A-Team

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A-Team
Fandom Type TelevisionFic
FanFiction.Net A-Team
FanDomination.Net
FanWorks.Org
The A-Team in 1983
Includes data on total stories posted to FanFiction.Net on December 28, 2006 and January 3, 2006, total of new stories added during those periods, number of LiveJournal communities and users with the fandom as an interest, number of news stories on Google, number of episodes on television in a two week period.

Contents

[edit] Introduction

A-Team fandom began shortly after the television series premiered on January 23, 1983. It was primarily a fanzine and newsletter-based fandom throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, with stories appearing in both single-fandom and many multi-fandom fanzines during this time. The series ran for 5 seasons on NBC (although the first and last were only half-seasons), ending in 1987. It was popular both in the United States where it originated and around the world, developing large followings in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Germany in particular.

On-line A-Team fandom began in 1994 with the launch of the onthejazz electronic newsletter. From that point forward a second wave of fanzines were produced, though eventually the primary medium for sharing fan-fiction became the internet through various mailing lists and archives. The fandom is still active today.

[edit] The Show

[edit] The story

As per the series' weekly introduction, "In 1972 a crack commando team was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they did not commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team."

Despite the serious tone of these opening words, the A-Team was a largely humorous, light-hearted action series, typical of the genre for the early 1980s. The show was also routinely criticized for being one of the most violent on television, although it was a rather cartoon-style action where cars routinely flipped over, buildings were blown up, and yet no one (except on occasion the team members themselves) got hurt.

[edit] The characters

The four main members of The A-Team were:

  • Hannibal Smith. The colonel and leader of the team, John "Hannibal" Smith (portrayed by George Peppard was known for his insane plans which somehow always worked, even if not exactly as planned.
  • Templeton Peck, aka the "Faceman". Portrayed by Dirk Benedict, he was a conman who generally got what he wanted because of his good looks.
  • B.A. Baracus, otherwise known as "Bad Additude". Portrayed by Mr. T, he was a large, very strong former sergeant and mechanical genius. He also had a terrible fear of flying.
  • H.M. Murdock. Captain "Howling Mad" Murdock, played by Dwight Schultz, was the team's pilot. He was aso crazy and committed to the V.A. Hospital, requiring the team to break him out every time they needed him for a mission.

During the course of the series, the team were for periods of time assisted by:

  • Amy Allen, played by Melina Culea, was a reporter who hired the team to find a colleague once and then decided she wanted to join them, in order to record the team's exploits. She eventually left when "reassigned" to a foreign office by her newspaper, and was replaced by her co-worker,
  • Tawnia Baker, played by Marla Heasley

The team was also pursued by a changing list of military police, including:

In the 5th season, the team became "employed" (or more appropriately blackmailed) by General Hunt Stockwell (Robert Vaughn), a mysterious figure who seems to have ties to covert operations. He promises the team he can grant them a government pardon if they complete enough missions for him. During this time, Frankie Santana (Eddie Velez) also joins the team, after being involved in helping them escape from a military firing squad and becoming a wanted man himself.

[edit] Terminology

Below is a list of terms and their definitions that are used in this fan fiction community. This section needs more information.

[edit] Timeline

Below is a partial timeline of the A-Team fan fiction community.

[edit] 1984 to 1988

[edit] 1984

  • In April of 1984, cast members Mr. T, Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz went on a publicity tour of Holland, where they were treated with such fan frenzy that some compared it to The Beatles first visit to America.[1]

[edit] 1986

[edit] 1994

  • On October 9, 1994 the first issue of the A-Team onthejazz newsletter was published by sockii. Originally intended to connect fans and share information, it would later contain some fan fiction, including out of print fanzine stories approved for internet distribution. The newsletter would continue until 1997 by which time discussion would move to a mailing list of the same name. Later on this mailing list would split into separate discussion and fan fiction mailing lists. (There was also a mailed newsletter called On The Jazz in the 1980s which predated this and was a completely different publication. Although, a few of the authors who contributed to On The Jazz were republished in this.)

[edit] 1995

  • On June 18, 1995, the first A-Team website was opened by sockii containing an episode guide, fanzine information, and other trivia related to the show. Later on the site would expand to include an image gallery and an archive for fan fiction previously printed in fanzines.
  • Sockii Press publishes the first Plans Scams and Vans, beginning a second wave of A-Team fanzines. Interest in writing and sharing A-Team fiction on-line begins to grow as well.

[edit] 1996

  • An A-Team movie was rumoured to be in the works in 1996. A script even surfaced but never seemed to go into any production beyond the writing stages.
  • In November of 1996, sockii received the following email from Marla Heasley, who had portrayed Tawnia Baker on The A-Team:[2]
Hi,

I did not realize that there was so much elaborate effort in keeping the A-Team alive. I am glad to see it. I just happened to be browsing the web and found you.

It was a fun show to work on. The cast and crew were wonderful to work with. I have many lasting fond memories.

Keep up the good work.
Marla Heasley (Tawnia Baker)

This was the first recorded incident of the on-line fandom interacting with those involved in the production of the series. Marla would later provide a more detailed interview for sockii for the onthejazz newsletter, published the following year.[3]

[edit] 1997

  • In January of 1997, The A-Team Fan Society reopened its doors. This was an unofficial fanclub based out of Germany which published a German/English-language fanzine entitled Baracus News. Sonja Horstmann was the new maintainer of the club.[4]
  • A-Team's Nighthawk Commandos website launched on May 15, 1997. It hosted A-Team fiction as well as information about the show and the Murdock fans who called themselves the "Nighthawk Commandos".[5]
  • A-Team slash fiction begins to appear on-line. In contrast to the earler, 'zine-based fandom, Face/Murdock becomes the more popular pairing although Hannibal/Face is still written as well, and there are occasional minor kerfluffles between fans of the different pairings. More intense and extreme hurt/comfort, angst and torture-fic also becomes more common.

[edit] 1999

  • The Virtual Asylum mailing list was formed on January 23, 1999. [6] This was a high-volume mailing list for A-Team fan-fiction and discussion which continues to see significant activity including role-play. As of November 27, 2007 it had 731 members.

[edit] 2000

[edit] 2002

  • On November 13, 2002, the A-Team Story Board[10] was founded. It is a Yahoo Group devoted to encouraging authors of A-Team fanfiction and is the most active fanfiction group on the Web.

[edit] 2003

  • In 2003, an A-Team convention, "Action Replay", was planned to take place March 1, 2003 - March 2, 2003 at the Bournemouth International Centre in England, but was canceled only three weeks before the event because one of the sponsors backed out and a last-minute search for a new sponsor proved fruitless.[11] Many fans were very upset as they had booked travel from all across the world to attend the event. Some still made the trip as they were unable to change their travel plans and held a small private event instead.[12]

[edit] 2004

[edit] 2006

[edit] 2008

[edit] Kerfluffles

This section needs more information.

[edit] Influential Stories

This section needs more information.

[edit] Pairings

[edit] Het pairings

[edit] Slash pairings

[edit] Fandom Members

[edit] Fandom size

There are 567 stories on FanFiction.Net as of October 10, 2006. There are 583 stories on FanFiction.Net as of December 5, 2006.

As of October 6, 2007, there were 268 current members of the A-Team Story Board.

[edit] External Links

[edit] See also

[edit] Sources

  • Langley, Katherine. Telephone interview.



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