I’ve got the pon farr.*
When I was eight years old, I spent part of a summer in Tucson, alternating between my grandparents, who lived just outside the city in Sauhuarita, and my father, who was doing something with a lab at the University of Arizona.**
My clearest memory of this summer is of watching episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series on the old black and white TV in the back bedroom with the red batik bedspread and the ancient faded red corduroy chair. I loved Star Trek. Most of all, I loved Mr. Spock; he was my second non-animated crush, the first having been Michael Praed as Robin Hood in the BBC’s Robin of Sherwood.*** I spent many happy hours, perched on that red corduroy chair, imagining myself aboard the Enterprise in Mary Sue-like glory.
Some years later, I discovered slash fan fiction on the internets. This was initially through Highlander, but you don’t spend much time looking at slash without encountering ST:TOS. And then, yesterday, Daniel sends me this:
This is a slash vid set to “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails. As you should know, this means it is Not Safe For Work. It’s “Closer,” for fuck’s sake. And the arrangement of the video clips strongly suggests that Kirk and Spock are making turbulent man-love aboard the Starship Enterprise.
It was just too good not to share. My favorite part is the grainy, sepia-tone quality of the clips, which is what reminds me, more than anything else, of watching the show on that old black-and-white at my grandparents’ house. The more things change, and all.
On a related note, I used to have an “Amok Time” t-shirt that I got at the Salvation Army in Kirksville, Missouri. Like so many other awesome things I have owned, it has vanished without a trace. Lame. At least I still have my HighlandsBarbarian!Duncan McLeod nightshirt.
—
**Unless I made this up in my head. But I was right about John Lennon.
***The animated ones were Lion-O, leader of the Thundercats, and Optimus Prime, leader of the Transformers. What can I say, I have a lust for power. Although apparently it is not a sufficient aphrodisiac for William Shatner.
September 13th, 2006 at 7:09 am
I am a late late bloomer to fan fic, thinking these shows lived in peace until the Chicago Reader featured an article on frodo fan fic - with pictures - that blew me away. It shouldn’t have of course, I mean we’re talking Sam and Frodo here. It was more the extreme efforts of the fans that got me.
September 13th, 2006 at 10:59 am
I wish I had a copy of this article. I think my mother still sort of believes that my sister and I made up Frodo/Sam to piss her off.
Personally, I favor Legolas/Aragorn. Hobbits don’t really do it for me.
September 13th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
Loved the video. So much stuff disappeared in Kville. all awesome items get lost. but, if the world didnt suck, we would fall off.
September 13th, 2006 at 8:05 pm
oh MAN. that video is a trip! And I didn’t even watch the old star trek. It boggles my mind how people can spend all that time editing something to suggest something else, and also to fit the music perfectly. I enjoy anime music videos for the same reason.
September 13th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
If you love Legolas than you’ll love his pose in this article. Check the link and click on “To Mordor and Back” for the PDF.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/pdf/051007/index.html
(I just saved the file in case they ever remove it!)
September 14th, 2006 at 8:14 am
My sister’s boyfriend (actor) received an invitation a couple of days ago to audition to be a Hobbit in the LOTR musical.
Unfortunately he’s two inches too tall for the height requirement.
You know, I really hope my mother knows nothing of slash.
September 14th, 2006 at 10:20 am
K: < A HREF="http://gathkinsons.net/blog/" target="_blank">My father played Bilbo Baggins in a high school production of “The Hobbit.” He was assigned the role because when they lined up all the members of the drama club according to height, he was the shortest. :p Gandalf, incidentally, was played by a well-over-six-foot Dutch exchange student, leading my father to adopt a Dutch accent for Gandalf when he read The Hobbit to me as a child, and leading me to forever after associate Dutch accents with wizards.
Marc: Thanks for the link–I think I’ve actually seen that article before. It may have come up at WisCon, where panels on slash fan fiction are now pretty routine (I’ve been on one, and presented a paper on masculine rivalries and “equal” gendered bodies in slash). I find PhotoShopped slash particularly interesting, since it hasn’t been around very long–the fan fiction started with Star Trek fandom in the 70s, and used to get passed around in mimeograph, but obviously the internet exploded the distribution possibilities.
Laura: Yeah, I really enjoy a good vid. Have you seen the Dark!Willow Buffy vid set to Insane Clown Posse’s “Southwest Voodoo”? I don’t think I’d go for much of their stuff, but it’s a great vid. I have a friend at UW in ethnomusicology who did her thesis on anime vids, too.
Brandy: It didn’t actually disappear in K-ville, I just got it there. I think it disappeared after I moved to Madison, although it migh have been while I was in Japan.