What is it about?
Fan audience responses to remade special effects for older episodes of 'Doctor Who' and 'Star Trek' are examined to reveal the role and function played by special effects in science fiction television, and what the impact is of revising these in long-running franchises. There is a particular focus on how (fan-) producers and audiences contest who has the ‘right’ to determine what is authentic, canonical and credible about these series.
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Why is it important?
The article builds on existing work in fan studies to explore the discourses and interpretative strategies adopted by invested viewers to claim, contest and negotiate their sense of shared cultural 'ownership' of specific media franchises. These are positioned against those promotional and authorial frames offered by the rights holders, and are considered in the context of wider cultural understandings about the role and function of particular aesthetic devices (special effects) which are intrinsically connected with historical interpretations of the franchises. The article helps to reveal the heterogeneous interpretative practices of socially-situated fan viewers in response to promotional strategies which attempt to incorporate them.
Perspectives
What is particularly interesting to me, are the similarities and differences in attitude towards authorship and canon revealed between the 'Doctor Who' and 'Star Trek' fan cultures towards what is - in effect - very similar commercial processes of reversioning and remarketing. This emphasizes the very different historical formations of each of these fan cultures, and suggests how this has affected the way each discusses and negotiates creative 'value' within their respective franchises. At the same time, however, both reveal how strongly this fan culture has been incorporated into the values and practices of the relevant production cultures as well, informing how (fan-) producers anticipate and respond to fan critique.
Dr Denzell A Richards
University of Roehampton
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Old SF, New FX: Exploring the Reception of Replacement Special Effects for Older Episodes of Doctor Who and Star Trek, Critical Studies in Television The International Journal of Television Studies, September 2013, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.7227/cst.8.3.5.
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