Grey Panthers

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Fanfiction
Title: Grey Panthers
Author(s): Laurie Haldeman
Date(s): 1983
Length:
Genre(s): gen
Fandom(s): Starsky & Hutch
Relationship(s):
External Links:

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Grey Panthers is a gen Starsky & Hutch story by Laurie Haldeman.

It was published in Rerun #1 where it has two illos by Jean C.. The last page of the story is a publicity photo of the actors.

Summary

From the zine: "Being mugged can be deadly. Starsky & Hutch get help from all quarters when they stop a group of senior citizens from taking the law into their own hands."

Reactions and Reviews

GREY PANTHERS was great. Congrats to Laurie Haldeman. Ending with the photo of S&H was nice. Wish I had the original of that. [1]

S&H, of course, is still and always will be my all-time favorite series and fandom, so maybe that's why I feel sort of critical about this particular story. I was left with the feeling that it could've been done better. The story itself was well written and interesting; the problems of old people today are very serious and real, and this story captured a lot of that in an effective way, I particularly enjoyed the character of Adelle, and the other 'senior citizens' were equally well drawn; real flesh-and-blood people you could feel for, care about. That part of the story was enjoyable. But The characterizations of Starsky and Hutch themselves were very disappointing, at least for me. It was a surprise, coming from Laurie Haldeman, who always used to write S&H with such feeling, I felt none of the closeness, caring and true affection between S&H that is always the hallmark of a really good S&H story. [2] For me, so many times during the story I kept thinking that S&H could've been replaced by any other two cops and nobody would have noticed. It's a shame. If the feeling and old S&H 'magic' had been there, this wouldn't have been just a good story--it would've been a GREAT story, one that I might have re-read. [3]

Of course I immediately read Laurie Haldeman's GREY PANTHERS. It was very good, well plotted and filled with nice scenes. So glad to see her writing. Enjoyed also [Jean C's] illos. She is a fine artist who puts a lot of 'character' into the drawings she does. The illo on page 123 is delightful. [4]

Y'know, somebody oughta chain Laurie Haldeman to a typer more often. I really, really enjoyed GREY PANTHERS. [5]

...as an S&H fan, I want to say, again, a special thank you for those ZEBRAS and for GREY PANTHERS by Laurie Haldeman. I'd be grateful if you'd tell Laurie how much I enjoyed the fresh, direct style of the writing. Some delightful scenes--! love the kittens nesting on the back seat (I must find out what a 'Calico' cat is.). The story made me think of the first season when we were first recognizing and responding to a very special series. And I thought Jean's illos were very satisfying. I do like her artwork. [6]

I also enjoyed the S&H story, GREY PANTHERS, by Laurie Haldeman. It was suspenseful, and kept me interested the whole time! [7]

GREY PANTHERS by Laurie Haldeman was the worst story in the zine. It was too long and reminded me more of a Quincy story with another of his causes than anything else. [8]

It was very good. Being a cat person, I can sympathize with Starsky. A tiny kitten's mews can be very penetrating. I would've loved to have seen him as a bag lady too. Some of the Grey Panthers seemed rather familiar. I've met people just like them. And I wanted to feel sorry for Allison Gilly, too, but it was rather hard to. Especially since what she was doing. Loved the ad on the back too! [9]

I was really surprised by GREY PANTHERS. I am not a Starsky and Hutch fan and what little SfiH fiction I've read I usually haven't liked. But Laurie Haldeman has written a good story--action, suspense, interesting characters, and no gloom, doom, or extreme anguish; just enough nastiness (Mrs. Gilly) and despair (Allison) to keep the plot moving. I liked it. A lot. [10]

I bought RERUN for the story GREY PANTHERS by Laurie Haldeman. That was the main reason, anyway. I was

prepared not to read all the other stories, then I thought that would be very unfair. So I sat down and read RERUN from cover to cover after reading GREY PANTHERS, which I really liked. It would have made a cute episode. [11]

GREY PANTHERS. At last we have a piece of fiction which depicts the aged, not as deteriorated obstructions, but with respect, thoughtfulness, intelligence. With humanity. Ms. Haldeman hits created a public service, and had fun doing so. The humor shows, even if S&H are not quite so predominant. I hardly missed them. [12]

References

  1. ^ from a Letter of Comment in Rerun #2
  2. ^ This fan was probably referring to Wilderness, a fandom classic co-written by Haldeman in 1978.
  3. ^ from a Letter of Comment in Rerun #2
  4. ^ from a Letter of Comment in Rerun #2
  5. ^ from a Letter of Comment in Rerun #2
  6. ^ from a Letter of Comment in Rerun #2
  7. ^ from a Letter of Comment in Rerun #2
  8. ^ from a Letter of Comment in Rerun #2
  9. ^ from a Letter of Comment in Rerun #2
  10. ^ from a Letter of Comment in Rerun #2
  11. ^ from a Letter of Comment in Rerun #2
  12. ^ from a Letter of Comment in Rerun #2