Let's start BETM encyclopedia!
Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:52 pm
Why I left my normal reservation (Olly's thread) and invaded this remote territory? Because I have a rather ambitious suggestion: let's collectively create a bit of BETM history as a part of the Forum!
BETM's Billys (and other cast - but for the sake of simplicity I will refer only to Billys hereafter) come and - alas! - go. Each Billy was different and outstanding in his own right, and deserves to be remembered. However as time goes by it becomes increasingly difficult even for veteran fans (not saying for newbies) to remember why a certain Billy was great, what were his fortes, what was amusing about his particular interpretation of the role, why some his shows were so memorable, etc. Some Billys are known more than others (of course, the initial Billys were lucky in that respect or let's say Colin who was on the promotional video) but for those who became fans after their departure they are almost terra incognita. The Company seems not care too much (at least publicly) about legacy of its former stars - just look at the official site and try to find even former Billys' names there! A lot of reviews and other information were accumulated in the old forum and it was possible (although, difficult) to search there for information about a particular former performer. However, that content is now lost. Of course, there are Wikipedia items but they are very short and include only basic facts.
So I propose to create a kind of BETM encyclopedia to let the forum members and visitors learn everything they want to know about Billys (and, perhaps, Michaels, etc.). It should be a special section of the forum. Each Billy's "dossier" (technically it can be just a sticked thread) can include the following:
1. Short biography
2. All the basic facts&statistics relevant to that particular Billy as a performer of the role
3. References (Internet links) to all the possible sources of information about that Billy (articles in national and local press, sites, blogs, etc.). And not just references but some actual excerpts-citations from the news and articles which will give a flavour about that Billy's individualty without need to go elsewhere.
4. References to publicly available photos, video and audio clips (in Youtube, etc) with short description of the items
5. Last but not least - the most interesting and creative part, namely - the forum members' selected personal views and reviews concerned with shows (or other events) of that particular Billy.
I have no doubt that some fans keep a lot of information about some of Billys as well as about other cast and other topics (technical aspects of the show, etc). Many of us have their own old reviews at their computers (note that the actual authors rather than owners of the old forum hold a copyright!). So I believe this job can be done. At the end it can be properly presented (maybe in the form of illustrated pdf files, renewable regularly).
In terms of organisation, this will be, of course, challenging endeavour requiring a careful coordination and some proactive activity on part of admins and moderators. Of course, everybody can contribute using the present threads devoted to a particular performer; however, only a nominated person should have a right to select information and actually add it to the "dossier". It will be his/her ultimate responsibility to compile such a dosssier with help of everybody. I believe some forum members will be happy to volunteer (and probably admins & mods know better who can do the job in each particular case).
It is not difficult to guess why I am certain that this job can be done - not saying that it can be very interesting for those involved and - who knows? - maybe will give some new burst to the forum? Of course, those who remember my modest activity at the old forum know that there is one particular Billy who already has its "dossier" prepared and (after consultations with the family) published. In particular, it included everything I could find in the Internet as well as all the relevant reviews from the old forum (I think some of you took an opportunity to download it as 120-page pdf file last summer, and its new extended edition with a lot of newly found material, mainly from local press, should be available in some time). So Oliver's legacy is already secure, and it only remains to compile his dossier's concise version. So I did my bit and know it is fun!.
I understand that such a venture is well beyond the Forum's established activity. At the old forum I once tried to initiate a small scale "historic" topic "Billys are different. What's exacty different about them?". It had some very interesting posts (most of them can now be found in Oliver's dossier) but at the end the thread died without much fuss. Maybe this proposal will also befall the same fate. Anyway, no need to hurry - probably some discussion is needed.
P.S. Well, on the wave of that my (probably short-lived) enthusiasm I can even put another proposal: to collectively create "BETM dictionary"... Probably, I should shut up immediately...
BETM's Billys (and other cast - but for the sake of simplicity I will refer only to Billys hereafter) come and - alas! - go. Each Billy was different and outstanding in his own right, and deserves to be remembered. However as time goes by it becomes increasingly difficult even for veteran fans (not saying for newbies) to remember why a certain Billy was great, what were his fortes, what was amusing about his particular interpretation of the role, why some his shows were so memorable, etc. Some Billys are known more than others (of course, the initial Billys were lucky in that respect or let's say Colin who was on the promotional video) but for those who became fans after their departure they are almost terra incognita. The Company seems not care too much (at least publicly) about legacy of its former stars - just look at the official site and try to find even former Billys' names there! A lot of reviews and other information were accumulated in the old forum and it was possible (although, difficult) to search there for information about a particular former performer. However, that content is now lost. Of course, there are Wikipedia items but they are very short and include only basic facts.
So I propose to create a kind of BETM encyclopedia to let the forum members and visitors learn everything they want to know about Billys (and, perhaps, Michaels, etc.). It should be a special section of the forum. Each Billy's "dossier" (technically it can be just a sticked thread) can include the following:
1. Short biography
2. All the basic facts&statistics relevant to that particular Billy as a performer of the role
3. References (Internet links) to all the possible sources of information about that Billy (articles in national and local press, sites, blogs, etc.). And not just references but some actual excerpts-citations from the news and articles which will give a flavour about that Billy's individualty without need to go elsewhere.
4. References to publicly available photos, video and audio clips (in Youtube, etc) with short description of the items
5. Last but not least - the most interesting and creative part, namely - the forum members' selected personal views and reviews concerned with shows (or other events) of that particular Billy.
I have no doubt that some fans keep a lot of information about some of Billys as well as about other cast and other topics (technical aspects of the show, etc). Many of us have their own old reviews at their computers (note that the actual authors rather than owners of the old forum hold a copyright!). So I believe this job can be done. At the end it can be properly presented (maybe in the form of illustrated pdf files, renewable regularly).
In terms of organisation, this will be, of course, challenging endeavour requiring a careful coordination and some proactive activity on part of admins and moderators. Of course, everybody can contribute using the present threads devoted to a particular performer; however, only a nominated person should have a right to select information and actually add it to the "dossier". It will be his/her ultimate responsibility to compile such a dosssier with help of everybody. I believe some forum members will be happy to volunteer (and probably admins & mods know better who can do the job in each particular case).
It is not difficult to guess why I am certain that this job can be done - not saying that it can be very interesting for those involved and - who knows? - maybe will give some new burst to the forum? Of course, those who remember my modest activity at the old forum know that there is one particular Billy who already has its "dossier" prepared and (after consultations with the family) published. In particular, it included everything I could find in the Internet as well as all the relevant reviews from the old forum (I think some of you took an opportunity to download it as 120-page pdf file last summer, and its new extended edition with a lot of newly found material, mainly from local press, should be available in some time). So Oliver's legacy is already secure, and it only remains to compile his dossier's concise version. So I did my bit and know it is fun!.
I understand that such a venture is well beyond the Forum's established activity. At the old forum I once tried to initiate a small scale "historic" topic "Billys are different. What's exacty different about them?". It had some very interesting posts (most of them can now be found in Oliver's dossier) but at the end the thread died without much fuss. Maybe this proposal will also befall the same fate. Anyway, no need to hurry - probably some discussion is needed.
P.S. Well, on the wave of that my (probably short-lived) enthusiasm I can even put another proposal: to collectively create "BETM dictionary"... Probably, I should shut up immediately...