A brief history of time

[caranfindel]

In light of* yesterday's life-affirming announcement that S14 is a go, I notice a lot of people are posting their fandom origin stories. So here's mine.

(*Yesterday I saw two instances of people writing in lieu of when they clearly meant in light of. One was on the internet and one was a novel. Weird.)

I became obsessed with BBC Sherlock in the summer of 2012, after its second season, which is how I discovered Tumblr. That, of course, led to SuperWhoLock, which was the fashion at the time, and I thought "all these Sherlock fans can't be wrong; those other shows must be good too." So I watched the Supernatural pilot. And I didn't like it. I didn't even finish it.


I know.

So I switched to Doctor Who and watched as much of that as I cared for (loved Nine, liked Ten, gave up on Eleven), and then I decided to give Supernatural another try, and I guess the broken part of my brain that had kept me from appreciating it was repaired (or maybe I had broken enough to appreciate it, hmmm) because I fell head over heels. It was the winter of 2012-13 by this point; Supernatural was in its 8th season. I burned through all seven seasons available on Netflix in weeks. At some point I set my DVR to record the back half of the season, but by the time the show returned after the hellatus, I was still making my way through the previous seven seasons. During the time I saw a post on Tumblr that referred to the show ending soon, and I was annoyed that I'd found it just as it was going away, but thought I could at least catch up and watch the final episode live.

(Season eight. That was season eight. They weren't even in double digits yet.)

Then I set off in search of the first half of S8. I scoured the internet, finding what I could online. (I had to buy Southern Comfort from iTunes, and I watched it in the school parking lot as I waited for my kid to finish an after-school activity.) I read the forums on Television Without Pity, which was so much fun after-the-fact when you could see that the show's writers and/or runners were obviously trolling there. I read the reviews on that site too, until the reviewer stopped liking the show. And it was either through TWOP or the Supernatural wiki that I found LiveJournal. Specifically, the ohsam community, and more specifically, this particular fic by brosedshield. And I thought, wow. There are talented people in this fandom. I like it here.

I watched episode 8.23, Sacrifice, two weeks after it aired live. I created my own LJ account a month later, in June of 2013. I started posting crappy fanfic that summer. When season 9 began, I started reviewing episodes. (I don't know when I started completely recapping every episode. I don't know why I started completely recapping every episode. It was a bad decision.)

I can't believe I've been here almost five years. I still like it here. Thank you, Show, for giving me another year.

Comments

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

I LOVE THIS STORY SO MUCH. I still linger over your hilariously accurate reviews, and I'm so glad you found your way here. <3 <3 <3

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Thank you! You're one of the reasons I'm glad to be here! <3

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee, well, we're grateful for your recaps, whenever and whyever they began!

(Wow, TWoP, that's a blast from the past. I used to read that site before SPN even started -- Smallville and reality TV recaps. Good times.)

And wow, season 14. ...With BuckLemming writing it, but still. Impressive...most impressive.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved TWOP. The recaps for The Sopranos and Six Feet Under would have made me watch the shows even if they sucked, just so I could enjoy the recaps.

Thanks for being here and reading and for your own posts! <3

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

What a lovely origin story :) I am glad you are here--I particularly enjoy your recaps, leavened as they are with love even when the show is less than spectacular!

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! I do hope everyone understands that I love the Show even as I complain.

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

Your origin story is amazing!

I love your recaps and your polls! I think I started watching in real time around S6, and I remember the end of S7. I LOVED S8s and 9, between what Sam went through during the God trials, and I adored Metatron, particularly as the unreliable narrator.

I can't remember when I discovered SPN, but I also burned through the seasons in record time. I own 3,4,5,8,9.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Thank you dear! I wish you were still recapping, because yours were to-die-for funny!

[frozen_delight]

I got into SPN during the second half of S9 and I remember thinking how stupid it was of me to get seriously invested in a show that would probably come to an end in a couple of months... Little did I know then that SPN is like Sam and Dean - it simply can't die. *g*

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

So true! I don't know why that Tumblr poster thought the Show was ending soon, but they couldn't have been more wrong.

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

Well I'm super glad that you found your way here, and that I found you along the way! I love your recaps, polls and your wonderful fic too - it wouldn't be the same here without you, that's for sure. I find origin stories so fascinating, I might even post my own :)

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Please do post your origin story; I'd love to read it!

[fanspired]

Would you believe I rented a whole disc, 4 episodes, watched them the first time and said meh. Must have been a year or two before I was scratching around for something to fill the hole the Harry Potter franchise was leaving that I decided to give it another go. Somewhere between Bloody Mary and Something Wicked I became an addict. Chuck led me to Live Journal. He mentioned it in the out-takes to The Real Ghostbusters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25H5xU5SdEA

He says "No I can't read your Live Journal short story. No, I get it. Sam and Dean really love each other. But I don't . . . I don't need to see that."

But methinks, maybe I do.

You hate me, don't you? >:}

[kribban.livejournal.com]

Wendigo is the ep that made me quit the show back in 2005. For nine years!

So no, you're not alone.

[fanspired]

I actually quite like Wendigo now, and season one is definitely my favourite season, because it does such a great job of establishing and developing character, because I love the fact that it was a genuine supernatural detective show back then, and you got to watch how they went about it, with all the tech and everything, and because some of those episodes were genuinely scary. I had trouble sleeping after Something Wicked! :D

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

What did you not like about it? Too creepy, or something else?

[kribban.livejournal.com]

It was gross (not scary) and boring. I thought: I have no interest watching people run around in the forest.

But then again, I have never enjoyed horror.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

OMG, thank you for that link. That's amazing.

[brosedshield.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, your mention here made me blush and, like, made it a wonderful day. Thank you for reading, for loving. I love that that story still resonates so strongly (and, seriously, it would have made so much SENSE for that to be how Sam and Dean's damage fit together at that time). Thank you, and so glad you found a happy place in this crazy and wonderful fandom. Your story made me laugh, and reminded me of my early days in SPN <3

(Yeah, totally mainlined the first four and a half seasons the last semester of college...good times. WONDERFUL times).

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks for coming by! I never did comment on that wonderful fic, because I didn't even have an account when I read it, but obviously it had a huge impact on me. So thanks for being a big part of sucking me into the world of LJ. :)

[tuesdaytoo.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I also got into Sherlock shortly before falling hard for Supernatural. Though my discovery of SPN was unrelated - some friends had mentioned it in passing, and I thought it would be fun to watch something creepy around Halloween. I enjoyed reading your story and I’m glad you’re here!

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I wonder how many of us are still into Sherlock? :-/