xxxxxxxxxxx@aol.com (Jamie) wrote:
>What was this newsgroup like when it just began?
To quote Gary D. Duzan, the Creator of alt.tv.simpsons:
"There were about 100 messages posted there [alt.tv.simpsons] in
the first 24 hours [of it's existance], though most were of the
form, `Hey, did you notice that Bart writes something different
on the board each week?'"
To quote Raymond Chen:
In the beginning, the world was void and without form. And Gary
Duzan said, ``Let there be alt.tv.simpsons.'' And the rest, as they
say, is history. So here's some history:
For the first year-or-so, alt.tv.simpson was your usual anarchic
alt.* group. Trying to make some sense out of the clutter, I wrote
a FAQ and posted it, basing the information in part on private
notes I had been taking on alt.tv.simpsons for some time. At
around the same time, Nick Sayer took upon himself the duty of
posting the weekly ``Chalkboard and Couch Situation'' article.
Brendan Kehoe stepped forward to offer an ftp site for
alt.tv.simpsons archival purposes, and ownership of the FAQ was
transferred to him in an elaborate ceremony shrouded in mystery.
Meanwhile, David Tamkin took over Nick Sayer's weekly articles.
Some time later, I started posting extracts from my private notes,
and by some bizarre sequence of events which even I cannot
remember, they gradually turned into a regular feature. (During
this time, the Movie References List came into being, originally
intended to be a summary of the then-active discussion of movie
references taking place both on alt.tv.simpsons and in
rec.arts.tv.) In their early days, the articles were merely called
`episode summaries' (the term lingers if you know where to look),
but Brendan accidentally stumbled across the word `capsule', and
that's what they've been called ever since.
On 18 November 1990, David Tamkin posted a detailed analysis of the
fast pan of Springfield which appeared in the second season title
sequence. On 9 January 1991, I posted additional information on
same. And I added more information in late May 1991. All three of
these articles are encapsulated in question 3.1 of the FAQ.
-.
|T|he biggest controversy during Spring 1991 was the physical layout
`-'of Jym Dyer's articles. Many objected to the way Jym circled the
first letter of each paragraph and indented subsequent lines
increasingly. The resulting flamefest produced much more heat
than light. Jym Dyer did tone down his flamboyant layout,
though.
--- In other spring developments: The Abject Admirers of Lisa Simpson
-- was formed, with Brendan Kehoe and David Tamkin as founding members.
- Membership includes Steve VanDevender and me. (Membership
criteria are quite strict. Among other things, your birthday
must be within three months of that of one of the founding
members.) Joe Kincaid's daughter said her first word. It was
``Bart.'' Go figure.
In early July 1991, Brendan, Al Wesolowsky, and I held the
first-ever (and probably last-ever) alt.tv.simpsons contest, the
winner to receive a year's subscription to Simpsons Illustrated.
The object was to identify the movie reference in ``Bart Gets Hit
by a Car'' in which Burns cradles Bart's head in his lap while
calling out, ``Take me! I'm old!'' After a few months, the
closest thing to a winner was from Australia, and since Simpsons
Illustrated does not permit foreign subscriptions, we decided to
declare the contest null and void and award ourselves the prizes.
During the summer of 1991, Chris Baird emerged as our primary
Australian correspondent. His articles at first were about Channel
Ten's cutting of the episodes to make room for more commercials.
(Something we all should pay attention to, since we're going to
have to suffer through the same thing when The Simpsons hits
syndication.) Chris Baird also began The Writers/Directors List.
On 15 July 1991, David Tamkin spoonerized a title (Dart's Bog Gets
an F). Whether he did this on purpose or not we will probably never
know. What we do know is that it sparked the Great Anagram
Controversy, wherein I posted capsules with the episode titles
anagrammed. People whose anagrammatic recognition skills were weak
thought I was nuts. (Actually, people who recognized them as
anagrams probably still thought I was nuts.) The anagramming
stopped when first-run episodes resumed.
In autumn 1991, J. D. Baldwin realized that whe he liked the most
about The Simpsons was Itchy and Scratchy, and promptly started the
Itchy and Scratchy Episode Guide. Meanwhile, Dave Hall became a
major force in freeze frame fanaticism, and Chris Baird undertook
the ambitious Floor Plan Project. David Tamkin resigned from his
blackboard/couch duties in October 1991. Brian Howard, who had had
access to `inside' information, married his source and made her
move out of Los Angeles.
Another major development in the third season was the abridgement
of the title sequence in the States. The cutting was done by FOX
to make room for promoting a new Michael Jackson video. Canadian
viewers received uncut versions since they didn't get their episode
via FOX.
The biggest topic of late autumn 1991 was whether Apu's character
is racist (which quickly veered off-topic to racism in general).
Minor topics included griping over sappy endings. Chris Baird
became our Ambassador to Simpsons Illustrated, and even got a
letter (mentioning alt.tv.simpsons) published in the Australian
edition of SI. Every month or so, Chris ships them a disk
containing selected articles from alt.tv.simpsons.
[Thanks to Chris Baird for his help in writing this history.]
-- Raymond Chen, January 30th 1992