Bay City Library Interview with Wuemsel

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Bay City Library Interview with Wuemsel
Interviewer:	Wolfpup
Interviewee:	Wuemsel
Date(s):	January 2007
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):	Starsky & Hutch
External Links:	interview is here, Archived version
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In 2007, Wuemsel was interviewed for the Bay City Library.

See List of Starsky & Hutch Fan Interviews.

Some Excerpts

It must've been April or May 2003 that I watched my first ep, and it was "The Bait". Dubbed, of course, so I guess I really watched the show for the first time some months later, when I got my first episodes in English. The characters appear to be a little different in German due to the voices. It makes a huge difference, honest.

Like most of us, I wasn't very pleased with how "Starsky vs. Hutch" ended, but again it's really just scenes I don't like in certain episodes. I can't seem to think of one right now... Hm. Well, mostly it's when they try to be funny -- and really hard -- and it just doesn't work out that I feel a little wrinkle crawl up my nose. But it's a rare occasion.

Okay, I admit it, I tuned in for the second time because of Starsky, and when I started writing fanfiction for the show, he was my favorite victim out of obvious reasons. But after I first heard Hutch's voice in English -- and believe me the character does change with the voice -- I started to, well, notice him more. Now I think I like Hutch's character a bit more, maybe because I think he's more interesting. He's written very complex and there seems to be a constant inner conflict going on inside that head of his, which holds a lot of story potential. Then again, maybe it's because we see him in private, without anyone around, more often than Starsky. I mean, I think I truly fell for Hutch at his greeting his plants in "Vendetta". And if not then, than at watching him work though this weird 'pretending to clean up'-system in "Fatal Charm". Maybe that's why Starsky's still my favorite victim, writing-wise, because it allows me to explore Hutch's character more. However, there are details I like in Starsky's character and behavior too, and I hope to get to take a closer look at them during writing soon. All in all, I think it's tough to say whom you like more, it depends on the scene or ep -- and usually they're just best when together!

Fanfiction has always been part of my writing, I don't even know with which show it started, probably "Star Trek", when I was about 10 or so. When I was a teen, I wrote "MASH" and "X-Files" and "Highlander"-stories for a friend of mine. That was all in German, of course. I remember the incredible sensation of relief when we got internet, and I found that not only wrote others fanfic as well, they posted it too! I enjoyed reading, but never thought about posting stuff myself, until I got involved in the "Diagnosis Murder"-fandom. That was the first fandom I wrote for in order to actually put it online. Can't say I regret doing that. My first "SH" story, I think, was "Satan's Teddy" or one of those other short thingys I used to write, but the one I think of as the first, because I actually worked on it and didn't just click-clack it down in one sitting, was "Ordinary Things". Like I said before, I love h/c, and I always liked writing psycho babble and exploring the, well, darker sides of the human mind. Or to put it short: I enjoy writing madmen. In case you haven't noticed.

I think feedback is tremendously important! There's nothing like it, when you read that someone had enjoyed your story and had a good time with it. Since most of us are readers too, we all know what a great time a piece of fanfiction can be; and to think that you gave that to someone else is just a cool feeling! On the other hand, readers sometimes notice things one never would have noticed and so they become a sort of second beta you should listen to as well. When I'm writing a story, I try to send around longer pieces of it to see if people like it and to listen to their ideas, etc. That helps a lot. I think the most positive feedback went to "Two Eight Zero". I don't know why, but people seem to really enjoy that story, at least more than my others. Which tends to make me jealous of my younger self, who wrote this story... No, serious, "Two Eight Zero" has something about it that apparently touches people, and/or entertains them. If only I could find out exactly what that is; I've never been able to repeat it, I'm afraid. Hm... maybe it's the image of Starsky wearing pink walking socks. I think I'll test that theory and have him wear them in every story from now on.

I've recently rediscovered "Hardcastle & McCormick" and bought it on DVD. I guess that one resembles "SH" in the way that the relation-ship of the two main fictionies is the key of the show. I generally enjoy those old shows from the 70s or 80s, like "The Odd Couple", "Streets of San Francisco", "Baa Baa Black Sheep", "MASH" and so on. Then there's "Gilmore Girls", "Boston Legal", "Buffy" and one character from "Highlander", whom I consider the best written guy around. Also, there are some very good German shows I watch like "Tatort " ("Crime Scene", which does have a team that resembles our boys.) and some others. But it's hard to name just a few here, because watching TV for me used to be like breathing. So there're a lot -- a LOT! -- of shows I've come to love... I used to write for "Highlander" and "Diagnosis Murder", but that stopped, when I discovered "SH", and every now and then I feel like writing for a show I'm rediscovering -- "Mash", for example, or now "Hardcastle & McCormick" -- but I never seem to make it to the actual writing part.