What is it about the show that has managed to keep it relevant for over thirty years, even far from its home? And what exactly is the appeal of the show? Is it the lo-fi, retro-ness of it through a nostalgia filter? All this and more on this week's episode! ## Episode Outline ### Fandom Facts * It is currently in its 26th (ish) season with almost 900 episodes since 1993. It is based on the Super Sentai meta-series in Japan that started in 1975 and has been running over the same timespan. * Interest in the various Power Rangers series has been [relatively constant since 2004](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F017dbx) though it has had some ups and downs and is on a bit of a downward trend right now. * There are almost 6000 fan works related to Power Rangers [on Archive Of Our Own](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Power%20Rangers/works) (about ⅓ Gen, ¼ F/F, and ¼ M/M) * The Power Rangers subreddit [has about 20k followers](https://www.reddit.com/r/powerrangers/). ### First Impressions #### T: I couldn't tell you exactly when I started watching the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers… and I also couldn't tell you exactly when I stopped (though I feel like it was just before Zeo… so not long). I loved it; I think my parents still have a VHS of the first episode that was purchased from somewhere (that's right, legit, and occupying the WHOLE VHS). I imagine it had a lot to do with the general interest in karate, ninjas, martial arts, giant robots, and underneath it all… Japan? Plus, it didn't hurt that I felt I could relate to the Blue ranger, and that the show aired just before (and just after school) at an ...
# Description In 1993, special agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder began their quest for irrefutable proof of the existence of the paranormal and popular culture has never been the same. ## Episode Outline **Topics:** the importance of fan-fiction to the X-Philes community, the strength of the community over the decades it has existed, creators’ interactions with the 90s fandom, fans’ reactions to the recent reboots, can a fandom survive without new content? ### Fandom Facts * “The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who investigate X-Files: Marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal, while Scully, a medical doctor and a skeptic, is assigned to make scientific analyses of Mulder's discoveries to debunk his work and thus return him to mainstream cases.” -[Wikipedia - The X-Files](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X-Files) * Unfortunately, [Google Trends data only goes back to 2004](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F07g9f), and season 9, the last season to air before a long break, ended in 2002. From that data, it looks like interest has been on the decline, but spiked in 2008 (_The X-Files: I Want To Believe_), 2016 (Season 10), and a much smaller spike than either in 2018 (Season 11). * Couldn’t find data, but from this note from Fanlore (originally a Tumblr post, [A Note about the X-Files Fandom](https://fanlore.org/wiki/A_Note_about_the_X-Files_Fandom)): * “The X-Files' prime Nielsen demographic targets were 18-49. That was the most popular viewing age for the show. … The average viewer was in their mid- to late-20s. They had jobs and families that came home to watch TV together at the end of ...
Are you ready to give up your mundane life and explore a world of unimaginable possibilities, all while learning the values of friendship and becoming a pirate (possibly with some wacky abilities but definitely a quirky crew)? We're not _quite_ there, yet, but we _are_ talking about the fans and fandom of this beloved show, _One Piece_. Plus, we have special guest, Greg Werner (from the [One Piece Podcast](http://www.onepiecepodcast.com/)) to navigate us all the way to the Grand Line, and beyond! ## Episode Outline ### Fandom Facts **History and Origins:** > One Piece is a long-running shounen manga series created by Oda Eiichiro (Odacchi to his fans) that is serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump. The story chronicles the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy who gained a rubber-like body after eating a cursed fruit as a young child, and his quest to find the One Piece and become the Pirate King. Along his journey, he fights many villains, makes new friends, and finds his nakama, most of whom join his crew, the Strawhat Pirates. > > — [Fanlore - One Piece](https://fanlore.org/wiki/One_Piece) Since the first volume was released in 1997 (the same year as the Fifth Element, StarFox 64, and Final Fantasy 7, for reference), an additional 89 volumes have been released, over 850 episodes of the anime, 13 movies, 45 games (including GameSpy's "GBA Platformer of the Year" in 1995)... like, a lot of stuff. Lots. **Search Data:** One Piece has been increasing in popularity [up until around January 2016](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F01_f03). After that, it starts to decrease in popularity but is still more popular than in 2004. Another interesting occurrence is a spike (and drop in) in interest around October 2010. The top ten countries for _One Piece_, ...
