Sapphire and Steel
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Sapphire & Steel |
| Abbreviation(s): | S&S |
| Creator: | Peter J. Hammond |
| Date(s): | 1979 – 1982 2004 |
| Medium: | television series (1979 – 1982) Big Finish audiodrama (2004) |
| Country of Origin: | UK |
| External Links: | BFI Online IMDB Big Finish (audiodrama) wikipedia |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Sapphire & Steel is a British science fiction fantasy series starring David McCallum as Steel and Joanna Lumley as Sapphire. Other characters include Silver (David Collings) and Lead (Val Pringle).
It ran from 1979 to 1982, and is often seen as ITV's answer to Doctor Who[1]. The series was created by Peter J. Hammond, who also wrote all the stories except for the fifth. In 2004, Sapphire and Steel returned in a series of Big Finish audio dramas starring David Warner (Steel) and Susannah Harker (Sapphire). David Collings returned as Silver.
Short Canon Description
From For Those Who Came in Late #1:
If ever British television produced a series esoteric enough to rival the offbeat fantasy of The Prisoner, it could only have been Sapphire & Steel. Six storylines contained in 34 half hour episodes, the series was deemed 'unsuitable' for the U.S. market, allegedly due to poor production values. (They are, however, certainly no worse than those of Dr. Who or Blake's 7, both syndicated successfully in the U.S.) For American fans, Sapphire & Steel therefore exists only on much-copied, PAL-NTSC-converted video tape, passed from friend to friend with the tenacity of collectors whose philosophy is that 'Where there's a fan, there's a way.'
[...]
Ironically, no one involved with this series, least of all its creators and stars, ever claimed to understand just what it was about. The utterly cryptic narration introducing each episode implies that Sapphire and Steel are two of many supernatural beings 'assigned' to Earth, apparently to repair disturbances in the time continuum. Precisely where they come from and exactly what or who they are is never explained, but then, some say this merely serves to lend the show a 'properly British' air of mystery and mystery it is.
[...]
We learn early on that Sapphire possesses many super-human talents, among them the ability to 'take time back' short distances, the power to 'read' the age of objects by touching them, uncommon physical strength, and a rather handy talent for changing her appearance to suit the era she is visiting. Steel apparently shares the latter two, but little else, as his only special power is a flair for deep-freezing time demons. This never comes in handy after story one, and he relies on his not-inconsiderable wits thereafter.
Fandom
Although TV Tropes rightly points out that "[along] with Blake's 7 and Doctor Who, Sapphire and Steel forms the Holy Trinity of British Science Fiction television"[2] the television show has never had the megafandom-level following that the other two shows have (at times, in Blake's case) enjoyed. During the 1990s, there were a small number of S&S-only anthology zines, and S&S fics were also published in multimedia zines.
In 2014 Lost_Spook (one of the most active writers on Livejournal and Archive of Our Own described the fandom thus:
The main active writer is spikesgirl58. SeriesFive and I were active simultaneously with a very simular take, but completely coincidentally, John_Amend_All, lsellersfic/annariel is quietly active, kittenmommy, and Mab Browne, amaresu & glennagirl occasionally & KerrAvonsen. Past ficcers/vidders have been hearts_blood, fog_shadow, and various other for Yuletide and things. The comm sapphirensteel was founded by Sheila Adamson [in 2007], and element_flash [2008] by amaresu & now modded by kittenmommy (and Mab Browne). The main body of LJ fandom is David McCallum-centric & include a bunch of Man From UNCLE fans. You get far more Joanna Lumley and David Collings fans around the fringes and Yuletide. (Lost Spook)[3]
Fanworks
Fanzines
Gen:
Multifandom: Sapphire & Steel fic also features in the following zines, although there are generally only one or two S&S fics per zine or even zine series. Fandoms that are usually combined with S&S in these multimedia zines include Doctor Who, The Man From UNCLE and Blake's 7.
- Changing Channels
- CrosSignals
- Diverse Dimensions
- Doctor Who and the Hodge-Podge (primarily Doctor Who)
- Dyad
- Enarraré
- Enigma (multimedia zine)
- Frak
- Grip
- Here Lies Illya Kuryakin
- Heroes and Partners
- If (multimedia crossover zine)
- Lions and Tigers and Zines, Oh My!
- Psychic Investigations
- Refractions (multifandom zine)
- Robots, Rebels, & Renegades
- SCAM Presents
- Shadows and Spies
- The Manifest
- The Paladins Affair (includes some slash, although it is The Man from UNCLE, rather than S&S)
- The Tides of Time (primarily Doctor Who)
- The Visitor
- U.N.C.L.E. Gold
- Xenozine
Non-fiction: