On Sun, Dec 28, 1997 at 07:33:07AM -0700, John Peasley wrote:

The main problem, as I see it, is oversaturation.  Since I started
reading fanfic in mid 1995, the main type of fanfiction I've read is
Ranma fanfic.  These days however, it seems there are no (or very few)
new concepts in Ranma fanfiction.  Though are the few gems, such as
James Champagne's 'Mobile Delivery System.'

I've been on the list off and on since the test messages at the beginning.
Yes,
there is a lot of Ranma 1/2. Oversaturation? Not QUITE-- hasn't anyone
noticed
that Ranma fanfiction has begun to die down a bit lately? 

I don't know about that - on the last synopses list that I did, there were
18 synopses submitted, and 14 of them involved R1/2 in some way.

[Rant warning in effect]

The Ranma universe provides a particularly rich base for fanfiction - there
are simply so many directions things can be taken, so many uncharted areas
that can be explored.  It is tragic, therefore, that most fics tend to go in
the same old directions, and leave the uncharted areas uncharted.

Allow me to present the following exhibit.  Quoting from Stepping Stones, by
Benares, dated (in the UBC archive) June 18, 1995:

<quote>
    "However..."  I stopped blushing.  Something bad was about to
come.  "It was rather... sour."
    I gasped and almost choked.  "SOUR??!"
    The old man nodded.  "Your skills are stupendous, and as I
said your incredible fighting spirit is completely focussed on
your art.  But your dish was sour."
    "But-but NO ONE ever complained about that BEFORE!" I
protested.
    This drew a chuckle from the priest.  "No, no one would.  I
have a very... FINE sense of taste."  I sheathed my spatula,
looking at the old man crossly as I did so.  Sour, indeed!  All I
had now was my okonomiyaki cooking, and I wasn't about to accept
some remark saying that even THAT wasn't up to par.
</quote> 

Now, a quote from a fic called "The Adventures of Ucchan and P-chan", also
from the UBC archive, dated October 18, 1996:

<quote>
Dakuwhan:  Very good.  But if I may comment on it....(waiting for an
acceptance)

Ukyou:  Go Ahead....what!

Dakuwhan:  It is a little sour.

Ukyou:  SOUR!!

Dakuwhan:  It is not the ingrediants or your technique that soils it's taste.
I have a very fine sense of taste and most others would never have noticed
it.

        Ukyou is barely able to contain herself.  This is the only thing left
 in her life and this man, this Dakuwhan is telling her that it is less than
 perfect?
</quote>

Hmmm...  Deja vu???

I remember reading an essay by Stephen Jay Gould about wholesale cloning of
the chapter on evolution in high-school biology textbooks.  I think I see
the same thing here.  True, this sort of lock, stock, and barrel copying is
rare, but I still think that there are fewer R1/2 fics out there than are in
the archive.

-- 

- Sean Connor (sec@frodo.com)

	Tao doesn't make a fuss, and gets things done.
	If only politicians were able to do this,
	all would be well by itself.

		-Tao te Ching, Verse 37