Alias Smith and Jones Virtual Seasons

Fanwork
Title:	Virtual Season Three Virtual Season Four
Creator:	various writers
Date(s):	2004-06
Medium:	virtual season (prose)
Fandom:	Alias Smith and Jones
External Links:	Good Deal Productions presents Alias Smith and Jones (Wayback Machine)
Logo of the Alias Smith and Jones Virtual Season website.
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From 2004 to 2006, a number of members of The Pete Duel Site community were involved in a collaborative fanwriting project to create a virtual season for the defunct TV series Alias Smith and Jones. They eventually produced two seasons of episodes, written as short stories, which they showcased on a website, Good Deal Productions presents Alias Smith and Jones.

History of the Project

The idea to create a virtual season for the show was originally suggested by Chick Walker on 4 May 2004 in a post to The Pete Duel Site Message Board. Discussion continued for a couple of days, before a Virtual Season 3 Writers Group was created as a Usergroup on the Board for people to volunteer. A private forum was then created for the writers to discuss their work among themselves.

Twenty episodes were created for a virtual third season (V3S), using Pete Duel's interpretation of the character of Hannibal Heyes, and hence following on from the final episode in which he appeared, "The Men Who Corrupted Hadleyburg". The episodes were written (as prose stories about 10K words in length) individually by JoAnn Baker, Leah Anders, Dusty Boots, Kate Ashe, Drena Hills, Sally Wheaton, Susanna Leslie, Robyn Elliot, and Linda. Chick Walker, Linda, and Ella are credited as producers.

The episodes were presented on a web site that was created by Linda, and illustrated with screen captures from The Pete Duel Site. In addition to the graphics version, the episodes were also available in a text version. Ancillary webpages on the site provide background information on the show, characters, and actors, plus audio and video of the opening title sequence.

Immediately after the completion of V3S, the suggestion was made to write a further virtual season. A thirteen-episode virtual fourth season (V4S) was completed, and began airing 12 December 2005 with one episode each week, available Monday at "(about!) 8PM" UK time. The writers were JoAnn Baker, Leah Anders, Kate Ashe, Drena Hills, Sally Wheaton, Moonshadow, and Anita Sanchez.

V3S Episodes

• "Double Jeopardy" by JoAnn Baker
• "This Cell Aint Big Enough for the Both of Us " by Leah Anders
• "Never Get Involved in Another Man's Feud " by Dusty Boots
• "Ask for Whom the Bell Tolls " by Kate Ashe
• "Uncle Mac" by Drena Hills
• "If You Can't Trust a Lawman, Who Can You Trust?" by Leah Anders
• "Quarantine" by Dusty Boots & JoAnn Baker
• "A Question of Loyalty" by Sally Wheaton
• "The View from Knightsgate" by Susanna Leslie
• "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" by Drena Hills
• "Hell and High Water: Part One - Hell" by Kate Ashe
• "Hell and High Water: Part Two - High Water" by Kate Ashe
• "The Search for J. Wesley" by Sally Wheaton
• "Playing for Keeps" by Leah Anders
• "You Don't Bring Me Diamonds" by Sally Wheaton
• "A Difficult Delivery" by Kate Ashe
• "The End of the Road?" by Sally Wheaton
• "Alias Hannibal Heyes" by JoAnn Baker
• "Heroes" by Sally Wheaton
• "Forget Me Not" by Leah Anders

V4S Episodes

• "Every Man Has His Price" by Sally Wheaton
• "How I Survived Christmas" by Leah Anders
• "Odds and Ends" by JoAnn Baker
• "The Tracker " by Anita Sanchez
• "Something About the Way You Look" by Sally Wheaton
• "Who Didn't" by Drena Hills
• "Make No Mistake" by moonshadow
• "Did You See What I Saw?" by Sally Wheaton
• "Familiar Faces" by Leah Anders
• "Once More Into the Breach" by Kate Ashe
• "Bleeding Kansas" by Anita Sanchez
• "As Safe As Safe Can Be" by Sally Wheaton
• "A Foreign Country" by Kate Ashe

Awards

After V3S was complete, Readers' Choice, Writers' Choice, and Producers' Choice awards were made in three categories: Favourite Heyes Scene or Moment, Favourite Kid Scene or Moment, and Favourite Heyes and Curry Together Scene or Moment. The Readers' Choice Awards were voted on by members of The Pete Duel Site community. Winners were announced 4 April 2005.

Website

The website for the virtual season was created within the Pete Duel Site at http://www.peteduelsite.com/VirtualSeason/MainPage.htm.

Main Page	Heyes & Curry	Characters
The main page (assembled from screen captures).	"Heyes and Curry" page (assembled from screen captures).	"Recurring and Significant Characters" page (assembled from screen captures).

To tie the website together visually, all pages share the same basic layout and colour scheme: a broad off-white centre panel surrounded by a burgundy border, slightly broader on the left side where the navigation buttons are located.

The main page of the site is headed by the website logo, which includes cropped pictures of the protagonists. The logo background matches the burgundy border.

On the main page, the central text is presented in two columns. The left hand column explains what a virtual season is; the right hand column discusses Pete Duel (the actor who played Hannibal Heyes). After links to the index pages for the V3S and V4S episodes, the lower portion of the main page contains a boxed collection of quotations from the series.

Several ancillary pages are included in the site.

• "Heyes and Curry" - describes each character, their outlaw history, the series premise (that they are trying to go straight and get amnesty), and the issue of their cousinhood; and shows their wanted posters.
• "Recurring and Significant Characters" - i.e. various guests from the actual Alias Smith and Jones series - describes each character, names the actor, and includes a screen capture. (Most of these characters recur in one or more of the virtual episodes.)
• "Virtual Season 3 Awards" - lists all nominated scenes, indicating the winner.
• "Good Deal Productions Who's Who" - lists the people involved in creating the virtual seasons and the website; some also filled out questionnaires about their fan interests in the series.

Virtual Season Index Pages

Episode Index	Story
"Virtual Season 3 Episodes" index page (assembled from screen captures).	Part of the story page for Episode 320: "Forget Me Not" by Leah Anders (assembled from screen captures).

There are two index pages (one for each season). Each index page lists the episodes in reverse order. At the time the virtual seasons were "airing", this meant that people could locate the latest episode easily, since it was always the one at the top.

The virtual episodes are given fake production numbers, from 3.1 to 3.20 (for V3S) and from 4.1 to 4.13 (for V4S).

Each entry on the index page includes the "production number"; title of the episode and writer (left column); a screen capture chosen to be illustrative of the story (centre column); brief plot summary in TV-Guide style (right column); and links to the graphics and text versions.

Episode Story Pages

Each episode is presented on its own page. At the top, mimicking the "teaser" of an actual episode, is typically an excerpt from the story.

This is followed by the "credits": large pictures of Pete Duel (as Hannibal Heyes) and Ben Murphy (as Kid Curry); and, in many cases, smaller pictures of the "guest cast" of the virtual episode. If present, this is the writer's "ideal" cast—with actors selected from all eras, not just people who might actually have appeared on the show.

Links are provided to audio and video of the opening credits of the show.

The story of the episode is presented with the scenes separated by dividers. Acts are not usually marked as clearly. Most virtual episodes include a small selection of screen captures from the actual series, chosen to illustrate similar scenes that appear in the story.