FANGARIUS: The DW-RPG Chronology

Rather than compose an endless blog entry about the DW-RPG Club's exploits (which would give me Writer's Cramp and a major headache), instead here's a brief Chronology on how FANGARIUS series ran through its 'high school' seasons:

1983

• During Doctor Who's Twentieth Anniversary, the DW-RPG Club debuts, heralding FANGARIUS' Series Premiere.  

•  Although 25 plots were conceived for the Fourth Fanger, only 14 episodes were produced. 

•  The Inquisitor (aka Bishop) makes his debut in Destination:  ZERO.  The Inquisitor would start making other enigmatic appearances throughout the series itself, and later become Fanger's Paradox Incarnate, Jidai Sakugo's adversary.

• Next to his cousin, Kiptom, Fanger's older brother and sister, Dunestar and Zaralynn ('Lynn), make their debut appearances in different episodes.  Not to mention revealing some of Fanger's secret Past.

•  The F-Clones--the Daleks' new mortal enemies--debut, becoming the most frequently recurring adversaries of the series.

• The Michael J. Fox craze with the female members brings forth a completely-reinvented Alex P. Keaton.  Mr. Fox's popularity also fleshed out many other characters within F4's era:  Brannl (Rassilon's Son), Glaceséche (Last Frigidonian), and Grandier (Gallifreyan Ancient).

 1984 (Spring)

•  After seven episodes, during an attempt saving Gallifrey, Fanger gets caught by the Time Lords.  Placed on trial by the High Council, Fanger's found guilty of violating Non-Intervention Laws.  The Fourth Fanger gets sent to Earth--during the Third Doctor's Timeline (1970s)--while the Third Fanger gets placed into a specialized SuspensRoom, completely sealed off from The Doctor, inside the TARDIS.  Thus preventing any possible Paradox Effects from occuring.

• Fanger's Exile ends (c. 1976-79) while persuing ANACHRONOS back to Gallifrey.  On his homeworld, Fanger successfully dispatches the cybernetic intruder from the symbiotic computer, The APC Net (aka Matrix).

• GENFAR, the confidential Fangarian BioSphere, is revealed as Fanger attends a special reunion with his Clanstribe and other Wolf-Clans in hopes of preventing another Great War from occurring.

• The Fourth Fanger episodes draw to a close, as the members elect Fanger should undergo a Regeneration per school year.  Consequently, since this decision came after the last F4 episode, Deathtrap (where Fanger and Nyssa--his bethroed--reunite, and later become married), the Regeneration Plots were transcribed as a means for bridging the gap between the Fourth and Fifth Fanger.

1984 (Fall)

• Next to Fanger entering a new Incarnation, the first major change hits FANGARIUS:  all episode plots are now limited to 18, rather than 25, as a basic preventive towards possible conflicts with school business.

• After much deliberation and endless attempts, the Fifth Fanger makes his debut, appearing as a lupine Michael J. Fox.  Besides being married to Nyssa, Fanger ends up having two sons: Fanstar and Ianstar.  And later one daughter:  Achika Barbara.

• The first Fangarian Trilogy emerges in the series, The Fangarian Planets.  The saga focuses on the Fifth Fanger saving the last surviving Tellurians (Earth) from The Great Fall Out.  Afterwards, Fanger discovers and establishes two new planetary colonies:  Fangaria and Earth II.  Unlike the Fourth Fanger episodes, the three-episode saga contains major gaps in Time.  By the end of the Trilogy, Fan, Ian and Achika are practically grown (reaching their 100s), and the Fifth Fanger uncovers a plot by the unknown Conspirator.  Later, Fanger and Nyssa decide on resuming his TimeSpace travels, in order to save everyone from the Time Lords' unexpected wrath.  Eventually Nyssa stays behind on Gallifrey, in hopes for keeping her husband safe from the High Council.

• James Atkinson II --one of the Fourth Fanger Companions--makes a brief return.

• While visiting a now-neglected AssaultLab base, Fanger receives an unusual Companion, Scott Compstar.  Scott is actually a genetic-cyborg, once designed for militaristic combat, until the company behind his creation was taken over by the infamous MeglaCorp. 

• Returning briefly to the late-20th Century Earth, the Fifth Fanger teams up with a UNIT Operative, Harry Hupermeister (later changed to Harry Hooperman).
  

1985 (Spring)

• Since four members were becoming Seniors (meaning their Graduation rehearsal took precedence over our club), 1985 only allowed a few episodes.

• In the final episode, The Genesis of the F-Clones, taking a page from Terry Nation's classic story, but The F-Clones are the antagonists.  The Time Lords send the Fifth Fanger back to the point of F-Clone creation, where he finds the Fourth Fanger trapped within a SuspensCapsule.  He discovers Davroan is really Davros' brother, and the F-Clones are actually mutant Thals within specially-engineered cyber-symbiotic automatons.

• Although managing to foil the F-Clones' advanced development slightly, and saving his former self, the Fifth Fanger unwittingly gets ensnared within a neutron explosion.  The intense radioactive exposure prompts another Regeneration, but in a way no one expects.

 1985 (Fall)

• Fanger's Eighth Anniversary (1977-1985) - In celebration of this occasion, a special mini-series:  The Ultimate Trial was done containing six episodes:  the first four were simply undone plots of the Fourth and Fifth Fanger; the remaining two had the Sixth Fanger contending with The Inquisitor, Tris Gunhul and Omega.

• In The Ultimate Trial, The Inquisitor is finally revealed as an unknown Future Incarnate of Fanger.

• In conclusion to the Fifth Fanger's cliffhanger, Fanger stuns the members by entering a humanized Incarnation for the first time.  The Sixth Fanger actually received his Incarnation through a BioData Transfer from Harry.  Thus explaining why this new Fanger resembles John Ritter.

• Even though the Sixth Fanger survives his harrowing ordeal, Rassilon and The Inquisitor decide on temporarily exiling the Paranormal Time Lord once again on Earth.  Covertly, they both want Fanger to investigate the strange goings on in 2357-Earth.  After about thirty-two episodes of FANGARIUS, the TARDIS 2's exterior is transformed from a multicoloured police box, into a blue telephone kiosk.

• Stranger than fiction:  Coincidentially, about the same time the BBC places Doctor Who on hiatus, leaving the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) in the lurch, FANGARIUS receives the same fate.  The problem begins when two head members expel an unruly player from the club without my consent (my Choir duties kept me away from a majority of club meetings).  Afterwards, word inexplicably leaks out about our club, prompting a local Anti-D&D organization to come and investigate on-campus.

 1986 (Spring)

• The DW-RPG Club resumes business, but only after promising the PTA it would be disbanded and FANGARIUS would end at the 1986-87 School Year.

• For about ten episodes, the Sixth Fanger remained.  The first five focused on his 2357-Earth Exile, while the remainder had him pardoned, allowing him to resume his TimeSpace travels. 

• While visiting another planet, the Sixth Fanger gets enigmatically poisoned by The Rani, prompting him into entering his Sixth Regeneration

1987

• After another four-month hiatus in the Fall of '86, Fanger enters his Seventh Incarnation, this time resembling Martin Short.

• The final episode was another mini-series, The Gallifreyan Connection, where it primarily tied-up loose ends and revealed some outlandish identities and secrets--especially the Conspirator's.

Although the DW-RPG Club's lifespan had been severely limited, FANGARIUS would still survive through the odd-assorted short stories, drawings and strips.  In fact, though the role-playing game had cease, I had never imagined the Paranormal Wolf-Being would keep on travelling through my college years and beyond.  Not only having some special stories, but also spawning two new Incarnates, one in the form of Jerry O'Connell, and the current one who was inspired by Ashton Kutcher.

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