Just How Special We Are



I have a confession to make. 

Although I appreciate how big and wonderful and
loving our XF network is, although I know we're
all a bunch of very special people, I didn't
realise just HOW much so, until now. 

Today, I decided to try and find a picture from
an old episode of Ally McBeal, which I used to
watch and liked quite a lot. The picture in
question is a screenshot, from a scene where Ally
kissed Billy, in an episode from season 2. 

Now, as I'm sure most of you will appreciate, I
presumed this would be a relatively straightforward
task. Find a gallery, find the episode, find the
picture. it was an important scene for the show,
so I never questioned the existence of the picture
on the internet, not for a second. 

How wrong could I be? 

Not only did I not find the picture I wanted, I
didn't find ANY screen shots, save for maybe 4
galleries, all of which were very incomplete, with
perhaps 6 episodes each, and only 2 pictures per
episode - both being Calista Flockheart in a nice
suit or something! I was shocked. I then thought,
ok, no problem, whilst I'm here I'll have a look
at some fanfic instead - only to find that no
Ally McBeal fanfic sites appear to exist, either. 

I guess I've taken for granted the fact that
The X-Files is the biggest show on the internet -
perhaps even the main show on the internet. 

Consider. 

We expect to be able to find pictures from ANY
episode, from ANY magazine, from ANY time. We
normally can - someone has been obsessive enough
to scan that picture onto their website. 

We expect to find fanfic for every possible
relationship/storyline/crossover you can imagine.
We can. 

And we go beyond that. X-Files sites are waaaaaay
past the cast-biography and episode-listing stages.
We've moved on to projects, to collages, to
philosophising about what the show can
contribute to our lives. We have evolved an
entire subculture which I presumed every tv
show following took on board - I was wrong. 

We are unique, we are special, we are the best
at what we do in the fan business. We have built,
with our own hands, something that nobody can
ever destroy. 

I am proud to be a part of that, and I hope
you are, too. I love you all.