My adventure of not having a life started with a sci-fi show on TV2 called Space: Above & Beyond. It ran circa 1997 and it caught me right from the start, hook, line and sinker.
If I’d remembered correctly, the show revolved around a group of young Marine pilots, fighting in space, against an invading alien horde, "Chigs". Unfortunately, the show was untimely & unjustifiably axed after just one season.
So obsessed with the show that my cousin (who had no life as well, apparently), an ardent fan of the show hunted down other die-hards from Malaysia. Soon after, the 88th Firebirds was born.
The 88th Squadron was the Malaysian branch of the 59th Ready Reserves, which is part of an internet fandom, petitioning for the producers to bring back Space: Above and Beyond. Citing cost cutting measures by the film company, production halted and the show suffered an early demise.
Not having any other apparent useful purpose in life, (though one was a lawyer and the other a doctor), we would get ourselves online every chance we had to chat about the show. Our exploits reached the far corners of cyberspace and soon our membership of 8 swelled. By last count there were 50+ members. So committed we were that even a regular cast member of the show dropped a comment or two and we, as the geeks we were, made Joel de la Fuente , an honorary member of 88th Firebirds. Our exploits ranged from the simply bizarre to the most extravagant, as you would have noticed when patronizing the website.
Alas, all good things must come to and end. We lost contact over the years. E-mail addresses became void, phone numbers changed, and people outgrew their obsessions. Looking back, we did have a life and it evolved around a small group of friends who shared a similar passion. Those were fun days. Days of making copies of the series and watching them over and over again. Then, getting on the internet to gripe & moan about everything and nothing.
Over the years I imagined what would it be like now, if the show had allowed itself to run for more seasons. Maybe the 88th would still be around now.
We’ll never know.
21 comments:
man.. i liked that show too but.. takde la sampai gitu..
as u can see i wasn't as bad as the other members. i just supplied the fictional stories, thats abt it.
ingat2 balik, kelakar la jugak.
chronic obsession habih! but i guess it ws totally worth it if THE casts stopped by for a comment or two. dasyat!
reminds me of my friend el who is totally obsessed with this show called Forever Knight.
Fan base world over. The show was jerked off the air after three seasons, but ...
I dunno laa.
Boring aku.
Ah yes i remember my sister being hooked to that with you. I loved it too but can't remember much of it. even signed up with your website thingie and i caught Jeffry Ong and whatshisname talking about your website on cyberwave once. Kool no?
Neways you can still download the show from some torrent sites me thinks, though i checked on some review sites loads of people hated the show and that's why it was cancelled. not much fanbase. or so they said
Aiyoo...we weren't that pathetic lah were we?? I'm sure we had SOME kind of life back then...err, didn't we?? Anyway, I was pretty proud of our accomplishments, I mean, Jeffrey Ong man!! ;-) Hehe. We were just exercising our creative intellect...that's it...
And by the way you can still get in touch with Bats!! She invited us to her Raya open house 2 years ago what...
hmmm... missed the shows. but being a fan of anything blowing up, i am sure i would have enjoyed it lots.
teek:
yup, we were pretty popular back then, but not to the point of getting on a tabloid tho.
la bebe:
it was shown here a couple of years ago. a bit like angel as well. vampire seeking redemption & all that, but latter had the upper hand due to buffy's fanbase.
voobee dude:
ah yes, back when u were a little alien cocoon pod. :P
sheema:
first of its kind in the country when other ppl was just finding out that they could get laid by getting on an IRC. :)
Zeb: it was WAR, man. you'd love it.
am not a fan of the show but I know what u mean, though am not that fanatic too :D
but give me saber rider cartoons, now that one, I'd be fanatic about
it was shown here? oh ...
the series was shown in the states in the .. i think early 90s kot.
annamox:
wasn't it 'saber rider & the star sherrifs' or something? so i take it u hv a thing wit men on horses? ;P
la bebe:
eh,maybe it was on singapore tv.. not sure. heh.
Irkens are bred in test tubes, much like the human invitros in S:AAB .
Neways to all you old geezers, i'm sure you'll love me for this.
http://www.retrojunk.com/
Cartoons, shows, commercials from the 70s, 80s and 90s (yes though we may want to deny it, 90s is pretty retro now). Got images, trailers and other shtuff worth checking out. Just promise me to yell "HEY I REMEMBER THAT!" out loud in the office while you're reading it.
saber rider! hahahaha.. lama tak dengar tu..
9 - vaguely remember the title, but for the life of me, i can't remember anything of the show.
kaiser - i like stargate better than stargate atlantis. may be because atlantis takde wise ass remark by mc gyver nye character. ;-)
S'pore tv laa brader. Nasib baik zaman tu sekolah kat JB, nobody needed Astro.
Now if only they made a reality show called Angkasawan Malaysia Pertama on journey and obstacles they have to go through ala-ala The Contender atau INXS, kan ke seronot.. Buat lah petition, he hee..
retro stuff huh?
i love she - ra and he - man, the glo worms, smurfs, and who can forget carebears.
cabbage babies pon best jugak. ehehehehee....
sarc:
she-ra was a babe, wasn't she? ;P
glow worm? arrghhhh!
yoga instructor:
tu la pasal.. apsal dia tak televise kan? at least d public will who d govt is sending up there.
KA:
it was on every sat evening, i think. u buat aper sat nites? hah.
kaiser:
it's just not the same without richard 'mcgyver' anderson la... and that botak guy with that metal thingy stuck in the middle of his forehead. :(
tag....
my adventure of reading adventures of not having a life. two parts somemore.
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