China Beach
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | China Beach |
| Abbreviation(s): | |
| Creator: | William Broyles and John Sacret Young |
| Date(s): | April 27, 1988 to July 22, 1991 |
| Medium: | television |
| Country of Origin: | USA |
| External Links: | Wikipedia's China Beach entry IMDB's China Beach page |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
About
China Beach is an American dramatic television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War. The title refers to My Khe Beach in the city of Đà Nẵng, Vietnam, which was nicknamed "China Beach" in English by American and Australian soldiers during the Vietnam War. The ABC TV drama aired for four seasons, from 1988 to 1991.
The show is based on the experience of William Broyles, Jr. during his time in Vietnam. The show's point of view character, Colleen McMurphy, is based largely on Lynda Van Devanter, an Army nurse deployed to Vietnam, and the character's story arc is purportedly drawn from Van Devanter's book, Home Before Morning: The Story of an Army Nurse in Vietnam
Due to the wonderful use of music from the 60s and 70s, the show's arrival on DVD took more years than most other shows. The show was not granted licensing for relatively few songs and replaced those with songs from groups or artists that had already agreed to allow their songs to be included on the DVD release.
Fan Response
JAGnikJen says:
I'd been waiting for this show to come out on DVD for ages, since TV shows being released on DVDs really came into vogue. Once the DVDs were available, I bought the whole series and couldn't wait to plop down in front of my television and enjoy the re-watch. As I watched, I realized just how few episodes I had actually seen. The characters and the images were so vivid they stuck with me all these years.
Fandom
Since the show aired over twenty years ago and hasn't been seen or heard from again until now, there really isn't much of a fandom to speak of. Now that the show is on DVD, that is bound to change.
Fanworks
- China Beach fic at Fanfiction.net - nothing new since 2013
- A Live Journal community - nothing new since 2010
- The AO3 collection - nothing new since 2012
- China Beach fic archive - it looks like a dedicated fic archive is in the works, but if the lack of activity at Fanfiction.net is anything to go by, it may be a pointless endeavor