1977
From Fan History Wiki
1977 is a year of fandom shifting and building of various traditions. It signaled the beginning of some shifts in fannish practices that would be felt in the coming years.
The Starsky and Hutch fan fiction community got a kick start this year with the publication of the community’s first gen fanzine Zebra 3. By the end of the year, more Starsky and Hutch fanzines had appeared on the scene and were being advertised in other fanzines.
This year would be the start of one of the bigger fan fiction communities: Star Wars. The first movie, Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope came out in theaters. The fan fiction community, being built by people with experience from other fannish communities like Star Trek would quickly put out the first stories and fanzines. The first story to arrive on the scene was published in Warped Space. Unlike the Star Trek community’s relationship with Paramount, Lucasfilms Ltd. would be involved in trying to maintain control of content which appeared, according to Verba, almost from the start. Some Star Trek fans hoped that Gene Roddenberry would take similar steps in order to stem the flow of Kirk/Spock stories. When this hope failed to materialize into action by Roddenberry, a number of Star Trek fans left the community permanently because they preferred the control exerted by Lucasfilms Ltd. in regards to adult and homosexual content in Star Wars fanzines.
Around this year, Led Zeppelin fen began distributing fan fiction featuring Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. The stories used the names Tris and Alex instead of Jimmy and Robert. These stories were published in fanzines. Several sources have claimed that Jimmy and Robert were aware of these publications and found them humorous.
In canon universes, The Professionals was airing in its first season and Space: 1999 was in its last season. Doctor Who was still on the air, entering its fourteenth season.
Warped Space, one of the most influential and longest running fanzines at the time, becomes a multi-fandom fanzine. This started with the publication of "Man from Atlantis," Anji Valenza's original fantasy "Klsadel" stories, and a Man from U.N.C.L.E. story, "The Final Affair" by P. Block.
After the success of SeKwester*Con, and still smarting from having Star Trek fanzines being constantly shut out of the Hugos, Sharon Ferraro and Paula Smith created the FanQs. This award celebrated the best fan writer and best fan artist in the Star Trek fandom. It was presented at and in conjunction with SeKwester*Con Too. They proved to be a success and the tradition of awarding them continues to the present day.
See also:
- Canon released in 1977
- Conventions held in 1977
- Fan fiction archives founded in 1977
- Fan fiction awards given in 1977
- Fanzines published in 1977
- Legal issues in the fan fiction community in 1977
- Mailing lists founded in 1977
- Technology innovations in 1977
