Passages (Beauty and the Beast letterzine)/Issues 005-006
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Passages |
| Publisher: | |
| Editor(s): | Karen Bates |
| Type: | letterzine |
| Date(s): | March 1988 to at August 1989 |
| Frequency: | monthly |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Beauty and the Beast (TV) |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Passages (March 1988-August 1989) is a letterzine with eighteen issues. It hailed out of Nebraska, US and was the first letterzine devoted to the Beauty and the Beast universe.
The letterzine had the attention and support of TPTB. In issue #16/17 (July 1989), the editor wrote: "I would like to thank Mr. Roy Dotrice and Mr. George R.R. Martin for their gracious support of this publication. A thank you is so little in return for their timely gestures."
From Datazine #54: "A forum for comments, critiques, discussion and exchange of ideas for anyone interested in The Beauty and the Beast universe."
The letterzine ceased just as fans were getting information that the last season was going to have a different direction and tone. These fans did not yet know the extent of these changes, and their optimism that TPTB would "do the right thing" was combined with their wariness. See the progression in the comments in individual issues. Also see Things Began to Heat Up: February 1989.
See List of Letterzines for similar fanworks.
The Issues
See these subpages for details about individual issues, including quoted opinions and summaries of fannish views on topics current then, and now.
| Passages (Beauty and the Beast letterzine) Issues | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues 001-002 | Issues 003-004 | Issues 005-006 | Issues 007-008 | |
| Issues 009-010 | Issues 011-012 | Issues 013-015 | Issues 016-018 | |
Issue 5
Passages 5 was published in August 1988 and contains 25 pages.
It contains 14 letters, the second part of the Creation Con interview transcript with Howard Gordon, and a reprint of "A Dish and Her Lionhearted Dude" by Martha Bayless - Washington Post.
Excerpts from fan letters:
It's quite amazing to me that I've never heard one expression of jealousy toward Catherine from any of the multitude of female fans. It seems we all love her and respect her. Envy her sometimes, yeah sure, because she has this wonderful guardian angel/soulmate who always has time for her, always supports her, always encourages her and listens to her with his full attention. I've heard many say she's a good role model, that they would like to be like her, that she's as beautiful inside as she is outside. I just have one thing to add about Catherine in that same line. When is this woman going to die and will me that white and gold number she wore in 'The Alchemist"??? Whenever I watch that episode, I say, "Now that is a dress to go out and party all night in!" I even forgive Catherine that she is (undoubtedly) about a Size Six.
I'm surprised Koslow, et al, don't perceive the character they've created as being human. Granted the title does say "beast", but Vincent more than qualifies to be considered homosapien. Allow me to call on science for a moment. Three of the criteria, used to distinguish man from other mammals, are the capacity to use language, the capacity to use tools, and the capacity for abstract thinking, such as intangible concepts like loyalty, freedom, heroism, and love. Vincent definitely fits the criteria. While we're on the subject of mammals, a look at comparative anatomy shows us to have much in common with each other. We all have the same bones, muscles and organs. The specific proportions, arrangement, and use, account for our differences. We are all products of genetic blueprints, all composed of the same chemical compounds. The specific arrangement of these and how the genes are read bring about the variation in appearance. Vincent may have some of the outer trappings of what we would classify as the family Felidae, easily a result of damaged or misread genes, but he's far from being a beast, and belongs in the family of man. Now that I've lulled everyone to sleep, I'll go back to where I started. It confuses me that the production office wishes to emphasize the literacy, intelligence and romance of the show, but doesn't see Vincent as human. A bit contradictory, wouldn't you say? I guess they don't realize what they've created, or else they choose to dismiss the obvious. It's also possible the early conception was of him being predominantly a beast, but as the series progressed, Vincent got away from them becoming more and more human, and now waits for them to catch up with him.
On the subject of happiness, let me put in a request here and now. I'd like to see some HAPPY Vincent and Catherine stories! I've read a few, and don't see as many full of the joy of love these two people share as there could be. I write happy.
I've written several short stories (one, a bittersweet tale where Catherine and Vincent actually do have a child) that go in several different directions at once. When I was writing Star Trek stories, I always had to catch myself and correct all of the scientific inaccuracies. With B&B, I take more risks than ever before and say "to hell with rules-anything is possible". The only facts I stick to are the ones that come from the series itself.
Recently, I had the opportunity to converse with B&B Supervising Producer, Ron Koslow [on the telephone], concerning the past and future of the series. His communication was a sincere, positive recognition, responding to the contributions and promotional efforts made by so many unsung "fans" in the course of the past year.
[...]
Upon that reflection, I still cannot emphasize enough what a nice man Mr. Koslow proved to be during our conversation. Although I had heard that he was an incredibly sensitive and interesting man, his personable manner and genuine warmth were most agreeable. It was also fun to discuss, yet feel comfortable enough to not always agree with, ideas and commentary regarding the past and future aspects of the program.
To those of you who might question, he really does read his mail, and he listens, really listens, a quality to be treasured which many of us don't possess. I am sure this serves him well in his profession. Conceding that within any producer who survives the daily battlefields in Hollywood, there must exist a shrewd honed edge, I remain so very impressed by his candor and appreciations of our endeavors toward furthering B&B.
I empathized with the descriptions of the "aloneness" felt by many a fan of any particular fandom. I know, because I've been involved in Star Trek fandom since its beginning. After the start of B&B, I met other fans who admitted they were afraid of being laughed at if they told anyone they loved what was considered a "kiddie show". Even the time slot was aimed at kids. Kids can watch and learn from B&B, but it definitely is not a "kiddie show". Pee Wee Herman is a kiddie show, but adults cannot love and embrace him the way we can, and do, Vincent and Catherine and B&B as a whole. It's like there must be something wrong with us if we do. Like being adults we should be more rational and composed and not taken to flights of fancy and emotions. Why not? There's no age limit on love and feelings, and I'm much more in time with myself now than ever before. But somewhere, it must be written that B&B fans must be separated by a certain number of miles or states. At least in my case it seems that way.
I feel the need to make a comment based on experience because of the fact that B&B fandom is growing so rapidly. B&B fandom is a very real part of my world, second only to my career as an R.N., and I wouldn't trade either for anything. But we must not lose sight of the fact that B&B is a fantasy. For that one hour, everything we've been blessed to see becomes a new part of the B&B world. But in our own hearts and in the pages of letterzines and fanzines, we are allowed to fantasize and share our own imaginings. Since anything is possible in a fantasy, there are no real rights or wrongs, no real blacks or whites. I hope we will all remain tolerant of other fans thoughts even if they may not be our own. Intolerance and "put-downmanship" is what cooled me to Star Trek fandom a while back. Star Trek gave birth to the theory of IDIC, Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. We should not forget the meaning of the acronym.
For instance, the question of whether Vincent can purr. I'd like to think he can, but you may not. That's okay. Who knows what Vincent may do in the privacy of his own tunnel, since the producers will never let their relationship get that close for us to see. I may purr in private, but I'll never tell. I also would like to see more physical stuff. But intimacy is for fantasizing about and for fan fiction. If the producers gave us the intimacy, which may or may not be exactly the way you're pictured it, then the "magic", the anticipation and titillation is gone. Don't get me wrong. I was as unhappy as the next fan that it took them until the nineteenth episode before they finally just held hands, but by "Ozymandias" it seemed the most natural thing in the world for them to do. I'm glad the producers finally put normal touching in the show. It was more abnormal for them not to touch. I was shocked when I read and heard Ron Perlman mention the fact that this hesitancy was due to fears of what the viewers would think about a "normal" human being becoming romantic physically with a "beast". I agree with everyone else. Vincent is no beast! I don't even think of him as different. He is beautiful inside and out. He's very sexy, thanks in part of Rick Baker's makeup and largely to Perlman's extraordinary existing body features, voice and acting.
I'm especially fascinated and drawn to his sexy teeth.
When did Vincent's [hands] get less hairy? Again, in the Pilot episode, when Catherine first touched his hand holding the spoon, there was enough hair on it to stuff two pillows. In subsequent episodes, it looks like he's wearing furry gloves, but there's not that spectacular growth seen in the scene mentioned above. Does Vincent clip and groom his hands?
Issue 6
Passages 6 was published in October 1988 and contains 25 pages.
Quotes from this issue were used in the audio meta An Honest Fantasy.
It contains 14 letters, the third part of the Creation Con interview transcript with Howard Gordon, numerous reprints of articles and interviews with actors and other producers, and a con report of Star Con and Roy Dotrice's appearance there.
Excerpts from fan letters:
When the season ended I mistakenly assumed that standard procedure was to re-run all episodes in their original order. S0...I immediately ran out and purchased a brand-new super VHS-VCR for $1,200 JUST to record Beauty and the Beast! And, frankly, I FEEL CHEATED! I had never seen "Siege" and I accidentally taped over "Nor Iron Bars a Cage"...
When I think about the show and how it relates to my own life, I must admit there is not much of a parallel. My life is a settled-in one of school lunches, mortgage payments, and program deadlines which I try to flavor with a sybaritic curiosity for good music, art, and literature. That seems to be my life above the surface. Below the surface, I am like Theseus with Ariadne's thread searching in the labyrinth for the Minotaur, or Odysseus outwitting the Cyclops. Stirring deep inside me is a restless quality quelled only by intense self-understanding and achievement. My marriage and subsequent family life realized my adolescent belief in the happily-ever-after fairy tale that every woman is taught to yearn for from the time she is cognizant. (Yes, that does sound sexist, but admit it, anyone who is still single probably has a mother standing in the wings waiting to throw that bagful of rice.)
After my marriage, I finally understood that all the other qualities that uniquely fit together to create me, were not satisfied, and never will be satisfied. All the facets of cohabiting with another human being, positive and negative, help and hinder you to explore yourself. The physical gratification is like a wonderfully sumptuous chocolate mousse that you surely have room for after a well thought out, healthy, nutritious turkey dinner.
I, of course, love Vincent and words cannot describe what he does to me, so I won't even try. As with many of you, the bondkiss left me totally frustrated and yet I feel it was probably for the best. My ideal for this series would go something like this:
Second season - let's add more touching and light kissing (with all the emotions that have built up. I'm afraid a passionate kiss would get too much boiling over).
Third season -my fantasy is that Vincent be introduced to the world above. I believe that some famous doctor/scientist, who would be sympathetic to Vincent's plight, and a famous talk show host (like Johnny Carson), working together, could introduce Vincent to the upper world. He could be accepted and live above. I believe this could be a wonderfully fun season. Vincent could face head-on issues he has never had to deal with (like lots of women after his body - turn around is fair play, Catherine; like offers of big money to do various ads; like "what am I going to be now that I'm in the real world," etc.). This season the touching and light kissing could continue, maybe getting more passionate toward the end. Vincent and Catherine this season would need to mutually agree they do not want to taint their love by consummating it before marriage. And now it would be Catherine's turn to be noble and give Vincent a year of life above with ample opportunities to make sure this is true love for him and not just the first chance he had.
Fourth season-let them marry and consummate the marriage by all means (this needs to be "non-tacky", of course). I believe this could be a very fulfilling season and put romance back into marriage. I thought things stayed romantic on "Hill Street Blues" after the marriage and "Hart to Hart" to me seemed to show a married couple who could have fun and still have romance. If this season is done well and accepted, the series could go on and on dealing with issues above and below and about marriage and families. Then, of course, there would be whatever profession Vincent went into and issues it might bring up.
Anyway, that's my fantasy. I'd love this to stay a wholesome show with values. One in which living "Happily Ever After" doesn't end at marriage.
[rare letter from a male fan]:"What I would like to address is the subject of the growing following of that wonderful show, Beauty and the Beast. My point is that this show is rapidly being labeled as a quick romance fix for women who have become tired with Harlequin Romances. I find this growing attitude intolerable! In a TV entertainment section from the World Herald, (I forget which one, perhaps others kept it), there was a review of Beauty and the Beast. This was sometime last November or December. The reviewer said that there was already a vast following of the show, and that "if more than 160 of them are men, I'll eat a box of kleenex." I am a male, 24 years old, and proud of it! I resent that this label of "Women's Only" is beginning to be applied to the show. This implies that there is something wrong with me for liking the show, which there is not. Beauty and the Beast is a breath of fi-esh life in the dusty and dead landscape of network entertainment. Vincent is a truly noble character, in the tradition of many classics. There are many examples of noble and desirable human qualities like love, compassion, trust, and honesty shown weekly. While I'm not an anti-violence protestor, and enjoy the occasional Rambo "shoot-em-up", it's good to see heroic characters who do NOT carry a gun! ("Hill Street Blues", "Magnum", "Cagney & Lacey", etc. So many guns!) Somehow this letter is taking a chauvinistic tone, and I don't mean it to. All I want to say is that the trend to label B&B must be reversed before it's too late. Media tends to pick up buzz-words and buzz-opinions rather easily. I should know, I'm a broadcast journalism major. If this show is written off as fluff in the media, the quality might suffer. Look at the Emmy Awards! Beauty and the Beast didn't even win best makeup!! I know we should all feel gratified that it was at least nominated, but I know that there were a bunch of men sitting around, embarrassed to put in a vote for what is seen as a romance novel on film!
Better to vote for something "solid" and "respectable", like "LA. Law" or something.
[...]
Every time I hear a family member or someone I know refer to B&B, I make sure that they're talking about the true, high quality show it is, and not repeating what they heard somewhere from someone about that "soap-opera with the lion guy."
It occurs to me that I've been expending a great deal of energy on topics that are not my business. I shouldn't be concerned as to whether Vincent is more beast than man, more man than beast, 50-50 or 99 and 44/1OOths pure. My attention should be focused on what the character represents and can teach. Positive points such as: not judging by outward appearance, loving selflessly, treating others as equals, and not being judgmental. I've also neglected the positive aspects of the series, the literacy references, the settings, characterizations, and interactions. I've spent most of my educational years immersed in the field of science and now, for the first time, I wonder what I lost out by skirting literature courses outside of those required.
More than anything, Vincent has come at a time in my life when I thought I was crazy for wanting a committed relationship more than an affair (or is that term outdated?). The men in my life wanted to sleep with me, not be with me. And saying "No" becomes so wearisome... I was married at 21, divorced at 23, and had become very used to cringing when any man so much as said "Hello," because I just didn't want to deal with what inevitably comes next. It wasn't the physical...it was the fact that they wanted the physical without the emotional, intellectual, and mental. Now, Vincent provides the solution. Merely by sitting and cuddling with someone while watching B&B gives me all the information I need to know whether I should pursue a relationship with this man at all. Their comments about the show reveal more than anything else could. So far, only one has passed the test, and he's one of the closest friends I have. The others...well, I got rid of one I knew for two months when he came up with, "There's a lot of sexual tension between that lawyer and her beast, isn't there?" He made the mistake of going on to confide that he had a fantasy regarding me, a Victorian dress, and a board room table. It wasn't the fantasy...it was the duration of the relationship when he started drooling, and the language in which he couched the proposition (for it certainly wasn't a proposal). Vincent would never drool (forget the snarling scene in "The Alchemist" that doesn't count...though I would have loved to watch that one being filmed. Ron P. must really have a lot of fun with some scenes). Suffice it to say that Vincent helps me keep my goals in mind, and like Ron P. himself has said, the dream of a relationship like that need not be a fantasy. I only hope he's right.
Is anyone else out there having trouble finding anyone who even remotely measures up to Vincent's morals, sense of honor, caring, support, and ability to carry on an intelligent conversation? Is it all a fantasy?
As a general question to all B&B fans, is anyone out there interested in an exchange of stories, other than in the fanzine format? I write a lot, and can't submit everything to zines, and am looking for audience response a bit quicker and more comprehensive than the months it sometimes takes to publish in zines. In short, are there writers out there of B&B stories who are hungry to read and be read? Please write and let me know if you're one of those...and even if you just want to read B&B stories and don't really write, I d like to hear from you, too.
I would like to get something off my chest. This "no beast touching" stuff really bugs me. Vincent is NOT an animal, at least no more so than any of us. He is a unique human being possessed of all the nobler aspects of humanity. He is a prince among men.
In the last several weeks, I've been working on a pet project. The recreation of a costume only using photographs for reference. Being a costume and makeup major, it's a challenge. Yes, you guessed it. I'm re-creating Vincent's outfit. One of them, at least. The trapunto vest is my current project piece. During the time I have been tied to my sewing machine (which just so happens to inhabit the same room as my VCR), I've been doing research (Hmmm...is that what they're calling it now?). I estimate I've seen each episode at least 3-5 times. Needless to say, the subtleties have emerged. I've especially paid close attention to all the exchanges between Catherine and Vincent. (The tapes or VCR will probably bum out sometime in the future due to extensive rewinding and slow motion.) AH I can say is if that isn't desire/lust in their eyes, I don't know what is. Talk about making love with your eyes.