For Love of the Show

Valentine's Day. All pink hearts and roses. A day for celebrating the love shared between people. When your love is unreturned, I doubt there is a day more depressing on the calendar -- take Joxer's love for Gabrielle. I'm sure the goof is absolutely miserable this evening.

I had a nice little fluff piece originally planned for Valentine's Day. But recent debates on-line have prompted me to haul out the soapbox once again. I will warn you in advance folks, this one may not be that pretty -- I'm really making this one up as I go along (as opposed to the usual stuff where I only pretend to make it up as I go along).

Come to think of it, there is still a Valentine's connection here. This column is ultimately about love and what it does to people. You think anger and hatred are ugly? They don't hold a candle to what love can do. Trust me.

This all started when Tom (of the fan-famous "Tom's Xena Page") announced his retirement from the on-line fan community, citing disappointment with the state of the series as one of the reasons for his departure. (He gave other reasons, but they aren't really relevant to this piece.)

The announcement rocked the on-line community. The issue (as most fandom issues on-line tend to do) polarized the fanbase. The majority of them simply expressed their surprise at the announcement, sent their best wishes and moved on.

However, the reason Tom gave for his leaving (at least, the one I listed above) created a flamewar of controversy, simply because it added fuel to a fire that was already smoldering.

There was a group of fans out there that was... complaining (that's the polite term for it) about the quality of the fifth season. The reasons for this kvetching were varied, but most of them boiled down to one of two things. Either they are lamenting the "death of subtext" (a subject I have spoken on elsewhere) or they complain about how the show isn't what it used to be.

The vast majority of these dissenting voices were "old-timers", who had been with the show from episode one. But that's not really relevant.

Okay, I lied. It is relevant, but not as a blanket generalization about long-time fans and how they need their heads examined.

It's relevant because these long-time fans (and trust me, five years is a long time) love the show.

See, I told you I would bring it around to this whole love thing.

Remember how I said that love can do ugly things? Well, out of love for this wonderful show, this section of the fandom has spouted some pretty ugly rhetoric. Groundless attacks are being made against the writers, producers and actors who put in long hours to produce the forty-two minutes of entertainment we enjoy every week.

And I'm not implying that every fan out there who complains about the show (or even a single episode) was taking this approach. In all honesty, it is probably a very small -- very annoying part of the fandom.

This sect was driven by inflamed passions, running around like Chicken Little screaming that the sky is falling. Because their complaints are loud and obnoxious, those who would try to reason with these panic-stricken Xenites are driven to shout just as loudly merely to be heard.

These situations rapidly result in senseless internet screaming matches, with epithets both veiled and blatant being exchanged as fast as the tortured little electrons can carry them. I will even admit that I have taken part in this sort of lunacy myself. I'm not especially proud of it.

It bothers me, partly because I simply don't understand it. These fans clearly loved the show -- they wouldn't have been so hot and bothered if they didn't. But, the complaints they were voicing sounded to me like they are absolutely miserable.

If that's the case, why continue to torture yourself watching week after week?

I guess the only thing that can be said is that love does funny things to people.

I'm not saying don't watch (though I might question your sanity if you continue to torture yourself in that way). I'm not saying don't be critical of the show (because I participate in critical analysis myself).

I'm saying that these venomous, non-constructive, outbursts serve no useful purpose. When I'm going through my mailbox reading commentary on the latest episode, I don't like reading a six-page rant that (when you boil away the rhetoric) says, "The show sucks."

Why does the show suck? And please don't give me the pat answer that "it isn't like it was in the beginning." I've seen the episodes, I know it isn't the same. Give me some sort of concrete reason why it was better back then. It may simply boil down to personal preference and taste. I have no problem with that. It's the variety in the fan base that makes it such a wonderful community to be a part of.

Don't sputter and fume and say I won't understand. Don't ramble on about how I'm some patsy of Rob Tapert's that has swallowed his philosophy. Don't insult my intelligence (or insinuate that I am lacking in the brains department) because I happen to like the show just fine.

Don't do it to me, and don't do it to those who share my point of view. Grant us the courtesy you're asking us to extend to you.

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