Spoiler warning: Don’t read further if you have not yet seen episode 4 of Torchwood: Children of Earth. Of course, if you want to watch it, chances are you already have, but still…
Fans of any persuasion can be an odd bunch. I know, I am that person. There are so many huge benefits to be had from bonding with other people over your love of something, whether it’s football (a passion I must admit I don’t share) or Doctor Who (which I do).
I get it. And I’ve come into contact with the best of fandom in recent years. From reviewing the BBC’s Any Dream Will Do every week, I came into contact with many subgroups: fans of Daniel Boys (his ‘kittens’), who took my good-natured comments about them being “quite mad” in the spirit it was intended. And of course there are the Loppies — fans of that series’ eventual winner, Lee Mead, who started talking to each other in the comments section of our blog and have stayed with us ever since.
There are negative associations, of course. If you incur the wrath of the hardcore supporter, then you know about it sharpish. On TV Today we’ve been on the receiving end from fans of Rupert Grint and Jonas Armstrong. In neither case were the attacks particularly justified, but there comes a point where, to the hardcore fans, that hardly matters.
Something similar happened over the last few weeks, following Torchwood: Children of Earth’s fourth episode, in which regular character Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd) came to a sticky end. A lot of anger was directed at Torchwood writer James Moran, on his blog and on Twitter, not because he wrote the episode (he didn’t) but because he had an open door policy with his web communications.
Thankfully, that particular method of attacking individuals died down pretty quickly, although it has led to James taking a step back from his blog — and please read that link, it expresses his feelings and reasons far better than I could.
But the hardcore Ianto fans are not giving up. They have set up a website, SaveIantoJones.com, in order to coordinate various forms of peaceful, polite protest.
And one way they’ve decided to show their support for their favourite character is unusual — by raising money for the BBC’s resident charity, Children in Need. As I write, the total they have raised to date is just under £3,000. And that’s an impressive amount of money whatever the reason for its collection.
Again, it shows that within fandom, there is the potential for much goodness. Although I do believe that the organisers are mistaken when they say:
While the BBC have remained polite and well-mannered, in response to a very peaceful campaign, Mr. Davies has made it clear in recent interviews that he views his fans with contempt, and as disposable, which saddens us.
I don’t think anybody could be more wrong; I truly believe Russell gets it. Watch Love & Monsters, part of Series 2 of Doctor Who written by Russell T Davies, and you’ll see a group called L.I.N.D.A., a group of people who start meeting for one reason and gradually become people who meet up because they are friends. It’s one of the most perfect representations of fandom you’re ever likely to see. And anybody who writes like that really, truly, does not consider fans to be worthy of contempt. That doesn’t mean that fans are bigger than the subject of their support, though.
The SaveIantoJones fans are doing some great work and their fundraising efforts will do enormous good — even though their ultimate aim, of bringing a dead fictional character back to life, is doomed to fail. If their work brings them together as friends too, then that will be a further upside.
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- A new chapter This interview originally appeared in the April 5, 2007 issue...
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I am a fan that was involved in the “bring back STAR TREK” campaign that kept a series alive. I was also involved with the fan campaign to bring back Spock when he was killed off in the movies. This was a very successful franchise that went on for years. With Spock. Now if you want to talk about fans being disrespected ask even the people in the Torchwood fandom about Trek fans and they will roll their eyes and call us ” Trekies” .
We, all fans, are very sensitive about being dismissed as obsessive, nerds, overly invested, I could go on and on. I am a very involved Torchwood fan and am in the Saveianto fan scene, and one of the main reasons is RTD’s belittling of the fan base. We do have an effect we can keep the franchise alive. Torchwood started and grew as a “cult series” just like Dr Who, guess who that cult consisted of? The fans keep the shows going when the general audience is distracted by the next new thing.
Going back to the Star Trek example when Paramount decided to bring back Trek they gave us “Star Trek the Movie” It was a success number wise but to the fans it was a great sci-fi story but it is not Trek. So they come back with Wrath of Khan and that was an even better success, good sci-fi and true to the original series.
I was absolutely devastated by Ianto’s death, but I could still recognize that Children of Earth was rather brilliant drama. It made me feel nauseous for days afterwards, but it was perfectly executed and the standard of production dwarfed anything the series had done previously. That said, I am actively supporting the various protests and petitions because RTD’s attitude towards fandom in his post-ariing interviews and appearances has been completely atrocious. Fandom gets enough slack from the “outside world”, when the creators of the very thing you are supporting turn around and virtually negate your presence, it feels like a slap in the face. How are you meant to react, smile and say thank you? There was no humility, no understanding, just plain dismissal and smugness. Death is a part of many television shows, that’s fair enough. It’s the way it has been handled that continues to fuel the upset. Joss Whedon, Eric Kripke, they manage to kill off characters and maintain fan support because they act like they understand and value the importance of their fans. Then there’s RTD who even managed to aggravate people in the Supernatural fandom with his throwaway attitude the past month. So no, I don’t think he truly does get “it”. Maybe once in the past RTD had a firm grasp on how fandom worked, but perhaps in all the succes he’s forgotten how he actually got there. Who knows?
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