and reading a few crossovers, I started looking for other fandoms of TV shows I enjoyed watching. Gargoyles, Forever Knight, Highlander, seaQuest, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, and The Sentinel all had thriving fandoms that caught my attention. It was The Sentinel that was my introduction to slash fic though, and I adored it! TS remains one of my most read fandoms, with me seeking out or returning to read about Jim and Blair over and over again.

That first friend who ushered teenage me into fandom? She's still my friend today. We've never met in person (I'm Canadian and she's Australian) and we've lost contact for years at times until rediscovering each other as our fandom paths recross, but our friendship is still strong. It's my longest relationship outside of family. We don't currently share any fandoms at the moment, but that doesn't matter. We still talk about fandom, still recommend fics to each other, and still offer to beta for each other. Fanfiction was, is, and will likely always be a huge part of my daily life and I am very thankful for it.

#2 - From your perspective, what is the definition of the term fanfiction? For example, must fanfiction be written only by a fan, or can a critic also write it?

Fanfiction is a new transformative written work that is derived from an original canon source, such as a television show, book, or real life. It is based on the characters, concepts, and worldbuilding of the original canon source, but tells a different new story all its own. It does not effect the original canon source, but develops and grows into something unique from that base.

While we refer to the term Fanfiction to mean fan created fiction, and many of us who partake in it will call ourselves fans of the canon source, to be a fan does not mean blind acceptance. Indeed, many fanworks are about "fixing" things that occurred in canon that we find issues with. So yes, a critic can absolutely write fanfiction. A critic after all must care enough about the canon source in the first place to be critical of it, so aren't they also technically a fan?

#3 - Are the countless renditions and continuations of something like "Sherlock Holmes" or "The Iliad" considered fanfictions? Why or why not?

Yes, absolutely! There are probably very few truly original stories out there. Most of humanity's ideas are based on previous stories, changed and adapted through the tellings. Religious texts, mythologies, great classics like Shakespeare work their way into the collective unconscious of society and form the basis of our culture. Almost everything could be described as fanfiction of a previous story, if looked at from a certain perspective. The difference is purely scope. Time and how culturally influential the story was.

#4 - Must fanfiction be non-profitable? Why or why not?

Yes and no. It depends on who is writing it, to be honest. An ordinary woman writing on her computer about her favourite characters for pleasure? God, don't dare try to ask for money or you'll be sued into bankruptcy. Even without actively seeking monetary gain, us normal folk always run the risk of getting on the bad side of some disgruntled creator or copyright holder. And most of us can't afford the lawyers to defend ourselves. Declaring all fanworks as non-profit is often necessary just for the safety and survival of fandom as a whole.

But if a professional or famous person decides to create something like fanfic, a new twist to an old story? No problem, they can even publish to make a fortune! In fact, most do! Have you looked at many movies today? Basically all reboots and remakes... essentially fanfiction. But because they are professionally created, they are culturally acceptable and thus not defined as fanfiction. Even when the writing is terrible in comparison, *who* writes it is what gives it legitimacy.

#5 - What was your motivation to create "Fanfiction Terminology"?

In the beginning, my website was just my posted stories. Then I added in other pages like archive recs and story recs, whereupon I started getting questions from readers about what the words I used meant. So I made a basic glossary, just a few terms simply defined. The questions continued, even increased in number until they came regularly. (It helps that my site pops up quickly in Google Search results.) It was kind of organic the way the Fanfiction Terminology page grew as it did, not so much deliberately designed. Bit by bit, one suggestion or question at a time, dozens more terms got added or edited until I just sought out any missed terms myself to try and cover everything I could think of. By the early 2010s or so, it was fairly complete. Only a handful of new terms have been added in the last few years, and those mostly are newly evolved terms that simply didn't exist ten years ago.

#6 - Why do you believe there is such big prejudice against fanfiction?

Two reasons come to mind, in my opinion. One, the mainstream view people have that fanfiction is only badly written amateurish porn, unaware or uncaring of all the amazing other genres and works that exist. And two, that fandom is predominantly a past time of the female persuasion, and thus not as worthwhile as works created by the male-dominated spheres of Hollywood or the traditional publishing industry - much like, for example, how romance novels like Harlequins are viewed with less prestige than other genres even though many are as or more deeply researched and well written as their more macho competition.

How or if we can ever counter either of these misconceptions, I don't know. But I doubt we'll ever escape the prejudice against us until we do. Luckily, even the most cursory exploration into most fandoms reveals the true richness and depth we offer and for those willing to try can make all the difference.

#7 - What platforms do you use to read fanfiction? From your time in the community, what changes and what migrations have you witnessed from one platform to another (for example: after the tumblr guidelines revision)?

I mainly read on AO3 (Archive of Our Own) these days, because there aren't many other sources left. I'm an old timer and have seen many migrations as fandom evolves, sites dissolve, and time passes.

When I first started out in the early 1990s, I read and posted fanfiction on mailing lists, which were essentially just group emails for distribuition. Eventually, enterprising fans collated the works on those lists into fandom-specific archives like Gossamer (The X-Files) or multifandom archives like Fanfiction.net. Some were curated archives managed by owners or moderators, whose rules could change (like FFN banning explicit works), others became automated to allow writers to post directly to the archives themselves.

Then came the trend of every author making their own home website. Sites would link in 'webrings' to make finding them easier. Many sites were made on free hosts like Geocities (or myself on Angelfire, heh), which was great until Geocities was abruptly closed down. That led to massive deletions and loss of works. The Wayback Machine on the Internet Archive was crucial for record keeping of many old and lost stories, but even it couldn't capture everything. Crossposting across multiple platforms also ensured survival and quickly became the norm.

Then came the rise of the blogs like Livejournal in the early 2000s. Livejournal dominated fandom for probably 10 years or more, full communities developed everywhere within it. Crossposting to fandom archives still occurred, but the fans themselves had never before interacted so closely between author and reader as they did in the comment-focused blog format of LJ. The fandoms thrived! Then inevitably, the platform went through challenges (Strikethrough, 2007) and was sold to new owners. Fandom was driven away. But from LJ's free source code emerged Dreamwidth and other clones, safe haven for fandom to retreat to. Until finally some smart people said the heck with it, why should we live at their whims? Let's make our own space! And voila, the birth of AO3.

It took time to grow into the powerhouse it is today. Other platforms came and went. Some fans tried Tumblr after LJ, only to get censored. Others tried sites like Wattpad, which try to make money off them. Those of us who used Delicious bookmarks scrambled to move our thousands and thousands of recs in the Great Delicious Migration of 2011, with many finding a home among the then tiny Pinboard when its owner explicitly welcomed us. (I have huge respect for Maciej Ceglowski, who invited us to tell him what features we of fandom wanted most, watched us in awe as we collectively created the color-coded and indexed monster Google-document of DOOOM! in two days, and then actually did his best to accommodate our fanfic-based needs. Pinboard is still my preferred fandom resource for new story recommendations.)

#8 - Do you consider fanfiction literature? Why or why not?

This is the librarian in me answering this one, because the term literature actually has a very specific meaning that in fact very few fiction works ever fall into. Literature is a written work with such profound themes that it remains relevant for decades, centuries, or even millenia. There is a very big difference between literature and fiction. Most published books do not qualify. James Patterson, for example, while one of the most successful fiction authors in existence will never be considered close to literature. However, Harry Potter is already recognized as a classic and with its effect on culture may one day soon reach literature status.

Most fanfiction definitely does not. Not to say that some fanfic isn't as well written, or even better written, than some classic literature... but the quality of the rhetoric is not all that separates literary fiction from other genres, it's the universal exploration of the human condition. True literature is, as a librarian defines it, comparatively rare.

#9 - In your opinion, what are some of the qualities and flaws of the fanfiction/fandom community?

The sense of community itself is both its best quality and its biggest flaw.

By which I mean that fandoms can tend to be very insular. This is great, in that they foster strong relationships among members and with the canon source. We feel that sense of belonging to a fandom and rejoice in it. Participating by reading/writing fanfic just invests us deeper into the fandom community. We are not alone, but part of something wonderful. It's fulfilling and healthy, for some of us the best social interaction we'll ever need.

Unfortunately, that same membership in a fandom community can also lead to downfall. From factions dividing fans over pairings or other interests, the wank and flames, even to just overinvesting in something that'll eventually come to an end. How many fans do you know who picked their online pseudonym from a specific fandom? Tons, of course, but for how many is that name still relevant and not outdated? Far fewer. Some people need the validation of social approval, but there will always be those who disagree or just don't like you/your work. Criticism may be welcomed by some, but there are many others who find it hurtful and may lash out in return. What happens in fandom affects a person's real life because fandom is a, often very important, part of their reality. Good or bad.

#10 - How do you think fanfiction has affected popular culture and mainstream media throughout the years?

Honestly, I rather wish the two would stay farther away from fanfiction. Inevitably, even when the interaction is meant in good faith, pop culture and mainstream media only end up negatively portraying fanfiction and those of us in fandoms. We become a joke, a target, or viewed with disdain or disgust. ("Fifty Shades of Gray'', the terribly written bad Twilight fanfic that inexplicably attained world renown when its author stripped the names and published it, did fanfiction as a whole no favors. If anything, it has tainted us all under the same brush in the mainstream mind as nothing but amateur porn. Something we may not ever truly recover from.)

Mainstream media does not understand fandom or the passion of the people involved and so rarely knows how to respect us. Even when they try, inserting "fan service" moments into their media for the audience, most of the time it winds up being over the top mockery that makes me cringe. Nor is pop culture above exploiting fandom to make a profit. It's happened multiple times and always leaves the fans feeling used, uncredited, and disrespected while the Powers That Be get richer off of our ideas.

Fandom is a powerful force when it comes together. Fans mobilized toward a goal can absolutely affect the real world. We've brought back cancelled shows (the Serenity movie of the ignominiously cancelled Firefly tv series) , driven plot or character changes, and dragged obscure gems (like the original Star Trek) that would have been forgotten to time into the mainstream pop culture. But we rarely get respect for it. We are, after all, just crazy fans. And mostly female ones at that, which unfortunately in this patriarchal-based world makes our contributions worth less by default.

#11 - From plagiarism to original work, where do you believe fanfiction stands? Does the presence of Alternate Universes (AU) or OCs (original character) make fanfiction more of an original work than fanfiction itself? Where do you believe the line between the two is drawn?

I believe the defining characteristic separating fanfiction from an original work is the characters themselves. You can take a set of characters and drop them in even the most widely different AU, and as long as the characters stay in-character they will be recognizable and probably make for a great story. But if the characters are written such that they bear little resemblance to their origins? Then even the most recognizable environment will still feel like I might as well be reading original fiction. And if OCs are your preference, might as well try coming up with your own worldbuilding too as to avoid claims of laziness or plagiarism. The characters are the hardest part, they are what make or break the story.

FYI, this is not to say OCs have no place in fanfiction. Not true, some of the best stories have beautifully fleshed out original characters even in major protagonist roles. But the canon characters included need to remain in-character, no matter what. Out-of-character canon characters might as well be OCs, but are usually perceived as worse.

#12 - Lastly, what are your personal favourite fanfiction tropes or genres, and why?

Well, I describe myself as bifictional (gen, het, or slash!) and multifandomational (over 150+ fandoms) for a reason. I like a lot of things!

I love crossovers immensely, even when I don't know all the included fandoms, because they offer the best outside perspectives. I prefer angsty stories to funny ones, and slow burn novels to short oneshots. I adore realistic consequences in relationships (not everything need be Happily Ever After) and especially appreciate competency in characters (BAMFs are awesome!).

Lately I've quite enjoyed the trend of Omegaverse stories with Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics. I like the parallels to our patriarchal reality and the challenges to the status quo thereof. The best Omegas are the ones who don't submit or give in to be oppressed, who stand up for their rights. Women like us face many of the same challenges, so A/B/O stories often resonate deeply. (Slash pairings as a whole tend to be preferred because there are truly few well written non-caricature female characters in canon sources, making relatable het pairings more rare.)

Glossary:

Wank - repetitive online debates with no signs of consensus.

DOS - List of Microsoft DOS operating system commands.

Netscape - type of browser.

Mary Sue - perfect character, without flaws.

Slash fic - type of fanfic that contains a homosexual love relationship. The female version would be FemSlas.

Beta or Beta Reader - person who helps the fanfic writer by reading and correcting the text before it is posted.

Canon - everything that is present or established in the original content.

Fix it - fanfic tag that marks stories that contain an attempt to fix something that is considered 'wrong' in the original work. Example: death of a character.

Fanworks - Any and all transformative work done as an exploration of original content. Ex: fanfiction, fanvids, fanart and etc.

Mainstream - dominant trend or fashion.

Arlequins - any series of romantic novels of simple stories of straight couples.

AO3 (archive of our own) - non-profit open archive site for fanfiction and other fanworks, created in 2008 by the Organization of Transformative Works.

Gossamer - Better known as The Gossamer Project (The Web Project) was an archive group that, all combined, contained the vast majority of X-Files fanfics on the internet.

Multifandom - that is part of or contains several fandoms.

Fanfiction.net (FF) - The world's largest fanfiction archive site, created in 1998.

Webrings- search optimization tool, which organizes sites by theme, creating a circular interconnection structure between sites.

Geocities - site where The internet archive is located, created in 1996, and discontinued in 2009.

Wayback Machine - The Internet Archive's database that has archived over 613 billion web pages since 1996.

The Internet Archive - non-profit bookstore of thousands of books, movies, software, music, websites, etc.

Crossposting - the act of posting the same thing on different platforms to increase its visibility and avoid loss of content if an unexpected situation occurs on a site.

Live Journal - site where users can maintain a blog, journal or diary, and interact with other users. It was created in 1999 and was commonly used for fanfiction posting.

Τhe Strikethrough - An event that took place in 2007, when Live Journal deleted all user journals that contained words from an extensive list. Censorship was vast and deleted a lot of content for seemingly small reasons, such as containing the word “crime” in a story. This made many of its users look for a new platform to post their fanfics.

Dreamwidth - Online journaling service based on the original Live Journal service code, created in 2009 by former Live Journal employees and discontinued in 2011.

Wattpad - platform that allows sharing of stories, commonly used for fanfic posting.

Recs - abbreviation for the word “recommendations”.

Great Delicious Migration of 2011 - Delicious was a service that allowed you to bookmark, save and, above all, tag (mark with a certain word, a common way of organizing fanfiction) content in a completely controlled manner by users. After the company's purchase in 2011, users were hampered by the site's new reforms and rules, opting out of the site in a mass migration of sorts.

Pinboard - site that offered a service with the same concept as Delicious and charges around 25 dollars a year to the user.

Maciej Ceglowski - creator of Pinboard

DOOOM!, The Giant Reference Document of DOOM! - Multi-part document created by fans of the DOOM video game series, containing a glossary of references and terminology from the game world.

Fanservice - delivering something to fans in the original content, prioritizing only the fandom's will, regardless of whether such a thing fits where it’s inserted.

Powers that be - phrase used for individuals or groups that have power or authority in some way over something.

Alternate Universe - fanfic tag that marks stories that uses characters from an original content and places them in a world different from canon.

OC (original characters) - Original Characters is the fanfic tag that marks when there is an insertion of a new character that does not exist in canon.

Bifictional - word derived from the junction of the words bisexual and fanfiction. It means liking all sorts of romance categories in fanfic.

Gen - fanfic tag that marks a story that doesn't contain any kind of romance.

Het - fanfic tag that marks stories that contain heterosexual love relationships.

Slash - fanfic tag that marks stories that contain lgbt+ love relationships.

Crossover - fanfic tag that marks stories that contain the coincidence of characters and worlds from different original content.

Angst - Angst is the fanfic tag that marks stories that contain a theme of emotional or physical torment.

Slow Burn - fanfic tag that marks stories that contain canon characters who fall in love gradually and naturally, usually taking a long time to get together.

Oneshots - fanfic tag that marks stories written completely before posting, without prequels or sequels, and formatted in a single chapter.

Realistic Consequences on Relationships - fanfic tag that marks stories that show realistic consequences of canon characters' actions in a relationship.

Happily Ever After - better known today as Happy Ending, is the fanfic tag that marks stories with a happy or satisfying ending.

BAMF - short for Bad Ass Mother Fucker is the fanfic tag that marks stories that contain a character who is particularly impressive, usually smart and difficult to defeat.

Omegaverse or/and Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics - fanfic tag that marks stories that contain the dynamic where characters can be Alphas (dominant, authoritarian and respected people), Betas (ordinary people, usually common workers) or Omegas (submissive people, minorities and inferior). The tag is commonly used as an allegory for today's society, but mirrored in the werewolf community.

Find Moonbeam’s blog here!

Find The Fanfiction Terminology here!

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Today’s compilation:

Escapes 1996 New Age / Worldbeat / Downtempo / Easy Listening

Pretty good mid-90s comp from the WEA label here that blends new age, worldbeat, ethnic fusion, easy listening, downtempo, and film and TV scores together. Just a full range of chilled-out late 80s/early 90s pleasurable vibes, with eminent staples from these sprawling and somewhat similar genres, such as Enya, Enigma, Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, and even the Art of Noise as well. However, I think the similar-sounding, much more popular, and much more marketed Pure Moods from Virgin Records is a little better than this comp. Take 'em both in tandem if you can't get enough of this type of stuff, but just beware of the overlaps.

Highlights:

Enya - "Orinoco Flow" Mike Oldfield - "Sentinel" The New American Orchestra - "Bladerunner Love Theme" Enigma - "Sadeness" B-Tribe - "You Won't See Me Cry" Angelo Badalamenti - "Theme From Twin Peaks" Art of Noise - "Moments in Love" Caroline Lavelle - "Moorlough Shore"