Unifying Star Wars Fandom -- A Panel Discussion (1992)
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Unifying Star Wars Fandom -- A Panel Discussion |
| Interviewer: | |
| Interviewee: | |
| Date(s): | May 1992 (discussion), summer 1992 (printed) |
| Medium: | panel discussion |
| Fandom(s): | Star Wars |
| External Links: | online here, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
This was held at MediaWest*Con 12. It was published in Southern Enclave #32, via a transcript by audio tape supplied by Tim Blaes.
Panel members were Cheree Cargill, Melea Fisher, Pat Grant, Judith Yuenger.
Some topics: cohesion in Star Wars fandom, rumors regarding "The Swedish Zine," a timeline of SW zines, the Corellian Archives, the new films...
A similar panel was held a year later at MediaWest*Con, and that discussion was included in Southern Enclave #37. See The Unifying Star Wars Fandom Panel.
A Scary Story That Isn't True
One thing that comes up is a false story of fannish horror: "There were six issues and they had to discontinue because of LucasFilm... had to quit producing because they were told they were doing a 'no-no.'... In the very beginning of Star Wars fandom, George Lucas did not understand fandom and there was one group in Florida... That [LucasFilm] sent the FBI into these people' houses, the FBI confiscated all of their materials, all of their punching machines, everything, for copyright infringement laws. That was before they got more specific in the laws and what was allowable and what was not. And Lucas took them to court and sued them."
While there was contention regarding a zine called "The Dark Lord," these fans get all sorts of things mixed up. First, they confuse the Swedish zine, Dark Lord with the one published in the US called The Dark Lord, of which there was only a single issue. LucasFilm didn't confiscate zines and hole-punches in either the United States or Sweden and didn't sue these fans in court.
See Open Letters to Star Wars Zine Publishers by Maureen Garrett for more information on the subject of LucasFilm and fans in the early 1980s.