Moonlight (TV series)
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Moonlight |
| Abbreviation(s): | |
| Creator: | Ron Koslow, Trevor Munson |
| Date(s): | September 28, 2007 – May 16, 2008 |
| Medium: | Television |
| Country of Origin: | USA |
| External Links: | at IMDb and Wikipedia |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Moonlight was an American paranormal romance television one-season drama. The series follows private investigator Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin), who was turned into a vampire by his bride Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon) on the couple's wedding night fifty-five years earlier. In the present day, he struggles with his attraction to a mortal woman, Beth Turner (Sophia Myles), his friendship with his mentor and fellow vampire Josef Kostan (Jason Dohring), and his dealings with other vampires in Los Angeles.
Rumor has it that this was a fruitless attempt by CBS producers to recreate/updated version their 90's series, Forever Knight about a vampire cop, which lasted for three seasons. Some scenes and dialogue were exactly copied from Forever Knight (1992)'s Last Act script and the main character's name "Nick" became Mick in this failed (but cult classic) 2007 "recreation".
It was put on hiatus after 12 episodes due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America Strike, then returned for four more episodes, then was cancelled. There was an unsuccessful Save Our Show fan campaign.
Fannish Perspective
Possibly provided with a small but feral and faithful fandom, with the show receiving a lot of support after its cancellation -- fans campaigned against that. Below are some anonymous comments on Fail Fandomanon:
It's like 19th century style Varney the Vampire, meets Beauty and the Beast, with extra layers of cheese, and subtext, lots and lots of subtext. It has something for everyone, vampire fans, romance fans, slash fans, fans of deadpan snark (see 'Josef Kostan'). It also stars Jason Dohring, who automatically raises the awesome stakes of any show he appears on ~ YMMV It is low budget, and it shows, and some of the dialogue is a little corny from time to time, but it's also a very character driven show, and the characters are very easy to fall in love with. The creator/former executive producer of the show, Trevor Munson, is also extra smile worthy. He's a totally nice guy, very open and approachable with the fans, encourages fan fiction and other fan works, including slash (I think I've mentioned on here before that he's an affiliate of my Josef/Mick fan sites, plus a member of the one I run on Facebook, we've actually gotten into some interesting conversations on writing slash, and the history of slash fandom)[1]— anonymous
The fandom itself has had a bit of a tumultuous history, there was the whole 'Garlicgate', 'Slashgate', and 'Busgate' debacles, but it has matured and settled down a lot since the early days. It also had a bit of a reputation for being 1) a cult of nice turned up to 11, and 2) completely bug fuck bonkers, again that's not really indicative of the fandom overall today. There is still an element of 'cult of nice' with some areas, but mainly the fandom is just filled with really nice people, who tend to forge friendships beyond just fannish activities. The fandom has also had a bad reputation for over the top anti slash reactions, and homophobia, but that was more back in the earlier days, as long as you avoid certain areas of the fandom you won't really be confronted by any of this these days (including myself there are a number of queer and non cisgender identified fans in the fandom).[1]— anonymous
Connections to other fandoms
David Greenwalt, co-executive producer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and co-creator of Angel, was an executive producer of Moonlight before dropping out for health reasons.
- Alex O'Loughlin (later to star as Steve McGarrett in the rebooted Hawaii Five-0 played Mick St. John, angsty vampire with a conscience.
- Shannyn Sossamon played Coraline Duvall, Mick's evil but tempting sire.
- Jason Dohring (formerly Logan Echolls on Veronica Mars) played Josef Kostan, Mick's snarky, somewhat amoral mentor.
- Sophia Myles (guest starred as Madame Pompadour on Doctor Who) played Beth Turner, internet journalist and Mick's love interest.
(If you are thinking, hey! AU versions of Angel, Darla, Spike and Buffy, you're not alone.)
Shipping
The popular pairings were the slash pairing of Mick/Josef and the het pairing of Mick/Beth. Mick/Caroline also was fairly common. One of the semi-rare pairings was Josef/Beth.
The crossover pairing Josef/Elle from Heroes was popular due both portrayed by the actors behind Logan/Veronica on Veronica Mars. The characters Josef, Mick, and Beth were all popular to crossover with other characters especially with the Smallville, Buffyverse, and Heroes fandoms.
Zines
- Freshie! and sister zine Fangtastic (both e-zines)
Resources
- Fandom overview on Crack Van by arby_m
- Mick/Josef ship manifesto by emerald1972
- Mick/Coraline ship manifesto by ficangel
- Moonlight Overview at Newbie Guide by angelus2hot
Communities
- moonlight_tv
- moonlight_fics
- moonlight_slash
- Crossing Moonlight (crossovers)
- josefmick_fans (has a link to a more comprehensive guide to Josef/Mick stuff online)
- beth_josef (Beth/Josef)
- josef_elle (Josef/Elle; Heroes crossover)
- ml_btvs (Moonlight/Buffyverse crossovers)
Other:
- moonlightfreshies
- jock_fansite
- Josef/Mick Facebook: fansite
- moonlightfanvids
- MLSlashVids
- Moonlight Forum (defunct, Wayback Machine version)
Fanfiction
- Moonlight (TV) works on AO3
- Moonlight works on fanfiction.net
- Moonlight works on Kink Bingo
- moonlightfreshies
- In The Moonlight, a defunct fanfiction archive
- Moonlight Fanfic